They waited for a while. Maybe he'd pop out of nowhere or pounce from the shadows like he did when they first met around the campfire.
But nothing happened. Jake was gone.
Dwight held Claudette in a tight embrace as she sobbed. Meg sat opposite of them, leaning her back on the wooden log beside the fire. There was a pit in her heart. She wished that she could dive right into it and leave this nightmare, but all it did was chew at her soul and force her to keep living in hell.
Meg felt numb, tired.
She wanted to cry but couldn't get the tears to come out. She was just really stuck on the fact that Jake was truly gone and they had no idea how exactly he died. What sort of horrific pain did he go through once they crossed through the gate? Did he know they left him behind? Was he free now?
That last question was driving her to insanity. Living seemed worse than dying right now. And even though Jake suffered, at least it was only one last time. Now he was far from this disturbing place.
"I can't believe we left him…" Claudette bawled. Dwight sighed and looked at Meg, still resting his chin on the top of Claudette's head. His eyes were drenched in tears. It stung somewhere deep in her stomach. He'd been doing a good job at keeping them guided and together, but she knew he was deeply sensitive. He did his best to hide it so as to not panic them. But this was a moment where vulnerability was expected. Still, it broke her heart.
She figured maybe it was her turn to keep it cool and try to kick up their morale.
Meg sat up straight. "There's nothing we could've done."
Claudette pushed herself away from Dwight and turned to glare at Meg.
"You could have helped us!" Then she stood up, addressing both of them. "What were you both doing just standing there and watching!?"
A fight was bound to happen one way or another, Meg already knew that. But she was surprised Claudette would be the one to instigate it. Clearly the girl was under a ton of stress, they all were. This was just a result of the torture. They were beginning to crack, heading down the path of insanity.
She stood up too, taking careful steps toward the girl with the intention to comfort her.
"Look, I know this is stressful. None of us are happy over what just happened. But we gotta keep it together," Meg said sincerely, doing her best to work her words into Claudette. As soon as she approached the girl, the botanist stuck her hand out and backed away.
"I saw you walking away from us. Why didn't you come to help!?" Another sob wracked through her before she quickly pulled it together to yell again. "I tried to help him. I tried until my arm literally got cut off, Meg! What did you do?! You just watched!"
Her words were like knives. They penetrated right through that numb dam that was keeping Meg's tears at bay.
She bowed her head to try and hide her crying. "I was just scared."
A breathy, sarcastic laugh escaped Claudette. "You don't think I was?"
"I know," Meg whimpered. "I'm so sorry."
There was a long silence. Meg continued to stand there, just letting her tears hit the ground as her head hung low. Claudette paced back and forth, going through spurts of weeping and yelling at them. Dwight didn't know what to do, so he remained on the log, gaze trained on the fire.
Between the cries and the regrets, the survivors didn't notice the entrance of their newest companion. A loud gasp had them all snapping their heads in the direction of the newcomer.
It was a girl. She was wearing a beanie, with short black hair escaping down the one side. Her clothes consisted of a graphic tank top that hung low over the cuffed jeans covering her legs. There was a silver chain slinking over the dirt, which was connected to her belt loops.
When everyone went to observe the stranger's face, they discovered her rough features were full of fear and confusion.
No one knew what to say at first. But then Dwight awkwardly rose from his seat, jutting his hand out in an uncomfortable wave.
"Uh… hi?" He mumbled unsurely. A beat of silence followed. The girl slowly stood up from the dirt, then she was off in a dash, disappearing into the darkness.
"No!" Meg shouted. "Stop her, we have to stop her!"
Dwight and Claudette both broke into a sprint, but Meg's speed was unmatched. She rushed past them and tore into the shadows. She could see the faintest outline of the stranger running ahead of her, whose pace was beginning to slow due to the lack of visibility in front of them. It caused Meg to gain on her, soon coming close enough to snatch a bundle of the stranger's shirt.
Meg yanked back on it. "Calm down! We aren't going to-"
Her jaws cracked together, a fearsome uppercut sending Meg flying backwards. So not only did she have to worry about being slaughtered by monsters, but also fellow survivors who beat the shit out of her.
"Get the fuck away from me!" The stranger screamed. From the ground, Meg could hear the person go to run again, but then trip over an unseen object. They slammed down onto something… metallic? The echoey rumble of metal reverberated, puzzling Meg as she sat up.
The stranger didn't seem to care much for whatever she tripped over. She scrambled to her feet and was about to take off again when a loud screech coming from the darkness had everyone stopping in their tracks. It was scratchy and bizarre, almost like a human mimicking an animal call.
The darkness was unsafe. They needed to leave.
"Hey, c'mon, we gotta go back to the campfire!" Meg called to the stranger. She stood up and grabbed the girl at the elbow, but she just yanked her arm away.
Just as she did so, a giant blade plunged out of the shadows and narrowly missed Meg and the stranger, cutting into the open air that was between them.
They turned, locked eyes, then bolted back toward the campfire.
"Run, run, run!" Dwight shouted as he beckoned for them to come back. Another screech echoed behind them, but it was much further away than before.
As soon as the four of them reached the safe ring of firelight, they collapsed tiredly, aside from the stranger. She held her position right on the edge of the darkness, clearly still not trusting the trio. How could she? They were covered in blood, their clothes were torn up and they all probably looked like zombies by now given the amount of stress they've been put through. Meg could only imagine how frightened the girl was.
"I know that this is… confusing, scary and you probably don't know how you got here, but we aren't going to hurt you," Dwight said smoothly after taking a minute to catch his breath from running.
She responded with a shrewd squint, not seeming to trust his words.
Meg spoke up next, asking, "What's your name?"
"Nea." She answered in a strong voice, with the slightest rasp beneath it. "What the fuck is going on?"
The original three looked at each other. They were still trying to figure that out.
"I honestly don't know, but if you just listen to what we say and don't pull that shit again, you'll be okay," Meg answered sternly.
Claudette sort of scoffed at Meg's words, then hobbled away toward the other side of the fire with her back facing toward them.
Nea took a moment to analyze each of them, beginning to understand that there was a chance that they were normal people beneath the layers of blood and decay. But it would take a lot of answered questions before she allowed them to guide her in any way.
"What happened to you? Why do you look like that? And what was that thing out there?"
There was a collective sigh among Meg and Dwight, who didn't want to have to recount the traumatic events they'd witnessed in order for Nea to understand, but they didn't exactly have a choice. She needed to know what was about to happen, that way she went in prepared unlike the rest of them upon their first trial.
But how do you even begin to explain the terrors to someone new? It sounds like a fabricated nightmare. Everything they experienced transcended the laws of reality. This was a book, a movie- it wasn't supposed to be real, yet it was. To explain that to Nea seemed as surreal as living it.
Instead of going into it right away, Dwight had the idea to learn more about Nea's transition into the nightmare world.
"Where are you from?" He asked calmly. Nea crossed her arms, her lean muscles flexing tensely as she did so. Every word she spoke was a reluctant one, but it seemed she had no other choice than to lean into the welcoming nature of these strangers.
"I'm from Sweden. But I live in New York, for now."
Meg's belly twisted. They all had a home. But if they would even be able to return to it… she wasn't so sure. This girl had no clue what terror awaited her. She didn't know the cycle of torture she'd have to survive. She didn't understand that she would see people die. It made Meg want to run out into the darkness and let whatever monster haunted it slaughter her on the spot, just to escape the maddening trials.
"Do you know what you were doing before you got here?" Was Dwight's next question. It hung in the air for a little as Nea thought about it. The memories were a little foggy at first, until she was able to actually pinpoint exactly what it was.
"I was doing a dare…" She hummed quietly, staring into the fire as she thought harder about it.
"Doing what?" Meg asked.
Nea's eyes snapped to her, holding a sense of realization. "A dare. I was dared to go to the asylum and tag it. It was the old one that got shut down years ago. I remember walking in and it was just… really creepy. But I found a good place to spray and all of a sudden everything got really dark…"
Her expression became concentrated, concerned with remembering the exact transition between her last whereabouts and the campfire appearance. But it seemed like that gap in her memory was missing.
"I can't remember how I got here. It's dark…" She murmured, then took a step closer to them. "Were you guys at the asylum too? Is that how we all got here?"
She seemed at a loss when they each shook their heads.
"No," Dwight responded. "We are from different states. All ended up here randomly with no memory of how we got here."
Nea put on an incredulous display, seeming to believe they were pulling a giant prank on her. She laughed, hoping that would trigger the 'surprise!' moment, but it didn't. When she didn't receive the response she was hoping for, she started yelling angrily.
"I don't understand!" She shouted, stepping back toward the edge of the darkness. "This doesn't make any fucking sense. What is this?!"
The noise began to turn into a droning buzz for Meg. She saw Dwight and Nea launch into a heated conversation, Nea arguing while Dwight tried to deescalate the situation. But their words were fading into a self-inflicted oblivion. Meg couldn't take it anymore, she needed to tune everything out and just sit by herself for a mere moment. She forced herself into a near vegetative zone, doing everything possible to escape the chaos and slip into her own thoughts.
She let her eyes fall to the spot they were usually drawn to, which was the blazing campfire that sat in the center of their torment.
However, there was something amiss within their familiar little blaze. Deep within the logs and twigs was a dark object that stood out against the brightness. Meg waited a little bit, trying to be patient with the fire that moved in front of whatever it was.
For one single second, the flames dipped low enough for Meg to catch a glimpse of the mysterious object.
It was a skull that had a rich black surface, which shimmered morbidly as it sat in the center of the campfire.
Meg leaned back against the wooden log, staying trained on the skull, wondering how and why it got there…
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Hi guys! I just wanted to say thank you for the reviews and favorites, I really appreciate it. I hope everyone is enjoying the story! I know my update schedule is uh... very not good. I finally got over the ginormous, lumbering obstacle that is my thesis project for college, so to say that my time has gotten a ton more free is simply an understatement. I'm excited to continue this spooky tale and to offer a serious outlook on DBD lore and my interpretation of a DBD 'Novel', so to speak. I'm scrubbing over the previous chapters in between new uploads with the hopes to correct grammatical stuff and also strengthen important plot points. So maybe if you're reading and think something doesn't sound like you remember, it may be because I've gone and done some fixing.
But yeah, that's about that. Just wanna say thanks again and feel free to let me know if there's anything cool you wanna see or if you have some good ideas.
Thx 3
TQ xoxoxoxo
