Masks

Chapter 47

I jolted up as I felt someone shake me, their hand warm compared to the cool air around us. The familiar view of the mist and dark trees were the first things I saw, making me scramble instinctively away from the person next to me. I looked back to see Tim slowly standing and walking over with a look of caution.

"Ash? Are you... you?"

My shoulder protested as I pushed myself to my feet; I relaxed somewhat, seeing there wasn't an immediate threat, but didn't let my guard down. "I'm fine. We need to get out of here."

"What do you mean you're fine? You're covered in blood!" I heard him hastily following after me as I began walking through the trees in search of subtle landmarks.

I glanced at him, unsure how to explain. "It's... not exactly easy to understand- I don't fully get it."

"Well, can you try?"

"...I um... I can't die here. This place- the ARK- speeds up the healing process and keeps me from dying permanently." I shifted the mask on my face as I continued to think. "I can't confirm this but... I was told I was born here. That it's part of me or something- I don't really get it. They called me a hybrid; like a human with potential to become something... more?"

"Like one of those things? Or Alastor?" I could feel his suspicious gaze burning into my back.

"I don't know." I crossed my arms over my chest in an attempt to comfort myself as I uneasily continued glancing around. "I-it was just something HABIT told me a-after... after sessions... I-I don't think they know. They kept mentioning experiments a-and... W-we just need to go before they find us...!"

I could feel my heart racing in my chest once more, almost feeling the ghost pains from wounds that had long since healed from my sessions here. "I can't go through that again... I can't let them torture Tim either... Is that why he was brought here? O-or... Or was it for a new kind of session with me? I can't... I can't let them hurt him. The blood... Bones snapping... the tearing of flesh from bone... Oh fuck and the screams... "

"Ash... Ashley!" I jumped at the sound of his voice, snapping out of my thoughts to see I was holding my head and leaning against a tree panting for breath.

"Sorry..." I couldn't meet his eyes as I focused on calming down, glad my mask was hiding the terror that was no doubt written all over my face.

"...I doubt it means anything, they could just be lying to you about it. They were probably just trying to frighten you into joining them."

I brushed lightly against his shoulder as I walked around him, still not able to look in his direction. "I just... I don't want to remember those six months here... Come on, we need to keep moving so they don't find us."

"More like to delay them finding us." I shivered and went back to hugging my arms around my chest.

We walked in silence, listening for any signs that we'd been spotted. I was surprised the Rake hadn't caught our scent by now and led the others right to us- maybe HABIT was using that beast for a different experiment. Surely Slenderman knew where we were, he was the one who brought us here... I briefly wondered if The Operator had something to do with it, as it didn't seem to like its sources being put in danger.

I finally managed to find a familiar landmark and came to a stop as I turned to look at Tim. "We have two main ways out that I'm aware of. One way is... uh, I guess safer- at least once we get to the border but we'll end up in Rosswood and have to walk home. The other one is... deeper in on this side but we could literally go right to your doorstep, we'd just have to outrun proxies and monsters to reach it."