Mark's POV

I burst through the door with my small army of squirrels standing behind me. The squirrel on my shoulder quickly leaped off and scurried back outside before the door closed. I ran into the room to find Katherine standing over Cry threateningly.

I looked around and saw Sam and Tim trying to sit up as small pools of blood began forming around them. They were both muttering things to themselves that I couldn't quite hear.

Felix was laying against a wall with his eyes closed while Robert was shaking him furiously, trying to get him to wake up, I assumed. Tyler was laying next to the fireplace facing away from me. There was a large gash across his back that was pouring out blood while he grunted and coughed, not making an attempt at sitting or standing up.

Cry only had a few scratches on his hands and forearms. He had two rings on his right hand which both had spikes on them. I guessed that those were some of the weapons Kyle had given to him.

Kyle.

I looked around the room again and didn't see any sign of my sword. Nor did I see the blue-haired boy who convinced me to come here in the first place.

Katherine was bleeding from a few spots around her neck and legs, but didn't seem bothered by it. She had an evil smirk playing on her lips as she held her blade up to Cry's throat.

"Hey, asshole!" I shouted, getting everyone's attention.

Katherine turned her head to look at me, but didn't move her blade away from Cry. "Oh! The hero has finally returned!" she exclaimed sarcastically.

I got ready to reply, but saw Robert waving his arms around behind Katherine, trying to get my attention. Katherine began rambling on about whatever the Restart was while I followed his arms to the couch that had been flipped and thrown across the room.

I stared at it for a second before sending Robert a confused glance. He gestured to something behind the couch.

I squinted my eyes at the couch again while Katherine made broad hand gestures, emphasizing how awful the Restart would be. After not seeing anything, I got ready to look back to Katherine to start paying attention to what she was saying, but before I had the chance, I noticed a bit of blue hair sticking up over the top of the couch.

I smirked and looked back to Katherine, beginning to listen to what she had to say. "...which is why I disguised myself as Jack and not a family member for the last level."

Before I had the chance to say anything, Cry yelled, "Mark, ignore her! She has to be lying!"

Umm, what?

Sam was sitting now and had her hand covering her mouth with wide eyes. Tim was staring at me with a fearful look on his face.

"Uh, Cry," I started, "ignoring her won't be a problem because I genuinely have no idea what she just said."

Tim sprung off the ground, wincing as he did so, and ran over to me. He crossed his arms and stared at Katherine. "Yeah, sorry, but we don't speak 'insane creep'."

"Believe what you want, but it'll occur in two–"

"No one gives a shit, Katherine," Cry stated from his place at the end of her blade. "Quite frankly, you'd already be dead if we were worried."

"Speaking of us killing Katherine," Sam started, ignoring Katherine's cocky facial expression, "Mark, what did you go get?"

In my peripheral vision, I saw Ethan silently sneak around the couch. He was holding Kyle in his hands and seemed like he was getting ready to throw him.

Katherine laughed at Sam's comment. "It doesn't matter what Mark went to retrieve, it won't make a difference. You'll all be restarted no matter what."

"That's not true," I replied. "If we defeat you, you have to help us out of here."

"Yeah, if you defeat me," she responded, "which to be blunt, isn't likely. I single-handedly took out almost everyone here. What difference would you make?"

"Not a very big one," I answered.

This seemed to catch Katherine by surprise. "So why do you continue to try?"

"On my own, I wouldn't make a very big difference. Heck, I probably wouldn't make any impact at all. However, the thing about the situation I'm in right now is the fact that I'm not on my own. I've got friends who were willing to give up their lives for me and some of them don't even remember who I am."

"So what?" Katherine scoffed.

"You should really stop underestimating us."

On cue, Ethan threw Kyle at Katherine's back. The sword hit her lower back and impaled her through her stomach. She stared in slight shock as the blade dripped fresh blood, but she didn't seem all that fearful.

I didn't skip a beat. I rushed to her and forced her to face the door by holding her from behind by the shoulder. I pulled Kyle back out the way he had gone in and put the sword up against her throat.

"Tim, open the door," I instructed.

His eyebrows came together in confusion but he obliged nonetheless. He grabbed the doorknob and swung the door open, only to find himself face to face with my small army of squirrels.

Tim gasped and stumbled backwards. "Mark, why the heck are all these squirrels–"

I forced Katherine to her knees. "Tim, would you please hold the door open."

He looked back at the closing door and quickly caught it before it shut all the way. Ethan walked up beside me and helped me hold Katherine in place.

"Alright Katherine, I'm pretty sure this counts as me defeating you. You wanna stop here and do what you promised, or continue to the death?" I asked in the same cocky tone she had used with us.

She snickered, "You think I'm afraid of a bunch of squirrels?"

I shrugged. "I wouldn't have been surprised, but I hope you realize that there's more than just a bunch of squirrels out there."

Please let there be more than just a bunch of squirrels out there.

I noticed a few beads of sweat forming on her forehead and grinned to myself. She smiled an obviously fake smile. "Well, w-what else could you have possibly found?"

I heard something that sounded like a bear roaring. I smiled, assuming the raccoon had found some animals just like the squirrel had.

The squirrels closest to the door either rushed in or backed away before a bear walked through the doorway. It stood up on its back legs and was about a foot taller than me.

It stared at me as if awaiting orders.

Tim, who was still holding the door open and seemed like he was about to faint, looked at me. "Mark, why do you seem so calm when there's a bear standing in the same room as us?"

I smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry, it isn't going to hurt anyone."

The bear went back on all fours and sat down in an almost cute way. Tim looked like he was thinking about petting it for a second before staring at me. "Why's the bear listening to you?"

I ignored Tim and went back to talking to Katherine. "I'm gonna make this simple: you can either get mauled by a bear, or go through with what you promised. It's your choice and I honestly think we'd be able to figure it out without you, so don't pull the 'you need me' card."

She seemed ready to shoot back a sarcastic response, but the bear roared again, causing her to tense up. "Umm, I think I'll just go ahead and help you."

"Alright," Ethan started, "first, we're going to ensure that everyone in this room is able to get to wherever we're going. Then, we'll go there and you'll explain everything that we need to know about getting our memories back and getting everyone here back to the physical world."

Katherine agreed to not do anything while we were making sure our friends were all okay. Ethan took away her blade and threw it as far as he could through the doorway.

I got Katherine to sit against the wall while Cry ran over to Robert to help wake up Felix. Ethan walked over to Tyler to help wrap his gash up in a cloth that I assumed had previously been part of his shirt. Tim got the bear to lean against the door so that he could check on Sam.

I smiled and sat down next to Katherine, suddenly feeling my legs grow tired.

"So let me go over this again really quick," I began. "The only way for us to get out of here is for someone to do something to our physical body, right?"

Katherine nodded.

"And you're going to take us somewhere where we'll be able to find out where our bodies are?"

She nodded again. "Yeah, pretty much."

"You don't seem like yourself," I stated as I held Kyle up slightly.

"Something feels weird. I feel kind of lightheaded."

I looked over at her. "What's that mean? Are you sick?"

She shook her head. "I was told I'd start feeling like this when someone was about to wake up."

I tilted my head. "How would you be aware of something that hasn't happened yet, though?"

She stared at me. "You really weren't paying attention to what I said earlier?"

I started to shake my head, but felt it freeze. I tried to open my mouth but couldn't.

I felt something warm and soft press against my lips, but I couldn't see anything.

My eyelids began to droop shut and the last thing I saw before complete darkness was Robert and Tim violently shaking me and screaming things I couldn't quite hear.

A/N

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