Chapter 51
“Entity has plenty of resources at their disposal. These should be respected but also utilized on an as-needed basis. Wardens should never hesitate to ask for help should they need assistance while out in the field.”
Entity Employee Handbook: Warden Edition
Their progress was slow. They leaned on the tunnel walls and on each other as they walked.
Despite Nic’s constant reassurances that he was no longer bleeding, the amount that already stained his shirt had Alexys nearly dragging him through the tunnels to leave Greenbriar Mine.
Her own exhaustion weighed her down, but the feeling of his shoulder pressed against hers was a comfort.
Somewhere along the way, they stumbled upon their backpacks, and Alexys was relieved to know she’d make it home with at least some of her belongings. Nic offered to carry Elliot’s backpack, but Alexys immediately shot him down. She needed to carry it herself.
When they finally stepped out of the mine, Alexys was shocked to see that dawn was just faintly lighting the horizon. Only the very edges of the mountains glowed with the promise of morning sunlight beneath a cloudless sky.
“Felt like we were in there for days,” Nic said. His voice was hoarse, and Alexys tried not to think about the screaming that had caused it.
“Days,” she agreed quietly. “I didn’t …”
He dropped his head to rest his forehead on her hair. “Later.”
Exhaustion filled the word, enough that she worried they wouldn’t be able to make it back before he collapsed entirely. His labored breaths were hot against her skin, but Alexys was just thankful he was still breathing.
And yet, because he was the one and only Nic Dyre, the man managed to pick up his head and look back in the direction they’d come.
Alexys had seen the look enough times over the last few days that it made her shake her head. “Don’t you dare.”
He looked down at her with a sliver of guilt in his expression. It did little to drown the scholarly curiosity she could see all over him. “The Hollow Walker—”
“Is long gone,” she finished for him. “There’s no telling where those tunnels lead. I doubt anyone could find it now.”
“It’s a rarity.”
Alexys closed her eyes, fighting for patience. “Nic, you can’t even stand on your own. I’m not letting you chase after anything.”
“I should’ve taken a picture or something.” Nic looked back once more at the dark entrance of the mine, weighing the truth of her words. After a moment, he asked, “And if Entity sends a Reaper after it?”
“Given the Hollow Walker’s ability to evade even your keen eye for all these years, I’d say it’s safe no matter how many Reapers they send.”
That appeased him enough that he turned back toward the path down the mountain.
She hesitated, unsure of where they were supposed to go next. They only really had one direction they could go. The rest of their belongings, her rental car, any hope of breakfast … “We need to get back to Opal’s.”
Nic stiffened. “Are you sure?”
Alexys was more than reluctant. The thought of returning to the home of the witch who tried to orchestrate their deaths was far from appealing.
He sighed. “I suppose we don’t have much choice. Unless we want to hitchhike to the airport.”
“Fair point.” She wrapped an arm around his waist and helped him slowly make their way down the mountain.
“You up for the hike? It won’t be easy,” Alexys asked, warily.
“Let me worry about that,” he said, a smile tugging at his mouth.
“Stubborn as an ox.” Alexys shook her head.
“As are you.”
Alexys didn’t know how long it took them to make it back to Opal’s house.
The sun was beginning to sink behind the mountains when they finally stumbled through the last stretch, the trees thinning out just enough for her to glimpse the shack in the distance.
Thankfully their path had been clear of any other monsters or threats, and she couldn’t help but suspect it all had something to do with Silas.
They hadn’t spoken much on the walk out, both too drained to fill the silence.
When they’d stopped for breaks, they’d just stare at one another, offering weak smiles.
They both looked like they’d been dragged to hell and back.
When they finally broke through the tree line and stepped into the field behind Opal’s house, they stopped short. The little cottage was abuzz with activity.
There was a helicopter, its side painted with Entity’s logo, and the house was illuminated with floodlights.
Uniformed figures moved around with swift precision.
It was chaotic compared to the quiet of the forest they just came from.
Alexys knew without having to see the uniforms that it was one of Entity’s clean-up crews.
Post-Encounter Concealment personnel, they were called.
PEC crews were tasked with removing evidence of Entity’s presence in cases that ended poorly or resulted in human injury or death.
They were an efficient cleaning group that had the uncanny ability to swoop in at a moment’s notice and remove even the worst evidence of a Reaper’s job before any media could catch wind of it.
Despite knowing all of that, Nic and Alexys were unsettled to see them at Opal’s house. Alexys never had the chance to contact anyone, let alone alert the office to needing a PEC crew. They shouldn’t have known where she was. And yet, there they were.
“Their timing is impeccable as always,” Nic observed quietly. “Wonder how they knew we’d be here?”
“I just hope they’re here to help.”
Alexys shuffled the two of them across the field and around to the front of Opal’s house.
Within a matter of minutes, they were swept up by the crew.
The two of them were poked, prodded, and interrogated by no less than three medical professionals and a handful of PEC personnel.
She did her best to answer all of their questions but was incredibly overwhelmed.
And despite asking several times, not one person would explain how they’d found them. How they knew they were here.
The Granny Witch was nowhere to be seen, and Alexys was almost certain Opal had somehow managed to ferret herself away before Entity arrived.
The PEC crew must have moved right in, setting up their impressive medical stations and computer desks in every available foot of space in the living room and kitchen.
One of the medical professionals, a woman named Cassandra, tried to usher Alexys into what she assumed was Opal’s bedroom so she could be examined and change clothes, but Alexys firmly refused.
She maneuvered herself over to the couch of questionable integrity and planted herself firmly in the sagging cushions.
From there, Alexys could see Nic seated at the kitchen table.
In any other circumstance, it would be mortifying to be so paranoid, but every time Alexys thought she saw the shadow of blood on her hands or puddled on the floor, she forgave herself for it.
Every time she thought she saw fresh blood on Nic’s chest or saw him wince under the touch of a medical assistant, her fear felt justified.
“Miss Keane.” Cassandra stepped into Alexys’s line of sight, hands firmly on hips and square glasses perched on a frustration-crinkled nose. “If you insist on sitting here, at least let me check you for head trauma.”
Alexys nodded to give her permission, and her eyes immediately searched for Nic the second Cassandra stepped away. She should have known better than to tell the medical staff that they’d been hit over the head and knocked unconscious, but she hadn’t expected them to kick up such a fuss about it.
Cassandra fluttered about checking her pulse, her pupils, and her scalp for any signs of bleeding.
She asked a million and one questions about headaches, nausea, and too many other things that Alexys answered with half her attention.
Only when the medic started cleaning scratches on her face and neck did Alexys finally flinch and focus on her.
“Shit, that burns.” Alexys tried to jerk her face away from whatever Cassandra was wiping on it, but she followed her too quickly.
“I have to clean the dirt out.” Cassandra sounded as annoyed with the situation as Alexys felt. Her words came out in grumbles, but her touch was gentle. “You look like you got in a fight with an army of gerbils.”
Images of the Jackalopes went flashing through her mind, and Alexys let out a pained laugh. “Yeah, something like that.”
“At least your concussion isn’t as bad as it could have been. You’re going to have to be awake for the next twelve hours to be sure, though, and you’ll have to be supervised, I’m afraid.”
Alexys’s eyes lifted from Nic to meet Cassandra’s serious gaze. She’d thought she was joking. “Supervised?”
Cassandra nodded, as if that was a normal thing to need, and started cleaning the cuts on Alexys’s hands. “Yes, in the event you lose consciousness. If you start vomiting, develop a migraine, or have any worsening symptoms, you’ll have to come into the clinic right away.”
Being babysat sounded terrible, but Alexys was relieved to know she would be avoiding a visit to the clinic or a hospital. With any luck, Nat would be around to crash at her house and watch old movies while she made sure Alexys stayed alive. But Cassandra quickly dashed those hopes.
“You’ll need to reduce your screen time during those twelve hours.”
After what she’d just been through, Alexys thought that was especially harsh. “What am I supposed to do for twelve hours?”
Cassandra gave her a look before refocusing her attention back to Alexys’s wounds.
Over at the kitchen table, Nic had been hooked up to the thing that measures your pulse. He looked ready to fall over from exhaustion, but the color had fully returned to his face which was a relief to see.
“He’ll be alright,” Cassandra said, following her gaze.
Alexys didn’t say anything, but she nodded to show she’d heard. The tension in her body was starting to unpick itself, and it eased a little more with every minute she could see him still breathing.
She’d done it. She’d saved him.
For now, that’d have to do.
“His concussion is likely the same grade as yours, so he’ll get to go home with the same instructions.
” Cassandra stole a look over her shoulder at Nic.
“I don’t know where all that blood came from, but I’m glad it’s not his.
” She swabbed more antiseptic on one of Alexys’s cuts.
“He’d be dead if he’d lost that much.” Alexys tried to swallow, but her mouth was cotton, and secrets had lodged themselves in her throat.
She’d made the mistake of telling them about her head injury, but she certainly wasn’t stupid enough to tell them about Nic’s near-death experience or her deal with Silas that saved him.
Cassandra told her about the clean-up job Entity had already done at the hotel and Opal’s—this included returning her rental car.
The rest of her things had been packed up and waited for her with a member of staff.
It felt very invasive knowing Entity had gone through their things without their permission, but Alexys was grateful that Elliot’s conspiracy wall wouldn’t be her responsibility. She didn’t have the strength.
Eventually, Nic and Alexys separated so they could shower and change into clean clothes.
Alexys scrubbed the best she could, but she left the shower still feeling the ghost of blood and dust from the mine.
PEC confiscated most of the soiled clothes, but Alexys managed to keep Nic’s sweater.
She didn’t trust them to return it to her, and she wasn’t willing to lose it.
Alexys waited for Nic in the living room, fidgeting as she sat there.
She knew at some point her brain would properly process everything they’d endured and seen, but for now, it was all too fresh.
She worried about the nightmares more than anything else, and how the horrors of the past few days would inform the entity that tormented her.
When Nic finally joined her, her leg muscles locked under the strain of keeping herself seated. His curls were still wet and close against his head. They shared a brief, tired smile, and the knot in her chest eased a little more.
They were given their care instructions for the thousandth time, informed they would be expected back at work for debriefing in two days’ time if they were able, and ushered out the door. A handful of PEC personnel escorted them around the back of Opal’s house and into the waiting helicopter.
Alexys wanted to ask how they knew where they were, how they got there so quickly, but she was too relieved to put Opal’s house and Mercyhill behind her.
Nic took her hand and smiled reassuringly as they were strapped in and prepared for take-off. She squeezed his hand in return, allowing the warmth of his skin against hers to ease the anxious roiling of her stomach.
They were going home. Alexys really didn’t care how they got there or how long it took, so long as they went home.