Chapter 1

Dwight was sitting at his desk in the corner of the office. He looked across from him where is coworker Pete was heavily breathing and typing with just his index fingers. Pete grabs the handle of his coffee mug with his pudgy fingers and loudly slurps it, letting some liquid escape the corners of his mouth and down his chin. Some how this guy isn't the loser of the office. At least Pete made the football team in high school, where as Dwight never stood a chance. You're just a little boy the coach said to him before shooing him away. From then on Dwight never strived for anything again. He settled for mediocre because that's what he deserved. He was never going to be the quarter back and he was never going to be more than average academically. He let out a sigh and leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes and wishing he were some where else.

"What's with the long face, champ?" Robert, the manager, said as he aggressively puts his hand on Dwight's shoulder, "Did you forget about our team building exercise hike? Doesn't seem like you dressed for it." Dwight looks down at himself. He's dressed for any normal day at the office. White button up shirt, slacks, and a tie. He doesn't have much variety in his wardrobe, and nothing for being outside playing in the dirt.

"Ah, sorry, Bob. I forgot to wear my hiking tie today." Dwight was expecting a laugh or a chuckle from some one, but all he got was another two hard pats on his shoulder before Robert walked away. He looks up at the time and realized that time was going by faster than normal and that it was time for everyone to get into the company van that will take him to the woods just outside of town.

Later…

The sun has set, and everyone stops by a couple of fallen trees, "Alright we'll take a break here and start on some real teamwork exercises!" Robert calls out as he pulls out a bottle of moonshine from his back pack. There are a couple ooh's and ahh's as it's passed around. The bottle makes it to Dwight and all eyes are on him. His hands start to shake from all the pressure.

"C'mon, man, drink up!" another associate yells. He can't tell who it is because his vision is blurred from the anxiety. He takes a deep breath and takes a swig straight out of the bottle. A couple of his coworkers cheer as he passes the bottle to the next person. For the first time in awhile Dwight feels included, and it feels great. An hour or two goes by, and everything is going great except he might have drank too much. He steps away from the group to gather himself as the nausea from his drinking. He leans over and gags, waiting for the vomit to reach the top of his throat, but it never comes. He sits down and lays his head against the tree behind him. He closes his eyes and doses off.

Even later…

Dwight opens his eyes, but he can hardly see. It's very dark, very foggy, and instead of being in a dense forest leaning up against a tree, he's leaning up again a brick wall. There's a large sliding metal door on the wall with a lever next to it. I must be dreaming he thinks. He gets up and walks over to the door and pulls down on the lever, but nothing seems to be happening. He turns around and looks for some sort of answer, but all he sees is a dense fog, a few trees with no leaves, and a small machine. There's a wire coming from the machine that appears to be connected to the door. He slowly makes his way over there, but something is strange. Everything feels very real, it doesn't feel like a dream. He's closer now to the machine and hears it rattling a little, and notices that there's someone right by it.

"Hey!" He shouts and in return he gets a shriek from a girl that he hasn't seen from work before, "I'm sorry! I really didn't mean to scare you. What are you doing out here?" She seems more confused than he does.

"I thought I was the only one here." She says as she looks around to see if Dwight had anyone with him.

"What do you mean? Where are we?"

"I'm not sure. I went out for a run and I was running…and I… I don't know, I must have gotten lost, but I have no idea how I ended up being trapped behind this wall."

"Trapped? Well I found a door, but I'm not sure how to get it to work." He sighs.

"This is connected to the door, I think it's a generator to power the lever to open the door. I don't know why but I'm pretty sure I know how to fix it." They both look at the generator, and back at each other, "will you help me, please? I need to get out of here."

"We need to get out of here. I'm Dwight."

"Meg," She says as she starts messing with the generator. Whatever they're doing, it's working. It starts pumping faster and making a lot more noise. Connecting a wire there, turning a knob here, they have no idea how they know what to be doing but after a few more moments it's done, "Lets go try the door." Meg says. They both run over, and Dwight grabs the handle again and yanks it down. Still nothing seems to be happening.

"I don't get it. We repaired it's power source, but it's not working." Suddenly there's a subtle pounding in their chest, and a low thudding sound, "what is that? Do youhear it too?" The sound gets louder, and the anxiety is setting back into to Dwight. Meg stands up and bravely walks towards the noise which now sounds like a heartbeat. She sees a tall man walking in their direction. He has a mask on his face and is holding what looks to be a home made cleaver. Frightened Meg turns around a sprints back towards Dwight faster than she has ever run before.

"Dwight! Run, Dwight!" He sees her approaching fast and starts off along with her. The large man is faster however and swings at Dwight and makes contact. The hit fuels him as he's able to run faster. He can't think about the pain, all he can think about is running away. He doesn't see Meg anymore, but he keeps running anyway and into a maze of broken brick. The sound of the heartbeat fades away, and he's able to focus on his wound. His whole body hurts, and he's bleeding. Dwight starts to feel woozy looking at all the blood he's losing. A puddle of blood forms around his feet. He notices his shoes and thinks about what his boss Robert had said to him. He's definitely not dressed for a hike, let alone a run.

He hears russling in some grass nearby and is startled by it. He looks around nervously looking for a good place to hide. He sees a wooden red painted locker and opens it up. There's enough room next to a couple of tools to hide in here. He hurries in and closes the creaky door, hoping that he isn't making too much noise. He's able to peak through small cracks in the door. A woman passes by, but it's not Meg. She's crouched down, and she looks scared. Dwight cracks open the door and the woman gasps.

"Oh no, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you." She's wide eyed and breathing heavily.

"I don't know how, but when you got hit by that man I was able to see you."

"What do you mean you could see me?" She sighs and shakes her head.

"I don't know how to explain it. I felt that some one was injured, and I was able to see you through walls. I know it sounds crazy but…"

"Don't. This is all crazy. I would believe anything you tell me." She looks down at the blood that is still somehow still spilling from Dwight's body. The woman pulls out a small red box with a white plus sign on it. She comes closer to Dwight and starts to mend his wounds, and in what seems like no time at all, he feels back to normal. Whatever normal is now, "My name is Dwight, what's your's?"

"Claudette Morel."

"Okay, Claudette, we need to find my friend. That guy was chasing us and we must have split up. He wasn't chasing me anymore so she must be in trouble," he pauses, "wait, you were able to see me when I was injured. Can you see her?" Claudette looks up and around, then looks behind her.

"No, I'm sorry, I can't. We should start moving though," Dwight nods and they start walking, "How many people are you here with? How did you get here? Why are we here? What are w-"

"Please, I probably know less than you do. The only thing I know is that there's a door, but we can't get it to work. There was a small generator that Meg and I repaired, but it didn't seem to do much. If anything all the loud noise is what us noticed by the man." They start walking at a faster pace, and then Dwight feels something strange. "Some one is near us," he says "wait, I think I can see them. Maybe its Meg!" Dwight starts running and soon they hear a similar sound. It's the sound of another generator. It sounds to be halfway done being repaired. "Meg!" he hells, and who yells back at him is a man. Not the same man that hurt Dwight.

"Who the hell are you?"

"I'm Dwight, this is Claudette," He points behind him and she shyly waves, "We know how to fix these generators, we can do them together. I've already fixed one with… Meg, have you seen her?"

"Woah there, buddy, I work alone. I haven't seen anyone except that asshole who's trying to kill me."

"Yeah, he hurt me, but she helped me and now ley us help you. Do you know about the door?" Dwight says as he motions Claudette to start on the generator.

"Yeah I know about it. It needs a good amount of energy to power up. These generators are all hooked up, they just need to be fixed. I'd say about 5 of these should do the trick."

"Five? Oh man this is not going to be good with this guy huntin-" he's interrupted by a scream nearby. Claudette shoots up and points behind them.

"I can see her! She just got hit!" She starts pacing back and forth, "What do we do!?" Another scream and suddenly all three of them can see her. They can see her aura through the walls. She's on the ground and she's crawling. Dwight starts running toward her aura, but then it disappears.

"What happened? Claudette, can you see her?" He's holding back tears. He needs to stay strong. He's not just a little boy, and he knows he's meant to help- to lead.

"No, I can't, she just..." And another scream but this time the aura shows her hanging in mid-air. It looks like she's hanging from something.

"You go," mystery guy says sternly, "Go save your girlfriend. I need to finish this generator. We still have a lot of work to do here if we wanna escape."

"She's not my girlfriend!" Dwight blushes and looks over at Claudette who's just awkwardly looking back at him. Without another moment of hesitation, he points to the generator, implying orders for Claudette to stay behind and help him. Dwight is starting to feel like a true leader. He takes off and runs straight to where Meg's aura is. The closer he gets, the more his head starts pounding. That sound is deafening. It's hard to focus, his anxiety rises, but he pushes forward.

He can see her now, dangling from a hook like a butchered cow. His eyes begin to swell. I'm too late… I've failed. I just wanted to be able to actual do something right. A low groan of pain snaps him out of his self-pity. Meg reaches her arm up and grabs the supporting piece if the hook above her head. She pulls up a bit to see if she can set herself free, but her attempt was in vain. If anything, now she's in more pain. She doesn't understand how she's still alive. The hook is pierced through her chest. She feels her injury the most there, but she feels the pain all over. Her vision is blurred from it all, but she can make out a figure running towards her. Not a scary one; one that is familiar.

"Dwight?" she's whispers in a raspy voice, "please… help."

"I'm so sorry I let this happen to you. I'll get you out of here if it's the last thing I do." Even in immense pain, she gives him a smile. With a burst of energy, Dwight grabs her by the sides and pushed her up off the hook and sets her down. She leans into him and starts to cry.

"I'm in so much pain, Dwight. I can't take being here anymore." He pulls her closer, trying not to put too much pressure on her wound. Before he could respond he heard a familiar sound coming from where Claudette and mystery guy is. He forgot to ask for his name, though formality may not be the most important thing right now. He turns his attention back to Meg who's still crying and holding her side. He moves her hand and replaces it with his. When he removes his hand, her wound is gone. They make eye contact and he shrugs. He continues this procedure until she stops bleeding, "how did you know to do that?" she says.

"Claudette did it to me after I was hit." She tilts her head in confusion, "I'll explain on our way to the next generator."

"There's more?" Dwight gestures her to follow him. They run through a series of broken stone walls like the on Dwight ran through when he met Claudette. He seems to be getting the hang of things. This is like a game he thinks. They find another small machine and they start connecting wires like before, "Are you going to start explain yourself?" Meg says and he looks up surprised.

"Explain myself?" she sighs heavily.

"You suddenly seem to know a lot more than when we first met. Who's Claudette? How did you know there were more generators?" She starts talking faster, "How did you heal me so fast? I don't get it. I feel like I never even got impaled by a giant hook, and this is all just freaking me out!" She whimpers.

"Hey, it's okay. I don't know why we're here or what the purpose of this place is, but I did meet two people that helped me figure things out. Claudette healed me, and that's how I knew what to do with you. This other guy… I didn't ask what his name was."

"Oh so you only ask girls what their name is?" Meg interjects.

"Wh-what? No! That's not it, I just… it doesn't matter," she scoffs "he told me that it would take five generators the power up that huge metal door. This one would be number 3." Just after he says that another familiar sound happens. Another generator is finished, "That would make it number four, I guess. This guy is fast. If anyone seems to know more about what's going on here it would be him." Yet again they both start feeling a pounding in their heads. This time the beating is coming faster.

"Hey! Run!" It's mystery guy, and he's running towards them. Close behind is the tall man. Meg grab Dwight by the hand and runs faster than he can keep up. They weave in and out of the broken brick. Just before the tall man is close enough to swing, the mystery guy throws down a big wooden pallet which hits the man. It seemed to have stunned him, which made escaping him easy. They stop behind a giant boulder to hide and gather their breath.

"That was close," Dwight says in between breaths, "where's Claudette?" Meg huffs. Both Dwight and mystery guy look at her. She shrugs it off.

"Hey, you really saved us back there," Meg says to mystery guy, "What's your name?" She looks at Dwight, "You know, cause it's polite to ask." She hisses at him.

"Jake," he raises a brow, "Now if your done with your jealousy competition I would like to get out of here. I think Claudette is fine. I told her to stay on the generator we were working on, and I would go distract the killer." The killer. That man is more like a monster. "He was bound to find us at any moment."

"The one we were working on was about halfway finished." Meg says.

"Then we better get back there." As the three of them are running back they hear the sound of a generator being completed, "that's my girl." Jake says. They approach the machine, but it appears to be more damaged than it was when they found it. They start working on it immediately. Dwight can't focus, and all he can think about is where Claudette is. That the killer probably found her, and that she was going to be next to go on the hook. Not paying enough attention he accidentally puts two wrong wires together causing the generator to spark and make a loud bang sound.

"Hey! Keep quiet do you want us to die?" They all look around to make sure the killer isn't heading their way. They have no visual on him, but they can feel the pounding. Not again. Suddenly the killer comes around the corner and grabs Meg right off the generator. Jake pulls Dwight away and they quickly hide. Meg throws her body around as she's carried away. Jake goes straight back to working on the generator.

"Do you not care?! She's being taken away!" Dwight throws his hands in the air.

"We need to finish this. If you stay we can get it done really fast." Jake says matter-of-fact.

"No way, I'm not going to let this happen to her again." Dwight follows the killer and Meg. He's carrying her away so fast and he can't keep up. The killer is heading straight for another hook, but before he could get there a dark figure pops out behind a tree. It's Claudette and she shines a flashlight at the killer's face in hopes to distract him, but he ends up dropping her and covers his eyes. The three of them start running.

"I'm so sick of this guy," Meg says holding her side again. A loud and long beep surrounds them almost like a megaphone. Meg takes her hand off her side, and she feels back to normal. Except better than normal; she's filled with adrenaline. They all share a vision of the lever next to the giant metal door, and that's where they all run to. When they arrive they see Jake holding down the lever. This time something seems to be happening. Lights above the switch turn red and it starts making a series of sounds.

"It's working," Jake shouts, "We're getting out of here!" He's smiling cheek to cheek. Jake feels proud of himself, like he can really survive out here. He was able to get the door opened; he had it all figured out. The pounding comes back, this time stronger than ever. The killer is approaching quickly but the door is finally sliding open, "you guys go, go! Get out!" The other three run through the opening and out to what seems like nothing. At this point nothing seems better than something like a psycho meat hooking killer.

"We made it!" Claudette cries out, but before they could celebrate they hear a scream. It was Jake, but there's was no turning around. They couldn't stop running forward, and they couldn't force themselves to stop. Fog surround Dwight, Meg, and Claudette, and the last thing they hear before being completely engulfed by darkness was a deep and evil voice.

"No one escapes death."