PROXY AU - Marble Hornets and Slender

by AlanGBandala

Summary:

This is the story of four broken people—Tim, Brian, Tobias, and Kate—and how they try to fix themselves. Can they overcome the Operator's influence?

(This story is mean to be a guide for the reader to have a base to create comic fanarts, etc., so be free to do whatever you want. Just remember giving me credits at least for inspiration).

Chapter 1: Entry #1

"And now you…" Furiously charging hands closed on Tim's neck. Tim had nothing within reach to defend himself, and the cameraman had thrown it on the ground so he could better defend himself. But it wasn't worth it. Tim was running out of air until the knife plunged into Alex's neck. Tim breathed, looked at Alex, who with a look of confusion and fear as he brought his hand to his neck, watched as an unmasked Brian had taken him by surprise. Crawling on the ground, Alex tried to speak before he succumbed to blood loss. "Listen to me… When I die… you have to kill yourselves… It's the only way… You've seen how it spreads…" With that, Alex stopped talking, the pool of blood spread across the ground at an alarming speed, and before they knew it, they looked away for a minute to look at each other and when they looked back at Alex, he was gone. Not a trace, not a single object left behind. Not even the knife in his neck. Alex was gone, as if he'd never existed, leaving the channel's videos as the only record of his existence. Tim fainted. Brian grabbed the camera, its battery running low. Brian turned it off.

When Tim woke up, he was in his car with Brian by his side. Brian had recharged the camera's batteries and was standing guard waiting for Tim to wake up. Tim found this situation surreal. When he ran into Brian at Benedict Hall, he made the stupid decision to help him avoid falling out of the window. When he unmasked him, he realized who he was, and something in him decided to help him. Guilt? Maybe, maybe because of Jay, or maybe he needed help from him. He only remembers that when they both managed to escape from the Operator, Tim tied him to a chair and prevented him from taking the pills that, at the end of the day, were his. He has no idea how he got away, but right now he's grateful for it; he might not be alive if it weren't for Brian.

Alex's death was also a turning point for Brian. His mission had been completed, and while there was still work to be done, his mind was at peace knowing that Alex would be consumed, his revenge was done, and most importantly: Tim was still alive. Their subsequent encounter, however, was more difficult. Brian refused to speak and instead tried to text and sign to communicate with Tim. Tim understood, and they remained that way for a while, agreeing that he would not show his face on the channel so that his identity would remain a secret. Brian firmly believed that he was making a change, and therefore his identity was not important. Tim also realized that showing Brian's face on video was impossible, as whenever he tried, it only came out as mere static, completely unrecognizable. And with good reason. When Brian finally unmasked, the vision he granted was bizarre, to say the least. He lost his right eye, but in person, he appeared to be smoking something. Describing it would be like describing a color that doesn't exist, because Tim could see a trail that altered the surrounding light and generated faint flashes, like an aurora borealis, shifting in shades of red and yellow. You could call it smoke, but even that would be inaccurate. It was more like… if you broke the shell of an egg and its yolk floated out. The shell, of course, being Brian, and the yolk, that which escaped him. That which made Brian… Brian. They had to put a patch on it later, because the sight was simply disturbing. That wound was severe enough to have killed Brian, and yet here he was, breathing but not breathing. Eating, but not eating. Drinking, but not drinking. Dreaming, but not dreaming.

Tim finished putting the pieces together. He went to find Jessica where he had left her, gave her instructions on how to survive from now on, and then… then something went wrong. Tim coughed, coughed so hard his lungs tore, as if he were struggling to breathe, choking on the air itself… And when he woke up, he wasn't with Jessica anymore. Brian had taken him back to the woods, to their old hideout, in the middle of nowhere. Tim woke up bewildered, but somehow he knew what he'd done. Oh God, he remembered. This had never happened before. Every time he relapsed, he forgot everything, but this time he could remember, and worse, he felt like he wasn't the same again. Suddenly, everything he'd once been was gone; he was just being urged on by Brian to get up, but he was bewildered. Brian, on the other hand, tried to give him the pills, but decided against it when he saw that he got up… faster than usual. The mystery deepened when he realized that the last video recorded on the camera was supposed to show Tim driving, with a close-up of his head… And instead, his face was gone, leaving only static on the camera that didn't know how to interpret the Ark's influence.

Panicked, Brian tried to upload the video to the channel before they could forget anything else, but when he tried to access it, he realized he'd forgotten the password, and then why he wanted to do it, and then the last few days, and then the last few months, and then the last few years. Her birthdays, her ex-partners, the school she went to, how she met Tim, and finally… only two things remained… Her name and a certainty, the certainty that everything will be okay…

Tim woke up, but it wasn't him. He looked toward the corner of the room, and Brian understood. There he was, The Operator, watching, but walking slowly with his arms outstretched and his persistent silence. Instead, he didn't cause them pain, he didn't cause them fear, he just… comforted them. They had made a mistake.

And it was too late when they realized they had become shells.

And the worst part? Neither of them could see the warning…

 

 

 

Notes:

NOTES:

- Marble Hornets and its characters belong to Troy Wagner, Joseph Delage, and Tim Sutton. Brian's appearance is inspired by the official comics drawn by Jackie Reynolds and written by Troy Wagner.
- The ToTheArk fanmade video belongs to "ToTheArk44 - Marble Hornets Fanboy"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZYAzot7ld0

Chapter 2: Entry #2

Tim had never felt like this before. He felt like his other self, the silent one, had taken over another part of him. Suddenly, his mind didn't feel fragmented but clearer, clearer than it had ever been, and yet he knew something was wrong. He felt less human, less alive, whatever that meant. Brian, for his part, began to lose his mind soon after, his mischievous, optimistic smile becoming another mask that hid the immense despair he felt about the situation. Little by little, he began to speak again, but only to repeat the same phrase over and over:
"Everything's okay."
"Everything's okay."
"Everything's okay."
"Everything's okay."
And Tim began to believe him, or rather, to repeat it. Did he have any other choice? No, and he really began to think that saving Brian had been a mistake. Brian had become a shell of what he once was, and it was foolish to think he'd have a normal life after that thing deformed his face. Instead, he would make everything okay now. Soon he would. They wouldn't let the Operator take them.

He began to think, to reflect clearly, and to review Jay's videos. He realized that Alex had developed an obsession with fire, and Brian with water. And if the current of water takes you to the Ark, fire should destroy that connection. It was an absurd plan, but it was either that or die being consumed by the Operator, and at this point, he was willing to try anything. He robbed a convenience store in the middle of the road and stole a can of gasoline; to avoid being seen as mere static on camera, he had to retrieve his old white mask with black makeup. He showed the can to Brian, and he understood the idea; he was tired too. But he had a different proposition. Neither of them wanted to suffer being burned, so they opted for the best option: They would be knocked out while they died. A concussion, and what better way to end up with a crushed skull than a car accident.

They already had the vehicle, they already loaded the can. The lighter ignited in the back seat, and the inside of the container burned. Brian smiled genuinely again. Tim didn't share the sentiment; he just sped on and on, hoping to hit a sharp turn and be killed by a tree. He put a rock on the pedal and relaxed. He saw the Operator through the trees, watching them leave, then he saw the forest, the Operator again… and then a car.

His intention was never for anyone to get hurt, much less die, as they would become food for the Operator. But at this point, it didn't matter anymore. He felt his bones aching, his skull fractured, and his ribs broken. And with all that pain inside him, he realized that Brian had received similar treatment, both of them complaining of pain while still conscious. Why couldn't they pass out? Why did their blood refuse to leave their bodies? Why were they able to move despite the physical punishment? Because the Operator wouldn't allow them to die. Not anymore. Tim and Brian tried to close their eyes, hoping for something, but they began to despair as they realized their bodies were no longer theirs. Brian's eyes began to weep; Tim was so tired he couldn't even cry. It was then that they saw a thin figure approaching them.

It could have been anything, and for a moment they hoped it was the Operator. But it was a young woman, no more than 25, with blonde hair tied back in a ponytail. She was covered in bruises and scrapes and refused to give up from her injuries. She opened the car door, burning from the fire and scorching her palm, but she did it, grabbed Brian by his hoodie, and dragged him out. Tim followed, but he was too heavy, and the girl had to struggle harder, until she fell to her knees and could only push him with her arms. Tim's face was staring at her, his beard burning and his eyes spraying with smoke. The vehicle exploded, and the girl collapsed, exhausted. For such a heroic act, she had gotten the worst of it. Her body was the worst, even though her vehicle wasn't as badly damaged by the impact; all to save two suicide bombers who had failed in their objective. And the Operator appeared. He approached from among the trees, striding long and stretching his limbs, just as he had done with Jessica. He grabbed the girl and took her away without a trace.

Another victim, because of him.

Brian was able to get up and helped Tim quickly leave the scene, but stopped when he saw the car they had collided with. A brown-haired boy, barely over 15 years old, was strapped in, vaguely regaining consciousness as he looked around. He didn't see them, but he was safe. The impact must have caused him some pain, at least a little, but despite the impact, Tobias remained unfazed. He only reacted in shock when he realized his sister, Lyria, was missing.

Brian led Tim away from the area. They walked until the sun finally rose, and when they stopped and the Operator met them, they knew they would no longer be victims, no longer harassed, but protected. And their minds clouded once again. Why had they caused that car accident? For him, of course, because they're his protégés, because they're proxies.

And now they had their attention on the boy.

Because he had it on him.

Notes:

NOTES:

Tobias is Ticci Toby. This story is based on the second rewrite that Wade "Kastoway" wrote, which is available on his Deviantart: https://www.deviantart.com/kastoway/art/Ticci-Toby-373384541. However, it won't be an exact copy. In case you were wondering: The first version is the one with the open wound on his cheek. The third version is the one that resembles Harry Warden from My Bloody Valentine, from 1981 and 2009.

Chapter 3: Entry #3

Tobias ran, ran, and ran until someone grabbed his arm and yanked him back. He didn't feel it, he didn't feel anything, he couldn't. Natalia had grabbed him, and a white noise was coming from her mouth. Toby didn't understand, didn't want to, didn't care. He swung his axe and tried to hit Natalia, but she stopped him in time, only sacrificing her eye in the process. She counterattacked, slashing at his cheek with a knife that pierced his skin until Toby could bite the metal edge of the hunting knife. And while he was on top of Natalia, he smiled. Toby smiled.

Natalia didn't recognize the boy in front of her. Toby only smiled at her and Lyria, but the latter was dead, and neither of them could remember her well anymore. And the former was her, being attacked and brutalized by a boy who was the victim of an alcoholic father and a submissive mother. He took matters into his own hands and killed his father, begged his mother to stay away and forget about him, and then set fire to their house. The fire was spreading through the neighborhood and was now reaching the local woods. This madness had to stop, and Natalia didn't want to, but it had to.

In the midst of the struggle, Toby loosened his grip, collapsed beside a sore, screaming Natalia, who was clutching the jelly that had once been one of her green eyes, and watched as Toby's gaze twisted at an angle impossible for his head, as Natalia had twisted, broken, and dislocated his neck. Like a puppet without strings, Toby collapsed to the floor, but his face twisted into two shapes. One half, mocking and unhinged, one half joyful and excited. "He'll help me," he said to himself, "He was always there for me." But his other half, paralyzed by the knife wound, showed fear in his eyes, fear of what would happen, and deep down, a hint of regret. Why did things have to be this way? Why him? Natalia didn't flinch. She walked away from the forest and let Toby die peacefully.

But Toby didn't die. Not from the loss of blood, not from his neck. He was saved by the figure who had been watching over him and operating on him from the beginning. Toby's mind clouded; suddenly, nothing mattered anymore, not his mother, whose voice he had forgotten, nor Natalia, who was already forgetting her voice, nor his father, who had already forgotten his name. There was only him. He had saved him, he had helped him escape the hell he was living in, and he was grateful.

Toby walked into the forest, with the Operator waiting for him. In an instant, the flames dissipated, and they both went with the same flames. To the Ark.

Toby started out as just another victim, but just like Brian and Tim, he would now be the Operator's protégé. Tim couldn't help but feel sorry for the boy if only his mind hadn't been blocked from his actions. He could only feel hatred for the boy who constantly made noises. Unlike him and Brian, the boy was constantly making those annoying "tick, tick, tick" sounds he made while twisting his neck, always betraying his position. But Tim had no problem attacking the boy for that, nor did Toby, who returned the blows with uncontrolled enthusiasm and madness. To top it all off, the boy spoke slowly, almost like a zombie or an 8-year-old. The final straw came when, not receiving names from Tim or Brian, they began to be called "Masky" and "Hoodie" respectively. It was annoying, absurd, and they hated him, but the Operator wasn't immune to it either. He called him "Slender," and as always, he couldn't care less.
Natalia would survive the encounter, as would Toby's mom, but the case wasn't thoroughly investigated. Just like Lyria, they slowly forget Toby ever existed. They'll forget his blue hoodie and brown sweatshirt, they'll forget his bandaged hands and brown hair, they'll forget his orange glasses and face mask, and soon they'll forget all the "Wanted" posters Tim and Brian tore down across the county. And maybe that's for the best...

Notes:

NOTES:
- Natalia is a watered-down version of Clockwork and, like her, canonically killed Toby, she replaces Lyria in the music videos this episode is based on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYUmJiBpc-M, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsgigUFmtoY, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zEqQ-4GuXk, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsgigUFmtoY, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V89VzqMOLrw
- Toby's physical appearance is based on the Morgue Files version, that of Tobias Adams: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/L2AY9r I decided to remove Toby's last name to more closely respect Kastoway's wishes and keep his past ambiguous.

Chapter 4: Entry #4

Brian hated Toby. He always tried to keep quiet, even though he no longer knew why he was doing it, but why would he talk then? There's no point in complaining about the situation they were in; the Operator was always listening and watching everything. And then there was Toby, with his constant, incessant, and exhausting "Tics, tics, tics" that drove him crazy. His eye always hurt, his ribs were suffocating, and he swore that if he could shoot himself, he would. But he couldn't; he didn't have the option to die, and if he did, he knew he'd end up in the Operator's hands, like everyone else. He was just a victim made to be the victimizer; there was no choice but to follow and wait.

Toby didn't think the same. The boy was enthusiastic, energetic, childlike, and loud when they were alone. Even the blows didn't shut him up, and they'd already given up trying (although that always bothered Brian). Whenever they had to kill someone, Toby did it with a smile hidden behind his mask, only revealed by his mocking laughter. Whenever they had to burn down a place to eliminate evidence of the Operator, Toby was the first to throw the gasoline. Whenever they had to move from one place to another, Toby trailed behind as if he were scouting. It was strange; Brian didn't understand Toby. He remembered that he wasn't like that when they were watching him; he was an insecure, fearful, and submissive child, nothing like this. Could it be the mask that gave him confidence? Impossible. Or could it be that the Operator (or "Slenderman," as Toby called him) had done something to his brain that changed it? Could it have changed something in Brian or Tim, too? He decided to stop thinking, because everything would be better when he had nothing on his mind.

As the months passed, Brian and Tim learned to move through the Ark to reach their targets more quickly. It wasn't a pleasant journey, and they usually took a while, but there was always the possibility that they'd forget everything that happened inside by the time they got out, and the journey time would be shorter than the journey itself, so they were fine with the idea. The Ark was bizarre, to say the least. There were days and nights that passed in the blink of an eye or that never ended, there were places in the world connected through a dry forest that shouldn't even be close to each other, and there were things inside that no one wanted to remember their form. If the Ark is a living being, the Operator is just a miserable part of that bastardized, mimetic ecosystem. But at least one thing remained stable: The Tunnel.

The Tunnel that seemed to belong to Rosswood Park but wasn't, or at least I wasn't sure of that anymore, because it always seemed to emerge in a multitude of unconnected parks and forests. A direct entrance to the Ark, but one that only worked if its residents wanted you inside. It was confusing, but he didn't care. The Operator had let them through, and they wouldn't be in Rosswood anymore, but in Oakside Park. A very familiar place for Brian, but he couldn't explain why. What had once been a thriving, fertile forest full of opportunities for the miners and the families who lived around it had become a breeding ground for urban legends and rural myths that gave the region a bad name. It wasn't until a devastating fire destroyed hundreds of acres of the forest that it was decided to close it down and abandon the land. What they saw now were hundreds of meters covered in a thin layer of ash that still hadn't cleared, and whose smoldering wood still clouded their vision. Tim and Toby followed Brian, as he was navigating much better than the other two. "So... it's haunted?" the boy said, but no one paid attention to him.

They then came across the charred remains of someone. A boy, much younger than Toby. His malnourished little body had been bone-deep long before the flames had reached him. He had a broken ankle and was immobilized, unable to escape. He must have been about 8 or 10 years old, but determining his age was difficult, especially since all that remained of the boy was his ashes. Toby, in a brazen, unsympathetic display, kicked the body, shattering its ribcage. Even in death, Charlie Matteson Jr. never had a rest.

They headed to an abandoned suburb, never finished, but with enough space to get a clear view. The dispatcher directed them there. Why? From among the wreckage of collapsed bricks, a figure emerged from a hidden basement. Hooded in a white sweatshirt that had turned gray from wear and the grime of its surroundings. The one lying there grunted and hid, hissing as it watched the others. Tim and Brian decided to approach, but Tim fell behind when he realized Toby was getting ahead of him, so he held the boy in position while Brian approached. It was getting dark, and when the moon finally peeked through the clouds, the entity slipped from the ruins and emerged. It was noticeable in the darkness that it was also masked, and Tim knew it was one of them. Another Proxy. The difference here was that the white mask was simpler and split in two, from mouth to forehead, held only by what remained of it. Beneath the mask, second-degree burns peeked out across the face, with the nose thankfully intact but the lower lip busted open. Fortunately, it could still communicate, though it didn't do so until everyone returned to the ark.

Toby immediately thought of giving him a nickname. He hadn't yet gotten rid of him calling Tim and Brian "Masky and Hoodie." Knowing this was going to happen again with this person, Brian whispered to him to please at least say one name so Toby wouldn't call him by a stupid nickname. That's when he took off his mask, and they realized it was a girl, similar in age to Tim and Brian, though much shorter than Toby. Her name was Kate, and that was all he could remember other than the tall figure in the woods. She was definitely one of them.

That night, Toby also learned the names Masky and Hoodie, and only started using the nicknames whenever he wanted to annoy them or get their attention. In response, they began to shut him up with a simple "Ticci Toby." No one gave in; Kate found it annoying, but this was the life she would be given now. The one the Operator chose for her. And she couldn't do more if she didn't want to suffer punishment from him, because while Toby was grateful and cajoled by the Operator, Kate was guided by something simpler: Fear.

Notes:

NOTES:

-Kate and Oakside Park are creations of Troy, Joseph, and Tim, but legally belong to Blue Isle Studios.
-I killed Charlie Matteson Jr. because I hate his character and didn't quite know what to do with him. I'm sorry to those who wanted a part of him, but he won't be forgotten so easily, I promise.

Chapter 5: Entry #5

When Kate joined, things calmed down and became agitated at the same time. It was hard to explain. On the one hand, Toby calmed down with her comments and stopped bothering Tim and Brian so much. On the other hand, the tension in the group was higher. Everyone had a different way of seeing the Operator: Tim learned Brian's name, Toby ignored him and used his silly nickname, and Kate refused to give him a name. The four also struggled with how to operate. Toby was more reckless; he loved the sadistic, mocking persona he'd developed when attacking, but he was careless and extremely incompetent. Kate was agile and silent, but she had a crucial problem: Photophobia. She hated light. They couldn't even activate the flashlights they got because it hurt her. Who knows? Maybe it was the charred skin, maybe it was the eyes; it was hard to tell when everything on your face hurt. Brian was more strategic, more patient, more calculating, but he tended to leave the work to others and rarely did anything other than willingly serve as bait for ambushes. Tim was strong, capable of taking down a person if he put his mind to it, and also effective, but he was clumsy with objects and was usually just the heavyweight. Toby once dared to compare him to a mule. He got a blow to the eyebrow for it.

With the exception of Toby's axes, none of them owned any personal belongings. They couldn't live like normal people because the cameras recorded their faces like static, sometimes with glowing eyes, and when it wasn't a camera, human eyes could easily tell that something wasn't right, either from the extreme injuries that should have killed them or from their near-dead appearance. Every time they attacked someone, they had to use everything they could get their hands on from their personal belongings: every piece of clothing, every shower, every meal, every drop of water. In reality, none of the four needed to eat or drink to stay alive, not anymore, and even when they were tired, they rarely fell asleep, but the taste, the hydration, the mere sensation was the least they could quell. The need to eat and drink, basic needs of a living being that is neither alive nor dead.

And to all this, why did they kill? Why did they harass? They never had a clear answer; it was always confusing. Ideas germinated in the back of their minds, but they knew perfectly well they weren't their own, like a tongue licking the sweetness that was their minds and leaving a simple message in their saliva: "Kill him," "Burn him," "Destroy him," "Bring him to me," "Keep an eye on him." But they disguised themselves, like an Operator in his suit and human silhouette, and camouflaged themselves as "I must kill him," "I must burn him," "I must destroy him," "I must bring him," "I must keep an eye on him." They moved through the woods and streets at night, when they least expected it, crossing the Ark, and they didn't know or perceive the passage of time, which sometimes lasted minutes and sometimes weeks. Tim could swear they had been there for months once, but he had no way of proving it.

And when that happened, when there was no one to serve or follow, they turned on each other. They attacked each other, sometimes without provocation. Tim felt aggressive impulses toward Brian; Kate would begin to attack while she entered a trance, stop speaking, and become an animal that only hissed and scratched; while Toby would strike with the butts of his axes anyone who, in his eyes, took the Operator's attention away from him. Everyone had a reason, even if they didn't remember it, but they hated each other, hated their lives, hated their looks, hated their conditions, and hated themselves. And the Operator was pleased, for he could consume them little by little until they were shells, and then, after that, he could just throw their remains into the Ark.

But that wasn't all he could do. Not long ago, they had to confront a girl whose... loved one was trapped on the Ark, in a state similar to theirs, alive and dead at the same time, her eyes reflecting the void that was now the shell of her body, and she, naively, waiting for him to come back to life. She doesn't know she's at the point of no return; she's just feeding the Operator, and it seems at this point he doesn't care about her anymore. Tim took the evidence, burned it, and in a moment, not even he would remember these people's faces. Their only record would remain on the girl's YouTube channel, one that also showed others like them, other proxies, restraining the bespectacled girl and serving the Operator. It was naive to think it would just be him and the others. The Operator is everywhere. Maybe he doesn't remember, but Jay did quite a bit of his part when he started his investigation. Tim was wrong when he said no one would care about the videos. As soon as Jay left Tuscaloosa, other people started making their own videos, most of them fake, playing with the "Slenderman" persona. This made people aware of the Operator, this made people infected, and, like this girl did with her channel, this fueled the Operator. Even those who try to help aren't exempt from being part of the problem.

Inside that channel was someone, one of the kids Tim and the others were tasked with eliminating from the collective consciousness. The boy wore a gas mask because the infection in his body had reached alarming levels. He wore a gray sweatshirt and called himself the "infection antibody." If any of the four had seen him, if they could recognize the goal Brian once had, they would realize they weren't so different, but that didn't matter anymore. He had become just another victim, and Ellie an unwitting proxy. That's the dangerous thing about the Operator. You don't need a mask or a hood to become a proxy, you don't even need to kill people. Just spread the word, draw him, portray him, record him, make the infection spread. He always knows how to guard his boundaries, knows when to stop, when to spread, who to infect, and who to consume. For in his ambiguous figure and his facelessness, you'll never want to go, you'll never want to kill, but his outstretched arms and persistent silence will terrify and comfort you at the same time.

If only the four of them had seen that girl's channel. If only they had realized that they, too, are being haunted by something else...

Notes:

NOTES:
- Ellie and the Antibody are from the One Hundred Yard Stare series, a Slenderverse series that revives and recycles many elements of Marble Hornets, to the point where it's considered part of the same universe in some circles.
- The Slenderverse isn't canon here; it's just fans who don't know Marble Hornets actually happened. This includes EverymanHYBRID, DarkHarvest, MLAndersen, etc. The only exception is One Hundred Yard Stare, although I'm still deciding whether to also reference Tulpa Effect.

Chapter 6: Entry #6

Many times, neither Tim, Brian, Toby, or Kate knew what the mission had entailed. They had just arrived at their lair, that abandoned structure that had once served as shelter for Brian and now they would have to share it between the four of them. They didn't remember what had happened in the last five days, and perhaps it was for the best, because the Operator usually sent them to do that sort of thing: be bait. At the end of the day, the Operator wasn't a monarch or a god, but just another creature that feeds and hunts in ways that are malicious and cruel to his victims, but natural to him.

At least they'll be able to sleep today. Rest, relax, and not have to push their bodies to the limits of what's bearable. It's funny how every time they return, at least one of them has something to say, and it's not always to everyone's liking. Tim only exuded pure sarcasm and comfort in knowing that the dirty, moldy mattress he sleeps on awaited him at the end of each mission. Brian reflects nothing of the person he once was; his confidence and determination transformed into toxic optimism and a deep insecurity about whether, in the Operator's eyes, he was good or bad. He didn't want to be punished again; he hated them. Every muscle in his body would tense and begin to spasm, his breathing would turn into muffled moans or a dry cough that tore at their insides; sometimes they would even spit out blood or that strange black substance that kept them alive. Toby was the one who didn't suffer from this; biologically, he was incapable of feeling pain and was only concerned with making the Operator "proud." He would take advantage of anything possible to belittle Tim and Brian, even if he started the problem during the mission. The one he never messed with was Kate, not because he didn't resent her for simply existing, but because she was the most disconnected of them all. When she spoke, it was a voice that only emphasized what no one had seen, be it the moonlight, the sound of a swamp, or the song of nightingales. But she was usually silent. She didn't like to talk because she had nothing to say. She felt repressed and underestimated, but she didn't fight to get out of it. What choice did they have? They were all trapped in the same life, and the only one who seemed to enjoy it was Tobias, who lay on his mattress made of cardboard pieces with a grim, content smile.

Toby slept with his axes beside him; he kept them as toys, and some suspected he even gave them names. The only thing Tim kept with him, apart from his mask, was a pistol without bullets, which he only used to threaten people, unaware that the weapon wasn't even loaded. Brian was more concerned about his belongings; he guarded them jealously and made sure to always bring the best for missions. His most valuable possession was a large wrench, which he also used as a weapon. Fortunately for the rest, he didn't keep things for long. Whenever he found something better, he immediately discarded what he already had to lighten the load. Kate was the only one who had nothing. She was almost never seen sleeping lying down, but curled up in the fetal position against a wall, as if she couldn't rest properly and only the tiredness in her eyes forced her to sleep. She didn't show it, but Toby was sure there were huge dark circles under her burns. It wouldn't be strange on his part; he had them too, and naturally.

Brian placed his mask over his face and went to sleep. It would be a while before Toby and Kate fell the same, with Tim being the last to stay awake. He got up from his mattress and went outside to smoke. He had stolen a pack of cigarettes from one of his victims and was thinking about smoking until his lungs exploded, so he would die faster than the others. Passive suicide, a technique he was familiar with.

He smoked about three cigarettes until he ran his hand over his chin, feeling the rasp of facial hair growing on his face. Since he started wearing the mask again, his beard was getting in the way, and he'd gone back to shaving, only occasionally letting his hair grow a little longer. He searched the structure until he found some pieces of glass, one for a mirror and one for shaving. Everything was going well until he noticed a semi-human figure reflected in one of the panes. "Go back to sleep, Tobias," he said, but there was no response. He turned around and thought it was the Operator, but he wasn't wearing a hood.

The figure standing outside the glassless window was human, almost normal. He wore a blue hood with a pale mustard-colored jacket. His face was covered by a mask, a very cartoonish skull mask, almost like a child's drawing. Tim thought it was another proxy like them, but when he spoke, no words came out, only voices, a collection of meaningless voices with no specific volume, some whispering and others shouting. Tim knew the thing wasn't human, so he ran away and reached for his weapon. He could make out how the thing was running into the woods and followed him in pursuit.

He then came to a clearing, one he could swear hadn't been there before. The trees began to look similar to each other, and Tim assumed he was on the Ark. He moved forward and forward until he realized he had lost the hooded man. He gave up, exhausted, and turned around, then felt the gloved hand on his shoulder. The man was standing in front of him, staring into his eyes. Two eyes peered out from the darkness the mask created when it was backlit by the moon, but it didn't attack Tim. Tim didn't attack him either. He entered a trance in which he slowly began to understand the stranger.

"Can you hear me?"
"Can you hear me?"

Tim fainted. He heard something else as his eyes denied the light and his brain gave in. He thought he would die, but he didn't.

“YOU ARE BROKEN”
“YOU CAN BE FIXED”

Notes:

NOTES:

- The masked figure is Skully, a character originally from the Marble Hornets comics.
- "Go back to sleep, Tobias" is a reference to "Go back to sleep, Rogers" only this time, Tim doesn't know Toby's last name.

Chapter 7: Entry #7

It was a quiet morning for the boys, something not so common, but important for them. Those moments of peace are treasured for days on end, whether with Kate lying in the field and watching the wild animals, with Toby playing among the fallen logs and being able to remove his fossal without inconvenience, Brian admiring the trees or Tim just smoking outdoors. However, this time it was different. Tim smoked, yes, but he did so impatiently, almost nervously, something Brian found out about. Brian's modern personality prompted him to approach Tim, even though he didn't like him, he couldn't let something like that happen. Who knows? Maybe it had to do with the Operator. When Brian approached, Tim's nervousness skyrocketed until he couldn't hide it anymore. He didn't know what to do about it, but he didn't have the confidence to talk about it. Brian just approached without his mask on, the hole in his eye smoking that bizarre breeze that distorted the light into smoke. His silence said it all, he was worried, and Tim didn't respond.

They had to break the silence. Brian had covered up for Tim so that he wouldn't be discovered by Kate or Toby, saying that he had only gone out for an early smoke. In reality, Brian got up before everyone and realized that Tim was gone, so he feared the worst. With a small “Thank you,” Tim indicated that he appreciated the gesture, but his tone affirmed his insecurity. Brian understood it, because something in him made him know that it was the right way to approach Tim, not by being insistent but by asking permission for his confidentiality.

Tim made him a promise. He would show her what was important at night, when Toby and Kate were asleep. The proposal was accepted. Tim had woken up that morning in the middle of the meadow, with a box and inside, a tightly wrapped video camera along with a note: “They will need it.” There was a video card in the camera that was compatible with it, Tim took a quick look at it and didn't recognize any of the videos, but he could recognize her face... How was that possible? They couldn't be in front of the cameras because their faces would be distorted in a cloud of incomprehensible glitches, but the Tim in those recordings was younger, less injured and still, sad in his eyes...

Night fell and they decided to watch everything in chronological order, starting with the oldest video, one from 2006. Tim turned on the camera, Brian sat next to him and a text read on the tiny screen: “Alex Kralie's Marble Hornets / Auditions Day 1/?? / 11am-7pm” And then a boy in a cap that neither of them recognized. For a moment, the one they assumed was this Alex seemed depressed that no one came, in fact, the video became more uncomfortable with each passing moment... Until someone familiar finally appeared. Younger, with both eyes in his skull and with clean clothes, introducing himself to the camera with a simple “Um, I'm Brian?”

Brian couldn't believe it, a tear fell from his good eye. It was like seeing a ghost, it was as if he were the ghost, the ghost of a person who previously existed, lived, smiled genuinely and without straining his cheeks. He had a life before, he was normal before, he had lost everything. And shortly after, another agent appeared on the scene.
“Hey, who´s that?”
“Ah, it's just my buddy Tim, we'll go eat after this.”

And Tim appeared on the scene, a very different one, but unlike Brian, he still maintained part of his current personality impregnated in his old face. It seems that even though Tim was normal, he wasn't happy. The video progressed to show clips without context of streets and lights that this Alex took, until the camera began to fail and at the end of a street they saw him, the Operator, but Alex did not see him. And that's how they knew that this trip was going to hurt a lot...

They saw everything, from how Alex attacked them to how the operator showed up, from how this Jay began to investigate to Tim infiltrating their apartment. However, there was no trace of anything related to alternate accounts, so they were confused when they heard the name “totheark”. Of course, they realized that these messages had been uploaded to a YouTube account, so perhaps they were still there. The last videos were the strangest, as they showed Tim attacking Jessica and then showing his face full of glitches while driving down a road and the sirens of an ambulance could be heard in the background. They both feared that the girl had not survived and now they understood quite a bit. The situation became tense when Brian realized that everyone was there because of Tim, or at least him, and although his anger was slowly being channeled and his resentment was anchored to his white-masked companion, he didn't say anything and insisted that they continue watching. There was one last video left. One that, for some reason, was labeled with an entry number they had already passed, number 37. But that one had been uploaded by someone other than Jay, and the one they were about to see seemed to be one of his... A lost entry. Maybe because of memory loss.

“Entry #37”

“I found the following tape when I returned to the forest”

“The video quality is poor, and I don't know when this was filmed either”

He then went to a tape in the middle of the forest, maybe the Ark or Rosswood, they couldn't tell. It was of a person running and collecting notes while being followed closely by the Operator. It wasn't until the eighth note was reached that a voice was heard...
"There, that's all of them! What more do you want? Leave me alone!" and the Operator, using his ability to imitate voices, spoke: “I have plans for you, Kate.” And then it was day.

The recording cut out, and Jay commented the following:

"The tape ends there" "There was no sign of who may have filmed it. Only a label on the tape that says: WATCH THIS" "Someone is trying to help me."

But Jay wouldn't upload that video. Shortly after editing it, he suffered an attack that caused him to faint and appear several kilometers away from the hotel where he was staying. It was so severe that he didn't realize that the entrance he made had vanished when he returned to the hotel. Jay only commented on it on Twitter and when he got to the hotel, the new Entry #37 had been uploaded to the channel. An effective sabotage that remained silent... until now.

 

Notes:

NOTES:

- Lost Entry #37 is based on the MH mode for The 8 Pages, as well as the Twitter entries in which Jay loses consciousness.

Chapter 8: Entry #8

Before those videos, Tim and Brian weren't that close. They respected each other, but there were occasional clashes. The only thing they agreed on was that they hated Toby, but beyond that, there was no attachment between them. Now everything had changed. Suddenly, they were the closest to each other. There was a silent confidentiality agreement between the two that prevented them from speaking about what they saw, at least not until they figured out what to do with that footage. Why would they give it to Tim? It didn't make sense. To begin with, anyone who knew of his existence would be something similar or worse than the Operator, but he didn't attack Tim or even kill him. If anything, he must have been a messenger or something. They didn't know. And no one else should have known. They both recognized Kate's voice at the end of the last video and couldn't understand what her connection to them was, since she never appeared in Jay's investigation, so who sent her the tape?

Their behavior didn't go unnoticed by Kate or Toby. It was already known that they work better together, but they spent more time together than usual. Toby couldn't bother Tim like he used to because Brian was always around, so he just limited himself to the annoying nicknames he used to call each other. But even the so-called Masky and Hoodie didn't react with annoyance to that anymore; they were unfazed, and soon it stopped being fun. Toby began to fall silent again.

They had a new mission. This time they headed to the Ark and wandered for a while until they began to see rusty scrap metal in the woods, tin sheds piled up on the ground, and scrapped cars... And then they noticed the Ark began to change. The trees turned autumnal orange and yellow, then spring green, and was that a stream? Brian ran toward the body of water, as it was roaring, implying large amounts of water. It was actually a river that flowed into a huge pond, but it definitely wasn't the center of the Ark.

Where were they? The Ark served as a reflection of the real world, not a perfect imitation. And then they realized they weren't alone; something was with them, and they had to get it out. They split up, each going their separate ways. Toby and Kate were the first to notice. A girl with light brown hair and a black sweatshirt, carrying a matching backpack, stood peacefully admiring the scenery. She seemed unusually unaffected by her surroundings until Toby approached. Tim and Brian already had her in their sights; they were about to ambush, but Toby had to make the loudest "TICK, TICK, TICK" he'd ever made. The girl turned around, but far from feeling afraid or upset, she bravely faced Toby with a "Hey, you!"

It was now or never. Kate was the first to emerge from hiding while Toby stopped his attacks. Tim and Brian closed in behind the girl, and just as they got their hands on her and Brian was about to hit her over the head with a rock, she suddenly turned around and screamed. Her scream was so unnatural that it knocked the two proxies flying. Kate came up behind the girl and jumped to try and grab her, but she was stopped in midair by a dark force, like smoke, that billowed out of the girl's arm as she pointed her hand at it. She made a considerable effort at this, and her snort made its presence felt. Toby then reacted, swinging his axe at the girl, and she ducked at the moment; the blade of the weapon almost sliced ​​through her head, but she dodged it. Then the girl let out another scream, accompanied by a powerful force that pushed the leaves, the earth, the trees, and the proxies away.

“You won't take my garden!” the girl screamed. With her attackers down, she ran off. Brian and Tim chased her, leaving Kate and Toby behind. The Ark slowly began to mend itself, the trees withered, the leaves rotted, and the branches bent. The mysterious girl began to hyperventilate when she realized her attackers, or at least two of them, were close behind. So she began to scream and call for help. This was now more familiar to the proxies.

Confident, Brian and Tim slowed their pace; they knew Kate and Toby would be trying to ambush her later. Kate ran, and Toby retrieved his axe, intending to throw it again. But when they least expected it, the girl stopped dead in her tracks. They didn't understand why at first until they heard the whispers. These weren't normal whispers, not the ones they were used to, at least. They were for her.
“Mary… Mary…” They said occasionally, followed by incomprehensible murmurs that only encouraged the girl. She turned, raised her hands, and the light, the shapes, the imitation of matter, all within a huge bubble that formed around her, began to writhe in pain. But Toby felt no pain, and when he threw his axe and realized it lost momentum mid-air, he decided to charge at the girl. But his legs collapsed, unable to move, and with his ears ringing, Tim and Brian had to pull him out of range. Kate approached to help them, but in the process, the two adults were trapped, unable to react, with only one phrase screamed through their beings by something they couldn't understand.

“GET OUT!!!”

The Ark composed itself. Kate realized Toby was knocked out. Day had turned to night, but the girl, along with Tim and Brian, had disappeared. And worse, the Operator wasn't happy at all. Fearfully, she picked up Toby, dragged him to a tree, and left him sitting on its roots. She then ran into the darkness, hands in front of her, hoping not to hit a tree in her escape, but it was no use. She ran straight for the Operator, who let her know he wasn't happy with what she'd done. But at least the girl was gone from the Ark, so this torture wasn't as severe. She was left with her head smashed and her brain throbbing, her senses ultra-sensitive, and lying in the fetal position on the floor of the forest that wasn't a forest. A torture that, by the Operator's standards, was mild.

Notes:

NOTES:

- The mysterious girl is Mary, from Hiiimmarymary. I understand this ARG is connected to the Slenderverse thanks to Stan Frederick and the fact that the two creators are friends in real life, but the only connection I found is actually the same audio of a door knocking, so it doesn't count for me.

Chapter 9: Entry #9

When Tim woke up, he couldn't see where he and Brian were, a push on the shoulder woke him up and Brian took off his hood and balaclava to get some fresh air. But they were indoors, a cozy and apparently abandoned place. A suburban house with two floors and a basement that, after a quick inspection, they realized that all the portraits of a girl, from her childhood to her adulthood, had her face cut out by hand with scissors. Work of the Operator? Anyway, the infection can distort people's faces in hallucinations, but this was different. This was hatred, hatred towards the physical.

Tim and Brian then deduced that it was the house of the girl, this Mary, who they attacked recently. They didn't know where Toby or Kate was, but they didn't care. They decided to take advantage of the daylight and the abandoned house, with layers of dust impregnating the furniture and loose sheets, to be able to enjoy the comforts of an apparently normal life. And better, because they wouldn't have to share it with the other two. They took everything from the cupboard and the refrigerator and ate until they couldn't eat anymore, they took off their clothes and cleaned them in the washing machine, they drank liters of water and lay down on the couch and the bed, separated, of course. They took turns bathing, Brians got in first and Tim decided to explore a little more. He noticed that the food they had taken from the cupboard had disappeared, he looked again at where they had taken it and to his surprise, it was there, as if it had not been uncovered in the first place. He went up to the second floor and arrived at a room that had a kind of ritual or altar, it was a semi-circle made of Christmas lights, with some broken glass in the bathrooms and bedrooms. Tim felt uncomfortable, but he didn't care, he just left and closed the room without saying anything.

Brian came out of the bathroom and Tim relieved him. While he was looking for a new shirt so he could change his own (he didn't find it), he decided to check some things that could be in the house and that would be useful in his next objectives. He didn't find much, everything he needed had been taken, but there was something that hadn't been touched in a long time: A laptop. The screen and keys were full of dust and dirt, but still functional, and luckily for him, there was no password. Brian tried to manipulate the device but encountered two problems. First, no type of network reached the device. I had internet, but no page was functional, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, everything was as if the only user was the owner of the computer, the account called “hiimmarymary”. Brian never checked the contents of the account because the second problem was that the battery was dying and there was no charger nearby. Brian knew what to do.

He headed to the basement, with the laptop in his hands and using a flashlight that he always brought with him. He looked for a generator because he wanted to find a cable and connect it directly from there. After a while of work and after Tim came out of the bathroom, dried off and dressed in his red plaid shirt, the device finally started working. Tim noticed that the basement was open and he went down to find Brian with a triumphant smile. But the computer did not turn on as it should, the image on the screen was not that of a normal computer, but rather a signal. They saw the girl from before... in hell. Masked figures harassing her in the glass and reflections, ominous shadows moving without her realizing it, A cut of no more than two minutes that showed that they were dealing with someone who had already been through something much worse than them. Was this because of the Operator? No, this was different. Much more personalized, more personal. And Brian noticed, in a corner of the video, the cause of this: arklistener 452 running
The name was familiar, too familiar, and was obviously related to the Ark, but as far as they knew, he and Tim were the only ones who called that confusing and bizarre place among places that, so how come the name “Ark” was here too? Something didn't fit. Pieces were missing. Brian manipulated the computer and realized that there were more similar signals, if this was 452, it means that there must be 451 more out there, they just had to find them and know where this is being transmitted from, or even who was doing it.

While they were thinking about it, Tim had a revelation that he hesitantly tried to share with Brian. The girl, the supposed Mary, was imprisoned in this extension of the Ark, but she was free, had abilities and controlled part of the Ark. How? Does that mean there was a way to disconnect? To be… free? It was a very risky and crazy idea, even Tim wasn't sure about it, but Brian, with his remaining eye, had an optimistic glow that was undeniable. They could be free...

Excited, Brian took the computer and prepared to burn the place, they could not leave footprints or traces of themselves, so whenever they entered and left an unoccupied house they prepared to burn it. Brian began to spray oil and gasoline all over the floor, from the upper floor to the basement, but Tim tried to check the exits, realizing that they were closed. It wasn't that the lock was on or they had keys, it's that everything was open and nothing moved even a little, no matter how hard he tried. He punched, kicked and lunged, but nothing worked. Brian wasn't paying attention to him. Then Tim tried to break the glass, but it didn't work either, he hit the window with a chair and it bounced, he was going to hit it a second time until he noticed someone watching from outside. Tim recognized him. The masked man With his square smile and white mask, hooded and gloved, he approached the house and stood facing the glass. Tim didn't react, he just put on his mask and faced him.

“YOU ARE BROKEN”

The stranger grabbed the door and didn't move it.

“YOU CAN BE FIXED”

And then he started to leave. Tim didn't understand what was happening, but Brian arrived later, without realizing what had happened, and opened the door as if it hadn't been locked before. Tim didn't understand, but the confused face was hidden by the mask, Brian put his on, took a match and lit the trail of oil he had made.

“Everything will be fine”

Brian whispered to himself as the two watched the fire and disappear into the wooded area. Now they must know where they were.

Chapter 10: Entry #10

“Kaaaaate, kaaaaate.” Toby stood beside a cowering Kate, hugging her knees and burying his face in her chest. His mask was about to fall off his face, but the exposed scars on his face warned him against it. Toby apparently didn't remember anything about what had happened; they were both no longer on the Ark, and it showed because they could hear jays singing among the trees and sunlight peeking through the pine treetops, instead of the unnatural gray sunshine the Ark sometimes possessed.

Kate got up; her head was throbbing, and she had to deal with Toby boasting that whatever happened to him last night didn't hurt. Kate soon realized that Brian and Tim were nowhere to be seen. “What do I know,” Toby said. “As far as I'm concerned, they shouldn't come back.” But Kate knew they had to go back, not only because the missions were easier with them, but because she feared the faceless man would punish them again for something that wasn't their fault. She brushed herself off and urged Toby to go with her to find the other two. But Toby refused.

"Why should I?" she asked. Kate, her voice raspy from yelling so much last night and barely speaking, replied, "Because I can't do it alone." That, although not the intention Toby understood, boosted the boy's ego, and he decided to leave with her. The two walked through the woods, hoping to find somewhere to settle down or re-enter the Ark.

"Are you okay?" Kate asked. "Of course. Why wouldn't I be?" Toby replied. Kate clarified that she wasn't feeling well and was surprised that Toby wasn't the same. "That's the good thing about being me," the immature pubescent boy replied, twisting his head 90 degrees unnaturally. Kate hated that Toby did that, but she didn't really hate Toby. Unlike Brian and Tim, who could sometimes come to yelling matches at Toby (especially Tim if he messed up a mission like he did a few hours ago), she had no problem with the way Toby was. Even though she was the shortest of the group, Toby was clearly younger, a boy doomed to the Operator's treatment who would be unable to age and would rot in life, like the other proxy child Kate met before joining the others.

Kate always tried to reach out to Toby. If she was having a bad time as a proxy, she naturally expected the others to have a similar time. But Tim was too reserved, Brian always wore a fake smile, and Toby responded with, "Who the f*ck needs a social life? I have the voices in my head to keep me company! Heh." So she gave up and returned to her silent meditation, which, despite being accompanied, made her feel alone.

After a while, they finally arrived at a house. It looked abandoned but in good condition. Kate expected to find someone living there and that it was simply neglected, but the truth was that it was completely uninhabited, perhaps abandoned not long ago. She couldn't say exactly how many years or months it had been, as she had long since lost track of time; sometimes weeks, other times, and sometimes years passed without them even noticing. Toby went straight to the upstairs rooms, looking for anything of interest that had been abandoned. Kate decided to inspect the kitchen. Seeing that nothing of value was inside, she decided to inspect the dining room. There she found a backpack, deformed by its contents, indicating it was heavily loaded. Her excitement disappeared when she realized it was just an old video camera and several wall-mounted chargers. Disappointed, she picked up the camera and began to inspect it. It was fully charged and contained a note: "Kate" ... What? This was for her… Intrigued, she turned on the device and there were only two videos on it. She started with the first one, which began in a rural area, and the person recording spoke:

“The date is September 19th, my name is CR. On the side of the Matheson family farm, continuing my investigation into Charlie's disappearance. Let's see what we can turn up.”

He barely spoke, and Kate felt a chill run down her spine—something wasn't right, something she shouldn't have heard. The video continued, and she recognized it as an incident involving the Operator, as well as the proxy boy she'd met. She'd never learned his name. The video came and went, but it showed important information about the affected area, something Kate found familiar. Intrigued, she immediately went to play the latest video.

And it was her, without a mask, hoodie, or scars. It was her, with shoulder-length hair, frantically carving drawings of the Operator onto sheets of paper. From the window, a thunderstorm could be seen pouring down the area, and when she heard something, past Kate grabbed the camera and whispered, "He's here..." She ran to close all the windows and doors in the house, but it was too late. Kate knew at the moment. That wouldn't stop the Operator. All it took was him appearing in the room next to the piano for her past self to decide to run to her room. She locked herself in, barely turning around when she saw the Operator was already inside. Then the camera crashed against the window, and it wasn't clear to her if she threw herself out the window or if she was thrown out.

The video had barely ended when Kate smashed the camera, the memory card, the hardware, and in frustration and panic, she got rid of the evidence. What had that been? Why would anyone have that on her? Who? How? And she couldn't let anyone find out; that was the worst part. If she let the Operator find out, he'd surely do something worse than the other night, and she couldn't allow that to happen, not again, not again, not again, not...

"Hi," Toby scared Kate to death, and she fell onto the table, breaking it in the process. Toby had been upstairs this whole time and hadn't seen anything. There was no bed, no furniture, just some mice he'd killed and gutted for fun. Toby, with no real interest in upsetting Kate, just pointed out how crazy she was. Kate usually never responded to those kinds of comments, and this was no exception. At that moment, something started walking around the house.

Kate panicked. Someone came. She grabbed Toby and took him to a closet near the stairs. Toby tried to protest, claiming there were two of them and they could handle him, but Kate removed the muzzle from his mouth and used her hand to cover it, praying internally that Toby wouldn't unleash one of his attacks and betray them. A humanoid shadow passed in front of them, shuffling its feet and moving clumsily around the scene. They both watched as it moved from one side of the house to the other, as if checking the place out. At one point, it seemed to leave; Kate was about to leave and run into the woods, when suddenly the shadow reappeared in front of them, through the gaps in the closet that revealed the outside. The humanoid figure had no recognizable shape, covered from head to toe in robes, gloves, and a hood. And then it stood still.
And then it looked at the closet.
And then it came closer. It wasn't breathing and it wasn't rocking under its own weight. It just leaned against the door, and when Kate and Toby were already preparing to attack, it whispered.

“YOU ARE BROKEN”
“YOU CAN BE FIXED”

Toby impatiently sprang from his hiding place, but the masked man had fled, presumably toward the stairs. But when Toby tried to follow him, he was gone. Kate knew they weren't dealing with a normal person. Panicked and afraid, she grabbed Toby by the hood and dragged him out of the house, unexpectedly triggering a tic attack that Kate internally cursed. But no one followed them.

Once in the woods, Toby swung his axe and managed to knock Kate off him when she dodged the blow. Kate cursed her, but Kate didn't care; they were safe now.
“Let's keep looking for the others,” she continued, while Toby grumbled and grumbled like the teenager he was, completely forgetting that he had found something in that house.

A cell phone, dated 2004, that still had a battery, but he preferred to check it and see if it had any games or anything when he and Kate stopped walking.

Chapter 11: Entry #11

The sign outside was torn down, an attempt to erase the past. Tim and Brian entered through the back warehouse with completely different attitudes. Brian was afraid, but determined. Tim had a bad feeling. Why had no one heard of this company before? Brian felt drawn to it, as if there was a good feeling about it, but he couldn't explain why. They both wore their masks since they were technically passing through a restricted area. Even if there were working cameras around, they couldn't let anyone see their distorted faces on the recording.

They opened the heavy hatch and let it drop behind them. The echo reverberated through the building; there were no signs of life. Their objective wasn't clear; they knew they had to find something, but they didn't know what. Brian was carrying the computer from that strange house and thought about using it for this situation, but he wasn't quite sure how. Tim, on the other hand, was determined to find something that could serve as self-defense. He hadn't taken anything from the house before burning it down and was regretting it. Brian searched the surroundings, endless office cubicles that were starting to make him paranoid. He didn't want to go back to the Ark, not now.

He sprinted through the area in a burst of excitement and a desperate desire to get out of there as fast as possible, until he found a control panel. On the other side was a window, and it looked like a radio booth. Yes, that must be it. "Check here," Brian told Tim. "I'll go turn these things on." Tim did nothing but obey; he always obeyed, even in Jay's videos, he obeyed him then too. Was this going to be his life? Maybe.

Brian found a generator, started it, and with a kick and an abnormally large wrench, a screen on Tim's side began to light up and play audio accompanied by a logo: Clear Lakes Communications. Even if Brian had been there, they wouldn't have recognized him. Clear Lakes had hidden itself quite well before its closure; no one knew it existed, and no one knew it was gone.

Brian returned just as the screen began to light up with more monitors, each displaying a different camera, sometimes like security footage, other times like you were seeing directly from an ordinary person's point of view. You couldn't tell if the cameras were strapped to their heads or if it was their own eyes transmitting, but assuming the footage looked like it had been shot in the eighties, and GoPros didn't exist back then, anything was possible…

Brian quickly ran his fingers through the old feeds, searching for points of interest. Each transmission antenna was numbered, seemingly in increments of 22. Number 0 was the one they were at, the main building; number 44 was in Tuscaloosa, near Rosswood Park; number 88 was a few miles away, near a small town called Morley Grove; number 22 was in Oakside Park; and just as they were about to review the one called *Local58*, Tim stopped Brian.

“Wait, go back to that last one.” After scrolling through some rather strange images—of a person with their head covered by a paper bag and a decomposing raccoon—dating back to 2006, Tim was puzzled. “What’s going on?” Brian asked.

“For a moment, it seemed like this was happening right now.”

But he wasn't wrong.
By pressing another button, the recording went from being a single file to a live stream. How did he know? Because he saw Toby in that same abandoned house, chasing whoever had the camera.

"Oh no, not again," they said in unison.

But things only got worse. Suddenly, the screens froze, and only one remained lit, a feed from Station 44, the one in Rosewood. There, in a 2012 recording, Tim was shown working alongside other station employees. There was nothing else, just him when he was still a normal person. Or was he? Why hadn't Brian gotten angry with him when it seemed obvious that it was all his fault? … At one point, the screen went black, and another one lit up. The main screen displayed a message next to a strange, pixelated face with a sort of non-human silhouette:
*Why not start your new life today?

And the monitor changed, showing a live stream. Someone was entering the room… with them inside.

Tim and Brian turned around and saw something: a silhouette, somewhat human-like, with white eyes, crawling along the floor. It had no arms, but this ethereal figure carried a disturbing aura that sent them both running. On the monitor, Brian saw that the creature was only being perceived as static, but he didn't see that; he saw… himself.

They both got out of there as best they could. They barely reached the nearest woods before collapsing. Frustrated, Brian punched the nearest tree, because they couldn't get back and he didn't really know what it all meant. They were out of leads. “Well, not exactly,” Tim replied, showing a hard drive he’d brought with him. “I mean, it was encrypted when I checked it, but I think it could be useful if we find another way to access it. Remember, there are other stations around the country and all that…”

“…Thanks,” Brian replied, but his voice sounded raspier and more abnormal than usual. He had to remove his mask to cough… cough. This couldn’t be good. They immediately gathered up everything they had and ran off. Their next target was Morley Grove…

Notes:

NOTES:

-Morley Grove is from the series of the same name, created by Remi Abode, founder of Gemini Home Entertainment. He has confirmed that Morley Man is a version of Slenderman. However, Gemini Home is not canon here.
-LOCAL58, and therefore Candle Cove, are by Kris Straub; their connection to Clear Lakes is invented for this fanfiction.
-The entity that attacked Tim and Brian is WhiteEyes, an enigmatic character who has appeared in Marble Hornets media, such as the comics, Rosswood, ECKVA, and CL44.
-Clear Lakes is part of the Marble Hornets lore. The CL44 series is not canon, but many elements of it are, such as WhiteEyes and the company itself.

Chapter 12: Entry #12

His axes were bloodied, he was breathless, and his eyes were tired, but he savored this moment. Since the beginning, Toby hadn't felt his life was a waste. From what little he knew of his past, he was a miserable, pathetic wretch who could do nothing but thank the Operator for the second chance at life, doing what he did best: causing harm to others. But these two were different; these two took sadism to another extreme. Something inside Toby felt remorse and satisfaction when he killed them, as if he had rid himself of something, but he didn't know what. Perhaps a competitor, perhaps a monster, but it didn't matter; now they were an offering.

Toby sat down to rest as the Operator appeared before them. They weren't truly dead, but they were dying, missing limbs (Toby had torn them off) and with little strength left to fight. The Operator horrified them; they tried to move and flee, but they couldn't. Where they saw a monster, Toby saw his savior, and he was pleased with his offering, and Toby was happy about it. Kate, not so much.

Toby was always bothered by her fearful attitude. The way she hid her face and cowered in the corner of the room—he didn't understand why she had to be like that. In her eyes, everything the Operator did to her was her fault, and when it wasn't, it was someone else's. That inflated his ego and pride, something Toby overflowed with. The two dismembered lunatics disappeared when they were taken by the elongated arms and their… tentacles? Roots? Branches? Other arms? Well, Toby didn't really know what he was looking at; nobody did, but he didn't care. Anyway, it wasn't normal for a person to be so tall and have no face, and here we were.

In fact, it was such a common ritual that Toby didn't bother to look at it. He simply sat down next to the terrified Kate and pulled out the phone he'd found in the abandoned house. Luckily, it wasn't locked, so he started with the most recent messages. It was so old that the phone only sent texts and didn't have a chat function, which Toby found amusing, as it was a relic in his eyes. The last message was from someone whose name was… odd: *um_Im_Brian?*

He wasn't amused, but he checked its contents: “Everything will be alright.” Simple and quick, but boring. He checked the previous message, one sent by the phone's owner, someone named *k_milens*, which said, “Okay, I'll try.” How strange, he was missing out on a later conversation and wasn't going to read the messages from the end backward. By the way, when was the last message from? Summer of 2006. Understandable, nobody would use a phone like that nowadays, according to Toby.

He decided to scroll down to the oldest message. He pressed the D-pad button impatiently, eager to kill his boredom. The phone's constant clicks caught Kate's attention. "What's that?" she asked. Toby didn't answer. "You know you can skip to the last message by pressing the button at the top of the list, right?" Toby stopped dead in his tracks. He slowly turned his head toward Kate, fighting the urge to gouge his eyes out. But in the end, he decided to do as she said.

"I knew it," he told Kate, but she didn't fall for the lie.

She was right. The first message was sent by someone called *um_Im_Brian?* and it was a simple: “Hello?”. The next one was from *k_milens* and it said: “Hello.”

“Where did you get that?” Kate asked.

“From the old house. I’m surprised it still has battery.”

“God, I miss old phones.”

“Hehe… old.”

And without realizing it, Toby received a message. They both stared at the screen, confused. A message? But the phone hadn’t received anything since 2006. Who sent this? Toby set out to find out. Kate tried to look, but he, like a little kid, used his body as a barrier to prevent her from intruding on his invasion of someone else’s privacy. The message came from someone called *ECKVA.net*. A strange name, but the message’s content intrigued Toby—nothing more than some coordinates. He didn’t understand it at first, but Kate did. She roughly snatched the phone from Toby's hands and examined it closely before the boy could drive one of his hatchets into his skull.

Another message. Kate opened it, and it was a link. Copying and pasting it revealed an image: Brian and Tim, masked, operating some kind of device, facing the camera. Tim and Brian? Tim and Brian? Tim and Brian! Kate had completely forgotten they existed! Not even Toby seemed to remember they were missing. In fact, it almost seemed as if they hadn't been with them for the past four years. Only now did the idea of ​​their constant presence dawn on them. And now that she thought about it, why had they stopped to kill these guys? Why had they found them? What had they done?

"What does it matter!" Toby stated confidently. Kate stood up after Toby did, and they both left the building and headed for the road, hoping to get into the Ark and emerge somewhere else. Toby simply followed Kate. He wasn't quite sure where to go; he was already tired of that abandoned building, which seemed like a labyrinth inside, and the smell within was unpleasant, but nothing he couldn't tolerate. Anyway, Kate smelled similar from his perspective, even though he hadn't smelled himself.

And suddenly, night turned into day.

Notes:

NOTES:

- The murdered men are the two serial killers from the web series "Kepther e." It was such a brutal series that it was taken down from YouTube and left unfinished, but I needed to vent my frustration that its protagonists hadn't been punished, so here we are.
- ECKVA.net is the website for the ECKVA series, a spin-off of Marble Hornets.

Chapter 13: Entry #13

In the town of Morley Grove, there's a legend, a children's story about a tall man who kidnaps children. They disappear from the collective consciousness, forgotten, erased from the world. No one remembers them, no one misses them. And in the woods, you can still hear the cries and wails of the children whose faces were wiped out. Deep inside, Tim knows that if his condition hadn't improved at Rosswood Hospital, he would be one of those children. Right now, he doesn't know which of the two is worse, and although Brian thinks there's a way out of this life, Tim isn't so sure. At the end of the day, he's been like this his whole life. What difference would it make?

But Brian didn't speak, he just kept repeating the same thing to himself: "...Everything is fine. I worry about nothing, because nothing's on my mind." Tim didn't say anything about this behavior. They both had a mission: to go to Station 88 in Clear Lakes. They didn't know what they would find, and the fact that they were in a town known for the Operator's high activity as their target unsettled them. They didn't know if they would be punished once again, or if something worse would happen to them, but this was their mission, and they preferred to die trying rather than risk it. They would be free anyway…

They were miles from the town. They found a path through felled trees, perhaps from a logging company. They continued walking, following an electricity pylon that ended abruptly at a certain point. No wires, no substation, just the middle of nowhere, but they knew they were close. But where?

Brian pressed on through the woods, breaking through the undergrowth that had grown back, constantly glancing back at Tim to make sure there was nothing behind them, or worse, that they were no longer in Morley Grove. But at one point, when Brian turned to Tim and looked back, just as Tim blinked, Brian bumped into a concrete wall. This was it. The impact was hard, but this was it. The building looked abandoned but still salvageable, a two-story warehouse that connected to a radio tower and a gas station, or at least that's what it seemed. When they went inside, they found nothing of use; everything was empty, not even a piece of furniture, weeds, or objects. Everything was rotten, withered, or rusted. Brian began to think this had been a bad idea…

They kept going until they had explored most of the building. The idea was to reach the tower and see what they could do from there. Anyway, Brian still had the laptop, so they could start from there. They proceeded cautiously, because they understood that they were now in the Ark, or at least closer to it, similar to what had happened in Rosswood. Nothing would make sense from here on out. Brian decided to turn on the computer and hope it worked. Surprisingly, it did. Instead of the typical computer menu, it displayed codes and commands that were initially unintelligible. Brian simply pressed the "Enter" key, and the screen changed. He wasn't quite sure what he did. Fortunately, the device still had battery power, but how much? There was no longer an indicator. They reached the tower, stood in the room below it, and tried to pick up a signal. But there was nothing. They decided to wait. Still nothing. They pressed buttons randomly… and saw a signal. An image appeared on the screen, linking to a website: Pontiac Robotics.

But the video was useless; it was just a video of a humanoid robot, bizarre in itself, singing "I Feel Fantastic" in a monotonous voice. Who would want a robot singing to them like that? It sounded terrifying. Brian and Tim tried to change the stream, but they couldn't. Until they heard someone else behind them…

They got ready, took up positions; they were going to hide or kill whatever was with them. They were confident because what they heard were footsteps, human footsteps, from someone not very big, and… tics? "This has to be a joke," Tim cursed. He came out of hiding and finally pinned Toby down. "What the hell are you doing here, Tobias?"

The young man writhed beneath the pale-faced masked figure. Brian came out to help him until he was tackled by someone else. It was Kate, who pinned him against the wall and growled angrily, "You… YOU DID THIS TO ME!" Brian couldn't understand. “THE MESSAGES, THE NOTES, IT WAS YOUR FAULT! YOU DID THIS TO ME! YOU!”

A fight broke out among them all. Tim tried to help Brian, but to do so, he got rid of Toby's hatchets, throwing them out of the boy's reach. He knew that when he moved, Toby would get up, so he acted quickly and prepared for Toby's attack. Once he managed to pull Kate off Brian, Toby lunged at him and, to his surprise, began to bite him. If it hadn't been for the jacket, the boy would have torn off a large chunk of skin and muscle, but he only managed to rip off his clothes. Tim turned and punched the boy in the jaw.

Brian wasn't going to let Kate attack him like that. He returned fire with a brick that dislodged Kate's mask. In a psychotic fit, she tried to put the mask back on while Brian kicked her in the abdomen. Toby broke free from Tim, falling on top of Brian and giving Kate time to get up. Now wearing her mask, she went after Tim, who recognized the anger in the girl's eyes behind it.

"I've seen the videos..." she said. "I've seen what you did to them!" The four of them often fought, sometimes for no apparent reason, other times due to a mental breakdown. This time wasn't so different, it wasn't unusual, but what was strange was how the four of them ended up in this building, at this moment, with these motives. Who brought them here? Perhaps the fifth masked figure could provide an answer.

"Stop," he said. They were slow to notice him. Toby saw him first and tried to attack, since he couldn't leave any witnesses. Naturally, the masked figure ran away to avoid being killed by the boy. Tim shouted "NO!" and gave chase to Tobias. Brian tried to catch him while Kate continued her furious pursuit. She didn't get far. She grabbed Brian's foot and tripped him. On the ground, she began scratching him like she did with her victims. She tried to gouge out Brian's eye, but she had the misfortune of trying it in the only place where Brian no longer had an eye.

"For God's sake, stop!" Brian reached into his pocket and pulled out a flashlight, shining it into Kate's hypersensitive eyes. The girl got off him, and Brian spoke in a hoarse, exhausted voice. "I had nothing to do with you! I don't know what you're talking about!"

“I found the videos… I found the messages on the damn phone! You made me this way! I’m a shell of who I used to be! I had a life, and YOU TOOK IT AWAY!” But as Kate spoke, something approached her from behind… Brian acted quickly, grabbed Kate by the shoulders, and pulled her away. Blinded by rage, Kate didn’t realize what was happening until she turned her head and was mesmerized. Brian knew what to do. Before her muscles gave out, he picked Kate up and carried her down the hall. On the way, he found Tim, coughing in Brian’s direction, without his mask on, desperately gasping for air. “He’s here… He’s here!” Brian knew who he meant. Toby was coming up behind Tim, or rather, Tim was dragging Toby along. Toby broke free and went straight for his hatchets, grabbed them, and returned to the others.

Where Tim and Toby came from, more of those things emerged. They looked like zombies, but their existence defied all logic, their bodies corrupted beyond repair. Their form, so indescribable and irreparable according to the laws of nature, constantly mutating and changing, could only be captured by cameras as a humanoid blur of static, and perhaps that was the fate that awaited the four of them. Perhaps this was going to be the end, perhaps… Thankfully, someone was helping them.

“Come with me,” said the fifth masked figure, who was perched on a vent in the ceiling. Tobias went first, using Brian as a ladder and climbing up before everyone else. He didn't help them after that. Brian and Tim pulled Kate up as best they could, and she reacted in time to escape with Toby. Brian helped Tim, and vice versa. They were all now in darkness. Everything became blurry, and then nothing. You could almost say they died if it weren't for the fact that they could still sense their surroundings. They wished they had died there.

Notes:

NOTES:

-Pontiac Robotics is from the "Pontiac Robotics Archive" series. I was debating whether to include that or Walten Files, but due to the nature of the latter and the possibilities within Pontiac's lore, I chose the crossover. Besides, I don't know much about Walten Files; I only saw the first season and didn't like it.
-The robot from "I Feel Fantastic" wasn't related to Pontiac Robotics, but the connection is too good to ignore. Plus, it's a classic.
-The "zombies" in that facility are those infected with BLOT, from the ECKVA lore.

Chapter 14: Entry #14

How long had it taken? Months? Weeks? Days? Hours? What did it matter? They were already in town, and Toby finally shut his mouth. It was incredible that, despite his mask, he was still able to talk. Kate didn't want to, but she was nervous. She had the idea that the phone thing was just another assignment from the Operator, but he didn't operate like that. He usually planted the idea in their minds, and they carried it out, but he didn't send it by… by text message to an old phone. Toby didn't care. If he could kill something, of course he would. He enjoyed it, and at a certain point, he became the best of the four at it.

They arrived at a cell tower, familiar but unrecognizable to either of them. They entered through the main door and saw the lobby with a huge sign: “We're always with you.” Ominous and mysterious, but nothing interesting to them. They didn't really know what they were doing there; they were just following their intuition, hoping that sooner or later they'd figure it out. And they didn't take long to find out. Sometimes, out of the corner of their eyes, Kate and Toby would catch glimpses of a hooded and masked figure. It was too dark to tell who it was, but Kate had a feeling it was the same one they'd encountered in that house. This time, Toby didn't hold back; he chased the figure, axes in hand, with a sadistic enthusiasm. But the hooded figure didn't run; he wasn't moving to escape, but to lead. He forced Toby to follow, frustrated at not being able to catch him, and when she saw that wasn't working, Kate tried to ambush him somehow. She began moving through the ruined corridors until, without warning, the figure appeared in front of her. Startled, she swiped, but the figure dodged her. If he dodged, it meant he could be harmed, so Kate quickly realized his vulnerability. What was he worried about? He looked just like a normal human, only wearing a cartoon skull mask.

“Have you seen the messages?” the mysterious man asked, but she didn't answer, and when she stood up, the hooded figure was gone. Kate began to wander aimlessly through the facility, listening to Toby pacing and muttering frustrated comments, his tics echoing through the ruins of the complex. What was this place supposed to be anyway? The enormous antenna outside (which, by the way, was dark—normal for them at this point) suggested it was some kind of transmission complex. Radio was out of the question, maybe television; Kate didn't know how these things worked, but she sensed it was something similar. Lost in her thoughts, Kate instinctively reached for her phone, which she kept in her pocket out of Toby's reach. Then she began to inspect it, checking the oldest messages first… And she read… and read…

um_Im_Brian?: Everything will be alright
k_milens: Okay, I'll try
um_Im_Brian?: Could you do that?

um_Im_Brian?: It's the only way I've found

um_Im_Brian?: Please, Kate, you have to do it

k_milens: I'm not sure about this

um_Im_Brian?: It's that or suicide

um_Im_Brian?: It's the only way I know that stops the infection

um_Im_Brian?: Believe me, I've tried everything. Nothing stops it. We've already lost too many because of that thought, as you can see

k_milens: There has to be another way. It can't end like this

um_Im_Brian?: What do you mean, "I can't do it?"

k_milens: I can't do it

um_Im_Brian?: Understood?

um_Im_Brian?: You have to get their attention. Make them focus on you and no one else. Don't involve anyone, don't call anyone.

um_Im_Brian?: You can't have contact with anyone else who's infected. You saw how it spreads, it's too dangerous.

um_Im_Brian?: Listen carefully.

 

Kate stopped reading. Her ears rang, and she looked up to scan her surroundings. There he was, the Operator, striding forward and staring at her with his faceless form. Kate felt a chill, a sense that she was doing something wrong, but then Toby caught her attention with, “Hey, it’s Slendy! What’s up?” She couldn’t understand how he wasn’t afraid of her. But this time, he was calmer than usual. Without realizing it, she had fallen to the floor again, but she couldn’t look up, couldn’t meet his gaze. But the unusually long hand simply pointed toward a room. “Looks like we should go,” Toby said, as puzzled as Kate, because once again, this wasn’t the Operator’s usual modus operandi. He was inviting, not intrusive. He wanted to show them something.

The two proxies entered the room, and the door closed. They were plunged into darkness before the lights came on and a screen displayed the “ClearLakes44” logo. And then they saw something. A vision, like a camera, above a road. The camera's movement revealed the point of view of a child in the passenger seat of a car, with a girl driving. The audio was corrupted, so they couldn't hear anything, and the video footage was damaged, but still understandable. Then, two lights ahead, a crash, a desperate swerve to try to avoid the collision, but it was useless. And then the audio came back, an agonizing scream. The child screamed. Tobias screamed, and Ticci Toby recognized himself. This was him. And he knew this was the time Slenderman had saved his life.

In the video, in a spontaneous brevity, he could make out the unmistakable appearances of Brian and Tim. How could he not? Their faces were distorted in the video, like his and Kate's… And then the Operator emerged from the woods, almost teleporting with each step, and the screams stopped. Toby calmed down. He was furious. But it wasn't over. Kate had something to do with it too…

A single scene, not much, but enough, where the girl's face was reflected—no burns, no scars, human—in the reflection of the phone, THAT phone, in her hands, typing her name: k_milens, and receiving a message that simply said: Hello? The Kate from the past looked up and saw who was behind this… Brian, both eyes still in his skull, smiling. Kate felt sick.

It was him, it was his fault… she was like this because of him. It all made sense. She was like this in the video where the Operator attacked her house during the storm… because of Brian. And now that those memories were unlocked and anchored in their minds, there was a debt to be paid. Toby had a similar reaction, starting his usual tics, and the Operator vanished behind a door. Upon closer inspection, they noticed Tim and Brian were with them. It couldn't get any better. They were going to be killed.

Chapter 15: Entry #15

Tim and Brian were stunned. Even though Toby was angry, it was clear he'd seen something. Something they didn't want him to know. "Did you think you could get rid of me?! That I'd die by fire?!" he screamed and cursed in a crazed tone of pride and enjoyment, but in a way… foolish, almost childish, as if he couldn't properly express the avalanche of emotions he was processing at that moment. Tim and Brian had to restrain him; their axes were dangerous, but they managed to move them out of the way… only for Kate to grab one and attack Brian with the intent to kill. Tim stepped in, his mask cracked, and his forehead split open. He had to remove his mask to see the gaping wound on his forehead.

Blood trickled from his eye to his nose, but Kate didn't stop. She lunged at Brian simply because he'd stepped between her and Tim. Toby didn't stay put and tackled Brian, knocking him to the ground. They were about to suffocate him to death when Tim grabbed a cinder block and smashed it into Kate's face, making her scream.

"My face! YOU BROKE MY FACE!" Kate howled in pain as her mask barely stayed on. It was shattered beyond repair. Toby didn't move an inch or care about Kate. Brian was below him, but he was stronger and bigger, so he was able to fight more effectively. Tim got to his feet and looked around. Where had they landed? It didn't seem close to the ClearLakes station they'd been at. He glanced up at the sky; it was daytime, overcast but with the sun high in the sky. Kate's assessment was interrupted when her ankle was attacked. An old fractured leg wound reopened, and Tim screamed in pain and rage. Consumed by frustration, he lashed out at Kate, who began tearing at his mustard-colored jacket until the zipper was unusable. Tim hit her, again and again, until the girl stopped growling like the animal she was…

Toby, unlike them, felt no pain. Every blow Brian landed was useless, so he resorted to suffocating him. He struck below his ribcage, and the boy collapsed, gasping for air. Tim and Brian were determined; they were a lost cause. They were going to leave and abandon this gang of lunatics to their fate. They turned, heading straight for a door, when they realized there wasn't one. And worse, the sky had darkened. Illuminated by the faint moonlight, Tim began pounding on the walls, searching for a weak spot to break through, but he soon succumbed to his own weight and the lack of air, coughing and writhing in an epileptic seizure. That could only mean one thing… The Operator had arrived. And he wasn't happy…

Like a tree planted in the corner of the room, his elongated arms manifested as shadows that enveloped the four of them in clusters incomprehensible to the human eye and indescribable by conventional means. It was the Operator in his purest form, and with his faceless head, he observed and analyzed them as Kate, Brian, Toby, and Tim were subdued without a finger being laid on them, based solely on the incomprehensible nature of the Operator's body. He looked at each of them, as if deciding. It was obvious what he would do. Tim and Brian had turned against him; it was clear they would be punished. They closed their eyes, awaiting whatever he had in store for them. Broken bones, shortness of breath, headaches, intensified pain, dimensional torture… but instead, they heard a groan… which then transformed into a scream.

 

“No… No. Why me? Why me?!”

It was Toby.

“No, wait! Wait, please!”

The boy began to thrash about, writhing in discomfort with his own skin. Out of nowhere, it was as if the pain was no longer foreign to him.

“I did everything you asked! Please! Please! It’s her fault! It’s her fault! I tried! I swear, I really tried—!”
He took off his orange glasses and looked at Slenderman. The boy was crying.

“No, no, please! Don’t make me remember! Don’t make me remember, please!”

At one point, Toby began banging his head against the walls, as if trying to break them, but he would stop when his body stopped responding to his commands and the pain worsened. Toby wasn't just experiencing physical pain, the kind he couldn't feel naturally… He was experiencing emotional pain, psychological damage. Memories of abuse, beatings, insults, shouting, mockery, and death, people begging him for help.

“THIS WASN'T SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN!” And he screamed, he screamed again, and he screamed again, until he began to lose his voice and could only express himself through the tears that streamed from his glassy eyes.

What at one time would have been a relief for the three of them was now heartbreaking. Tim hated Toby, just like Brian, but they never wished this torture on him. It was beyond anything they had ever experienced. Toby suddenly ceased to be an animal, ceased to be a one-dimensional being who only expressed himself with insults, selfishness, and immaturity, and reflected what he truly was, is, and always had been from the beginning… Just a child.

“THIS WASN'T SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN!” Soon, he would run out of tears. And Slenderman would suppress his memories once more so that he wouldn't remember what he saw, and would continue to believe that he was the one who saved him. He only needed him.

The other three broke down when they heard Toby collapse to the floor. Kate closed her eyes and spoke to herself in whispers to ignore the Operator's presence, but Tim and Brian didn't. They saw everything, heard everything, and the Operator approached them. The message was clear. They wouldn't leave, or the others would pay the price. The Operator placed a hand on Kate's forehead, extending his arm without even bending down. Kate felt it, curled into a fetal position, and wept with helplessness. Despite everything, the Operator had watched them, as always. And as always, he knew they tried not to involve others in their affairs, because the fewer people involved, the fewer would be hurt. But this? They thought it wouldn't affect them, that they wouldn't care to see Toby or Kate die… but no. Not like this, not with this monster.

They lost consciousness. When they awoke, they were no longer on the Ark.

Chapter 16: Entry #16

When they woke up, they were no longer on the Ark. Brian went first and checked on the others. He was going to go for Tim first, but something stopped him: Toby's inert body, which had stopped moving. He thought the worst, approached the boy, and could make out a faint breath coming from his mouth. He was alive, for now… “Are you happy?” Brian turned his head… it was Kate. “You're stupid if you thought you could run away from us and expect us not to find out…”

“Kate,” Brian said, “This is a misunderstanding. I don't know what you're accusing me of.”

“Yes, I do,” she replied. “You don't remember anything. None of us do. But that doesn't change the fact that you did it… You're still the same as before, aren't you? The same selfish coward you've always been…” Brian didn't respond. He felt attacked, but something in Kate's logic made sense to him… “What makes me think you won't do something similar again?”

Kate's accusation fell on deaf ears as Brian turned his attention back to Toby, who began to stir and sit up. His tics returned, creating a rattling sound in the room, a room located in the middle of a vacant lot. Where was this? It didn't resemble any place they remembered. Although, well, that was normal at this point. Tim began to get up as well. He went to check on Toby, who was in an inert state. Tim knew that feeling, having experienced something traumatic but not being able to remember what it was or what it consisted of. But ironically, the only thing that lingered in Toby's mind was his hatred for Tim and Brian. That hadn't gone away, and it wouldn't…

Tim tried to approach Kate to prevent her from doing something foolish. He knew they had something to do with her thanks to the video that Brian from the past had left for Jay, but they didn't quite know how they were connected. As far as they knew, Kate wasn't related to Alex or anyone else. They tried to ask for explanations, but Kate lashed out. “I DON’T OWE ANYONE AN ​​EXPLANATION! YOU OWE ME!”

“Because the Operator saw you when you were a child, just like he did with Tim. You both infected Brian, but he’s innocent.” They all turned at once. It was him, the masked man from before, with his cartoon skull mask, but this time the left side was broken and held together with tape and staples. He’d been attacked. And he would soon be attacked again. Toby jumped up, grabbed his hatchets, and prepared to throw one at the man. Until he spoke. And everything froze. Toby's shock at hearing that voice was calamitous, like his mother scolding him. But the female voice the skull's voice transformed into was no longer the swarm of whispers it had appeared with. It was a young, feminine voice with an unmistakable tone of familiarity.

"TOBIAS"

Too human for his strange nature. The masked figure looked at him, and eyes like Toby's peered out from behind the mask. No one knew what to do, whether to attack or not, but Tim decided to ask, "Who are you...?"

And the masked figure removed the mask, revealing Lyra's face behind it, but then it transformed into Lauren, then Carl Ross, then Charles Matheson Sr., then Jay Merrick, then Amy Walters, then Alex Kralie, and finally Jessica Locke. Like a branch of identities sprouting from a root, the identities rebelled against the confused proxies, who deep down knew they knew these individuals, the identities forgotten by the world, by them, but not by Skully.

“I CARRY MANY”

The gazes fixed on everyone's profile. Judged, trapped, feeling insecure about what they were and who they were, because these people inside this… thing, knew them, followed them, and sought them out. And they felt naked because for the first time, someone other than themselves knew their names. And what they had become. The masked figure approached Toby with Lyra's face, but his gait, his smile, and the way he touched Toby's wounded cheek were affectionate… “What did they do to you, Toby…?”

Toby did nothing. He didn't know how to respond. Lyra understood and stood up, but as she did, her face shifted back to Jay Merrick's. He approached Tim and Brian. “Do you remember me?” he asked. They said no. “Well. I understand… I’m just… sorry… for everything. You may have already seen the videos. I’m just… sorry.” But neither Brian nor Tim held a grudge, because to them, Jay was just a stranger in some videos that their past selves had seen. That broke Jay a little inside, but it also relieved him, because like him, he knew this meant a second chance.

But first, they had to catch up…

Chapter 17: Entry #17

Let's recap… Tim and Brian watched the tapes Jay and Tim recorded between 2009 and 2014. Around 2010, Brian tried to give Jay tapes about Kate and what she was going through in Rosswood, but for unknown reasons, Jay lost his memory, and Brian had to upload the Alex birthday tape instead because Jay had lost the Kate tape. “Sorry,” Jay said in Skully's body. As for why this happened, it's complicated. It seems Brian already knew Kate, but they weren't quite sure how. However, there was an important detail: Carl Ross, aka C.R., already knew Brian. They were friends. Brian doesn't remember this, but C.R. does, although his attitude around him was cautious, as if he were embarrassed just to see Brian. Skully didn't insist on it either; he just told them it was something Kate and Brian had to deal with on their own… The problem is, Kate didn't want to. “Have you read the messages on the phone?” “Kate didn’t remember, and it didn’t help that her phone had been off since their raid on the Morley Grove radio station,” Skully said.

“So we were all involved. Who was the source?” Tim asked.

“The Operator was the source,” Skully said. “It’s a parasite and a virus. It gets into your mind and alters you from within, but it also chooses who to infect and who not to. It’s its way of remaining anonymous while staying alive. If it weren’t like that, the Foundation would have contained it by now.”

“Foundation?” Brian asked.

“You don’t want to know,” Skully said. The important thing was that they were on their own. Skully’s objective was to starve the Ark, saving the Operator’s victims before they were consumed, but the Operator is so vast that Skully can’t do it alone. That’s why he’s been fighting and collaborating with others, even though it’s difficult and doesn’t always go well.

“And what does that have to do with us?” Tim asked,

“You’re broken,” Skully said. “You can be fixed. I didn’t believe it at first, but now we’re convinced. You still have time before you’re consumed.” Brian asked what would happen if they failed, and Skully’s face shifted to that of Charles Matheson Sr. “Then you’ll end up like my son…” Everyone fell silent; only Kate reacted to the statement. She remembered him, Charlie’s emaciated and broken little body that had been with her for quite some time until he finally fell dead as if his body could no longer bear any more.

And how do you fix someone who’s broken? They could easily be absorbed by Skully, and that would be the end of it, but there was another way. They had to sever their connection to the Ark. It seemed impossible, considering their lives had been erased long ago, but that wasn’t true. There's still one option: “Clear Lakes was responsible for spreading the infection across the country and the world. They used a specialized type of camera in the same way the Operator and others like him monitor their victims. You are no exception. Despite having closed years ago, ECKVA Network bought it, and they became the recipients of the Ark today. I tried to stop them back then, and I failed,” Skully explained to everyone, rekindling a glimmer of hope in Brian that had been fading for the past few hours. “ECKVA now possesses live recordings of each of your memories, as you are directly linked to the Ark. Tim, you experienced it yourself. In Jay's recordings, there are moments where the camera became your eyes, and no one noticed.” It sounds logical; if this could return them to who they once were, it might work. But how will they disconnect from the Ark? “I don’t know,” Skully admitted. “That’s something I’ve never tried, but I know there are others like me who want the Ark dead. They could help you. But I warn you. Being in their territory is heartbreaking. You all need to stand together on this.” And therein lies the problem.

First of all, Toby had no connection to anyone. He was just another victim of the Operator and had no ties to anyone. “Everyone must be repaired,” Skully repeated, so they had to include him. But Toby wasn't himself. He didn't hate, he didn't laugh, he didn't cry; he was just writhing in shame, ashamed of himself, of who he was and what he was. He couldn't understand this feeling, but it was something Tim knew all too well. “Leave it to me,” Tim said. “Don't be hard on the kid,” Brian said. “I don't intend to be,” Tim clarified.

As for Kate, she was mostly confused. She already knew Brian and Tim had known each other before; she'd sensed it, but she hadn't had any idea about her and Brian until a few hours ago. And then there were Lauren and C.R. Their faces were familiar to her—hell, she reacted to them with the same surprise and familiarity—but she didn't quite understand why. Neither of them wanted to talk about it, and Skully insisted he had to see it for himself. “Morley Grove is now under the Operator’s surveillance. He’ll be assigning more of his proxies to purge everything related to Clear Lakes with fire. ECKVA no longer has a central station; they’ll have to find one before anything else happens. The closest one right now is Oakside Park. It’s a restricted area.”

“I can go there,” said Brian, who had been there before. “But I’ll need help.” And there was no one better for the job than Kate. Apathetic to the situation (mostly because she didn’t quite know how to process all the information she’d been given), she agreed, but not before C.R. appeared before Skully and addressed him:

“Before you go… I’m sorry, I’m sorry for everything. You don’t remember, but you’ll soon, and I want you to know that I regret everything I did…” Kate didn’t reply, looked suspiciously, and left with Brian. They were about to leave when suddenly…

“No. You mustn’t cross like before. It will betray your presence to the Operator, just like it did before. You’ll have to go on foot.” Reluctantly, Kate followed Brian, who put on his balaclava and set off as best he could.

“And what will you do? Will you just leave us like this?” Tim asked Skully.

“Our task isn’t finished,” the skull stated. “Ichor Falls suffers in silence, and Ellie will continue feeding the Ark until it’s repaired. We trust you.” Although it was a lame excuse, Tim accepted it. Skully walked away into the woods, and Tim was left alone with Toby. Tim would later invite him for something to eat…

Notes:

NOTES:

- Ichor Falls is the fictional town where most of Kris Straub's works take place. He has a character resembling a cartoon skull who, in this continuity, is the same as Skully.
- Charles Matheson Sr. is the father of Charlie, characters from Slender: The Arrival

Chapter 18: Entry #18

It wasn't Kate's first time in Oakside Park. Before meeting the boys, she'd been fighting for her physical and psychological survival, attacking whomever the Operator commanded. The strange thing was, Kate wasn't so different from Tim; she lost control of her body at various times, but unlike Tim, she became more animalistic. Her growls and hisses were already her trademark, but like Tim, that double life consumed her until she forgot who she was. And now she had returned, supposedly, to remember who she was. Brian was with her; he'd been here before too, more times than he could remember, but the experience wouldn't help them in this environment. Since they arrived, Oakside Park had suffered a fire that consumed more than half of the wooded areas, leaving only the foundations of the houses that had once been marketed as "A new and inviting semi-urban lifestyle in touch with nature."

"Do you recognize anything here?"

"Nothing," Kate replied. They reached a path where they found two abandoned vehicles, the trail covered in charred and petrified bark, with rocks that had succumbed to the forces of nature. It was almost as if the forest itself forbade their access. “Hmm… We can’t go through. Maybe if we turn around we can…”

Without the girl noticing, Brian began to climb and was already 3 meters above ground level. He wasn’t even sweating under that mustard-colored sweatshirt. Brian looked back at Kate, waiting for something from her. “Are you going to climb?” Kate tried, placing a foot on a rock that slipped and made her lose her balance. Then, she put her hand on a branch that broke and turned to ash in front of her. Then, as always, she decided to give up. “I’ll wait here,” he said. “I’ll keep watch.”

“There’s no one for miles around,” Brian said. “If you can’t make it up, find another way.” Brian started walking along the side of the hillside, looking for a path Kate could take to climb up. She followed him with her eyes until she found one. A small incline that made it feel like a ramp. Brian seemed pleased and happy about this. Had he always been this optimistic? Kate didn’t remember, but it seemed that way to her. Vaguely, she swore she remembered Brian’s voice being more subdued and perhaps more strained before, something she hated about him. And how did she know this? Because, in comparison, this time she didn’t feel so bad. Kate suppressed this feeling. Thanks to him, she had to live like this. There was no forgiveness.

They continued until they came to a house surrounded by a stone wall. A brownish vehicle was in the garage, and the keys were in the kitchen. A stroke of luck, although they didn’t know how they were going to get it out of the area. The house itself had been abandoned for years; mold was taking over, the wood creaked, the paper rotted, and insects were settling on the rotting food. Brian looked for something to charge his phone, but couldn't find anything that worked. Kate explored the area, looking at the drawings of the Operator and the forest painted on the wall, and the frantically scrawled on papers in desperation, a reflection of a paranoid, collapsed, and broken mind. And Kate remembered the video. And she realized that this was her house, or at least it had been. She said nothing; Brian didn't notice. But inside the house, there were drawings of the signal tower near the area. The Kate of the past knew this. They didn't waste any time; they took the keys and tried to start the vehicle. "Do you know how to drive?" Kate asked.

“I hope I remember,” Brian said. He struggled to start the car; the gasoline wasn't good, so they couldn't get it running. A shame, Kate had already settled in. They had to leave and continue on foot to the signal tower; they never went through the Kullman Mines. It took them a whole day to reach the area, always worried that the Operator was watching them, but Skully mentioned that if they didn't go through the Ark, there shouldn't be any problems. However, Brian and Kate knew how that damned place worked. You could wander aimlessly and end up there, enter through a door and come out with a different day or time, you could even stumble and end up in a liminal labyrinth. Knowing that without each other they would be dead, Kate and Brian knew of a security mechanism. Thanks to Jay's videos, they knew that the pills Tim was taking, apparently anti-epileptics, could mitigate the Operator's effects on people. He wasn't a ghost or a supernatural being, but rather a part of the world that, though they didn't fully understand it, took advantage of its surroundings just like any human or predator. A curious thing, considering its close, parasitic, and abusive relationship with them.

The second measure was very simple. Just hold hands and tie them together. That way, if one fell, the other could rescue them, carry them, push them, etc. Of course, in theory, but the truth was that Kate had no intention of saving Brian if things got complicated. Luckily for them, it wasn't necessary. They managed to see the tower in the distance, since, unlike the one in Morley Grove, this one wasn't hidden from view. Just somewhat abandoned, but is that even a surprise at this point?

But this one was different from the others. It was smaller than the one in Morley Grove, but there was no sign of hospitality at the entrance; it was locked, and there was no logo to indicate that this was Clear Lakes, so they had to take the back entrance. They walked around the building and the antenna, observing the tree trunks with sporadic patches of vegetation growing from the ashes. Life and hope after the destruction and fiery purgation. They found the back entrance, a sort of storage room. They continued down a solid, unadorned concrete corridor. Brian had to use his flashlight because they couldn't see anything, as there were no windows. Then they found a charred corpse, barely recognizable but corroded by the passage of time, so much so that the smell of burnt flesh had vanished from the air and been replaced by a dampness, suffocating but more tolerable. They turned around and entered the control area. Brian took out the computer that had belonged to Mary, plugged it in, and typed frantically, though he didn't really know what he was doing. Kate looked for something to charge the phone with, finding it in the form of a trunk filled with old cables. She found a connector and plugged the phone into the power generator. It would take a while, but it would work… And then there was a spark.

Kate fell unconscious, and Brian noticed. He didn't know exactly what he had touched, but he ran to Kate to help her. Then he felt dizzy, his legs gave way, and Brian collapsed to the ground. Kate began to scream, as if waking from a terrible dream. Brian feared she wanted to kill him again, but there was nothing he could do… He closed his eyes, hoping that whatever he had done was for the best, and he fainted… And Brian began to remember everything.

Chapter 19: Entry #19

Tim had been looking for a good place where they could be alone. He scraped together some money and spent his time searching for a spot without security cameras so as not to betray his abnormal nature. Toby had to wear a bandage on his cheek to hide the stab wound he'd received years ago; he had no idea how it hadn't become infected. Since they couldn't dress as they normally did, Tim asked Toby to wear different clothes. Toby wanted to wear his cap, but Tim insisted on something else. In the end, he just wore his black turtleneck sweater, while Tim put his red plaid shirt back on, shaved, and put on glasses. It's hard to believe these two were psychotic killers; they almost seemed normal. Maybe they were.

They sat down. Tim was about to take out a cigarette, but he looked at Toby intently. Then he put it away, leaving the pack under the table without the waitress noticing. "What would you like?" Tim asked Toby, but the boy didn't answer. "Um... an order of waffles, please, and a cheesecake for me." You know Toby wasn't himself when he wasn't making fun of Tim's belly. Neither of them said anything. Tim hoped Toby would say something, but seeing him like that was strange, almost as if he didn't have the same confidence he did when he wore the mask. The older boy decided to wait a while until something came out of the younger man. Nothing came out, so he had to take the initiative.

"So... you know the girl, right? The one who called you Tobias?" Tobias didn't answer; he shrank back and looked away. Tim waited; he had to give him space, but casually added, "Hey. If you don't want to eat, we can always get it to go. I don't know." Toby then picked up a fork and began to eat heavily with each movement. Tim kept eating; he had to take advantage of the moment. He might not need to eat or drink in this state, but the hunger and thirst don't go away. "Can I ask you something?" Toby looked at him. "How are you feeling?"

"I don't know," Tobias said.

"I understand if you're angry with me about..." Tim was interrupted.

"I don't remember why I'm angry..." Tobias said. "I don't remember why I feel this way."

"Like this?"

"I don't know." This was going to be harder than he thought... He had to use one last resort. And he offered something... He could still remember something from Toby's past, when he had just become a Proxy. Tobias only remembered the video he found in that old facility. But there was more.

"That's what the Operator does. You try to run away or help someone, and that someone will suffer the consequences. You can only hurt others..." Toby hadn't cared about that until recently. The shame of knowing that there were people who remembered him before this... What had he become? “Do you want to know more?” And Tobias nodded. Tim began to tell his story. He recounted how it all began. How he tried to commit suicide with Brian and how that sealed his fate. Tobias wasn't angry, though Toby was. He described the long days of surveillance he spent with Brian, spying on him, watching his home turn into a living hell after Brian took his sister away and left him with his submissive mother and alcoholic father. He told him about the girl who had been his friend and whose eye the boy had gouged out. And all of it while trying to keep everyone from overhearing or suspecting anything, though at this point, and due to the Operator's influence, that was unlikely.

“But he saved me,” Toby said.

“The Operator makes you believe that’s how it was,” Tim said. He was going to lie, but decided against it, that he wouldn’t make the same mistakes as his former self. “I’ve lived with this my whole life, even though I don’t remember it. I had friends who succumbed to it, Brian too, and they believed something very different from what was happening.” Toby asked how he knew that. “One of those friends… Jay, recorded everything, and I was able to see it… He said he wanted to record it in case something happened. And well, I guess he was right.”

“Do you miss him?”

“No,” Tim said honestly. “Although I’d ​​like to… it seems he was an important person to me.”

Tobias lowered his gaze. And spoke. “I don’t remember their faces… everything is blurry, I can’t hear their words, or see where I am. Everything is hazy… But I know they made me. I know they loved me, or hated me, or hurt me. But it’s all as if… as if…”

“As if they didn’t have faces.” Tim gave Toby the right words, and Toby simply nodded.

“And… And you know what? I don’t… I don’t remember when I first saw Slendy… it’s like he’s always been there. I… I can’t imagine my life without him.”

There was a pause. What should Tim say? That he understood? The Tim of the past no longer exists; he merged with his alter ego, and the Operator took over. Is there anything to say… or show?

“Tobias,” Tim said hesitantly, “Don’t take my word for it, but… I think I know where your mother is. I know she’s still alive, as far as I can tell. It’s not certain, but…”

Something lit up on Tobias’s face. A glimmer of… hope.

“Show me.”

Tobias finished his waffles, Tim had long since finished his pie, they asked for the check, and left…

It seemed, for a moment, that without their masks they were completely different people… their true selves.

Chapter 20: Entry #20

The bus moved with the grace of a rhinoceros as it pulled into the stop. There was no station or service, just a few seats and a roof next to a lamppost. It was morning, and Brian was packing everything he needed into his camping backpack. He took out his phone and dialed one of his contacts, planning to ask for directions. It was strange; ten years ago, this stop hadn't even existed. It was a vast forest that led to a stream that now served as a foul-smelling drain. Brian felt disconnected from his childhood home, Oakside Park, which seemed to shrink with each passing year. He called his friend, who came to pick him up in a car. They greeted each other with a hug. C.R. was always the same, no matter how much the area changed. The year was 2004.

The camping plan remained the same: go to the designated campground and leave before nightfall, at C.R.'s insistence. who refused to stay in the woods any longer, much to Brian's dismay, as he had loved camping and climbing since childhood. "Oh, by the way," C.R. said, "I didn't mention you, but a friend of mine is coming with us. I hope you don't mind." Brian wasn't bothered. How could he? He was Brian, the most cheerful guy Carl Ross knew.

The person in question was Kate, C.R.'s old childhood friend. She and Brian shook hands and headed into the woods. That afternoon, they ate marshmallows and sausages by the campfire, listening to country music on the radio and catching up, but as soon as the sun began to set, they started packing. "If you don't mind, I'd like to stay longer." C.R. objected; he was the one who had to take Brian home and couldn't leave without him. They argued back and forth until it started to rain, and they had to flee.

Because the storm was overwhelming, they had to spend the night at Kate's house. Brian and C.R. greeted Kate's mother, who offered them her room to sleep in. They declined and took the guest room instead. They had to share a bed. Around midnight, Brian got up because he couldn't sleep; C.R. was kicking too much. He decided to go get some fresh air and look at the sky. He was surprised to hear restless noises coming from Kate's room. Brian knocked on the door, and the sounds stopped. A girl in a red blouse, her hair disheveled, greeted the boy, who, with dark circles under his eyes, asked if she was okay.

Kate answered affirmatively, but Brian knew she was lying. He wasn't interested in psychology for nothing; he knew what a forced attitude looked like. In response, Brian asked, "Was it a bad dream?" It was a loaded question. Kate wasn't dreaming; her trembling voice emphasized that she was trying to cling to the idea that it was just a nightmare, and her lack of eye contact betrayed a slight embarrassment. Brian didn't laugh at that. “Whatever you see… It’s not real. You’re safe. Everything is fine.” Kate remained silent, somewhere between annoyed and stunned. Brian explained that C.R. had already told him about his experience in the woods when they were children, only C.R. hadn’t seemed as affected as Kate, who had been having nightmares ever since. “I know you’ve probably heard that a hundred times already, but it never hurts to be reminded of what’s real and what isn’t.”

“Thank you,” Kate said. She wished him goodnight, and Brian left. That night, Kate slept restlessly, but with a little more peace. The next morning, after breakfast, C.R. and Brian left. That could have been the end of it, had Kate not run into Brian in the nearby town. She couldn't stand the city, and Brian was simply trying to find something familiar. As they hit it off not once, not twice, but several times throughout the year, they grew closer and closer, to the point where he ended up seeing Kate more than C.R. It was to be expected; they complemented each other quite well. Brian sought familiarity, and Kate sought someone who understood her, both her tastes and her life in general—not to diminish C.R., but he wasn't sensitive enough to Kate. Time passed, and Brian traveled back and forth to Oakside during both summer and winter breaks, as he was still about to graduate. It was good to be back. Before, Brian had to be away for years because he didn't have the means to travel, but now he did, and he even indulged himself by taking a gap year. And of course, there were always those who were waiting for him more than others. C.R. stopped seeing the others; he didn't give an explanation, but he moved to the city. Brian realized that his enthusiasm and excitement had faded over time, and part of him felt it was his fault. Maybe he'd given her less attention because he was spending so much time with Kate, or maybe it was just confusing feelings. He didn't know, but it didn't matter anymore. He decided to be selfish for once in his life and think about himself, his life, and his career, aiming to get into psychology school.

And of course, he didn't stop seeing Kate. As for the girl, she wasn't what you'd call "romantic." Quite the opposite, she was more masculine than you'd expect, only showing vulnerability in emotional intimacy, something very difficult to achieve with her. Kate had the misfortune of being institutionalized in a psychiatric hospital as a child. She didn't remember much from there, but she knew it wasn't a good experience. She was heavily medicated most of the time, plagued by constant nightmares, and still on medication. She stopped receiving proper care after the hospital mysteriously burned down, but she still had the prescriptions for the pills. The tranquilizers and sleeping pills were making her addicted, though she knew she couldn't end up like that. Both her mother and Brian had been supporting her throughout that time, and if it hadn't been for Brian, she might have become an addict herself. In a way, he saved her life.

One day, Brian arrived home excited. His acceptance letter had been approved; he was going to the university he wanted in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. He and Kate were overjoyed, their shared pride mingling in a hug as they spun around and around until, unconsciously, they kissed. There was no sorrow, no regret; in a way, they both longed for it, but they never said anything. The problem now was the distance, because it meant Brian couldn't come back the way he used to…

They made the most of their time together, did everything they wanted that winter, and when the snow melted and Brian packed his bags, he gave Kate a gift: a state-of-the-art phone (for 2006) that allowed them to text each other and know if, at least, the other was still alive. They tested it with a simple “Hello?” The next message was from Kate: “Hello.” They both smiled, knowing they could now stay connected despite the distance. They had no doubts; they were young dreamers fantasizing about a future together. The truck arrived, they shared a goodbye kiss, and Brian disappeared from Kate's life. Everything will be alright.

They communicated almost daily via text, talking about how their day had gone, their insecurities, and funny things that had happened to them, not always replying immediately. A friend of Brian's asked him for help with a film, one with which Brian felt a personal connection to its protagonist and premise, almost as if they were talking about his own life. He enthusiastically agreed, telling Kate about it. The film was called Marble Hornets.

Chapter 21: Entry #21

Connie played cards, laughed with her friends, and ate chocolate chip cookies. The scars on her back from years of marital abuse still lingered, but they were minor compared to her current life. She lived in a retirement home, as she was quite old and gray hairs were beginning to show. She had no close relatives, so she didn't stay with anyone, her husband being the only one, and he had died in the fire at their house. But with his death also came her freedom. Finally, after the grief she had endured for the death and disappearance of her daughter Lyra and for losing everything, she was at last happy. She played a winning hand, and her friends laughed at how unprepared she was.

In the woods, Tobias watched his mother.

Tim was with her, a few steps behind but always present. Tobias hadn't moved in a while, as if he wanted to take in as many details of her as possible. Her wrinkles, her hair, her mannerisms—even drawing parallels with things he had and perhaps learned from her. He may have forgotten her, and she him, but the impact on their lives hadn't. Something felt calming in Tobias when he saw her. "She looks happy," the boy said.

"The last time I was here, she wasn't like this," Tim said. "She looked more worn, tired... sad. Her son had murdered his own father, but despite the blows, it seemed like she did love him... or something. You talked to your sister, didn't you?"

“Yeah,” Tobias said. “We didn’t talk much, but she reminded me of…”

“Yeah, that’s the thing. Even if you don’t remember, there’s still something of the old Tobias in the new Toby. It’s just, well, hard to see. Despite everything, you’re still you, or at least the worst part of you…”

“Really? You say we hurt those who get close to us, even if we don’t mean to. I… I don’t think I can keep doing this.” Tim stayed back, letting Tobias talk and vent.

“I don’t see myself as… normal. You don’t see me either. I’m not stupid, Mask-Tim… I know I bother you, that I ruined missions and all that… And sometimes I retaliate… But I always assumed that was just how it was. That I only caused trouble and that’s why I was good at it… But if what you’re saying is true… I was able to do one good thing for my mom…” There was a silence. Tim rested near a log, and Tobias sat down on the grass. “I think… I think that’s how my relationship with Slender is. He hurts me, but he also helped me. I feel like… I feel like I owe him my life, don’t you? That’s what we do. We have to.”

“But now we have a choice,” Tim said. “If that skull and Brian are right, we could have something better.”

“I don’t think I deserve something better.”

Tim froze. “Excuse me?”

“I said I don’t think I deserve better. Isn’t that obvious? We’ve killed so many, SO MANY people. I don’t want to go on like this anymore. It would have been better if I hadn’t existed at all. It’s over. Goodbye Toby, goodbye Tics, goodbye trouble, goodbye problems…”

Tim stopped him, interrupted him without even knowing what to say. On the one hand, he shared his point; deep down, he still despised Toby for the pain in the ass he’d been ever since he joined the group, when it stopped being just Brian and Tim. But on the other hand, that thought was all too familiar. Perhaps a remnant of the depressive, suicidal thoughts of his former self, before his current life. He understood, and yet he didn't, and he felt hypocritical about what he was about to say because he didn't really believe in this either… but the one who spoke here wasn't Tim, it was Jay. Tim was just repeating what he'd once told him: “You couldn't say no. You didn't choose this. Nobody is born choosing what they're going to do or what they're going to have. We also didn't get to choose if we wanted… uh, Slender? to ruin our lives. But it's not too late… There's still a solution.”

“What if it doesn't work?” Tobias replied fearfully. “What if we just make him angrier?”

“Well… I can't promise anything, but wouldn't it be a good thing if, if we fail, we disappeared? That's what you want, isn't it? It's a win-win. If we succeed, we'll live. If not, we won't hurt any more people.” That sounded awful. It was clear Tim was struggling with this, but somehow it sounded convincing.

“Live?” Toby let out a suppressed laugh. “What would we have left to live for?”

“Just look at you, Tobias. You’re still young. And of all of us, you’re in the best shape. Trust me, you’d be fine. My knees are already killing me, so get used to it.” Toby laughed at that, but Tobias stifled his own laughter; it didn’t seem right. “Hey, you can laugh. It doesn’t bother me.”

“Uh… It doesn’t seem like it.”

“Let’s just say you caught me in a good mood.”

“You? In a good mood? When?!”

“Well, when we’re not being chased or we’re chasing someone in the woods.” A little crude, a little dark, but they both shared a soft chuckle. Tobias was sincere, but Tim was having a hard time. It’s not easy to fake a laugh when you don’t know how you laugh naturally. “Would you like to say something to me?”

“No,” Tobias said. “I wish she’d forget me. It’s for the best.” There might not have been the slightest guarantee this would work, but knowing Toby didn’t have to be a sociopath his whole life was enough to encourage him. He could start over… like Tim once did. When they left, it was clear to Tim that Tobias was still there, beneath Toby, just as Tim was still beneath Masky. But if it hadn’t worked before, would it work now? It was better to leave it as it was; otherwise, it would be worse for Tobias, and now all that was left was to find Brian and Kate.

Chapter 22: Entry #22

Kate walked ahead of C.R., who followed a few steps behind her so she wouldn't see his nervous mannerisms, which Kate knew all too well. They were like siblings at the end of the day. The idea here was "confrontation therapy." They had brought a flashlight and a camera to confront their fears of the woods and their childhood trauma. Neither of them had done this since they were children and they couldn't quite remember why, but they assumed they had invented a monster in their childhood. As they tried to piece together their memories, some fun moments from their childhood surfaced: the games they played, when they met Lauren, the problems they had starting school, and of course, Kate's recovery after an incident that would land her in the hospital for several years. C.R. became nostalgic at this. "I missed you so much," he said wistfully. "I was afraid my life wouldn't be the same." They sat shoulder to shoulder, waiting for nightfall. Kate seemed to be enjoying the moment. She was scared, but she was taking advantage of the fact that she and C.R. hadn't seen each other in a while, since he'd moved to the city. In fact, he wanted Kate to move to the city too. She said she'd think about it, since she couldn't stand the cars, the streets, the noise, and… and then Carl Ross turned to face her and planted a kiss on her.

Somehow, in a way only he understood, he thought this would convince her to move in with him. He was declaring his feelings… and in the worst possible way. Kate fell backward when he broke the kiss, the bizarre tingling sensation on her lips lingering even when she rubbed them hard with her sweatshirt sleeve. She wasn't upset, not even sad, she was disappointed. Did C.R. really see her this way? Suddenly, all the conversations and supportive moments they'd shared over the past few days took on a different meaning. Was it all just so she'd fall in love with him? Did he really expect something in return? Seriously, C.R.? Did he think this would work? How would he explain it to…?

But when C.R. opened his eyes and Kate tried to sit up, they realized the day had vanished. It was night. And the nightmare was only just beginning. They separated; they don't know how, but they were no longer next to each other when Kate stood up, and C.R. looked away in shame. Panic gripped him when, from among the trees, a tall, impossibly thin, faceless figure began to follow him. He ran, but he was dragged along, harassed, knocked unconscious, and captured by what he could only describe as "all my fears attacking me at once." Meanwhile, Kate appeared in a part of the woods she didn't recognize. She had kept the camera and flashlight and began to find notes. She had dreamed this before, that she was being followed, and she sensed that this must be another bad dream, a very bad one, one she hadn't had in years. She did what she could, and when she had all the leaves, she shouted into the forest, “There, that’s all of them! What more do you want? Leave me alone!” And the Operator, using his voice-mimicking ability, spoke: “I have plans for you, Kate.” And then it was daylight.

C.R. was nowhere to be seen. Kate hurried home, leaving the camera in the woods. She didn’t want to see that thing again. She rushed inside, ran to her phone, and dialed Brian, the only person she trusted at that point. She called and called, but there was no answer. She grew desperate and started sending messages.

k_milens: Brian, It’s happened again.

k_milens: He has C.R. This is real. Please.

k_milens: Answer, please answer.

um_Im_Brian?: Hello?

k_milens: Brian. This isn’t fake. He followed me in the woods. I barely managed to escape.

um_Im_Brian?: I'm not Brian.

k_milens: What?

um_Im_Brian?: My name is Alex, I'm a friend of Brian's.

k_milens: How did you get this phone?

um_Im_Brian?: It was in Brian's things. What did you see?

k_milens: What happened to Brian?

um_Im_Brian?: I'll ask again. What did you see? Did someone chase you?

um_Im_Brian?: Please, this is important. It's about Brian. Answer me. What did you see?

k_milens: You won't believe me.

um_Im_Brian?: I'll guess… A guy in a suit?

k_milens: Yes.

um_Im_Brian?: Tall?

k_milens: Yes.

um_Im_Brian?: Stop right there. Don't think about it anymore. It's dangerous. Brian knew.

k_milens: What do you mean?

um_Im_Brian?: My colleagues and I were attacked. Brian is gone. I'm the only one left.

k_milens: No. You're lying.

um_Im_Brian?: How do you think I got this phone?

Kate's heart sank.

um_Im_Brian?: What's your name?

k_milens: Kate.

um_Im_Brian?: Okay, Kate, here's the situation. That thing behaves like a mental infection, a virus. It chooses you and you're dead, and you can infect other people if you come into contact with them. Have you spoken to anyone these days?

k_milens: Just one friend, but that thing took him too.

um_Im_Brian?: I'm sorry, but we have to stop this.

k_milens: What do you mean?

um_Im_Brian?: Listen carefully.

um_Im_Brian?: You can't have contact with anyone else who's infected. You saw how it spreads, it's too dangerous.

um_Im_Brian?: You have to get his attention. Make him focus on you and no one else. Don't involve anyone, don't call anyone.

um_Im_Brian?: Understood?

k_milens: I can't do it.

um_Im_Brian?: What do you mean, "I can't do it?"

k_milens: There has to be another way. It can't end like this.

um_Im_Brian?: Believe me, I've tried everything. Nothing stops him. We've already lost too many because of that thought, as you can see.

um_Im_Brian?: It's the only way I know to stop the infection.

um_Im_Brian?: It's that or suicide.

k_milens: I'm not sure about this.

um_Im_Brian?: Please, Kate, you have to do it.

um_Im_Brian?: It's the only way I've found.

um_Im_Brian?: Could you do that?

k_milens: Okay, I'll try.

um_Im_Brian?: Everything will be all right.

Kate turned off her phone. She didn't want to know any more… She was lost, alone, and worse than ever. She stared at the floor for a while, trying to process what had happened until night fell again. C.R. finally escaped the Operator, tried to call Kate, but thought she was in some kind of trance and decided to leave. This would lead her to her own investigation at the Matheson residence.

Alex Kralie only relaxed knowing he didn't have to travel across the country to kill anyone else. The Operator could simply attack her, take her away, and that would be it. No more getting his hands dirty. He took Brian's phone and smashed it with a rock. It took some effort, but it worked.

In the following months, Kate's life became a living hell. Constant paranoia consumed her; she neglected her appearance, each stroke on the sheets of paper more frantic than the last, and although she didn't want to, she began to listen to C.R. and became convinced that the signal tower was the key. She knew she couldn't take it anymore, regardless of whether it affected others or not. She put her house up for sale and contacted Lauren for help. But it was too late.

On one of her many sleepless nights, with insomnia preventing her from resting, she was watched by a hooded figure wearing a balaclava. He knew perfectly well that he couldn't get any closer to her for his own good, but it pained him to see her in that state. Brian retreated, unable to say or do anything, back into the woods, passing by the place he'd come from. How did he get from Rosswood to Oakside? Even he didn't know. Maybe the Ark, a path through dry leaves, a back room in reality—it didn't matter to him. He left the Rosswood tunnel and headed to his "home." An abandoned building in the middle of a field where he had a mattress, some water bottles, and his camera. He deleted the part of the video where Kate appeared, and as he was about to leave, he was attacked by Alex, looking radically different from the enthusiastic Alex of before. He grabbed Brian by the neck and yelled, "Where are they?! Where are Jay and Tim?!"

And Brian smiled. He smiled because his efforts were paying off. Alex was desperate, he was losing, and best of all, he knew nothing about Kate. "Wipe that stupid smile off your face."

Chapter 23: Entry #23

Tobias lay confused. Even though his legs moved in the same direction as a confused Tim, trying to find the Oakside Park radio station, Tobias's head kept spinning with thoughts. Tim had told him more about his past, or at least what he remembered seeing, and he was left with too many questions. For starters, it seemed strange that no one could stop him while he was in his rampant state. He thought maybe he'd been hurt, but no, nothing like that, not a trace of injuries on his body beyond those he'd acquired later, and he remembered those well. He then considered that Slenderman might have helped him, but that wasn't an option either. Slenderman wouldn't help like that; he'd only transformed him mentally. Finally, he concluded that his condition was what helped him, perhaps because he didn't feel pain and went into a berserker mode or something similar. Who knows? Who could? ... Wait a minute.

"Hey, Tim."

"What happened?"

“Have you ever felt like you’re not yourself, but at the same time, you are?” Tim looked at him, confused. “Like, you do something you wouldn’t normally do… but you do it anyway, kind of automatically.”

“If I wouldn’t do it, why would I be doing it right then?”

“I don’t know,” Tobias said, finally getting that annoying teenage voice he still hadn’t shaken off despite being of legal age. “But I was thinking I might have done something like that. Like, you want to, but you know you wouldn’t because you don’t want to deal with the consequences.”

“You know what?” Tim said. “Maybe I’ll show you Jay’s videos.”

“Huh?”

“He filmed me going from one state to another, you know, with or without a mask. As far as I could tell, it was me, but in a… subconscious way.”

“Subcon-what?”

“Like wanting to do something deep down, but not wanting to because you know it’s a really dumb idea.”

“Ohhh…!” The two continued on their way until they came to the mass of trees that had been felled long ago. They couldn't cross. Tobias insisted he could, but Tim said maybe he could, but he couldn't. He didn't want to risk it with a knee that hurt more with age. They had to go around and look for a better place to continue. "Hey, Tim."

"Yes?" This was starting to get a little annoying.

"Can I ask you something else?"

"Sure, tell me." How could he say no to that?

"Are we really that bad?"

Tim hesitated, not knowing how to respond properly, so he did what anyone would do in this situation: give an ambiguous answer that he himself would answer.

"That depends. Do you regret what you did?"

"Yes?"

"Then you're good."

"But I did it..."

"Then you were bad. People can change, but only if they decide to, like you."

"Or like you?"

Tim hesitated a little. “Yeah, like me.” But he wasn’t sure if he was being sincere. Did he want to change?

“How can I change?”

“Um… Well, it would be remembering what happened, taking responsibility but not letting it overwhelm you. Understanding that… that others also share the blame, that it’s more complex than just… good guys and bad guys. You know what I mean?” But of course, none of them really remembered what had happened… So Toby quickened his pace. “Hey, what’s the rush?”

“Let’s get our memories back! Come on!” He was a different person, it really was like seeing a different person. Where on earth had the wretched psycho who tortured them for fun gone? Tim started to think that maybe this had another meaning. Toby couldn’t have changed so much from one moment to the next, it didn’t make sense… Or maybe there was a Toby… and a Tobias. Just like there was a Masky and a Tim. Could that be the reason? What if they didn’t remember who they were before because it wasn’t Tim, but Masky? Was there really a way out?

Tobias then screamed, fell into a hole in the ground, and it was just a scare, but it was enough to alarm Tim. He ran over, but his tension eased when he saw Tobias in a hole no higher than a person. “I’m fine,” Tobias said. “I think I fell into something.” He looked down and quickly stepped back, urging Tim to pull him up. Once Tobias was out of sight, they both got a better look at what was inside. Some kind of animal must have dug it up before Tobias fell in, because how else could he have accidentally stumbled into a grave in the middle of the woods?

Chapter 24: Entry #24

“Let’s go!”

“Kate, please…”
“I… I can’t.”
“It’s the only way. I have no other wish…”
“I CAN’T!” Kate begged, horrified by the sight of C.R. drenched in gasoline, lighter in hand, ready to incinerate himself with her in the building. Somehow, in a way she couldn’t understand, he reasoned that they had to be purged by fire to be free. Kate didn’t want to die. “I can’t…” The building swayed, the structure seeming to buckle as the flames C.R. had lit before she arrived began to take effect. But the building didn’t collapse. Kate backed away, unaware that the tall man was behind her, but somehow she didn’t notice. Seeing the horror on C.R.’s face, she realized it was too late for her beloved. She was already lost, broken, and didn't even lift her bloodied gaze, the result of all the glass that had shards of glass catching her face when she fell from the window. Like a trance.

"Kate...? Oh no... I'm so sorry... I'm so sorry!" C.R. cried out in terror, lit the lighter, and let his body be consumed. Kate snapped out of the trance in an instant, fleeing in horror to the exit, with no sign of the thin man. She ran and ran, everything went blurry, she didn't know where she was, she gathered what she could and put it on. She retrieved her white jacket, now dirty. She got her therapy mask and put it on; it was already torn, but it would ease the pain of the still-fresh wounds on her face. She saw things that were and weren't there. She moved through places she didn't know and others she did. She saw monstrous creatures that filled her with fear and rage, enough to make her fight back until the light became too much for her. Until she collapsed onto the floor of what looked like a basement and wept helplessly.

She heard someone approaching, looked up, it was C.R., the bastard was still walking again, and even though he was impossibly burned to the point where he shouldn't be able to keep stopping, it was her fault. All of this. And Kate didn't love him anymore, she hated him, enough to grab him and dig her thumbs into his eyes, scratch the charred skin of his face, and smash his head against the floor of… “KATE, PLEASE, STOP! IT'S ME!”

And the ordeal ended. And Lauren lay dead on the floor. Lauren. Her last friend… He had murdered her… And it was her fault. The worst part? He hadn't forced her, he had tricked her, but he could have refrained from attacking, refrained from unleashing his rage on her… It could have been different if only… Kate had known what was coming next. She was going to be taken away. Lauren was in a pitiful state, barely breathing. She began to drag her through the soil, trying to bury her so he wouldn't take her. But the deeper she dug, the more she lost, the more despondent she felt. She could no longer cry; her tears had run dry. And then there was nothing in her mind. She collapsed, and when she awoke, Kate was gone. Only in name.

Months would pass before Charlie died from her deplorable condition, leaving her alone and stalking unsuspecting people in the woods, taking refuge in mines and basements. Until Brian returned, but neither of them recognized each other. At this point, the only thing they had in common was the Operator and his curse.

-Broken-

Kate helped Brian to his feet. They both received all those visions of their past lives, and yet, nothing was the same. More than remembering, it was like watching a movie—emotional, but alien. There was nothing left, no feelings, no nostalgia, nothing that connected them as it once had. They were two strangers who had once met and barely interacted, but it should have been more. Heartbreaking is the story of those who reunite after years, but not in the way they expected. Kate and Brian looked at each other, somewhat awkward, but distant. “Did you see it?”

“Yes,” Brian said. “Even how I lost my eye…”
“So?”

“I know what we have to do… but you’re not going to like it.”
“I understand…” No one brought up the elephant in the room. They remained silent until Tim and Tobias found them. None of the four were wearing masks anymore.

“So, how do we get our memories back?” Tim asked.

“Stand there and I’ll give you an electric shock,” Brian said. “It sounds silly, but it worked.”

“Thank goodness I don’t feel any pain,” Tobias said, being the first to go. Even though Tim warned him that he might not want to see what his life was like before, Tobias insisted. So they did, and at one point he fell to the ground. Tim caught him before he hit the ground hard. When Tobias got up, his expression was one of confusion, as if he couldn't process what he had just seen.

"Everything okay, kid?" Tim asked.
“Lyra,” Tobias said. “Her name was Lyra. I had a friend named Natalie. I… I hurt her. But she escaped. I… I hope she’s okay.” Brian smiled at this. Now it was Tim’s turn. The one in the plaid shirt got into position, and the electric shock hit him. He cried out in pain and quickly pulled away. Tobias and Brian tried to grab him, but he got up long before the others. Once again, Tim saw what looked like a movie of his life. But he…

“I’m glad I got out of there.”

Everyone got up, but the machine didn’t stop. Brian tried to unplug it, but… it was already unplugged. And a message appeared on the screen that had previously been off: *WHY NOT START YOUR NEW LIFE TODAY?* Tim and Brian remembered this. “We have to get out of here now!”

They heard a screeching sound coming from the floor of the facility, metal against concrete. And then footsteps, not just a few, but several. Tim and Brian led Kate and Tobias out of there as quickly as possible. But the noise was coming from all directions. Several entities surrounded them, their primary target. They reached a point of no return, surrounded, and prepared for the worst. For they knew perfectly well who was after them.

They were proxies.

Chapter 25: Entry #25

From the shadows and around every corner, young people and adults appeared before Tim, Brian, Tobias, and Kate. Masked and hooded, some shamelessly showing their faces, others so ordinary they could pass for a normal person. Brian placed himself between them and his companions in a futile attempt to defend them. Tim lunged at his attackers, but despite having blades, axes, and even sickles, no one attacked him. They simply pinned him to the ground. Tim then saw Tobias experience another attack of tics that caused him to lose control of his own body; his head twisted and the muscles in his limbs tensed. He couldn't move; he knew what it meant. Kate stepped in to defend Tobias, using her own body to block any attempt at attack or abduction. She couldn't hold them off any longer; as soon as some tried to grab his arms, Kate lashed out, biting through the proxies' clothing and skin. Tim knew what was happening. They were provoking them. They wanted them to come back or be killed trying.

“Listen!” Brian shouted. “We can help you! We can go back to normal. You all had lives, people who loved you, lives without pain! We can go back to…!” But he was struck in his blind eye with the butt of an axe. It was clear they didn't want to return. Compared to them, these people looked and acted like zombies. Not a word or sound was uttered, and those without masks displayed a terrifying apathy or inhuman sadism. Brian tried to talk to them, but it was useless. You can't help someone who doesn't want help. You can't change someone who doesn't want to be changed.

Their ears began to ring, the atmosphere felt heavier, and they all knew who was coming. He was announcing his presence, and Tim was terrified. But there was still one alternative. Because now he remembered. “Brian! The pills! We have to find them!” Brian understood instantly. He looked at Kate and spoke.

“Tim, look after Toby and Kate. I think I know where to find them!” Tim understood. In an instant, Brian grabbed a piece of concrete and threw it not at his attackers, but at those who had Tim pinned down. The brick shattered in the proxy's face, and Tim was free, but instead, he charged at Brian's attackers, giving them time to escape and find the pills. Kate saw this and was outraged, but Tim told her to hold on a little longer. About three proxies ran after Brian, disappearing from everyone else's sight. Now it was two against… too many to count. Where had so many come from?

Tim stopped a machete attack, narrowly avoiding it, but his shirt was ripped. It would have been worse if Kate hadn't stopped the weapon before they could strike again. Tim took the machete away, but another proxy stabbed Kate in the side—or would have, if Tobias hadn't finally gotten up and punched the attacker in the groin. Now they had a knife, and now it was three against several. At least it was somewhat better. Cornered in the room, there were no blind spots where the attackers could strike undetected, but their overwhelming numerical advantage was such that the menacing mass of mindless brutes approaching was intimidating in itself. And worse, some of them were more robust and taller than any of them. They weren't going to get away with it much longer, and something was already moving in their direction. Something tall, thin, and unnatural. Where was Brian?

With a gun, of course. Brian had taken Tim's gun; it was unloaded, but they didn't know that. He was carrying his laptop and positioned himself between the two groups, his persistent silence intimidating to the point of making the proxies back away in fear. After all, a gunshot wound wasn't a big deal. But unlike Tim, Kate, and Tobias, who were struggling to stand, Brian wasn't having as much trouble. He'd found the pills, some very strange ones, but mild enough that they wouldn't affect him as much as the others. He was carrying Mary's computer and started typing like crazy. Tim grabbed the gun and pointed it at the proxies while yelling and threatening to shoot. Brian was also carrying a rope, which he gave to Kate and ordered her to tie around the waists of all four of them. Kate didn't quite understand why, but she did as she was told.

The computer finally started up, a program called *arklistener* that made the light flicker, confusing the proxies, and in a flash, the Operator appeared. Now it was all down to luck, because to make matters worse, everyone's vision began to blur. The ground ceased to be solid and became as tangible as air. Up became down, down became up. Everything was so confusing! As you can imagine, falling into an abyss whose floor is less than a centimeter from your face, but you still keep falling and falling.

Until everything stopped. They were in a building; it seemed normal, just a little dirtier, but not at all abandoned. The four of them didn't get up immediately; everything ached. Their muscles, their skin, they felt as if their bones had been broken—well, all except Tobias, who was the first to get up and survey the area. He found the body of a man wearing a leather jacket, hood, and mask. It was frightening, more frightening than his own, but Tobias thought it was silly. It was nighttime, but there was no sign of life anywhere. It was as if the city had fallen silent.

He went to check on Tim first; he was fine, but had a headache. Then he went to check on Kate; she was fine, also with a headache. But Brian wasn't in any trouble; he just ached all over, but nothing more. The important thing was that they had escaped the Operator, something that had never happened to them before, but it had worked. He coughed, then went to the others and gave them the pills. They didn't know where they were and couldn't risk running into the Operator again. The pills' effect wouldn't last forever, and they had to move fast.

"Where to?" Tim asked.

"To the Ark."

Notes:

NOTES:
- The new proxies are based on this image I found on Twitter: https://x.com/i/status/1998339192053453211 I feel that Masky, Hoodie, the Chaser, and Ticci Toby have been not only the most popular but also the foundation of what a proxy should be. Therefore, it feels natural that now that they're gone, others will take their place. You can imagine your OC as one of them.
- The corpse is Buddy, a character from the web series ROUTEBACKHOME, Silent Hill 2 but done in the Analog Horror style.