After checking the street for anyone who might have been chasing Hannah, Tucker returned to the forest cabin. Closing the door behind him, Tucker looked at the bloodied stone that Hannah had brought with her. Once again, he thought that Hannah had simply been unlucky and had encountered a wild animal while walking alone through the night forest. Without thinking much, Tucker picked up the bloodied stone from the floor and threw it outside through the door.
Shaking his head again, Tucker went to see what Dale was doing. He trusted his friend, but knowing Dale's awkwardness, Tucker decided to check on him anyway. Entering the room where Dale had carried Hannah, he saw him wrapping Hannah's head with a thick layer of bandages. Seeing what Dale was doing, Tucker couldn't hold back and let out a loud sigh to get his attention.
"Dale, for God's sake. Stop that. Leave the girl alone and let her rest," Tucker said in an irritated tone, looking at his friend.
"But, Tucker… She needs help. Look at her, she's covered in scratches. And she probably hit her head while running away. Look at the bruise on her forehead," Dale said anxiously, looking at Tucker.
"That's exactly why I'm telling you not to touch her. What if she has a concussion? She needs rest right now. So finish up and let the girl rest," Tucker said in a tired tone, preparing to leave the room.
"Alright… I understand. Sorry… I just got a little scared when she ran in like that, looking so terrified… Did you find anything?" Dale asked apologetically, getting up from the floor and walking over to Tucker.
"Only trees and nothing else… Maybe it really was a wild animal. When she wakes up, we'll ask her, and then we'll look for her friends," Tucker said, shaking his head as he left the room.
Dale nodded and looked at Hannah once more, who was lying on the bed. Looking at his dog, Dale ordered it to guard Hannah just in case. Hearing Dale's order, the dog quietly barked and lay down to sleep next to Hannah's bed. Because Hannah was occupying one of the rooms, Tucker and Dale had to squeeze together in one room.
Quickly falling asleep after a long day and a large amount of beer, silence soon fell over Tucker and Dale's forest cabin. Jinkers, Dale's dog, was calmly sleeping by Hannah's bed when it suddenly opened its eyes and began growling toward the window.
On the other side of the window stood the bloodied silhouette of the stranger who had attacked Hannah in the forest. The man stared intently at Hannah, and when Jinkers began growling louder, the man left, leaving clear footprints on the ground behind him.
At the same time, no one in Alex's group suspected that one of them was missing. And Alex wasn't even thinking that with the arrival of morning, he would once again have a headache from the problems he would need to solve. But at the moment, Alex knew none of this and was peacefully sleeping, hugging Samantha, who was pressed against his chest.
Morning gradually arrived, and everyone began to wake up, coming out of their rooms. Mike and Jessica were the first to come out, looking quite rested. Matt and Emily followed them, having gone to bed earlier than everyone else and rested the best. Ashley came out last, followed by Chris with a pale face, leaning against the wall, holding one hand to his head and feeling the worst hangover of his life.
Coming out into the living room, Chris looked at the peacefully sleeping Josh, who simply didn't care what was happening around him. Clenching his teeth from the headache and not wanting to suffer alone, Chris pushed Josh off the sofa. Josh fell to the floor with a thud and immediately grabbed his head, feeling a strong hangover and nausea.
"Dude, that's not cool. Don't you have any conscience at all," Josh said with difficulty, holding his head with both hands and feeling a severe headache.
"We drank together yesterday, so we'll suffer together, buddy," Chris said through his headache, looking at Josh sitting on the floor.
Josh barely lifted his gaze to Chris, and at that moment he wanted to throw something heavy at his friend. The others, watching this exchange, just shook their heads. Seeing that three people were still missing, Jessica decided to go wake up Alex and Samantha, who still hadn't woken up.
Approaching the door of the room where Alex and Samantha were sleeping, Jessica knocked lightly to wake them. After a couple of knocks, Samantha opened the door, rubbing her eyes and looking at Jessica.
"Mmmm… What?" Samantha asked, looking at Jessica with a sleepy gaze.
"Everyone's already awake, and it's time for you too," Jessica said with a smile, looking at Samantha.
Peeking out of the room, Samantha saw that everyone was already gathered in the living room and nodded. Closing the door, Samantha walked over to Alex and gently shook him to wake him up. Feeling someone trying to wake him, Alex tiredly opened his eyes and looked at Samantha.
Sitting up, Alex rubbed his eyes and looked at Samantha with his usual gaze. Already used to Alex's typical gloomy morning look, Samantha began changing clothes, paying no attention to her husband's sullen expression. Slightly moving his neck, Alex snapped his fingers to change clothes.
And a moment later, Alex was wearing a tight black T-shirt, black sports leggings, black shorts, and black sneakers on his feet. Slightly stretching after waking up, Alex yawned as he left the room with Samantha.
"Hey, good morning," Ashley said, raising her hand with a smile.
"Shhh," Alex pressed a finger to his lips, making it clear that he needed silence right now.
Seeing Alex's morning look, everyone instinctively shuddered and fell silent. No one had suspected that Alex could have such a gloomy look that was both frightening and caused anxiety.
Even Chris and Josh forgot about their headaches and hangovers after meeting Alex's gaze. Ignoring those around him, Alex sat down at the table with only one desire — to drink coffee. Watching Alex sit at the table with a gloomy look, everyone shifted their gaze to Samantha, who smiled slightly.
"Sammy, this…" Emily began carefully, pointing at Alex.
"Everything's fine. It'll pass soon. He needs coffee and a couple of minutes of silence," Samantha said, continuing to chuckle as she brewed coffee for Alex.
Finishing her sentence, Samantha placed a freshly brewed coffee in front of Alex. Sniffing slightly and catching the smell of coffee, Alex shifted his gaze to the mug. Taking a sip of hot coffee, Alex sighed with relief, continuing to ignore the looks from those around him. Samantha stood behind Alex and began giving him his usual massage so his face would stop looking gloomy.
Watching Samantha massage Alex's face, everyone immediately had the thought that Samantha was so used to this that it had become her morning routine. After a couple of minutes, Alex's face no longer looked gloomy, and his gaze no longer frightened anyone.
"Still, I have to ask. Is this some kind of morning ritual for you two?" Jessica asked with interest, watching Alex and Samantha.
"Something like that. If you don't touch him, he'll walk around with that face for about an hour. So this is the fastest way," Samantha said with a smile, sitting down next to Alex.
"You two are quite a strange couple. Well, at least you're not perverts. That's already a plus," Emily said, shrugging in response to Samantha.
"Ew, Emily… How can you say something like that without shame? And anyway, where's Hannah? You woke us up, but she's not here. I demand justice," Alex said, looking at Emily and then scanning the living room.
"I knocked on her room, but she didn't open. Maybe she's sleeping too deeply?" Jessica said, taking a sip of her coffee.
"When we traveled with our parents, Hannah loved walking at night. She said it helped calm her thoughts," Josh said, searching his bag for headache pills.
Everyone looked at Josh, considering his explanation a suitable reason why Hannah still hadn't come out of her room. Still, Ashley decided to go check on Hannah just in case. Ashley didn't know why, but she had a very strange and uneasy feeling that she couldn't shake. She voiced her thoughts about simply wanting to check on Hannah.
No one objected, especially Josh, so he went with her to check on Hannah. Ashley and Josh approached Hannah's room and knocked on the door again. As soon as the knock sounded, Alex felt an unpleasant irritation inside him. Then came the creak of the door followed by Ashley's scream.
"Hannah is gone!" Ashley shouted, running out of Hannah's room with Josh.
When Ashley's scream rang out, she and Josh ran out of Hannah's room with panicked faces. Everyone immediately understood that something terrible had happened. Josh instantly fell into a panic and ran out of the forest cabin, beginning to search for his sister, shouting her name.
Everyone else followed him, trying to find at least something that could indicate where Hannah had gone. Alex tiredly sat at the table, not moving from his spot after everyone had run out. And all he felt now was a pulsing headache starting in his temples from the problems he would need to solve.
"Rest… Yeah, sure, and I believed it. Well, fuck," Alex said, finishing his coffee in one gulp.
Slamming the mug on the table, Alex sighed heavily and stood up from the chair. Before going outside, Alex took a double holster from his inventory and calmly put it on his belt, listening at the same time to everyone shouting Hannah's name. After putting on the holster, Alex took the Blue Rose revolver and the Casull pistol from his inventory, placing both weapons in the holsters.
Stepping outside, Alex saw the standard scene during the disappearance of one of the group. Everyone was rushing from side to side, shouting Hannah's name, hoping she was somewhere nearby or had simply gotten lost during her walk. Lighting a cigarette, Alex clapped his hands to get everyone's attention.
"Quiet. Stop shouting. Your screams won't help much right now. First, everyone calm down!" Alex shouted, forcing everyone to calm down and stop yelling.
"How can I calm down! Hannah is missing again!" Josh shouted, not wanting to stop searching for his sister.
"Shut up and listen to me. Before you, a group of idiots, manage to trample everything, stop!" Alex said in a cold tone, making it clear they should listen to his words.
Alex looked at everyone with a calm gaze, letting them know they should shut up and calm down. One look from Alex was enough for everyone to stop in their places. Chris stood next to Josh, trying to comfort his friend, repeating that Hannah might have gotten lost in the forest and that she was fine.
Everyone else also thought that Hannah had simply gotten lost, since they were in this forest for the first time, and getting lost wasn't difficult. Samantha looked at Alex, asking with her eyes if he was going to use his abilities to find Hannah. Alex calmly nodded, showing that he would handle everything, no matter what happened.
"Alex is right. We need to calm down and not panic. Remember what happened last time. So calm down and let him speak," Samantha said, sounding like the voice of reason for her friends.
When Samantha spoke, unpleasant memories immediately surfaced in everyone's minds — memories they would all prefer to forget like the worst nightmare of their lives. Samantha herself understood that her words might have the completely opposite effect and cause even more panic.
But seeing her friends calm down, especially Josh, Samantha breathed a sigh of relief and turned her head toward Alex, nodding slightly. Clenching the cigarette between his teeth, Alex looked around to search for Hannah's tracks.
He understood that if he used his powers to find Hannah, it would look too suspicious. Looking around, Alex saw a path leading deeper into the forest with barely noticeable tracks. Approaching closer, Alex squatted down and quickly realized the tracks belonged to Hannah.
"Found something?" Josh asked in a nervous tone, walking over to Alex.
"Yeah, Hannah's tracks. She most likely wanted to walk to the pier but chose a different path," Alex said, pointing to the tracks leading into the forest.
"So she could have gotten lost? Since she chose the wrong way?" Chris asked carefully, not wanting to worsen the situation even more.
"Yeah, most likely. Alright, Mike and I will follow the tracks. The rest of you look around nearby. Maybe when she tried to return, she twisted her ankle and is somewhere close," Alex said, looking at everyone.
Everyone agreed with Alex's plan, as they knew that if anyone could find Hannah, it was him. And everyone trusted Alex, so they didn't object. Mike calmly nodded, agreeing to go with Alex. Chris decided to go with Josh in case his friend had a nervous breakdown or a panic attack. Everyone quickly split into groups and went in different directions.
Alex and Mike followed the tracks Hannah had left when she went for a walk alone in the night forest. Mike didn't ask questions about why Alex had brought weapons with him. But he also didn't want some monster to appear this time that would hunt them to eat them. Reaching a fork, Alex and Mike stopped, looking in both directions.
"Where could she have gone? Should we split up and check both paths?" Mike asked, shifting his gaze to Alex.
"No. Look, the tracks are barely noticeable, but they're there… But here… This is strange," Alex said, squatting and brushing dirt away with his hand to show Hannah's barely visible tracks.
"I don't see any difference. What do you mean?" Mike asked, squatting down next to Alex, not understanding what Alex was showing him.
"These tracks. They're clearly male. And the tracks look like someone was limping on one leg," Alex said, explaining to Mike what he meant.
"Are you saying someone was chasing Hannah?" Mike asked, frowning after understanding what Alex meant.
"I don't know. But we'd better hurry… If I have to deal with this kind of shit during my vacation, I'll go crazy," Alex said, standing up from his squat.
Mike stood up, looked at Alex, and at that moment could only pat Alex on the shoulder with sympathy. Hurrying along Hannah's tracks, Alex and Mike quickly reached another fork. Alex quickly saw Hannah's tracks leading deeper into the forest. Pointing in the direction, Alex and Mike ran into the forest to understand what had happened to Hannah.
Occasionally stopping to make sure they were going the right way, Alex noticed that Hannah had been running. Alex understood what this meant, and from realizing this information, his headache only grew stronger. Soon Alex and Mike stopped, seeing traces of blood. Seeing the blood, Mike immediately began looking around, shouting Hannah's name, hoping she would hear him.
Alex squatted down and noticed a dent in the ground, as if someone had been pressed against it. Looking around, Alex saw Hannah's phone and her broken glasses among the grass. Continuing to examine the area, Alex saw drops of dried blood leading further away. He picked up a leaf from the ground that had blood on it.
Alex inhaled the smell and quickly realized that this blood did not belong to Hannah. Continuing to look around, Alex was able to reconstruct the sequence of events that had occurred in this place. He understood that Hannah had fallen while running from her pursuer, and then she had been pressed to the ground. And after that, she had managed to fight back and escape.
"Don't shout, she's not here," Alex said, stopping Mike.
"What did you see?" Mike asked, stopping shouting Hannah's name after hearing Alex's words.
"She was attacked here. Here are her glasses and phone. And judging by the tracks, she managed to fight off her attacker and escape. And the one who attacked her followed her," Alex said, pointing to all the tracks on the ground.
"Should we tell the others about this?" Mike asked, frowning and taking his phone out of his pocket to call Jessica.
"Not yet. So far we've only found tracks. And something like this could cause Josh to have another episode. Hannah is fine and alive. We just need to find her," Alex said, shaking his head and standing up.
Mike could only nod and put his phone back in his pocket. He liked this developing situation less and less, especially because of the bloodstains on the ground. And he had a question: who had attacked Hannah, and what had been the reason for it.
Alex couldn't help but notice that Mike was keeping calm in this situation and patted the guy on the shoulder, suggesting they continue. Mike nodded and followed Alex to find Hannah. Following Alex, Mike felt a small sense of relief that they wouldn't have to deal with some monster again.
A little earlier, before the search for the missing Hannah began, Hannah herself began to wake up in an unfamiliar place. With difficulty opening her eyes, Hannah felt a strong headache. Placing her hand on her head to ease the headache, Hannah sat up, feeling pain in her eyes as she tried to adjust to the sunlight. Looking around, she tried to understand where she was.
And her first thought was that she had managed to escape from her pursuer and return to the forest cabin. But she immediately realized she was in a different place. Without her glasses, Hannah couldn't understand exactly where she was and began looking around. As she looked around, Hannah heard a strange growl nearby and turned her head in that direction.
She saw that a large dog was lying next to the bed, slightly opening and closing its mouth without showing hostility. From all this, Hannah was certain she was where she was supposed to be. And at the same moment, she remembered how she had run into the forest cabin and seen two men, and after that she remembered nothing. Because of the headache, it was difficult for Hannah to gather her thoughts, and the headache only grew stronger with every moment. And before Hannah could do anything, the door to the room opened, and she sharply turned her head in that direction.
"Don't come near me! Please, don't come near me!" Hannah said, seeing the silhouette of a man and backing away.
"Wait, wait. No need to be afraid. We've already met, remember?" Dale said, holding a tray with food in his hands.
"You?… You're that man from the gas station?" Hannah asked cautiously after hearing the familiar voice.
"Y-yes. I'm Dale. I'm glad you remember… You just had such a big bump on your head. And I thought something had happened to you," Dale said with relief in his voice, nodding.
Hearing Dale's words, Hannah breathed a sigh of relief and pulled her knees toward herself, burying her face in them. At that moment, a whole storm of emotions raged inside her — from relief to fear because she had almost died. Dale, standing a couple of steps from Hannah and holding a tray with food, didn't know what he should do at that moment.
He had always found it difficult to communicate with girls, and being alone with Hannah, Dale felt very insecure. Dale began thinking about how to properly start a conversation when he heard light sobs. And he quickly realized that Hannah was crying. And, being himself, Dale thought that he was the reason Hannah was crying and immediately blamed himself for it.
"Wait, don't cry. Everything's fine. Or don't you like the breakfast I made? I can make something else. Just don't cry," Dale said nervously, trying to calm the crying Hannah.
"No. No. Everything's fine. It's just my throat hurts…" Hannah said quietly with tears in her eyes, raising her gaze to Dale.
"I understand. A wild animal attacked you. Anyone in your place would be scared. A deer once attacked me. I thought that was it, the end," Dale said, trying to lighten the mood.
"It wasn't a wild animal that attacked me… It was a man… He was the one chasing me," Hannah said, shaking her head and trying to explain what had happened to her.
"WHAT! A man attacked you? Was that who you ran from yesterday?" Dale exclaimed, nearly dropping the tray of food from his hands.
Hannah looked at Dale and nodded slightly. At that moment, Dale began to get nervous, realizing the situation was much worse than just a wild animal attack. Not knowing what he should do, Dale carefully placed the tray in front of Hannah so she could eat.
And all he could think about was providing silent support, even if he was doing it very awkwardly. Seeing the breakfast in front of her, Hannah didn't want to eat at all; she was still feeling the effects of being nearly strangled. Dale stood next to the bed, nervously watching Hannah, not knowing where to put his hands or what to do in this situation. And all he could do was nervously fidget in place.
"You don't like the pancakes? I can make something else… I just thought everyone liked pancakes. If you don't like it… I'll take it away," Dale said in a nervous tone, trying to take the tray.
"No… Everything's fine. It's just my throat hurts…" Hannah said quietly, rubbing her neck.
"Those are marks from the one who attacked you? You managed to fight him off, right? Could you see his face? Maybe Tucker and I should find your friends? They're probably looking for you right now," Dale asked carefully, noticing the bruises on Hannah's neck.
"Right, Josh… He's probably looking for me right now," Hannah exclaimed, starting to search for her phone, forgetting that she had lost it in the forest.
"Josh, is that your boyfriend?" Dale asked carefully, watching Hannah.
"No… Josh is my brother… He might start worrying because of what happened in the past," Hannah said, shaking her head.
Hearing Hannah's answer, Dale unconsciously breathed a sigh of relief. Dale wanted to ask Hannah if she had a boyfriend. But he quickly slapped himself on the head, realizing it wasn't appropriate to ask such a question in this situation.
No matter how stupid he was, Dale understood that it wasn't right to ask such questions to a girl who had been attacked at night and still hadn't recovered from what had happened. And Dale realized that something had happened to Hannah in the past, and he wanted to ask about it.
While Dale was trying to help Hannah, Tucker was watching all of this from outside, having decided to work on repairing their forest cabin. Watching his friend literally circling around Hannah to help her, Tucker couldn't help but shake his head. Pursing his lips, Tucker looked away from the window and started the chainsaw he was holding.
He still thought that a wild animal had attacked Hannah, so he wasn't worried about Dale circling around the girl. He thought that a kind guy like Dale would definitely be able to help Hannah recover. Starting the chainsaw on the third try, Tucker began cutting trees, not worrying about anything.
Not far from Tucker and Dale's forest cabin, Alex and Mike had just arrived. Hearing the sound of the chainsaw, they immediately hurried toward the noise. Speeding up and making their way through the forest, Alex and Mike ran out to the forest cabin. And Alex immediately understood where they were. Alex looked at Mike and nodded, showing that Hannah's tracks led toward the forest cabin.
Mike nodded in response and walked next to Alex. Alex decided to first use his magical vision to make sure Hannah was fine. Alex's gaze penetrated the walls, and he saw Hannah sitting on the bed with a worried Dale standing next to her. Smiling at this, Alex decided to first approach Tucker, who was cutting trees.
Walking around the forest cabin, Alex and Mike saw Tucker, whom Mike immediately recognized. Approaching Tucker, Alex patted him on the shoulder to get his attention. Tucker immediately flinched and almost swung the running chainsaw toward Alex. When Tucker sharply turned around, Alex stopped his hand, not wanting the chainsaw to touch him. Tucker simultaneously felt relief and irritation. He immediately recognized Alex and Mike, whom he had already seen yesterday at the gas station, and immediately understood that they had come for Hannah.
"Damn it, kid. I almost killed you. Didn't anyone teach you that sneaking up on people can be dangerous," Tucker said in an irritated tone, turning off the running chainsaw.
"And hello to you too, Tucker. Something like that was said to me. We came for our friend. She seems to be in your forest cabin," Alex said, shaking his head.
"Of course she is. Where were you even looking? Letting a poor girl walk alone in the forest at night. She was lucky she managed to fight off a wild animal and run to us," Tucker said, nodding toward the window.
"It wasn't a wild animal that attacked her, man," Mike intervened, seeing that Hannah was fine.
"What? What do you mean it wasn't a wild animal? Then who attacked your friend?" Tucker asked in surprise after hearing Mike's words.
Alex looked at Tucker, making it clear that the answer was obvious. Shaking his head, Alex decided to go check on Hannah and find out who had attacked her. When Alex turned around, Tucker saw that he had a weapon on his belt behind his back. Tucker rubbed his eyes, surprised by this, and wondered if it was normal for students these days to carry weapons. Alex and Mike paid no attention to Tucker and went into the house.
Tucker put the chainsaw on a log and quickly followed Alex and Mike, who, in his opinion, were way too calm for people whose friend had been attacked at night in the forest. Stopping at the door, Alex looked at Tucker with a silent question, asking if he could enter. Tucker nodded, and after that Alex entered the forest cabin. Walking to the room where Hannah and Dale were, Alex opened the door with a smile on his face.
"Yo, Chica, Dale. I see you had quite an eventful night," Alex said, raising his hand with a smile on his face.
"You're that friendly guy from the gas station," Dale exclaimed, recognizing Alex.
"Yeah, that's me. How are you? So, Hannah. Care to share the details of your night? I'm very curious who attacked you," Alex said with a smile, pulling a chair toward himself.
Hannah looked at Alex and immediately felt a sense of calm, as if all her problems had disappeared in one moment. Alex, sitting on the chair next to the bed, maintained his smile. But beneath this smile was a desire to turn inside out the bastard who had attacked Hannah.
Dale immediately noticed the weapon on Alex's belt, flinched slightly, and shifted his gaze to Tucker in search of answers. Mike calmly leaned his back against the wall, wanting to hear what had happened to Hannah. He saw the traces of bruises on her neck and clenched his fists in anger.
"I'm waiting, Hannah. I need details. I want to hear everything. What, how, and why," Alex said with a gentle smile on his face, resting his cheek on his palm.
"Why are you so calm? Your friend was attacked. And you're asking her such inappropriate questions. Maybe it's hard for her to answer something like that right now. She was attacked at night. You should have thought about her well-being," Dale intervened after hearing Alex's questions.
"This is my job. And I need to hear the details from the victim herself," Alex said calmly, shifting his gaze to Dale.
"Are you like a cop or something? Aren't you a bit young?" Tucker asked, leaning against the doorframe.
"Not a cop. A federal agent. And no more questions," Alex said, waving his hand.
Tucker and Dale stared at Alex, doubting the authenticity of his words. But Alex didn't care; he looked at Hannah, making it clear that she could tell him everything, and he would handle it. Understanding that she could trust Alex, Hannah sighed heavily and began to tell what had happened to her that night.
She started from the very beginning, how she had left the forest cabin and decided to take a walk. And how a strange man had attacked her and started chasing her. When Hannah began telling what had happened to her, everyone experienced different emotions. Alex frowned, feeling that something was off about this situation.
To be continued...
(So, as usual, I need to get the ball rolling before I start throwing shit at the fan for Alex to clean up. And I also need to refresh my memory of Outlast 2's plot. I remember some plot details, including why the experiment was conducted. But I need to refresh my memory of some events. Well, things will move a little faster from here on out, and all that. Well, you get the idea. Now I'm going to go get something to eat. Peace, love, and if you're facing a heretic, hit them with a stick.)