Showdown

Aaron was able to completely free himself, his movements no longer impaired, he could look around the room more clearly, even if the bed had been removed, there were still some drawers to check.

The young man only had himself as a weapon now and he wasn't confident about its integrity, having never gotten into any fight and being built like a praying mantis without the sickles, he would never fare in a fight.

He wasn't in luck however, the drawers were completely empty or completely stuck and on top of that, someone was approaching the room, the Stalker was completely silent but Aaron wasn't thinking about that, what could he do in the ten or so seconds it would take that person to get there?

He looked everywhere frantically, until it landed on the ceiling.

When the door was opened, Aaron was seemingly nowhere to be seen.

It was one of the two sisters, Aaron did his best to not move and make even the slightest of noises as she quickly walked further into the room, looking at every corner of the room.

'Oh fuck, what if she calls for help? Why didn't I think of that?' he wanted to smack himself in the head, she wasn't just going to shrug and go on her merry way.

Without thinking much, Aaron took a decision and let go of everything, completely falling from the beam that went through the bedroom, right on top of the sister.

Aaron quickly got up and backed off like a frigthened cat, but to his surprise, it seemed like his meager weight had managed to knock her out, still, the loud sound he made hadn't gone unnoticed.

So his plan of not being found out was out of the window.

Thinking about this, the other sister suddenly came running in, almost sliding on the ground as she stopped in front of the open room.

Aaron turned to the closed window behind him and, probably possessed by adrenaline, he jumped right through it.

It was a decision he immediately regretted as he came crashing down from the second floor, somehow not breaking or spraining anything, probably because the ground was soft, but a huge glass shard stabbed right through his left forearm, peaking from the other side, completely stained with blood.

He scrambled to his feet and staryed running as fast as he could, coming close to falling multiple times as he sunk unexpectedly deep into the recently plowed soil.

He heard a shout coming from the house and ever so sligthly looked back, noticing a dark figure leaping out of the window and landing to the ground perfectly, meeting the gaze of the reflective goggles, he ran with all his might toward what seemed like a barn, knowing that he couldn't run away from the Stalker.

By the time he was trying to open the door, the shadow of a man had already crossed most of the distance separating them.

Aaron hands were shaking so much, he didn't feel like he was in control of them anymore, barely thinking and just trying to open the damned door.

Managing to somehow open it, he could only get in before he felt the door pushing him further inside as the Stalker slammed into it with inhuman strength.

Aaron was on his back and noticed that his legs too were starting to shake.

He saw as the shadowy figure calmly began walking toward him as he flailed on the ground, trying to get away but failing to stand back up miserably.

The Stalker wasn't saying a word, his oddly friendly and laid-back attitude gone.

Aaron picked whatever he got his hands on but all that layed on the ground was some hay, his assaillant didn't even have to do anything against this deplorable weapon.

Once he hit a wall, Aaron managed to use it to prop himself back to his feet as the Stalker silently watched him.

Aaron raised his fists defensively, looking for a way out of his predicament, the barn was mostly empty, just some stacks of hay everywhere, a ladder leading to more hay and a work bench tucked in a corner, way over to Aaron's right, he had no use for the hay and the obvious place where weapons could be was too far away.

He looked into the impenetrable goggles, only seeing his vague reflection before the Stalker suddenly moved forward, grabbing him by the neck and lifting Aaron into the air without any effort.

Feeling the constriction against his neck, Aaron truly felt like he was going to die, he coudn't breath at all, nor could he say anything, only making small sounds of gurgling.

The young man went limp and the Stalker eased his iron grip, slowly putting Aaron down as whatever the shadow's sisters had planned required him to be alive.

However, once the young man's feet touched the ground his eyes flicked open and with everything he could muster he struck the Stalker in the face, not doing much more than knocking his goggles away but he was able to break free from the man's grasp and tumbled as he coughed repeatedly.

Falling over the work bench, he took a hold of a somewhat rusty axe and turned to face the Stalker, who was calmly putting his goggles back on, looking at Aaron for a few seconds before starting to walk forward, unfazed by him swinging an axe at him.

He effortlessly avoided the strikes without taking a single step back and then grabbing the handle of the axe, immediately taking control of it, slamming the flat back if the axe head into the young man's face, shattering his nose before taking the weapon away, once again using the blunt back of the axe to hit him in the knee.

After that, the Stalker threw the axe away, grabbed him by the collar and began repeatedly pummeling him in the face, pinning him against the work bench.

Only a few hits were needed for Aaron to look like he had been lynched by an angry mob.

The Stalker raised him up, trying to check if he was truly out this time, his answer: A screwdiver through the neck.

Stepping back and letting go of the barely conscious Aaron, the Stalker slightly probed the tool before collapsing to the ground.