The trees shouldn't have been there. The sky should have been bright – like, just hit noon bright. And it should have been behind a ceiling.
Truth be told, it was the smell that woke me up. Fresh dew and campfire smoke were far flung from the computer room smell I was used to. Not that my mind was clear. It stayed pretty fuzzy.
Long enough for a familiar face to appear above me, accurately confused by who I was. I focused on the very German nose that held a pair of glasses for a pair of Korean eyes. It gave me time to sort out what I could remember.
"Hey." The lower tone of the man's voice confirmed my suspicions.
"Hi," I responded. "Did L.A. Suddenly get more trees?"
"Not that I'm aware of. Would say it's nice to meet a fan here, but..." He looked around. "Not sure where 'here' is, but it doesn't look nice."
I finally managed to sit up to take in my surroundings. A dense fog surrounded us, trees just visible in the mist. The two of us sat near a bright campfire that warded away the cold that threatened to take my fingers. It left a sinking feeling in my gut. The entire scenario felt too familiar, especially with what I could remember after turning on my computer.
"So, you already know me, I'm guessing," he said to break the silence.
"Humor me, anyway," I replied, shifting to sit on a log with him. He was probably used to it, but shit, anything that could be considered normal would help my nerves.
He offered me a small grin and held out a hand. "I'm Mark."
I took it and tried to offer back my own grin. It was probably really weak. "Ani."
His grip was more firm then mine, though it wasn't uncomfortable. It did make me a tad self conscious though.
"Nice to meet you, even if the setting isn't the greatest."
"Same. Though I'd say the setting graduated to terrifying."
Mark shuddered with a grimace. "Ugh, Balloon Boy is NOT the face I need to think of right now."
I sulked a bit apologetically. "Sorry."
His eyes darted to me briefly, and he straightened up, "Hey, hey, no, that's not- Ah, dammit, no, it's fine, this is just. Really unnerving."
"Tell me about it," I muttered in response. "It doesn't help that I think that, uh."
"This might be Dead by Daylight?"
Mark stood up again, rubbing the back of his neck. "I was about to stream it with Jack, bobby, and Wade. You?"
"I was about to start recording my own sessions, yeah. Maybe we ended up in your version. We're waiting on one of them to show up, right?"
"Yeah, totally. Uh. Except." Mark stared at the ground in exaggerated shame.
"You were going to be killer first, huh?" I groaned. He nodded in response. "Okay, well. If this is Dead by Daylight, we still need four. Right?"
We looked around the fire.
We both screamed.
Murmurs like knives dug into my ears.
P̸͙͂a̶̰͚̽̏w̵̮̯̎n̴̯͋ṡ̴̢̫̚ ̴̬͒t̷͌͜ò̵͉̫͋ ̶̠́̈p̴̘̭͒l̸̻̰͐a̷̧̔̽y̶̼̏̐ F̴͈̠̆o̴̟̿ù̸̯r̶̼̊̀ ̸̣̒̾a̷̳̒g̷̫̞͝͠ǎ̶͓͉i̴̲̙̇̽n̴̡͚̍͗s̴͚̭̈́t̵̟̊̈ ̴̭̮̂o̷̼̊̚n̴͓̭̒e̶̛̺̭͂P̶͖̈̅l̷͔̠̃̄ẹ̴̲̏̄a̶̯̘̓ṣ̶͓͊e̸͔̠͘͘ m̷̻͂̎e̷͔̩͆̔,̸̣̓͆ ̵̲͝p̶̢̖͊̍ë̷̯̒ẗ̴͇͍́̈́s̸̙̺̕ T̷̪͛w̸̮͐̚o̸̗̊ ̷̞̳̒͂f̶͙̻̀͠i̷͍̼͒̃g̷̻͐h̶̢͗t̴̝̺̐ ̷̘͊̎ṭ̷̅̓h̴̫̜͛̃ř̵̨̛é̸̬͑ë̴̳̠́̒
"Okay," I yell, more to calm myself then be heard. "Not crazy, there's voice?"
"Yup!" Mark yelled back, as tense as I felt.
P̸͙͂a̶̰͚̽̏w̵̮̯̎n̴̯͋ṡ̴̢̫̚ ̴̬͒t̷͌͜ò̵͉̫͋ ̶̠́̈p̴̘̭͒l̸̻̰͐a̷̧̔̽y̶̼̏̐ F̴͈̠̆o̴̟̿ù̸̯r̶̼̊̀ ̸̣̒̾a̷̳̒g̷̫̞͝͠ǎ̶͓͉i̴̲̙̇̽n̴̡͚̍͗s̴͚̭̈́t̵̟̊̈ ̴̭̮̂o̷̼̊̚n̴͓̭̒e̶̛̺̭͂
P̶͖̈̅l̷͔̠̃̄ẹ̴̲̏̄a̶̯̘̓ṣ̶͓͊e̸͔̠͘͘ m̷̻͂̎e̷͔̩͆̔,̸̣̓͆ ̵̲͝p̶̢̖͊̍ë̷̯̒ẗ̴͇͍́̈́s̸̙̺̕ T̷̪͛w̸̮͐̚o̸̗̊ ̷̞̳̒͂f̶͙̻̀͠i̷͍̼͒̃g̷̻͐h̶̢͗t̴̝̺̐ ̷̘͊̎ṭ̷̅̓h̴̫̜͛̃ř̵̨̛é̸̬͑ë̴̳̠́̒
"And that one almost made sense," Mark called out.
Silence followed.
"Did we scare it off?" I asked tentatively. After a moment more, we both sat down.
Pawns to play
I shuddered. The voice played like a whisper near my ear and dug into my head like a horrible ache.
Four against one.
I exchanged terrified expressions with Mark.
Please me, pets.
"No rubbing in the woods," I muttered beneath my breath. The slight smirk at the corner of Mark's mouth told me he heard it.
Two fight three.
I fell backwards off the log as the fire erupted into black. Tendrils shot out towards us. Darkness incarnate. Even the brilliant firelight that returned didn't change the pitch of the now approaching Entity. A black hole. I tried to scramble away, but it caught my ankle.
The world went black.
My vision cleared to cornfields, the small of musky hay around me. For a brief moment, I wondered if I landed back in Indiana. Then my brain realized everything had an orange-yellow hue to it. I had never seen sunlight wash everything so completely.
"Ani!" The harsh whisper made me sit up straight. I let the goosebumps settle before I crawled my way over to where Mark was hiding, behind a larger rock. I took a moment to steady my breath.
"This is seriously happening?" he growled to nothing in particular, a hard light in his eyes. My throat tightened, my entire body tense. It hadn't been at me, but... He snapped out of it. "Shit, hey, calm down, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to- Fuck."
I let out a huff of air, trying to wipe the tears from my face. "No, shit, sorry, I just- Fuck. I don't know, this looks exactly like Coldwind Farm." My pulse raced. Would we even know if whoever was hunting us was near?
"Yeah. Shit, it's exactly like the damn game."
"I don't know how generators work, let alone how to repair them!" I felt panic welling up in my chest. I was going to be useless.
Mark put a hand on my shoulder. "It's fine. We'll figure this out. We got this."
My breath was ragged. I would be doomed if the killer was near. Who even was it?
"The trapper? Hillbilly? Bing bong?" I muttered to myself, trying to remember all the ones that had been added later.
"Bing bong? It's more of a ding."
I froze, then looked sheepishly at him. "My roommate refers to it as a Bing Bong. It, uh, just sort of stuck."
A slight chuckle escaped him. "Alright, that's fair." He pointed towards a worn down wall. "I can see the lights of a generator over there. Might as well see what we're up against, right? Should just be able to get power and stay hidden. Easy."
"Easier on a computer screen when you can actually see around you," I muttered.
"Don't be like that," he huffed. "We'll get out of here. Who knows, maybe it's just one wild dream."
"Wouldn't be the first one," I respond.
"See, there you go! Let's get to work."
I let him take the lead, ears trained on the area around us. The rotten wood stung my nose as we rounded the barrier to the large mechanical box on the other side. For the briefest moment, I stared at the tangle of tubes and wires hopeless. Then, something compelled me forward. A thought in the back of my mind. I reached through the guts of the machine and pulled at a loose pipe far within.
Clunk
The first piston began to pump, ever so slightly. I bit my grin to keep from making noise. Mark gave a silent fist pump, then knelt beside me. We went to work.
I will never be able to explain how, but we pulled and twisted the innards of that machine with the lead of some other worldly force. I tried not to think about it.
Mark gave a hard yank on the last piece, and the lights flared to life. We gazed in awe at our handy work. We exchanged brilliant grins, then Mark's eyebrows knitted together.
"Shit, are you alright?"
After my confused look, I followed his gaze to my hands. Small cuts crisscrossed my palms. I hadn't even noticed and told him as such. They weren't bleeding. Anymore. Mark started to protest something.
Ba bump.
My heart pounded in my ears.
Ba bump. Ba bump.
We bolted. Before long, I pulled Mark's shirt to get him to stop and half-crawled my way behind a large boulder between the generator as a tall stone fence I could only imagine was the edge of the arena.
Ba bump ba bump ba bump
I tensed as footsteps ground the dead grass on the other side of the boulder. I prayed it – whatever it was – hadn't seen us.
Heavy breathing.
More steps.
Away.
And away.
My heart stopped pounding my ears, though it continued to pound my chest. I tried to calm it down.
"The fuck was that?" Mark breathed.
"Four against one," I murmured. "Though it isn't Bing bong."
"Ding dong."
There was a brief pause, then I burst into a fit of giggles. I looked up to see Mark smiling a little, color returning to his face. Good to know I wasn't the only one scared shitless.
"We should get moving."
We were nearly done with the next generator when we discovered the other two survivors. Two boys about my age. They had just finished a generator each.
I slammed a plug into the machine, and the lights flared. As we slinked away, Mark asked the two their names. They replied with Kevin and Vince. Mark offered a broad grin.
"Well, we only need one more, right?"
"In theory," I muttered, immediately regretting it when Mark's face fell a little. I really had to try to be more optimistic. "But there should be more then we need. Do either of you know who's after us? We didn't get a good look."
"Some freak with a chainsaw." Vince sighed. "Caught me off guard with his hammer." He pulled up his shirt to show off an awkwardly patched up bruise.
"Hillbilly," I groaned. "It really is a fucking recreation of-"
rrrrRRRRR
"Scatter!" Kevin yelled and tackled me. My heart pounded in my ears again. A misshaped form form burst past the spot I had been moments before. Mark and Vince helped us up. All four of us bolted into the cornfield. My head pounded to the beat of my heart. I rounded a haybale, questioning the logic of the closet on the other side only briefly before I ran up to it and slammed the door. As the noise echoed, I scuttled my way to some bushes nearby and stayed low to the ground.
My heart no longer hurt my ears. My legs pulsed in pain. I was alone.
Shit. I was alone.
I crawled out of the bushes to gather my bearings. Haybales and a thin cropping of trees surrounded me. A tilted and dying building loomed nearby. Against my better judgement, I made my way towards it. If this really was like the game, there would be a generator there.
The wood creaked beneath my feet. Crickets started to chirp. Crows cooed close by. I climbed the rickety stairs and hoped it held. If I didn't look down, I'd be fine. Sure enough, on the balcony of the second floor, sat the dead generator. I climbed over the window, then stopped.
Clear as day on the other side of the overhang, sat a chest. I waited just a moment, then approached it. The lid was heavy, but after a lot of effort, I managed to get it open. There was a lot of junk, but just beneath it, I could see a dark red shape.
I tried to contain my squeal of joy as I reached for it. Retrieving it made more noise then I expected. Once the red medical bag was in my possession, however, I heard it.
A chainsaw revved.
My heart leapt. I crawled back into the house. A closet sat across the room. I slipped in as my heartbeat started to pound in my ears. The chainsaw rang.
A scream of pain echoed.
My stomach plummeted.
A horn blared outside. I felt a warmth draw me to either side, though I noted to myself the right felt closer. A cold rock plummeted through my body, followed by a pained yell. I dared peek out.
Nothing.
I crept out and followed the cold pull. My heartbeat left my ears. A set of stairs descended further into the house, down into the ground. Every bone in my body told me to leave. That this would end poorly, but the cold stone dragged me down, towards whoever had gotten hooked.
The stench of blood and decay nearly made me pass out.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
Vince. He hung from a rusty hook, which pierced his shoulder that bled so badly, only splotches of his shirt remained unstained. Hands shaking, I grabbed his chest, just beneath his arms. Unholy strength pulsed through me, and he slid easily from the hook. Dark tendrils crept along the wound and sealed it.
Well. Stopped the bleeding, anyway.
Fuck that's creepy.
"Why-?"
I cut him off by dragging him up the stairs. "Because whatever the fuck is holding us here shouldn't be allowed to have anyone. Let's go."
We ducked into some bushes outside the house, and I opened the medkit. I yelped as gauze flew out and wrapped around Vince. I struggled to slow it down, then he let out a pained yell as some of the gauze jammed into a wound.
It took longer then I wanted to patch him up. After, though, we ran. I hoped I remembered the right direction. Over a haybale, I saw the door. I felt a grin spread over my face. It was already open. No one looked to be waiting. The other two must have gotten out. Vince and I ran as fast as we could.
The chainsaw revved behind us.
No. No no no no.
It charged toward us.
The archway passes overhead.
I can hear it growling.
My foot hit the fog.
The world went black.