Slenderverse One-shots

Lazarus Phenomenon ⊗ EMH x MH

A little draft/edited down version of Ash/Pawn's backstory in my Into the Ark comic

Warnings: Description of a dead body and wounds

The day had started like the countless others before it. HABIT walking around upstairs while they were lying broken in the basement with the corpse of what had once been a close friend to keep them company. The stench of decay had long since killed their sense of smell, though the sight made them nauseous... Not that they had anything to throw up. HABIT left them scraps like a dog for once their session was done with. A shiver went through their body. It'd be starting soon; the entity's footsteps were in the room above.

Dull eyes stared at the door. He was going to kill them soon; the tortured figure had gotten boring to toy with. They were well aware that he would've finished it much sooner had Slender not ordered against it. But they'd stopped reacting, too numb to care and too weak to show HABIT just how vengeful they felt. The entity had shown he didn't care about disobeying the taller entity.

"Maybe it won't be so bad..." Their only regret was dragging the person across from them into this and likely worrying those who were still alive. The only reason they hadn't died yet was because they weren't being allowed to. "Dragged to the edge of a pit... and then pulled back as they heal me... Wonder what's there..."

Fighting could be heard and confusion snapped their thoughts from where they'd been drifting. The door opened, revealing a dead-eyed proxy lurching closer. Adrenaline burst through their veins as the reanimated cannon-fodder of a creature spotted them. Their wounds protested as they got to their feet, completely defenseless. The puppeteered figure ignored them.

"Wait... Now... Now's my chance..." Hope gave them strength as they made their escape. They knew Slender was saving them from death but they felt no loyalty to him. It was his fault this happened, his idea. "Just... have... to get... far away..."

The word was tilting. Everything was going in and out of focus while growing dimmer. The strength they'd felt when escaping was ebbing quickly as the physical damage caught back up to them. Stumbling along, they felt the world shifting around them—as a born proxy this method of travel was a last ditch effort to get further away than they could physically run. Being someone who wasn't upholding their proxy status however, meant they couldn't use it well and nearly collapsed in the middle of a road as their grasp on the ability failed and dropped them in an unknown destination.

It was the last straw. The toll it took to do that was too much for their frail body. They limped to the edge of the road towards the trees before falling to the ground, tumbling a few times down the small incline. The figure laid there unmoving.

---

"Midas, no!" Seth kept his grip on the leash tight before turning to give the others an apologetic look. "Sorry, he's not usually like this."

"Why did you bring him?" Alex didn't spare him a glance, as he was too busy searching for a good spot to film.

The cameraman grunted as he was yanked forward again by his dog. "We aren't actually filming, what's wrong with bringing him for a walk?"

"It's distracting."

"Well I like having Midas tag along." Jay smiled and nudged the grumpy director. "I bet Rocky would've loved coming too."

"Rocky wouldn't be pulling me through the forest."

"Midas!" Seth shouted again as the leash tore out of his grip. The dog charged off, disregarding Seth's commands. He glanced at his two companions before taking off after his pet. "Come on, he's headed for a road!"

The trio followed, their noses wrinkling in disgust as they began to catch up to Midas. Despite the warm day, the air seemed to cool suddenly as they got closer to the source. The dog's light golden fur was easily visible as he slowed near the edge of the trees and began sniffing the ground. A whimper escaped and Midas tucked his tail between his legs as he edged away from a lump on the ground.

Alex glared at Seth. "Great. He found a dead animal. How fun for us."

"Alex..." Jay slowed his pace and shifted around for a better view of the thing scaring the dog.

"Oh shit... Is that... Is that a body?" Seth grabbed the leash and pulled Midas away.

Alex fell quiet, suddenly regretting his snappy retorts. This was bad. He glanced at Jay, the two sharing a look of horror. "...Jay... Call the cops."

He grabbed a fallen stick and covered his nose with a sleeve before approaching. It hadn't moved but it was best to check if they were actually dead, as if the smell wasn't enough. Alex gagged as he jabbed the stick into the body, knocking the person onto their back to reveal lacerations that seemed far too precise to be from a run-in with a car. Grosser still, he was pretty sure there were maggots crawling in the wounds.

"Oh god..." Seth dry-heaved. "They're breathing."

"What?" Jay glanced over, trying to listen to what was going on while talking to the dispatcher.

"No... that..." Alex shook his head. Seth was right. It did look like they were breathing. But that couldn't be happening. Everything about them screamed that they were dead.

He walked around, trying to see their face. Maybe they'd blink or something. Their eyes were open, dull and almost lifeless. Alex felt even more nauseous. What could've done this to a person? Despite how ill the situation made him feel, he couldn't look away.

A memory snapped into place as he vaguely recognized the dying person. "I need to call Ethan."

"Who?" Jay gave him a confused look.

Alex drifted away from the group without another word. Out of all the things they could've found in the woods it just had to be a body. And to top it off it had to be the body of a friend's missing family member. "Do I mention they're alive?"

By the time the ambulance had arrived Ash had closed their eyes and shown no sign of consciousness. Seth had left, too disturbed to stick around any longer. Alex had wanted to leave but Jay had convinced him he needed to stay and help Ethan figure out what was going on. How he was supposed to do that, the amature director had no idea.

Alex was annoyed he was now sitting in a hospital lobby instead of on a date with his girlfriend. Ethan was nearby, for once completely silent aside from the rounds of muffled sobbing. A frown crossed Alex's face as he watched his classmate's other friends comfort the grieving man; he should leave. Something compelled him to stay in the chair.

Nurses came and went providing updates. At one point, they'd been discussing who could've done this, as they'd found a strange marking on the patient's arm. Alex's interest had perked up briefly; he hadn't noticed a marking on the body but the description sounded oddly familiar to something he was realizing he'd seen a lot in the area. Was there something important about it?

And then it was back to nothing interesting... until they came out saying for the third time that Ash was crashing. This time it didn't sound like she was coming back. "Well, they lasted longer than I would've thought."

A second nurse was running out. "Their heart started up again on its own."

"What?" Ethan's voice was hoarse.

Alex tried not to look like he was eavesdropping. There was something up with that marking... and therefore possibly Ash.

"It's something we call the lazarus phenomenon, rarely this will happen." The nurse didn't look hopeful. "It doesn't mean your cousin will pull through but they have given us more time to try."

"They're better off dead." A prickling feeling ran through him with the feeling of being watched. Alex spotted a tall man in a suit down a hall for a brief moment, though didn't think much of it when his mind felt like it was spinning with sudden strange connections involving that symbol. "Something dangerous is out there... What if they were left for dead for a reason?"