Waiting for the fog to fade was always awkward because they all secretly hoped it would fade away and reveal the real world to them. Unfortunately in that case, it was still the unwelcomed sight of the campfire awaiting them with its heat and miserable anticipation.

Meg remained clutched against Dwight for a moment like he was an anchor and if she let go she'd just sink deeper into the unknown. There was also something to savor. She found immense comfort in the contact between them. If she closed her eyes she imagined it was someone she loved, like her mom, embracing her sweetly, it almost could help her to forget the maddening realm they were trapped within. But she couldn't lock herself inside the fairytale forever. So she opened her eyes and untangled herself from Dwight. Jake and Claudette did the same.

They all grimly ushered toward the campfire. After that last trial, there was a lot to take in. As soon as Dwight sat down he looked at Jake and Claudette with a harrowing glint in his dark eyes.

"What the fuck was that?" He asked, slow and shaky.

Claudette grimaced. "The- The claws?" Upon receiving a nod from Dwight, she continued on. "I don't know… I-"

"Wait, wait- what are we talking about right now?" Interrupted Meg, confounded features twisting in concern.

"When we were put on the hooks for the second time…" Jake started before trailing off, not really sure just how he could explain it. "These… these huge claws came out of the hook and started to- well I don't know."

He turned to Claudette for some help in describing the experience. She shook her head. "I couldn't hold them back for long. It started- they started to… stab me right before Dwight came."

Her voice was weak and watery, tears slipping relentlessly down her face. Meg could tell that she had been through a lot during the trial, much like the last. It was a shame Claudette was always the unlucky one because the girl was so sweet and kind with a heart of gold, like a perfect rose bush in the middle of a destructive battle. No place to run, the only choice was to bear it and become tarnished along the way. Some part of the cruel nature of it lit a fire within Meg, making her furious that this was happening to them. Again the questions swirled within her. Why them? Why were they the ones to have to live through this?

"So… what is it?" Dwight finally questioned after a beat of silence. Claudette slowly peered over at Jake, having been at a loss of words. Clearly she didn't know what to call it, barely even grasping what actually happened. But Jake didn't know either.

With a shrug he shot his empty gaze over the fire at Dwight. "Just a… Thing."

Claudette suddenly slapped her knees before standing, shaking as she spoke. "I'm going to get more plants. We need something to fill up this useless med-kit."

As she hurriedly walked off, Jake stood and trailed behind her closely with something visibly on his mind. Meg eyed them as they disappeared off into the darkness, going only a couple yards from the campfire. She turned and made a face at Dwight.

"Are they…" She began, whispering. "… Do they have a thing?"

He seemed a little disinterested in that idea, replying with, "I think maybe they're just close because of- well- everything."

Meg nodded, "Yeah… all we have is each other."

"Mhm," He hummed quietly, moving his gaze to the fire.

"I want to say… thank you," Meg suddenly confessed, forcing him to look back at her, this time with raised brows. She caught sight of his surprised look, to which she battled it with an even more surprised one. "You're crazy in there. In a good way. I mean, jeez, you really put your neck out for us."

He shrugged like it was no big deal. "It's the right thing to do."

"I know but I don't think you realize how admirable that is. I gotta hold a gun to someone's head just to get them to tell me what time it is back home. People don't just risk their lives all the time, Dwight, but you do. So that's why I'm saying thank you. I really mean it."

The flattery was really getting to him. He'd never received so much praise in his life- He had his fair share of quite the opposite. So to be showered in so much admiration, it made him feel like a million bucks. Like he was a superhero and could take on anything. It made him feel invincible. But most of all, he felt seen.

"Well I…" Don't go saying the wrong thing! "Thank you, Meg. It means a lot."

She offered him a miniscule smile, the littlest curls at the corner of her mouth, then sighed as she scooted down so that the log propped up her head. Without trying, Meg's eyes fluttered shut, weighed down by the dumbbells of tension she was carrying around the clock. They hardly could catch a break aside from the short intermissions held at the campfire.

Dwight peeked a glance at Meg, watching her breathing slow as the golden firelight glided across her bloodied skin.

Slowly, she drifted off.

Meg came home to her mom lounging on the couch, watching reruns of some trivial reality show full of girls sweating their fake tans off in a dumpy club somewhere in California. Even though Meg hated that crap, she put up with it because it always made her mom laugh hysterically with every over dramatic heartbreak and drunken fist fight that occurred. It's all scripted anyway… but Meg never told her that.

Like usual, she muted the TV and twisted on the cushions to give her daughter a weak smile. "Hey track star. How'd it go today?"

She took a moment to knock off her running shoes, dropping her nearly empty backpack right beside them. With a huff, Meg cursed up to the ceiling. "Dana was being such a fucking bitch today!"

Her mom chuckled, sitting up slowly with the help of Meg who hurried over to hold her hand, lifting up carefully. "What's new…" Then once she situated the covers over her lap, "What'd she say this time?"

"Hah- she started talking to the other girls in the locker room while I was taking a shower. And the stupid bitch had no idea I could hear her- or maybe she did and she's just that fucking miserable…" Meg launched a barrage of vulgar words against the girl, coming to pace in front of the TV like she was giving her mom some sort of heated lecture of high importance.

"And then she was saying, like, 'oh her ass is shaped like a square'- like my ass is. And also was basically calling me disproportional and just shit talking my body!" She continued on, coming to a near shout by the end while her mom just sat and quietly took it all in with a knowing smirk on her lips.

"So yeah, I ended up walking out of the shower and when she saw me she kept going but was whispering so I didn't really hear what else she had to say but I'm guessing because they could get a real good look at me they didn't stop their gossip there."

Breathing heavy from spewing out so many words in such a short time, Meg stood there with her arms spread out expectantly, waiting for her mom to add her own two cents.

Just as the woman was about to speak, a raspy and jarring cough tore through her frail body. She shook her head after finally getting a hold on her breathing, inhaling with the hoarse sound of mucus in her throat.

Meg was by her side in an instant, hand softly messaging her mother's back while she worriedly waited on her to recover from whatever that was.

"Are you okay?" She asked her after a moment.

Her mom shook her head again. "Yeah… just got a crumb in my throat is all."

With a scoff, Meg gave her an empty chuckle. "That was not a crumb, mom."

"Was that all of your story-" She went to change the subject but her daughter was not having it.

"Did you hear from the doctors?"

"Meg, honey, I don't wanna talk about that right-"

"Please," Meg interjected. A ball was now stuck in her throat. Something was wrong because her mom normally brushed that question off, saying she hadn't heard from them at all. But now that she was avoiding it… well it made Meg's heart sink.

"Don't hide things from me." Her daughter pleaded. The woman hesitantly looked over, a serious expression washing over her tired face. She acted like she was trapped with nowhere to go. Meg recognized it and was sad that she was forcing her to tell her something she didn't want to admit, but Meg had to be kept in the loop here.

"They called this morning while you were at school and… they told me that they still don't know what it is. And then they tried making another MRI appointment for me but…" She looked away, words trailing off leaving Meg hanging onto that 'but'.

"What's wrong? Why didn't you make the appointment?" The girl begged for an answer. "What's going on?"

"I can't afford it anymore. I lost the insurance a while ago and I have nothing-" Her mom took a shallow, uneven breath in a weak attempt to not cry for the sake of her daughter. "But I'll be fine, it's just… we are in a bad spot right now."

All Meg could do was stare at her mom and without realizing it, understood that this was the beginning of the end.

At the thought she burst into tears, feeling the brittle arms of her mom fall around her as a sob wracked through her body. Meg leaned into the woman's touch, grabbing onto her cardigan and holding the fabric tightly in her hand, never wanting to let go of her. Ever.

"Meg, Meg- wake up."

As her eyes opened, Meg looked right up at Dwight. That's when she realized a parade of tears were dripping off her jaw, causing her to go and wipe them away when she paused. Her hands and arms were all full of blood, making her second guess wiping them away at the risk of sludging a bunch of blood all over her face.

Just when she was gonna say 'fuck it' Dwight offered her his tie, which had a nearly spotless underside.

"Heh," Meg snickered. "Thanks."

"It's not the best but I guess it's something." Dwight muttered while undoing it from his neck quickly before gently placing it in Meg's outstretched hand. She went on to dab it around her face, offering it back to him once she finished. He just waved it off.

"I won't be needing it, I don't even know why I left it on this long." He confessed, gesturing to the fire. Meg was about to discard it into the flames when she reeled back.

"Actually we could put it in the med-kit. Probably would be semi-useful." She said, half to herself and half Dwight. He nodded, impressed that he hadn't thought of that.

The girl got up and plodded over to the med-kit, taking notice that Jake and Claudette were still not back. As she opened up the kit and coiled up the tie in a tight bundle, Meg looked off to the side and could barely see the outlines of the two other survivors walking around in the shadows. At least they were okay, that's all Meg was worried about.

She dropped back down onto the log lazily after adding Dwight's tie to their medical supplies, thinking back on the memory of her mom.

That was one of the most difficult moments of Meg's life. There was nothing more soul shattering than seeing the future so clearly ahead of you despite not having anything concrete to prove its truth. She just knew that eventually her mom would be lost to whatever mystery illness plagued her, taking her from a strong and healthy woman to being nearly bed ridden and hardly capable of walking on her own. To watch your mom crumble away like that in such a short amount of time was heartbreaking, really taking a toll on Meg as she struggled to find outlets that relieved the pressure of such a helpless experience.

Meg stuck with track and running but eventually found herself feeling unfulfilled despite the unwavering passion she had for the sport. The people on the track team were really starting to spoil the meditative experience of it. She felt insecure running in front of the other girls. Every time someone looked in her direction, she assumed judgmental thoughts were rolling through their heads. Whispers and laughter were the worst. She always put on a strong, uncaring mask but really it all made her feel small and worthless. It was dreadful. Any time she was in a room full of people, she felt utterly alone because everyone seemed to have it out for her.

Did they ever think to realize she was going through enough?

Whenever Meg jogged outside of school she was met with some positive thoughts, yet they always crashed and burned as soon as she arrived home and had to face the image of her mother that would never, ever become familiar. The woman was a shell of herself and it refused to stop haunting Meg no matter how many times her sneakers beat the pavement around town.

She needed someone to take care of her because realistically Meg didn't have any sense of that at home. Which she didn't hold against her mother, not by any means, yet there was this indescribable feeling that Meg desperately wanted to get rid of. It was like a shadowy void in her heart, waiting to be filled with whatever unhealthy habit Meg would inevitably pick up. It wasn't drugs, it wasn't alcohol or parties… it was the scummiest and most desperate guys on the face of the planet.

Being held and caressed, even if it wasn't real or sincere, was enough for Meg. After she put her mom to bed she would wait an hour or two before sneaking out and rendezvousing with whoever it may be. Car parks, musty basements, cluttered bedrooms or big empty houses that looked nothing like hers- they all were places she went to just feel safe and protected, shielded from the heartache that awaited her once the sun graced the horizon. And it worked, which was why she kept doing it over the course of a few years and even a little bit past graduation.

The sexual intimacy never bothered her, not really meaning much in the grand scheme of things. It was like a trade of sorts. The boys got what they really wanted while she was met with her end of the bargain. The true love she encountered was her head nestled into a warm shoulder, arms tucked against a smooth and bare chest while she closed her eyes and reveled in being taken care of for just a few hours. That's what she really wanted. Nothing more, nothing less.

Looking back on it now, Meg knew it wasn't good. But what's done is done. She figured it could've been worse. She may have been an overdose in a seedy park or a fatal, drunken accident just a mile up the road from some kid's house party. Instead she just curled up in someone else's bed and desperately tried to forget that a reality of pain existed outside of it.

Escapism. It was a drug within its own right.

"Are you okay?" Dwight asked, snapping Meg from her deep thought. Her brows were furrowed together, chin resting in her hands as she continued to glare at the campfire.

"No." Was all she breathed out.

"Do you wanna talk about it?"

When Meg turned to look at him, something clicked in her head, breath catching in her throat when their eyes met. She was doing it again, wasn't she?

The safe feeling, the warmth and tenderness of a simple touch- it was all things Dwight supplied for her which she held onto with all her might without even realizing it this time.

He seemed to notice that she was having a moment. "You don't have to say any-"

Meg got a hold of herself and gripped the bark of the log beneath her. "It's okay. I'm alright."

Dwight nodded. "Okay."

Meg turned away. She really didn't want to do this, to form a habit again. Only time would tell if she had the ability to handle all of the trauma on her own or if she would break down and depend on someone else to make it easier to cope with. All Meg knew was that her strength was buckling and her heart was draining, that shadowy void from before slowly taking up residence within her.

Maybe this was the right time to embrace it…

Claudette trembled as she snapped more stems from the forest floor. The tears wouldn't stop and she didn't want to continuously cry in front of everyone. She knew they were struggling to get through everything and didn't care to add to the overall distress with her weeping. So she sat in the darkness, trying to make herself feel better by being amongst the plants and mindlessly harvesting what she could find. It was, in fact, the only thing that had ever cured her of any and all stress, except the torment she was going through still lingered pretty strongly in her head this time.

Her head whipped around at hearing the crunching of leaves nearing her back, sighing when she realized it was only Jake.

"You didn't have to come out here," She told him before focusing back on the plants while feeling bad that she was making him do anything at all for her. Claudette blamed herself for the harm that befell Jake. Her arguing with him over the flashlight for too long last trial was what led to them both getting injured and met with… with the Thing. Had she just forced him to leave or at least follow her away could have caused everything to go over better, rather than them both being diced nearly apart.

She could hear him cross his arms. "I don't want you getting hurt again."

"And I don't want you getting hurt again." Claudette mumbled with her achy throat nearly devouring the words. Her fingers picked apart the plants faster, more aggressively now.

"You shouldn't have done what you did back there…" He said in a quiet tone so that the others didn't hear him.

Claudette stood up, turning to face him when she jutted her arms out, waiting for him to palm the pile of leaves and flowers she was forcing onto him. After a moment, he extended his gloved hands, letting her dump all of them there.

"I know, I heard you yelling at me…" The botanist told him, not sounding thrilled as she recalled his cursing and disbelief that she had taken the Wraith's hit for him. She rubbed her hands together above his, getting all of the leaves off of her dirty palms and onto the pile. "But I was just trying to help you."

"Well, I was also trying to do the right thing and help you. You were more injured than I was." He argued, an edge to his voice that didn't really sound angered but bordered more so on caring.

But Claudette wasn't having it. "I was also trying to do the right thing. There's no use in you getting even more hurt when I can take the hook again and be fine. We need more healthy people to get us out than injured."

"That's the thing," Jake countered. "I wanted to take the hook so you didn't have to."

"But that's not the only thing," Claudette said, raising her voice. "It's not just about the hooks Jake, it's the fact that I had a broken collarbone and a trillion other things wrong with me while you were walking around with a paper cut in your stomach."

"And the hook injury!" He added, matching his voice to hers. She only laughed.

"Oh I'm sorry! Right, the same hole in your shoulder that I also had on top of everything else." She came right back at him, taking a step closer before realizing how silly this all was. "Why are we even arguing about this right now?"

Jake now seemed to realize it too, slumping his shoulders down while digging for a genuine answer to her question. After a few moments he shook his head slightly, looking down at her.

"I just care, I guess." He offered.

She shrugged, raising her brows pointedly. "Me too."

And that was it, the argument was over and both of them realized it was just a shared fact of their personalities. There would always be a never ending cycle of one saving the other and that was how things would be, whether they liked it or not. But one thing was for sure, they'd always have each other's backs no matter what happened, which was the sweet conclusion of the whole thing.

The thought made Claudette smile to herself the tiniest bit, distracting her from the painful tears from before.

"Do you mind holding some, uhm, more stuff for me?" She asked him a little shyly now that the girl realized she'd just been yelling at him not a moment ago.

Jake just nodded with a usual 'Jake' sigh. "Not at all."