Life always had funny ways of messing with you, most of the time not even in major ways. Sometimes it wouldn't have even messed with you in the sense that if you didn't have plans for that specific day you wouldn't have minded what happened at all.
That was Megan's problem.
She was anxious, nervous, somewhat afraid, but also excited for the future. She wanted to see how Evan would react, but for some reason she wasn't being pulled into any trials whatsoever. Literally every single one of her friends had gone into one or two by now and most of the others had as well. Yet here she was, actually wishing to be hunted.
The only people who hadn't gone in were Steve, Nancy, and Jill. Well, Meg included.
Now Meg could only guess that it was inevitable that she would be put in a trial with the three of them. That would most likely only go reasonably well if they were against anyone but new killers.
Hopefully they'd get that freak pinhead, because even if he could harass them all at once he was far from adapted to the specifics of this reality.
Meg was sitting on the ground near the fire, flat on her back with her arms behind her head in a pillow that would only be comfortable for so long. Everyone else mulled about around her, whether talking between each other or burning those weird triangular blood points for a random pile of items from the entity.
She didn't even get why it did that, why didn't it just give them the items anyway, they still got the items in the end. Perhaps it was just to make their lives harder since you could only get so much of what you want.
Maybe it was a psychological thing, make them feel more dependent on the Entity for survival in the trials than they actually were.
Meg and most of her friends had already proven you didn't need items to win a match. So at the very least it didn't have a hold on them in that manner, even if it did on the less experienced ones who depended on med kits.
Fortunately Meg was not entirely alone, Nea sat with her legs crossed not far away talking to Feng. David was talking to Bill not far from the other two girls, talking about their past fights and tips and tricks in combat.
Although Meg could tell David was sitting close to Feng on purpose. Meg would certainly applaud the brawler for his subtlety. Nearly every survivor but Meg herself, were clueless as to the mans affections.
David was just more intelligent when it came to romance than he let on, he wasn't obvious in his choice to sit next to her, playing it off as coincidence.
However the real kicker was that Meg was also the only one who could tell Feng was attracted to King. She hadn't even needed to tell the red head, but Meg was more observant now than she had ever been in her life and had noticed the way they interacted. Feng just wasn't very open about it.
However a long time ago when Meg was in a trial and was assumed dead, she was rather surprised to run into Feng and David patching each other up, and while David was kneeling so Feng could stitch his back Meg saw just exactly how the Asian girl looked at him. She looked more worried than she did with their other friends, taking more care with her work, even with the lack of pressure since the killer was elsewhere at the time.
Actually Meg was rather sure the Trapper had been the killer for that particular fiasco, and it was the first game of Meg's long winning streak.
However other than Nea and Feng, who were engrossed in their conversation about which killer was the most attractive for some reason, every other girl in their group was gone in a trial. So Meg was basically alone regarding company of the same sex.
Not to say that she was closer with them compared to the boys, she was actually closer to some of the guys, but it was a bit easier to just goof off with her fellow women and have a "girls night" which was really just them all hanging out and letting their inner teenage girl out when they had the chance.
They all had different ways of doing it, Feng was the gamer, Meg the Athlete, Nea the rebel, Kate the musician, Etc.
They were all different in their hobbies, but the real beauty was in their ability to connect and get along, because even with differing interests they all had come to agree on most beliefs.
But they weren't here so she was bored, it wasn't often Meg felt boredom in the Entity's realm, she was always out searching for items, learning and teaching techniques, or in a trial that she rarely got a moment to sit and breathe. But now that she had the chance she couldn't tell if she enjoyed it or not, on the one hand, she was forced to confront her reality and all the terrible circumstances, on the other, she was relaxing without physical exertion.
Many would probably think "an athlete not enjoying physical movement?" And they'd be largely right to be surprised. Meg was energetic and a speedster, if she stayed still for days at a time she'd eventually need to run. It was a nice balance, she wasn't fidgety when still but wasn't lazy either.
It worked well in her mind, and that was all she really had at the moment to distract herself for the time being, but that wasn't gonna last long.
So making a decision she didn't know if she'd regret or not she sat up and walked over to the guys of the group and sat in their little circle.
A chorus of greetings met her ears, she identified Dwight, David, Ace, Bill, and even Steve, Quentin and, surprisingly, Jake sitting in a circle. Steve and Quinten were the two to shift over to make room for her. David and Bill having joined the circle not long before she did.
"Such gentlemen." Meg teased with a small smile that was returned by the two juveniles.
"Well what are you guys doing?" Meg asked impatiently, she was dying for any form of entertainment at this point.
David beat everyone else to the punch.
"Well we were just trading funny stories, but I got an idea. What do you guys say to a game of truth or dare?" David smirked deviously. Obviously planning something extreme.
All the apprehension Meg had previously regarding the Trapper reappeared, over a silly truth or dare game.
The longer she thought of it the more appealing it sounded, there could be some genuine fun and excitement at doing things you normally wouldn't do, and no one was forcing Meg to do a dare that was just that extreme. She could always tell them to shove it and stop playing if they got to be too much.
"I'm down!" Ace said almost instantly, not surprising anyone. The gambler was followed by Steve and Quintin, Dwight, however hesitant. Then the real mind blower happened.
"Fine, let's see how bad your questions are."
Seeing Bill agree so easily was certainly a shocker, he wasn't a guy who could act goofy like flicking a switch, whether Meg could attribute it to being a veteran or his age she didn't know. Although it was probably both.
Then, almost right out of a horror film, every single one of them turned their heads to look right at her. Now she just felt like laughing at them but was still a little creeped out. They had done it just a little too slow for her liking.
"Screw off with the horror movie crap." Meg said with a wide smile, hugging her knees to her chest and resting her chin on them.
The smiles were reciprocated by nearly all of them, but David broke the silence.
"Well love? Truth or dare?" He said teasingly in his thick British accent. Meg had heard him refer to many of the girls as love, in the beginning it was the cause of many blushes, but with time he'd toned it down, and the girls realized it wasn't flirting like Ace or Ash's "advances".
Feng was really the only one he consistently called love nowadays.
"I'm-" Meg stopped herself, she didn't want to make David hate her by outing him on his little crush.
"Sure, if you're ok with blushing harder than a little school girl King." She challenged.
David himself joined the others in laughing at his expense.
"Oh only in your dreams girly. Since you hit me with that oh so painful jab why don't you have the first shot?" David responded, gesturing to everyone else to emphasize the range of her options.
"Alright then, Dwight, truth or dare?" Meg said with a pointed look at the nervous male. He flinched a little, seemingly surprised at being picked first, before stuttering out a reply. "I-uh, truth."
David groaned.
"Alright, what's the most embarrassing work story you can remember." Meg said, giving David a look for his complaint, before turning back to Dwight.
"Uh...well t-there was this one time where my co workers switched out m-my water with ipecac. I started puking I-infront of the entire office." Dwight said while rubbing the back of his neck.
Despite how long they'd been there and how close they were old habits didn't die easy. Meg supposed it would have been easier for Dwight to truly become the leader he was at heart if there wasn't new people every few months. It was like a reset button on his confidence.
Well, Meg and the others "respected" Dwight, but they got a pass on teasing him. It had been too long together for hurt feelings at harmless jabs anymore.
However with a story like that there wasn't much humor, more like anger at such a juvenile and low prank. Unfortunately Steve looked a little too inspired at the story for Meg's liking.
Dwight kept the game going before everyone could get too mad.
"Uh...David, Truth or dare."
The British man raised his eyebrow in surprise, expecting Dwight to go for one of the easier targets.
"Alright then Dwight, dare me, I dare you." He said with a smile, spreading his arms out in a cocky invitation. Dwight surprised Meg afterwards, his face got more serious, not quite what he was like in the trials, but it was close enough.
"Fine, I dare you to do the Macarena shirtless. Infront of all the survivors." Dwight smiled back at him, smugness creeping in at the edges, just barely noticeable.
"Ooooh, and Dwight knows how to spice it up gentlemen, and lady." David added with a smile and a nod in Meg's direction, before peeling his shirt off. Everyone had seen him shirtless, it wasn't too uncommon to see him go shirtless into a trial all the way through. Even on a map like Ormond.
After he took it off he stood in the middle of the circle, threw his arms back like a bull fighter, and even started signing it as he danced, putting way too much emphasis on the hip movements to mess with them. Even the other survivors across the clearing started laughing.
Meg thought it was pretty funny, It wasn't every day David would throw away his pride for a joke, it happened, but this was too good and to rare to pass up.
David sat back down and donned his winter camo shirt and slipped on a black jacket with a high collar he had resting on a tree branch that Meg somehow didn't notice.
"Bill, Truth or dare." David said casually, his face loosing all amusement with the seriousness of his challenge. The circle fell quiet at the choice, Bill was a wild card after all.
"Truth King, if it's not your best I don't want it." The veteran said with a smile, he seemed to be in a joking mood today. His usual seriousness remaining alongside a healthy willingness to joke and take a "risk".
"You're on grandpa, out of all the killers which one could you kill the fastest with your bare hands." David said while trying to stare the old man down. Both of their boyish competitiveness never truly faded as Bill returned the stare without hesitation.
Unfortunately or fortunately, it depended on who you were in that moment, the stare down ended when Bill finally broke the silence.
"The legion." Bill replied shortly, already leaning back to observe the others for his first victim of the game.
"Wait, which one?" David asked slightly miffed at the vague answer.
"Any of them, they're all just a bunch of wannabe punks." Bill scoffed out, going back to his search.
"Cheers to that." Jake added in, mockingly raising his arm with an invisible wine glass in it. Before leaning back on both his hands in the dirt.
"Quinten, Truth or dare?" Bill asked, he seemed rather interested for once, looking at the young teenager with intent instead of away in boredom.
"Uh...I guess dare?" The dream walker was far too confused for the simple one or the other choice that didn't hold any weight behind it. It wasn't like they were gambling with their own souls or safety.
"I dare you to actually get some sleep for once when this game is over boy." Bill said, already relaxing so he could listen to Quentin torture another survivor.
Eye brows shot up and Quentins baggy eyes widened.
Meg knew that Quinten was sleep deprived even before he arrived, having to watch for Freddy Krueger in your dreams would do that to a person. Yet despite the numerous accounts from the other survivors that Krueger had never appeared in their dreams, partly because they never had dreams, they boy refused to sleep.
It was much easier to get away with it considering everyone started fresh and new for the beginning of every trial. The Entity was at least fair in that respect. But everyone couldn't deny that it still felt good to rest in between trials even if it was just to cure the exhaustion that crashed down on them at the campfire. Quentin refused that very rare luxury and it was obviously eating at the boy's nerves.
He'd been jumpy for a long time, even if it felt like forever to them. Time was a concept they couldn't afford to keep up with, only survival.
"Trust me boy, that melted disgrace can't getcha, I don't know why, but I'm not complaining. And if he does come after your backside, you out of all of us are the most lucid and stand the best chance against the pervert." Bill added on in support, that's when it clicked for Meg.
Yes Bill was one upping them in hitting them where it hurts, but he was also forcing them to confront their problems at the same time. They had willingly given him the opportunity to use their pride and dignity against them for their own well being! How stupid were they for getting him on in this!
But Meg had to concede they needed someone to help push them past their problems and Bill usually took that job with hidden glee. Getting to mess with the "youngsters" was a pleasure of the old man he'd never admired, but also never needed to. Meg was smart enough to figure it out with the way his eyes lit up at any opportunity to do just that.
Well he would unflinchingly admit he liked getting to mess with them, but he'd never admit it was because of how fond he'd grown of them.
"T-thanks Bill...I-I'll give it a try I guess." Quentin conceded, shoulders slumping in fear and dread. Until Steve and Meg both placed their hands on his shoulders and shook him playfully.
"You'll be alright Quentin, you got this." Steve encouraged with a smile and a nudge before having his attention brought back to the game when he realized Quentin was up.
"I-uh...Ace, truth or dare." The dream walker spoke, although his voice was still a little shaky, his lips were starting to curve upwards.
"Dare my boy, gotta keep the game exciting am I right?" The gambler smiled, winking behind his sunglasses despite knowing just how hard to see it was.
"I dare you to take off your glasses for five trials, and act as if nothing is different." Quentin said with a wide smiled which Meg shared, nearly everyone knew of Ace's little crush on Kate. This was bound to get a reaction out of the southern bell.
Meg could already imagine how entertaining it would be for everyone to watch the blonde singer stare at the gambler like he'd lost his mind.
Well except Yun Jin, the girl didn't seem to enjoy anything other than escaping, hitting killers with pallets, and blinding them.
That and it would be unusual to see his face for once, and while it would be unknown to the somewhat oblivious song bird, everyone would be watching her for her reaction to Ace.
Without missing a beat Ace dramatically swung his arm up and brought the glasses off in a wide arc before tucking them in his inner coat pocket for later.
"Tada! Feast your eyes on mine everybody." Ace's eyes were whiskey brown, mirthfulness accentuated by his perpetual smile lines and upturned eyebrows.
"I'm sure Kate will love it." Meg teased, both literal and not literal. Ace was unfazed of course, giving Meg a cocky wink before making Meg ever regret teasing him.
"So Meg? Truth or dare?" The little weasel even had the audacity to sound all smug and everything. Why did she have opened her big mouth? But of course now it was too late, she was damned if she did and damned if she didn't.
"Fine! Dare..." She grumbled out, an air of annoyance radiating from the her.
"Ooh, daring today aren't we darling?" Ace drawled out mockingly, reaching a hand up to yet again stroke his bearded chin in deliberation. "Hmmmmm..." He let the silence hang, letting Meg sweat it out.
"I dare you...to...
The trial by all means had gone rather well, the brand new survivor Mikaela had some incredible talents. Her boon totems being of great assistance in leveling the playing field, as well as appealing to the survivors with how they all could now make their own versions of the killers Hex's.
Of course they only had two types of boons, stealth and healing, but both were incredibly useful already.
More would eventually come with time they were sure.
The map they were on was okay, Father Campbell's chapel certainty wasn't her favorite but there were worse.
They could have been sent to Midwich after all.
The only problem was that like all new survivors, Mikaela was largely dead weight. She made even Jill and Leon look good.
No offense to those two, they were skilled enough after what felt like months of trials, but they were still inexperienced. The only killer they knew well enough to throw off was their own, Nemesis, and maybe Pinhead.
Mikaela didn't really have her own killer, Pinhead was speculated to be the respective killer but Mikaela said she'd never met him or that where she came from was related to the demon.
Currently Mikaela had placed down her stealth totem, and for some reason unable to use her healing totem. They were up against the doctor. Meg had always hated him, his abilities were annoying to deal with and the worthless animal was one of the freaks who enjoyed being in the Entities realm.
Meg was on her second hook as she'd been the one distracting the doctor for almost the entire match, using Mikaela's totems to loose the doctor when he got too close and get his attention again once she had some distance.
Mikaela hadn't been hooked at all yet, neither had Nancy or Ash who were both by the final generator. Meg didn't want to get cocky, despite how easy it was for her to do just that, but she was doing the hard work for her team. Nancy and Ash were good enough to keep the generators going with Mikaela, while said other red head was laying boons to make life easier for Meg.
It was actually rather surprising to see someone else with red hair. It didn't matter to Meg but it was still certainly surprising to say the least, but she couldn't get distracted with that rabid dog of a doctor behind her.
Unfortunately after so long and running in largely the same areas as to keep the Doctor away from her teammates Meg had run out of pallets. Vaults were nice but they were no where near as safe and couldn't be vaulted infinitely.
So now she has to keep this idiot busy until Ash, Nancy, and Mikaela could find and finish the last generator, and she was injured and hadn't been able to be healed. Ash for some reason chickened out the moment the doctor saw them even though he had enough time to safely heal her and not get either of them hit.
So here she was near the circus, darting in between the various set ups and the weird zombie horse to make the Doctor whiff. Despite how he was a veteran killer in his own right, he took arrogance and cockiness to the next level. He made it all too easy to throw him off once he got close enough to swing.
David loved making him rage when he pulled an unexpected "dead hard".
But he was still on her and even more concerning was that he was wising up, he wasn't bumping into corners anymore, just overestimating how far he could lunge. She quickly vaulted into a stone wall configuration while the sharp sound of metal hitting stone met her ears a fraction of a second later.
This was the last pallet in this portion of the map, she'd have to get to a new area, but that would lead him to the others and he was sure to veer off for the sake of preserving the game. She was rather surprised he hadn't already realized to begin with, he might have been an arrogant brute but he wasn't that dumb.
Or maybe he didn't care if he lost the others as long as he got the bragging rights of killing her, by any means necessary. Meg darted left and doubled back, predictably throwing him off as he came around the corner while she was already at the other edge of the wall, looking at him before banging the sides of her forearms together twice in an insult and darting around the corner.
She doubled back twice this time, as she was running the idea of messing with the looser rules came to mind. She didn't have Elodie's talent of deception with lockers currently equipped but she didn't need too anymore.
She reached arm out and opened the locker door and swinging it closed as she got out of arms reach, jumping to not leave scratch marks and then crouching around the corner and slow vaulting as the doctor checked the locker.
Meg went to the opposite side of the stone walls, now only having them to her back she ran back to the circus, maybe she could zig zag him through it and loop towards the others? Hopefully they'd have finished the Generator by the time she got there and would all be able to collectively keep him busy enough for one to get the gate.
She could hear the pounding footsteps on the other side of the wall fading in an out as he searched for her. Just outside the range of the stone walls towards the circus a blue glow could be seen. Meg darted towards the stealth boon, loudly vaulting to keep him on her.
Soon the music of a chase reignited as the footsteps consistently grew louder.
He took a swing, Meg spun around him before darting off. She did it again two more times.
Unfortunately she wasn't invincible and didn't use David's dead hard, she was struck down with so much violent force that it should have killed her outright. It felt like the doctor was trying to do just that without having to hook her.
Meg rather panicked, the amount of violent force was probably messing with her brain, but as she fell to the dirt of father Campbell's chapel.
Creeping terror at having to experience the pain of sacrifice once again arose. The pain of being hooked and hit never was truly forgotten but it had been so long Meg could barely remember what it felt like to be killed by the Entities claws.
Sharp metal dragging down her back, tearing muscles, cutting small veins alike and just barely missing her spine, violent sharp metal in her shoulder underneath the collarbone. All her body weight being held up by her shoulders, just to be speared through the abdomen crudely, twice.
At least the others hadn't even been hit once this trial. That was a win in its own right, but it didn't outweigh the end of her several hundred escape record.
She was used to sacrificing for them, despite the usual roles that should have been reversed like Leon, Jill, or Tapp protecting her since they were actual police. Despite Leon being just as young as her and Jill a mere two years her senior, but Tapp was in his late forties. Yet she'd lost track of the amount of times she'd taken hits or ran for what felt like hours while bleeding profusely from her back so they'd live.
It was almost undoubtedly a car being dropped on their pride and sense or morality, she knew that Jill and Leon had conflicting feelings towards her. They were the same age, but they were the trained police and she was the civilian.
Yet she was the most experienced and the one who died the least, the one who saved them more than the other way around.
Now Meg needed to be saved, sure she had been saved twice already by Nancy and Ash when the doctor inevitably caught up with her but now she risked being sacrificed.
Her cheek pressed against the ground, warm from how much electricity had coursed over it in the doctor's chase. Matted with dirt and mud she risked a glance up at the savage above her.
Her eyes widened in terror when the doctor dropped his weapon and reached for her head with both of his hands.
NO! It couldn't end like this, she couldn't end her streak by getting moried!
Hyperventilation kicked in, her mind going into overdrive while her whole body violently seized up from fear and residual shocks.
In that moment a culmination of all the little game hiccups Meg had seen happened. The gates were powered right as he reached for her, and usually that wouldn't do anything as she would be trapped in the dying state until the doctor was finished murdering her.
'No...I've come to far, survived too long just to be electrocuted to death! Why does he get to be the one who gets the last laugh!'
The surge of adrenaline came, but unlike before Meg felt it surge up and out her throat in a war cry.
Meg threw all of her strength into rolling to the side and slamming all the force she could into his ankle. Granted he didn't even budge and the amount of force was pathetic, but he did stop and flinch in surprise at her resistance, survivors were supposed to be helpless while moried after all.
She reached for the doctors spiked club, a true representation of what the animal above her was, a mere savage beast disguised behind perverted intelligence. Unfortunately the club was crackling with electricity, Meg's hands instantly lost all feeling in them, unfeeling to the warmth of the metal left by its owners hands, but she could still flex her thin fingers enough to get a grip.
It was heavy, it felt like she was trying to carry all of the Nemsis's body weight in a small object, but somehow, she lifted it. She raised it high in a matter of a second and brought it down on the doctors knee.
Meg didn't expect it to truly hurt the monster, he seemed to only have the breath knocked out of him when stunned compared to the other killers who seemed to be in actual pain. So it was a pleasing surprise when she heard a loud thump, and a metallic clang when it connected with his knee.
He was still somewhat crouched above her so his leg gave out entirely, tumbling to the dirt on Meg's left while electricity arched up his form erratically from where Meg had struck him. Without more than a second of hesitation Meg got up, flung the club in his general direction and hoped it hit him in the face while sprinting to the other side of the church and one of the exit gates.
She heard the heartbeat slowly fade until there was nothing, however the repeating bell of the collapse grew more frequent. The end was near.
Her feet pounded beneath her, more adrenaline than she'd ever felt coursed through her, ignoring the now dull throbbing in her side and back while she bled like a pig. She'd never felt so alert or tense in her life.
Not even being watched by Ghost Face or Michael could make her this nervous.
Not even her very first trial had her so afraid, yet she didn't fully understand why her newfound freedom and victory scared her as much as it empowered her.
The dead grass crunched under her shoes, trees flying by as she ran all the way past the chapel to the other side of the map, she'd already checked the other exit gate. It was still closed, so they were all at the only other spot she'd seen.
She could feel a little buzz in the back of her head, three to be exact. All of them were gone, they had abandoned her and left her to the Doctor's tender care.
Rage bubbled, but self control restrained it, she was on death hook, they'd seen the beginning of the Mori and assumed she was dead to rights already. That's why they left...
But the sting never left her.
They hadn't even healed her before sending her off to face the doctor alone with the only help being Mikaela's boons, and even then they'd largely used so they could avoid the doctor if he came close to the generators they were working on.
Bill wouldn't have left her...he would have gotten her off the hook and kept her running even if she got hit. He would've protected her...
Claudette wouldn't have ran away, she would have healed Meg and taken any hits necessary because she could always heal herself up again.
Jake would have sabotaged the hooks she had gotten hung on, even if the killer struck him if it meant she could wiggle free.
Nea would have risked getting downed trying to distract the killer long enough for Meg to free herself, she would have snuck right past them and grabbed her off the hook, blinded the killer so she could get free.
Feng, Ace, Laurie, Dwight, Kate. They all would have risked themselves to distract the killer or run them so another could free and heal her.
And David...She had no doubt he would've tried to fight the killer face to face in a brawl if her or the others were in danger.
And she would have kept the killer chasing her for eternity if it kept them all safe. That was the only good thing about these dire situations, they created unbreakable bonds without any doubt that you'd save each other.
Brothers in arms like a squad of soldiers who'd die for each other. Although Meg liked to think they were a family in arms.
Yet when Nancy and Ash, both people she saw in a friendly light, were paired with her and the newbie. They just left her...
An ache in her chest arose, she missed her friends. She just wished she could have them with her in every trial, they'd be alright, safe, could even find a way to make it work and be happy. If only for a little bit here and there as they saved each other.
To ignore the pain and smile because they still had each other and weren't alone, because the killers could never take that from them, could never break their spirit as long as their friends still lived.
Meg didn't have time to rest, the timer was nearing its end and the open gate was finally in sight. The concrete was clean of all blood and blemishes until Meg escaped through it.
This time the rage that surfaced was not held back, she'd saved them! She was the reason none of them got injured!
Unfortunately, or fortunately, the rage disappeared like the steam from the doctors electricity. Loneliness and rejection taking its stead.
She just wanted her friends...
Her wounds healed, exhaustion crashing down on her, the dirt and blood unusually still there, and with a whirlwind of emotions, Meg appeared by the fire. Ash, Nancy, and the others all congratulating Mikaela on a successful trial.
Meg's friends even said their kudos, but the hesitation to talk to Nancy and Ash was obvious, they immediately went back to each other to converse and relax. All gravitating towards the other half of the clearing.
She was dumped out of a portal on the dirt just outside of the tree line, still filthy and twitchy. Of course she had been dumped on her right side, which meant her achey shoulder was holding her upper body.
Meg couldn't prevent her involuntary groan of pain, rolling onto her front while placing her left forearm infront of her head in the dirt, panting hard.
It was then that her friends noticed, most of them rushing over to her. David was the first one to reach her.
Meg rolled over onto her back to face him, her cheeks streaked with dirt and one eye closed with drying mud doing its best to seal it shut. David was crouched down over her side, Feng arriving and doing the same opposite of the scrapper.
Before Meg could properly speak she started coughing violently, sitting up as she did and curling into herself with the force of it.
When she opened her eyes Claudette was bent down infront of her, her dark brown eyes etched with worry. Meg heaved her body forward again, sliding her legs so she sat on the back of her calves.
"Hey guys." Her voice was hoarse, tired, and sounded like she still had phlegm in the back of her throat. She rubbed her arm over her mud covered eye. "I made it out, barely. Everything's still fuzzy though. I don't think I've ever been shocked by the Doctor that much in one sitting." Meg croaked, repositioning herself again so she was sitting on the ground with her legs extended outwards.
Claudette pulled a rag out of her pocket and began wiping at Meg's face. "Meg, what happened?" She asked, her voice betrayed her attempt to hide the anguish at her friends pain.
Meg's hair had started to come loose, her bangs falling out of her braids and draping over her eyes. She took a shaky hand and brushed it upwards, only for it to fall right back into her face.
Without evening being asked Claudette sat down behind Meg and fully undid her braids, letting her long red hair fall over her shoulders and down to the bottom of her ribs. The singer's deft hands pulled Meg's bangs back and started working on a new center braid.
"What happened Megan, why did those three get out so much sooner than you." Another hoarse voice spoke. The sheer level of cigarettes he'd smoked being more than Meg wanted to know.
Bill took control of the situation almost as soon as he entered in her experience, and this was no exception. He had a level of intimidation that made it hard for herself and her friends to keep a secret or lie to him. He knew it, and he'd used it to get them to open up many times before.
He would have made a fantastic grandfather, Meg thought absently, wishing she'd had someone like Bill in her life before all of this. But with his unwavering but concerned gaze she caved.
"They did leave me, not a single one of them even got hit once... I had to run the Doctor for the whole match and I was injured for nearly the entire time. Ash... had the chance to safely heal me but ran away the moment he heard the heartbeat." She explained, her chest constricting the longer she had to talk.
"Eventually I ran out of pallets, I thought to leave the circus, but if I did he'd find the others. So I just tried to dodge for as long as possible, and he got me. I was on death hook, they opened the gate..." She paused, trying to rationalize it all but without any time to.
"They just left me, they were going to open the gates and not even try to save me." She spoke softly, betrayal and hurt evident in her every breath. She looked up at the sky to avoid the others gazes, as if asking the Entity for the answer.
Bill sat down and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, giving her the best hug he could with one arm.
"It happens, I know what that feels like. But you're still here, and you made it out. That's what counts. And I'm sure you'll be happy later knowing your streak is still going." Bill said with a slight chuckle, a few smiles on the faces of David and Jake. Meg appreciated the sentiment, just acknowledging stuff he didn't talk about often for her felt great. Creating a sense of security and acceptance that most of them lacked.
"I should've died ..." Meg didn't know why she let the sentence hang, perhaps her flare for the dramatics was acting up. She had purposely let trials run down to the wire as long as she was alone in the past. David could appreciate the sentiment.
But that adrenaline rush was not pleasant, not compared to the feelings of an endorphin rush after an intense run.
"Wait what?" Nea said, her eyebrows furrowing along side everyone else's.
"I saw he was reaching for my head, he was gonna mori me." A brief shudder came from Feng, the very first to be killed by the doctor and the one who suffered from it the most.
David subconsciously wrapped and arm around the Asian woman and pulled her close. Which went mostly unnoticed by the others, as well as Feng's appreciative smile.
"I just couldn't stand dying like that again, I don't know how I did it but I threw myself against his leg, I grabbed his club and slammed it into his knee. I must have caught him off guard because he collapsed. I just ran for it." Meg explained, absently rubbing her arms to get the dirt off, unable to use her jeans which were caked in it even more so.
"How? I've never been able to free myself from a Mori, it's like your stuck and forced to only do what the Entity wants you to." Laurie said with a frown. Whenever a killer lived up to their name m, the survivor was always stuck until they were dead. If it was the pig, your arm always flew up just to get stabbed through the palm, and you could do nothing to dodge as she sliced you across the face.
"I don't know, I just did, my adrenaline still worked and I got up and ran. I remember against the Trapper I was able to actually side step him, I didn't have to zig zag so he'd miss. Maybe the two incidents are related?" Meg offered.
"I'm sorry Meg..." Ace interrupted, for once absent of his signature smile. Without his glasses his regret was much easier to see. "I'm sorry I dared you to get out of a trial without anyone else taking a hit. This was my fault." He said, rubbing his eyes with one hand tiredly.
Meg gently lifted Bill's arm off her, let Claudette tie off what hair she had finished, and scooted forward on her knees until she could grab the gambler by the shoulders, forcing him to meet her gaze.
"Ace you have nothing to apologize for, I could have easily said no but I didn't, I didn't die and I won that bet too by the way. Besides, learning what we just did could be worth the pain. The fact that you apologized is enough in of itself Ace." She gave him one last shake as she finished and smiled as she sat back down now by herself.
"Thank you Meg." He seemed like he was going to continue, but the words died in his throat as he looked up to the sky and then behind him to the other survivors.
Meg knew what he was thinking, he wasn't the only one who wished Kate was here, she unfortunately was in a trial with Yun Jin, Elodie, and Leon, and everyone was concerned for her safety, but none so much so as Ace.
She'd be alright, even if she was one of the lesser experienced survivors of their group. She knew how to handle herself, hopefully she was using David and Bill's abilities to keep herself alive without the others. Meg couldn't help but smile at the thought that they were against the clown. Kate would be fine, because one but maybe Meg herself could keep him distracted the whole game like her.
Eventually Kate greeted them all with a warm smile and a hug after escaping the Clown through the hatch. Ace was the one to give the warmest welcome back though.
So I'm super happy this story is becoming more popular and I'm sitting in the stands for a Michael Bublé concert right now waiting for it to start while proof reading. I wanted everyone to have something to brighten their day up since most other stories about Meg and the Trapper are going weeks without updates. Something to cheer you all up before school or work if you don't work weekends. I'd love to hear comments and suggestions, also I'm hoping to get the third chapter of faded dreams done. I kinda got bored of the story but don't wanna abandon it. Thanks everyone Ciao.