Detonation, Part 3

Silent Bob started stepping forward as he laughed.  Towards the Slender Man.  Towards him.
Dumas put a hand on his shoulder to stop him.  Bob gave him a glare—not one of his manic animalistic ones, but a sort of “you really don’t want to do that” one, grabbed his hand, and squeezed.  I heard a crunch, and Dumas screamed.

One of the proxies fired a shot, but missed.  Bob instantly changed course and ran, leaping forward, grabbing the proxy by the face, and slamming the back of his head into the ground as hard as he could.  He picked up the gun and emptied the clip into the other proxy who held a gun.  One proxy with a knife and one who was unarmed charged him.  He grabbed the one with the knife by the arm and twisted it so that the other ran into the blade, then wrenched the knife from is hand and drove it into his throat.

The night filled with screams as the men died.

I glanced back to the Slender Man.  He was gone.  He had disappeared in the confusion, for some reason.

He started walking towards the building, where the Slender Man had been. The two remaining proxies were hanging back.  One had grabbed one of the guns, but it was shaking as he held it.

“Bob!” Jenny screamed.  “Bob, stop it!”

She ran forward and started pounding her fists against him.  “Stop that!” she sobbed.  “You’re being really, really scary!”

He stopped laughing as he listened.  Looked down at her and gave her a sort of amused smile.
Wrapped his arms around her head and snapped her neck.

It was too quick for her to even react.  There was just a sharp breaking sound, and then she was lying on the ground, dead.  Ryan charged him at that.  I yelled at him to stop, but if he heard he didn’t care.  Bob sidestepped him easily, grabbed his head, and slammed it against he wall.

Dumas dragged himself over to me.  “Get out of here,” he said.  “Jenny is…she’s gone.”  He choked on the words a bit.  “But Ryan might still be alive.  Go. Get him to a hospital.”

“What about you?”

He let out a short laugh.  “Well my right hand is broken in several places, and I’ve lost enough blood in my entire left arm that I don’t think I can feel it anymore.  I’m dead if I don’t get medical attention, but I can’t go back and they’ll track me down at the hospital, so unless you know some good back alley doctor, I’m gone either way.”

“And Ryan isn’t?”

“They want him alive yet.  They…they might take him.  But he’ll be alive.  Isn’t that better?”  I couldn’t disagree.  “Now go.  I’ll hold him off for a bit.  Goodbye, Kenny.  And good luck.  I’m, um…I’m sorry for everything.”

I started creeping around to where Ryan lay.  I saw Dumas have a short, quick conversation with the proxy with the gun, at which point he handed it to him.

“Hey!  Bob!”  He held up the gun as Silent Bob looked at him.  “Count the shells, suck-a-duck!”  He fired with his broken hand and winced and swore at the kickback.  Predictably, he missed, but he used that opportunity to take off.  Bob took off after him.  The two remaining proxies followed.
I reached Ryan and checked for a pulse.  It was faint, but I could feel one.  There was a pool of blood forming around his head, and I pulled off Jenny’s hoodie (and vomited as I did so) to try to stop the bleeding somehow.  Lifted him onto my shoulders, sobbing and dry heaving, and trudged off under his weight.

I don’t know how far I made it.  I tripped and collapsed at one point.  I was feeling nauseous.  Dizzy.  Tried to lift Ryan back up but couldn’t.

A police car pulled up, its lights illuminating us and blinding me.  The officer stepped out and I started babbling to him, thanking him for stopping, telling him that Ryan had been hurt and needed and ambulance and to get to a hospital as quickly as possible.  I dropped to my hands and knees and threw up again off to the side as the officer knelt down by Ryan’s body.

“He’s dead, Kenny.”

I looked up as I heard my name and finally got a good look at the officer for the first time.  Thin, tall man, sharp features.  Of course.  Edwin Canis.

“No.  He…he can’t be dead.”

“He’s got no pulse, Kenny.”

I scrambled over and started checking for a pulse.  “No!  He’s…he’s not…”  I put my hands on his chest.  “We can defibrillate him, can’t we?  To get the pulse going again?  Where do I push?”
“It won’t work!” he snapped.  “He’s dead.  They’re not going to be able to save him at this point.  Now, tracking you back down was hell and I’m not leaving without you.  Let’s go.”

“We still have to get him to a hospital or…or somewhere.”

“No.  What we need to do is get out of here, now.  That guy you call Silent Bob is still on the loose, and it’s not safe to be here.  Just leave him.  Someone will find him.”

“I can’t!” I sobbed.  “It’s…it’s not right!”

He didn’t answer.  He just hauled me to my feet and shoved me into the passenger seat of the police cruiser.  Drove off.

I didn’t resist.  What would the point have been?

Detonation, Part 2

Jenny and Ryan turned a second later.  Jenny screamed.  Ryan was visibly shaking, but he still took a swift step in front of Jenny and struck a defensive stance.

He stood there, black suit, red tie, long gangly arms and legs, blank face, standing about eight feet tall.  He slowly started to step forward, and two more arms started growing out from his shoulders.  Then four more arms grew from all eight elbows, all held out at different angles to keep him balanced, like a branching tree.

It’d been so long since I’d seen him.  I had forgotten how absolutely terrifying the experience was.  Seeing him and not knowing what’s going through his mind, not being able to read an expression on his face, not knowing whether it’s smarter to bolt or to keep him in your sight.  I think it’s probably the worst thing one can experience.

“Go,” I said, though it was barely a whisper.  I tried again when I was able to find my voice.  “Go!  Guys, go!  Get out of here!”  We turned as one to run.  We only got a few feet before the proxies who had cut us off before—or at least six of them—showed up.

They looked as surprised as we did, and that surprise only grew when Dumas and Bob entered the lot from a different side.  Dumas was clutching his shoulder, and I could see blood coming from between his fingers.

“I don’t understand,” he said.  “We…we got away.  We went a different direction, and....”  He looked around, asking the proxies as well as us.  “How did we all end up here?”

I pointed, and everyone’s eyes turned to the Slender Man.  I looked again and he was…different.  Instead of the splitting branchy arms, he had fluidly flowing tentacles.  His tie color had changed from black to red.  “Ryan?” I said so that only he could here.  “Did you notice that?  How he changed?”

“No,” he whispered.

We all froze, staring at the Slender Man.  We made no move to run.  The proxies made no move to attack.

Then we heard a laugh.  A deep, strong laugh that echoed through the lot.  Everyone present turned to look at the source.

Silent Bob.  Normally, he has this glazed-over look in his eyes.  Always staring into space like he’s not quite there.  More animal than human.  But now, he looked…like an actual person again.  There was life in his body.  Instead of staring through everything, he was staring at someone.  The Slender Man.

And he was laughing.

Detonation, Part 1

What follows is the events of last night.

Dumas shook us all awake in the middle of the night.

“We’ve gotta go,” he hissed.  “They’re coming.”

I blinked, still half asleep.  “I thought you were on their side.”

“I am.  Was.  Look, do you want to argue this, or do you want to keep these kids safe?”

We roused Ryan and Jenny.  Dumas wanted to leave Silent Bob, but I refused to go without him.  “If you’re going against these people,” I told him, “you’re going to want his help.”

He conceded that point, agreeing that we needed his help to at least get away.  “We should ditch him as soon as possible,” he said.  “I think he’s dangerous.”  I was the one to agree at that point.  Like Last had said, he was a time bomb ready to go off. 

The five of us took off for the outskirts of Phoenix.  Dumas knew that he’d have to go on the run after this.  Once we ditched Silent Bob, the four of us would be traveling together for at least a bit more, maybe even making the arrangement permanent, or at least as permanent as we could.

Things went pretty well for a bit.  Of course, it didn’t go well for long.  As we were on the move, eight proxies stepped out of the shadows and assembled ahead of us.  Some had pistols, the rest had knives.  We slowed, and I glanced at Bob.  His eyes had widened and he looked like he was about to charge them.

“Don’t,” I said.  “You can’t take them all at once.”

“You guys need to run,” Dumas said quietly.  “I’ll try to talk to them.  Come up with some excuse about why I bolted and how it’s for the mission.  It probably won’t work too well, but it’ll give you a head start.  Just…get them away from Silent Bob, in case anything happens.”

I nodded and grabbed Jenny and Ryan and took off.  We had been moving at a fairly brisk pace before, but now we were flat-out sprinting.  We went maybe a mile before we finally slowed to catch our breaths.  We were in an empty lot behind a fairly big store.  No one around.  We were alone and helpless, and by the time I noticed it, it was already too late.

I felt a wind behind me, similar to the one I felt when I had fought Reaper and he opened the Path of Black Leaves.  I turned around to see what had happened.

There, standing less than 50 feet away, was the Slender Man.

The Bomb

Not much has changed since I updated, really.  We can't cut and run because of Dumas.  The other three don't know the situation.  Dumas, incidentally, seems like he's actually a pretty cool guy, apart from the fact that he's on the other side.  He really doesn't seem like a bad guy.  My experiences with Lyron and Magpie have given me reason to think about who exactly the "good guys" and "bad guys" are?  Clearly, the whole situation is more than just right and wrong, because I've seen that there are bad runners and good proxies.  The question now is how right it is to align yourself with something like the Slender Man or any of the other Fears.

I relieved Ryan from the watch late last night.  I have to say, I'm really impressed with his dedication.  When I told him I'd take over, he shook his head and told me he was all right.  I had to insist to get him to fall asleep.

It's kind of sad in some ways.  He always takes himself so seriously and tries to be so mature.  It's by necessity, I guess.  He's only fourteen, but he's looking out for Jenny (who's so scatterminded) and Bob (who's practically catatonic) as well as himself.  I have no doubt that he'd be better off without them, but at the same time, I can tell that it would kill him to leave them.

I guess he kind of reminds me of myself in a few ways.

Anyway, a bit after I took over on watch, Last showed up.

"I'm going to make this quick," he said as soon as he appeared.  "Kenny, listen.  You have to get out of here."

"We're trying," I told him.  "There's a proxy with us that we can't ditch, though."

"No, not you as in all of you.  You as in just you.  You need to get out of here, now."

"Why?"

He put his hand up to his face in exasperation.  "Have you not seen Diane's latest post?  Sky stated pretty clearly that this 'Silent Bob' guy is dangerous."

"I saw that she said he 'made the Slender Man lose.'  Isn't that a good thing?  Besides, you're the one who told me to pair up with these three in the first place."

"Okay, yes, that's a good thing.  I'm all for making the Slender Man lose.  And yes, okay, I hooked you up with these guys, but that's because I didn't know who exactly Silent Bob was.  I'm still not sure, but I think I have an idea of what he is, and...listen, Kenny.  He's dangerous."

"Yes, but he's on our side.  He's dangerous to them, not us."

"So if you're carrying around a bomb too use on someone else, does that mean that it's not dangerous to you?  Because that's what he is, Kenny.  He's a bomb waiting to go off, and if you're anywhere near him when whatever detonates him is set off...."

Bob stirred a bit and Last flinched.  "I should go," he said.  "I don't want to be around when he wakes up."

"Why?"

"I...don't think he would get along with me."

"Wait, what's that supposed to mean?  Are you--"

"It's complicated, Kenny.  I'm just going to need you to trust me.  Get out of here."

"I can't just leave them."

He sighed.  "No, of course not," he said.  "It wouldn't be that easy for you.  All right, then.  Stick with them.  Just know that you're playing Russian Roulette with a loaded gun."

"I thought he was a bomb."

"He is," he snapped.  "The bullet is a bomb, okay?  If consistent metaphors are your biggest concern, then the bullet can be a bomb that's being fired out of a bigger bomb for all I care.  Priorities, Kenny.  Jesus.  Goodnight."

He walked off after that.  And now I'm left with a problem.

Do I stay with our potentially dangerous friend?  Or do I take off?  If I take off, do I take Jenny and Ryan with me?

I actually talked to Dumas about it.  He said that for now, it's probably best to wait.  He can't say when anything is going to happen (I don't even know if he knows), but he thinks that we have at least a bit of time.  That's at least a bit of time that I have to make an important decision like this.

Wheeeeeee, Jenny posting time!!!

Kenny’s being a really stupid jerk about his blog now. He didn’t used to let me read his blog, but now he won’t even let me read the comments on my own posts, because he says its too dangerous! Stupid jerkface! >:(

But there’s good stuff to talk about too! We’ve got someone new with us! Dumas is really cool and nice, not like that mopey meanie Kenny. :P Dumas says he’s only been running from Slender Man for a month, which makes me the senior runner to him. And I will use the power of seniority to rule with an iron fist, and make him carry all the heavy stuff and take my watch shift so I can sleep! >:) But don’t fear, because I will be a kind ruler, and teach him the many things I know about running!~

It’s going to be soooo cool with five of us now!

Dumas has joined your party

We’ve gained a fifth member.

I’ll explain in a bit.  Let me just recap what’s been going on some more.  Ryan doesn’t want to rely on Silent Bob for defense anymore, so he’s been trying to learn some basic self-defense from me.  I’m most familiar with a staff, so that’s what I’m teaching him.  Besides, like I said in my very first post, a staff is a handy tool.  As a result, I think that I may end up staying with Jenny, Ryan, and Silent Bob longer than I had originally planned.

As you’ve no doubt seen, I’ve let Jenny make a few posts.  Part of me really doesn’t like it.  Last post, she slipped up and said we were in Phoenix.  I left it up since it’s not that big of a deal (Phoenix is a big city, and between Maggie and that proxy Bob beat up, they know we’re here anyway), but explained to her why she has to be careful.  At the same time, I probably won’t stop her from posting if she wants to again.  I know that for some of the people who blog, it’s an addiction or a compulsion.  But for others, it’s cathartic to get your thoughts out there.  It’s the only sort of therapy we get, knowing that, if we die, we’ll at least have left a few last words.

That said, I’m not sure I want her reading through my blog.  I haven’t let her yet just because there hasn’t been time, and she didn’t really bother to.  She was more concerned with showing me My Little Pony.  After recent events, I certainly don’t want her reading it now.

We were on the move again, heading closer to the outskirts of Phoenix. A few blocks away, we heard shouting.  I held up a hand to stop everyone and listened.  The noise was getting closer, and really quickly.  A man came running around a corner, pursued by two men, both wearing masks.  Bob turned as he heard them, and his eyes widened.  I reflexively threw my arm up to stop him.  The two masked men stopped in their tracks as they saw him, swore, and turned and fled.  Bob apparently has quite a reputation.

The man slowed as he saw Bob’s stare.  He threw a glance over his shoulders and saw that he wasn’t being pursued anymore.  “Hey, um…wow.  Uh, thanks for that.  For scaring off the, uh…muggers.”

“We know what they are,” I told him.

“You…you do?  Oh!  Well, thank god, then.  That makes things a bit easier.  Wow, what are the chances?”

“There are no coincidences,” I said.  He looked at me a bit funny.

“Anyway, thanks,” he said.  “Call me Dumas.”  He was a charming-looking guy, mid to late twenties, probably, with short black hair and a trimmed mustache and goatee.  “I really hate to ask, but…do you mind if I come with you for a bit?  Safety in numbers and all?”

I looked at Jenny and Ryan, and the three of us talked it over quickly before deciding that it would be okay, at least for now.

So we spent the day together, doing what we could to throw them off our scent.  Then we settled down for the night and took Dumas aside, away from Ryan, Jenny, and Bob.

“Your name sounds familiar somehow,” I told him.

“That’s…entirely possible.”  He picked up on the tone in my voice and didn’t even try to cover.

“You do realize that I read Picking at Ruins, right?  I kind of show up on the follower list.  And Diana thought it would be a good idea to post this before you tried infiltrating us?”

He sighed.  “Okay, yes, I’m a proxy.  You caught me.  No sense hiding it.  But don’t worry.  I’m not here for you guys.  In fact, I’ve got very specific orders not to harm you.  I’m just here to gather intel on that guy you call Silent Bob.  That’s all.  Look, I don’t want to fight at all.”

“I still think you should leave.  You’re trying to hurt my friends.”

“I’m not trying to hurt anyone.  I’m just following orders.  Look, Kenny, you have to understand as well as anyone how dangerous that Bob guy is.  Do you really want him around you?  Around those kids?”

“…No.  But trying to kill him or whatever it is you’re planning isn’t a good idea either.”

“We’re just trying to protect the kids.”

“Because you’re planning to convert them to your side.  How can you do that to two fourteen-year-olds?”

He looked away.  “Just…following orders,” he mumbled weakly.

“Why shouldn’t I just tell them what’s going on?”

“That…that would be very, very bad.  I’m not supposed to compromise the mission.  If you do, all five of us are dead.  They won’t bother with the covert ops at all.  I’m expendable, Kenny.  I’m half a hostage.”

I thought for a while.  “Fine.  I don’t like it, but we don’t have much choice, do we?”

“Thanks for understanding, Kenny.  Trust me, I hate this.  I really wish that we weren’t on opposite sides of this whole thing.”

“You do realize that I’m going to be doing everything in my power to protect those kids, right?”

He didn’t answer.

So that’s the situation now.  We’re traveling around with a proxy who’s gathering information on one of us, and I can’t blow his cover to the other three or else we all wind up dead.

I wonder how long this will all last.

Hello again! Jenny here!!!

We’re still in Phoenix, wandering around. One morning some stupid proxies tried surprising us when we were asleep, but Kenny was able to fight both of them off. Then Bob got up, and the proxies really ran for it! XD

Ryan asked Kenny to teach him how to fight, so soon we’ll have three people with super awesome kung fu skills!

But even with the kung fu awesome, Kenny keeps looking sad. He spends too much time sitting around thinking and looking emo when he doesn’t think we’re watching. But that’s okay, because I know the perfect solution to all sadness!

Ponies!

The next time we get a wifi signal good enough to stream youtube, I’m going to show him Friendship is Magic whether he wants to or not! >:3