Hide Me from the Eyes

Dray didn't resist. He ran, people twitching away like fluttering birds.

And they knew. They knew. The thyre that got away, a shadow deep in the tunnels crawling back, grinning with too many teeth—

He clamped his mouth shut, choking on a breath that didn’t sound right, stairs and crowds and streets blurring around him, eyes turning to watch. Always watching.

Stov’s tight grip tugged him along, yanking him through the chaotic crowd, arms and legs flailing around him like trees and gnarled vines, unrecognisable faces staring at him. Staring at the shadows chasing him down down down into a crowded tunnel, rough breathing wheezing in his ears.

It wasn’t him— it hadn’t been him—

Echoes and odd distorted voices twisted around him, bodies brushing his, a thousand glinting eyes watching from the ceiling. He clenched numb hands around his head, stumbling through them. Go away. Go away. It wasn’t me I’m not a monster please—

Vines and flowers glowing like ghosts reached for him as he gritted his teeth desperately—twisting into skinny fingers, clutching for the side of his face. He fought to shake them off but he couldn’t—they just came back, scraping at his hair, his mask, laughing and teasing at the edges to drag it off, reveal the real monster underneath. The thing of shadows that had escaped its prison—

Leave me alone leave me alone. He choked and shook his head violently, tearing free.

Dizzy, so dizzy. He couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t see. Didn't know if he crawled or ran under the eyes of a thousand spiders, spinning, lurching, holding his face together with violently shaking hands. Until he stumbled out under massive trees and arching buildings, vines crawling out through the pores, creeping into every cranny until there was nothing left but a wriggling mass of roots.

Felt like they crawled in his veins, the world drowned under green light, sickly skin lit in an eerie glow as he stumbled through glimmers of yellow flashing dim, light, dim, light. Burning him and drawing eyes where he touched it, exposing the wrongness, the—

Please. He hunched, staggering after dark shapes, trying to squeeze into the shadows, away from those unblinking gazes. I’m not. That’s not me.

Where was this? He didn't know, he didn't know. The forest whirled around him, chattering with birds and voices and fuzzy shouts, and he clawed at his ears, gasping for air. Were they still running? His lungs felt tight, his skin like stretched latex under chafing fabric. Something growled....

A fluffy canid with beady eyes stared at him, frozen, its hackles bristling. No, a monster made of shadows and sharp teeth stretching wide—

A hand yanking at him choked off a snarling rumble cutting past his bared teeth, a familiar voice snapping at him. Playful, acting, brushing things off. Brushing off something he hadn’t meant to—

Trying to laugh, he forced himself to go limp, heart pounding in his ears, but it sounded strange. Didn't recognise that sound. Was it the right one, or did everything just sound wrong now? He didn't know.

"Please... please tell me we're close to the nook," he gasped, shoving free of the hand aggressively ruffling his head. Thought it might be... he was all turned around. Which... which direction?

Too many babbling voices. He shook his head, trying not to reach for his ears again, but pressure muffled them again anyway.

Where... where was Stov? Erold? Neri? There was something... there were monsters looking down at him, leading him into the shadows, away from the noise, taking him somewhere he didn't want to go. Monsters that had escaped the hunters, skittering down the spillway in a trail of blood—

A pale hand grabbed his wrist.

Flinching, he yanked back, but the muzzle frozen in a dead snarl dropped away, and Stov's face looked at him, crouching down. He actually looked... worried. "Dray, can you hear me?"

He blinked. What’d he been—? The static fuzzing his brain lifted, and he abruptly realised he was hyperventilating. Swallowing, taking deeper breaths, he forced out, "Yeah."

Relief relaxed the muscles around eyes and brows. Slightly. "Do you know where we are?"

He'd... somehow moved into an alleyway with little potted plants and bushes hiding entranceways, people passing on the street outside. There were— he twitched at raggedy figures with black teeth and veins, but he knew them. Erold? Erold, and Neri. Just masks.

Looking up, he could see eaves hanging with vines across the street, over a fence, roots growing through walls and crawling around old station-style windows. It felt... familiar. "We're... almost at the station."

Almost there. Right by the nook. Clenching that in his fist, he took a shuddering, deep breath that didn’t feel like it strangled him. "Are they still after us?"

"Managed to shake them, I think. The feeds are going wild, though. Practically the whole city's been put on alert. It's better to keep moving."

"No hollows." He rose unsteadily to his feet, flexing his trembling hands. Of course they’d be scrambling to come after—When he’d just— Briefly squeezing his eyes shut, he forced his breathing to stay deep and even. "We're almost there. Should be better with less people. Just need to keep it together."

Stov watched him for a moment, his eyes slipping briefly into something dark and shadowed, glinting, staring. "That's the spirit."

Dray blinked and it was gone. Stov's face. Not another maddening pair of strange eyes, just Stov straightening and stepping out into the street, silent raggedy figures slipping in behind.

"How... how are you feeling?" Erold asked quietly.

Wrapping his arms around himself, he kept his head down. “Been better.”

"You'll be okay. We'll... we'll get you to the ruins. And we'll figure out how to get out of Alerra."

He breathed, closing his eyes. "Yeah."

Fought the urge to press at his ears again. Too many people. Twisted figures with long stretching fingers and tall bare necks. Had they always looked like that?

Didn't know. If he asked, the others'd just look at him like he was howling mad, their staring eyes cutting through him—

Leave me alone. He dug into his face, stumbling into something warm and hard, a disapproving voice bouncing through his ears. Another voice, softer, gentler—familiar—apologised.

Just needed to get out of here.

A vice clamped around his arm, and he jerked back only to see Stov frowning at him from a dark, hidden hole, a tear leading through a fence in front of them. "You okay?"

"I'm fine." The words snapped out of him before he could yank them back, and he pressed against the mask digging into his face, taking a deep breath. "Just stop tugging me around like a kritzed toddler."

"...Fine. Just a hop to the nook. C'mon."

He didn't have to sound so soothing. Dray ground his teeth, some part of him just wanting to rip the niffing mask off as his blunt fingers dug into waxy rubber. Hadn't meant to snap. Everything just felt... felt.... "I'm sorry."

"No problem."

A monster escaped the force....

Choking off a soft sound trying to squeeze out, he clenched his hand around his throat, fuzzy fabric soft against his fingers. "I think... I think it's getting worse. I didn’t... didn’t mean to...."

"You're fine. We're almost at the nook. Think you can climb?"

He blinked up, vines writhing along rusting metal and strangling stone with webbing roots, leaves dangling off the edge. The nook. Where it’d all started....

Familiar hardwood pillars led up, and he grabbed hold of twisted stems, hauling himself after Stov.