:: Fallout ::

"Hush now, dry your eyes
Fate is upon us
The changing of times
Welcome blood red skies
Burn in the wake of a world left behind" – Unsecret x Neoni

:: ::

The crackling of the fire was the first thing to awaken Quentin's senses. The heat was close and he felt the intense warmth surround him. Would he be burned alive?

Freddy… His brain tried to warn him. Freddy's coming. Get up! He groaned at the idea of getting up from his comfortable slumber, but he recognized he had no choice with danger so close. He forced his eyes open only to be met by that horridly marred face inches away. Instinct kicked in, his eyes going wide, and he swung, decking him in the jaw. A crack! sounded as his fist made contact and without hesitation he scrambled back up onto his feet, whirling around to escape.

He recognized someone was speaking to him, but he refused to listen to anything the nightmare had to say. He had only taken a few steps before he was tackled to the ground with a slide. Immediately Quentin began scrabbling at the ground to get some sort of object to defend himself with. Someone straddled him and suddenly his arms were pulled back and pinned to the ground.

"Fuck you!" He growled, turning almost feral. "I'll fucking kill you if it's the last thing I do! I'm going to send you straight to hell!" A hand grabbed his hair and pulled his head harshly up. He cried out in surprise as another hand clapped him on the side of his head.

"I'll fuckin' lamp ya right here if that's what you really want," A voice growled in response and the dreamwalker's body stiffened.

That's not Freddy?

"Who are…?"

"Who the fuck do you think?! Don't get cheeky with me!" The assaulter spat.

"Da…vid?"

"Who the fuck else?"

"David!" A female yelled out. "Get off him! You'll scare him away!"

"He fuckin' sucker punched me!" He called back, dropping his grip on the younger man's hair and Quentin let his body go limp in relief.

"You were in his goddamn face!"

"Fucker looked like he stopped breathin'! What was I supposed to do?" David growled in frustration.

"Nobody has ever permanently died here before, you're worrying over nothing!"

With a huff, the larger man leaned down and Quentin could feel the pressure increase on his arms.

"Are we going to have a problem?" David's husky voice questioned, surprisingly calm, his breath tickling the tip of Quentin's ear. His face flushed with embarrassment at his situation and he shook his head. After a moment of tension, the Englishman rolled off him and held his hand out within Quentin's sight to offer him help up. The younger reached out to accept but hesitated midway.

"You're a coward." The dreamwalker stated suddenly, shocking even himself. He wasn't even sure where the accusation came from and his brows furrowed in confusion. His mind flooded with past events leading up to this moment. Like a broken dam, anger and confusion began to drown him. Quentin pushed himself to his feet without assistance and point a finger at the other man.

"You left me to die! What the hell, man!?" He went to shove David as the man stood up. As if expecting this kind of reaction, David caught both the dreamwalker's wrists and held them together in a vice grip.

"I thought you agreed we wouldn't have a problem?" Just the calmness of the taller man's question sent Quentin over the edge.

"You're the fucking worst!" He yanked his arms back hard but was unable to dislodge himself from the overbearing man. "Let me go, asshole!"

"Mate, I'm about a stone's throw away from losing my temper. You're going to want to settle down. I'm not letting go till we can learn like proper children to keep our hands to ourselves,"

"YOU TACKLED ME! YOU ALMOST LET ME DIE!" Quentin screamed out in rage, his eyes tearing up with the memory of his attack. "She had her hands around my throat and you, you BOTH, just-!" Quentin fell silent mid-rant as his mind raced to keep up. A sense of dread washed over him as things weren't adding up.

"What… What happened to me?" He asked tensely, feeling small suddenly. "My neck… It doesn't hurt. T-The pain was so real. I don't… My neck?" He stumbled closer and met no resistance when he pushed his hands out to grab ahold of David's tank top, needing some sort of stability. "Did I… I mean I'm not tired… I don't hurt. Am I…?" He started to ask, and his voice broke off, not letting him finish the thought. Slowly, the Englishman let go of Quentin's wrists and he wrapped an arm around the insomniac's shoulders.

"Let's go talk about it with the others, yeah?" David whispered. "There's a lot to share."

Quentin just nodded. Stupefied, he let the taller man maneuver him back in the direction of the campfire and other survivors. He recognized Meg sitting at the end of the fallen tree in his haze, but other than that, all he could focus on was the arm guiding him.

He was led next to the red-head and he sat in the ground, his back supported by the tree that David sat on. Meg reached down and put a sympathetic hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, I don't believe we've been introduced," A voice broke his haze and he looked up to his right, seeing the same punk rock girl from before his trial crouching down next to him. He recognized her voice was the same one that was yelling at David earlier. "My name's Nea," The girl put out a hand for a handshake, he tentatively reached up and shook her hand.

"Uh, Quentin," He replied dumbly. "What's happening here? I survived, right?" He whispered out the last word, afraid of the answer.

Nea sat next to him on the ground, squeezing herself in the space between Quentin and David's leg.

"Really?" The Englishman asked.

"Yeah really. You and Meg are hogging the new guy. Let someone else talk to him for once," She turned back to said 'new guy' and gave a little rueful smile. "I know this is all going to sound like complete bullshit, but I need you to try to hear me out, okay?"

After a few slow moments, the dreamwalker nodded.

"So… No. You didn't survive," The girl broke the news quickly, to the point. Quentin sucked in a ragged breath and drew his knees to his chest, his arms folded on top, trying to prepare himself for the onslaught of information.

"This world is like purgatory," She pressed on. "We can't leave, but we can't die. It's like we've been spirited away from our lives in different timelines and forcibly held prisoner here. The one in charge is the Entity. It's like the 'god' of this world. It feeds off our emotions and the killer's anger and bloodlust. Reminds me of some Lovecraftian shit to be honest. You die, you wake up here, repeat."

"How long have you all been here?"

"Meg, Dwight, Claud, and Jake have been here the longest. Everyone else just started appearing one by one. Our last one before you was actually David, believe it or not. Regarding an actual timeline, it's hard to know. The days rarely change here. Could be a few days, months, or years. It's all blended together at this point for me really."

"We really can't leave?" Quentin asked dubiously, eyeing the forest surrounding their clearing.

"I wish we could, but we've never found a way. At least not yet." She must have picked up on him scanning the woods because she said, "You really don't want to go out there. The killers when outside of a… 'game'…" Using air-quotes with her hands, "they just roam the woods. They can't enter our camp, but once you leave the light of the fire, you're free game to them,"

"W-What does that even mean?"

"I think the Entity just wants to feed off us in those trials where we do the gens. That way we're feeding it on its own terms. We've never had a killer in our camp before. At least not to my knowledge,"

Quentin thought back to his encounter with Freddy here in the clearing. That had to be the reason Freddy couldn't hurt him then, right? He dropped his head to his arms on his knees and concentrated on his encounter. If it were true that he couldn't be hurt in the clearing, why was it that the man had still appeared? Was that real Freddy or just his dream? It wouldn't make sense unless that was actually Freddy, based on the nightmare's reaction. Freddy lived on in dreams though as a phantom. Did he really have a physical form that would wander the forest? Would that be why he appeared in the clearing? The dreamwalker fell asleep, thus providing a place to reside?

"Hey, don't get sad and mopey on me now," Nea said jokingly.

"Has someone tried dying to the killers in the forest? What happens to them?" He asked. His tone was indifferent. Even if he felt the crippling claws of despair reaching form him, he wanted to keep at least some semblance of pride.

"I have," Meg said after a moment of silence. She slipped off the bench and plopped down on the ground next to him. Quentin raised his head to look at her. "We agreed that someone has to try and I'm the fastest in our group,"

"And?"

She gave an embarrassed smile. She must've realized that Quentin was having a hard time taking the information and wouldn't meet his eyes. Maybe she knew exactly how he was feeling, maybe she was hiding her own despair from him.

"And I'm still here, aren't I? One of those freaks found me and tortured me to death. Next thing I remember I was waking up here."

"I'm… Sorry. That, that happened to you," He told her, genuinely sad she experienced something like that.

There was a long silence between the group and Quentin found himself scanning the tree line. Maybe if he looked hard enough, he could see one of these killers. He looked to his right past David and saw Feng sitting on the complete opposite side of the tree with Ace and two others he hadn't seen before. Quentin had no doubt they could hear his conversation, but they were talking amongst themselves even laughing occasionally.

Quentin felt foolish. Everyone here seemed to treat this while it was normal when it was anything but. Was he overreacting? There was no way he was though, right? Watching them interact made him question if he was being ridiculous.

"How far into the woods can I go before I'm considered in their territory?" He asked. Meg studied him for a moment before she shrugged.

"I feel like it changes based on the brightness of our fire. I'd say as long as you're casting a shadow opposite our camp, you should be okay."

Quentin hesitated a moment before pushing himself to his feet.

"I think… I need a minute," He stated flatly trying to make sure his tone wouldn't betray how confused and panicked he was.

"Do you want someone to go with you?" Nea asked, steeling the dreamwalker where he stood.

"No," He replied stiffly "I'll be good," then walked off. He wasn't a child needing a babysitter. He could take care of himself.

:: ::

The forest felt ominous to Quentin, it was like entering the void as he walked past the tree line. He trembled slightly, unsure if his overwhelming feelings were taking over or if it was his body's physical reaction to the forest.

The dreamwalker kept his eyes on the ground and tried to keep his eyes on the shadow, his shadow. The further in he walked, the smaller and fainter it became. He wasn't sure if he was pushing too far but at this point, a part of him didn't care. He stopped when he could only just barely see, or maybe he imagined, his shadow pointing to the darkness ahead. He found a large, sturdy-looking tree and sat under it, his back supported by it. He took off his jacket and crumpled it in his lap as he pulled his knees into his chest again. He positioned the crumpled fabric as a makeshift pillow and put his head down in his arms once more.

Nancy… I'm sorry. His eyes teared up and he felt the trembling shake his body again. It all felt so real, but rationally this place couldn't exist right? Right!? He begged for an answer of some sort but was only met by the sound of leaves gently rustling in the small breeze.

He held on to the small hope that this was all just a dream. He had read so many books when researching for a way to kill Freddy, that he was beginning to hope this was all an elaborate dream his subconscious mind conjured. The thought didn't comfort him much though.

Would Nancy think he abandoned her? His heart broke at the thought. Would she mourn for him? Thinking that he had met his end with Krueger? He desperately wished for a way to reach her. They had gone through so much together and his feelings had grown so strongly in the process. His resolve broke and his body began to wrack itself with sobs.

His dad… He'd never be able to repair his relationship with him either. After Quentin thought they had killed Freddy, he and his father never spoke. After the legal trouble of the hospital and convenience store was taken care of, he kept a heavy distance from his dad. He had been too proud to acknowledge that his dad was right in his accusation towards Freddy when he was the former gardener at Badham Preschool. Part of him also believed he was protecting his dad from the horrors he and his friends had endured. He felt stupid for it now.

He released a guttural cry as he lifted his face into his hands. There was so much left undone, unsaid. Would he never have a chance to rectify it?

:: ::

It felt like hours had gone by before the dreamwalker had cried himself ragged. He thought at one point he had heard someone rustling the brush nearby, but he brushed it off. He couldn't bring himself to care. He was laid out on his side by this point, facing deeper into the forest. His eyes burned and his mind begged to sleep from the exhaustion that pinned him to the ground, but his discipline towards sleep wouldn't let him. He felt sluggish and out of strength. He closed his eyes for a moment's rest, allowing himself a brief respite. For safety, he kept tapping his foot, giving him something to focus on to make sure he was still awake. He still couldn't wrap his head around it. His whole world swept out from under him overnight…

"Go to sleep, Quen," The demonic voice cooed from behind him. The dreamwalker's body tensed and his eyes shot open.

"I'm awake. You can't touch me," He tried to sound strong, but his voice quavered.

Freddy clicked his tongue.

"My poor little Quentin," He said soothingly. "All alone and broken… But I'm right here," the nightmare's voice sounded closer. "I'll always be here for you,"

"Go away!" Quentin yelled, having enough of the killer's bullshit.

"You can scream and cry all you want," Suddenly the voice was next to his ear, "I'm the only thing here tying you back to Nancy,"

"GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME!" The dreamwalker shot up, turning around on his knees to swing at the demon but he was met with David's confused face. Quentin froze, fist cocked back. He darted his eyes around scanning for Krueger but there was no sign of him. His body sagged in relief and he fell back into a sitting position, rubbing his face with the back of his hands to make sure there was no trace of his earlier meltdown.

"It's funny," He said breaking the few sweet moments of silence, feeling on the edge of hysterics. He looked up at David, "I keep seeing your face around me more and more. What the fuck do you want?" To his credit, David's face had regained composure as if nothing happened. He just shrugged.

"I know what it's like to be the 'New Guy'. You heard Nea, I was the new one before you. I figured if you needed someone t'lend an ea-"

"I'm not weak," The dreamwalker interjected coldly.

"I'm not trying to say you are, mate." The Englishman put his hands up in a peaceful gesture. "Never meant anything to imply that." He sat down a couple of feet away and leaned back into a tree.

Silent minutes passed by before Quentin laid back down and turned away from the man.

"Can you… Make sure I don't actually sleep? Quentin asked stiffly, feeling weird asking for help. His head was spinning, and he didn't trust himself to stay awake on his own.

"Uh, sure," The response felt awkward, but sure enough a few moments later… "What's your favorite color?"

Quentin snorted at how absurdly simple the question was and closed his eyes.

"Orange,"

"Why?"

"It reminds me of my childhood. I loved waking up to sunlight. It assured me I could swim that day." The dreamwalker could already imagine it. Waking up in his bed, the sun shining through his neon orange curtains. The light brightened the colors of his room and he knew it implied a day at the pool. "Did you do any sports?"

Silence.

"Rugby," David said softly. More silence followed. "What's your favorite food?" Quentin thought about it for a long moment.

"I think it'd have to be fettuccine alfredo. You?"

"There was a pub I used to go to and let me say, best fish n' chips of my life,"

They went back and forth like that for a bit. Just asking small things about their likes and dislikes. It was nice for Quentin. He felt himself relax slowly until it felt like he was just hanging out with his friends back home. The only difference is that Quentin had a question burning at the tip of his tongue.

"Why were you acting weird? In the trial."

Silence fell over them again.

"I'm, uh, bad at the emotion things," David finally admitted. "I thought if I complimented you or some shite you'd feel less, uh… scared. I guess I got embarrassed,"

"Scared?" Quentin scoffed. He finally got up and turned to face the other man. "When did I seem scared to you?"

"When you grabbed my shirt? Wait," the Englishman paused for a moment. "Was that not why you grabbed my shirt?" Quentin laughed.

"Absolutely not," Quentin could see the man's face redden. "I just didn't want you running out and getting caught. You looked like you were about to spring out at her at any moment,"

"Christ, guess I'm making an arse of myself all over again," His face was red and Quentin just chuckled. "Can… Can we just start over? Forget about me being pompous dick'ead?"

"Hmmm," the dreamwalker mused, "Denied." David threw up his hands in defeat.

"Worth a shot." He paused a moment and then his face went blank. "Who were you talking to earlier?"

Quentin felt dizzy, a sense of vertigo hitting him.

"Before you saw me, it looked like you were yelling at someone else… Or at least expecting someone else when you turned around." His eyes dropped to Quentin's torso and he smiled ruefully. "Looks like you're gonna have to pass on that question, yeah?"

Quentin looked down at his body and saw the tendrils of black smoke, making his body tingle where it touched him. Fear gripped at him, mixed with the same panic he felt when he first experienced the phenomenon.

"Just look for another survivor. You're gonna be okay," David reassured before things went dark.

:: ::

"Third time's the charm!" Feng cried out in relief, praising Quentin as she gave him a small shove as they were running away from the gen they just completed together.

"What? What are you talking about?" After a few more seconds she slowed to a walk as they reached a 'playground' and the dreamwalker followed suit.

"Meg introduced me when you first walked into the clearing and you asked me again for my name in our last trial together. This time you actually remembered my name. You're such a good boy," She cooed.

Quentin's face went red. Had he really done that? He felt bad about not remembering her name last trial but in his defense, things were maybe just a little crazy last they had met.

"I'll give you a gold star for that," She smiled and reached up to pat him on the head. He swatted at her hand and pulled his beanie down firmly on his head.

"Ok, ok. I'm sorry!" He chuckled. "I won't forget next time."

"I'm just teasing." She shrugged in response, "Anyway you did a great job, let's go find a door." She looked around, "Do you remember where they were?" Quentin initially shook his head at this before pausing and looking around, his eyebrows furrowed.

"I think I can see the levers from here actually..." Quentin admitted, looking towards the boat and back around him towards what he now knew was killer shack. His vision was fuzzy, but he could see a bight silhouette in each location of what he assumed to be the doors. "Can… Can you see this?" He asked incredulously. Feng's eyes went wide as she looked around.

"See what?"

"I think… I can see the levers powering the doors…" He pointed out towards the boat. "There might be a door over there,"

"Well let's check it out," Feng stated as she ran ahead of him.

They took off through their swampy surroundings towards the large boat near one of the doors. To Quentin's surprise, their trial had gone by surprisingly easy. He'd seen a hulking figure walking around and chasing Bill, (who was an older take-no-shit badass that he had met early into the trial) and Claudette (who he had the pleasure of meeting as he pulled her up, off a hook).

As they neared the door Feng slowed down and put an arm back to keep him away. She crouched down and moved slowly forward as if checking for something and then put her arm down.

"I think it's all clear," she said before walking to the lever to power the door. As she took her last step, there was a loud metallic snap. Feng cried out, dropping low to the ground, her hands prying at the large teeth of a bear trap that had closed around her leg. "He darkened his stupid traps!" She seethed in both a mixture of pain and anger.

Quentin had heard the metallic snapping sound but had not thought to ask about the source. There was no hesitation as he ran up next to her, his hands flying to assist in helping to open the trap.

"He's coming!" Feng grit out as he finally found purchase and opened it just wide enough to allow her leg through. The dreamwalker turned around to face the direction he'd come and sure enough, the large masked man was heading towards them from the front of the boat. He clenched his jaw and without notice ran towards the killer.

"Get the door!" He yelled back at her. He was too focused to even process if she replied. As he neared the man, a sense of dread washed over him, his instinct was to run the other way, but he didn't want to risk Feng's safety. With his heart pounding he ran as close as he dared before breaking off to the right. The killer swiped with his cleaver and missed with the sudden directional change. Quentin couldn't contain his relieved cheer.

He ran the masked man towards a waterless pier and ended up looping him around a window and pallet. He wasn't sure how long it normally took for a door to be opened but by the time he had thrown the pallet he figured the door should be close to opening. He heard the killer break the pallet and start stomping behind the Dreamwalker. He could hear the blaring alarm as the door began powering up and sweet relief filled him.

A few seconds later the blade of the cleaver slashed between his shoulder blades and down his back. Quentin cried out in pain, but to his relief, he heard the door shutter open and he sprinted for it. He was determined not to die as he had to the Nurse. With a whoop of celebration, Feng grabbed his arm as he ran past the gates and tugged him along until the entity sprung up behind them, signaling their inability to return.

Quentin slowed and stumbled to his hands and knees, panting at the exertion he had put his body through. He looked up to the other girl and used a hand to gesture at his back.

"Is it really bad?" He felt sweaty and could feel the burning sensation of his wound taking over his senses. She shook her head as she crouched down next to him, holding out a hand to help him up.

"Once we leave the trial, the wounds are gone. Your body will usually feel the aftereffects for a bit before it feels like nothing happened. Let's go rest back at the bonfire for now. I'm sure Nea will be excited for you,"

:: ::

He was baffled as Claudette examined his back. The pain lingered but there wasn't a scratch on him, just like Feng had stated. He shrugged his shirt back on, grabbed his jacket, thanked the botanist, then got up from the tree. Quentin locked eyes with the man who he now knew as Dwight and the other looked away quickly as if not wanting to be caught peeking at the dreamwalker. It struck Quentin as strange before he brushed it off and headed back to the forest. He chalked it up to the other man being a skittish guy which seemed pretty accurate based on how he reacted to his surroundings.

Not going as deep as he had previously, Quentin found a spot to lay down on a clear patch of the forest floor. He bundled his jacket and put it under his head as a makeshift pillow. Although his body physically healed its wounds, the physical exhaustion followed him like a dark cloud shadowing him. He had been tired before his trial and now after, his body begged for sleep. Quentin knew he should get up, but what if he was truly safe in the light of the campsite? He should be able to sleep peacefully right?

Watching the leaves overhead in the forest canopy for a few minutes, he realized they would sway towards the first and then a few seconds later, the other way. Like the forest was…

"Breathing…" Quentin said aloud, mesmerized.

"I would hope you are," Another voice chimed in. Quentin jumped at the soft voice. It wasn't menacing or loud, but the suddenness caused cold panic to grip at the dreamwalker. He recognized that voice.

"Nan…cy?" He asked quietly as he sat up and looked around. His heart soared at the idea of seeing her, but nothing seemed out of place. Silence bore down on him as thoughts raced through his head. Could it be her? If he was here, then she could be as well. He rose to his feet, leaving his jacket as he walked deeper into the forest.

"Nancy!" He hissed out, trying not to attract any unwanted attention. The further he walked into the forest, the denser the trees around him became.

"Quentin? Where are you?" Her voice echoed through the trees.

"Nancy! I'm right here!"

"Where… Where are we?"

"I'll explain later!" He called back, at this point he was frantic to find her. "We need to get out of this forest! I know a safe place, but you have to find me before they do!"

"Oh god. Freddy! Freddy's coming!" She screamed. Her voice grew frantic before she released a blood-curdling scream. That's when the dreamwalker froze, his blood running cold. Realization dawned on him with a crushing weight.

That's not Nancy. It can't be.

He whirled around and came face to face with the nightmare itself.

"Caught you, handsome" the scarred man menacingly sang. Quentin didn't have time to react before one of Freddy's claws pierced through his shoulder. The dreamwalker felt he was going to be sick and he let out a cry from the pain mixed with his growing fear.

"I'm not asleep!" He yelled grabbing the wrist of the hand that was embedded through him, trying to keep the man from doing more.

"Oh?" Freddy asked. Even with Quentin holding his wrist, the demon could still move his hand. He began turning his hand, twisting the blade in Quentin's shoulder. Quentin cried out in pain and to his horror, the man pulled him closer until their bodies were touching. "But you are." His gravelly voice assured him, his breath scorching hot on Quentin's cheek. "I learned quite a few good things since we first talked here. How about we do a little catch-up?"

:: ::

A/N: Thanks for reading. Sorry if things seem a little wonky. I'm figuring this out all over again.