Welcome To the Grove

Twenty minutes had passed since my encounter with Purpose and my head was still throbbing!

His face kept flashing in my mind like a strobe light.

"You ok?" Tasha asked.

I didn't want her to know I was troubled so I played it off.

"Yeah I'm fine. Hey I got a question what exactly do Proxies look like?"

"For the most part they look no different than me and you, the only thing that sets them apart is their undying loyalty to Slender-Man."

"How does someone become one, is there like a interview process."

"Something like that, whenever a Fear gains interest in a person two things could happen; One , your killed or Two your turned into a Proxy. One thing to remember though Proxies are only the servants of Slendy, each Fear has it's own kind of slave."

"Wait a minute, if that's the case then why doesn't the Rake bring his own minions instead of using the Proxies."

Tasha stopped in her tracks.

"Now that you mention it I haven't seen the Rake at all, and it's not the type for hiding. Somethings wrong here, things aren't  adding up. Molly detects the Rake except there's been no sightings of him, Proxies show up but basically gives us the run around, and then there's Purpose."

His face flashed again, this time it caused me to lose my balance. Tasha didn't notice.

"HEY."

We turned to see Ronny running toward us.

"Ronny, where's Grandad and Muzen?" Tasha questioned.

He was hurt, a stream of blood trickled down his face.

"I don't know but we have move their right behind me."

As soon as those words left his mouth a figure sprung from the bushes behind him.

"Move!!!"

Time seemed to slow. Ronny turned just in the knick of time to dodge what seemed to be the largest knife I've ever seen. It was easily a foot long with a brass knuckle handle. The guy wielding it was just as menacing, a man in his late 30's, his hair was pure white with the most crazed look in his eye. It became obvious that this was a Proxy.

Before I could do anything Tasha dashed forward. She was fast and efficient. In less than a second she disarmed the Proxy, breaking his arm, threw him to the ground and driving  the knife into his chest.

We didn't have time to recuperate before another one came sprinting towards us, this one was a woman. This time Ronny sprang into action. It was amazing for a kid younger than me he was surprisingly athletic. Planting his foot on a tree he pushed off executing a flawless aerial spin kick straight to the jaw of the Proxy.

The sheer force took the Proxy off her feet, she landed with a thud.

Now this kid was a badass.

Tasha grabbed the shotgun from my hand cause I obviously wasn't using it.

"Move and I'll fucking end you." She said aiming it at the center of the woman's chest.

The woman started laughing completely unfazed by it all.

A look grew on Tasha's face. Her eyes became wild like a animal out for blood. Strangely this took her hotness up by like a thousand.

"What are doing here, why are you attacking us."

The woman just kept laughing. It became apparent that her lights aren't fully on.

"Damn Ronny how hard did you kick her?" I laughed

"Not hard enough it seems." He giggled.

"Shut up!" Tasha screamed. "She's been sent into a Loop we're not  getting any information from her."

"What's a Loop."

"It's almost like a self defense mechanism." Ronny answered. "If a Proxies ever captured this keeps them from giving out any valuable intel. Their psyches are fragile as is it doesn't take much for them to break."

In a way I felt bad for the woman. She didn't  want this. To be some slave.

"Tasha it's best you end it." Ronny said placing his hand on her shoulder.

She nodded and handed the gun back to me.
She walked over to the other Proxy and pulled the knife out his chest.

"I think it's time we found grandpa and Muzen." She said while glancing over her shoulder.

We both nodded in agreement.

She turned back around her hair cascading over her face. She gripped the knife and dropped down.

The laughing had stopped.