Anon Jim:*sighs but nods* at least can I be moved to another room *looks over to Doc giving a sad look* had to be the bad guy to save him so I doubt he even wants to see me now, can one of you explain to him why I couldn't leave him in that house, so he has some understanding, I doubt he will trust my words
The DA nods. “I’ll take you to my room, it’s right next door.”
They bring you to another completely identical room. They let you lay on the bed. It’s too firm, but you sigh and sink into it like it’s even better than the one at The Manor.
You look at The DA and thank them.
“You’re welcome. I’ll let you know when he wakes up, what he says. Just rest for a bit,” they say. They go back into the other room.
You close your eyes and fall asleep.
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You’re standing in the middle of Mark’s room. There’s no clock, but somehow you know that this is a little over an hour and a half into the future.Â
Doc is still unconscious, and The DA is in the middle of saying something to Mark.
“-to break it to them?”
Mark sighs and rubs his eyes with his palm. “Just be honest?”
“They want that cure as badly as we do. I don’t... want to crush their spirits.” They look at Doc. “Either of them.”
“We just don’t know. We don’t even know if they keep a supply, or make it when they need it! We can’t just lead them on.”
The DA sighs. “I know. I’m just sick of watching hope die.”
Doc groans, grunts, and pushes himself up. “What...”
He blinks, a sort of gray film clearing from his eyes. They widen, panicked. “Where am I? What the hell is-”
The DA rushes over and tries to calm him down. “You’re in the Hunter HQ. I can explain-”
Doc sits up. “No, why am I here? I said I wanted to stay, they said it was fine! I-” he wraps his arms around his stomach. “No, no, no, not again, I was- I was free-”
Mark moves towards Doc. “You weren’t not really. It was tricking you-”
“Shut up!” You’ve never heard Doc shout like that, so loudly, with such venom. “I was safe! I wasn’t- I told them-”
“Look at me,” The DA signs, but Doc doesn’t obey.
Mark moves around to the side of the bed that The DA is on and sits next to them. “Hey, they’re trying to help you.”
“I don’t need help!” Doc looks at them and feels vomit rise in his throat. This is too familiar. Waking up hungry, in pain, in a bed that’s not his own, confused and scared, with someone sitting by the bedside insisting they’ve done what’s in his best interest...
He scrambles to get out of the bed, falling to the floor as he does so. He feels just- just weak! Not drained, that’s too delicate. He feels like something’s been ripped out of him, something that left a gaping hole where it once was.
“I need to go back!” He gets to his feet. “I- god it hurts-”
“Please just listen, we’re trying to explain-”
“I don’t need you to!” Doc looks for an exit other than the door and finds nothing. “You’re wrong, okay? You’re wrong! It- I was happy! For the first time in fucking years, I was happy!”
“It was going to use you!”
“It was suppressing the hunger!”
“It would have stopped when it wanted you to be hungry! It would have-”
“You don’t know that!” he snaps. He tries to shove past them, but he’s already grown much weaker than he had been in The Manor, His face has lost a significant amount of color, and the dark circles have come back with a vengeance. His hair is once again messy, dull.Â
Mark grabs him by the shoulders. “Listen to us! It’s a demon, okay? It got into your head and right now, you’re letting it win! Fight it!”
Doc wrenches away. “It was a haven!” he shouts. “It was the one place on this godforsaken Earth I was safe! The one place that I could- could rest in! That I could have some hope for the future!”
“It has it’s own plans! It’s own future! It doesn’t care about yours!” The DA is almost pleading with him to listen.
“Get out of the way!”
“GET OUT OF THE WAY!”
He pushing against them, but they’re blocking him from the door. “Just stop, just think-”
Mark cries out and stumbles back, hand pressed to his chest. A long, smoking gash mars it, blood seeping between his fingers. There’s a knife missing from his hip, and a knife in Doc’s hand.
Everyone freezes. Doc is breathing heavily, his eyes wide with shock. He takes a step back, mouth opening and closing but no words being said. He looks at his hand, and then at Mark,
For a second you think he’s about to apologize. That it was a true wake-up call, something to snap him out of the lingering hold of The Manor.
And then a darkness briefly passes over his eyes, and he looks up at The DA.Â
The DA steps back. There’s something wrong with his voice. It’s too low, almost... distorted?
They take out a knife of their own. “Put it down.”
Doc looks at the knife in their hands.
All you see next is blood. You’re not sure whose it is.
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You wake up with a start, jerking up into a sitting position. You’re shaking, panting, sweating. You quickly check the time.
You haven’t even been asleep for ten minutes.
It could have just been a nightmare.
But... could you risk the chance that it wasn’t?
The cure. If he’s cured, he won’t be so desperate to get back to The Manor, right?
A lightbulb goes off in your head. The Hunter Leaders! They must have some kind of log, or map, something!
It’s worth a look. Mark and The DA don’t know where it is, and you’re the only one who can sneak into the Leader’s quarters.
Maybe you should warn Mark and The DA first.Â
But would that change anything? Would they not still wait in the room, guarding him?Â
Is it better to save time and go looking for the sure now, or use your precious minutes to possibly keep the exact same outcome?