#holymist

@holy-mist || [ ACCEPTING ]

They had been doing so well. The group had split apartas it usually did, three together and one – Jake– on his own. It allowed for him to work on sabotaging as many hooks as hepossibly could while the others went through generators quickly andefficiently. They had finished up four out of the five and there was only onehook left above ground at this point. The last generator flared to life acrossthe way and Jake smiled. There was no reason to bother with the last hook then.

This was as good a clean escape as any they’d had. Itwas enough to make him giddy – an emotion he didn’t often indulge in. But thena screech echoed – causing the hair on the back of his neck to stand on end. Oh no.

He remembers the last time something like this hadhappened. Another shout as this time Dwight is taken down. Jake reaches theexit and drags the lever down, grinding his teeth at another scream. If he looksover his shoulder he could just about seewhere they were. Meg, Claudette and Dwight. One hit each and they were left tobleed out on the ground. There wouldn’t be a chance to be carried to any hooks.The last one was just behind him, mocking Jake for his failure.

The gate opens with a grinding of metal on metal butJake doesn’t remain. He turns and starts to sprintback towards where he’d heard them cry out. When he rounds the corner he’sgiven sight to a shimmer of somethingin the air lurking beside the three on the ground. Meg has gone disturbinglystill and Dwight has managed to crawl his way over to Claudette. The two graspat one another before joining Meg and it is all so horrific as to make Jake gostill – his legs frozen – unable to help. His mouth drops open. This was somuch worse than seeing them strung up on a hook or fighting to try and freethem from a killer’s embrace.

Something about the slow, painful drag of hemorrhagingout while their murderer loomed above and Jake could do nothing aside fromwatch burned him more than any metal piercing his shoulder ever had.

He’d let them down, but the final ‘fuck you’ he coulddeliver in their honor was to live he supposed. Jake turns and sprints backtowards the exit gate he’d already opened. Along the way he stops and begins tosabotage the last hook. The last connection to the entity that would allow theWraith to have a final say in his life or lack thereof at this point. The hookhas just fallen apart when he hears the bells ringing followed by a gravellyvoice.

“What’s the pointof going on? Everyone’s gone.”

Jake spins around and stares at the Wraith. At thedeath that stands between him and freedom. One hit would send him to his owncold grave as surely as it had the others. “Youdon’t get it. They’ll be back. We’ll all be back.” This is the most he’sever spoken at one time, but with the two facing off against one another one onone it seemed an appropriate moment. The Wraith wasn’t attacking him and Jakewasn’t actively running. It was a strange stalemate.

             a tolling existence, dull tones ringing into frazzled eardrum. heart hammering, thunder trapped underneath flesh. bold, yet weakened, a deer lost in wolves’ territory.