Meg's brow furrowed in confusion. "Are you sure you don't want it? I'm not gonna use it."
"No, I, uh… I haven't slept in a while. Even if I got that much downtime, I don't really like to...sleep." Quentin looked like he felt bad for rejecting her offer, but not as bad as if he had tried to rest.
Meg cocked an eyebrow, watching the teenager dart his eyes back and forth as if just talking about sleeping would summon some awful evil forth to slaughter him. She only offered because out of all of them he looked like he "needed" it the most - even though they didn't require sleep, and the best place she could offer was the slightly noisy flat area near the fire. "Okay, well...if you ever change your mind, just let me know," she replied, tucking the sleeping bag back under her arm and looking around to see who else she could pawn it off on.
"Dwight, did you want this?" Meg called over as she walked to the campfire, waving her arm to get his attention from speaking with someone else. He didn't turn to her, which made more sense once she registered who it was.
Jake was unusually close, considering he usually kept to himself furthest from the fire but not quite in the gnarled woods that surrounded them. She figured it was quieter now, though, with so many trials going on at once. Only a few of the group stood on the opposite side of the fire, although Meg supposed the rest could've gone to other fires in the meantime. That happened, still, sometimes. But everyone she knew always seemed to find their way back here.
"Jake," she greeted him with a nod. It was nice to see him whenever she could, whether here or in a trial. Early on in her time in the realm she thought she had a little crush on him, after a few steady trials where they unhooked each other and healed under the threat of the Wraith or the Nurse. Even if she didn't feel anything like that for him now, she kept him close to her heart, just like Claudette and Dwight.
He nodded back, but his eyes returned to Dwight quickly. "It's just an idea," he huffed, shrugging his shoulders. "I know how to make them, and I've seen pieces we could take back. But no one should needlessly risk their lives for it."
"Well, we're kind of past that particular bridge," Dwight laughed nervously.
Jake didn't laugh back. "You know what I mean."
"Well, uh…" Dwight scratched the back of his head. "I don't see why not. I'm sure some of the others would be up to it."
Meg cocked her head to the side. "Up to what?"
"Jake here thinks we could build a tent with stuff from the trials."
"A tent?"
"Yeah. Some folks have asked for separate spaces for time on their own. It makes sense, I guess," Dwight said with a light, anxious laugh. "It's getting kinda crowded."
Jake didn't suspect anybody in the group actually wanted to use the tent to sleep, but the thought of even a little privacy was nice. Especially now that some of the newer folks in the group had started wandering farther from the campfire and consistently stumbled on Jake trying to decompress away from everyone else.
"Like I said," Jake repeated, as much for Meg's benefit as to convince Dwight he knew what he was talking about, "It'd be beneficial to everybody but we don't need to put our lives on the line. Just, if you happen to get a second of downtime in a trial and there's something you think could help build a tent, scoop it up and take it out with you. It's worked so far for Ace's trading, why not for shelter?"
Meg nodded, then held up the sleeping bag from her arms. "It would be nice to keep stuff like this in one place, too."
Dwight grinned. "Alright. Cool. I'll check with Claudette, too. She might know places where we can find some of the things we need. Uh...what are the things we need, anyway?"
Jake looked behind him as the big bastard with the chainsaw pursued him, looking ahead of himself only to vault out the window that everyone knew was essentially a free escape. Sure enough, the bulky, masked man couldn't get over it fast enough before Jake was away off the balcony and down Lampkin Lane, hands clutching a bundle of metal poles that he'd scavenged out of the basement. This would make a good base, surely. Now they just needed about... twenty more. Fuck.
As if on cue with his irritation, a shriek sounded as the chainsaw met an unfortunate survivor's back. The new little brunette, he suspected. With a sigh, he ran to the exit and tossed the poles down in front of the gate. He could see her struggling aura as he walked back to the house he had just left. If the Cannibal was in a good mood, maybe he wouldn't hook her in the basement and hide down there silently.
Though, the Cannibal was rarely in a good mood. Head peeking around the corner of the door, Jake noted with grim disappointment that the killer was indeed heading down to the quartet of hooks in the scary looking house.
Claire struggled against the killer's grasp, screaming all the way. "Let go! Let go! Let me go!"
The masked man made an unpleasant squealing shriek sound as he steadied his steps with her moving against his back, stomping down the basement stairs in the dilapidated house. Her eyes darted wildly as the light dimmed, knowing she wouldn't make it without someone's help.
Then, with a violent swing, the Cannibal hooked her. Everything the others had warned her about how it felt didn't prepare her for the spurting, burning pain beneath her shoulder. The hook pierced through her back and reappeared beneath her clavicle, and she didn't realize she screamed as she gripped the metal in an attempt to escape. It hurt, it hurt, it hurt, blood gushing and flesh squishing against the filthy iron. Her bones couldn't naturally be strong enough to not snap beneath her own weight, surely?
Jake snuck in through the back of the house, not hearing the heartbeat but knowing with this killer, that wasn't a guarantee of safety. He seemed to strike quite a few deals with the Entity to end up being completely silent. As he approached the basement stairs, he suddenly heard the stomping footsteps and infantile grumbling of the Cannibal as he stole away for the front door, the ambient terror returning as he moved. Shit, so he was planning on doing this again. Quickly, quietly, Jake descended the steps, seeing her hanging there miserably.
Tears burned in Claire's eyes as she slacked on the hook, only for her head to shoot back up as someone appeared nearby. One of the men, specifically one of the tall men with shaggy black hair. She was still learning everyone's names, not that it mattered in this scenario. All that mattered to her was whether or not he'd help her. She whimpered, even though she was pretty sure making noise wasn't going to get whoever that was to her faster.
As Jake got closer, he held a finger up in front of his mouth. "Listen," he whispered, "he'll be back soon. When I unhook you, you need to run. He'll probably be waiting for us to emerge. If you go ahead, though, I'll be right behind you. It will hurt a lot if you get hit, but I promise it won't kill you. Okay?" Jake hoped the practiced speech from Bill would be enough to motivate the new girl.
Claire blinked through the intensifying pain and tried to focus on his words. What he was asking her to do was insane, but...he looked like he knew what he was talking about. She nodded with a desperate look.
Jake reached up and under her shoulders to lift her off the hook. As he set her down, she grunted, and he leaned down to her ear. "Are you ready?"
He heard the ambient terror, felt his heartbeat quicken and then fall silent. He was at the top of the stairs, waiting.
"Three."
This was insane, if the killer backed up after that first hit he would get her, and he'd get Jake too. They'd be down two people, and there'd be no unhooking this time, no magic trick taught to save them.
"Two."
Her body tensed, leaning into a near runner's stance.
"One."
Jake heard a chainsaw start to rev.
"Go!"
Claire imagined herself as a bullet leaving the chamber of her gun as she shot forward around the corner and up the stairs, refusing to let her eyes close as the horrible, squealing man swung his chainsaw. The grinding metal teeth of his weapon cut into her briefly enough for her to let out a shriek of pain, but the man behind her was right; she didn't go down. She sprinted out of the house and into the street, making a mad dash for the exit gates as she looked behind her to see if he'd follow.
Jake stood on the stairs and watched the Cannibal smack his chainsaw against a wall and subsequently throw a tantrum, swinging it around above his head wildly. This was his one major downfall, Jake thought; he seemed to always be on the verge of crying and hitting his chainsaw into something was always the tipping point.
As soon as he saw the Cannibal lower the saw, bringing his arm up to wipe at his eyes, Jake made his move, dashing below the taller man and jumping immediately out of the high-up window nearby the basement. Someone else to thank, he thought, hitting the ground without losing his pace. Nea's lessons paid off after all.
Claire breathed out her relief as the quiet, nerdy girl with the tight black cords of hair appeared to have already begun to energize the gates. She looked back to see the man that saved her leap out of the window and started beckoning to him to hurry. From what Leon told her, it wouldn't be long before they had to run out. "Hurry!"
"Coming!" Jake grunted, trying not to break stride as he scooped the poles back up, several falling back down in the process. Fuck! As he desperately tried to carry everything, he heard the telltale sound of a chainsaw revving and coming close, fast. "Goddamit!" he spat, before a large burly figure snatched the excess from the ground.
"Now come on!" With the rest of the poles in his hands, Jeff hurried the younger survivors quickly through the now open gate, giving Jake a quick look of gratitude as he noticed Claire giving him a smile. "Go!"
The four dashed across the completion line, just as the Cannibal ran into the gate with an angry, frustrated shriek.
Dwight growled a little as the tent pole fell down, again. This was... really not his forte.
Jake sighed, pulling it back up for him. "No, like this," he instructed. Out of all the people available to set this thing up...
"Sorry," Dwight muttered with a red face, thoroughly embarrassed at his lack of outdoorsy knowledge. "I usually left this to the other scouts."
Bill, only recently back from his last trial, looked over at the two younger men from over the pilfered magazine he was reading by the fire. "Use the treelines," he muttered gruffly.
"It's not that kind of tent, Bill," Dwight said in exasperation as he tried to hold the poles the way Jake told him to. "Are you sure we aren't missing anything? We could get some of the others to go out for more stuff."
Jake tapped his fingers on his chin.
"Tarp," Bill mumbled. "You're missing the goddamn tarp."
Dwight dropped the pole and clapped his hand over his forehead. "Tarp? Tarp?" He made a surprisingly annoyed look at Jake. "You mean the thing that makes it a tent?!"
"I was thinking, we would get the framing done first," Jake shot back, glaring at Bill. "But fine, since you spoke up, maybe you'd like to volunteer?"
"Horseshit I would!"
With a roar of pain, the end of the hook burst from beneath Bill's collar for the second time. The Blight had ping-ponged off a wall and somehow launched itself over a rock, like the worst of a Charger and a Hunter together, and smacked him over the head with the stupid cane it carried, and now here he was.
"This is what I get for opening my goddamn mouth," the vet grunted, arms swinging up to catch the spiked leg that threatened to pierce his chest if he stopped struggling for so much as a moment.
Crouching, Ace clung to the wall below one of the windows in the snowy resort, knowing if none of them went up to get Bill they'd all be pretty screwed. Felix was already on errand duty, looking for the tarps scattered across the area to bring over to the exit gate in preparation for their escape. Each of them could grab one if they played their cards right, and Ace wagered they could when the time came. But for now…
He spotted Ash drawing the gold-dripping sucker away, and took his chance seriously as he sprinted up to Bill and reached up to pull him down. "Hey, old-timer. Need some help?"
Bill grunted in reply, feeling the man grab him from the hook and pull him off. Christ, it was always worse coming off of these things than going on them; the blood didn't stop flowing until someone patched you up, and the medkits here were significantly slower to heal than the ones he was used to using.
A memory of being on the ground, watching as Zoey and Francis ran from a Tank, Louis doing his best to help him up as the Tank whirled around to face him. Louis had been quick to heal the veteran up, then, and he'd shouted to hang onto his free hand as Bill limped along behind, both of them just getting out of range as they'd had a chunk of concrete thrown at them.
This was only a little better than the worst days fighting the Infected.
Meanwhile, Ash whirled around in a 360, watching as the Blight shot past and rammed against a tree. "Ha! Not so fancy now, eh?"
The Blight immediately turned to face him, slamming against a rock twice before hurtling towards him, cane raised to strike.
Ash wasn't going to turn around in time.
Squatting close to a nearby generator, Felix winced as the Blight smacked Ash upside the head. The blonde man squeezed his eyes shut as he rubbed his temple. They needed someone on gens; they only had one left, but they seriously couldn't afford to lose each other if they were going to carry all the shit he left near the exit. Usually he wouldn't be one for a side-mission, but the idea of a separate space to rest in - hell, even just a separate space to think in, without prying eyes or questions - was so tantalizingly close.
Felix watched carefully as Ash was hooked nearby, holding his breath to avoid being detected. A shuffle of feet behind him, and Bill and Ace caught up to him, laying their hands on either side of the generator. Ace flicked his eyes over to the Blight and gave a grin. He'd give him a real chase if Felix needed it. But Felix needed to be the one to take Ash off the hook.
With a quick nod, Felix snuck to the hook as the hooded, hunched figure slunk the opposite direction, looking for them. Ash looked slightly annoyed as he looked down from his forced perch and made a half-hearted attempt at a "what-are-you-guys-doing" motion with the arm not pinned in the hook.
Felix pulled him down, quicker than his other teammates would've, just as the Blight turned around. Ash readied himself to limp away when Ace ran ahead, waving his arms above his head. "Whoo! Whoo! C'mere, you bastard!"
"What the hell are you doing, guy?!" Ash shouted, but the gambler had already sprinted far ahead and was leading him away from the generator.
"This is the last one!" Bill shouted over to Ash and Felix, "If he runs the bastard, we'll get out with everything! So hurry your asses up and let's go!"
Ash gave Felix a look before they settled on the gen, surprised to find that Ace and Bill had nearly finished it. Sweat dripped down Ash's forehead as they neared completion. The sound of Ace panting and the Blight gurgling his frustration kept getting closer... closer... the gen was nearly there…
Felix connected the final cable with nimble fingers and hopped off the generator just before the Blight changed course and attempted to wrench him off the machine. He backed up quickly before turning on his heel and heading for the shack nearby with a curse. For fuck's sake, that was the shack near the exit. The exit with all their stuff. "Ash!" he roared over his shoulder. "Heal up and take the hit for Bill if you need to! It's gotta be this gate!"
Ash nodded, a quick syringe from a medkit topping him off and he jumped in front of the veteran as the Blight charged them down. The gurgling thing struck him, immediately injuring him again, and dashed away, Bill hot on his heels. As they ran, they saw Ace at the exit gate, holding the handle down to charge the door.
"Keep going on that gate!"
Ace looked over his shoulder and scoffed at Ash, replying "Didn't have any other plans, pal, believe me!"
Felix ducked into the shack and waited just a second too long before he realized exactly who he was dealing with. The Blight charged, faster than the other killers would have, and Felix only managed to dash ahead with a trick he learned kicking a deflated ball around with David at the campfire. He swore in his native tongue as he hung close to the walls of the shack, the sound of choked spitting behind him the only assurance he was buying his teammates time.
Ash gathered some of the tarps left near the gate in his arms before picking up a box that was wrapped inside with curiosity. He grinned crookedly as he watched Felix run the killer in circles. "C'mon, Ace! Let's get this kid out!"
Ace nodded, the gate buzzing loudly as it hummed to life and opened. "C'mon kid," he shouted, gathering supplies into his arms and nodding for Felix. "Run his sorry ass into the ground and let's go!"
With a shout of frustration, Felix tore away from the shack and ran to his group. "Get Bill out first!"
The veteran finally caught up, tarp and a roll of tape wrapped around his arm, and shouted back "We're leaving, kid, let's go!"
Felix's teeth grit together for just a second as he scooped the last tarp up in his hand, catching up to the three older men with an annoyed look that he didn't act on. Being "kid" to them was just how it was, and it wouldn't do much good to try to dissuade them from it.
"Hey!" As they crossed the border, Ash caught his attention as he waved the pack of cigarettes with an enormous smile. "Thanks, man!"
"Those are to share," Felix warned, but an exhilarated smile appeared on his face, too.
Bill grinned through the worn-out, dead cigarette he kept clutched in between his lips as a force of habit. "Age before beauty, you know."
Ash jumped slightly at the feeling of a light finger tap at his shoulder, only to relax once he saw it was Katie. She looked slightly embarrassed as she looked over her shoulder, apparently to see if David was still arguing with Dwight and Jake over the tarp set up. "Psst," she whispered quietly. "Can I have one of the cigarettes? Please? Lisa and I want to share."
Ash looked where the little blonde nurse stood, hands wringing as though she'd been told she needed to give somebody bad news. When Lisa saw him looking, she gave a nervous smile and a small wave before startling as another one of the younger girls spoke to her. "You two? You want smokes? You know this stuff'll kill ya, right?" He hesitated, then shrugged. "...Well, I guess not that it matters."
"Thank you," Kate said hastily as she took the offered cigarette and hurried back to where Lisa and now Nancy stood with a pair of tarps they needed to sew together. She stuck her hand closer to the fire as she passed and brought it to her lips with a steady pull. Better to take her turn now, knowing Nancy would want a drag, too. She couldn't believe they were the only ones who knew how to hook a needle and thread with fabric and not skin. Even then, she was the only one who had done it with fabric before all of this. Still...it was going better, now that Jake had given up just a little of his pride enough to let Felix draw up plans for how to construct the tents and what they needed to do to make it happen. They retrieved enough materials to get a few started, too, so they wouldn't have to share just one.
Claudette watched the men pitching the tents with studious eyes, looking as if she wanted to say something but had to think of how to say it.
Jake sucked in a sharp breath as he set a pole down on his foot, jumping up and down to stave off the pain. He was muttering curses to himself under his breath when he saw Claudette watching, and he managed to hiss out "Got something to ask, Claud?"
She frowned as he jumped in pain and nearly offered to help before she thought better of it. "Oh, um...just wondering if we have anything soft. For inside the tents."
He blinked. Soft? Did she mean, like, hay or grass or something? Jake did suppose some of the spots they had scouted for tents were a little rocky, and that could make things a little more comfortable - but wait, she'd said for inside...
"I... don't take your meaning."
"She doesn't want to be crude," Élodie remarked beside her, crossing her arms as she surveyed their work.
Claudette could feel heat rising to her cheeks as she shot the other woman a look. "N-no! It would just be nice to have...blankets, pillows...that sort of thing. If we're going to be sleeping."
Élodie gave a knowing smile. "Or anything else." She swiftly moved herself out of the way as the younger girl stomped near her foot.
...What? Jake stepped away from the tent, leaving Dwight and Leon to flail about with David barking out what he thought the instructions said, and brushed imaginary dirt off his bare arms as he approached Claudette. "If I see any, I'll certainly grab them, though... we don't need to sleep. I guess we could if we wanted to." It had never occurred to him that anybody would want to sleep here; Jake didn't think he'd slept once since arriving.
"Some of us have been," Claudette said quietly as Élodie moved to where the other girls were working and Jake took her place. She had to remind herself not to stare at the muscular arms he usually kept hidden beneath his green jacket, even though she enjoyed looking at them. "I've caught Dwight sleeping on the ground by the fire more than once. And poor Bill needs to close his eyes sometimes, too. All of us do." She kept her gaze firmly on Jake's eyes, hoping the sincerity of her words would reach him. He could be a little dense sometimes, for how smart she knew he was. Once again, she found herself extremely grateful that she was so comfortable just talking with him, unlike most of the people at the campfire. Maybe it was because he was quiet, like her. But her comfort level probably stemmed from the cycles of trials they had to do together, long before they started meeting up with anyone else. Still, keeping their eyes locked for so long made her fidget with her fingers. "It'll keep morale up."
Jake glanced over at Dwight and Bill, taking in her words. Bill carried the aura of someone who could last through anything, without so much as mentioning sleep. Dwight, though... yeah, he needed to sleep.
"You're right," he agreed, turning back to her. "That is a benefit. I'll see what I can do, 'kay?"
She smiled at him, relieved. "Great. I'll look too. I'll..." Her mouth turned into a frown as her fingers began to tingle and glow. "...I guess I'll be looking now."
Jake nodded, touching her shoulder as she started to burn away.
"I have faith in you, but don't overload yourself. Makes it damn near impossible to get away if it's a fast killer. Pray for Huntress."
"Got it," she said softly, wishing she could keep the feeling of his touch on her in a jar for safekeeping. Just in case she needed it later.
She glanced around and saw Kate pass a lit cigarette to Lisa with alarm before she looked up where David stood with his back turned. She shouted his name just in time for him to look back in dismay. Nancy closed her eyes beside her in obvious frustration as she burned, and Yui swearing near Ash indicated she was next. Claudette sighed quietly. Okay. This was a team she could work with.
Nancy exhaled raggedly as she held her injured arm, trying to breathe through the pain the way Jake told them to so she didn't alert the killer. It was much, much harder than he made it look. She supposed she was grateful they arrived around the preschool, and grateful she ran into Claudette early and managed to figure out with other girls what the plan was. Even so...she really wished she were anywhere but hopping onto the generator on the exposed, lifeless street.
Claudette and Kate crept through the preschool, noting where the generators appeared as they searched for anything that could be used for the tent interiors. Kate picked up a blanket that had a shockingly small number of stains from a pile in the corner of one of the classrooms and brandished it proudly. "It's clean," she whispered excitedly. "Should we take this to the gate?"
"Only if he's not out there," Claudette murmured.
Yui darted down the hallway with a determined look, flicking her eyes behind her as she passed the room the other two girls crouched in quietly. Then, a few moments after Yui disappeared from sight and outside, the Hillbilly squealed loudly with his chainsaw revving towards her into the street. Kate shot Claudette a worried look as she bundled the blanket beneath her arm, but only received a shaking head in return.
"Where's Nancy?"
"I think outside," Claudette replied softly, wiping her sweaty palms on her jeans. It was bad enough that she had to deal with the anxiety of each trial; she really didn't need her social anxiety to kick in, too.
The girls reached the stairs to the lower level and, taking care to make sure the heartbeat didn't return in their ears, quickly ran down. Claudette turned the corner and they reached a squalid corner with a mattress and pillows.
Kate frowned. "You aren't thinking of trying to take that, are you?"
"Um...I mean, it'd be nice, right?"
The blonde looked down at the filthy bed. "Nice" was not even at the bottom of the list of things she would call it. "How would we even get it upstairs?"
Claudette picked up one of the pillows and hugged it to herself once she confirmed it didn't smell of anything. She picked up the other as the sound of a generator popping echoed in the trial. If that was Yui, that meant the Hillbilly was free to roam. Kate appeared to be on the same page and the girls quickly moved closer to the stairwell in case they had to make a break for it.
They could hear him again, this time with Yui mouthing off to keep his attention on her. "I think she's got it," Kate said hesitantly. "Let's finish the generators. We're almost done."
"Wait," Claudette insisted. "Let's try to get the bed?" She quietly affirmed to herself that this particular exercise was borne out of a genuine concern for her teammates comfort and definitely not an insane way of trying to impress Jake, and looked back down the dimly lit hallway. "If we get the mattress we can put the rest of the stuff on top."
"Um...okay." Kate didn't seem too thrilled about the prospect of letting anything touch the bed, but she acquiesced all the same by tossing the pillows and blanket to the top of the stairs.
Once they returned to the mattress, Claudette inspected it carefully. There weren't any bugs, thankfully, and the stains that were there were small enough that if they found baking soda they could at least get any smells out. They were going to cover it with blankets, anyway.
Now the question was how they would get it out of its corner. Claudette lifted one side, testing the weight of it before she motioned for Kate to take the other.
The musician winced slightly as she picked up the bedding. It had clearly seen severe use wherever it came from and she really didn't like its placement in the basement of a preschool. Still, she understood where Claudette was coming from. She couldn't say no to the idea of sleeping on an actual bed, either, even if she would've preferred it from Haddonfield. It wasn't that heavy. Kate peered over her shoulder, satisfied that things were quiet enough to start moving. They were blessedly close to the stairs. "Okay, let's take it through here," she whispered, just as another screech of the chainsaw ripped through the building.
Instead of dropping the mattress, Claudette gave Kate an urgent look. "Go! Up!"
Kate grit her teeth in frustration as she pulled the bed to the stairwell, but still went ahead so she would be hit first if he spotted them. They struggled with their unwieldy load up the steps, pivoting it with some difficulty to get it through the door, and Kate had to exhale loudly in effort as they finally made it to the ground floor.
They were in opposite rooms, now, the mattress in the hallway between them. "Okay," Claudette panted, "now -"
The crashing volume of their heartbeats almost overtook the sound of the chainsaw shooting between them with a terrible shriek of metal on metal. The stench of burning metal and fabric stung Claudette's nose and eyes, but she managed to look over to Kate over the mattress - well. Her half of the mattress. The blonde looked back with a sympathetic frown before she turned her gaze back down the hall in fear.
The Hillbilly stared at the thing he tore open, approaching again to see what he had broken.
Kate ran deeper into her room and Claudette back down the stairs, although not before she grabbed the items they left with a quiet huff. She couldn't hear the killer following her. She tore through the boiler room determined to keep whatever bounty they had left.
As she emerged from the basement back to the street, she heard the last generator click and the exit gates signalling them to get ready to leave. Yui and Kate appeared briefly down the road as they made a break for the gate, but Claudette could sense Nancy nearby, injured and quietly groaning.
Claudette crept around the side of the building towards her aura. Sure enough, Nancy was laid flat near the playground with a panicked expression. If he grabbed her, she was done. Why had he dropped her? Maybe he thought he could get more of them if he went to the gates.
"Nancy," Claudette whispered, barely audible.
Nancy whimpered at Claudette's voice, but slowly crawled towards her with broken limbs.
Claudette looked around herself before she met Nancy halfway, dropping the pillows and blanket on the ground. The Hillbilly would be back soon if he dropped her. With a slow exhale, Claudette inspected her friend with anxious urgency. This killer always inflicted particularly nasty wounds, and knowing they could be healed quickly didn't make the sight of them any less unpleasant. "Breathe through your nose," she whispered. She steadily wiped the gouges in Nancy's skin with alcohol pads that wouldn't have done anything in the real world, but the cracked bones seemed to reset and heal as she wrapped them in tincture-soaked bandages. Just another way they were mocked by the Entity.
It still stung, though, and Nancy sobbed as her body nearly recovered enough for her to stand.
Claudette grit her teeth as the heartbeat pulsating in her ears told her of their impending doom, but she was so close to getting Nancy up, she just -
Nancy scrambled to her feet and watched in terror as the teeth of the Hillbilly's chainsaw shredded Claudette's shoulder.
Claudette's vision became blurry and red, only half-aware that she screamed at Nancy to run as she booked it back into the preschool. She hoped Nancy would just go to the gate and escape; the hatch couldn't be far away, if everyone else would just get out -
The Hillbilly was behind her as she looped him around and then into the school, screaming and shrieking all the way as he chased, and tears stung at her eyes. This was her fault; they could've left sooner if she hadn't wanted to take the stupid, gross mattress, she had lost what little they had found, and now she was going to be brutalized by his chainsaw or given up to the horrible, spider-legged god of death that forced all of this on them -
She wasn't sure how much time she gave them, but it should've been enough. Taking a sharp turn, she slipped between the edge of the doorway and the ripped mattress to go down to the basement. Blood stained the cheaply sewn fabric.
She dashed down the hall, past the enclave, into the boiler room - she spotted it. The hatch, sitting between the pipes bursting with steam. But it wasn't open. They hadn't left yet. With a quick wipe of her eyes, she prepared herself for the inevitable.
Then - the hatch door snapped open, black smoke pooling out and inviting her down. She leapt from her run into the hole as the Hillbilly screamed in frustration.
Fingers tingling, she landed in the dark, concrete tunnel and ran; ran as fast as she could to where she knew she'd burn back to the campfire. Another wipe of her eyes with her sleeve. She did her best. Even if she didn't have anything to show for it.
The tunnel seemed to get smaller and smaller as she ran, but a dim light assured her she was going the right way. As it always happened when she was in the strange structure, she felt a suffocatingly strong insistence from her brain not to look behind her. She screamed in effort as she made the last lunge forward to exit the tunnel as her legs ached from the earlier chase. She managed to slow as she reached the tall, scratchy grass that would've made her afraid of picking up a swarm of ticks if she were earthside. But the only living things they'd ever seen were themselves, the killers, and the ever-present crows.
The field of grass transformed into the gnarled woods surrounding the campfire as her hands felt like they fell asleep then woke back up rapidly.
Jake approached the group that had just rejoined the rest at the campfire, nodding approvingly at the items they carried. "Nice work, all of you. This should help us finish up the third tent nicely, at least some furnishings will make it less terrible to stay in." He gave Claudette a small smile as she met his eyes.
"Furnishings...?" Claudette reluctantly tore her gaze away from Jake's smile to see that Yui and Kate had the pillows and blankets she had dropped, plus a few extra she hadn't known about. "Did you guys go back to get those?"
Yui nodded with a little arm flex and a grin. "All of us worked together to get it before the gates closed up. We didn't want you to feel like it was a waste."
Claudette's frown became a beaming smile. "Aw...thanks, everyone," she sniffed, pulling her glasses off her face to wipe them. "I'm glad we made it."
"Yo!" Steve's interjection caused everyone to turn to look at him and the box he hauled on his shoulder. "Guess who found himself a frame tent! This'll be way easier to set up than the other ones, huh?"
The smile stayed on his mouth but left his eyes as he saw the way the group looked at him.
"...What? What did I do?"
Nancy sighed quietly and pressed her hand against her forehead. "You're an idiot, Steve Harrington," she muttered under her breath.
Dwight and Jake sat on the log bench by the fire, admiring their handiwork as Meg and Nea showed the returning folks the completed tents. The first three, made of standard black and green tarps, weren't quite as large as the disgustingly 70s, orange-and-yellow patterned monstrosity Steve found in Haddonfield that was still mid-construction, but Jake felt satisfied that all of them would be put to use.
"I think you did good," Dwight said as he gave Jake a little clap on his shoulder.
Jake only smiled in response, but he seemed more relaxed with the task completed, watching his friends excitedly crowd around each one and whisper how they were going to sleep on actual bedding and not on the hard ground.
Nea and Meg came back with Claudette in tow, talking amongst each other before they reached the boys.
Dwight patted the free log next to him. "What does everyone think?"
"They're excited - some people are already getting ready to sleep." Claudette took the offered seat with a smile. "With four tents, we'll have to share. But it'll be free for everyone to use, even if Ace doesn't seem to think so."
"Ace would have us bring him cigarettes and cards just for the privilege of looking at them," Meg said with a sour expression.
"Nah, he wouldn't," Dwight laughed, although the shake in the sound indicated he wasn't entirely sure.
"You boys know some people are going to fuck in there, right?" Nea asked with a smirk.
"Wh...what!?" Dwight looked genuinely shocked. "Here!? Now!?"
Nea rolled her eyes in frustration. "Oh my god, yes, Fairfield; there are already couples in the group and a private space is only going to encourage it. I wouldn't be surprised if we get some drama out of it."
Dwight's ears burned scarlet. This was not even anywhere near his list of things he thought he needed to worry about. "But what...but...what if...the girls...buh!?"
Rubbing her temples with her fingers, Nea squeezed her eyes shut. "I don't know how to say this to you without blasting your brains across the grass, but no one has had their period since we got here. So it's unlikely to be a problem. But I guess next time we go to Haddonfield and we're fighting for our fucking lives, we can look for a sleeve of condoms."
Jake held his hands up. "Wait. Hang on." He looked over at Claudette and Meg. "Is that what you were talking about?!"
"Holy shit." Nea turned on her heel, going back to where some of the returning survivors were ogling the tents. "Maybe not, if I'm surrounded by an army of virgins."
Claudette could feel a warm flush around her cheeks as she looked away from Dwight and Jake, not wanting her own embarrassment to show. "I-I'm sure that won't be the norm," she stammered. "I don't think anyone is thinking about… that."
Meg looked a little distracted as she muttered a quiet "yeah."
Clearly not getting any reassurance from the seats, Claudette looked behind her where she had previously seen Quentin. He stood a little closer to the trees, eyes fixed on the tents with wary nervousness. "...Quentin, you can use the tents if you want, you know. You look like you could - um, that is, you can use it whenever."
He gave the group an exasperated look and stuffed his hands in his pockets, although he kept a stance as if he was ready to bolt away at a moments notice. "Uh. No, I'm...I'm good."
"Hey. You four."
Claudette felt Meg tap her shoulder and she turned back around to where she heard Nea's voice. She had returned, this time with a little smile. She cocked her head over to the completed retro tent. "Go on. Get in there."
Jake frowned. "All of us?"
"I mean, I guess if you don't want to," Nea scoffed, but she reached her hand out to Meg and helped her off the log. "But we want you guys to be the first ones to check it out."
Dwight looked between Meg, Claudette, and Jake. A crooked smile broke through as he stood. "Well, if it's what the people want."
Steve and David stopped their bickering over their preferences for tacking the nails down just long enough for them to look over at the approaching quartet and step away. Claudette thought she saw the hint of a rough grin on David's face before he resumed their argument closer to the fire.
Dwight pulled the fabric aside and gestured for the girls to go in first. Meg took the first steps, kicking off her shoes before going in and letting out a chuckle. "God, it's so ugly."
Claudette followed, and even though the gaudy mix of oranges and yellows certainly didn't evoke feelings of sleepiness, there was something strangely comforting about the granny-patterned fabric that flickered and glowed in the light of the campfire outside. "It's not that bad. It's cozy."
"It is cozy," Dwight agreed, looking up at the top of the tent before crawling to the pile of blankets and pillows stacked in the middle of the space. "Perfect for a little...catnap," he yawned.
"It'll do," Jake grunted.
Meg yawned, too, and stretched her arm out to beckon Claudette over. "You're just mad you got shown up by this 70s vomit," she mumbled, making a dramatic eye roll at the shorter girl as the two of them sat comfortably in the pile.
"Shut up," Jake muttered, watching Dwight heavily collapse onto the pillows.
Claudette pulled her glasses off and nestled into the blanket between her and Meg, releasing a quiet sigh as she closed her eyes.
"Are you seriously all going to sleep?"
"It's comfy, dude," Dwight sighed, tossing his glasses off and into the corner of the makeshift room.
Meg shot him a look as she settled down. "Do it, you won't."
Jake rolled his eyes, but approached all the same and lay on his back beside Claudette. She seemed a little surprised that he came so close, and he shuffled a little further away before she shook her head, eyes still closed.
"You can come back," she said softly.
He looked at the little line of people beside him, Dwight on one end and him on the other with the two girls between them. The other man seemed to have the same idea, meeting his eyes with a grateful, relieved smile. Jake moved back to where he had been, his side brushing against her as she curled closer to Meg. Just the four of them, huddling together for safety and warmth.
He wasn't entirely sure what was making him so sleepy. Was it the tent and the orange glow from the fire outside? Was it the low, constant chatter of the familiar voices outside? Or was it the quiet snores that quickly came through Dwight's nose in short bursts?
Jake fell asleep before he could figure it out.