Rabbit Hole

A Trick

TW: The following chapter contains strong depictions of violence and depictions of instances of deadnaming.

Hold on, one person was missing from that introduction-
I know. They just showed up a little later.

Blake's POV

I'd arrived at the edge of the forest. I looked down and saw a trail of footprints, which I knew would lead me to the cabin. After about 20 minutes of walking, I found it, seeing about 12 people in there. As I approach, I hear footsteps coming from the right of me heading towards the door, and instantly ducked behind the nearest tree. As I look back, I see a police officer, or someone who looks like one heading towards the cabin. As I look closer, I notice something important. There wasn't an identifying mark on his shoulder. He didn't have a number. He's not a real officer.

Amanda's POV

After we'd finished talking, we heard another knock on the door. Jules seemed to recognise who it was.

"Wait, is this Blake? Wondering where they were."

As she opens the door, we realise we were all wrong. It's an officer.

"Excuse me, is Steve Hadden in here?"

All of us are confused, but Liv has an expression of pure horror on her face. But Andrew says something.

"Her name's Liv, officer."
"Right then. Is he- she in here?"
"I'm here, sir. Why do you-"
"Is Adam-
"Amanda." I interrupt.
"Amanda Lidell with you? I mean, I presume that's you."
"Yes, officer. Why do you need us?"
"I have reason to suspect you had an involvement in a murder."
"Huh?"
"Lloyd Stafler. My son."
"What?"
"We have CCTV footage of the incident, and it shows clealrly, Liv stabbing him in the back of the head. You're under arrest. We'll need to take the rest of you in for questioning as well."
"What? Look, officer. They're killing people in there. Wherever you got that tape from, they're hiding something. You need to-"
"That's not my inquiry to focus on. Besides, what they are doing is perfectly legal."
"Legal? They're killing people, sir. Murder is a very serious offense." Liv fired back.
"You should know that." I add.
"We killed him in self defence. The footage would have also shown him attempting to stab both of us."
"The footage shows no such thing. You ganged up on him, and one of you stabbed him in the back of the head." The offiver replies.
"Also, officer, you said he was your son?"
"He is, and you killed him."
"Then you should know his real name is Cole. You don't forget your own son's name."
"How dare you. I know my son better than either of you would. On the ground."
"Officer this isn't-"

He pulls out a gun and aims it at us.

"Do you want me to repeat myself?"

"Hold on." Ace suddenly interrupts.
"What is it, sir?"
"Where's your police number?"
"What are you talking about? I don't owe you that."
"I get that, but there's supposed to be a thing on your arm with that on."
"Oh, uh-"
"You're not a real officer, are you? You're with them."
"Well- I didn't- fuck. Alright, you got me. I'm with Wonderland. But regardless, who's the one with a gun in his hands at the moment? That's right, I am."
"So, what's your real plan?"
"Well, I got you all right where they want you. I'll admit, I wasn't expecting this many. About 4, maybe. That's how many left. Guess you had more backup than we thought. Ah well, more for us to fix."
"What are you gonna do, though? There's 12 of us, one of you."
"And how many of you have a gun?"
"That doesn't matter. We can rush you."
"But I'll kill at least one in the process."
"You need us all alive."
"Do I? Try me."

Ace starts to charge at him, but a gunshot fires right next to his left ear, throwing him off, then the officer shoves him back to the rest of us.

"Don't test me, kid."
"So, what's your plan?"
"Well, I can't do anything to make myself vulnerable, so you." he replies, looking at Andrew, throwing him some handcuffs.
"Yeah, you. You're gonna handcuff them so I don't make myself a target. Either of you fight back, I shoot both of you. Got it?"
Andrew nods.
"Good, start with her." he points towards Liv.
Liv looks terrified at this.
"You don't have to listen to him. Fight. We all run at the same time, he won't know where to aim. We can all survive this." None of us say anything, but we all slightly nod in agreement.
"I won't let him kill you. I have to do this." what?
"What? You're really gonna try this again? Are you really that scared to do something?"
"I'm sorry." Andrew replies, as he actually goes in to do it, but we hear a loud thud.
A thick log hits the floor of the cabin and the officer falls to the floor, injured but still conscious. Ace grabs the gun before he can get up and aims it back at him. At that moment, we see a new figure in the doorway, revealing themselves a figure I slightly recognise from somewhere, but it doesn't take me long to recognise where.
"Wait, you're the one from that band. Heat From Fire right?"
"Yeah, you listen to us?"
"Yep. Even that livestream. So why are you here?", I ask, and Jules answers.
"Oh Amanda, you don't know yet. Meet Blake, the original Hatter who escaped."

Now it all starts to make sense. Why Cole claimed to be in a band and escaped conversion therapy before he was set to go, that's almost identical to Blake's story. Also, Lloyd is Blake's surname, so we know there the cover came from.

"Pleased to meet you. I'm here to help you take this place down. Seems you had a run-in with this guy."
"Yep. So what do we do now?" I ask.
"It's up to you guys."
"Alright then, I got an idea."

As Elliott says that, he walks over to Liv, who hands him something.
Then he throws a knife into the fake officer's chest.
The officer falls to the ground, alive, but in pain.
Elliott gets over him, rips the knife out of his chest and places the knife to his throat.

"Who do you work for?"
"I work for Wonderland. You know that."
"I do, but who specifically?"
"My boss is Lewis."
"Do you know Clyde?"
"Of course I do. He's one of the best we have."
"Then it's decided."
He starts to press down with the blade.
"Wait! You're really gonna kill me? I'm defenseless. Killing me like this just makes you as bad as us.
Elliott rolls his eyes.
"I didn't try to take people to be tortured. I didn't work for those who torture hundreds of people a year. And I didn't let my brother die."
With that, however, he lifts the knife from his throat.
"But you're right. I can't just slit your throat in cold blood."
The officer starts a sigh of relief, but it's misplaced.
"That would be too kind."
Then, he starts going all out.
Rapid fire stabs into the man.
Elliott stabs him multiple times in the torso.
We wait for him to grow tired, but it just keeps going.
Until eventually, after stabbing him about twenty times, he does end up stabbing him through the throat, finally putting an end to the slaughter.

We all stand back in shock at what just happened.

"I said I'd make sure they'd never hurt anyone again, and I'll stand by that, and make them feel regret the only way they're capable of feeling it, through the full consequences."