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Fandom you need to comprehend who's in control. || weiirdw0lf & moggiemoof

weiirdw0lf

weiirdw0lf

kai ★
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placeholder | code by low fidelity.




Darkness.

That's all there was at first.

Pitch black, and a sharp, persistent pain that didn't seem to leave. Cody couldn't place where it was coming from, nor the scent of copper or the faint crackling of what might be a fire from somewhere beyond him. He had no idea what was going on, and his memory right now was foggy at best. Had he passed out? Was he dreaming, or waking up? ...Was he kidnapped by--

Some sort of sound startled him out of whatever daze he was in. His eyes shot open and he sat up quick as can be, heart beating fast in his chest and breath coming in little pants. Blinking a few times to clear the bleariness of his vision, he once more wondered if this was a dream. Where was he right now? Looked like a forest, maybe some sort of campsite? There was a small fire -- so that he'd been right about -- and some logs sat around it, where a few people were sitting or standing around, though he was lying in the grass a short distance away. He didn't recognize any of the faces here.

Not until he took another look around, gaze stopping on one person. Ok, this absolutely had to be a dream. No other way this could be happening.

He glanced down at himself quickly. From what he could see in the rather dim lighting, he wasn't injured. Yet there was a slight throbbing close to his stomach, where...

...Where a knife had pierced flesh.

Where there should've been a fresh wound.

There wasn't, however. No injuries or blood to be seen.

Winnie. Back to that. He knew her, he worked with her. Well, more like they just worked at the same place. He kept to himself a lot of the time, especially recently, much to the concern of some of his coworkers. Even before that though, they hadn't talked all that much besides what one would expect from being in the same building with each other.

That was the thing, though. The last thing Cody remembered was definitely not being in the office. No, it was being taken in an ambulance to the hospital after being stabbed by a guy who he never would've suspected in his life was the murderer terrorizing Roseville. So why in god's name was he in... wherever the hell this was with his coworker? He wasn't even sure if she had known of what happened... that night? He's not sure what day it is, so he can't quite place how to refer to it. Whenever it had happened. If it was past then, surely it'd been reported on the news? But he also should've been lying in a hospital bed right now, not sprawled out on the dirt in the middle of nowhere with a bunch of strangers and one person he sort of knew. So who knows what time or day it was. This was so damn weird.

Cody wondered if she knew who it was now. He wasn't sure which option would've been better or worse, really. He was vaguely aware of the fact that her and Jed had been close, but didn't know too many details besides that. He couldn't imagine how she'd feel if she did know who the killer had really been.

Probably just as mad as he'd been. As he still was right now. Was he here? Was he off running free, or were the cops going after him after they'd heard what Cody told them? Cody, of course, couldn't say.

A few of the others he didn't recognize looked his way, or exchanged glances as if they wanted to say something but didn't. Or if they did, he couldn't hear it from his current seat in the grass. (Or maybe he was just blocking it out. Who knew at this point.) So, breaking the silence that seemed to stretch for far too long:

"Can someone please tell me what the hell is going on right now?"
 
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It had been dark for a little while. There had hardly been a sound.

Rest. Maybe she was finally having a sound sleep. Dreamless, but also nightmare less, too. Winnie allowed herself to take some comfort in the momentary silence, the darkness, the nothing of it all. It had been weeks since she had managed to sleep for an entire night, her dreams infested with nightmarish imagery. A night with no dreams was a good one, indeed.

Then, she heard it: the crackling of fire and the soft murmurs of voices she didn’t recognize.

A soft whimper escaped her as she slowly came to her senses. The air carried the smell of smoke and the woodsy wilderness, and her exposed arms felt as though they had been pressed plush against something prickly for hours on end. After working up the courage, she managed to open her eyes too–and it was just as she thought, trees, grass, a campfire… and people. People that she didn’t recognize.

A nightmare.

She sat upright immediately upon making the realization, her right hand lifting to rub at her left arm as she did so. After laying on the forest floor for so long, her arm was covered in grass-shaped sleep lines.

Why would she dream of a forest? Usually she dreamt of being within her apartment–afraid that he’d come back to sever the final tie with her. The hair along the back of her neck stood on end at the thought of him slinking around in the forest somewhere, her head practically snapping to stare into the wilderness to her left. It was dark. Would she be able to see the mask, or would it already be too late and–

In the midst of her scanning the trees that lined the clearing, her gaze fell upon someone else, someone familiar. For a moment she felt relief, but then she remembered: Cody had gone missing weeks ago, when Jed–or, Danny, had disappeared.

This definitely had to be a dream, then.

“Cody?” She breathed out his name moments after he had thrown his question towards the group at the campfire.

Oh, so he was just as confused and discombobulated as she was.

Lifting her knees to her chest, she brought a hand up to cover her eyes–this made no sense. If this was a dream, she’d love to be hit by the horrific punch-line already so that she could just wake up. Of course, it never came, and here she still sat, a few paces away from her equally as confused co-worker that went missing three weeks ago!

When she dropped her hands to cradle her knees again, she noticed that one of the people that had previously been sitting on a log stood up, and she–well, she looked to be a woman–began to walk over. The closer she got, the more nervous she seemed to get, which Winnie found to be a bit odd. Shouldn’t they be the ones getting all antsy right now?

Nevertheless, she cocked a brow at the woman once she had stopped in front of them, watching as she began to fumble with her own fingers.

“Hi there, I’m… My name is Claudette.” The woman–Claudette–introduced herself softly, as if speaking to a couple of frightened animals.

With a shake of her head, Winnie skipped over introductions entirely in favor of repeating the question that had already been asked. “Claudette, what are we doing here?”

Again, the soft-spoken woman began to toy with her fingers once more. Her uncertainty was clear, and she was quite obviously anxious at their arrival–but she still didn’t look to be very surprised by them, either. “That’s a lot to explain, but… I-I will explain, don’t worry, I was just wondering if I could… If I could know your names, perhaps? It’s good to get to know everyone here, especially newcomers.”
 
Cody watched the interaction from where he was, not saying much more until this Claudette asked Winnie for introductions. He made a face, clearly uncertain about any of this himself, albeit for sort of different reasons.

So... what, this wasn't a new thing for these people? For strangers to just show up unannounced at wherever this was? Seriously, what was this? He had so many questions and no answers, not yet. If Claudette was going to answer them, he was tempted to ask her to hurry up and explain, but he pushed that idea away. No, ok. We need to be somewhat calm about this. Even if calm was getting to be the last thing he felt.

"It's Cody," he offered after a moment, which would've confirmed that yes, he was here for real to Winnie. He was pretty sure this wasn't a dream anymore, even if he kind of wished it was. That'd probably make more sense at this point than whatever explanation any of these people could offer.

"Is this something that happens often?" He asked then with a dry little laugh, what he'd been thinking before. It wasn't funny, not at all. (It was insane, his mind supplied.) He was just trying to make sense of this.

He looked over at Winnie once again, brows furrowed like he was looking at something strange. She didn't look any different, not that he could notice, but he just... couldn't believe it. All of this was so confusing.

While he waited for... he wasn't sure what, he kept looking around the little clearing they were in, trying to see if he could figure out anything from here. Didn't seem like it though. Beyond the trees enclosing the area, it was just pitch black. Unless he wanted to get up and run blindly into the woods -- which while he'd had a ton of stupid ideas before, he knew that wasn't one he wanted to act on right now -- he probably wasn't going to be able to see what was out there from his current spot.

He was trying to come up with theories, or something. It looked like a campsite, so maybe there's buildings out there? But that didn't explain the why still. Nothing he could manage to put together was making any sense.

...Defeated in that matter, he decided to just wait until someone did explain whatever crazy situation he'd gotten himself into. Maybe in two seconds one of them would start flying, or some strange thing would appear out of nowhere, confirm it was a dream like he'd been hoping.

Somehow he really doubted that.
 
Initially, Winnie had just sighed in response, allowing her head to fall to her hands once again. How could she be so okay with this? As if, people randomly showing up in the middle of the forest was somehow normal. Also, what did she mean by newcomers, anyway?

After some silence hung in the air, she was rather shocked to hear the sound of Cody’s voice again. Her eyes darted to look over at him, feeling a bit less anxious about revealing her name now–but she was feeling entirely uneasy for a whole other reason, now. As she had recalled before, Cody was supposed to be missing. He had disappeared from the hospital three weeks ago, which begs the question: how did he get here, and why was she here with him?

“Winona–Winnie is fine.” She murmured slowly, lifting her head to look up at Claudette once she had gotten that last word out.

Putting on her friendliest smile, Claudette clapped her hands together and gave them each a nod. “Thank you, um–yes, I suppose so. It’s hard to keep a good concept of time here, but, every few months? Yeah, every few months we’ll get newcomers. Usually we only get one survivor at a time–it’s rare that we get two at a time, but not completely unheard of.”

Such a strange way of wording that–one survivor. Winnie’s brows raised ever so slightly when she caught that, and she cast a glance towards Cody, wondering if he had noticed it, too.

“What do you mean by that?” She asked, eyes still trained on Cody, but once her question was out there, she looked back to Claudette expectantly. “Survivor, usually you only get one survivor at a time. Why make a specification like that? What else is here?”

Claudette squeezed her hands together.

Bingo, now we’re getting somewhere.

“Usually when we get new arrivals, they come in pairs–sometimes trios, sometimes alone… A few weeks ago, someone on the other side came alone. Our newcomers are one of two: survivors, like you two. Regular people. The other, um… we usually just call them killers, but a few of us like to use the term hunters.”

Winnie’s face fell at the information–there was no way any of this was real! How did they even get here, anyway? She was just in her car, parked in the Roseville Police Station’s parking lot! Why would she suddenly get whisked away into a world of campfires, self-proclaimed survivors and killers? Why would–...

“Jesus Christ.” Winnie murmured, seeming to connect the dots–although she hoped that she was wrong.

They were here because of Jed–shit, no, Danny. Did that mean he was here, too? What were the odds that the aforementioned someone on the other side was him? It would make sense, given Claudette’s description–but this still made absolutely no logical sense!

Claudette’s brows knit together with sympathy–no, empathy. She took a couple of strides to bring herself closer to the both of them, and now that she stood between them, she stooped over to give them both a gentle shoulder squeeze. “I–I’m sorry, there’s really no simple way to explain any of it. I understand that it sounds completely outlandish, but we’ve all… We’ve all lived it, some of us longer than others.”

She pulled her hands away from them and took another step away from them, towards the fire. “Would you two like to come with me to the fire? It’s warmer there, and I could get you filled in some more. It’s kind of a lot, and if… If I become unavailable, someone else could pick up where I left off.”

That made no sense. What did she mean by that, if I become unavailable? Winnie tilted her head, offering her a questionable stare, but nothing more than that.
 
Cody just stared for a long moment, still trying to come to terms with this. Whatever this was. Even Claudette's explanation still didn't really help, as he had guessed. He heard what she said, but actually comprehending it? Yeah, no, not really.

"I-- Yeah, sure, whatever," he mumbled. He wasn't entirely trying to be rude, it was more so just not understanding anything, not knowing what to do with himself. He sat there for another few seconds before shakily getting to his feet, nearly stumbling in the process but steadying himself after.

"I don't understand this," he started, as if he even needed to say that aloud. He looked down at himself once more, as if half expecting that gash on his stomach to reappear, for blood to be splattered on the front of his shirt. But there was nothing still.

"So you're telling me," he began again, glancing between Claudette and Winnie, "somehow between being stabbed by my goddamn coworker and getting driven to the hospital, I got taken by..."

He trailed off. Taken by what? What could possibly have caused him to end up here?

"Whatever. Taken, and now I'm here." And you are too, he doesn't say, but looks at Winnie again as if to silently say that.

"And now there's apparently however many people here running from killers? Sounds like a bad horror movie."

But it's not. As much as he keeps trying to deny it, he still somehow knows deep down that it's not. He hasn't woken up yet, none of the people here have said "hey, yeah, just kidding! This was all a bad joke!" Nope. Still here.

He's almost tempted to ask Claudette who this mysterious other person who appeared was, the one who apparently was a killer. Do any of the others here know anything about them? Could it be who he thinks it is?

He's not sure he wants to even find out.
 
Claudette was patient with them as they tried to process the information she was giving them–clearly she had done this before. Even with Cody’s mumbled response and Winnie’s blank stares, she was still kind.

When Cody had agreed to head over to the campfire, Winnie just sighed and got herself off of the ground. She gave her knees a brief brush with her hands, dusting off any stray leaves or strands of grass, and then she quietly followed Claudette to the campfire.

Both women glanced back to Cody as he spoke, but as soon as he mentioned their coworker, Winnie’s eyes returned to her feet again.

A part of her was still in denial about it all, even after everything that had happened. It was just a bit of a difficult pill to swallow.

“That’s one hell of a story, but, yes. It’s not really easy to describe it, because… Everyone ended up here through different means, in a way. Exploring gone wrong, near death experiences, um… Anyway,” She paused to sit on one of the logs, to which she patted her palm against its bark, offering them seats of their own. “We’re safe while we’re here, though, if you’re worried about that.”

Winnie sat down next to Claudette and immediately she turned her attention to the crackling fire in front of them. Wrapping her arms around her own torso, she frowned. “Okay, so we’re safe here, which means we’re unsafe elsewhere. Where would that be, then?”

“Every now and again, the fog rolls in and the entity chooses four survivors and one killer to participate in a trial together. It sounds scary, and–and, well, it is, but you kind of get used to it after a while. It becomes normal.” Claudette pauses in her explanation to fiddle with her fingers again, definitely a nervous habit of hers, Winnie has deciphered that much. “So, you all arrive at the same time, and… Our goal as survivors is to fix up a few machines that are around the area–they’re called generators. Once you all boot up five, you can open up the gates and come back to the fire.”

Winnie lifted a knee, propping it up on the log so that she could hug it to her chest.

And the killer has to kill us, right? She didn’t ask, because their title was enough of an explanation for her.

“How do we get out of here, then? How do we leave the fire?” Winnie asked, shifting ever so slightly to look at their new companion, if they could call her that.

Claudette did not reply, not for a long while.

Winnie couldn’t help but huff, and then she found herself burying her face into her hands again. “This doesn’t make any sense. I didn’t even–I was in my car, I didn’t have a near death experience, I didn’t go out exploring, either. I don’t understand how I could even be here. Cody, you were missing for three weeks, you and–and–... It’s been three weeks since it happened. It doesn’t make sense how we could show up here at the same time, and…”

She let out a sigh, cutting off her own jabbering. It seemed like none of this made any real sense to anyone–not even Claudette could explain it to them, not clearly and entirely, at least. There were still things that even she didn’t understand.

What if he was here? It was almost impossible for him not to be here–but the thought of that was too disturbing to even ask about.

“I don’t like giving false hope to newcomers when it comes to leaving this place.” Claudette finally murmured after a long silence.
 
"What? Three weeks?" He asked incrediously, turning to look at Winnie sitting nearby when those words left her mouth. "No, that's not-- that can't be right. Yeah, it makes no sense. I just remember... that happening. Nothing after that." He gestured vaguely with his hands as he spoke, sounding a bit frantic.

Claudette said something about time being weird here, right? Which… ok, that didn’t really make sense either, but maybe that was why. However that might've worked.

And then she said that. 'I don't like giving false hope to newcomers.' So...

"What's that supposed to mean? We can't leave?" He asked. He couldn't decide whether or not to keep his mouth shut or keep asking questions, it seemed.

He kept taking glances at Winnie, now more so because he wanted her to elaborate somehow. Not that he assumed there was much more to say about anything, neither of them knew what was happening, but how was that possible? If he remembered that night at the arcade like it'd just occurred, but she was over here saying it'd been three weeks since then, and now this?

It seemed he'd almost glossed over Claudette's explanation about the whole trials thing, but now that it was silent for a moment again, he was going over it again in his head. This seriously sounded like some fucked up horror movie or some scary story. Also, wait--

"And what was that about... uh, an entity?" He looked at Claudette then, frowning slightly. This was just getting weirder and weirder by the second. And while he was no stranger to weird, fucked up things -- hell, he'd lived(?) through something one might consider such -- this was about the weirdest thing he's ever experienced, he was pretty sure. Most of the odd stuff he'd come across were while he'd been looking into things, researching before all this. Not having it happen to him directly.

Not up until the end, at least.

So what, did these people think something supernatural was at play? He wasn't an expert on that kind of stuff. Wasn't sure he believed in it himself either. Most of it was just tales people told to scare each other, he thought. But the wording was throwing him off. He had heard stories similar to what Claudette had described. People exploring and going missing under strange circumstances, things like that. But to be a victim of it himself?

Yeah, he had no idea what to say. There had to be some logical explanation for this.

Or maybe he really was trapped in some nightmare now. He still couldn't decide.

Maybe he'd died back there and this was his afterlife. (Then why was Winnie here? Had she died too somehow?)

This was hurting his head to keep thinking about.
 
Lifting her head from her hands, Winnie fixed her gaze upon Cody again. She let him get it out of his system–the confusion, of course. She didn't really know how to explain it herself, because, really… This was borderline nonsensical.

“I know it doesn't make any sense, but it–it's the truth, I promise. You disappeared from the hospital within twenty-four hours of being there, and then–he–God, they didn't find him either.” Her head was back in her hands as soon as she had finished speaking.

Claudette's physical behavior grew anxious once again as she toyed with her fingertips. Clearly these two new survivors shared some sort of history, but she wasn't sure what to make of it–because they didn't seem to certain about any of it either.

“I don't… I don't think so. I'm sorry, I truly am. If I could get us all out of here, I would.” Claudette finally murmured, her apology was wholehearted and genuine, that much was clear by her tone. “Oh, the entity–we don't know much about her, or, it. It's the reason we're here. It sets us off on these trials so that it can feed on us… Our emotions. Anger, desperation, affection–anything, really.”

Winnie shook her head again. This was completely insane. She'd be waking up soon, she was sure of it. Even if it was real, how did she get here in the first place? She wasn't dead. She hadn't gone exploring. She had just been in her car, and she had just been thinking–

“Claudette, who came here before us?” Her voice wavered–terrified to know the truth, but not so terrified she had to hide from it. It seemed like inevitably they'd come to know the answer, and she glanced towards Cody, wondering if he had come to terms with that, too.

Claudette took a glance around the campfire, and Winnie realized that she got the wrong idea. “The killer that came by themselves.”

Claudette's mouth made an ‘o’ when she had come to her realization.

“A person. I mean, I think so–he sounds like a person and looks like one, but we've never seen his face. He's got this mask on–ones they'd have in a Halloween shop.” There was a pause as she mulled over her words, tapping her thumb against her palm as she thought of the best description. “It looks like the mask is screaming.”

Winnie scuffed at the ground with her heel when Claudette had finished her explanation. She couldn't believe it–she didn't really want to, but again, it somehow made complete sense in this place that otherwise made no sense at all.

Her eyes shifted to look at Cody again, but she didn't say a word. She only peered at him through the cracks of her own fingers as she inhaled and exhaled deeply.

Now, what did she do to deserve this kind of purgatory? Had she not done everything that they had told her to do? She let them search her apartment, she let them ask her as many questions as they wanted, she gave them a statement regarding the crimes and her connection to him. Effectively when the news came out, she was both the town's local pity party and its newest suspicious individual! What could she have done differently to not end up here?

She should've just given Jed–Danny, a simple hello on that first day that she met him instead of starting up a conversation. Maybe she wouldn't have ended up here if she had just steered clear of the new guy.

So: they were stuck here in a forever state of purgatory, and Roseville's latest slasher was running around these parts, too, that would mean... Oh, they were royally fucked.
 
Royally fucked was certainly a good way to put it. Cody would’ve agreed.

But there. Claudette had confirmed what the both of them had already been thinking. Already known, really. Because of course that'd be their luck. That they'd show up here, already confused and scared, and now had to acknowledge the fact that he was too?

"You can't be serious," he muttered, but it wasn't really a deflection so much as defeat. He kept his eyes fixed on the ground now, only having given Winnie a similar look for a split second. The whole... entity deal, and what Winnie said before that about him -- them -- being missing, it still didn't settle right. He didn't know how Claudette, and presumably the others around though he hadn't really heard much from any of them, were acting like this wasn't a big deal. How she was explaining it so calmly, for the most part. Yes, she seemed nervous, but also as if she'd had this same conversation numerous times. Which was probably right, judging by everything they'd just been told.

Though as he sat there, mulling over these thoughts and feelings, a tiny little seed of an idea had somehow sprouted in his head.

It was stupid. He knew this. He'd just barely gotten here, and he didn't know anything about that whole... trial thing either. He didn't know how they worked beyond what Claudette had explained, and it surely wasn't as easy as it might've seemed in theory. (He didn't know anything about machines like that, first of all, and secondly, hiding/running from a killer the whole time? Yeah, no. Not an easy task.)

But. It still was there.

He didn't want to see Jed -- Danny, whatever (he somehow vaguely is aware of this name, even if logically he wouldn't have known it at the moment but he doesn't really question it) -- again. And yet. Some part of him does.

Why, one might ask? Why, after Cody had been betrayed by him -- he'd conned everyone he knew, really. Winnie especially -- or after he'd been hurt by him?

Because Cody thought, maybe that they were here together again, under whatever circumstance... he could somehow...

He doesn't finish that thought. Do what? He still doesn't know anything about this place really, why is he trying to come up with some stupid plan? This isn't a movie or a dream, no matter how many times he keeps thinking in his head it seems like one. And surely if he sees Danny again, he's going to be pissed. Cody already knows it. No one had ever gotten away from the Ghostface back in Roseville. Not anyone who lived to tell the tale.

But here Cody was.

He wasn't entirely sure this counted. He was alive... probably, but he knows without a doubt that if Danny and him were to meet once more, that that man would kill him for real this time.

...Which makes him wonder about something else.

If there's all these killers, and all these... survivors, surely people have died here, right?

Not that he wants to think about it. But he has to ask. He doesn't know why entirely, but he does.

"Claudette, uh. You said in those... trials, we get put together with." He waves his hand vaguely again, like he doesn't want to say it. A killer. He's said and wrote the word numerous times, it just feels strange right now. Like speaking it aloud is going to bring bad luck, or maybe make one of said killers pop out of the woods or something. "With a killer. Do-- Ok, that's a stupid question. Obviously people have died here. There's no way they haven't, right?"

He wonders, if they did, if somehow that'd... what, free him from this? If they were in some fucked up purgatory, and she'd said they couldn't leave, then what happens then?

It's another question he's not sure he wants an answer to, but probably will find out one way or another even if someone here didn't tell him.
 
Claudette’s eyes widened ever so slightly, seemingly understanding that they both knew of the man that she had described. Given their reactions, she decided not to pry about what their connections with him might have been.

The idea of seeing him here was terrifying. It was still pretty difficult for her to come to terms with everything he had done, because she had been falsely convinced that she knew him. He knew where she lived, he had been inside her apartment multiple times. He had spent the night–the guy had a toothbrush in her bathroom, and a mug in her cupboard that he favored for morning coffee. It was simply baffling that she knew him, but didn’t actually know him at all.

Why didn't he just kill her? He had dozens of chances!

Winnie did not want to see him, not at all.

With her head resting in her hands, she listened to Cody’s words. Despite him skipping over a few words, as if they were completely unspeakable, she knew what he meant. Surely Claudette would understand what he was trying to say, too.

Claudette tapped her foot on the ground once or twice before she nodded. “Plenty of times, um… That’s one of the ways that–well, one of the ways that you get back to the fire after a trial.”

What? Winnie’s brows furrowed together again before she lifted her head, first looking to Claudette, then glancing to Cody, and then back to Claudette again. “What do you mean?”

The soft-spoken woman shifted in her seat, her thumbs pressing into the palm of one of her hands again. “Death, it… It isn’t a forever thing, here. If you die in a trial, you’ll just end up back here again. It doesn’t really make sense to us, but we’ve come to accept it–the entity just won’t let us die.”

Winnie pressed her hands to her head again, staring down at the ground through the cracks of her fingers. As Claudette’s words settled in, she could feel her bottom lip beginning to tremble. No, she told herself, her palms digging into her eyes for a moment to rid the swell of tears in her eyes, there’s no way.

Suddenly she was up on her feet, her arms returning to wrap around herself in something similar to a hug. Spinning on her heel, away from the fire, she gazed out into the forest. “There’s no way out through the forest, none at all?”

“No way out through the forest, either.” Claudette was quick to shut the idea down. “We’ve all tried before, but there’s… The campfire, this area here, this is ours, while the forest… Sometimes they’re out there, other times they’re in their own realms. Those that don’t really have their own realms tend to wander from place to place–I wouldn’t be surprised if some of them were out there now. I wouldn’t give it a try.”

Winnie lingered on the thought for a little while longer. She dug her fingers into her own sides as she stared out into the forest, but eventually she agreed with Claudette’s suggestion. With a sigh, she dropped back into her spot on the log, arms crossed over her chest.

“So, we’re just stuck here, and we can’t do anything about it at all.” Her gaze shifted from the fire to Cody instead, and for a little while she just stared at him in silence, a quiet question–what are we supposed to do now? Although, she knew that they only had one option, like everybody else. Still, that didn’t make the answer any better.

Her eyes shifted to her lap, now. Now they just… What, they had to wait around until they’d get dragged into their first fucked up game?

“What’s the point in surviving these trials if you’re just going to die again eventually, anyway?” It wasn't a question that she was wanting an answer from. It just made no sense to her. How could you keep your will to live if you knew that inevitably, sooner rather than later, you'd just, essentially, be sacrificed again?
 
Cody's expression looked similar when Claudette began to explain how no, death basically wasn't even a thing here. Ok, it was from what she was saying, but might as well not have been. Not when you just came back from it. Some might say that was a good thing, they didn't want to die. Cody didn't agree with that. Not right now, at least. Not when the place you kept coming back to was like... this.

He watched in silence as Winnie stood up, questioning Claudette about there not being another way to leave, only for her to confirm again that there wasn't. Because why would there be.

As she sat back down, he shot her a sympathetic look, unsure what to say. Like he had been this whole time, basically. Could you blame him though?

And then Winnie dared to voice that question aloud, which he saw a couple of the others glance at each other once she spoke it. He didn't know how to answer it and he could assume the others didn't really either, even if they'd been here longer.

...There's that stupid idea again.

He doesn't plan to act on it of course. Not now, at the very least, not when he still knows nothing. Not where Danny might be, not what's out there, not these 'other realms' that keep being mentioned. But.

He was tempted to ask something of his own.

It was probably a stupid question too. No, it absolutely was. He knew it. Surely someone had tried this as well, given no one could die here apparently, and all these people had been here for... however long. He didn't know, and didn't want to.

The stupid part was believing that it had any sort of merit. That it was worth holding on hope for.

He asked it anyways.

"Does the whole 'not dying thing' apply to the killers too..?"

He doesn't elaborate. Probably doesn't need to. It wouldn't take a genius to figure out why he's asking. He really didn't plan on acting on it -- how would he, anyways? With what weapon, with what strength? -- but he was curious nonetheless.

Winnie (and maybe the rest of them) probably think he's crazy right now for even considering this. Maybe he is.
 
Claudette exchanged a glance with another survivor at the campfire upon hearing Winnie's question. Unfortunately, she didn't really have an answer to it–nobody did. Not an answer that would make either of their newcomers feel any better, at least.

So, she put on her best smile, brows furrowed ever so slightly with sympathy. “I think it's our instinct to survive that keeps us going. I'm… Not too sure, though.”

Winnie didn't reply, she just lifted her hand–balled up into a fist, and pressed her nails to her bottom lip.

An uncomfortable silence followed–at least, uncomfortable for Claudette. Winnie didn't care much for the silence, it just allowed her some more time to think. She didn't know what else to ask, because each answer she got wasn't what she wanted to hear–yeah, she was practically hopeless before her very first trial. What hope was there to be had, anyway?

Then came Cody's question. Maybe a part of her knew it was coming, though–it was only fair that he would want a chance to avenge himself, and all of the others, of course.

She turns her head to look at him, now with her nails digging into her cheek rather than her lip. His question left her feeling a bit conflicted–because she understood how he felt. It made so much sense for him to think about doing such a thing.

…Yet, still, it somehow disturbed her. She knew why, of course–she was still in denial. It was still difficult for her to accept that Jed and Danny were the same person, hence her unease at the thought of him dying.

It made her feel so guilty.

“I'm not sure.” Claudette finally answered, sounding slightly curious at the thought of it. “I'd assume it applies to all of us… The most we can do is stun them for a little while, though, if you're looking to hurt them. Some of us have different ways of doing it, if you're looking to learn a thing or two about being an inconvenience to them during trials, I can tell you who you'd want to talk to.”

Was it bad that Winnie felt relieved? She held in the sigh that she had nearly let out.

“God, I'm sorry, Cody.” She murmured softly, shifting to look at him completely. They hadn't known each other very well during their lives before, but she made a point to talk to everyone at the Gazette. “...Apologies won't do anything but–still, after what happened that night, just for you to end up here. I'm sorry.”

Cody was young, too. Sure, she was only three years older than him, but still–he was young. She couldn't help but feel sorry, and even heartbroken for him.

“We're gonna figure this out. Even if we can't get out yet.” She whispered that last bit to him, because she was certain it would receive a few looks of sympathy that she didn't want right now.

It just made no sense to her that there was absolutely no end to this–no real death, no real escape. How could that even be possible? It couldn't be possible.
 
Well, that wasn't the answer he wanted to hear. Actually, he wasn't entirely sure what he did expect out of that. He already had a feeling that was what would be coming.

"...That might help, at least." He replied, voice a bit quieter now. Ok, so maybe they couldn't kill the killers. But doing anything like that might make him feel a little better. At least, that's what he was thinking right now. When it actually came to it, he's not sure what he'd do. It's not like he'd been in a situation like this before. Obviously.

Well, except that night. But even then, that definitely wasn't the same.

Cody didn't understand what Winnie felt about Danny, if he was being honest. Of course he didn't. He could understand why she felt that way, he supposed, but not entirely. Yeah, sure, they'd been close. Maybe that was why he didn't get it. Because the most Cody interacted with the other man was in passing really, much like the rest of the people he knew there. He wasn't exactly the most social. He used to be a little more, but something changed as things went on.

When he started digging into things he shouldn't have.

He's not sure he regrets that or not. It's how he ended up here, after all. Would it have went differently if he didn't? If he hadn't tried to be a hero... and failed miserably, at that. Because it hadn't helped anyone. Danny was now 'missing' back in Roseville. So was he, and so was Winnie now. He hadn't actually stopped anything, not really.

When Winnie apologized, he just sighed and offered a half-smile that didn't really mean anything either.

"It's fine," he said. It wasn't. "It's not your fault I wanted to play hero." Not that he knew this was going to be the outcome of that, but still.

None of it made sense to him yet either, even after being explained. He's not sure it ever would.


After a while -- not too long, but long enough for the both of them to talk to some of the others if they wished, or in Cody's case, have a little more of the trial stuff elaborated on as much as it could be -- Cody had noticed the fog that seemed to linger on the edges of the clearing had rolled in further. It was a bit colder too, or maybe that was just him. But he was near the fire again, which should've helped in theory. It didn't.

Someone had told the both of them how there were a few buildings out a little ways from the fire, but to still not wander too far just in case. He hadn't, not really, just took a look with someone and came back here. Apparently, along with death not being permanent, your body didn't need sleep here either. There were still places to rest or stay away from the main area however. Only so many people could be here around the fire at once after all.

He made a face as that chill only intensified, and he had a feeling it had nothing to do with the actual temperature. Casting a wary glance over at one of the others sitting beside him, he asked if they noticed it too. They, in fact, did.

Unfortunately, this apparently meant a trial was about to begin. Whoever was getting picked would just... know, apparently. Maybe feel similarly to how he did now.

Time for another stupid question.

"Is there any way to know who we're going to be seeing out there? I mean, the killer. I don't know how many there are but--" He cut himself off, shaking his head. Why was he even bothering? Even if he did face Danny again, what would he do?

...Probably run scared instead of doing anything noteworthy.

The answer to that, as he'd suspected, was no. Not until they got to whatever other area they were going to be sent to -- which no one knew where that would be until actually arriving either. Wonderful.

It only took a little while longer for the fog to suddenly creep in further, surrounding him much like it had when he'd appeared here himself; not that he'd really noticed it then though. Him and three others.

Winnie was one of them. He just barely noticed before they were taken away.

It felt like falling, he noted. It felt like it did when he first got here. The darkness, the emptiness.

Until it didn't.

Until the fog cleared and they were in a new place. One that he, of course, didn't recognize.

Hopefully someone else knew it better than him.

Hopefully he wouldn't die. Permanent or not, he didn't want to experience it.

Not at his hands, especially.
 
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The next few hours, Winnie had spent her time working up the courage to bounce from person to person–offering them an introduction, as well as questions, but mostly she came looking for advice.

As she puttered about, she made sure not to stray too far from Cody–he was the only familiar thing about this place right now, so she took some comfort in seeing him.

When she was speaking to someone concerning how the generators in the trial worked, she spotted the fog around the clearing. It seemed to lick at the edges of the clearing, and just then, she realized how cold it had gotten.

As soon as she remembered what Claudette had told them, her eyes scanned for Cody again–he was by the fire. With a wave of her hand and a thank you to the individual that she had been talking to, she began her trek back to the campfire. The fog was slowly beginning to flood the clearing, passing by the ankles of the other survivors that populated the area. By the time she reached the campfire in order to get to Cody, the cold chill of the fog had begun to crawl up her legs.

She didn’t reach Cody in time, but she noticed that the same had happened to him, too–which brought her a bit of comfort. It was nice to know that she’d be there with him, but she also hoped that the two others that got roped into this would be much more experienced than they were.

Everything had gone dark, and the dirt beneath her feet seemed to disappear–was she floating or falling? She wasn’t too sure.

The in-between was nice, actually.

Her chest swelled with anxiety as soon as she felt her feet touch the ground–but she couldn’t see anything quite yet. Slowly, her vision returned to her, and surprisingly she was met with… Sunlight.

Winnie was expecting it to be a whole lot darker here.

She lifted a hand to shield her eyes as she looked up at the sky–huh.

Alright, focus: tasks! You have things that you need to get done.

After getting caught up in the warmth of the sun for a moment, she smacked her palms against her thighs and headed off–somewhere. She had absolutely no idea where she was going, but… Her eyes drifted upwards again, recalling the advice that she had been given when it came to finding these generators.

Eyes to the sky, a lot of survivors had suggested.

So, she kept her eyes up, in search of a ‘big pole with lights flickering at the top’, as someone so eloquently explained to her before. After a bit of jogging and wondering if anyone was actually here–which, yes there was, because she believed that she saw that intimidating David fella across the way about a minute ago–she finally saw a flickering set of lights in the sky.

Winnie rounded a hay bale, finally coming face to face with a generator–okay, so how was she supposed to fix it? She edited newspaper articles for a living, so this was kind of beyond her capability. Nevertheless, with a sigh, she dropped to her knees next to the machine and began to poke away at it. Tugging at random cranks, loose wires–yeah, she had no idea what she was doing, but the pistons above her head had begun to move, so surely she was doing something right.

None of this was remotely normal, but she felt sort of… At ease. Probably because she hasn’t seen the horrors yet, nor had she heard anything from anyone ever since she had arrived. The only signs of life that she had seen so far had been David, and that was just a brief glimpse.

Maybe this trial would be simple.

Wishful thinking.
 
Cody, unfortunately, had appeared in the realm not near any of the other three. Someone had said that might happen. They also said sometimes it was better to stay apart rather than stick together, depending on the circumstances. Hopefully this would be fine.

He wasn't sure what he'd expected when the fog cleared, when he was able to see again. He steadied himself, still feeling a bit... wobbly from however he'd been transported here, and took a look around. It was bright, not like the darkness back in the woods. Sun was actually shining here, which sort of made him feel better as well. Easier to see anyone coming after him, or at least he hoped.

Wherever they were looked like a farm of some kind. There was a barn up ahead, and probably other things he couldn't see yet either. He headed towards the barn first, unsure where he should even go but that seemed like an ok area. Maybe there'd be one of the generators in there.

Seemed he was right as he entered the building, there was one sat in the middle of the area. He looked at it for a long moment, unsure where to even begin. Yeah, he'd been told what to do, but actually working on the thing was a whole other task. Still, he knelt down and attempted to get to work. There wasn't time to be wasting. He was in a similar position as Winnie -- as in, unsure what he was doing but clearly getting somewhere regardless as the machine started to chug slightly as he fumbled with wires and whatever else.

He kept looking over his shoulder towards the entrance behind him. No one there. Not survivors, not anyone else. Not that he could see at least, but he didn't want to get too lost in his thoughts and get snuck up on.

He wondered where Winnie was, if she'd showed up closer to the other the two, or if they'd all been separated. Maybe he just had bad luck.

He was about to find out just how bad that luck ran here soon.


Danny, better known simply as the Ghostface to the survivors here, grumbled to himself as he appeared closer to the corner of the farm. Great. This was not where he'd been anticipating being sent. Out of all the places, this one? It was one of the ones he tended to do worse on, for obvious reasons. Dressing in all black tended to stand out in the middle of the day. This was one of the few realms where it was actually daytime. Just his luck the Entity would send him here.

No matter. He had survivors to find. He'd deal with it. He prided himself in being one of the better killers, after all. Even if he was just human. Yes, he'd gotten here recently, but from what he'd heard from some of the others, it seemed he was doing exceptionally good when it came to his own trials. A few of the killers -- those who actually bothered to be social, or could be, as he'd come to find some of them either couldn't communicate or chose not to -- weren't very pleased by this. A newcomer arriving and suddenly doing so well was odd, to say the least. Especially one who was simply human, not some monster like some of the others were. He chalked it up to already being a killer before he'd been brought here. A lot of them hadn't been, had been... changed, one way or another. As far as he knew, that wasn't the case with him.

As he walked closer to the center of the realm where the barn stood, he crept along the side, careful to not make a sound. He'd essentially perfected this before arriving here, and even if he hadn't, it was almost as if the Entity had granted him the ability to make no sound at all, to be near-impossible to spot unless a survivor looked directly at him. (For the most part. Sometimes it seemed to falter, but typically that wasn't the case.) He was very thankful for this, but also wasn't sure he needed it most of the time.

Here, it definitely came in handy.

Feeling for his knife, always present at his side, he peered around the corner and into the building.

...What he saw nearly made him lose his composure.

He couldn't see the face of the survivor crouched there in the dirt in front of the generator, their back was to him. But the red flannel, the brown hair -- it didn't look like anyone he'd seen here before.

It reminded him of someone.

Someone who shouldn't have been here.

Someone who should've been dead.

There was no way that he was here, right? How could he have been? Danny had been here for... well, he wasn't quite sure. A good amount of time, he'd say. Not as long as everyone else, that was for sure, but it still felt like a while. It probably wasn't in reality, but as everyone already knew, time in this realm was strange.

If he'd shown up here, it should've been at the same time. At least, that's what he assumed. Danny had arrived alone, as far as he knew.

But here this one was. Proving him wrong. Maybe he'd been here, and Danny just hadn't ran into him during a trial yet. But... no, he would've known. He had a bad habit of going closer to the survivor's little campfire, watching them from the shadows like he did during trials. Why? Well, why not? Some called it creepy, he called it simply observing. No issue with eavesdropping if he wasn't actually intent on hurting them out there, right?

But no, he hadn't seen any faces he recognized up until right now. Well, he hadn't even seen this one's face, that was the issue. Maybe it was someone new, but not who he thought.

Seems he was about to find out.

Silent as ever, Danny stepped fully into the barn, knife now clutched in his hand.

...And of course, he had to turn to look back right at that moment.

Cody. There was no way. Absolutely no fucking way. His eyes narrowed behind the mask, as if he expected the survivor to... what, dissipate into the air? Some new trick of the Entity's? Nope. Still there. Still staring wide eyed at the cloaked figure there before him. He'd nearly jumped out of his skin when he turned around, and Danny stifled a laugh.

"Well, hello there," Danny started, and the disdain was evident in his voice despite the words. Mocking as ever, he went on. That was another habit of his, making fun of the survivors, playing with them in this way. "Fancy seeing you here."

Cody stood up and took a few steps back immediately, but didn't immediately bolt, as if his feet were stuck to the ground all of the sudden. Maybe trying to figure out if this was real too. Danny wasn't sure if Cody knew that he was here either. From the reaction, it almost seemed as if he didn't.

And then, there it was. He ran like all the others. Turned and fled from the building, quick as can be, kicking up dirt and hay stranded on the ground. Danny just tilted his head and watched him for a moment before he went after him as well.

"You're not getting away from me this time."
 
While Cody was busy experiencing hell, Winnie was just… having a good time getting acquainted with how these generators worked. While she sat there, tinkering away to the best of her ability, she couldn’t help but wonder why the entity chose to use generators of all things.

Why not crossword puzzles? The question that she thought up made her chuckle, despite the circumstances that she found herself in.

The distraction that she had accidentally provided herself with caused the generator to suddenly burst, creating a loud sound like that of an explosion as well as a sudden bright light.

Shit! Winnie pulled her hands to her chest as she closed her eyes–her heart immediately began to hammer within her chest at the realization that she had definitely just fucked something up. With bated breaths, she glanced over her shoulders, staring out into the rolling cornfields for a few long moments… Nothing.

She was fine.

That didn't make sense, wouldn't the supposed killer be heading towards the source of sound?

Well, maybe they already found someone to go after.

Winnie frowned at the thought. It didn’t feel good getting relief from the imminent pain of others. What if it was Cody? She shook the thought away–what were the odds of him being chased first, anyway? Twenty-five percent, which isn’t the worst but also not the best… Hopefully it wasn’t him.

Shooing away the thought of Cody being in danger right now elsewhere, she returned to the generator to work away at it. Still having no clue what exactly she was doing, she just continued to try her best–progression was supposedly being made, judging by the pistons and their increasing speed.

When she was nearly done with her generator–or at least she hoped she was nearly done–she heard the sound of footsteps. Rapid footfalls, sprinting. Out of curiosity, she paused in her work to stand up straight, up on the balls of her feet so that she could peer over the top of the hay bales that she was working next to. Across the way, her eyes landed on a barn, but more importantly, she saw Cody running away from it. He wasn’t coming directly towards her, but he was rushing to the general area that she was in.

Her eyes shifted to the barn again, and upon seeing the figure that was currently pursuing Cody, she froze up. The mask was hard to miss, and with the sunny atmosphere that they had been blessed with, the dark get-up was a dead giveaway, too. The pictures back in Roseville didn’t do him justice, she realized now, as she slowly turned her head to watch him chase after Cody.

The shock simmered in her stomach, and one of her hands lifted to clamp over her mouth before she dropped down to the ground again, hopefully hidden away behind the hay bale. Her mind began to run rampant with thoughts, and she shuffled through the dirt on her knees, back to her spot next to the generator.

It was Jed–or, Danny. Of course, they’d be paired up with Danny during their first trial–that entity thing was fucked up for pairing them all together! They were stuck here with Danny, and now he was off chasing Cody around–she had to focus. As much as she wanted to get up and go find Cody, she knew that would help nobody–if she could just focus and get this thing done, then maybe… Maybe she’d be able to help him.

Get it done, just–just get it done.
 
Cody felt his heart drop when he'd turned his head on pure instinct, like he had been before, only to be met with the face -- or mask, rather -- of the one person he hadn't wanted to see.

Except, no, he had. He'd said it back there. Or at least implied it. Been thinking it too.

Now he got what he wanted.

...This was stupid. Very, very stupid. He was an idiot for thinking he'd do anything but run like he was right now when he saw that man again.

He bolted out of the barn and went straight ahead, unsure where exactly he was going. There was a cornfield and... something up beyond that, but he couldn't quite tell from here. It was annoying, but he thought running through the field would maybe get Danny off his tracks for a moment at the very least. The stalks whipped past him as he pushed through the corn, and he prayed none of the others were over here. (A little part of him kind of hoped they were, so maybe someone could help him out somehow. Even if that'd most likely mean them getting hurt instead of him.)

Finally out of there, there was a little structure of some kind. Ok, less of a structure and more so just a bunch of walls near each other. As someone earlier had said, there were things like this around the realms to be places to hide or distract the killer. So, he did exactly that. Ducked behind one of the walls and tried to be quiet. Hoped that when Danny appeared out of the cornfield that he didn't realize where he'd went.


Danny didn't care about being quiet right now, even if there were others nearby. He was after one person and one person only. If the other three saw him, so be it. He'd deal with them after.

But now he didn't know where Cody went. Fucker. How'd he lose him that fast?

Pushing aside the cornstalks, he stepped out into a more open area and looked to each side. No one in sight, though there was a generator a short distance away but there didn't seem to be anyone on it. Possibly was worked on a little, but he'd have to actually walk up to it to check.

Hm. Maybe he could leave Cody for a moment. Let him think he was safe. He always did like playing with his food after all. Even if right now that felt like the last thing he should be doing.

Deciding that was the plan, he took one last look around before heading towards the generator he'd spotted. As he thought, someone had been working on it. He gave it a good kick and then--

Wait. Someone was here. Near enough that he'd thought he'd heard a little noise, or some flicker of movement. He couldn't place where though. That little encounter had thrown him all off. He normally was right on the trails of these survivors, no matter how smart they thought they were finding some hiding spot. God damn it.

...His eyes land on a pile of hay bales not far from the generator. Something's telling him they're over there.

He starts walking forward once more.
 
Get it done.

Those three words repeated like a mantra within Winnie's mind as she attempted to repair the generator to her best ability. In fact, it was almost finished! At least, she presumed as such.

She would have gotten it fixed, too, but she pushed herself away from the generator as soon as she saw that dark shape step out from behind the cornstalks.

Again, her hand clamped over her mouth as she shuffled backwards in the dirt, behind a hay bale. On your feet, she thought to herself, and despite her shaking limbs, she slowly lifted herself up to her feet. Winnie's free hand rested against the hay bale, and she leaned in close to peer out at the generator on the other side through the small space between the bales.

When he kicked the generator, her shoulders went tense–her entire body had tensed up, actually. Damn, she resisted the urge to huff in frustration at his actions, and instead she opted to dig her fingers into the hay bale, causing a soft crunching noise.

Shit.

Winnie's blood ran cold as she watched the white mask turn to look into her direction.

How did he lose Cody? Where was he?

For a little while, it felt like time stopped. Although she wasn't sure if he could see her, she saw him–and she wasn't sure what to do now. Run? Where was she supposed to go–in the opposite direction that Cody went, probably–

Danny took one step in her direction, and she was gone. She didn't need anymore time to think about it, she just took off in an immediate sprint. Where was she headed? No clue! However, she did know that she wanted to lead him away from Cody–wherever he went.

So, she ran into the entrance of the barn that she had initially seen the both of them exiting earlier. She practically blundered through the door, slamming into a hay bale that had been situated inside with a loud ‘oof'. It winded her for only a moment, the adrenaline pumping through her veins pushing her to haphazardly stumble her way further into the barn.

Now that she was here, she realized that this barn had plenty of entrances. Doors, and also some windows–so, she situated herself where she could see most of them, and whichever way he entered, she'd take off in the other direction.

Yeah, she wasn't made for this cat and mouse business. She wasn't very good at any of this, in fact. How long would she be able to run him around? She wasn't very strong, and her stamina kind of sucked–well, her stamina wasn't that bad here, now that she thought about it. A part of her felt like she could run forever… Maybe that was the adrenaline talking.

Her heartbeat suddenly quickened again, and she blinked away her previous thoughts to glance around–where was he going to come from?

Winnie's hands balled up into fists, as if she were ready for a tousle of sorts–which, no, she definitely was not prepared for such a thing. Jed–no, Danny, could take her easily. This much she knew for sure.

God, she just hoped that he stuck to her for a little bit instead of returning to Cody. Please.
 
It was by some miracle that Danny didn't realize where Cody was. He wasn't really sure how -- it wasn't a good hiding spot by any means, at least in his opinion. He let out a breath once Danny started to walk away, only to realize he saw someone else. And so did he, though he didn't realize who it was at first until they got closer to him. Not for long, with how fast they were running, but--

Oh. It was Winnie. He took back everything he said about wanting Danny to go after someone else or wishing there was another survivor over here. That's not who he had in mind. Should he jump out and try to distract him instead? Make him realize where he was so she could get away?

Danny, while Cody couldn't see his face or hear a word from him, seemed incredibly confused when he saw the figure dart past him if the way he just stood there instead of immediately following was any indication. Had he not known either of them were here? Maybe, given the whole... time weirdness thing. Since apparently Danny had been here longer, and they'd just arrived. However that worked, he still didn't know.

He didn't have time to do what he wanted. Maybe if he hadn't hesitated himself, but now Danny was taking off in the direction she'd went, leaving him behind.

What did he get himself into?


Danny was almost inclined to believe that, yes, the Entity was screwing with them all. There was no way in hell he just saw who he thought he did run past him. Not after he'd already seen Cody moments ago.

Logically, it made sense. Sort of. If one of them came, the other might've followed. But also, why? He'd thought Cody was dead. That made sense how he got here then, according to what he'd heard about some of the survivors, but her? She was very much still alive when he'd gotten taken.

Blinking behind the mask and just staring blankly at Winnie's retreating form, he only took a moment to snap out of that and start running after her. He honestly was tempted to turn around and go try and find Cody -- he'd been more concerned with him than anyone else -- but it'd just be wasting time to not go after the survivor who'd he'd very clearly seen rather than the one hiding who knows where.

Now, if he was going to kill her was a different story. Cody he very much wanted to. Winnie? Well... up for debate.

He had no reason to back then. No, not true. He didn't have reason for a lot of the crimes he'd committed other than he felt like it. Killing was his thing. He'd been taught to do it. Did he need any real explanation? So him not having a reason didn't really mean anything. He supposed he just didn't feel like it.

Or maybe somewhere amongst the lies he'd been spinning, playing up his act of just being another friendly coworker and maybe something more, he'd gotten... conflicted.

It was supposed to be just that. An act. And while he did screw around and flirt, put up that charming persona, it wasn't often he actually got tangled up in his own web. This time, for whatever reason, he had.

Which made things complicated.

He'd had the urge to kill her back then, a few times. It'd solve his problem, he thought. (There were reasons to keep her alive though, just like there were some reasons it might be beneficial not to.) He kept saying he wouldn't, however, or would try and comfort her in the office by saying there was no reason for the killer to go after her when the topic was inevitably brought up. Which no, there really wasn't. But again, there didn't need to be a real reason for him to kill someone. He often just did.

But no, he didn't. And now here both of those loose ends from Roseville were running around here right in front of his eyes.

Striding into the barn, he didn't immediately spot her from the entrance he'd come from, but then there she was. Clear as day, not some vision.

"Well. You're here too." It was said casual as ever, like this was just a normal conversation and he wasn't supposed to be chasing her down to shove her on a hook. "Funny how that works."

He didn't seem as bothered by this as he had with Cody. He definitely was, but definitely less so. Or rather, in a different way. Cody he wasn't debating back and forth on what to do with. No, he knew what he wanted with that one.

This one? Not so much.

Despite the knife in his hand and the scant distance between them, he made no move to close it. He just stood there in front of her, and it wasn't clear what he was thinking or even looking at behind the mask. That was one thing he liked about it, that no one could really ever read his expressions like that. It hid what he might be feeling, at least in that aspect.

"I thought I'd left you behind." He idly flipped the knife over in his hand. "You and him. All of that. I thought he was dead. You, though..."

He trailed off. Wondered if she'd run now, or stay stuck like Cody had -- although he had taken off moments afterward. He wasn't really sure what he wanted to say to her.

Wasn't sure he needed to say anything.

"Neither of you are supposed to be here." He left it at that. A statement, one that he was pretty sure all three of them agreed on. He wasn't supposed to be here either, he guessed, but it at least made sense for him to be in a way. (That was another thing, while some of the other killers had their qualms about what they did, he didn't. Never had, not back then nor here.)

His head tilted, like a curious animal observing something. In a way, that's exactly what was going on here. A predator looking down on its prey.

...But did he want to pounce on this one, was the question.
 
The waiting game had begun, it seems. Her eyes darted from entryway to entryway, listening to the otherwise silent atmosphere–and then she heard the footsteps.

Winnie's feet acted before she could even register her own thoughts, making a beeline for a nearby window that opposed the entrance that Danny would be arriving from–but before she hopped the fence to leave the barn, she spared a glance over her shoulder.

A mistake, probably, because she froze in her spot right away. Hands resting on the edge of the window, back semi-facing him with her head turned to look at him.

Her heart hammered in her chest already, but when he began to talk, she could hear it thumping in her ears.

Definitely his voice, unfortunately there was no mistaking it. The colour had drained from her face now, despite already knowing the truth, it felt like she had just been shocked to her very core.

Winnie's mouth fell open, intending to put together a response, but nothing came out. Instead, her eyes trained on his blade, and her fingertips began to tremble where they rested against the open window. It was clean right now–his knife. He hadn't gotten anybody yet, much to her surprise. Maybe she'd be the first now.

His voice was so casual, and Winnie couldn't even get a word out. Again, she tried, but instead, she could only nod her head in a quiet agreement with his final statement. It was kind of embarrassing, standing here practically mindlessly nodding along with what he said, but she couldn't muster up the courage to do much else.

Winnie's brows furrowed together and her lips curved into a frown when he tilted his head–suddenly feeling a whole lot more like prey than she initially did.

There were a lot of things she wanted to say–to ask. She had been thinking a lot over the last three weeks, so she knew that she had something to say to him, it just… Escaped her now.

Slowly, she shifted her body slightly to face him–not entirely, she still had one hand resting resting in the window's opening. Now her back wasn't to him, though.

“Danny.” She finally managed, although it was immediately followed by a rather long, open-ended silence. “That's your name–Danny Johnson.”

Another beat of silence, but this time it passed quicker. Not because she spoke again, but because the sound of a generator being booted up in the distance suddenly cut through the air.

That would probably be David and… Whoever else was here.

As if on cue, out one of the other doors, she saw someone run by–someone with a beanie, or at least that's what she thought she saw out of the corner of her eye.

Even with the movement, her eyes didn't shift away from him, not even for a moment. Perhaps out of fear that he would make a move the moment that she glanced elsewhere–or maybe because she wanted something from him in this moment. Answers, maybe. Not that they had very much time for something as trivial as that.

Slowly, she mimicked his stature, tilting her head the same as he did. “Why didn't you kill me, Danny, when you had the chance? We both know that you had plenty of chances.”

With her free arm, she lifted it, making a vague gesture towards herself. “I'm here now for the taking–why haven't you done it already?”

It's not that she was egging him on, she was just genuinely curious. Maybe he did like to play with his food, but for so long? What was the point in any of that?

"Let's get this over with... Please." Her lips trembled ever so slightly as she pleaded, her voice quiet–the faster he did it, the easier this would be.
 
"Is that so?" He noticed the hesitation as she spoke his name. He didn't confirm nor deny it. Of course, she'd known him as something different for the longest time. Most people did. His real identity must've been found out by the cops or whatever. Too bad he wasn't back in Roseville anymore for them to catch. He had much bigger things to worry about here... and much more fun to be had, if he was being honest.

Danny didn't look away either when Winnie spoke. Not when the telltale sound of a generator being finished could be heard somewhere in the distance, nor the sight of another survivor sprinting past. His focus wasn't on any of that currently, though he vaguely registered that if he didn't hurry up this may not go good for him.

'Why didn't you kill me?' A question even he wasn't sure how to respond to. Even if he had a real answer, he probably wouldn't have told her.

But oh, she wants to play now, is that it? Or is she trying to keep to focus on herself and not the others? Maybe trying to protect poor little Cody. As if Danny isn't going to go right for him once this is all said and done.

He can work with that.

He lifted the hand with his blade, though he didn't immediately act or anything. Just watched her reactions, how her eyes darted down to it, how she surely wanted to jump out that window behind her and go running with the way her fingers twitched against the wood. But she hadn't, not yet.

"Get it over with, she says," he starts, coming closer now. He wants to. He does. And he should. Stab her here and now and shove her on a hook and hope none of the others come get her. It'd get rid of her for a little while, at the very least.

He lunges forward, the knife suddenly plunging into flesh. He's not even sure where it'd landed at first, just that he'd done it. Like he was acting on pure instinct.

He yanks his hand back, blood splattering on the front of the costume as he does. Not that that's anything new.

Before she can react or say anything else, he's walking away, almost hurried. He doesn't stab her again, doesn't sling her over his shoulder to go find a hook. Just... leaves her there against the wall, probably with more questions than answers. He's not sure why he'd done that himself.

He tells himself he'll come back for her. That he needs to find Cody first before anything. That this is strategic, even if leaving her there could mean one of the others comes and helps her before he has a chance to finish the job.

Danny doesn't know what parts of that are true or not.
 
Winnie inhaled slowly at his vague response–is that so? Perhaps a snarky remark bubbled up in her throat, but it died away far too quickly. Now definitely was not the time for such quips–not that she would actually be able to put those thoughts into words when it really came to it anyway.

The fact that he hadn’t moved when the generator went off only seemed to alarm her further–because he still refused to move an inch.

She held her breath.

He lifted his blade, and her eyes were glued to the movement. A voice in the back of her mind told her to get moving, jump out the window and start running, don’t just stand there! Her fingers twitched again, unfortunately finding herself still frozen in shock, with her nails digging gently into the wood of the window sill.

Then he’s moving again, mocking her words, and she finally gives herself the permission to move–unfortunately though, the shock of it all only allowed her to take a few steps backwards until her hip knocked against the window sill, and then–

Winnie’s voice got caught in her throat as she felt a deep, sharp pressure deep within her abdomen. Initially, she just lifted her hands to grasp at his wrist in an attempt to push him away, but he had already done that for her–and when the blade had been torn away, she let out a sharp, strangled yelp.

Her brain went fuzzy for a moment, shock, she presumed. In the haze, she had braced herself for another impact, but nothing came. The fresh wound, placed just above her hip began to tingle–and then it began to burn.

“Fuck!” She seethed, one of her hands lifting to press against her wound–she had never sported a wound like this before, so what was she supposed to do? The actual pain hadn’t set in, she was still in shock–but God had it ever gotten warm all of the sudden. With her lower back pressed against the window sill, she blinked blearily at the space that Danny had just been standing.

You can still move after your first hit, most of the time, at least. No matter how bad the wound feels, if you haven’t been hit twice, you can usually keep moving. That old guy had told her that before the fog rolled in earlier–so she pushed herself away from the window.

Her feet led her out of the barn, although she wasn’t sure where Danny had disappeared off to, so she was just kind of hoping that she was going in the opposite direction. Barely at a jog, she found herself approaching another generator that chugged loudly behind a few stacked hay bales and barrels. Once she had turned the corner, she found that intimidating guy, David, that she saw briefly earlier.

“Help,” She blurted out upon seeing him, her voice watery and shaken.

Definitely not the most friendly face, but he waved her over anyways. She stooped over next to him, dropping haphazardly onto her knees, and she cast him a hard stare before he nodded to the generator. “This is almost done, help me finish it and then we’ll clean you up.”

Wow, okay. Winnie supposed that it was fair, though–she wished that she had found Cody instead, though. She hadn’t seen him since he ran past her earlier, and… Well, she was worried for him. Still, she knew that going out of her way to look for him wouldn’t be the best–because the best she could do right now was make sure generators got finished, right? Yeah, something like that. Doing this would help him get out of here faster.
 
Sometime while all of that had been happening, Cody had snuck out from where he'd been hiding. He wasn't aware of anything that had went down in the barn, he just hoped Winnie was alright. Knowing Danny had went after her though, well... he had a feeling that might not be the case. He had no idea where the other two were either. This sucked.

Not that he'd really expected anything more from his first trial.

He'd made his way over to the generator he presumed Winnie had been working on before, though it seemed to be sputtering now that Danny had kicked it. He didn't want to leave Winnie to her own devices, alone with Danny, but he also didn't want to risk them both getting injured or worse because he put himself out in the open. So he just tried his best to continue working on this in the meantime.

Somehow, he'd managed to get it closer to being done, or at least that's what he assumed based on the noise it was making now.

...Unfortunately, he was about to get interrupted once more.

This time, he'd been caught up in his thoughts, too focused on the task at hand that he didn't even hear the presence sneaking up behind him.

So when he was suddenly yanked away from the machine, he yelped in surprise and flailed as if to struggle free. He probably looked incredibly pathetic, but he definitely hadn't expected that at all. Craning his head around to see who it was -- not that he needed to -- he was once more met with the white mask, the dark coat... and Danny's blade glinting in the light too.

"Get away from me!" Cody spat, but in the moment while his guard had been momentarily down, Danny had managed to pick him up. (Were all the killers given more strength, or something? Not that Danny seemed particularly weak, no, but it seemed almost too easy for him to do that. None of this was fair!)

Danny on the other hand was incredibly happy with this outcome. He didn't even need to injure this one! Just snatched him up because he thought he could get away with not paying attention. He was sure they'd learn soon enough that not constantly checking your surroundings would be your downfall -- especially with him, or the few others who had similar abilities. He'd seen it happen too many times. Danny honestly wasn't in the mood to chase him down again anyways, seeing as maybe Cody did have a little luck on his side if that hiding spot earlier meant anything.

"Thought you could get away this time, hm?" Danny chided as he started walking, looking around for one of the hooks scattered across the area. "She's lucky I let her go. You? Not so much."

Wait, what? What was that supposed to mean? Cody was confused now. Danny had... what, just walked away from Winnie? Didn't hurt her? Let her run free? He hadn't seen what happened, so of course he didn't know. What did he get out of doing that? Seems neither him nor her understood his reasoning here.

"Put me down, you fucking--" He cut himself off, kicking and shoving at Danny but it didn't do much but make the other stumble a little bit. Not enough to drop him. Of course not.

Cody almost thought he was being set down, or Danny's grip had faltered -- he hadn't been looking around much himself, just trying (and failing) to get himself free. But no, he wasn't.

It was very much clear that wasn't the case when there was a sharp, stabbing pain near his shoulder. Something pushing through flesh and oh god he didn't want to think about that--

He'd been stabbed before, yes. That was different. This was so much worse.

He was sure the others heard him scream, there was no way they didn't. He couldn't bear to look down at himself, to see the metal piercing through his skin, to do anything but close his eyes and pray someone got here to help him.

...He really was stupid, thinking he'd do anything out here but run, be a coward. Look where that got him.
 
Winnie was growing a bit impatient, she had to admit. The shock was slowly beginning to wear off, and the longer she waited, the more that the throbbing pain in her side began to bother her. Still, she knew that it would be within their best efforts to get this thing finished first.

David wasn’t much of a chatterbox, Winnie had concluded during her time here with him. Although she didn’t blame him, considering the circumstances. It was probably best to keep quiet, but also their generator was incredibly loud, so what was so wrong about exchanging a few words?

When the generator had nearly been finished, Winnie was caught off guard by the scream that sounded from across the farm–Cody. That had to have been Cody. She had never really had the opportunity to hear him scream before, but that had definitely sounded like him.

Immediately, she pulled her hands away from the generator and stood upright, pivoting to look into the direction of the scream. Her mind told her to go, but her aching wound told her otherwise–and David did, too.

“Don’t. Nea will grab him.” He insisted, nodding to where she had been just seconds ago. “This will be done in a second–faster, if you help. If she hasn’t gone to help him by the time I finish fixing you up, then be my guest.”

Winnie pressed her lips together into a thin line, staring off into the distance–she couldn’t see him, thanks to all of the corn stalks that stood in her way. David probably had a point. Although she wasn’t happy with the plan, she dropped herself back down onto her knees to tinker with the generator. Thankfully, he had been truthful with her, and the generator was fixed up within a few more moments that felt like… Well, years.

Three left, right?

She had definitely wasted Danny’s time earlier–even though she hadn’t really done anything at all to begin with.

“Okay, lemme see–get you fixed up, and then we’re splitting up, got it?” David informed her, his tone strict–intimidating.

Winnie gave a curt nod before he had begun to work away at her wound.
When Nea heard the scream–one of the newbies–she had just started working on another generator. Quite literally, as she had gotten no real work done with it at all… She’d just have to return for it once she got the new guy fixed up.

Back up on her feet now, she jogged her way over to the barn, pausing outside to peer around the corner and out towards where the new fella was currently dangling from a hook. For a few moments, she waited, just to see if Ghostface was lingering nearby–she had yet to run into him during this trial, but she knew it was him due to witnessing an absurd faceoff between him and the other newbie in the barn earlier. A part of her doubted that he'd be sticking around the new hook, though–because with all of the progress that they had been making, he’d definitely want to apply pressure elsewhere as soon as possible.

Once she had drawn close enough to the hook, she offered the new guy a wave.

“Feels like shit, doesn’t it? You get used to it.” A partial truth. It got less frightening, but the pain never really got easier to deal with. She lifted her hands, hooking them beneath his arms before she lifted him up and off of the hook.

“Crouch,” She advised, voice level and surprisingly calm for the situation–she had definitely been here for a while. “It’s still going to hurt once I’m done, but it’ll stop the bleeding and you’ll be able to take another hit later. Once we’re done, just be sure to split again–it’s not good to get caught up in groups. Got it?”

Not waiting for a response, just assuming that he'd listen to her advice, he began to work away at the wound on his shoulder. She didn't have much on hand, so she just wrapped up his shoulder in order to stop the bleeding. This would just have to do... Once she had finished up, she stood up straight. "By any chance did you see which way he headed?"

Obviously she was looking to avoid going in that direction.
 
Nea would've been right in guessing Danny didn't linger around the hook. When Cody had dared to open his eyes again, the killer was nowhere in sight. So unless he was hiding somewhere nearby, Cody assumed he'd went to go after someone else.

Soon enough she was coming to get him down though, and Cody had no clue how she acted the way she did about this. Maybe it did get easier, sure, but right now? He was not used to anything whatsoever. He didn't want to have to get used to this kind of thing. What sick bastard thought of this stuff anyways?

...Whatever ancient being was apparently running this whole show. He didn't want to think about that either.

He listened though, crouching down so she could try and patch him up. He had to wonder where she'd gotten the bandages, but he didn't ask. He was having a hard time getting anything out right now besides choked little noises when the wraps or her hands brushed over the wound. Probably still shocked from everything.

"I-- Alright," He managed with a shaky nod, agreeing when she warned him about not sticking together. He still didn't entirely get the whole 'taking another hit' thing. Why was that the limit, being hit twice? Sure, the human body was only able to take so much, but wouldn't it depend on what you'd been injured by? Probably some other strange doing by that Entity thing.

He guessed that made sense though, about not being in groups. Someone had said something similar earlier. And then Nea was asking about which way the killer had went... Cody didn't want to lie and give her some random direction, but he honestly hadn't seen. If he were Danny, which way would he have went? No clue.

"Unfortunately no," he told her, glancing around as if he was going to pop up any second now, which very well could happen. He just hoped it didn't.


Danny was halfway back to the barn when he heard the clanking of one of the hooks from somewhere in the distance behind him. Not someone taking one of them apart, like some had learned to do, but most likely getting Cody off of it. Course they had to get over there that fast. Figures. He didn't expect them to not save him, but he'd been hoping it took a little longer. Another generator had already been done -- the noise came from past the barn, hence why he was going back that way. He really was getting behind this trial... the thought made him shake his head, grip tightening around the handle of his blade in annoyance.

Not his fault these two idiots decided to show their faces.

No one was in the barn, he concluded when he got there. He didn't check as thoroughly as he wanted, but he figured he'd just know if someone was in there hiding. He had a sense for that kind of thing, and typically he was right. He left instead, and glancing upward, he saw the lights of a generator -- clearly finished, as they weren't blinking anymore. Maybe whoever had been on it was still over there.

He'd be right about that.

Crouching down behind some wall or something or other, he peered out from it. Another one of the Entity's tricks, or in this case, a bit of a gift bestowed to him. If he watched survivors for a long enough time, his attacks seemed to almost be more powerful. Instead of the typical two hits needed to incapacitate them, it'd only be one. How did he know what was long enough, though? He'd come to realize the feeling he got, the Entity's strange whispers in the back of his mind signaled this.

Winnie again. And who was that? David? Looked like they'd just been healing, from the looks of it... damn it, he should've just hooked her back then too. What the hell had gotten into him? He didn't get attached to any of the other survivors like this. Sure, it was different because he'd known these two, but he shouldn't have been letting it affect him! He was better than that!

...But. If he played this right, her being healed wouldn't matter. She'd just go right down, for real this time. And maybe he could get David too if he was lucky. (He found it a little funny almost how with the rules of this place, he could knock down people who should've been stronger than him. He was reasonably strong, he'd say himself, but David was a damn good fighter for example.)

Let's hope they stay where they are, he thought to himself.
 
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