Sitting perched atop some conveniently placed logs around the fire, the four strangers began unraveling what may have happened to them.
First off, they all compared their similar stories which all seemed to involve them in a wooded area at some point and then a seamless shift that brought them to the campfire. Neither had any recollection of what may have happened between being lucid and doing their trivial tasks to suddenly ending up all together. Later on, Claudette said something that would set a precedent for the strangeness to come...
"I was coming back from Toronto and-"
"Toronto?" Meg said, mouth agape.
Not understanding Meg's horror, Claudette continued innocently. "Yeah, I go to college ther-"
"No! No, I mean I was in Colorado when I w- was brought here," Meg clarified.
Jake snorted from across the fire. "And I was in Washington."
They all stared at one another before choosing to glare at the flames instead. It was easier than having to search for answers within each other's perplexed faces. The warmth was beginning to make Meg feel sick, no longer providing any sort of comfort it may have before. She was growing ill with the same questions being frantically asked over and over again within her head; it all blurred together and the senseless stream of thoughts became muddled. She felt numb throughout her body, mouth drying out from swallowing down the steel ball of anxiety over and over again.
Clasping his hands together, Dwight took in a deep, deep breath. As he exhaled, he stood and looked at the group. "I don't know what is happening. Clearly, it's... complicated," He gestured to everyone, then himself. "I'm from Massachusetts- so yeah, it's pretty fucking complicated. This is reality defying shit here."
"The moon hasn't moved." Jake intervened casually, who sat the furthest away from everyone with a gloved finger pointing up at the bright orb that was still just barely gracing the treetops. It really hadn't changed position since Meg took notice of it when she first woke up, confirming his bizarre claim. How were things managing to get even weirder?
Now pacing back and forth again, Dwight threw his arms up. "I'm not going to keep trying to get answers here, we just have to figure out what we are going to do at this point."
Jake stood up along with him. "My plan was to wait until morning to travel but-" he pointed up "- it doesn't look like that'll be happening."
"We will need food and water," added Claudette.
Everyone just sort of shrugged, each noticing that they weren't really hungry or thirsty at that moment. Food and water, while a major necessity, seemed so far down on the list of importance that no one even bothered to answer her. The whole aspect of things seeming other worldly was far too overwhelming to just gloss over it and become scrappy little survivalists.
SNAP!
From behind them came the quick cracking of a twig, a jarring and sharp sound that shattered the conversation. They all promptly stood, Jake being the nearest one to whatever was lurking within the shadows. He slowly took cautious steps backward, keeping his eyes trained on the spot where the noise came from.
"Do you see that?" Jake whispered to them, continuing backwards.
Meg squinted, scouring the darkness for anything. It was hard to see but she could almost make out the silhouette of a tall figure standing off in the distance. Was it her imagination or was there actually someone there, stalking around in the foliage?
She pointed over Jake's shoulder, him now being right in front of them. The campfire blazed between the group and whatever the thing was.
"Right there?" She said so quietly it was barely audible. Jake nodded.
The thing suddenly moved, making a sort of breathy grunt as it turned and retreated into the woods.
Claudette's face twisted and she began to finally show some form of emotion, bowing her head down to cry softly behind them. Dwight wordlessly put a comforting arm around her and did his best to keep himself together, a stark contrast from his earlier shouts of distress.
None of them were doing okay.
They discussed their situation for another fifteen minutes or so while warily peeking over their shoulders every few moments, not really coming to any conclusions when Meg began to notice that the environment was shifting around them. It seemed a dark fog was rolling in, surrounding the campfire. It came slowly at first, then quickened enough to alarm her as it impeded on the trees around them- engulfing everything in a wispy wall of black.
"Guys," she yelped worriedly. They all stood once again, huddling together as they also took notice to the mysterious fog closing in. "What is that?"
"I don't know," Dwight whispered.
Soon it was slipping around their feet and lifting up, higher and higher until-
Meg had no choice but to breathe it in, having held her breath as long as she could. She couldn't see an inch in front of her face with the barricade of dense fog completely eliminating her line of sight. It was suffocating for just a second before it alleviated and lessened in opacity.
The air began to shift suddenly with the entrance of a breeze, bringing in new smells that swirled around her senses. The cawing of birds could be heard overhead. It was a welcoming sign of life that she happily noted. Maybe this was the ending of whatever dream she'd been having.
And just like that, the fog was gone as quickly as it came, retreating into nothing right before Meg's eyes.
She noticed she was no longer standing in front of the campfire- rather in the middle of a dim and jagged arrangement of brick ruins. She did a full spin, taking in the new surroundings when she discovered Dwight, Claudette and Jake were no longer with her.
A small whimper escaped Meg, her heart being struck with true fear now that she had no one by her side. She took a step backward, knocking her foot against something heavy. Looking down, the girl's face contorted into a terrified grimace.
Sitting there menacingly in the grass was an unarmed bear trap with razor sharp teeth glinting in the moonlight, to which Meg took a cautious step away. She wasn't sure what to make of the contraption but the feeling in her gut knew it wasn't a good sign.
A cold chill ran down her spine as she wandered off in a frightened daze, realizing this in fact was indeed not freedom...
