Masks

Chapter 54

It was nearly dawn when we got to Rosswood. I was exhausted after so many miles of walking- not to mention the hours- but I tried my best not to let Hoodie notice. "How isn't he ready to fall over? ...I should've stayed in bed..."

I coughed several times as we went deeper into the trees. The further in we went the worse the coughing became. Hoodie glanced back at me but didn't stop and I watched as he continued on through the trees despite my slowing pace.

"Wait..." I leaned against a tree, wheezing between dry coughs.

By the time it was over I'd lost him, though I had the sensation of being watched. I shuddered and rubbed my arms as I kept walking, hoping to warm up despite my damp clothes. The water dripping from the branches above didn't help.

"Was he going to the tunnel?" I tried to follow the direction he'd been going, unsure if that was the correct way or not.

A twig snapped to my left, causing me to flinch and whirl in that direction. A figure darted behind a tree. "Skully? Is that you?"

Sure enough, the camera wielding man stepped out of hiding and slowly made his way closer. "Pawn...?"

"No, well... uh... no..." I wasn't sure how to explain why I was wearing the mask; it was almost comforting to hide behind. "I didn't want my face on camera, okay?"

"Or are these memories influencing my choice?" I continued watching him, waiting for some horrific memory to be dragged up. "Skully... wasn't around me in other iterations."

He tilted the device away from me and inched closer, keeping a good distance between us. "I thought you were here to kill us. I just chased Brian all over, then find you-"

"He's still here?"

"No." He looked around and gave a loud exhale of air. "So, why are you here?"

"I think we can fix things... Well, kind of. If we burn the ARK, maybe it'll weaken their powers." Like with Hoodie, I decided not to mention Alastor's involvement in figuring this out. "I can't do it alone and as far as I can tell, Hoodie isn't helping and Tim wants to wait."

"I mean, it's worth a shot I guess."

The fact he didn't even try to question me made things easier, although I disliked how blindly he was following my idea. "Um... well, great then..."

"If he really is Jay, he'll be easy to kill- no, to convince. He's easy to convince... anything to document what's happening, right?"

"What do we have to do?" He shifted around impatiently.

"I... I'm not sure. Obviously we'll need lighters, matches, and a plan on getting in and out of the ARK... It'll take some time." I hated to admit it but I didn't have a full plan formed yet.

"Can't you just get us in and out? You did that with the tunnel."

I couldn't help the spike of hostility that came after his words. "Listen, Jay, I'm not one of those things. Even if it was me who got us out of there, it doesn't mean I can do it again."

"I should just do it myself..." I turned away from him. "I'll get back to you when I have a better plan- I'm sure you'll be around."

"That's it? You just come out here and tell me to wait."

"I'm going to kill this man." My hand twitched as I got the urge to punch him. Didn't he understand that we at least had a possible solution now? "Yes, I guess I did. Now if you don't mind, I'm going home so I can get some sleep."