"Meg..."

A voice was calling her, faint, high pitched and one that sent shivers down her spine, she became aware that she was awake and standing up, she looked around but couldn't see anything. She could feel her clothes rustling against her and the feel of cold air against her skin, but it was dark, impossibly dark...

"Dwight!" she called out on instinct, "Jake! Claudette!"

There was no response, as Meg gulped to herself, however before she could comprehend what had happened to her, or where she was, the voice cropped up again.

"Take 2 objects, your choice"

There was light, faint, dull and red, but it was something to look at, a series of blood red lines ran from where she was stood towards four different objects lying feet away from her, one object looked like a useless spring, the other a dull roll of bandage, the third a medkit, with a brown strap across it and finally a small flashlight, also branded with the same brown strap. Meg blinked and wondered what on earth she was dreaming about now, disregarding the spring or bandages, she went for the medkit and the flashlight, the second her hand locked around the flashlight, the voice spoke up once again.

"Which one do you want to take into the trial with you?"

Meg decided she was going to roll with it, but she was still perplexed, the obvious choice would have been the medkit, but for some reason Meg was unwilling to let go of her little flashlight. In this dark place she felt like she would need it, besides Claudette was a good enough medic in her own right and wounds in this place seemed to heal faster than what was natural, so she simply said "The flashlight".

The medkit vanished and she vanished as well, the red lights were gone and now the only thing that was lit was a mouth wateringly delicious looking cake, topped with icing of pale mint and cherry red's, the jam and cream in it's layers was bursting with a flavour Meg could smell from this distance. Her hunger (once non-existent) now came back in full force, her stomach rumbled audibly and in those moments she wanted nothing more than to run up to the cake and stuff fistfuls of it in her mouth. For an athlete she usually avoided cake, but the deficit of it made her crave it even more. She remembered pigging out on cakes her mother used to bake her for her birthdays growing up. This cake was almost an exact replica of that one, she knew it was going to be a treat.

"Will you give this offer to the entity?" the cold voice said once again, where it originated from, Meg had no idea but she looked at the cake and then at the darkness surrounding her. Whatever this dream was (despite her hunger) she knew better than to go for a clear honeytrap, so she simply said "Erm... yeah I don't want it".

With that (and too her sorrow) the cake burst into flames, the smoke filled her nostrils, it was everywhere, everything was blocked up and she couldn't breathe...

She gasped for air and awoke looking at the black sky, but she became aware of the fact there was no campfire warming her bones, the night was deathly cold and mist was thick all around her, she turned to her side expecting to see the smouldering remains of the campfire.

Instead, she looked up at a meathook.

"Oh no... oh no... oh no..." Meg whispered to herself, she was already on her feet and sprinting away from the hook, but it didn't make any difference, more appeared, all seemingly clumped together, she became aware of the other features as well, the totems, the lockers, the strange ruins...

"Not again, not again... not again..." Meg repeated to herself, running now, careful to tread lightly so she wouldn't leave tracks behind her, she found herself in a corn field, where the stalks were a dried and musty yellow, yet she lay there amongst the yellowing vegetation on the ground, these plants provided her cover and if she heard that heartbeat, this would be a good place to hide, although she wished her pinkish red jumper could have been any other colour, because she imagined she stood out a bit like this.

She could see the brick wall in the distance, it was a different location, but the rules were still the same here, they had to be.

"This is all real" she groaned to herself, whatever theories Dwight and Claudette had been dreaming up... they were all null and void now. Whatever was in those books Jake had been reading, it had to be true. She cursed herself in those moments, she should have been more persistent and demanded answers from him. Now here she was, lying on the ground on a corn field like an idiot, without any idea of what she doing.

"I'm just sitting here, waiting to be slaughtered" she thought to herself, she'd close her eyes when that heartbeat cropped up and pray not to be seen, but she knew throughout her life (and now here) that praying wasn't going to get her anywhere. She prayed her father would come home one day, she prayed her mother wouldn't fall so ill, she prayed she'd be able to go on that dream scholarship, but praying had rewarded her nothing but misery. Only her hard work had given her anything and with that the athlete in her came at as she steadily got to her feet.

Jake was calm and collected, now she had to be same.

Which killer would it be? The trapper, the chainsaw wielding one? Or maybe even another one? She dreaded to think but tried to remember everything Martin had said, one killer for every four people... if herself, Dwight, Claudette and Jake were here there would be one killer chasing them. If there were 8 there would be two, none of those generators had made the "DING!" sound yet, so Meg had a gut feeling it was just herself and the other three here and speaking of generators...

Through the tall stems of the dried out vegetation she glimpsed red and crept forward to see there it was, the generator, sitting pretty in this field, how was she supposed to repair such a thing? Yet she approached the thing regardless.

"What do I do!?" she muttered out loud, as she did she became aware of a small flashlight clenched in her hand, she had forgotten about it completely. in a moment of madness she clicked the switch to the flashlight and the dull light illuminated the generator.

Nothing happened.

"Of course it wouldn't" Meg snapped at herself, switching off the small device "If Dwight hears about that..." she sighed, so that dream of her's had to have some sort of significance if she had this flashlight with her now. Yet it wouldn't fix generators, she approached it and felt her hands move of their own accord, to the depths of the mechanical wonder of this field, in her nimble fingers she felt herself pulling and wrapping together loose wires, the work seemed automatic.

"How am I doing this?" Meg thought widly to herself, she was helpless at DIY and engineering and had been more akin to break things than repair them, yet with this rusty generator she was handling it like she was born to do this sort of thing. Without thinking, she felt a surge of electricity pass through some wires she had in her hands, she quickly pushed them together as they hissed and a piston at the top of the generator began to push itself up and the down... the piston became faster the further she worked, pushing together more wires, in the maze of connecting devices.

"This is crazy!" Meg muttered out loud, the generator was growing louder as the second of the four pistons began to pump away. She wanted to look around her, but she knew she had to keep her concentration fully on the generator itself. With every surge of new electricity that passed through the wires, she had to clump them together, she had a feeling if she didn't do this, there would be consequences, or a harsh electric shock. Despite wounds healing in this place, she would rather avoid the shock and she came to the conclusion that if wounds could heal fast her, this... entity had given her the ability to fix these generators without even having to think properly about it. Just keep focused on them and make sure the currents passed through the wires...

Further and further her hands dug, this was the most bizarre experience of her life and that was saying a lot especially compared to the last fuck-fest she found herself in. Her fingers trailed over whirling and spinning gears as the generators noise reached a fever pitch, all the pistons were now pumping and...

DING!

It was louder up close, the generator lit up the dead corn field and Meg was repelled from the now functioning thing, as she felt a sense of pride build in her system, she had done it. She had managed to get a generator working, she didn't know the rules of this place. But those other survivors had decided that fixing a generator took more priority than saving her from a meathook, then there could only be one conclusion.

"These generators power the exit door!" she shouted in a mad glee.

But then she remembered what she had seen from that hook, the second the generator had been completed that trapper had made a beeline for it. For good reason, if they made that noise when they were completed. Then the killer had a strong indicator of where they were, they knew people like herself had been working on it.

Her glee turned to horror in seconds, without thinking she ran, plants bristled past her shoulders as she put as much space between herself and the generator as possible. Eventually she slowed to a halt and ducked at the edge of the cornfield, she could see a locker nearby, but remembered Dwight's words. If the killer caught her in there, she was done for. So she held her breath and waited for the heartbeat she was expecting, the killer had to be nearby, yet the seconds turned to a full minute and Meg didn't hear a thing.

She didn't like this, not one bit.

Then she heard the bell by her ear.

Ding, Ding, Ding...

There was a whoosh, the red stain, the heartbeat, Meg felt herself scream but couldn't hear it, as the heartbeat was deafening in her ears. An instinctive reaction was to roll over on the ground as she felt something heavy swoosh over her head, she got to her unsteady feet and ran, casting a brief look behind her at the killer.

It wasn't the trapper, nor the chainsaw guy, but something with much darker skin, dressed in plain clothes, or what once been plain clothes with white bandages around his attire. His eyes shone dangerously, his face strangely calm and stripped with what looked like white paint, it was materialising from behind her, as if it had just been invisible beforehand, in it's hand it carried a long weapon that (from this distance) looked like an enlarged skeletal totem with a sharp end. Turning to the field in front of her, Meg felt her adrenaline kick in and she ran like she had never ran before.

Now she knew she was going fast, too fast almost. The crops blurred in her vision, wind slapped at her face and her pigtails flung out from behind her, yet she didn't stop running, until she heard another distant DING! and became aware of the fact she was out of the field and vastly approaching a wooden hut that looked like it had been very poorly constructed. Yet she only stopped when she was inside of the hut and she bent over double, sweat rolling from her forehead.

"I ran that far!?" she gasped in disbelief, peeking behind her to see that the corn crops were far behind and that all was silent. She couldn't hear the heartbeat at all, she knew whatever that thing was, it had gone after the other generator and the poor soul who had activated it. She doubted it was Dwight or Claudette as they would be likely to be hiding and scouting for anyone else. She knew it would be Jake, he read those books and he knew what to do.

"If he'd shared them with us, we'd know what to do as well" Meg snapped to herself, but no, here she was. In this old hut, looking up she saw she was face to face with another generator an exact clone of the last one.

"How many of you do we need to power up?" Meg asked of the non-sentient thing, as if it could give her an answer.

It didn't answer and Meg was wary to work on another one, if that thing was going to sneak up on her again. How was she meant to concentrate on the generator while she'd have to constantly turn her head to try and keep a lookout for that thing? It was said women could multitask, but Meg struggled with that concept usually, in this place it was next to impossible.

Her eyes were instead drawn to a stairwell that led downwards, curious she descended the stairs.

Creepy wasn't the word.

The whole place was red, blood stains and dried puddles were everywhere, on the floor, over the wooden walls, on the ceiling, a mist hung low on the ground with every step Meg took the colder the mist became. She felt like she was walking on ice and she had no idea where this red hue and light was coming from, it seemed to originate from nowhere, as well as the mist and the blood (as well as a few red lockers), there was a strange creaking (and if she strained her ears) she could hear whispering. Whispering she couldn't decipher, but it prickled at her ears and made her uncomfortable.

and that wasn't the worst part of it.

In the middle of the room, stood the main attraction, four hooks, all coloured blacker than the night above them. Stained with what looked like centuries of blood stains.

"It's like one for each of us" she thought to herself, as if these hooks symbolised their four headstones, on each one she could almost make out their names... Meg... Jake...Claudette... Dwight... this whole place was ominous and Meg didn't like it one bit, she wanted to leave, but a brown chest at the corner of her eye caught her attention.

She walked over to it and opened it, to see a toolbox with a green strap around it, she went to pick it up, but recoiled instantly, it was red hot to the touch.

"This is the basement you know"

Meg almost screamed, she turned around to see Jake was standing there, in the red light, with his face as calm and controlled as ever.

Meg went to open her mouth, but Jake held up his finger and "Shushed..." lightly and for good reason, because a few moments later the heartbeat was back, neither of them dared to move, as Meg held her breath. Being found in a locker was bad enough, but being found down here was likely to be ten times worse, yet the thing seemingly passed overhead, before Meg heard the bell again, there was another whooshing and instantly the heartbeat was gone.

"That was the wraith" Jake muttered "It had been following me, I managed to escape down here, but it might be back"

"Really?" Meg spat out sarcastically.

"This is a dangerous place, but good for hiding you know" Jake muttered.

"This is Meg and she's pissed you know" Meg retorted "What do you mean by everything? If you've told us earlier..."

"What's in the chest Meg?" Jake cut through her.

"A toolbox" Meg answered "But that doesn't..."

He ignored her, he strode past her, Meg's "Hey!" went ignored as Jake reached into the chest and pulled out the toolbox.

"Green, excellent" he muttered "It's rare, green is rare, brown is common, yellow is uncommon, purple is very rare and pink is ultra rare".

"The only thing that's ultra rare is the fact that toolbox hasn't burnt your fingers off" Meg informed him "When I tried to pick it up, it was like it was on fire".

"You're carrying that flashlight" Jake noted, pointing at the thing "The entity only let's you carry one thing, one healthpack, one flashlight, one map, one key or one toolbox".

"Aren't you a bundle of information?" Meg snapped, before she managed to calm herself slightly "Listen, when we get out of here. You're going to tell me, Claudette and Dwight everything and we won't care how bad it is. Leaving us in the dark was fucking dangerous, now Dwight and Claudette are out there with no idea with what's going on".

"Somebody else did a generator" Jake noted.

"That was me!" Meg emphasised "As you've pointed out Jake, I'm shrewd apparently. I pick up on things, Claudette and Dwight are different, they panic easily, they are kind and thoughtful people, but against a killer like that, they don't stand much of a chance alone".

"That's why we need to get these generators done as fast as we can" Jake said "I assumed you got that flashlight from the bloodweb?"

"The what!?" Meg spluttered.

"Whatever, I'll explain later" Jake muttered "If that journal is too be believed, we need to power up 5 generators to power the exit doors. That's if there is just four of us and the one killer, which I believe there is. The last bunch had to do 10 generators"

"No wonder Martin was the way he was" Meg muttered, "But that leaves 3, right?"

"That's right and one of them is directly above us" Jake mused "This toolbox should make quick work of it"

Meg's mind was full to the brim with questions she wanted to ask of Jake as they worked on the generator together, where was the bag of books? What was the bloodweb? That weird dream? What did the significance of the colours on the objects mean? What was the basement? Why was there a chest there and how did Jake know about it? What about that cake she offered the entity that was burnt... what was that all about? What was the wraith, what powers did it have? What was this place?

Yet she had to keep her mind on the generator, as she felt sparks fly through her fingers, whatever was in the toolbox Jake was carrying, he added springs and bits and bobs into the mechanical mess that sped up the repair process considerably in around a minute and a half the generator lit up, with 3 down and 2 to go, Meg and Jake instantly ducked for cover inside some bushes near to the wooden hut, she watched hut closely as Jake shut his toolbox from behind her, she held her breath... waiting...

She saw it materialise from thin air next to the empty doorframe of the hut, it rang it's bell as it came into view and instantly the heartbeat was back, strong in her ears. But she remained in place, hardly daring to move. Jake seemed to know what he was doing and she was following his example. Yet that didn't stop sweat rolling down her hands and forehead as she watched the wraith patrol the building, she saw how it ran, seemingly light on the ground like herself, as it circled the hut, it inspected behind nearby trees and even in lockers, eventually it rang it's bells again and vanished into the night once again. The heartbeat vanishing in the instance the wraith became invisible.

"I don't like that thing" Meg said uttering the obvious.

"We can work round it" Jake reassured her, "Now look up, see those headlights by those ruins over there?" Meg followed his gaze and made out the headlights against the backdrop of the night, she nodded to show she could see them.

"If you ever find yourself alone, look up for those" he instructed "They'll get you to a generator, you can power it and it might attract the killer, but also your friends. Powering those things is the only way to power up the exit door, so as soon as we find ourselves in a trial like this, that's what we go for".

"Okay" Meg muttered "So, should we get this next generator done then?"

He nodded, however as they made the slow and steady walk towards the generator behind the ruins of brick walls, there was another DING! and from a point from the other side of this field, a generator's headlights filled the dark night with more light.

"Dwight or Claudette's figured it out too!" Meg exclaimed.

"Keep your voice down!" Jake hissed "But they've also attracted the killer, we need to hurry up and get this last generator done, because they'll need assistance most likely".

DING!

The last generator was the loudest of them all, upon completing it Jake and Meg pulled away from the thing and instantly stuck to the brick wall of the zone, trailing along the outer regions of this "trial area" as Jake had called it, they eventually found the exit door. Jake had pulled down the lever, as the first of three red lights above the panel lit up, just as a shrill scream echoed across the field, that Meg recognised as...

"Claudette!" she shouted, without thinking she turned to Jake "Get this thing open, I'll be back with Dwight and Claudette" she muttered these words on autopilot and before Jake could protest, she was running back through the field, towards where she had heard the scream. Soon the heartbeat began to creep up in her ears once again, as she emerged on a clearing.

It wasn't pretty.

The wraith was standing next to Claudette, who had been impaled on a hook, the legs of the entity were closing in around the poor woman and she was using both of her hands to try and keep the sharp end of one of it's black talons from piercing her heart, yet even from this distance. Meg could see the sweat coating her skin and the blood that ran down her shoulder, she was struggling with this and wouldn't be able to cope for much longer.

"CLAUDETTE!" Meg screamed.

"MEG!" She yelled back in desperation, the athlete could see behind her glasses, Claudette's eyes were filled with tears, a look of pure terror and agony was plastered onto her face, the wraith spotted her as well, but didn't move an inch, it cocked it's head at her, as if it was taunting the younger woman.

"HELP ME! OH GOD, PLEASE, HELP ME!" Claudette screamed.

"I'M COMING, HANG ON!" Meg yelled, with no game plan in mind, she'd simply have to go for it and...

"Meg..."

Another familiar voice, weak and wheezy, she looked down to see Dwight was by her ankle, he was sat slumped over a wooden box, blood dribbled down his mouth and nose, his bloodless face was at contrast with his stark black hairs that were plastered over his sweat drenched scalp. His entire shoulder was drenched in blood, Meg knew he had been on the hook as well, yet he seemed to have suffered another painful wound to the stomach, which was bleeding rather heavily.

"Dwight, what happened!?" Meg inquired instantly, trying to lift the man to his feet, it was proving difficult though as he seemed like a sack of potatoes, all of his limbs had gone numb, as blood continued to pour from his body.

"Wasn't... fast... enough..." he muttered with mouthfuls of blood, his eyes dazed and confused "Me and Claudette... we tried... fixing a generator and then that thing came behind us and... it caught me... hooked me... Claudette saved me... but then... then... it got her... and it won't...it won't move... I tried rushing for her... but..." he gestured at his stomach at this point and Meg could see a nasty gash on his leg as well that prevented him from standing without limping, "I... leave me here Meg... go... go save Claudette..."

Despite wounds healing quickly in this place, it didn't happen almost instantly. She had moments here, as she held onto Dwight and then looked up at where Claudette was struggling... how she wished she'd brought Jake along now.

Because the choice was clear, she could only save one person.

Dwight couldn't get to the exit gates alone without her help, but Claudette wasn't getting off that hook by herself, not while she had to keep the entity away. But if she stood here, then the entity would kill Claudette and the wraith would come straight for Dwight and hook him up as well. The wraith was looking intently at her now, with it's glowing orange orbs of eyes, it wasn't moving, because it had a free kill here and knew full well she was trying to rush in and save Claudette.

"HELP!" Claudette screeched once again in pure terror.

There was no time, Meg felt tears fall from her own eyes, why did this choice have to fall to her?

"Move, why won't you move and come after me!?" Meg screeched at the wraith.

This time it openly acknowledged her, it shook it's head. It didn't have a mouth, or one Meg could see, but she had a feeling that if it did, it would be smiling right now.

"Bastard!" Meg wept, "Dwight... we... we can't save her... we have to go..."

"Meg... no!" Dwight exclaimed "She... she saved me! I was useless...!"

"It's you or her and I can't get to her" Meg said, already leading Dwight away from the hook and back into the cornfield.

"No" he said, tears starting to stream down his own face "Meg, try and save her, forget about me".

"I can't" Meg sobbed.

"TRY!" Dwight screamed, as both of them faced each other, Dwight's sudden fury made his face as red as the blood from his wounds, yet Meg knew this wasn't anger directed at her. It was towards himself, he hated himself in those moments, for failing Claudette when she had saved him. But Meg wept because she had failed Claudette just as much as Dwight had done, she had failed to think rationally and had charged in alone without Jake to assist her and she had chosen Dwight over Claudette, leaving the woman to die. She could have done what Dwight had said, she could have tried...

But she didn't.

"I'm sorry, Claudette!" Meg wept.

"Oh God... NO! NO! NO!" Claudette screamed, looking at their fleeting forms "DON'T LEAVE ME! PLEASE GOD, DON'T!"

"Don't... oh God, don't..." Meg sobbed harder, she didn't want to hear this, she didn't want to hear this kind woman begging for her life like this, but yet Meg was subjected to every second of it as more tears rolled down her face.

"PLEASE! HELP ME! I'M SCARED, OH GOD I'M SCARED, PLEASE!"

Meg continued to walk away, with Dwight leaning on her, while she thought to herself... "just look forward, run smart, not fast... smart not fast...

"PLEASE...!"

Smart not fast, smart not fast...

"PL... NO... NO... NO... NAAARRRGGGGHHHHHHHHH...!"

The last scream was the worst one of them all, it was something inhumane and filled with agony, pain, suffering and fear all in one, yet that scream was cut short by a sickening splat, Meg knew Claudette was dead, she turned around to see the entity lifting her into the sky, her body was limp, she appeared to have been cut open by the talons, as her own organs rolled down from her body and hit the ground.

Dwight saw this and vomited, but Meg had to drag him forward, if she didn't Claudette had died for nothing.

They were halfway through the cornfield now, Meg was wheezing openly, she could feel the heartbeat creeping up on her, the wraith was coming...

Smart not fast...

Smart not fast...

Smart not fast...

She could hear the plants rustling from behind her, the heartbeat was too loud now...

Fuck smart...

It was time to go fast.

She propelled herself and Dwight forward and as she did, (practically dragging him, as the soles of his shoes scrapped the soil below them) she saw the exit door come into view, with Jake standing next to the misty field.

"What's going on, where's Claudette...?" he began, but there was no time, because a second later the wraith burst from the field behind them, it was inches behind them now, without thinking, Meg pushed Dwight forward, so he fell onto the ground. Jake reacted quickly to pick him up and drag the injured man to safety, as he did the wraith rounded on her and raised it's weapon... she had to get past it, but she'd end up on the hook and just like Claudete, with her guts rolling from her body...

No. She couldn't die.

Without thinking (she seemed to be doing this alot today) she switched on her flashlight, the beam directly hitting the wraith in the eyes, as it seemed to grunt, it's weapon swung blindly missed her by centimeters. Using this as an advantage, she ducked through it's legs and ran to catch up with Dwight and Jake who were already in the field, she looked behind her to see the wraith was on her tail again, but stopped suddenly when it reached the field, leaving Meg to carry on running, wiping tears from her face... during the madness she had dropped her flashlight. Not that she cared, the thing had suddenly seemed to burn her hand, so she was fine to leave it... besides it had done its purpose, she had escaped alive.

Not everyone else had.

She caught up with Dwight and Jake as they continued to run, Jake managing to hold onto a now unconscious Dwight, the blood from his numerous wounds was already healing. But the mental pain would be worse no doubt.

"He tried to save her" Meg muttered, at the battered form of Dwight.

"I see" Jake muttered "Claudette had a tough time, we'll have to comfort her when we reach the campfire".

Meg made sure she had heard that right.

"Jake" she began "I know you got on with Claudette..."

"and I know what happens when someone dies, I'm not stupid" Jake said sharply "I'm sorry that happened to Claudette, but she'll be at the campfire, mark my words".

Meg didn't, she doubted it. Until they reached the campfire fifteen minutes later to find Claudette in the clothes she had been wearing when she died, there wasn't a single scratch on the poor woman, she sat curled up the campfire, like how a fetus was curled in a mother's womb. Meg felt her mouth drop open in shock, Dwight (who had now woken) dropped by her side, in similar disbelief.

"She's dead" he muttered hollowly "We saw it, we..." he paused there and grasped her shoulder, "This... this can't be real"

"It is" Jake said, cutting through him, he set the green toolbox by the campfire and picked up what looked like a machine part and placed it in the toolbox, looking around the campfire, Meg could see it was dotted with other things as well, a map, three more medkits, a box of something, the bag of books from earlier and a large collection plants and flowers, the sort of herbs and flowers Claudette would have loved...

Or would love.

"But... Dwight's right, she's dead, we saw it!" Meg insisted, her tears had dried with the blood from Dwight's wound, but the memories were still horribly fresh "How... how did this...?"

She didn't get to finish this sentence, because in those moments, Claudette gasped and then screamed, lifting herself up and batting at thin air with her hands, with her eyes widened and crazy...

"STOP! NO! NO! NO! PLEASE...!" She screeched, in the same tone she had used merely twenty minutes ago.

"CLAUDETTE!" Meg screamed, approaching the woman, who did her best (with a surprising amount of strength) to bat her off, screeching "NO! GET OFF, GET OFF, GET OFF ME! GET OFF!"

"SETTLE DOWN! IT'S ME! IT'S ME!" Meg roared, but it was no good, Claudette was in hysterics, crying, weeping and screaming, twice she managed to slice at Meg's face leaving cuts in her cheeks, yet Meg held onto her, finally Dwight limped over and shouted "CLAUDETTE IT'S US! YOU'RE OKAY, HERE, IT'S US! IT'S ME! DWIGHT! DWIGHT! AND MEG AND JAKE! WE'RE ALL HERE...!"

It took another few minutes to calm her down, eventually through Dwight's shouts and Meg's restraints, Claudette stopped struggling, through her wet eyes she made out Dwight's form and stopped for a second to mutter... "D...Dwight..."

"It's me! We're at the campfire, everything's alright" Dwight said to try and soothe her.

"But... but..." Claudette spluttered, before she clutched her stomach and screamed, she doubled over and wept "Oh God...it still hurts... it still hurts..."

"I know, I know, I know" Meg repeated like a broken alarm, she certainly didn't know, she couldn't relate to the level of pain that dying like that would bring, but she had to try and say something to help the terrified woman. She held Claudette close and muttered into her ear "It's okay, I've got you. I'm not going to leave you again, you're safe, you're safe..." she rocked her slowly, the way her mother used to rock her when she was young, this seemed to calm her down somewhat, but she still wept into Meg's chest and shook horribly. Moaning in pain and clutching her stomach, when the commotion died down, the cackle of the campfire cropped up as the main audio of the setting.

"Jesus, what the hell is going on around here!?" Dwight exclaimed at last, "This... this just can't be real... but... all of that..."

"He knows" Meg spat, pointing an accusing finger at Jake, who merely sat fiddling with his toolbox while Dwight and Meg had tried to console Claudette "He knew everything Dwight" she continued sourly "He read those books the first night here, that's why he took the shift. He knew what was in those trials, he knows everything and he didn't tell us, he wouldn't let me see them either".

"What the...?" Dwight began, before he turned to other male in the group "Jake, is that true!?"

"I didn't think we'd be sent back so soon" Jake replied "But I wanted to keep the truth from you, it's better to be ignorant".

"CLAUDETTE DIED!" Dwight roared, "YOU COULD HAVE TOLD US AND...!"

"and I was expecting this response and I apologise" Jake said calmly.

"You don't sound sorry at all" Meg snapped "What the hell could be so bad, you'd think we'd be better off not knowing, what could be worse than..." she gestured down at Claudette "That!? What could be worse than a painful death like that!?"

"Didn't you listen to a word Martin said?" Jake inquired sharply "You'll get used to the deaths eventually and death is not an escape? Do you know what that means?"

"Wait" Dwight said, calming down somewhat "Don't tell me... that... what we saw. Is just going to become routine?"

Jake didn't answer, he merely sighed and said "I guess you all want the truth then, I promised you that Meg, so I'll keep too it..."

"...but I can guarantee you aren't going to like it"