Chapter Text
Tim didn’t put the information on Brian on YouTube. Just the audition tape, so that people would know he was a good person. That thing messed him up, but people should know who he was.
Alex had burned his house down. Now he was living in his car. He had to be careful about visits to the hospital. Alex couldn’t find out about Brian. That’s why Tim hadn’t given any indication that he was alive on the YouTube channel. Alex was watching.
Tim’s phone rang. The ID said it was the hospital.
“Hello?” he asked.
“This is Timothy Wright?” a bored voice asked. “Emergency contact for Brian Thomas?”
Tim felt his stomach twist.
“Yeah, that’s me, is everything alright?”
“Mr. Thomas has gone missing.”
It took a moment for Tim to process what she’d said. “He’s paralyzed from the waist down, how can he go –,” but Tim knew. He must not have been as careful as he had thought. Alex must have – unless it wasn’t Alex. What if – ?
“Do you have any idea where he went?” Tim asked. “How this happened?”
“Unfortunately we experienced a problem with the security footage,” the woman said. “We give our sincerest apologies. As soon as we have any information, we’ll contact you.”
“Thanks,” Tim hung up. “For nothing.”
Tim started driving. He didn’t know where he was going. Maybe Benedict Hall? Or Roswood. Either of those would make sense, if it was that thing. If it was Alex, there was no telling where Brian was now.
Tim’s phone rang and he answered without checking the ID.
“Did you find him?” Tim asked.
“Find who?” Jessica asked. “Tim?”
Tim swore. He pulled over.
“Tim, are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine, why are you calling?”
“I saw your house had burned down on the news,” Jessica’s voice changed a bit from concerned to annoyed. “I wanted to see if you needed help.”
“I don’t, I’m fine,” Tim said.
“Find who?” Jessica asked. “Something’s going on.”
“Nothing –,”
“Don’t lie to me,” Jessica snapped.
Tim sighed. He knew there was only one way to go with this.
“I found Brian, alive,” Tim said. “He was in the hospital…but he’s gone missing.”
There was a pause.
“He was the guy in the hooded jacket?” Jessica asked.
“Yeah,” Tim said. “Look, he couldn’t have gotten out of the hospital on his own. It was either Alex or that thing. You need to be careful.”
“I need to be careful?” Jessica asked and then gasped. “You’re hunting them down are you?”
“That’s not…just stay where you are, okay?” Tim asked. “I’ll call you when –,”
“No,” Jessica said. “I’m coming down there.”
“That’s not –,”
“Or you come to me and we make a plan,” Jessica said. “Diving into this when you’re panicking isn’t going to do any good. And I’m all you’ve got left.”
Tim gritted his teeth and didn’t reply for a long moment.
“Yeah,” he finally said. “I know.”
Jessica gave him her address.
“If you aren’t here by tomorrow, I’m driving down there,” she said.
“I’ll be there,” Tim said.
....
Jessica’s apartment was small and comfortable.
“Do you know where Brian might be?” she asked.
“Probably Benedict Hall,” Tim said. “If not there, then Rosswood.”
Jessica nodded. She was staring at him with wide eyes. Tim was surprised she didn’t look afraid. Rather, she appeared to be prepared for anything.
“We’ll head out for Benedict Hall together in the morning,” Jessica said. “Going at night sounds like a bad idea.”
“Yeah,” Tim said.
“You can sleep on my couch,” Jessica said after a pause.
“Thanks,” Tim said.
He didn’t sleep for a minute that night. The next morning he got up before Jessica did. He gathered his things and crept out the door. It was still dark outside, and there were barely any birds chirping. He got into his car.
It was better this way. Safer.
....
By the time Tim made it to Benedict Hall the sun had come out. He made his way into the building. He trudged through the tunnels for a while before stopping to take his pills. Should have taken them before he even came here. Tim climbed out of the tunnels into a decrepit bathroom. As carefully as he could, with his knife in front of him, Tim walked through the building. He expected Alex to be around any corner. The building was falling apart.
Tim walked out of a bathroom – Crack!
Tim almost fell to the floor.
Crack!
Alex still had his gun, apparently.
Tim ran for the staircase. The floor gave out from under him. Tim fell into the basement.
It was here. Tim gulped big breathes of air.
It was happening again. One minute he was in Benedict Hall, the next he was in the tunnel at Rosswood.
His leg was killing him.
Tim turned to see Alex at the mouth of the tunnel.
“Alex, no. Alex, this isn’t going to fix anything. It’s never going to stop!”
Alex calmly pointed the gun at him. Tim turned and tried to run. Alex fired two shots. Tim ran for the woods.
“All this can stop,” Alex said. “Everyone else is gone. You’re the only one that’s left. All you have to do is give up. Then I can stop this disease from spreading.”
Disease? What was he talking about? Tim got out his knife.
“You’re the one who brought this here,” Alex said. “You’re the reason it came for us.”
Tim carefully walked towards Alex.
“If I hadn’t stopped this thing, it could have spread to even more people," Alex said. "This could finally be over!”
Tim stabbed Alex in the back. They changed places again. It was daytime, and a red brick building.
Tim grabbed the gun and pointed at Alex. He pulled the trigger. Nothing happened.
Alex had the knife. He tried to stab Tim, but he grabbed Alex’s arm. Alex punched Tim over and over again.
Tim coughed. He looked at his hand to see he had the knife again. Where was Alex?
They were back at the damn hospital.
“Alex,” Tim limped through the hall. “It doesn’t have to be like this. It’s not protecting you it’s controlling you. We could fight it together. I know what it’s like I can help you.”
Tim held the knife in front of him. He didn’t know if he wanted Alex to let him help him. He wasn't sure he wanted to kill him either.
“I’ve had to live with this my entire life,” Tim said. “But I’ve learned how to block it out. I can show you how. If you kill me, then what’s going to happen, huh? What’s going to happen to you then? You’ll just be a shell of a person just like Brian.”
Alex came out of a side door and attacked Tim.
“I know exactly what happened to Brian.”
Tim was in a white room. Across from him, Brian was up against a wall. He wasn’t moving.
“You killed him,” Alex said.
Tim felt a chill roll down his spine.
“And he died here slowly, because of you.”
Tim screamed.
The thing stood in front of him. Tim coughed. It felt like his lungs were being pulled out of him. Tim took his pills.
It was still there. Tim picked up his knife. Nothing made sense. There was the fire, from years and years ago. Alex was talking.
It was gone. Tim pulled himself up.
“What makes you think I’m the only source? There could be hundreds of others. Thousands! You could be spreading it too. It’s just using you to get what it wants –!”
The thing was in front of him.
Everything changed again. Tim was on the top floor of Benedict Hall. Then the woods.
“I’ve done everything to keep this under control!” Alex said. “Everyone is dead.”
Tim turned the knife in his hand.
He was back in Benedict Hall.
“Sarah, Seth, Amy, Brian, Jay. And now you!”
Alex attacked him from behind.
Tim struggled to breath as Alex chocked him.
“You aren’t containing it,” he said. “You’re just feeding it.”
“Shut up,” Alex said.
“When you killed Amy,” Tim chocked. “Did you feel like a hero in control?”
Alex pulled his arm back. Tim cut Alex’s neck with his knife. Alex fell to the ground.
Tim looked. The thing. It was standing in the window.
His head split open in pain.
Tim screamed.
He dropped the camera attacked Alex.
Tim got off him after a couple of minutes. He leaned against the wall.
He’d finally done it.
He picked up the camera and got a view of Alex. There was blood everywhere.
“This isn’t over,” Alex managed to say. “You see how this spreads. If there’s someone left you have to kill them. And yourself.”
Tim limped away. Numb. Exhausted. He didn’t know if he was laughing or crying. Maybe it was both.
He collapsed at the top of the stairs.
....
Jessica pulled into Benedict Hall. She was going to kill Tim herself for this.
It didn’t take long to find the entrance from Tim’s videos. Jessica slowly and carefully made her way through Benedict Hall.
In the basement, she picked up a brick and held it ready to strike. Jessica looked in each room. She caught sight of a pant leg in one. Jessica stopped. It didn’t move. Slowly, she moved forward.
“Brian?” she rushed forward and checked his pulse. He was still alive but not moving.
Jessica didn’t want to leave him, but she had to find Tim.
The building was quiet.
Jessica made her way up the stairs. She dropped the brick.
“Oh god, no,” Jessica checked Tim’s pulse. He was still alive.
Jessica got out her phone.
“911? I – I found my friend. He’s bloody, and he’s unconscious.”
She gave them the address and saw the camera. She hung up and watched the video.
Oh no.
Jessica made her way past Tim. Alex was lying in a pool of his own blood. He also wasn’t moving. Jessica walked out into the hallway and slumped against a wall.
She knew what she had to do.