If there was anything Jane Romero could do, she could sniff out a story. And stories were definitely brewing around the campfire.
She crossed her legs as she sat on the log bench near the fire, angling her head this way and that to see as many folks as possible. It was hopping these days. Even if three trials ran simultaneously, if everyone else was there that left twenty people at the campsite to trade and bicker and gossip. Oh, the gossip.
Her eyes landed on the blonde with the guitar sitting on the ground. Kate. She strummed simple chords as she quietly sang with another blonde girl, Laurie. Their aesthetics were so similar they could've been sisters.
"I'm ou-t of my head, hope-less-ly de-vo-teeed to yoou…"
Another teenage girl's voice joined theirs as she rubbed the sleeves of her grey striped sweater. The more serious looking boy beside her had his brows furrowed, unimpressed with the song selection; the boy with the flippy hair sat at her feet mouthed along emotively. Another boy in a blue beanie stood from his place at the fire, biting his nails out of boredom rather than nerves. The girl in the red leather jacket stood a little ways away with a look of despair in her eyes. She was one of the new ones, only on her third or fourth trial. Jane felt bad for the little crew of young adults and the loss of their youthful dreams, but watching them interact gave her enough entertainment that she didn't involve herself too closely.
Further from the fire lay a ratty blanket pilfered from one of the trials with a hand-scrawled sign written on torn cardboard: Ace's Trading Post. The titular Ace stood over his wares watchfully as the teacher, Adam, tried to haggle with him for a pack of AA batteries.
Cheryl, the little blonde one with enormous eyes, watched them talk with a small handheld device in her fingers. Her small stature disguised the attitude hidden beneath her droopy bangs, though. She had enough sass in her to irritate any killer away from their initial chase.
Adam motioned for her to come over and offer another item in exchange for the batteries. Cheryl frowned, clearly unhappy that his trade of a pair of books wasn't cutting it, and pulled a handful of unopened candy bars from her vest pocket. Ace nodded approvingly and took the items from their hands in exchange for the pack. Jane chewed on the inside of her cheek as the pair walked back near the fire. Even though they didn't have to eat, as long as people brought back something worthwhile, those candy bars wouldn't last long on Ace's blanket.
Cheryl walked past the dismayed jacket girl and seemed to make a motion that looked like a pinkie promise before walking away. Jane's eyes narrowed. A potential new development?
A rush of wind blew over the fire and several of the folks at the fire looked up to see who had returned. An athletic redhead, a burly man, a petite girl with competitive eyes, and a tall man with a long, graying mane and beard.
The man with the dark hair and heavily rimmed glasses ran up to them. If the campsite was a billiards table, Dwight was the white cue ball, colliding into everyone's energies momentarily to propel them forward into their dim future. When he was missing from the campsite, everyone's nerves frayed.
Feng clapped her hand against that of the also approaching Nea before walking over to Cheryl and Adam as they booted up the video game player.
The burly man moved past Dwight quickly in a beeline for Kate. The boy with the hair, Steve, rolled his eyes a little as the larger man sat himself down behind Kate in a way that she could lean against him with a contented smile. David King used to stand mostly on the sidelines of the site, quietly and gruffly checking in on folks who returned, but these days - if you could call it that - he mostly stayed at Kate's side, his hand placed protectively over her stomach or chest. Those of the group who had been in trials with them since the change said the way they followed each other could make or break the run: generators were completed in record time, but if one of them downed, the other became a sitting duck.
Their sudden closeness was a little irritating, considering everyone's situation, but even worse was when one of them returned from a trial, only for the other to burn away. The sorrow in Kate's usually sunny eyes, or the devastating anger in David's clenched fists, was too sad for the group. Jane just hoped she wouldn't be paired with them. Then it was no harm, no foul.
The redhead spoke quietly with Dwight and Nea, her braids shaking with her head as she told them "no." Everyone had noticed at this point that Dwight, Nea or Claudette checked on Meg each time she came back. She'd had a really bad set of runs recently though - enough to irritate some of her teammates out of speaking with her briefly - so perhaps it had something to do with that?
The tall, hairy man approached the group and spoke up softly with his eyes on Nea as he brandished a half-drunk six pack of beer. She shook her head now and motioned for him to go to the trading blanket, to which he shrugged and followed.
Another rush. Detective Tapp, Leon, Bill and Ash, this time. Cybil waved at them to join her and Chris' conversation before her hands stopped. Leon still had a limp and had to lean on Ash - not unheard of, but it usually meant more severe trauma than a stab wound had occurred on the other side. His eye was partially missing -
Jane looked away as Lisa and Claire ran up to remove him from Ash and set him on the ground so he could heal. As if on cue, Lisa burned away mid step, forcing Claudette to take her place at Leon's side. Nancy disappeared next. Then Bill again, as he swore loudly. Then Quentin.
The campsite was quiet for a moment before returning to the normal, low roar of whispered conversations and comparisons of sacrifices for the next trial.
There are stories here, Jane thought. Even more than what I'm seeing. I wonder if I could hear any of them, myself?