[MASQ]

It was possible that at this point, Hodek would care if I told him what I saw in that cabin. Not the information that could be useful to him, but exactly whose body I'd recovered and what that meant for me. I wasn't very willing to risk it either way. All I could do was hang back in the shadows, keep working, and wonder why.

Why would that Alex girl be important to them? To us? What's the luck that she happens to live just a couple hundred yards away from where I'm staying? Should we leave her and that Clockwork be, or risk everything to find out what's going on?

I hated being trapped inside. Hodek certainly wasn't keeping me; on the occasion he'd glance back as he was about to leave, a strange sense of wistfulness in his eyes like he hoped one day I'd decide to tag along for once. No matter how much I actually wanted to, I just couldn't. Partially because I wanted to be positive that nobody, whether they ended up dead or alive, would see me out there before the inevitable.

It was, frankly, very upsetting when I realized that Angus had tried to trick me again. What's worse was that it worked. He'd gotten into my mind, pretended to be...somebody else, and persuaded me to put everything I had on the line in order to find my family. As if I hadn't done that already. When Jeff woke me up and asked what he had told me, something clicked inside my head, and I was suddenly very annoyed. Annoyed that once again, I'd been manipulated. Annoyed that this time, Angus had been right. I hoped that my lie was convincing enough, but from the looks of it, I needed to work on that area. Hodek didn't look at me the same in the days to come, he didn't even tell me what happened when he visited the cabin again. He just gave me another one of those wistful looks and went to bed.

Today, it was particularly warm for late autumn. Jeff had went out for the morning to take advantage of this. I gave him one last warning before he left, in case everything really went off the rails. I wasn't entirely sure if he even heard me at that point. He looked at me funnily and muttered something about me being any more suspicious. I felt a pang of guilt and embarrassment; maybe this was a bad idea.

It will get better, Masquerade. Trust me. You just need that little dip to be able to see things right.

Are you sure about that? A dip could turn into a valley. Or a canyon. It could last forever.

Nothing lasts forever. I've been around long enough to see that.

The moment he set foot above ground, I heard panicked footsteps getting further and further from the trapdoor by the second, and I sighed, grabbing the nearly dead laptop and a blade of my own. I still had my pliers and twine with me, but just to be safe I felt that I should take something extra.

—

Obviously, I saw the officers long before they could spot me. It looked like they were about to head into Natalie's side of the woods, which wasn't ideal for us but it also didn't give any indication that they knew about Hodek and me. There was one who seemed to be a novice; at least, none of the others paid him much attention and he didn't exactly look like he knew what he was doing. I heard a voice in my mind, though I couldn't tell whether it still belonged to me.

Now's your chance.

My arms tightened around the laptop, and my feet felt rooted (no pun intended) to the forest floor. I couldn't do this. Not yet. Not without some extra push.

Well, let's just say the demon in my head took care of that.

[JEFF]

I was out, about my own business, when it supposedly happened. He'd told me to take another knife with me that day; hell, maybe even two. Gave some bullshit excuse of "oh, we have to be more careful nowadays, you might run into some trouble." Something like that. And I was pretty suspicious of him long before that, but I wasn't going to argue with extra protection. Unless it was some sort of plot to weigh me down, I couldn't think of much harm that could come from it. So I just silently complied, and my worries melted away to be replaced by new ones as soon as I stepped out of the trapdoor.

There was a police car right outside of the forest, hood facing my way. It would be difficult not to spot, even though it was almost a quarter mile away. My heart started pounding like it never had in the past five years; I'd had run-ins with the cops, sure. But right now, considering what I had on my record, this was a matter or life or death for me. Possibly for both of us. I turned and bolted for the furthest town I could manage, deciding it was better to just leave Max underground than make a scene trying to get him out into the open. He's smart. He can get himself out of a mess like this if it comes his way. I'm not responsible for him, anyway.

I paused, though my legs insisted that I keep running.

...but he's my partner.

I shook my head after a moment and kept at it. Maybe there was no right thing to do here. Besides, with a good five minutes of running I was too exhausted to think about much more than the simple. I made a mental note to run more often so that when it came to saving my own skin I wouldn't be drowning in sweat, and didn't stop until I was almost out of the woods.

Pun not intended.

[MASQ]

The trapdoor came through, falling shut with a satisfying crack that echoed through the trees. Unfortunately, making a lot of noise was what I was trying to avoid here. Fortunately, there was no way this officer would be able to escape without a) more than sufficient climbing skills or b) backup. I felt slightly less guilty than I probably should have, but guilt wouldn't help me here. What I needed to do was find Hodek, set apologies aside for later, and run.

I heard muffled yells from behind me as I set out in whatever direction Hodek would most likely go in—in this case, away from the police cruiser. The further I went, the more the gravity of the situation seemed to sink in. This was it. Hodek would either believe me that it was an accident, or hate me for the rest of his days.

I didn't have to wonder about which one it would be for long, because I ran into him (almost literally) while he was on his way back. He held out his arm to halt me, and I nearly broke a rib colliding with it. He grabbed both my shoulders and looked me in the eyes.

"Why are you running out here, and why now."

"Police," I breathed.

"Yeah, so I guessed, but what could—"

"No, you don't understand. They came looking for us, I had to trap them under the door—"

"You what?!"

"There's no time to explain, just go!" I shoved him forward and started running myself, not bothering to look back. Hodek tried a couple times to string words into sentences, and failed in all instances. Eventually, he just followed without question as we made for the town closest to us. At this point, I was holding onto the laptop with one arm and hoping it would fall. I heard one loud crack in the air, and felt something scorch part of my arm. I let out a yelp, tightening my grip on the computer, only to look down and realized there was a smoking hole going all the way through its side.

Whatever they were aiming for, they certainly got something out of that, I found myself thinking, despite the circumstances.

A couple more seconds passed and I recognized something in the distance; as it came into view, I realized it was one of the homes we'd visited and cleared through. I would have been relieved if I had the energy. We flattened ourselves behind the house, gasping for air. My throat burned, and my arms desperately clutched the computer. Hodek drew a knife—thank god he listened to me and brought more than one—and took a quick glance behind us before turning back to me.

"Alright. Looks like we've got time now, so tell me what the everloving fuck you did."

I hesitated and sank to my knees, under the guise of still being out of breath. I really need to think some of my lies through before just spitting them out. "I...I was going to find something to charge this," I began, weakly tapping the laptop. "And I don't know how, but those policemen spotted me and started asking what I was doing in the woods. I-I knew that I couldn't just run from them, because they'd go after me—"

"Great observation! Too bad that's happening anyways," he muttered.

"...so I had to take one of them to the trapdoor. The good news is, he's stuck there until the rest help him. The bad news..." I trailed off as the sound of various men shouting got louder and louder from inside the forest. "Screw it. The bad news is we're dead if we stay here any longer, let's go." I grabbed Hodek by the sleeve and opened the door, which surprisingly hadn't been sealed, bolting inside and locking it behind us.

These people really need to get better at their jobs.

Hodek gripped my hand abrasively, as if convincing me not to go any further. "You do realize that they might just find us easier like this—"

"Not if we're any good at hiding. They'll search the house, give up, and look somewhere—"

"Police! Open up!"

I looked around, blood pumping like nothing else, and spotted a large wardrobe-like thing off to the side. Without a second thought I dragged him inside there with me, closing it shut and remaining completely still in the dark.

We're absolutely fucked.

When they finally burst through the door, I shut my eyes and held tightly onto his arm, which he didn't object to. I realized he was probably just as scared as me in that moment, if not more. We stood there, with nothing but a couple of knives to protect us, and waited.

And waited.

"Oh, we have a couple of smart boys here, don't we?"

The voice of one of the officers started coming dangerously close to our little hiding spot. The guy rapped on the dresser's door with his knuckles, and Jeff slowly grabbed its handles from the inside, holding it closed. I heard a disappointed grunt or two.

And then a sickening slice.

Then another.

And soon the air was filled with muffled yells of fear and agony. Someone was doing Hodek's job for him; not that he seemed to mind, of course. Here and there I heard a couple of laughs, a completely different voice holding the sort of relish in killing that Hodek had lost a long time ago. In the eventual silence that followed, slow, haunting footsteps caused the floorboards to creak and seemed to be coming straight towards us. But whoever they belonged to didn't try and open the wardrobe. I could only guess as to what they were thinking right then. After a short moment of nothing, they finally spoke in a singsong voice.

It's her.

"You're welcome, Hodek," she said smugly. He didn't respond. Clockwork sighed, running the tip of her weapon across the wood as if trying to scare us, or draw us out.

"I'd offer you a place to stay, but...come on. Trying to murder my girlfriend, more than once? That's where I draw the line." She chuckled to herself. "Ha. Draw the line." She didn't sound the least bit angry, despite what she was saying. I wondered what had happened between them to make her so giddy at this situation. When Hodek stayed silent, she sighed again and began walking away.

"You probably should've left those woods a long time ago, anyways. Kinda had it coming, if you ask me. Well...au revoir, Jeff Hodek." She paused. "And company."

And she was gone. By the sliver of light hitting our faces from a crack in the door, I could see Hodek was beyond pissed. He looked more stressed out than ever, his face now deathly pale behind the scars and his brow furrowed beyond belief. My breaths were thin and shaky as I silently thanked whatever god was up there. But before I could say anything to Hodek, he released the handle he had on the door and stuck his foot in front of me, causing me to trip and fall out onto the floor. If the laptop wasn't broken before, it sure as hell was now.

There it goes. The one thing that could've helped me find them.

I sat still there for a moment. After what felt like forever, I started helplessly gathering the chipped remains of the computer in my arms. I couldn't close my eyes for one second. My hands shook with regret. Why did I even do this?

Because you're one step closer to everything you've ever wanted. Have you forgotten already?

I imagined the trip would be a little more pleasant than this.

Ah. Now I see. You've let your little shelter turn you soft. Maybe this would go easier without that companion of yours—

Stop it. I won't get rid of Hodek. He may be furious at me, but he's right to be. I've ruined everything.

For a reward, Masquerade, for a reward. You keep losing sight of what's truly important.

Leave me alone. I don't need this right now.

...fine.

I let out a shudder of a sigh, refusing to look Hodek's way. He wasn't exactly doing anything, contrary to what I expected. Something in me almost wished he'd start yelling at me, or at least ask me why in the world I led the police right to our home. I wanted to be held accountable, for once. But he didn't do anything. He didn't even bother sitting down. Just folded his arms and waited for me to stand back up.

"...well?" I asked, my voice barely able to carry in the air. After what felt like hours, he combed his hair back with one hand and stepped out beside me.

"Well, I don't think I'll ever be able to forget that we just got kicked out of our home by both the cops and a lesbian serial killer, to start off."

"I-I'm sorry."

"For what? Think carefully," he said, a noticeable trace of venom in his words. I didn't want to admit to myself that he knew something like this would happen, but I had little choice. Still, I kept my mouth shut and stood up feebly, dropping some pieces of computer on the ground and staring at them in defeat. He continued.

"I suppose I could use this as an opportunity to say, 'when everything goes to shit, you just have to get back up,' or instill some little moral in you. But I'm not exactly in the mood for that right now. Let's just go."

"I didn't mean for this to happen, I swear." I didn't budge. Hodek scoffed and rubbed his forehead.

"You know, if you don't start moving, I could just leave without you. It's not like it would make much of a difference at this point."

I flinched at that. I knew deep down that he didn't really mean it, but it still hurt. And knowing him, he probably would have gone on his own if I didn't listen. I took one step, and then another. We reluctantly left the house and set out to find a new place to stay.