Sing with Me - Chapter 5

Ever since her and Yun-Jin's fight at the campfire Kate throws herself into match after match to avoid the woman, never lingering long at the campfire. Especially not if Bill is there. She doesn't want to see the disappointment in his eyes - or worse - for him to ask for her to try and get along with Yun-Jin. She knows it's childish to keep running away from the two of them, but at this point it's just an extension of her running from Ji-Woon. And she's fairly certain the woman despises her.

Whenever she does catch sight of Yun-Jin at the campfire the woman is quick to glare at her in Bill's absence. Even after stepping into the fog she can feel daggers burning into her back.

Kate doesn't doubt she would be pushed into another wall or straight into a roaring chainsaw if the woman was forced into a match with her and so she reflexively counts the people around the fire each time she comes back from the fog. Just to make sure there's more people than necessary for a trial.

The fog clears in the next instant and the foundry looms above her, sending a shiver down her spine.

It's just a building, Kate.

But it feels alive. Every time she sees the massive ironwork she can almost imagine the people that used to work here, that would dig deep into the mines that the entity has not yet permitted access to. Due to… a cave in? She's not sure. Something tragic happened, that she's certain of.

She's never been transported into a trial and thought the locale was appropriate for a rodeo. Every location manifested by the entity is a victim of tragedy and it continues even now because of the trials. The suffering of these places will never end. Not as long as the entity continues on. Her, Bill… all of them were going to keep dying here, until finally the entity granted them mercy. It was just a question of if that was an ultimate death or another form of hell.

She didn't want to keep dying though, just getting injured scared her at times… she wanted out. But if this place taught her anything it was that praying was pointless.

She should find a generator.

Kate quickly glances around her before finding a flickering light and runs over to crouch down and starts fiddling with the wires. After a second she can hear leaves crunching softly beneath shoes and her gaze flickers up to spot Dwight creeping around the wood panels, his eyes only meeting hers after scanning the area.

"Oh, hey Kate."

"Hey." She turns her attention back to the generator, satisfied that it wasn't Ghostface lurking in the bushes.

"Um, if it's any consolation, no one really likes Yun-Jin. What she did to you was wrong." Kate's hands stumble for a moment, the wires hissing softly at her fingers as she processes what he said. "We're all supposed to be a family. We shouldn't hurt each other. And… I think it's normal to occasionally get overburdened here."

Dwight falls silent in the next few seconds and Kate was sure he wanted her to respond to his little speech. She'll admit, he tries to act the role of leader sometimes. It's always unexpected though, and she's not sure what she would say. A 'thank you' seems inadequate after her own display at the campfire. She wasn't exactly in the right either for trying to start a fight, knowing their situation better than Yun-Jin did. Of course, the woman probably understood by now.

She still can't believe that woman shoved her.

Dwight clears his throat as the generator slowly gets louder. "How did you know her name, though? Yun-Jin didn't mention it before, or since. She doesn't really talk to anyone."

Kate's fingers nearly drop the cable she had a hold of, shoving it into place a moment later. "Her and the new killer know each other. I heard her name from him after she shoved me." There's no way she's going to tell Dwight the full story. It was rare that anyone spoke to a killer, even more rare for it to not just be begging for mercy. Not that any of them really listened.

"What did he say exactly?"

Her shoulders shrug on impulse. "He called Yun-Jin a cunt that spoiled his fun."

"Hmm," Dwight seems to focus on the generator again, with the roar increasing every passing second. They were almost done. It would be best to stay focused and not slip up, not when they were so close. Just four more to go, after this. Hopefully the others are working on their own.

Thump. Thump.

Kate's fingers twitch at the sound of the heartbeat, gaze flickering around her, but the tall wooden boards that make up the walls around them obscure most of her vision. She can hear Dwight take in a deep breath across from her and Kate presses her shoes more firmly into the ground, the mud squelching up around the sole.

"Kate?" Dwight's voice shakes as the heartbeat gets louder. They were so close…

"It's okay. I'm not going anywhere. Let's get this gen done and get out."

Seconds later the gen roars to life, bathing their area in a beam of light for an instant. Kate is blinded, but she can still hear Dwight scream, as the killer must have come around his corner swinging.

She springs up to her feet even as she hears Dwight start running, determined to give him a few seconds head-start. But she freezes when she sees Ji-Woon standing there, bat in hand, now dripping blood.

He grins at her. "I was beginning to think you were avoiding me, jag-eun sae."

Her heart starts beating in her chest again and Kate whirls around, taking off at a dead sprint, though she knows she's not as fast as Meg. Forget buying Dwight a few seconds, she had just bought him the entire length of the match. If she could outrun Ji-Woon.

His laughter is quick to follow her. Another generator pops in the distance and she tries to push off against the ground harder, to go faster.

A knife whizzes by her side and Kate launches herself to the right behind a tree, to cut off his view of her for even a second. To put something between them.

Just running wasn't going to be enough though, he would catch up to her eventually. She needs to find a pallet, a window. Adrenaline rushes through her veins and suddenly she can see everything crystal clear. Two windows to her left within the shack walls, a pallet to her right between some tires.

Kate darts to the left, leaping through the window as a number of knives hit the wood beneath her. As soon as her feet touch the ground she's moving around the wall, keeping her body as close as she can while getting behind the second row and continuing to run. The heartbeat doesn't stray though, he's still too close for comfort.

The last thing she wanted was to get hit by his bat. Kate peels off from the walls, running across the field and into the woods, darting between the trees, keeping a careful eye out even as his laughter gets louder. Once it's nearly on top of her Kate rounds another tree, fingers reaching for the ridge of a pallet and she slams it down behind her.

There's a yell behind her, but she doesn't pay it any mind. Just keep moving.

Another generator goes off in the distance.

And then there's metal whistling through the air again. Kate gasps when three hit her in quick succession: nicking her right outer thigh, a brief pain flaring out from her left side, one nearly embedding itself into her arm.

Once again she darts forward, this time moving to the right, towards another stack of tires. It's not great cover, but it's the only thing close by. Kate ducks behind it, pushing herself forward. The action causes her to slow down and she mishears his footsteps for a few seconds.

Ji-Woon comes around the corner ahead of her and Kate nearly slams to a halt, feet sliding in the dirt as she tries to spin her body back around, fingers gripping at the tires so she can push against them to try and give herself a burst of speed.

"Where do you think you're going, jag-eun sai? I haven't even begun to have fun with you."

Her heart skips a beat right before she feels metal dig into her back, slashing across, the blade threatening to clip her spine in two. A scream tears it way up her throat and she lurches forward, adrenaline pumping anew through her veins.

"Yes, yes! Do that again! Scream for me!"

Against her better judgment Kate glances back as she sprints forward. Those golden eyes are glittering, a satisfied smile on his lips as he licks at the blade. But past him…

Past him is Yui, shoving the pallet she had thrown earlier back into place. Dwight is with her, watching as Yui must be explaining how best to pick the heavy thing up even with his less muscular frame. Even so Yui's eyes are trained on Ji-woon, a fire burning within them.

The last generator roaring to life reaches her ears and Kate feels a brief sense of relief rush through her. She might actually be able to get away. To not be caught and killed in this match.

Her chest heaves as she gasps in air, feet directing her to the ironworks as Ji-woon has resumed his chase, laughing behind her. And then the whistling of metal starts again and Kate curses under her breath.

He still had plenty of knives to throw at her it seemed.

She launches herself through the open window and into the foundry, trying to ignore his thunderous footsteps moving to the hole in the wall nearby. Fuck, fuck, fuck. Run out of them already!

Kate sprints to her left, reaching out to grasp at the railing and pulling her body around the corner and up the stairs. Her boots hitting the metal beneath her make it sound like she's in the middle of a thunderstorm. There's knives glancing off the stone around her, zig-zagging in all directions. Most miraculously missing her. She couldn't tell if he was getting desperate or just having fun. There were only so many places she could run to up here after all. He probably thought he had her cornered.

She continues running onto the catwalk, letting out a breath of relief as she hears a disappointed shout behind her. He must be out of his knives, finally.

A piece of metal ricochets off the wall, digging into her calf and Kate yells from the pain flaring in her leg. The way it pulses out in a ring with each step she takes, but there's no time to bend down and pull it out.

He's laughing and she reaches the other end of the catwalk, purposely misstepping close to the edge and letting out a wail to egg him on. She falls forward, teetering on the edge. She can practically see his golden eyes flashing, his tongue snaking over his lips as she begins falling. And he happily jumps down.

Kate redirects her fall as fast as she can, her hip bumping into the catwalk but she clamps her mouth shut even as her body continues to slide down. Her fingers darting out in front of her to curl around the metal. A dull ring sounds out as she comes to a stop, body hanging off the edge, swaying in the air.

Slowed footsteps sound beneath her and she glances down to see Ji-woon smiling up at her. "Was this your plan, goyangi? To tempt me by dangling like a piñata?"

A chill runs down her spine, even though she's not hanging nearly low enough for him to take a swing at her. And somehow even falling from a height of three-stories here never seems to hurt. There's only ever a little jolt from the impact, though she supposes her leg would hurt like hell if she dropped now. What with the knife still embedded in her.

Kate turns her gaze back around, trying to ignore him as the metal digs into the palms of her hands. Pull yourself up, damn it. She strains her arms, right hand loosening briefly as she adjusts her grip and tries to heave herself back up onto the platform.

With a gasp she slips back down, breath coming fast as she stares up at the roof. She doesn't have the energy to pick herself up. She's going to fall. Directly down into Ji-woon's waiting arms.

"Hey, asshole!" Yui? She glances down to see the fellow survivor standing in the doorway. "There's more than one of us in this trial! Come chase me you piece of shit!"

Ji-woon frowns, gaze slipping from her to look at Yui. "Go away. I'm not interested in you."

Soft footsteps sound above her and Kate looks up to see Dwight and Min. They reach down and grasp at her bloodied arms, pulling her up over the edge.

There's a shout beneath her a moment later. Ji-woon must have glanced up again and noticed she was no longer dangling like a piece of meat. Dwight murmurs assurances as he pulls the knife from her leg, Min wrapping bandages around the cuts on her body. Kate winces but remains quiet as they do their best to stop the bleeding.

"You filthy little rats! I'll fucking kill you!"

"Yeah? Looks to me like you're just standing there."

With a scream of rage she hears metal ring against stone beneath her, footsteps running away, the heartbeat growing quieter.

"He's gone," Dwight mutters, his voice shaking a bit.

"I can't believe he wouldn't go after the rest of us. Just allowing us to do the generators is stupid. If left alone we can do them quite quickly." Min vents her frustration at the whole situation.

In normal circumstances Kate would agree, but… "He doesn't care if the rest of you get out. He just wants me." She takes a breath, finally allowing her own heartbeat to calm.

"Why? It's not like you've been pissing him off the way Nea does."

"Or Yui, for that matter." Dwight chips in.

"Yeah. She's…. something else." Min finishes with the last bandage, standing up. "Any idea why he's so fixated on you Kate?"

She knows exactly why, but she doesn't want to admit to accidentally gaining his attention in that first match. "None. Besides me slipping away before. He got everyone else that trial. Maybe he just wants to complete the collection."

Min sighs, but before she can speak again Kate pushes herself up.

"Thanks, you two. Which way is out?" I don't want to be here anymore.

Dwight exchanges a glance with Min. "I'll go open the west door. You two hide nearby in case he comes around. Be ready to make a run for it once the door is open."

"Got it. I'll keep him from hitting Kate even if he does come by."