It's the little things you miss, out in the fog. Snippets of your other life that mean so little to you back then. Some of the things you miss are so insignificant that it's almost funny.
When Feng was first taken, she constantly craved potato chips. Meg missed her pet parakeet, Miss-Miss, that she had gotten on her thirteenth birthday.
Then, when the conversations around the campfire deepened, the wishes became more sincere. David had never been able to tell his sister that he loved her.
And then there was Dwight. He felt embarrassed, and as the others shared their feelings, he sunk deeper into himself, hunching over as he perched on his spot on the log.
All Dwight had ever wanted was love. It didn't matter if it was romantic, or friendship.
He had been born to a family that treated him like a nuisance, and it seemed that no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't impress them or others. Sometimes, as they all laid under trees, napping in short breaks between trials, Dwight would lay awake and wonder.
Did anybody back home care that he was gone?
Relief bubbled up inside him as the fog gently encased him before his turn to share approached, cool mist wrapping around his ankles, arms, and finally eyes.
The conversation dimmed and faded, before Dwight found himself in a familiar place.
Cold Wind Farm. He didn't feel fear anymore during trials. It wasn't fun, that's for sure, but it was something to do. Something to distract him from these ...thoughts that he'd been having lately. He didn't want to tell the others. Truthfully, he didn't know if they'd care-but.
Dwight was losing hope. He knew what happened to those who have lost hope. He'd seen it happen. They became hollow shells of themselves and then one day they would no longer return to the campfire.
He crouched down and searched through a chest, pulling out a flashlight.
It wasn't much, but it would have to do. Running a hand through his short hair, he sighed and stretched before heading off in the direction of a generator.
Jane Romero liked to think that she had her life together, before all this. She had a fiance, a house that was mostly paid off, and her career. She had worked her ass off for that job, literally. She'd lost twenty pounds before the producer okayed her show, and even then he was always harassing her about her weight. Not that it mattered much. Aside from some internet trolls, the audience loved her. And she loved them.
So then, why had she drove her car into the lake? Even now, she wasn't sure of the answer.
Everybody thought she had it all, so why was she still unhappy?
Jane would have traded it all in, just to feel the way she had as a child, again.
It didn't matter now. Now, she was hauling ass on Cold Wind Farm, as the Doctor giggled behind her, sparks flashing from his body in a dizzying array of light. She vaulted through a window and doubled back the way she came, making sure she left footprints that led past a locker. Then, she quietly climbed inside. As expected, Herman raced after her footprints, his laughter and heavy breathing fading into the night. After a moment, she slowly climbed out, her knees shaking as she hit the grass again in the opposite direction.
A generator went off in the distance. There, that would distract him for now.
Jane walked through the cornstalks, listening for noises. She heard the steady noise of a generator, and tentatively approached. Dwight was busy fixing wires, squinting despite his glasses. She knelt next to him, startling the nervous man.
"Jane, you need to walk louder," he said, returning to the wires.
"I weigh enough. You need to pay more attention," Jane chidded. She pointed at a green wire. "See, you've crossed those wrong. It should be the red one." Dwight squinted harder.
"Oh. Thanks." She sat next to him and helped him for a few moments before speaking.
"You don't have to be so formal with me, you know?" Dwight glanced up with her, "I mean, I know that I was a 'celebrity' or whatever in our other lives, but that doesn't matter here."
Dwight was quiet for a moment, and Jane wondered if he was just going to ignore her, until he responded, his voice small.
"It's not that. I treat you like everybody else." Jane smiled.
"Alright. Nothing wrong with being shy, I was like that onc-"
"Listen, can we just focus on this?" Dwight snapped. It came out harsher than he'd intended.
"I'm just trying to make conversation here," Jane replied. "It gets lonely."
"Sorry," Dwight said, "I didn't...mean it that way." They finished the generator in silence before moving over to another. Kate was busy distracting the killer across the map, and there were only two generators left now. David was off cleansing totems, but Dwight was certain they'd be able to finish this without his help. They settled down on the generator for a moment before Jane spoke again.
"Listen, back there...I was being nosy. I'm sorry," she said quietly. Dwight's face reddened.
"It's okay. It's not that I'm shy, it's just…" he trained off before continuing, "I'm not friends with anyone here." Jane looked up and studied his face for a moment in confusion.
"Of course you are! You've been here longer than most of us."
"That doesn't mean I'm friends with them," Dwight ran on, "We're just all here."
"You seem friendly to me," Jane said. He sighed and looked at the ground.
"At the campfire, maybe. But here...it's every man for themselves. In the beginning, we all tried to work as a real team, you know? Nobody seems to do that anymore. Just a few trials ago, Nea ran out the exit gate when I was on the hook by the exit. The killer wasn't even there anymore." Jane winced. She knew what Dwight meant. It seemed like everybody was growing more selfish. She included herself.
"Nea probably panicked. It's easy to do that here-"
"I've been scared out of my mind, but I'd never do that," Dwight said softly. "Never."
Across the map, Kate gave a loud scream. "Shit," he said, standing up.
"I can finish the gen," Jane said, waving him off. Maybe it would make him feel better to play the hero, hopefully it would snap him out of this-funk. She hoped she was wrong about how Dwight felt, but she'd heard stories from the other survivors. About people she had never been able to meet, before-
Well, nevermind that now. She took her jacket off and wrapped it around her waist. It was never that cold at night in the entity's realm, and there was nobody to impress with her fashion statement.
Dwight wrapped his hands around Kate's waist and hoisted her off the hook. She grunted as she dropped to the ground.
"Thanks. Damn, I thought I had him too." He pulled some first aid supplies out of his medkit and unrolled some bandages.
"Don't worry about it. You've already helped a lot," Dwight replied.
"More than David, anyways," Kate said, kneeling down so he could dress the wound.
"I haven't seen him all match." A generator went off in the distance, both their heads shooting up."Hell yeah, Jane!" She cheered in a loud whisper. "She's just as cool as I remember."
"What do you mean?" Dwight asked, looking up from his lackluster bandaging. "You knew each other before all this?"
"Sort of," Kate replied, the twang in her voice more pronounced suddenly, as she thought back of home, and her golden days in the spotlight. "She interviewed me on her talk show."
"I never watched her show," Dwight admitted, "I didn't have cable."
"You probably never listened to me sing either," Kate said, "And now you get to listen to me at the campfire constantly, whether you want to or not. See, something good came out of this."
Despite himself, Dwight smiled. He finished bandaging her wound and packed the supplies back into his kit.
"Alright," he said, "You're good to go." She stood and flexed her muscles.
"Sweet." Kate gathered her flashlight off of the ground and took off in a sprint, following the direction of the heartbeat, prepared to torment Herman Carter again. Some matches he would ignore her, if he couldn't take the looping and flashlight blinds anymore. Eventually, he wouldn't be able to stand it, and would chase her around, trying to swat her down like an annoying, ever buzzing fly. Kate was aware of this, and revelled in it.
Dwight noticed the light of a generator and headed towards it, kneeling down next to Jane again.
"How's it going?" She asked.
"Fine, Kate's got it covered," Dwight replied. She was silent for a moment.
"-I didn't mean it that way," She muttered. "I meant, how's it going with you?" Dwight didn't respond, his brow furrowing as he feigned intense interest in a pair of wires. "Dwight…"
"It's grand, okay? Awesome. Stupendous. I'm trapped in the realm of a demon god and nobody else here even cares if I live or-" He stopped himself, his cheeks flushing. His voice had gotten dangerously loud, and both of them quickly checked their surroundings.
"That's not fair, Dwight…" Jane whispered after a moment, both of them equally embarrassed, "You can't say nobody cares about you."
"I didn't mean it," Dwight replied. "I got caught up in the moment."
Which is when people say what they really mean, Jane thought to herself. Across the map, they heard Kate scream again. They looked at each other with concern. She had made it to the second phase on the hook last time.
"Well," Jane said quietly after a moment, as Kate's dying scream echoed across the map.
"We only have two generators left. Shouldn't be hard." Dwight's brow furrowed. He'd heard that one before. Just as soon as they finished the repair, David screamed across the map.
"Oh, god damn it!" Dwight hissed. "This is what he gets for not doing shit."
"I can go get him," Jane said, heading towards the noise.
"No, I'll do it," Dwight said. "All these repairs are starting to make my head spin anyways."
Jane watched as he disappeared around the wall, a bad feeling rising in her stomach.
The Doctor had dropped David in the basement, but hadn't hooked him. Dwight knew a trap when he saw one. It wasn't particularly clever either. One of the few gifts the entity had given survivors was the ability to see your teammates when downed, and he waved his hand at David in a come hither motion. David didn't move. If he just came up the stairs…
Dwight groaned quietly in annoyance, creeping out from behind the safe cover of a tree.
He couldn't hear the tell-tale heartbeat or static that came from the doctor, but he knew he was down there. He fought internally with himself for a moment. David had been useless all match-
But, he had also saved Dwight's ass many times. He, unfortunately, owed him one. Kate had already saved David earlier in the match the first time. The second had to be on him.
Dwight slowly vaulted the window, landing softly on the shack's wooden floor. The stairs were to his left, and he cautiously stepped down, his heart in his chest. The lighting from the basement was always so ominous, that even though he had been hooked here hundreds of times, he was never quite able to get over the terror that built in his chest.
Carefully, he peeked from behind the wall. David lay in the corner of the room, facing Dwight. The Doctor loomed over him, his back to David's rescuer. The downed man noticed Dwight, but tried to disguise his expression before the Doctor noticed. It didn't work. Herman turned quickly, his eyes landing on Dwight. The man opened his mouth, to say what, he wasn't sure, until he noticed the pleased look in the Doctor's eyes. He rubbed his hands together.
Oh. Shit.
David screamed as Herman cupped his hands on either side of his head, sending sparks shooting through his skull. Horrified, Dwight turned and sprinted up the stairs, away from the dying man's screams. It never got easier to watch. What gift had the entity given Herman? Was it the power to kill only one survivor...or...
He had to tell Jane. Dwight ran in the opposite direction, before slowly creeping back the way he came, and then to the left instead. Herman would probably fall for that trick again. He always did. He found Jane on the far side of the map, almost done with the second to last generator.
She looked up with concerned eyes.
"That scream…" the woman started, "was it?..."
"Yes," Dwight muttered, sinking to the ground next to her. They finished the generator and crept behind a large rock together. "I don't- I don't want to be electrocuted…" He felt like an idiot saying it. Obviously, he didn't. Nobody did. But, to Dwight, it meant something different. He didn't know if he'd be able to go through this again. The generators, the chasing, the pain, the screams of his friends...to die in one of the most painful ways, and then come back….
Maybe it's not so bad to become hopeless. It's peaceful there, in the void.
"You won't be electrocuted," Jane said firmly, her lips setting in a fine line. "There's only one generator left. We can do it." Dwight nodded weakly as Jane stood up, her hands on her hips.
"Follow me. It'll be faster together." They kept to the edge of the map, Dwight falling behind.
As soon as they knelt down at the generator, static filled the air. Both of them screamed in pain, gripping their heads as watts of electricity raced through them.
"Shit," Jane panted a moment later, as they caught their breath. "He's close."
Dwight crouched behind a tree several yards away as Jane slipped into a locker.
His chest tightened as Herman Carter strode from behind a wall. He looked at the ground, and back up at the locker. Jane…! She had run for a moment in panic when the electricity started to surge. Were the scratch marks still visible? His question was answered in a mere second as Herman wrenched the locker open, grabbing a startled Jane by the neck. She shrieked and pounded on his shoulders as he carried her to the hook, throwing her on it.
Dwight winced as she howled in surprise and pain.
Satisfied, Herman nodded vigorously at her before walking off. Dwight waited a moment before sprinting forward and lifting her off the hook.
"Ohhh…" Jane moaned, "that never gets easier." She pressed a hand to the bleeding gash in her shoulder.
"Here," Dwight said, leading her with him to the shack. They quietly crept down the basement steps. It was one of the safest and most dangerous areas in the map, depending. Herman shouldn't be close, so it was worth risking. Complete visual coverage.
Dwight pulled out a needle and set to work on Jane's wound. She pressed her hand to her mouth to keep in her cries as he sewed the hole closed as quickly as he could. It didn't have to be the best quality work, the survivors had discovered. They would be healed at the campfire immediately after the match.
As he finished bandaging it, Jane turned to him. His face reddened as he noticed the tears that glistened in her eyes.
"Dwight…" she started, before they both froze. Static shot through the air. As the electricity tore through them, Dwight pressing his hands to his head, the Doctor laughed directly on top of them. They looked at each other with panicked eyes. There was no way to exit, not without him hitting one of them.
"...Follow behind me," Dwight said softly. He took a tentative step up the stairs, braced himself, and shot forward. Herman followed him quickly as he sprinted and vaulted out of the window, swinging at him and missing. Dwight looked behind him as he ran, before freezing.
Herman wasn't following anymore.
"...Jane!" He yelped, running back towards the basement. He heard Jane scream before he saw her, vaulting out of the window and towards him. A fresh gash lined her back.
"Dwight!" She yelled, running towards him. Jane reached a hand out towards him, and Dwight went to take it, before she thrust something into his hand. Herman's laughter echoed behind her.
"A key?" Dwight asked cluelessly.
"The hatch," Jane sputtered breathlessly, "It's on the south end of the map!"
"Let's go then!" Dwight demanded, grabbing her hand. They ran together, hand in hand. Red light shone suddenly on their backs.
"Fuck, he's on us!" Dwight yelled. The hatch came into view, only a few yards ahead.
"There isn't time," Jane said suddenly. Her hand slipped from his. Dwight turned his head in time to see Herman's weapon slam onto her back, knocking her to the floor. The hatch was now only five yards in front of them.
"Jane!" He yelled. The Doctor's eyes gleamed and he looked at Dwight with anticipation. He slowly rubbed his hands together.
"Go!" Jane shrieked, her eyes landing on Dwight's with a wild frenzy. "You can make it!"
Dwight was unable to move, a deer in headlights.
"Why did you let go?" He asked, his voice timid as a child's. Tears he didn't know he had left spilled over the corners of his eyes, painting rivers on his cheeks.
Jane looked up at him as the Doctor kneeled over her, his hands reaching for her face. At the sight of his tears, a genuine smile stretched over her face, as her eyes welled up as well.
"Oh, Dwight…" Jane said, as Herman's hands closed over her, electricity swelling up.
"We're friends, aren't we?"