Nonexistent (Rise of the Guardians)

13. Exile

Jack sprinted down the tunnel, his bare feet crushing already shattered eggshells, and his blue eyes wide with fright. He carried in his hand a golden tooth container, with a picture of him on one end. This was it. The key to finding out Jack's past life. Pitch's words still echoed in his mind, the taunting, berating echo of "Happy Easter, Jack" floated around in his head as he ran down the tunnel, frantically searching for a way out. All the rabbit holes were closed, leaving nothing but the dim blue glow of Jack's staff to light his way. Jack paused when the sharp cracking of broken eggshells subsided, and instead of the smooth, hard shells under his bare feet, Jack felt a thick layer of fine sand underfoot. He willed his staff to glow brighter, and from the light emitting from the curved piece of wood, he saw a small glint of metal coming from a few feet down the tunnel.

Jack picked up the broken contraption and held it in the light of his staff, a feeling of dread clenching at his heart.

They were goggles. Allie's goggles. She never took those things off, and she would never let them get this badly broken unless something terrible had happened to her. Shoving the stolen tooth container in his hoodie pocket, Jack stood up straighter and held his staff aloft, looking through the gloom for any sign of his feminine companion.

"Allie!" He called desperately, listening intently in the darkness for any sound of movement or a reply to his shout. He heard nothing.

"Come on, Breezy. Where are you?" He muttered, panic starting to latch onto his heart with razor sharp claws.

A moan sounded from a ways down the tunnel.

Sprinting towards the sound, Jack came upon a slight figure curled up against one wall of the tunnel, covered in black sand and breathing heavily, ragged breaths issuing from a face shrouded in tangled black hair.

"No. Allie!"

Jack was at her side in a flash, brushing the hair out of her face with shaking hands. She was pale and sweating, and Allie moaned and writhed in pain every now and then, grasping at a long gash on the backside of her shoulder.

Jack held back a gag of revulsion when he saw the wound, red and angry, with blackened skin clinging to the edges like a burnt crust of bread. When Jack reached out to inspect the gash, it was so hot that he yanked his hand back as if he had been burned.

"Oh my- okay. You're okay. I got you." He muttered, more to himself than the unconscious girl as he scooped Allie up in his arms bridal style and took off at a dead sprint.

As Jack ran, he kept glancing down at Allie worriedly. She was moaning still, and her face was scrunched up in a pained expression. Her head lolled backwards, and Jack took a momentary break from running to place her head against his chest before he continued to run. She relaxed a bit in his arms, but she was still breathing raggedly, and her forehead was beaded with cold sweat. Allie's hair was damp, and the gash on her shoulder blade was weeping heavily, her dark blood staining Jack's sweatshirt as he carried her towards the distant light that had appeared at the end of the tunnel.

"Come on, Allie. Almost there." Jack panted as he approached the tunnel exit. It brought him to a field in a park, where a colorful sign that read 'Easter Egg Hunt' in bold letters hung between two trees. Children were meandering halfheartedly around the park, occasionally checking under bushes or benches in search of eggs. All of their baskets were empty.

"Oh no." Jack mumbled, watching from afar as Bunnymund leapt out into the field in front of the kids and offered a couple of cracked eggs from a battered basket to the kids.

"No look! I know these aren't my best lookin' googies, but they'll do in a pinch!" Bunny laughed nervously, looking flustered and jumpy.

The girl in front of him said to her friend, "I can't believe it."