Ch 10

        "Hey there big kid. Open your eyes for me."

        You felt the woman that had been carrying you for what felt like forever shift her hands to your armpits and heave you to a more comfortable position in her grasp. The scary sounds you had heard a while ago had long since ceased, and the running had also seemed to get slower and slower until now it had felt like she'd stopped. You slowly blink your eyes open and lift your head from being crooked into her neck and immediately glanced at her face—well, the mask that covered her face.

"Is everything okay now?" You ask quietly, still feeling a bit shaken up and slightly unnerved by the woman. "Everything's okay now. I'm proud of you for doing what I said and keeping your eyes closed, you were very brave," She said, lightly petting your head while balancing you in her other arm. Despite the fact her face was hidden, you couldn't help but feel like she was probably smiling at you, so you smile back slightly and wrap your arms around her neck. "Thank you for saving from the bad guys..."

"Awwww sweetie..."

For a moment, the two of you remained in silence, and the woman only silently rocked you in her arm while you relaxed and leaned against her. You wondered who she was and how she knew where to find you. Maybe she is a friend of Jeff's and came to help!

"What's your name?" The woman eventually spoke again, craning her neck back to look at you again. "Kid! Uhm my name is (Y/N) but my new Dad, Jeff, calls me Kid!"

She stopped rocking you.

"Your new dad...Jeff...?"

"Yes!"

Suddenly, her grasp around you tightened unexpectedly and it caused you to grow frightened by the sudden intensity of her hold. You frown in worry and try to squirm away out of her grasp, but she quickly relaxes her hold and shakes her head, "God, did I hurt you? I didn't mean to scare you sweetie, I'm sorry."

"...It's okay."

"Say...let's head inside first and you can tell me everything about yourself, okay? You'll get dinner, a bath, and a nice warm bed to sleep in, just like I told you to imagine."

        It was then before you could ask, the woman placed you on the ground and turned you around. You could see that you were faced with a rather big,  decently built wooden house. In your young eyes however, you thought it was more humongous than it actually was.

        - A/N - The house is big, the rest of it is cut off from view however but just let your imagination run wild. -

        Your eyes focus on the lights that were strung decoratively from the roof over the porch to the tall trees that surrounded the house and you begin to jump in excitement, "It's so cool!! It's bigger than me and Jeff's house!"

        "Oh really..." The woman seemed to mumble at this. She however gently grabbed ahold of your hand and led you to the door, pushing it open and walking with you inside. The inside of the house was very cozy and warm, and you immediately felt a strange sense of relief. You were met with a small living room with a blanketed couch and an old TV settled before it. The rest of the area displayed a lot of free space, and the kitchen was visible just up ahead.

"Wow!" You exclaimed, pulling away from the woman's grasp and running around the space in awe, taking in your new surroundings. "My whole Lego city could fit in here!"

You heard her chuckle under her mask, and you spotted as she had begun to raise the mask, finally revealing her actual face. Her face surprised you; while patches of it seemed normal, there were damaged, reddish looking patched on her face and a rather huge area around her right eye. She look like she had suffered a terrible burning, as did the rest of her skin that you noticed, despite being covered in blood. "What happened...?" You ask quietly, pointing to your face for reference. "Oh, don't worry about it. It doesn't hurt me, I promise," She gave you a soft smile, reaching up and seemingly 'fixing' the hair on her head. You decide to leave it at that and nodded your head in understanding.

Just then, commotion from the kitchen area sounded and you heard another lady's voice arise from the same place. You bolt behind the masked woman without thinking and peep behind her see a blonde haired woman worriedly stepping from the kitchen area, marching up to where you and the masked woman were. "Jane? Thank god you're okay," She heaved out in relief, immediately wrapping her arms around the woman that had taken you. "Of course I'm okay, you know I wouldn't get myself into anything that would risk things for the two of us," The woman, apparently named Jane responded in a soft voice, smiling warmly as she embraced the lady in return and gently caressed her face. You peeped up at this new face and figured that she was nice as well, so you smile nervously and give her a small, shy wave, "Hi...."

This woman immediately pulled away from Jane and glanced down to see you there, staring up at her. "Ohh...awwww....hi there..." She greeted you softly, bending down to your level as Jane moved aside. "This is the little one those bast—er-uh—goons had locked down in their filthy camp," Jane sighed, lightly placing a hand on top of your head. "I see," The other lady murmured, suddenly gently taking your two hands in hers. You look at her as she smiles at you and rubs the tops of your hands with her thumbs. Her touch felt gentle and warm. "You're so young, yet you must've been so brave to endure everything you might have," She said, her voice giving you a sense of complete security and warmth. At this point, you felt completely safe and at ease in the presence of these two women—even more so than you did with Jeff.

        "What's your name?" You ask, slightly tilting your head. "My names' Mary," The woman gave you a closed-eye smile and reached a hand to the side of your face, gently rubbing some dirt away that was stuck to your cheek, "What's yours?"

        "K—"

        "(Y/N)," Jane suddenly interrupted, causing you to turn and glance up at her. "Their proper, birthgiven name is (Y/N). You're not just any old Kid, don't ever let anyone call you that nonsense, you hear?"

        You weren't sure why Jane seemed upset by the name Jeff called you but you nodded your head to her anyways, "Alright...Miss Jane..."

        "That's such a nice name, (Y/N)," Mary complimented you and slowly arose to her normal height, your hands still clasped in hers. "Why don't you come with me, I'll get some clean clothes for you to wear and you can take a nice warm bath. After that, we'll fill you up with some delicious food, alright?"

        "Okay! I'm hungry," You smile a bit wider at the mentioning of food. Mary chuckled a bit and glanced at Jane who came over to her with a concerned expression.

Jane's P. O.V

"You're doing too much, sweetheart. Let me take care of (Y/N) and you can just finish up in the kitchen and relax—"

        "I'm fine, Jane, don't worry about me. You on the other hand are battered and bruised in every way—those vagrants must have badly hurt you. Please, take care of yourself first before anything. I don't mind helping little (Y/N)."

I refuse to trail my gaze away from Mary and was ready to prod her more to let me take care of the kid instead, but Mary hummed and quickly turned away from me, walking away with (Y/N) skipping beside her, swinging their arms back and forth. I watched her leave in defeat and already knew I couldn't win an argument with her if I tried. She's too stubborn to let anyone make decisions for her—and it's just another thing I love about her.

I chuckled to myself and slowly drag my aching body to our bedroom, swinging open the door and turning on the lights. As I situated myself grabbing a fresh clean pair of clothes and my shower essentials, along with some first aid materials, my mind kept trying to analyze how and why this child knew who that psycho shit Jeff was and how they were connected.

My best guess is that the sonuvabitch probably had the kid running away from him in a failed attempt of murder which ended with them dawdling into the hands of The Syndicate or he himself had handed the poor child over to them.

I clenched my fists as my mind decided that the latter was probably the most likely and I slammed the bathroom door out of frustration, "That sick fuck! What is he doing, getting an innocent child mixed up in all that cultic shit! Dammit!"

I slammed the door again and tossed my mask aside on the countertop, along with my wig. I took a few deep breaths, trying to calm myself. It was alright—(Y/N) was safe now. Jeff, nor The Syndicate were the victors here.

It was my job as an enemy of The Syndicate—an Evader, they called my type—to upheaval their plans and save as many Evaders, Separatists, and other range of people, even killers that might end up wandering in their path. It was a vile cult, their purpose to sacrifice, hunt, and enslave prey in the name of a dark force that roamed within the darkest depths of the woods, unknown and unseen to most of us outside of the radar. That thing is a mind-controlling, viscous enemy that feeds off the wills and living consciousness of other beings. He controls them and contorts their mind, their perception of reality and force them to serve and do his horrific deeds.

I vowed as an Evader that I would try to save as many killers, civilians—anyone that I had to to weaken The Syndicate to its core. There were a number of criminals and otherworldly entities to my knowledge that roamed the woods, but almost all of them were against and in opposition to The Syndicate and it's operations. If a killer were to be seized or submit to The Syndicate, they would fall and become a mindless puppet to the one controlling everyone in The Syndicate behind the scenes. Their will, their humanity—or inhumanity—would be wiped, and they would remain in rank as a soulless vessel for The Syndicate.

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to save everyone, but I had saved as much as I could. And now finding out about this child (Y/N) and the fact they have a connection to Jeff, I could only assume that that dumb bastard was in cahoots or in some sort of agreement with The Syndicate. Throwing away a child's life for his own selfishness...I didn't know the whole story or what even was the deal with Jeff being mentioned, but what I did know what that I was going to find out no matter what, and I wasn't going to let him nor that forest shitshow get their hands on
another child.

•••
Jeff's p. o. v.

Watching the campfire from a distance was starting to get my nerves going real bad but I wasn't about to up and turn myself in like a conceding dumbass.

I was going to get Kid out of this shit-hole and finally ditch this place, this whole entire godforsaken woods. The Syndicate can go fuck themselves if they think I'm giving myself up to them so easily—I'm getting my kid back and if I have to take a few of these cunts out with me I damn will.

I tighten my knife in my grasp as I take another step forwards; there's a few of them gathered there—Chaser, Hooded, and Mask.

Chaser had started yelling for the past few minutes about Kid getting snatched by some Evader a while ago and both she and Hooded had lost track of them. "Shit. That ruins everything..." I mutter to myself, feeling my heart actually drop. I sometimes still can't believe I actually care about the little chump, but I'm too attached at this point. I wasn't leaving these woods till I got them back.

"Do you know exactly which of The Evaders it was that stole the child?" The Mask questioned Chaser, slowly rubbing his chin with his gloved hand. "I don't fucking know, I just recall it was the pale hoe with the skimpy dress," Chaser scowled in a frustrated tone; their voice seemed to be more strained than usual, thanks to their tireless ranting.

"Skimpy dress, eh?"

"Richardson. It was Richardson, Jane. We have her in the archives," Hooded spoke up in a gruffly.

Hearing the name, my grip on my knife laxed a bit before tightening even more than before in a growing rage. What's that bloody bitch doing running around with my fucking stuff? Why the hell did she have to stick her fucking nose in this business anyways!?

I had to take a moment to distance myself from the area so I don't burst out yelling in frustration at the news and end up giving myself away. So, The Syndicate couldn't even keep hold of Kid; those dumbasses let Jane of all people run off with them.

Ab—solutely fucking swell!

At least, I learned everything I needed to know. There was no use apprehending the cult members; my new target was Jane Bitchardson. I was going to get that kid back even if it's the last thing I do, I swear it.

All I could hope for was that they were okay and that that wretch of a woman hadn't done anything stupid with them. Shit.

"I'm coming for you, you little brat. Hang in there," I mumble to myself, getting ready to dart off from the area.

"Ah ah ah! Not so fast, Jef—fuwey~!"

I skid to a fucking halt when a familiar voice giggles my name in a sweet, innocent seeming manner, yet the underlying tone of malice and deception were easy to decipher, and it sent an uncomfortable chill down my spine.

I slowly turn around and before me stood a familiar little girl with a dirty matted, pink nightgown...