Let's see how our hero's first mission will go!

Chapter 2: Close Encounters of the Slender Kind

The moment Mark and I stepped out of the portal, I was absolutely terrified. We were standing in front of an enormous wrought-iron gate, staring into the pitch darkness. Actually, 'dark' wasn't an accurate description for our surroundings; since there was no moon or stars in the sky above, it was more like staring into the heart of a black hole. "Whoa!"

"Here, this might help you out." Mark quickly handed me a flashlight that I switched on immediately. The light cut through the shadows like a laser beam, illuminating the edge of a forest.

"So we're in someone else's dream right now?" I asked, recalling Mark's briefing.

"Yep," Mark replied, a smile on his face despite the darkness. "We should try to find them quickly before the Terrorlings do."

With a nod of understanding, I took a few steps forward when – crack!

I jumped back in fear, almost falling into Mark's arms. "Uuh, that's probably just a cute, harmless forest creature, right?"

"Well, it could be…" Mark looked into the darkness with narrowed eyes. "Or…" He took a step closer and took my hand. "Or something's probably watching us, waiting for the right moment to MURDERLIZE us!"

I let out a scream and grabbed Mark's arm. Then I heard him chuckle. "I'm kidding. Kind of…"

With a sigh of mild relief, I released my grip. "Are you going to stick with me through my whole first shift?"

"Aw, sick of me already?" Mark teased. "I'll stay with you as long as I can, but I have to get back to my own objectives eventually."

Suddenly, I heard a rustling in the bushes. "Oh… great," Mark breathed. "I think I know where we are."

"What?" I turned to look at him and was stunned when I saw the terror in his eyes. "Where are we?"

"This will certainly be an interesting first mission for you," Mark replied, all humor gone from his voice.

Just then, a scream tore through the darkness and Mark suddenly jerked into action. "Sounds like someone needs help! Let's go!"

It was then that I saw four figures bursting out of the forest. One of them was running very quickly and soon passed by us. I just had time to notice that it was a young girl about my age before she ran off, closely followed by the other three figures. They went by so fast that I didn't see what they looked like.

As they vanished into the darkness, I turned to Mark. "Are those the Terrorlings?"

"Yeah," Mark replied grimly, raising his fists. "These are just little guys, Proxies as we call them, but don't let your guard down."

"Alright then," I said, drawing my sword and shield. "Let's hope I don't die."

We ran into the dark forest until we spotted them again. The three taller figures had cornered the young girl who was huddled by a tree, her arms over her head. "Hey jerks!" I yelled. "Over here!"

The figures spun around to look at me and I gasped. Each of the Proxy Terrorlings wore grey hoodies, jeans, and sneakers, all stained with blood. Two of them had long blonde hair and the other had short brown hair. But their faces were the most terrifying thing about them: pale white and emaciated like corpses, black holes that oozed blood where their eyes should have been, and teeth that were pointed like sharks. Upon seeing Mark and me, the Terrorlings hissed and raised their hands, their bony fingers hooked like claws.

"Watch out!" Mark called as one of the blonde Terrorlings pounced at me, ready to slice my neck out.

At the last second, I raised my shield, hearing her fingers rapping on the metal. With a yell, I pushed forward and shoved the Proxy off me. But while I was distracted, the lone male Proxy lunged out and knocked me to the ground. "I can smell your fear," he hissed, standing over me.

"Get away from her! HABOOSKI!" Mark charged in, punching the Proxy away. As the Terrorling hit the ground, he flashed white and disintegrated into ash.

I quickly struggled to my feet as the remaining Proxies circled around us. "What do we do now?" I asked nervously.

"Don't worry, I got this. Crazy Foot Thing!" Mark swung his leg out in a rapid blur of motion. One of the Proxies stumbled back then jumped forward to attack… but instead of hitting us, she landed on her fellow Terrorling.

"That's done it. I've confused her," Mark cried. "Now's our chance!"

I nodded then ran forward, swinging my sword. The second Terrorling went down quickly thanks to the wounds from her confused friend.

"Taste my Whumpus Whump!" Mark bellowed, bashing the last Proxy into nothing.

"We did it!" I cheered between pants.

"See?" Mark beamed. "I knew you'd be fine!"

"Wait…" I looked up to where the girl had been lying. "She's gone! Did the Terrorlings take her?"

"No, she ran off when they went to attack us," Mark replied. "She must be around here somewhere." Just then, his watch started beeping. "Ah crap, I gotta go. You'll be okay on your own, right?"

"Don't worry, I got this," I reassured him.

"Good to hear," Mark smiled. "You'll have to find that girl. She still needs your help. Oh yeah, what I meant to say before is that we're in the Slender forest."

My confidence drained away at those words. It had been so long since I last watched Mark playing the Slender games, but the memories of those videos had stuck with me for months. "Oh, crap…"

"Yeah, that does sound scary, but I know you can do it," Mark replied comfortingly. "Now, to make it through, you'll need to collect all eight pages. Stick to the path so you don't get lost. Hopefully, you won't have to deal with ol' Slendy himself. But if you do see him, run the other way."

"Find pages, stick to the path, run if you see Slendy," I muttered to myself. "Okay, I got it."

"Great. I believe in you. Good luck!" With that, Mark hit a button on his watch, summoning the portal. Giving a final smile, he stepped through it before it disappeared.

I then turned to face the forest again, flashlight in hand. "Well, now that I'm alone, this place really gives me the creeps… I better find those pages fast!"

Near where we fought the Terrorlings, I spotted an abandoned cabin. I looked around it until I spotted a page pinned to a wall. As I took it, the wind began to pick up, but I ignored it for now.

I went further down the path until I came to a field. My flashlight shone upon a body lying motionless in the grass. For a moment, I feared that I had found the body of the girl who'd run off. "Uh… Hello?" I called out, but I got no answer.

Cautiously, I approached the body and turned it over… and my fears abated. The body was of a young man, not a girl, and there was no heart-mark on the sleeve. "Phew…" I sighed in relief.

Suddenly, the light began to flicker and I looked up… just in time to see a white-skinned figure in a dark suit running towards me. "Oh SHIT!" Remembering Mark's advice, I fled through the grass, not daring to look at the figure.

I ran for what felt like hours until I spotted a lamppost where I stopped to catch my breath. I also found another page at its base and took it immediately. "I should be careful," I muttered to myself. "The more pages I find, the more Slender Man will appear… That's how it worked in the games Mark played."

With that in mind, I continued along the path. I found another page pinned to the door of an abandoned pickup truck, where some Proxy Terrorlings were hanging about. After I easily defeated them, I kept going until I saw a bridge running over a lake.

As I walked alongside the bridge, I spotted a small island where a large crystal lay, glittering pink in the beam of my flashlight. "What is that?" I wondered aloud. I took a step closer and gently lay my hand on it.

Suddenly, the crystal flashed out and I felt a strange power flowing through me. "Whoa," I breathed. "I don't know why, but I suddenly feel the urge to scream at something very loudly."

Just then, Slender Man appeared on the water and I ran off again, pausing briefly to grab the fourth page from a dock house by the water's edge. "Alright," I panted once I had a moment to myself. "I'm halfway there."

My earlier theory was proved correct, for Slender Man appeared again and again as I went along the path. Each time, I had to run off for a little while until I was sure he'd gone.

Despite the delays, I found the next page in a cemetery and was almost immediately attacked by a horde of Terrorlings, this one bigger than the last. I was hopelessly outnumbered, but then I remembered the power that the crystal gave me. I took a deep breath and let out an ear-splitting shriek that shook the earth. Against such a powerful scream, the Terrorlings were quickly reduced to ash.

"Sweet!" I cried. "That's gonna be useful in any tough fights."

On I went then through the dark forest, dodging Slender Man whenever he appeared. The sixth page was found stuck to a large boulder, and the seventh was found at the base of a tower in the middle of the forest.

After another few narrow escapes from Slender Man, I found a campsite by the lake, close to my starting point. I saw the final page pinned to a wooden bollard, which bore an image of Dickbutt. "Classy," I scoffed, picking up the page.

At that moment, I heard a loud rusty squeak of hinges. I hurried back to the cabin and discovered that the wrought-iron gate was open. "I guess it unlocked when I found all the pages," I reasoned. "Bit of a roundabout and inexplicable way of doing it, but I'm not complaining."

I stepped through the gates and walked along the path until I heard a clang behind me. Spinning around, I was shocked to see that the gates had slammed shut again. "No going back now," I sighed.

As I turned back, I saw the silhouette of a mansion in the distance. "I don't remember Slender Man having a mansion, but maybe that girl I'm looking for is in there."

With that in mind, I hurried down the path as fast as I could, hoping that I wouldn't be too late…

And that's the end of this chapter. Sorry if it was shorter than the last one, but there really wasn't much to tell in this.