Meg felt cold. On her back, her arms, the back of her legs, all stingingly cold. Everything was hazy and distant, dark, quiet, and she couldn't make much out.
She felt something soft beneath her, a type of cloth on her cold skin, but it did nothing to ease the chill. She felt the cold air rush up her back, and her whole body shook.
Whoever was with her must have noticed it, because she felt another soft fabric fall on her side. It made the stinging go away after a minute, but she was still uncomfortably cold, just not painfully so, and her body trembled to show it.
Eventually she felt what she was laying on shift as someone else got on it, and then a large arm wrap around her torso and pull her. Her back bumped into something dense, but warm, very warm. She immediately relaxed into the persons grip at the comfort, sighing in content.
A chin rested on the top of her head, and a second arm slithered beneath her side to join the other in pinning her back to the person's chest.
She could smell pine, and...coal.
Evan.
Meg realized it suddenly, that was who was holding her.
Now knowing that, and despite how she was still on the verge of unconsciousness, Meg pushed her head up and nuzzled it against Evan's neck and chin before relaxing again. She didn't think she could do much more, especially considering it was getting harder to stay focused.
But as she fell asleep she felt Evan squeeze her tightly to him, and she snuggled herself as close to his side as possible. She couldn't remember a time where she'd felt so safe. Trying to sponge heat from him was just a bonus.
She was almost weightless to him. A tiny, frail, burnt, but gorgeous testament to the female sex.
Evan carried Megan through the woods at a fast pace. He wasn't running, but he was just short of it. At least one foot was always touching the ground, he didn't want to jostle his blood bird anymore than he already was.
Strangely, or not so, the fire in the eyes of her mask did not burn his skin, nor his overalls.
Evan staunchly avoided the main road, instead walking alongside it through the trees to remain hidden. Although. with how fast he was moving he didn't know if it did much good. The eye was always attracted to movement after all.
He passed Lisa's realm, the Backwater Swamp. She was a decent person all things considered, rather kind and considerate. Mature too, after all her time spent here. Evan could appreciate it, as well as the interesting philosophical debates, although Phillip enjoyed that more than he did.
That wasn't in his mind as he sped past the brick walls. His mind was still hyper focused on not tripping, and the girl he was carrying.
She wasn't bleeding, all the blood at the bungalow had dried by the time he got there and the cuts must have scabbed over. But it wouldn't be good if they scabbed with the fabric from her clothes stuck under it.
Evan wasn't a fool, he understood how good Sally was at her job even if she hadn't worked at a more emergency based hospital. She could take care of something like that and the burns marring Megan's once smooth skin. He really didn't have too much reason to worry, but he knew his little rabbit was in pain. He could hear the low groaning from her throat anytime she was jerked a little too suddenly, he could feel her shivering, and the goosebumps prickling up her remaining skin.
The only actual concern was the other killers. More specifically, The Clown. Or Jeffery Hawk.
Evan had no doubt Phillip wanted to rip his throat out a second time for his assault of the beanie wearing girl, Nea if he remembered correctly. He himself wanted to shove one of those pink bottles down Jeffery's windpipe for trying to bait Megan and assault her.
And he'd be just a few hundred yards away from The Ward.
Sometimes he wondered if Sally simply omitted some of the times Jeffery had attacked her in the realm. She was a capable fighter, much better than Jeffery, but living so close to such a monster was a risk, even for her.
He'd just have to stick close by. Let Sally do her best to care for Megan while he stayed watch for the worthless pig. Both of them alone were already too much for him, but together not even the element of surprise would be enough to save him.
Should he even show up of course.
One of Meg's arms slipped off of her stomach and dangled in the air. And despite his previous rushed pace in both his mind and his step, Evan paused. He bent down on one knee and set Meg's legs on it so he could lift her arm back up to her stomach. Just before he let go of her hand he felt the small fingers flex. They gripped his much larger fingers tightly, and then went slack.
Evan stopped for just a moment. Sitting down entirely and pulling her into his lap, her head on his collarbone just next to his chin while her legs bent over his left thigh. One hand held her back, but the other reached to her face and stroked her cheek under the mask. Then he reached down for the same hand that gripped his.
It was small, burnt, and the fingers naturally curled into a half fist. Yet despite the burnt and rough texture of the skin, Evan held her entire hand within his own, taking a moment to simply process what was happening and why.
Megan was a killer now. She'd been given a house and mask by the Entity, along with the signature horrible scars or disfigurement that came as a prerequisite to all killer's servitude. How had this happened?
Had the Entity just taken her? Tortured her with fire and then dumped her in a bungalow deep in the woods? His jaw clenched at the thought.
No, that wasn't the Entity's style. It preferred for other humans to perform the torture required to lure a victim in before turning them into a killer. Then it either outright just took the person or promised them revenge on their wrong doers. It was eerily like how the Devil was described, tricking others into believing his own actions were the fault of others and then luring them into his grasp.
What did it do to her? These burns were large. Evan hadn't checked any further than her lower legs and arms out of respect for her modesty and dignity, no matter how tempting the mental image was. So other than his brief touch of her shoulder, all he could confirm was her back, the back of her lower legs, and her arms. It was probably safe to assume the back of her upper legs were the same as the calves, and it looked like she'd had her back to the fire when she was burnt.
Once again he'd have to leave it to Sally.
But he had to figure out what happened. Surely her friends knew. That could work. Find one of them in a trial and demand answers, perhaps he could also use those padded jaws he hardly touched. He could get those blood point triangles while letting them go, and keep himself from getting too bored.
With his mind reasonably calmer, Evan repositioned Megan, trying to make sure she was comfortable and nothing was digging into her before lifting her up as he stood. Then he set back to walking, his pace more reserved than before, and hopefully not as jolting.
He reached Crotus Pen Asylum after several more minutes, heading to the front gate and setting Megan down next to it to fish out an ashy white key. He picked her back up and closed the gate with his foot, constantly checking for a greasy clown in the distance.
Thankfully there was no incident as he walked up to the two large wooden doors with metal decoration lining them. For once Evan felt grateful for his massive size, because his arms were so long he could still hold Megan up while reaching out to knock on the doors.
Evan only had to wait around a minute, but it felt far too long with how he was constantly checking behind him. That and sporadically leaning down to listen to Megan's breathing.
Finally the doors opened to reveal Sally Smithson wearing her classic white dress, and an ornate coppery pink bone-saw hung on the back of her belt.
She looked like she was about to say something to him, but then stopped as her gaze fell to the figure in his arms.
"Is that the new killer Ghost Face told me about?" Sally said, tilting her head and leaning forward to scan Megan carefully.
Evan nodded his head. "Yes, and she needs your expertise." He said, taking a step forward to emphasize the urgency of the situation.
Sally did wave him in and started heading upwards to the main room, but she didn't go without questioning him. "Why are you so concerned for their well being? I don't think I've ever seen you show so much care for anyone before." She said curiously, preparing a bed for Megan and letting Evan gently set her down.
Evan looked down at the smaller woman, right into where he thought it most likely for her eyes to be. "I do not understand how, but..." Evan cut himself short, letting the words hang as he reached down and carefully removed the mask from his blood bird's face.
Sally gasped. Evan knew that even if Sally had never met Megan formally that she knew who the survivor was well.
"What?" Sally breathed, looking between himself and the unconscious girl frantically before settling on himself. "How in the world did this happen!" She almost shouted, waving her arms around wildly in a rare display of hysteria.
"I do not know." Evan said tensely. His fists clenched as he stared down at the girl that had changed his life so much. "But I will find out." He seethed, previously controlled anger rising to the surface now that Megan was safe and no longer out in the woods.
"Please take care of her Sally. She is important to me." Evan said, glancing up at the nurse pleadingly through the mask. He hoped that he was able to convey that worry through the bone visage; and was worried he couldn't when Sally just stared at him.
"That's why." She said, sounding like she'd finally found the last piece of the puzzle. "All this time I was wondering why you were suddenly becoming so affable, but now it makes sense." Evan could see the fabric of her hood bend, and it almost looked like she was smiling.
"You look at her like how Andrew used to look at me." Sally said, floating over to Meg and pulling her hood back to show the beautiful crimson hair hidden behind it. "Her hair is just like mine." Sally chuckled, placing a hand on the back of her quilt instinctively.
Ignoring her first statement Evan found his voice again. "Your hair is red?" He asked, rather surprised he'd never heard that fact.
"Oh yes. It's actually quite like this fine young lady's." Sally commented Idly as she checked Meg's hands before going over to a compartment with two roles of gauze.
"Unfortunately these burns are very deep. They broke past the epidermal layer in most parts to the second layer of skin. That second layer is where most of her nerves are. I doubt she'll be able to feel much but the cold there anymore." Sally said, her voice changing to that of a medical professional entirely focused on their patient. "The best I can do for her is put creams on the burn to ease any pain or irritation and wrap them." Sally said, already loosely wrapping Megan's fingers before going further up the arm until it looked like a mummy's. The only skin that showed was the knuckles, fingertips, wrist, and elbow.
She waited to work on the other arm, instead placing a small bowl of something next to it on a rolling table, and then returning to wrap Megan's lower calves before facing Evan.
"Evan if you could please stand outside for this, I have to treat the rest of her legs and torso." Sally said.
Despite his immediate instinct to argue, to not let his fragile little blood bird out of his sight, Evan paused, and slowly turned to leave. Just before he could close the main rooms door, he heard Sally speak. "I'll take good care of her Evan; you have nothing to worry about. She'll be alright." She said softly, compassion and determination weaving through her voice. It partially worked in convincing him of what she was saying, so he merely nodded his head and closed the door. For a few minutes, he stood guard at the door like a statue.
Then boredom and restlessness set in, further exacerbated by his anxiousness. Soon after they were followed by their ugly cousin, rage. The Clown was in this very realm, just a couple hundred yards away. The pig who wanted to assault his rabbit, who probably fantasized about it and had tried to use the girl Phillip was attached to in order to lure Megan in.
He'd pay.
Sally could watch Megan for the few minutes while he would be gone.
With determined and rageful steps Evan marched single-mindedly through the ward and out the courtyard to the distant chapel he could see in the fog. The closer he got, the more disgusted he became. It looked just like it did in the trial, smoking piles of wood and concrete littered the arena, the chapel still had holes in the walls and windows with scattered debris everywhere. It was actually worse than the trials, here the stench of alcohol and those drug bottles wafted through the air and overpowered the senses. Evan actually had to take moment to adjust to just how thick the aroma was, and how unpleasant it smelt.
This would probably make a more sensitive person vomit. Heck, even he almost wanted to.
Forcing down the nausea with an iron stomach Evan marched on, thankful that the mask provided at least a little protection from the smell. It was mostly airtight and the bone had it's own smell to it that slightly masked his disgusting surroundings.
Bottles, feathers, even the occasional rotted finger were on the ground, and Evan didn't want to know how many of them were Megan's, even if he doubted that there were many, it was still repulsive. There was also another smell in the air, not one Evan was too familiar with, but he did remember one distinct memory of it. He'd been a young boy, still yet to hit puberty, and his father had a woman at the estate. Evan hadn't understood why at the time, nor why she had followed his father upstairs to the bedroom before coming down almost half an hour later, but she had reeked when she did. Thankfully she didn't stay long, simply walking out without a care or thought in the world as she counted a wad of cash in her hands.
Evan's nose scrunched up, and he his lip curled. Those disgusting animals! His father and this worthless pig hiding somewhere here.
He'd known of his father's mistresses once he'd matured. Things had started to click, but remembering it all just re awoke the anger at his father's callousness towards him and life. What a miserable lonely creature, he'd killed the only people close to him, only ever lived with his money and his isolation. He had no sense of intimacy, of love, of bonding.
He was no father.
Evan's own mind betrayed him as he imagined himself with Megan, those same ideals his father spat on applied between them, and he shook the thoughts out. No, this was not the time nor the place, and he couldn't think of her like that, no matter if he found her physically appealing. She deserved better than him, someone she could truly trust without hesitation in any manner, physical or emotional, and he doubted she'd ever even consider him in that light. He would simply enjoy her company while he still could.
Evan focused on the present circumstances, especially considering that the Clown was now in sight. Jeffery hadn't spotted him, he was instead waltzing about the circus, knocking things over in a drunken stupor. Loudly moaning for reason's Evan didn't want to know.
However, instead of trying to hide, Evan just marched forward towards the other killer, making sure his footsteps were loud and clear.
The Clown turned around at the noise, glancing at Evan for several seconds before recognition finally appeared in his beady, soulless eyes.
"Well, if it- if it isn't Evan boy." He slurred, his voice rising and falling annoyingly fast. "You finally-" Jeffery belched loudly. "You finally come aro- around to me?" He said with an irritating smile, almost tripping over air as he failed to stay balanced.
Evan ignored what he had to say, getting right down to the accusations and fishing out what he needed to hear from the worthless lard. "I heard you found a survivor outside of the trials, and that you tried to rape her." Evan accused, crossing his arms over his chest. His cleaver remained at his side. Jeffery was of even less threat than usual in his inebriated state and didn't seem like he wanted a fight just yet. That was good, it would make this even easier.
Jeffery smiled wider at the reminder. "Oh, you mean the- the annoying beanie bi-?" He coughed violently. Thankfully instead of finishing his crass sentence he just kept going. "She's not pretty enough for me, doesn't h- have any of the curves I like in a woman, but even she was better than nothin'!" He laughed loudly, his voice falling to a wheeze and eventual cough.
"But that pretty little red head, the sp- speedy girl, not the magic one. She's just what I need. She's got just the right curves in all the r-...right places for me. Don't you agree? Like that fat a-" Jeffery was violently cut off as he fell to his knees, gasping for breath and clutching his throat tightly.
Evan wound his fist back again and punched him across the face this time, sending the pig sprawling to the floor. Not giving Jeffery even a fraction of a second Evan stomped on his chest, pushing his foot down harder until Jeffery couldn't even wheeze and started frantically grabbing at his boot.
Once Jeffery's hands were off his neck Evan lifted his foot again and this time slammed it into Jeffery's windpipe.
The man coughed up blood and rolled onto his side in a feeble attempt to protect himself. But Evan just kicked him in the spine before grabbing his cleaver.
Before he could finish winding up his swing Jeffery wildly tossed a bottle with a bloody cough. The pink bottle hit the ground nearby and the liquid turned gaseous, surrounding both of them in a haze.
The effects were powerful, surely debilitating for survivors in a trial where immunity through exposure wasn't allowed. But to Evan, the actual gas cloud was more difficult to see through than the minute blurriness the gas caused in his eyes.
He could hear Jeffery stumbling to his feet, and there was only a quiet echo instead of three sets of feet. Evan backed up until he was out of the gas cloud entirely and could spot The Clown on the other side, grabbing more bottles and pulling his knife out of his belt. He twirled the knife before getting his grip, still having rather high dexterity despite his inebriation and sausage fingers.
Jeffery was not a quiet fighter unfortunately. "Don't, like me...talking...about that pretty thing eh?" He mumbled, smiling with a cough. More blood droplets fell to the grey dirt.
"You, want her all...to yourself, dontcha?" He stumbled and regained his footing. "What's the matter with...sharing?" He wheezed out, absently rubbing his throat with his free hand.
Evan didn't speak, he just charged.
His feet thundered with barely container anger, his grip on the cleaver stronger than the actual metal itself. Once he was just outside of arm's grasp he swung upwards, attempting to cut open his stomach and disarm him at the same time.
Irritatingly, Jeffery was still fast enough to back up, even if his feet stumbled a little bit. Evan didn't give him a chance to breathe, following him backwards unrelentingly and grabbing the front of his clown suit to head-butt him.
Jeffery recoiled, having lost almost all sense of equilibrium, and swung his knife wide, missing Evan entirely, but coming close.
Evan slashed the arm that held his knife, but Jeffery didn't loose his grip. So Evan kicked him in the sternum and sent him sprawling. Then when Jeffery tried to get up, Evan responded with a slash across the chest.
Evan felt his mental fortitude failing him, he didn't know why, but mental exhaustion and just the desire to get away and back to Megan spiked harshly. This was taking too long, and was growing less satisfying.
Evan raised his cleaver high, and with the last of his strength, slashed downwards and cleaved Jeffery's right hand off, the knife going with it. Evan stepped back wearily, his body high on adrenaline for a reason he didn't know or understand. This fight hadn't been dangerous enough to warrant such a pounding heart rate.
Jeffery slowly sat up, groaning loudly and lifting his right hand, glancing at it numbly. His face was smeared with blood, it mixed hideously with his blue and white face paint and dripped down his neck rolls.
"Now you comprehend what you inflict upon the survivors." Evan said.
No other words needed to be spoken. Limply raising his blade for the final time he slashed The Clown's neck. He needed to leave, the stench of the Chapel with the overpowering smell of iron was almost enough to choke on.
The walk back to the ward was slow and melancholic.
Evan didn't understand why he'd felt such revulsion upon seeing the state he'd left Jeffery in before killing him. He'd seen blood many, many times in the past. He'd seen it during mining accidents, from the miners after his father visited them, and watched bears be slashed at until they were messes of viscera.
He'd seen his own blood many times. From when the rods were placed in his arms to the abuse he'd suffered as a child.
Perhaps it had been the way the blood had mixed with the face paint? Or perhaps it was that he'd never seen a human loose a limb during the moment of the "separation". It couldn't be an aversion to blood, he'd seen too much in life to let it effect him in such a manner.
Yet that fact didn't change how he felt light nausea in his stomach and just wanted to sit down and breathe. Preferably near Megan, he could calm down and know she was still safe.
He once again knocked on the front door of the ward. The door opened and Sally looked out at him and immediately began dragging him inside.
"What in the world did you do! Why is there blood on your mask, and put your cleaver over there, I'm not getting blood on my floors." Sally fussed, clenching her fists at him in anger and reminding Evan of the stereotypical mothers in those books he'd read as a child.
"I went to the Chapel, and found The Clown. It was horrid, he had been drinking. I killed him." Evan said tiredly, letting Sally wipe his mask off. He would have done it himself and saved her the trouble, telling her to get back to Megan, but figured if he did it he'd just miss too much of the blood.
"How is she?" Evan rumbled, holding still so Sally didn't accidentally poke him in the eye through the masks few holes.
"She's alright." Sally said, pulling the rag back and tossing it into a bucket of water. "Her entire back was the same as the rest of her body, but the front of her torso was untouched. It just barely reached the top of her shoulder blades." Sally informed as she walked into the main room, revealing his little rabbit looking almost the same as when he'd left her.
The only difference was that now her other arm was equally wrapped and that the medical bed she was laying on had been adjusted so Meg was sitting propped up.
Evan ignored Sally as he walked over to Megan. The mask could only do so much to subtract from how peaceful she looked laying there. Hopefully not in much pain after the resident nurse's medical care.
He bent down on one knee so his head was level with hers, pulled her hood back, and took the mask off and set it in her lap. He threaded one hand through her hair gently. It was still as silky and long as he remembered, unbraided it fell down to her mid back.
For just a moment, Evan forgot everything else, just focusing on the girl who's hair he was holding. Who had arguably tried to drag his soul out of the darkness. He closed his eyes and lowered his head until it touched his arm. It was all too much, too much for him, for Megan, for all of them.
They'd need a miracle to recover.
Although, perhaps Megan had been part of the miracle that saved him, the guide to get his attention and get him out of the shadows.
"You truly are smitten with her." Sally commented from across the room, watching him carefully as he broke from his trance and stood.
"When can she leave?" Evan said softly, not having the fire to sound irritated, but still ignoring her statement.
"Don't avoid the topic Evan. Your affections to her are far more then friendship." Sally almost accused, but her voice showed she meant no harm. Evan could almost hear here smile, she was looking up at him without flinching, her arms crossed over her chest playfully.
"Just please tell me when she can leave." Evan repeated, coming a bit closer to emphasize his almost desperate impatience. He didn't blame Sally for her questioning, knowing that it was nothing more than the questions of a woman who was obviously bored out of her mind and clearly needed another hobby on top of her already extensive list.
"Why must you be so stubborn? You know it's perfectly fine to like her right? It is nothing to be ashamed of, it's only natural, she's pretty." Sally said, patting the cheek of his mask twice in rapid succession. Then after a second she sighed.
"I know how tired you feel Evan. But, I believe that one day, we'll be free. And even if that takes years, I believe that we will still be alright when it comes, just as long as we allow ourselves to bond with one another. You've found yourself a chance to attain something not everyone finds Evan, and personally, I think that even if she doesn't now, she'll return the sentiment eventually." Sally said somberly, but her words were enough to make Evan smirk.
At first he didn't know what to say, but he realized it was much simpler than he thought. Sometimes it was the best choice to stay simple. So he hugged the smaller woman to her surprise. "Thank you." He breathed, chuckling.
Sally was quiet, probably in shock, but then she started laughing with him. "Well I didn't think you liked her that much already, if she's changed you enough to make you hug another person then I have to know how you met her." Sally said with a certain quality to her voice, both teasing and knowing.
Evan stiffened, slowly turning his head to look at Megan and then at Sally, feeling he didn't even need to speak to say what he wanted.
Sally spared him. "Oh fine. I bet you're planning to take her back to your estate and romance her there even more?" Sally said, unable to control her laughter as the end of the sentence fell apart.
Evan flushed hotly, huffing indignantly at her before turning and sitting next to Megan's old hospital bed.
Sally cracked up laughing even more at his lack of a response. "Alright I'll leave you alone Evan. She's clear to leave if you want to take her home with you. But I'll be coming over occasionally to check on her, and you better tell me when she wakes up." Sally scolded, her voice turning serious, that of a true medical master.
"You have my thanks, I will most certainly alert you when she awakens...and...I shall tell you..."Evan stopped himself, internally screaming at what he was about to say. Sally clasped her hands together and leaned forward eagerly. "Yes?" She teased.
"I shall tell you the story during her checkups if you stop that." Evan growled out, leaning forward threateningly. Sally didn't back down, instead she acted as if he wasn't annoyed at all and simply clapped her hands together once and walked off. "Perfect." She said. "And fine, ruin my fun." She whined.
"Thank you." Evan said curtly, not wanting to give the woman any more chances to embarrass him. "She will be fine without this medical bed, correct?" He asked impatiently, tapping one toe against the inside of his boot.
"Oh yes, go ahead. I want to keep those here anyway." Sally said offhandedly, not even looking over at him as she cleaned the bloody rag from earlier in the water bucket.
Evan turned around and bent down to pick up Megan, pulling her hood up and placing the mask back on her face before he did so.
"Thank you Sally, I shall never forget what you did for both of us." Evan said, craning his neck to look at her. She stopped what she was doing, wiping her hands off on her dress and floating over to him. "I'm just doing my job, and what's right. Now come on, I'll help you with the doors." She offered, floating ahead of him and pausing to look back.
Evan followed slowly, taking few, but large strides to match Sally's slow floating pace. When they were outside of the realm entirely, Evan turned around, nodded at Sally, and walked back towards the woods.
"Goodbye Evan, tell her I said hello when she wakes up." Sally called out before closing the gate and leaving.
Evan mentally noted her request, looking down at the girl in his arms through the fiery mask. He had little doubt that Megan wouldn't appreciate what Sally had done for her, in fact their teasing personalities would probably have them bonding in no time.
Evan felt a calm wave, something pleasant in his chest that only seemed to grow the longer Megan's head rested on his shoulder. It didn't make the mental anguish go away, but it felt just a little bit easier to handle with her around. He felt calmer, yet still on guard for his surroundings. Perhaps calm had been the wrong choice of words.
Content, yes that was what he was looking for.
Evan stopped just long enough to nuzzle Megan's head with his own, the actioned earned him a soft sigh, and a twitch of her fingers. He smiled beneath the mask, contentment.
Megan could help him figure it out once she was awake.
Maybe Sally was right.
It was dead silent except for that infernal, horrible fire crackling.
Claudette hadn't been able to stop crying. Even if she had been able to stop the loud sobbing and gasps, she couldn't stop her quiet but shaky breathing, or the tears slowly running down her cheeks.
Dwight and Jake were on either side of her, both had fallen silent with the rest of her friends after failed attempts to comfort her. She didn't blame them, she didn't think anything could make her stop right now. Only Meg could have, and she was dead.
Nothing else made sense as to what had happened to her.
Everyone had stopped when they'd heard her scream, turning to look at the athlete be burned alive and stabbed by the Entity like it was a trial. They'd seen the way her body had turned to embers from the Entity and the small boom above the campfire when she was fully gone.
It was just like when someone was sacrificed in a trial, but this time everyone got the feeling that this was permanent. The Entity had showed itself for a reason outside of picking who would be in a trial, had supposedly whispered to the others, and demanded tribute.
Now she and everyone else were left clueless on what to do. The Entity had obviously been lying in its promise of freedom if they sacrificed Meg, they were still stuck here. The truly concerning part, what had her and Nea shook to the core, was that almost half of the campfire had bought it.
She hadn't spoken to The Hillbilly, didn't even know what his name was. But Nea seemed to have really taken a liking to The Wraith, going from having a mental breakdown right in front of her and Kate because of him to riding on his back like a child and defending him before all of their friends. Nea was probably scared to death about how they'd react if they found out.
Everyone else seemed to have the same thing on their mind, because even if it looked random, all of them were sitting purposely between the others and Nea. She herself was partially behind them too, Jake and Dwight had come back with her to offer some form of comfort.
They had been a quartet all by themselves at first, and they had just lost a member. Nea had been the first person to show up after them, but at this point they had grown so close the line between her and the four had blurred too much to be properly seen. But to be honest, that had happened with everyone in their group.
Bill had been silent from the beginning. He was currently sitting down, his shoulders slumped as he stared at the fire like a statue. His face was blank and he had barely reacted to any of their previous attempts to reach him.
Claudette's heart went out to him. She herself was torn apart at Meg's death, the red head had been a sister to her, to most of them really. Her only regret about their relationship was that she hadn't been more open in calling Meg her sister. She was sure the others felt the same.
There was no doubt in her mind that to Ace and Kate, she was like their niece, but Bill. For him it had to hurt the worst, because even if he hadn't known her quite as long as Dwight, Jake, or herself, he'd loved her like a daughter.
Everyone had known it, even Meg and himself, but they hadn't ever consciously acknowledged it, and now she could tell he was regretting not telling her. They all were.
Claudette couldn't say she felt anxious at becoming the center of attention when she stood. Almost everyone in both groups looked over at her as she slowly walked over to Bill and sat down. She was too emotionally exhausted to care that they were all staring at her, and now she hated half of them anyway. How could she ever forgive them for what they did?
Claudette had intended to say something, but when she tried to summon her voice, all she felt was a fragile wheeze in her throat that never even left her mouth. Instead, she got on her knees and pulled the veteran into a hug. He didn't try and resist, he just kept staring at the fire numbly. Claudette squeezed him tighter, shifting to rest comfortably and seeking her own comfort in the hug as much as she was trying to give it.
Finally she found her voice.
"She would've been so proud to call you her father."
With that Claudette started crying harder, doing her best to be quiet and being met with good success. Bill finally seemed to come alive, his eyes shone with restrained tears as he wrapped his arms around Claudette tightly.
Bill's voice cracked at first, but with a single cough it was as strong and reassuring as before. "I would've been so proud to call her my daughter. She was proud to call you her sister, and the rest of you her family." Bill said softly, everyone now giving him his full attention.
Thankfully they were far enough across the campfire for the others to not hear what they were saying, as they all were sitting around looking bored, or contemplative.
"What are we gonna do now?" Ace said. "Meg never got the chance to tell us her idea on how to get out." He finished hoarsely. Kate who was sitting next to him grabbed his hand reassuringly, sitting up to hug him at his height.
"She never told anyone?" Laurie asked disappointedly, her shoulders falling just the tiniest bit. "There isn't anyone else who knew?" She asked, looking at all of them hopefully. All of them shook their heads sadly, trying to search through all their recent chaotic memories in regards to anything Meg had said for a lead.
Bill perked up, his head raising as he looked directly at Laurie. "The Trapper." He said quietly.
Claudette's foot twitched, and she was sure a few others did as well. They all were probably thinking about the killer. Wide, tall, imposing, metal rods in his arms and a tactical genius with trap placement that made him a survivors worst nightmare, especially on shadowy maps, right next to The Wraith and Hillbilly.
"We don't even know if he'd kill us or not. Sure he maybe wouldn't have before but The Wraith was there vouching for us. Besides, we don't even know what his and Meg's relationship was, who knows how he'll react to what happened to her?" Jake said lowly.
Kate looked at Nea and Claudette. "She told you two the most about him, what did she say?" She asked softly, glancing nervously over at the others before turning back to them.
Claudette looked over at Nea for confirmation. The Swede was already looking at her, and then she nodded. Claudette sighed, and then tried to remember the two conversations she'd had with Meg about the Trapper and other killers.
"The one time I hugged the Hillbilly he told us that he wouldn't hurt Meg because of The Trapper, and he wouldn't hurt Nea because of The Wraith. They seem to all have mutual respect for each other at minimum. But most what Meg mentioned was how confusing The Trapper was being, that and how he had some sort of a soft spot for her." Claudette breathed out, her anxiousness returning at the prospect of the other survivors hearing.
Jake was the first to respond. "Well it's pretty obvious The Wraith and Hillbilly seem to like you and Nea, so if The Trappers the same way, it'll get ugly when he hears." He surmised grimly, looking down at the dirt blankly. Claudette knew that look, he was getting lost in his own thoughts trying to find a solution.
"I saw what happened." Jill interrupted from the side, she had scooted over after leaving Nancy, Steve, and Leon off to the side. "In the trial before she died, I mean. Me, Yun Jin, and Ash all saw The Trapper chase her, and he actually caught her. I was really surprised he did, but he just pinned her to the wall." Jill said, looking confused as she also got lost in her own thoughts.
"Did they say anything." Ace said, speaking up from the back of their group.
Jill looked hesitant, but also focused, like she was unsure about what to say. "It was hard to tell, I couldn't see anything through The Trapper's mask, but I thought I saw Meg talking. I couldn't hear anything though, they were being pretty quiet. I don't know what she said to him but he let her go and then it looked like she was...comforting him?"Jill said hesitantly, checking for their reactions to see if that fit Meg's character. "She took his mask off and hugged him, even kissed him on the cheek." She breathed, sounding less sure of herself with each second.
Claudette's eyes widened. Just how far had Meg taken the idea of bonding with the killers?
"What?" Bill said, one eyebrow raised. Claudette was too emotional at the moment, but under normal circumstances she would have laughed at the now obvious fatherly outrage on Bill's face.
"I still don't even know if I was just seeing things or not. But I know she hugged him and took his mask off. I saw it in her hands. Then Meg saw Yun Jin and Ash, they split up, and I saw them both knock Meg to the ground and step on her. The Trapper almost choked Yun Jin to death for it." Jill said confidently, sounding more sure of herself. But that was easy to do when what you were saying made sense.
Nea piped in. "The Wrai- Phillip didn't say much about The Trapper, but he told me his name. He called him Evan, and he said that The Trapper would never hurt her." She said quietly, looking over at the forest longingly.
Claudette followed her gaze, and for a second she thought she saw the shimmering air like when The Wraith was cloaked, but then she blinked and it was gone.
She was scared, for herself, Nea, for all her friends. She clearly was just seeing things.
Meg had gone and befriended The Trapper of all killers, and it had potentially even turned romantic. None of them had gone that far, but that didn't mean the other survivors wouldn't try and sacrifice them too for just giving the killers a chance.
"I think the only thing we can do is try and dodge the others, keep them from turning on us too, but we're gonna have to talk to The Trapper. He's probably the only one who knows what Meg's idea was. And we'll pick up where she left off. We can't grieve now, we don't have the time, we can't let her die in vain." Jake said sadly, his shoulders slumping at the end.
"For Meg." Dwight said, looking up at each of them individually, and one by one they all nodded.
"For Meg." They all whispered.
Dark fog rolled from the trees, and everyone flinched violently when the noticed. Claudette started shivering, and Dwight put a hand on her shoulder reassuringly. She looked up at him, and he nodded with her.
Dark tendrils reached out, pooling around her feet, Jake's, Kate's, and Ace's.
She stood up in sync with them, giving them a small, hesitant smile as she grabbed a med kit. They were all rather skilled runners, but they were good at generators too. She'd keep them healed while they all worked.
The fog swirled higher until everything else disappeared from sight, and Claudette shook when all the light disappeared.
Then, snow.
She was at Ormond Lodge. It was cold, not quite as bad as real snow should've been, since it was stinging her skin, but it was enough to make her teeth chatter and keep her shivering constantly.
Jake was off in the distance, and she thought she could see Kate and Ace in the distance. Those two ran off into the trees in the corner of the map, hopefully there was a generator over there. Jake came over to her, nodding his head stiffly and bending down to the generator she had just begun working on.
After nearly a whole minute of silence and several violent flinches from her that almost made her screw up her work. She heard the heartbeat, it was distant, faint, and no music could be heard with it.
Not The Huntress, or the Trickster, but the heart beat was so distant that those two killers were the only she could check off of the list. She hadn't seen any bear traps in the snow, so that was a let down, it would've been real nice to see if they could get answers out of The Trapper so soon after they decided their course of action, but no luck.
Not long after, the generator she and Jake had been working on finished, and so did one in the distance. Three left, but they couldn't three gen themselves, or they might loose someone.
She and Jake bravely creeped closer to the main lodge, Claudette spotted a generator off to the side of the lodge, among the snow piled in between the killer shack and the small one room building on a hill.
The heartbeat didn't change unless they moved. Was the killer going to just sit there without moving for the whole trial?
Finally she could no longer take it, and she grabbed Jake's arm. "What do you think they're going?" She whispered, taking advantage of the growing freedom from the rules of the trials.
Jake shrugged. "I don't know, but I'm gonna go check it out. Come get me off the hook if this doesn't go well." He said, giving her a smirk and quick hug before turning and jogging over to the side door.
There, he stopped and started walking again, and after he turned to go up the stairs, Claudette lost sight of him, but it looked like he had been hyper focused on one spot on the second floor.
A third generator was completed in the shack to her left, and Claudette saw Kate and Ace run out of the building and heading in her direction. They stopped, looking confused when they spotted her just standing there.
"Where's Jake?" Ace questioned, stopping his run and sliding right next to Kate with a knowing smile once she was done running. The blonde just rolled her eyes and bumped his arm with her own, earning a quite chuckle from him.
Claudette was jealous, both out of her own lack of a romantic relationship, and his ability bounce back from depressing events quickly. Some people would have called him insensitive or heartless for how quickly he seemed to recover, but she, as well as everyone else, knew the truth. He did recover quicker from emotional events, but he was good at hiding what he felt, it was his specialty as a gambler, but he was just as hurt at Meg's death as the rest of them.
"He said he was going to go inside the main building to see what the killer was doing, he just left." Claudette said, looking through the windows for any sign of movement, and coming up empty handed.
The southern bell spoke before the little grey haired weasel could. "I know you and him are better at this than we are but that doesn't mean you should just go walking up to a killer!" Kate said incredulously, a small smile showing that she was just trying to laugh a little and distract herself. Claudette couldn't blame her, she didn't want to forget or disrespect Meg, but she didn't want to keep dwelling on it any longer.
Ace came to Jake's defense. "If the kid wants to act like a lunatic let him, he'll be fine, but we might as well see what he's doing, could be exciting." Ace said, flashing a smile to both girls and giving Kate a wink before walking forward. Both of them followed, looking over at each other knowingly as Kate rolled her eyes. Claudette smiled, it felt good to only be concerned with the trial in the moment.
When they reached the bottom of the stairs, they all turned to look at the second floor, the heartbeat was screaming in their ears now, but they were past letting it unsettle them. What they saw however, changed that.
Jake was standing at the corner of the hallway, right where you would turn to run down the hall and past the doorways leading to the bedrooms to the hole in the tall glass. He was staring directly towards that broken glass, and right in his sights was the smallest of the Legion members, the girl with the strange looking mask, ruler knife, and colored hair.
She currently had her bright rainbow-colored knife in her right hand, but her grip was loose, almost like she was about to let slip out of her fingers. She was in the middle of the hallway, staring up at the word carved into the wall.
Legion.
She wasn't moving, her head permanently tilted upwards to stare at the jagged imprint. But all of them could hear her breathing, it was heavy, erratic, and even gasp like.
Her blank mask concealed all emotion she might have shown, so it was impossible for Claudette to fully read her, but if she had to guess, the girl was high on some type of emotion, most likely a negative one, and was about to do something drastic. That, or the much worse option, that she was so out of her mind that she found some perverse beauty in the tribute to the killer gang.
The words Claudette heard, were not from who she suspected, nor were they directed at who she'd thought they would be. Nonetheless, they shocked her like the explosion of a generator.
"Are you alright?" Jake spoke. He was already cursing himself internally, yelling in his mind at how much of an idiot he was to ask a violent killer if they were alright. What else did he expect her to do other than turn and try to stab him?
But instead of that, what he thought was the impossible happened.
The girl slowly turned her head to look at him, looked down at the knife in her hands, back up at the mural, and then brought her other hand up to feel her mask. Her fingers ran from the top to the bottom, them she slowly pulled her arm back to look at the blood stained sleeves as her fingers trembled. She seemed lost in her own world, and Jake couldn't tell if she was reminiscing or thinking deeply.
Then, out of nowhere she let out a choked sob, bringing both hands up to grip her ruler knife she stabbed it into the L of Legion, and yanked the knife threw the dry wood wall until it reached the N at the end of the word. With one more barely contained cry, she yanked the knife out, and took in the now shredded wood, broke compass needles well along with wood chips, and threw it with a yell out the window and into the snow.
Then, without a word, she walked over to the closest bedroom door to the glass and disappeared inside. Two seconds later a thump could be heard, and then...silence.
Jake looked down at Claudette, Kate, and Ace below, the trio looking as equally confused and shocked as he felt. They eventually turned to look at him as well, their faces turning inquisitive as they tried to rationalize the situation.
Strangely enough, he felt he actually understood what had just happened.
She'd rejected the Legion, tore up their mural and threw away her blade. Something had pushed her over the edge into walking away.
Just like how he couldn't handle the darwinistic cruelty of his father's business.
His eye brows furrowed, and his lips formed a line in concentration. This couldn't be a coincidence, with the three original killers suddenly going soft, and...
If he did what he was about to do, then he'd be in the same boat as Claudette and Nea. A survivor who'd lost it enough to go and talk to a killer, and he'd have to fear for his life after what they did to one of his closest friends, his sister.
Instead of feeling deterred at the thought, he just felt undying fire. Meg had done the impossible in the name of finding a way out, and she'd died trying, he wouldn't let that be in vain because he was too afraid of meeting the same fate. He'd do this in her name. And he wouldn't let those idiots stop him.
So with calm, but unwavering and determined steps, Jake walked towards the room she'd gone into. He slowed cautiously when he reached the frame, he might have had fire in his heart but he wasn't stupid or reckless.
He peeked his head around the corner, and saw the girl holding her knees to her chest, hiding her face as well, she was crying.
Jake eased his stance slightly, feeling less threatened. Slowly, he inched his way into the room, getting closer until he was only several feet away, but still close enough to reach the pallet near the glass if things turned south.
"Why did you do that." He said quietly, never letting his eyes leave the girl.
Her head snapped up to look at him when he spoke, she almost looked scared, her arms tensed, like a startled cat.
"W-what?" She croaked, her voice sounding weak and shaky. She sniffled and instinctively reached an arm up, but stopped when she touched her mask. She coughed and let her arm fall down with a harsh exhale.
"Tearing up the mural, throwing your knife away. Why'd you do it?" Jake asked, trying to keep his voice steady and calm, doing his best to not make her mad.
The girl just choked back another sob, and buried her head in her arms again, hiding herself from him, and using the bagginess of the hoodie to try and mold herself in a ball.
Before he'd been taken by the Entity Jake would have said that he had zero experience in this field. Now? After all the time spent comforting Claudette, or on the rarer occasions, Meg, and then the other girls once they'd showed up, he was an expert.
So he threw away any pretenses of dignity, and bent down to her level, slowly scooting forward until he was in arms reach, and slowly placed a hand on her arm. "I don't know what you're going through, but I do know what it's like to feel as if you don't belong where you are." Jake said hesitantly, hoping that his gut was leading him in the right direction.
She stopped crying, raising her head just enough for him to see the top of her mask, and obviously enough for her to see him. "You do?" She asked curiously.
Jake gave a small smile, both in victory and in amusement. "Oh yeah. First 18 years of my life I felt like I wasn't where I was supposed to be. My dad was a big business man, he wanted my older brother to take it over when he died, but he still drilled me like a soldier about social etiquette. Eventually I just couldn't take it anymore, ran away and lived in the woods for a few years before I ended up here." Jake said, telling her his story, and despite how she should've been the one learning about him from this, he couldn't also help but feel like he was learning himself just as much.
She sniffled and went to wipe her face, but again was stopped by the mask. She spat against the inside, and Jake frowned. "Can you not take the mask off?" He asked unsurely, worried that it was a touchy subject.
She shook her head. "No, none of the killers can take their masks off, and none of us will do it for each other anyway." She grumbled bitterly, and with one hand she reached up and scratched the lines marking the mask.
"Oh." Was all Jake could say, completely clueless on how to respond to that. Thankfully she kept the conversation going for him.
"I met the others in high school. I was an outcast at the time, didn't have any friends. They were the first people to show an interest in me. I think Joey was the same way." She trailed off, looking down at her hands in presumable regret.
"Who's Joey?" Jake asked.
"He's another member of the legion, he usually used a Karambit and has a skull mask on?" She said meekly, hoping her words rung a bell. They did, Jake remembered him, he was quiet, the biggest of the Legion, and his knife hurt the most. She was saying that he felt the same way as her? Insecure about himself enough to join the other two psychos for acceptance?
"Yeah, he's familiar. So both of you joined the other two sickos because you felt no one else would like you?" Jake asked her, and he felt the muscles in her bicep reflexively tense up.
"I-I don't know anymore, I used to feel like that, but before this trial The Trapper killed Frank and Julie and he told me and Joey we shouldn't be around them! But I don't know what I'm supposed to do without them either!" She almost shouted, gripping her hair and tugging it till it probably hurt. Her breathing was still shaky, and Jake could tell she was two seconds from dissolving back into tears.
Jake watched her with growing concern and confusion, but he remained calm. He'd had to thousands of times in order to stay quiet when a killer was searching for him, and he had to now if she was going to stay calm. "Well pulling your hair is only gonna hurt. I don't know you or the other Legion, but Frank and Julie don't sound like the kind of people you should be near." Jake offered with a shrug, trying to keep things from getting weird. Although he had almost entirely relaxed, no longer feeling like a tension spring ready to snap the moment she turned aggressive.
She let go of her hair and looked directly at him. Jake couldn't say it wasn't a little unnerving, and he got the feeling he still would've felt like that even if she didn't have it on.
"That's what The Trapper said." She croaked out. "I knew he was right, Joey did too. They'd hurt us both if we stood up for ourselves, but we kept telling ourselves they were our friends. I was just so afraid of being alone again." She said, her shoulders slumped and she looked at the floor, playing with her fingers. Jake knew the feeling, he might have hated his father's business, but he almost equally hated the loneliness of living so isolated from society.
"But as time went on I just felt worse, Joey did too. Then one day The Trapper told me they were a bad influence, I broke down, and then before this trial he showed up again. He was coming to trade items with us, but he just...snapped." She said, she shivered, and Jake could tell it wasn't just the cold.
"He butchered them. Threw Frank through the railing to the first floor and jumped on him, and then he killed Julie too." She wrapped her arms around her knees.
"I'm so used to gore that it barely fazed me, but me and Joey still tried to help them." She laughed hollowly before continuing. "He wouldn't hit us, but he tossed us around. He made Joey face plant into the floor and I got tossed into a wall." She laughed again, this time with a little humor in it.
"I could tell he was holding himself back. He even told me that The Entity feeds on our fear, and that he thinks any attempt to break the rules makes it weaker. So I won't kill you guys, even if The Entity's gonna get mad at me." She whispered.
Jake didn't know what to say, this was everything he had hoped to hear and more. Killers could kill other killers? The Trapper had told her what Meg had never gotten to tell them? Potential freedom? It sounded too good to be true.
"What's your name?" Jake blurted out, and the girl looked up at him with her head tilted, like he'd grown a third arm.
"What?" She squeaked.
"What's your name. You told me all the other Legion's names. What's yours?" He repeated, sounding a little more insistent and sincere.
The girl looked hesitant, her fingers started twitching around each other in a nervous tick. "I-u-" She stopped when Jake put another hand on her other arm.
"If it helps. My name's Jake." He said, giving her a friendly shake to try and ease the tension.
"S-Susie." She squeaked out quietly.
"You made the right choice Susie. Other than Joey, they weren't your friends. And thank you for telling me that, it was probably more important than you think, and it means more to me than you think." Jake reassured, giving her a hesitant smile.
Susie stayed silent, staring at him for several seconds before suddenly lunging forward.
Jake would admit that he'd flinched when she lunged at him, but he wouldn't admit that he'd blushed rather hotly when he realized that she had wrapped her arms around his neck and was hugging him tighter than a koala. Her mask was pressing into his collarbone and her arms seemed like they were gonna crush his shoulders together.
"Geez...you're...strong." Jake wheezed out, and Susie immediately slackened her grip, not letting go, but now barely putting any pressure. Jake stood up, getting out of the awkward and uncomfortable position. Susie just stood with him, still hiding her face and hugging him.
At first Jake just let her vent her emotions, but after she didn't let go Jake very hesitantly brought his arms up and wrapped them around her back, giving her a light squeeze to test the waters. When he did Susie squeezed him as well.
"Thank you." She laughed, her voice muffled from his jacket. "But how come your friends haven't finished the last two generators." She mumbled, finally stepping back, and then squeaking when she looked over his shoulder, partially hiding behind him.
Jake furrowed his eyebrows at her, and turned to look behind him. Claudette, Kate, and Ace were all peering through the doorway, all looking incredibly interested. Jake just sighed, and glared at them. "How long have you been listening?" Jake deadpanned, his voice reflecting how exasperated he felt at their behavior.
Ace took a bold step inside. "Only long enough to see her pounce on you muchacho. I thought she was gonna rip your throat out for a second there." He laughed, taking one more step and clapping Jake on the bicep. "Actually she still might." He joked, and Susie let out a quiet "hmph" in indignation, too quiet for anyone but Jake to hear.
Jake couldn't help but smile, and apparently neither could Kate or Claudette, both girls fully showing themselves in the doorway. Susie shrunk behind him even more. Jake turned his head to the side and glanced down at her questioningly, but all Susie did was look up at him.
That wretched mask was making everything too difficult.
Kate spoke up. "Well I can say that I'm somewhat surprised, not too much with the way Nea was gettin' a piggyback ride from The Wraith, or how Meg apparently gave the Trapper some Yankee Dime. But I didn't think you of all people would do the same." Kate teased, smirking knowingly at all four of them.
"Wait what does Yankee dime mean?" Jake asked, looking back at Susie and at Ace to see if they were as equally confused. Susie just shrugged, still trying to make herself look smaller.
Ace shrugged, although he looked much more aloof. "I've learned there's slang Kate knows that I'll never understand." He said to Jake, smilingly teasingly when Kate shot him a look.
"It means a kiss or smooch." Claudette spoke up from behind the blonde, stepping into the room.
"Ah well it doesn't matter much anyhow." Kate interrupted. "What does matter, is that this little missy has stopped killin' us." She said as she took a step around Jake to face Susie.
Susie was not small, she was almost his height and was just barely taller than Kate and Claudette, but from their body language Susie was very much intimidated by the singer. Especially considering how she started to back up the closer Kate got until she realized she had no where to go.
"You can tell us why you chose to while we finish the last two generators." Kate said with a smile, turning to leave the room and waving for them all to follow.
Susie looked up at Jake in what appeared to be a pleading manner, and Jake just chuckled. Finally after she forced a reassuring hug out of him again, she hesitantly followed him out.