Next week is the last week of publishing for this part! :D
How exciting is that?! Not very, considering I won't be posting again until January. More details will be stated in the last chapter! =3
Mark didn't know how long it had been since Jack had left, but he was growing nervous as time passed. He wasn't sure if it was from just being totally alone or his worry about everyone else. Mark at least knew that he wasn't seeing things when two new tally marks found their way onto the sheet with the number ten. Hopefully, Jack had caught up to Delirious and the two of them had repaired both generators together.
Still, even if the two of them were working together to find Avery, Mark was still getting antsy. When he finally couldn't stand waiting any longer, Mark lifted himself to his feet. He hissed with pain after putting some weight on his right leg, but found that it was at least able to support him just a little bit now. Limping over to the trapdoor, Mark slowly made his way down the ladder and outside the tree. He walked with something of a weird gallop, almost hopping on his left leg. Even though the pain was quickly coming back to him, Mark kept on going. He needed to find Jack and Delirious.
Jack and Delirious, unaware that Mark was no longer at the hideout, were still looking for Avery. They had left the Wretched Shop forest behind them and were heading back towards the explosion sight when Delirious suddenly stopped.
"What is it?" Jack asked.
"A hook," Delirious pointed towards a hill. There was a hook standing at the top of it.
"All right, let's go." Jack said, heading for it first.
Delirious followed Jack and was first up the hill. As he tried to figure out a way to reach it, Jack kept watch over the surrounding area. Delirious tried jumping and just gave himself a few splinters.
"Ouch!" he growled, shaking his hands. He started picking the splinters out of his hands. "Why aren't you doing this?" Delirious asked Jack. "You're taller than me."
"I'm not that much taller than you." Jack said. To prove his point, he stepped in next to Delirious. "See? Look, we're practically the same height anyway." Jack went back to scanning the area.
"Yeah, whatever." Delirious grumbled.
He unzipped his sweater and pulling it off, Delirious threw his sweater around the post and started using it to climb. He was soon laying on his stomach across the top and was trying to remember how Avery had taken the other hooks down.
"How did Avery do this?" he asked Jack.
"There should be a clip," Jack said. "You have to-" he stopped when he turned around. "Holy shit! How did ya get up there?!" he gasped.
"I used my hoodie." Delirious explained. He found the clip Jack had mentioned and played with it until it came off.
Jack was still staring up at Delirious, who was now in just a gray T-shirt and his black jeans and white sneakers (which were now a little tan). The blue sweater now lay on the ground, and Jack picked it up.
"You want this back?" he asked.
"Yes," Delirious answered, ripping the hook's binding off. He took his sweater from Jack and put it back on, but left it unzipped this time. Delirious stood up on the stand and went to jump down.
Jack had looked away to scan the area once more. Delirious jumped off the end of the stand, but the post was closer to the edge than he had thought, and his landing was sloppy.
"GAH!" Delirious cried as he tripped over the edge, landing on the ground below with a thwump.
Jack had turned at Delirious' cry and bent down at the edge.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Delirious said, standing up again and brushing himself off. He looked up at Jack and his eyes widened. "SHIT! JACK, RUN!" he shouted.
Jack quickly rolled over and saw The Wraith, who was obviously no longer unconscious. Jack rolled out from underneath the monster as it slammed the skull end of his staff on the ground where, just a second earlier, Jack's head had been. Jack ran down the hill and charged off towards the Blood Lodge. One quick glance behind him told Jack that Delirious had run in the other direction, and that the killer had gone after him.
Jack didn't stop running until reached the Blood Lodge, though. This was now just fantastic. He and Delirious had gone looking for Avery, who was still missing, and now the both of them were separated.
At least there was still one good thing for Jack, and that was that he'd found a generator.
Or, actually remembered that there was one in the Blood Lodge.
Heading inside, Jack made his way up the collapsed floor boards and onto the deck. Sure enough, there was a generator still untouched. Jack immediately jumped into fixing it, though he kept looking around for the killer, Avery, or Delirious. After a while, Jack saw movement on the ground below and thought it was The Wraith, though it had a slight limp. Leaving the generator, Jack ran to the closet inside the house and hid himself inside it.
The limping figure Jack had seen and thought was the monster was actually Mark. Now standing just outside the Blood Lodge, he could hear a generator rumbling. It sounded like it was coming from above him, so Mark looked up. He could see a bit of the generator, and there was no light on above it. Getting excited, Mark went inside the Blood Lodge and crawled up the collapsed floor. When he reached the generator, he found that no one was by it. Puzzled, Mark looked around for someone.
When he didn't see anyone, he opened his mouth to call out, but his voice was replaced with a clanging bell. Mark looked around desperately around and spotted the closet and limped over.
"What the-?!" someone exclaimed, startling Mark. "Mark!?" Jack gasped, confused.
"Oh, sorry, Jack!" Mark said, closing the closet door again. He went instead to hide behind the generator.
Jack, shocked by Mark's sudden appearance, was about to leave the closet to ask what he was doing there when he too heard the clanging bell and had to stay put. His breath caught in his throat, but Jack pushed the urge to cough down, at least until it had fallen quiet again.
"Jack, you can come out. It's gone," Mark said from outside the closet.
Jack opened the door and stepped out, closing it again behind him. He went straight over to Mark, who looked relieved to see him.
"What are ya doing here, Mark?!" Jack demanded. "And how did you even get this far on that leg?" he asked.
"I-" Mark paused. He couldn't seem to think of a response.
"It's bad enough tha we're in this mess, and now that yer hurt. . ." Jack's voice trailed.
They were both quiet for a moment before, "I was looking for you and Delirious," Mark said finally. "Did you ever catch up to him?" he asked.
Jack sighed. "I did, but the two of us got separated not too long ago," he explained.
"Oh," Mark looked around awkwardly. "Did you guys find anything?" he asked.
Jack knew Mark was talking about Avery. "Not exactly," he said. "But I do believe that she might actually still be alive."
"That's good," Mark said.
Jack thought for a moment. "Why were you looking for us?" he asked finally. "We would have come back, with or without Avery, y'know." he said.
"I know that I was safer back at the treehouse, but I was starting to feel uncomfortable, being alone," Mark said.
"I thought ya said you would be fine on yer own?" Jack pointed out.
"I know what I said, but I guess that I was wrong." Mark sighed. "It's really just the feel of this place that made me leave," he said.
"Oh, then I understand." Jack admitted honestly. He'd been growing uncomfortable from being alone, himself, after getting separated from Delirious.
Jack seemed to automatically move back to fixing the generator, and Mark helped out. Jack accidentally broke something, causing a small explosion, but he stayed to fix it, since Mark didn't move. Both Jack and Mark were tense after that, though, and when the light finally came on, the fled the scene as fast as Mark could go.
Once at a fairly safe distance, Jack stopped to look at Mark's leg.
"How much does it hurt?" he asked after checking that the bandages weren't any bloodier than before.
"Not too much." Mark answered. "As long as I keep most of my weight off it as much as possible, I can at least walk," he said.
"Okay, let's head back," Jack said, and he helped Mark stand up again.
After a few yards of travel, Jack offered to help support Mark the rest of the way.
"No, I think I've got it." Mark claimed.
"Okay," Jack said, though he wasn't sure Mark was being completely truthful.
Jack was relieved when the giant oak tree came into sight, and was just glad that he and Mark had made it back safely.
"Jack! Mark! Up here!" Jack and Mark looked up to see a spot of blue among all the green leaves and brown branches.
"H2O!" Jack cried, thankful that Delirious too was okay. "Glad you're alright!" he called up to him.
Delirious moved down the branch and closer to the treehouse. "Mark, why did you leave?" he called down.
"Already discussed that with Jack!" Mark called back.
Jack went around the tree and ducked through the opening into the ladder shaft. He climbed up the ladder, looking down once to check that Mark was behind him. Jack reached the top and poked his head through the trapdoor. He was surprised by who he found in the treehouse with Delirious.
"Avery!"
