Masks

Chapter 27

I spent the majority of the next day walking around alone. The hotel room was too stuffy for my liking and Tim was at a doctor's appointment, which meant a break from planning our next move. "I just need to be careful. We don't know how far behind we left those proxies..."

Despite moving here temporarily to try losing the proxies for a short while, the place wasn't too far from my apartment and I doubted our enemies would be far behind. I wandered about the small town, occasionally stopping to explore an interesting shop just to waste more time. Once it started to get late I began making my way back to the hotel; the last thing I wanted was to miss someone following me in the dark.

It wasn't until I got back to my room that I realized Tim hadn't called me to check in and wasn't answering my knocking or my calls. On top of that, when I went out to the parking lot, I found his car was still gone. Unease went through me as I slowly crept through the parking lot.

"What happened to him? Surely they couldn't have found us so quickly!?" I backed toward the building.

I spun around as footsteps ran towards me from behind and found a figure dart out from between the cars, blocking me from the hotel entrance as they stalked closer. They drew closer and I stepped back, prepared to run, before freezing as they came to a halt with their hands in the air... surrendering?

Distrust of the situation went through me and I risked glancing around before drawing them closer to a streetlight. A man in a yellow hoodie with messy light brown hair stepped into the light, a black mask with a red frowning face held in one hand. I didn't let my guard down.

"What do you want?" I glared at Brian, everything telling me not to trust the situation.

Brian turned away, scanning the outskirts of the area, and limped closer. "If you want Tim to live, come with me."

"What?" I took another step back, wishing I had something to defend myself with. "Why the hell should I trust you?"

"He was my friend."

"He's lying..." I scowled but didn't dare turn my back to him as I retreated another step, hoping to circle closer to the hotel entrance. "Tim doesn't think so, Hoodie."

Anger crossed his face, his pale eyes almost seeming to physically glow with it. "Proxies are going to kill him unless you help me."

"You probably led him to them."

Brian huffed and pulled the mask back over his face. "Fine..."

I yelped as he lunged at me faster than I would've thought possible. His grip on my wrist tightened as he began dragging me after him. "Let go!"

Hoodie's only response was a hard tug to urge me to run faster.

"What the hell is happening!? How did all of them find us?" I fought to break free but it was useless.

I was pulled along for several blocks before Hoodie released me and slowed down. At this point I could hear fighting just around the corner and I watched as he glanced around the corner before looking back at me.

"I'll do the fighting- I'm quite good at distractions. Get Side-burns out." He disappeared before I could say anything else.

For a few seconds, all I could do was stand there and listen to the fighting; was he really helping? I cautiously moved and looked around the corner to see Zac taking on both Hoodie and Masky. "Zac... Wait- wait... He didn't say anything about getting Masky out! What if he tries to kill me!? ...Unless that's the plan."

I continued to watch the fight for a few more seconds. Hoodie, oddly, was already bleeding and didn't seem to actually be helping or hindering Masky as the three fought. My suspicion of this being a trap rose even higher when I could clearly see a gun peeking out of Hoodie's pocket- something I knew hadn't been on him moments before.

"I should leave. If Zac is here then Toby probably isn't far behind..." I didn't want to leave Tim behind but at the moment he wasn't himself, which meant I could easily be fighting him and the others.

Masky slumping to the ground upon trying to rejoin the fight made me hesitate to retreat. I watched as Zac kicked Hoodie away and began stalking over to Masky, his hunting knife in hand and ready to finish him off. Fear flashed through me as Masky once again failed to get up due to an injury I couldn't see from my position.

"I can't let Zac kill anyone else...!" I regretted my decision to help as soon as I darted out of hiding and jumped Zac from behind.

My arms wrapped around his neck in a choke hold. Zac struggled to pull me off, dropping his knife as he stumbled back. The air was smashed from my lungs as he fell back into the brick wall, loosening my grip as he harshly elbowed me in the gut. I coughed and sank to the ground. The only thing saving me from further attack was Hoodie, as he'd managed to pull his gun out and was now aiming it at us.

Zac didn't hesitate to charge the man, knocking the gun out of his hand and pushing the attack relentlessly. I coughed several more times as I watched before shakily getting to my feet and hurrying to Masky's side. The blood on his head glistened in the yellow streetlight.

"Is he even conscious?" I wasn't sure if I wanted him to be or not given the state he was in. If he was awake Masky could try killing me but if he was unconscious I'd be dragging dead weight back to the hotel... and then hoping no one was still awake to question what was happening.

I grabbed his arm and put it over my shoulders before getting back to my feet, aware that I didn't have much time to keep thinking about it. To my surprise, and alarm, he was still somewhat conscious and jerked away. Masky staggered back a step before lunging at me, pinning me to the wall. For a moment he stood still and seemed to stare at me, his loud breathing muffled by the mask he wore. I stayed tense, ready to fight back, before flinching as he slumped limply forward.

He was dead weight as I once again adjusted his position so I could help him back to the hotel. It was harder to keep him on his feet now but at least he wouldn't be attacking me. I glanced behind me to watch as Hoodie snatched his gun and fled with Zac scrambling to get back to his feet. In the lighting, the blood running down his face looked black. I hastened my pace before he could notice we were still around.

Getting back to the hotel room wasn't too difficult. The desk staff was missing, though I could hear talking in the back, and none of the other guests were around to question me carrying an unconscious, bleeding man wearing a mask. I wouldn't know how to explain myself if I had to. I tiredly unlocked the door and forced myself to drag Tim further into the room before lying him on the floor.

"Tim... you better be fucking glad I didn't leave you there." I leaned against the wall to catch my breath as I stared down at him. "Wasn't he taking his pills? What happened?"

I had no way of knowing if it was even going to be Tim or Masky who woke up when he regained consciousness. Worried, I searched his pockets for his room key before going next door to grab his spare belt to restrain his wrists. It wouldn't stop him from walking but at least he was somewhat hindered should he try attacking me.

He stayed motionless as I grabbed some towels and laid them under his head while I checked the wound. Thankfully the bleeding had stopped and the cut itself wasn't deep enough to see bone or anything too gruesome. I gave a relieved sigh and stood up to go wash the blood from his hair off my hands.

"Should I leave him alone and stay in his room?" I glanced at where he was lying on the floor before walking over to the window and opening the curtain just enough to look outside. "What if they come back? They already found us once."

I yawned and walked over to the bed. Paranoia kept me from falling asleep, as the different possibilities of what could happen drifted through my mind. For now, all I could do was keep watch and figure out if I'd have to learn how to stitch someone up.