Welcome! To, The New Blood! This is a new story I've been kickin' around for a bit, and I'm looking forward to writing. JSYN, this story is in no way connected to ANY of my other stories in any way shape or form. So, any time 'The Entity' or 'Entity' is said, it is not referring to the character, Skorch I have created. It is referring to the Entity of DBD.

Look, you're probably all smart enough to know that, and I don't wanna patronize you all, but still. Better to get this outta the way.

"This has to be a joke."

"There…there's no way that's real! This has to be a trick of some kind!"

"I…I wanna say it is. But if it isn't-"

"It has to be a trap set by the Twins. Nothing else can possibly explain this!"

Why were they? What brought them here – what that thing WAS, more specifically – ? Was there was any true escape? Or would these monsters just keep coming? There were four questions those condemned to the Entity's game found themselves asking over and over.

"Rrgh?"

"I can't say. But… if that is what I think it is, then what the hell is the Entity doing?!"

Yet, everyone who asked it would most likely come to the same answer; death. No matter how many generators were repaired, no matter how many survivors were sacrificed on hooks, all who were trapped in the Entity's hold were there forever.

"I'm…I'm going. If you guys see whoever's after us, scream."

"Dwight's got that covered."

"Shut up, Jake!"

Which is why no one on either side of this sick, twisted game could even begin to comprehend why the Entity had done what it had done. Or at least, everyone supposed it was responsible for what had occurred at the beginning of this Trial. At first, the cries had been somewhat quiet, and everyone assumed someone had gotten injured, but as the generators were fixed, down to only one left, the cries got louder, and they sounded wrong. The survivors had gathered once more, in an attempt to understand what was happening.

"Okay… go!"

Keeping low to the ground, trying to slink through the dying stalks of corn. Meg Thomas moved slowly but effectively. She had been here longer than most, one of the original, poorly named 'Survivor Quartet', consisting of herself, Dwight, Jake and Claudette. All of whom were in this particular trial, save Claudette who Nea was in the place of. During her time here, she had been chased, slashed, hooked and yes, sacrificed more times than she cared to count or even think about. But there were two rules among the survivors that everyone did their best to uphold, even if it meant getting sacrificed. One, no one gets left behind. Unless time didn't allow a rescue. But the more important rule in this case was what was driving her forward. Any new survivor is top priority for survival and escape. Whenever the Entity found new prey, it was a 50-50 chance they would be dropped off at the campfire, which was good, as they could meet the others, discuss their talents and get a general grip as to what the unholy heck was going on. But when they were dumped into a trial, the other survivors would do their best to keep them alive until they could escape. They all knew sooner or later, the newcomer would end up on a hook, but they deserved the best chance at beginning unharmed they could get. Unfortunately, that didn't always work out. One of the more 'memorable' examples had been when Nancy Wheeler and Steve Harrington had been dropped headlong into a trial. Steve had managed to save Feng from a hook. Twice. Ash had been able to look past his own ego for a minute and get most of the generators up and running, and the main goal was to get Steve and Nancy out… but they hadn't known about the Demogorgon. The eyeless beast had appeared from what Steve would later explain to be 'The Upside-Down' and it didn't end too well for Nancy. Actually, the beast had seemed far, far angrier than any trial it had been in since, as if it was a wild animal unleashed from a cage after years of captivity for the first time…

A creak made Meg freeze in her tracks and slowly look around. One thing she had learned, was any, ANY sound was to be taken as a warning. From the sounds of breaking wood, to electrical explosions, to heavy breathing, to the obnoxious sounds of K-Pop, anything that made noise in a trial could be a warning of grave things to come. Above all, screaming and crying were two signs death was near, and those sounds were coming from the centre of the trial area, where no hooks could be seen… That was only adding to the apprehension Meg was feeling.

There wasn't any real way around it, everything here wanted you dead. Well, the ones chosen to hunt you down did, but to Meg, it was all the same at this point. Some of the killers she had been able to discern patterns and strategies to deal with, such as the Hillbilly and the one known as either 'The Cannibal' or 'Leatherface'. In both their cases, running in unpredictable patterns often led to escape, but what still concerned her was something about the latter of the pair. Leatherface didn't have the grim twisted pleasure of killing someone like 'The Doctor' or 'Sweater McBurnface' (Meg forgot his name at the moment) did. If anything, he seemed terrified. Not just of the Entity, but of Meg. Other killers, she had yet to find a pattern, but she understood their strengths and weaknesses. Two of those being the one known as 'The Wraith', a ghost-demon-thing that was the monster sent after her in Meg's first trial upon arriving, and a disgusting mass known as 'The Plague'. Meg didn't have some super-secret-awesome plan for escaping them every time, but she at least understood how they typically worked. She had known (and hated) the Wraith longer, so she understood the warning sounds of the bell and the subtle shifts of wind whenever he was near… and if there was one thing she had to give Ash, for all his ego, bravado and sometimes cowardice, he had made her laugh, way, way more than she expected when he first arrived. After seeing and hearing the Wraith for the first time, Meg would never forget what Ash had called the killer, and what everyone had henceforth nicknamed the killer.

"Hey!" Ash had shouted. "Bing Bong Boy!"

That was then, and this was now. Meg hated admitting to her fears, or her anxieties, but she had to admit, having gone this long and not knowing who was hunting her and the others was rather unnerving… especially because there were at least two killers who thrived off of stalking their victims. Truth be told, Meg hated one of them probably more than the Entity itself, because he just wouldn't. Shut. Up! Apparently, even the other killers didn't much care for him, and that was really saying something if the killers were- Meg came to a stop and looked down at the basket in the center of the trial. It was close to the infamous and feared 'Killer Shack', which is why Meg believed this to be a trap. She reached forward and pulled back the cloth covering the basket, expecting to see the deformed monstrosity of one of 'The Twins' looking up at her, ready to attack. But she didn't.

"Oh… oh my word…" Meg whispered, feeling more afraid than she ever had in all her trials. The gut-wrenching fear seized her like it did when she first found herself trapped in this wretched nightmare. "It…it's not a trap! It's a baby!"

Looking up at her was a tiny baby bundled up in a blanket and hat. Its face stained with tears as it cried. Either scared, tired, hungry, in need of its parents, or all four.

"Shh…shh…shh…" Meg hissed, picking up the bundle and holding it close to her shoulder. The last thing she wanted to do was cover the infant's mouth, but the crying would be a dead giveaway to whatever killer was after them. Biting her lip, Meg knew she would regret this, but she ran into the nearby shack and got into one of the lockers. Inside, she set to trying to comfort the small baby, and keep it from crying. She just prayed that either the Huntress nor the Trickster were the ones hunting them… Meg wanted to scream as she heard the heavy footsteps of someone approaching. She couldn't tell who it was from the footsteps or breathing alone, and if she dared open the door a crack to look, she'd be found. Now that she had a little partner, she most definitely didn't want to do that. The chugging of the repaired generator overpowered any breathing or discernible noise the killer made, aside from an annoyed growl, and then the heavy footsteps could be briefly heard, before they disappeared. She counted to ten, and then slowly crept out from the locker, seeing… nothing. The generator, but that was all. Letting out a sigh of relief, Meg looked down at the baby, who had thankfully stopped crying, for the moment.

"C'mon, let's get you out of here." Meg remarked, mentally kicking herself for not taking the key from the campsite. If she had taken the bloody key, she could leave the trial right now, new companion in tow, but she didn't want to abandon the others, and-

"Meg, what the f- why do you have a baby?!" Nea asked, louder than intended when she dashed into the small shack.

"I…it…it's what was at the centre." Meg stammered to get out, while Nea's jaw hit the ground. Despite being trapped by a supposedly unkillable Entity, hunted by psychopaths and impaled on meat hooks every other day, it was clear this was crossing Nea's line for believability and acceptability.

"That- no! That can't-" Nea sputtered, shaking her head. "This… that can't be!"

"Nea, look." Meg insisted, holding the baby out to her. "Does this look fake?!" Thankfully, Nea quickly snapped back to reality and shook her head to clear it.

"Ho, boy, geez. There's a baby now…" Nea muttered, the gears in her head already turning as she tried to think of a plan. "Well, ugh… okay. This is bad, like, really, really bad. But, I think we can make it out all right."

The sound of something jumping caught their attention as Jake vaulted into the shack, while Dwight ran in and dropped the pallet behind him. It wasn't clear if the killer was behind them or not, but Dwight kinda had a habit of doing that.

"It's Trapper." Dwight huffed, out of breath. "And the Hillbilly. It's a double trial, again!"

"Thankfully, we only need one more gen up and…" Jake began, but trailed off when he saw what Meg was holding. "Is this some sort of joke?!"

"That can't be real." Dwight said, matter-of-factly. "It can't!"

"Okay. Dwight, Jake, Nea, we need to get that generators fixed. NOW!" Meg hissed, holding the relatively calm baby to her chest. Dwight seemed shocked beyond words, Nea seemed skeptical to say the least and Jake… seemed almost indifferent. The baby looked around and let out a string of unintelligible garbles.

"Listen, carrying that thing around will bring the killers right to us!" Jake said, raising a fair point. "If we take her with us before those doors are opened, we're screwed!"

"So, what are you saying?! We leave a defenceless baby here with a killer running around!? What'll they do if they find him!?" Dwight shot back, still having a hard time believing a baby was here, but he couldn't think of anything else to explain it.

"What's better, Dwight? Us? Or the baby?"

"You did not just say that."

Jake, to his credit, did seem disgusted with what he had said, but at the same time… it was hard to think of a clear solution. "Yeah? Well we can't do much standing around debating this either!" He finally replied, but it was clear even he didn't much believe his own words. Fear had a way of worming itself into someone's mind, especially in the Entity's trials, and Jake seemed to quickly recollect himself. "Never mind, ignore what I said."

"That's why I'm keeping her." Meg said matter-of-factly. "I'm the fastest one here, all I need to do is keep running until you guys get those gens up and running like me."

"And what if we die? Then what?"

"…I don't know." Meg admitted, growing oddly desperate. "What do you recommend, Jake!? Hide the baby in a locker and try and remember which one?! Give the killers a baby?!"

"No." Nea shook her head.

"Absolutely not." Dwight added.

"No friggin' way." Jake muttered.

While the four survivors (plus one) planned and began to execute their escape tactics, none of them noticed the pair of figures watching from a distance away, but not quite out of ear shot.

"Rrrghh…"

"Agreed."

"Hrrrggghhhh…"

"Hm."

"Rrgh? Rrrrghhh hurgh?"

"I wouldn't know."

"Urrrggh?"

"No. No. Let them have it, what do you think would happen if we took it?"

"Hrgh."

"Yeah, I hate saying this… but leave her alone… fer now…" The larger of the two figures muttered, reaching down and picking up a steel bear trap. "Kill the others. But let her go."

Meg slunk back out towards the basket where the baby had been lain. Looking inside, she found a blanket, a bottle, and a small stuffed raccoon. She wrapped the blanket around the baby, sticking the stuffed animal in there as some form of comfort, and stuck the bottle into her belt before heading off to hide. The loud clanging and whirring signalling another generator had been repaired. A familiar feeling went off in Meg's spine, the feeling of the exits being powered, now all they had to do was get to them, open them, and they were home free! Meg honestly felt a sense of hope for a moment, but quickly shoved it back down. She knew exactly what the Entity wanted, and she didn't want to give it to this thing. Wordlessly, she began making her way towards the nearest exit, hoping and praying that the others had come to this exit. As the scrap metal door came into view, the hope dies somewhat as Meg saw the lights weren't on, meaning the others hadn't started this door, so either they were using another door, or they hadn't got here yet. Either way, she made a straight line for the door, determined to get out, when someone grabbed her arm and yanked her roughly to the ground. She glared in anger at Dwight, about to yell at him, until he pointed. Meg blinked, and saw the deformed Hillbilly shambling towards the exit gate. Meg cursed under her breath, hoping he'd move on like he usually did. But, those hopes were shattered when the two survivors heard the soft whimpering coming from the baby. It occurred to them now that they had been kinda rough, so the baby was probably about to-

"Aw, crap…" Meg muttered, realizing they were screwed. She set to desperately trying to calm the newborn down, but it wasn't clear if it was working. Dwight looked from Meg, to the bundle, to the exit, to the Hillbilly, then back to Meg.

"Meg." Dwight said, speaking in a serious tone Meg hadn't often heard from him. "Get him out of here."

"Dwight, what are-" Meg began, but it was too late.

"Hey! Ugly!" Dwight screamed, suddenly running out into the open and flailing his arms above his head. "I'm right here you brain-dead-inbred-freak!" The screaming and shouting had the wanted effect, as the Hillbilly looked up and moaned, before wailing in anger or… something unintelligible. Dwight had heard the Hillbilly speak once before, but typically, he just made weird sounds or laughed. Taking off at inhuman speeds, Dwight cursed his better nature as he heard the revving of a chainsaw coming from behind him. Meg blinked, then sighed. Dwight, for his cowardice, was often willing to step up and risk a lot for those he was with, and Meg respected him for that. She ran to the power switch, and just as she began to reach for it…

BoOoOoOOnNnNNgGGggGGG…

The baby began crying when the gong went off, and Meg couldn't blame it. However, the crying was loud, as were the bongs, so the killers clearly knew where they were heading.

"And of COURSE, they had to open the gate I'm FURTHEST from!" Meg mentally scowled, cursing her bad luck as she took off running. Twisted breathing sent an ice-cold chill down her spine as she saw the Trapper rapidly approaching from her right as she made a beeline for the exit. The monster of a man wasn't carrying any bear traps… so she needed to watch for those, but his blood-drenched cleaver seemed especially bloody tonight. "C'mon! C'mon! You're almost there!" Meg yelped as she nearly stepped in one of Trapper's… traps, but just barely managed to jump over it, landing ungracefully, but still landing nonetheless. She looked behind her as the exit grew larger in front of her, and nearly stumbled once more out of confusion. She couldn't say for sure, maybe it was because she was so close to the exit, or maybe something else, but she swore the Trapper was gradually slowing, as if he was letting her escape. Some of the killers had done this in past trials, letting someone escape when the other three were killed, or letting them escape then targeting them and only them next trial in some sick form of amusement.

"Don't care. Just get out!" Meg shouted at herself as she ran over the hard-stone floor of the exit, and disappeared into the fog. She let out several long sighs of relief, but didn't slow down until the exit gate was no longer visible. Somehow, she'd end up at the campfire, like always, but she wasn't taking any chances. Maybe this was some sort of trap, and a second trial was about to begin… that had never happened, but then again, a baby showing up had never happened either. She looked down, seeing the baby looking up at her with confusion and fear, and she finally slowed down.

"Hey, it's okay. You're safe now." Meg smiled, feeling somewhat guilty for lying. She knew none of them were safe, and there wasn't much she could do about that… but still. She didn't want to tell a literal baby that. She didn't know what happened to Jake, Nea, or Dwight… and as much as she didn't want to say this, she kind of had bigger problems to deal with.

"Meg! You good?!" Nea called, running up next to her. It was clear she was injured, but nothing she couldn't handle. Meg nodded, and Nea sighed when she saw the bundle in her arms.

"Where are the others?!" Meg asked, hurriedly.

"Last I saw, Jake had opened the exit, but Dwight got grabbed by the Hillbilly, so Jake was going back to try and save him. But I don't know if they got out or-"

"SSSSSUUUUUUCCCCCKKKK IIIIIIIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTTTT!" Jake cheered as he ran backwards from the exit, flipping off the Trapper and Hillbilly, a bloody, weak, but somehow alive Dwight shambling after him. "I can't believe that worked!" Jake was laughing now, clearly feeling a rush of adrenaline from… something. Meg couldn't help but smile at that, and the group of five disappeared into the night, heading back to the campfire.

"It's gon be angry at us." Max muttered. "We're supposed t'a hook em'… but we let em' go!"

"I don't think it'll be too angry, this time." Evan said, staring off out the exit to the black fog. "The Entity is doing something, and I can't say with certainty what it is." He paused for a moment, then turned his back. "C'mon. Let's go."

When they returned, Meg felt more worn-out than ever, and she didn't know how things were going to go. She knew the Survivors were usually pretty welcoming of newcomers, but how would they react to… this? Meg figured some tact was needed, but Jake clearly thought otherwise.

"We got some real problems now." He declared, getting everyone's attention.

"Oh, really? I was wonderin' when things were gonna take a turn. I've rather enjoyed being menaced by madmen with weapons and impaled on damn meat hooks every day, thank you very much." William Overbeck, or 'Bill' to those who knew him, remarked, taking his cigarette out from his mouth and exhaling upwards, watching the small plume float upwards before dissipating.

"Yeah, no offence Dwight, but things are kinda bad enough already." Steve remarked dryly. "Did another killer show up? What's this one, some sort of sentient killer scarecrow?" The dry laughter and unamused looks changed to absolute disbelief as Meg adjusted the bundle in her arms, and the small sleeping face looked out over the campfire area.

"What."

"I'm sorry."

"What?!"

"It that-"

"That can't be!?"

"Why would-?!"

"But-!?"

"It's real." Meg frowned, walking into the centre of the survivor area and sitting next to the fire. "For some reason, there's a baby here." The entire campfire seemed to explode into confused conversations, everyone looking to one another, trying to think of some sort of logical answer for this, but no one could think of one…

"Hey, Meg. Mind if I see her?" Claudette asked, Meg nodded, and slowly handed the bundle over. Claudette sat herself down and inspected the young baby for a minute, before coming to a few conclusions. She was very, very young, and was a girl.

"Awww! She's so adorable!" Claudette cooed, holding the bundle close and poking her nose. The girl giggled and squirmed about, holding onto Claudette's finger and looking up at her with large, hopeful eyes. "I think she needs a name… how about… Hope?"

"I was thinking Dawn." Meg shrugged.

"Can we call her Ivy?" Someone spoke up.

"Call her Jade!"

"Nah, give her a good name. Like Linda, or Brandy." Ash spoke up, looking from his robotic hand.

Meg felt a small smile form on her face. Whatever they ended up calling the little girl, it was nice to see everyone brought together on something.

"Yer sayin' there's another jagoff runnin' round like an idiot? Great." The Deathslinger muttered, looking up from where he had been napping.

"It's a baby…"

"Ha, hilarious." Jeffrey laughed without humor, or any real life in his voice. "A baby? Geez Max, you need t'lay off the 'shine a bit. It's damaging you more than you already were."

"He's not lying. There's a baby." The Trapper spoke in a low tone, setting his tools down and wanting to ignore everyone. "That's all I'm saying about it."

"That's a load'a horse crap." Caleb scowled, looking to the Trapper's back in annoyance. "Never took you 'fer a comedian."

"Do I look like I'm joking?" Trapper snarled, rounding on the Deathslinger, who blinked, then seemed to fall silent in disbelief.

"But. Why?" The Wraith signed, and Trapper shrugged.

"I don't know, and I don't much care."

"Does the Entity expect us to impale a baby on a meat hook? That's just wrong, even by my standards."

"I don't know." Trapper repeated himself.

"I'm sorry, what is this about a baby?" The Nurse asked, floating into the area. Trapper groaned in annoyance, not one for conversation, and not one for repeating himself.

"There's a baby in the trials now." Max spoke up, getting her attention. "We don'know where it came from, but the surviers got 'im." The Nurse didn't reply right away, she simply seemed to stare at Max in abject horror, before shaking her head and whispering something under her breath.

"What the hell is the Entity up to?" Caleb asked aloud, saying the one question everyone, both survivor and killer, was currently thinking.