It had been a normal day, for any of them. Nothing strange had happened in the morning, or the morning beforehand. Everything was ordinary, especially if you count political debates, summer construction, and the flow of work.
Meg Thomas slowly opened her eyes, eyeing the dirt and grass before her. Her head pounded like no tomorrow, as if she had been at a high school club until three in the morning. The female knew better, as she was out of high school, and the last thing she could remember was taking a jog down through the woodland path, just like usual.
The early morning had been warm, though damp from the dew of the nighttime hours passing by. The forest itself had been simple. It was dense, built with fine greenery and coupled with flowers the woman had poked at, but never ate. Not like she needed to. Headphones in, she had jogged, ¾ of the way to her usual destination before she turned around and went back.
She didn't remember ever reaching her point of stopping.
Accepting the cool grass pillow as her pillow for the time being, the woman soon slowly stood up on her feet. Her attire was the same as she could remember. Nothing had been moved, as her water bottle, pepper spray, and her small pack of band-aids remained clipped to her belt.
The blond took the time to finally look around, her blue eyes narrowing quickly. The haze disappeared immediately afterward as she scanned the unfamiliar area, the entire area coated with dark fog. It looked easily about an acre or two of land. It was a partial forest, but even she could see the standing remains of possibly old buildings. Could it have been an old town? An old town that was taken down?
Her teeth digging into her lower lip, the female decided to take two steps forward, feeling as though her breath was loud, almost louder than the footsteps she took to move herself forward. The grass and leaves on the ground were wet, and freshly green, meaning they wouldn't crunch. But this place told her to fear every sound she made. She didn't know why, but her body told her that this place didn't like her presence.
Where was she? Why was she here? Who brought her here? Rubbing at her scalp, she cringed as her fingertips ran over a bump on the back of her head.
In a heartbeat, she had initiated the thought that someone kidnapped her on her run, and dropped her here straight afterward. Now if only the athletic girl could conclude where was here.
Scoping out the area, the woman moved slowly. A building stood tall amongst all of the rocks, tires, and barrels of burning fire. What they were burning seemed like wood, and the building itself seemed like it was the actual thing to fuel the fire it was so worn down.
Meg walked into the building, eyeing the broken floorboards, the stack of crates and wooden boxes, and even the pallet board that was leaning against the doorframe. What was it doing here? With care, she eyed the stairs the lead up, and then a pair of stairs that went down. Clicking her tongue against her teeth for a moment, she figured that a night like this wouldn't be happy if she went down into some random basement. Meg went up.
The strange mechanism was the first thing so far to make her raise an eyebrow. It looked broken, and the woman was, by no means, a mechanic. Kneeling down slowly, she checked the thing.
"What is this?" Her voice felt loud, even though she was whispering. "Some kind of…generator?" It would make sense. All around were turned off lights in the area. They weren't hard to miss, and it looks like the place needed some form of light. Clicking her tongue across her teeth again, Meg started to work at the engine.
Wires. Wires everywhere. Pipes that were shifting in all the wrong places were also causing her to frown. What was this, some sort of sabotage? Goosebumps crawled across her skin as she realized someone had probably, purposefully, disabled the entire system. It was able to be fixed, but it would take some intense concentration, and time.
But someone was purposefully keeping this mechanism in a horrid state. They didn't want the lights on. Could it have been…?
Chills crossed her skin as footsteps echoed just somewhat on the bottom floor. Snapping her head back and forth in the darkened first floor, the woman took to hiding behind the crates, not wanting to be seen by anyone, or anything. It was too risky, and Meg wasn't sure if she was able to fight whoever was here.
Those very footsteps scampered out of the area, using the halfway boarded up doorframe she had seen earlier. Taking a risk, she looked out a nearby window, catching sight of a man in a shirt and tie. In only seconds, he was booking it to a small pile of rocks and a boulder or two, hiding there. Meg frowned, watching the male fidget and adjust his glasses nervously.
Looks like she wasn't the only one here, and this guy looked like he'd seen some shit. He was shaking all over, and she wasn't sure if he was a coward or…running away from something. Meg heaved in a breath of air, taking in the chilly night into her lungs before she sighed and moved back to the generator. It was just faintly humming now, telling her that she was at least getting somewhere.
The noise was bothering her though. It was easily louder than her own breath now, and she prayed that no one harmful would hear. Taking a look out the broken window again, she noticed that the male had disappeared. It filled her with both simultaneous relief of being alone, and fear of being alone.
Turning her head, she looked back to her work just as a face appeared out of the corner of her eye. Immediately, her hands flew up to her face, curling into fists as she prepared to fight the bastard that caused her heart to jump into her throat.
"H-Hey, e-easy!" The loud whisper was partially drowned out from the softly clicking machine, but the blond got the jest of what he was saying. Meg frowned, but kept her fists up as she was willing to punch this guy's glasses into his membrane. He looked like he could barely put up a fight. What a geek.
Her response of him changed as he began to help repair the generator from a different side, continuing to whisper to her. "L…let's work together. Please?"
Watching him tremble in his shoes caused her to slowly put down her fists and then move back to the grumbling mechanism. However, she was still suspicious of his actions.
"How did you get here, and why are you trying to get so buddy-buddy with me?" Her fingers went back to the work at the generator ask he spoke. Her ears were open to every shaky syllable that left his mouth.
"I…" He then paused and stopped working until she glared at him. "You don't know…what's out here? That…that thing that stalks us?"
Meg felt another wave of chills crawl up her spine, as though frostbitten fingers brushed up her back. "W…What? What do you mean "that thing?" You don't…possibly mean—" He cut her off, as if reading her mind with those round glasses.
"He brought you here, I bet. Just like he did with me. There might be others around, but I haven't met them. So…can we please…please stick together? For the sake of our sanity?" Deep, moving eyes looked straight into her own, causing her to blink once and pause for a moment in her work. There was something about this man. He was one hell of a coward, but the look of sincerity in his eyes was so gut-wrenching it caused her to just…stop.
Her answer was, however, cut short as the generator suddenly sprang to life, lighting up the entire platform. Both of them looked up at the light, but the male didn't seem happy with it. Meg felt him grab her wrist and start hauling her towards a nearby window, quick to duck to the side.
The female opened her mouth to speak, clearly annoyed he just dragged her along, but he put a finger to his lips in response. His voice returned to a whisper. "When you hear your heartbeat get loud and fast, it is nearby. Loud noises attract it." Meg raised an eyebrow and he tapped a finger to his ear. "Listen." His hands were shaking now, Meg realized, causing her to stop all thoughts and listen.
Her heart skipped a beat, and suddenly started pounding. She gripped her chest as adrenaline spiked through her veins, her breathing trying to catch up to the sudden blood rush. That was when she saw it. Right out through the window was a strange, deformed man. With the muscles of an ox, and the smile of a murdered clown, it was heading in the direction of their spot without hesitation. Her stomach dropped as she watched the cleaver in its hand sway just barely, the moonlight glinting off the blade to show the scarlet stains that have long since dried.
"Oh…oh my God." Meg was no scaredy cat. Not at all. But whoever that was didn't seem like some Halloween joke. That face… Was it even a face…?
The male caught her attention again by pinching her wrist, bringing her back to reality. Then, without warning, he dropped down from the floor and into the tall grass with a simple drop and roll. Casually, he then looked up and motioned her to follow.
Meg couldn't believe it. This geeky, fumbling man was just shaking in his boots, and now he's suddenly as confident as a jock at a football game. How did he even manage that jump!? Meg was an athlete, but even she couldn't do that!
As she thought this, her heartbeat grew louder and louder in her ears, causing her whole head to pound as footsteps trudged up the staircase. She had no other choice. Heaving in a breath, the blond dropped the same way he had, rolling soon afterward to blend in with the tall grass, and land next to the crouching male. Surprisingly, it didn't hurt at all. No ache, no pain, not even a twinge of "ow" in her brain.
He grabbed her wrist immediately, grip firm and secure to lead her behind a large set of tires, stacked both neatly, but with the precision of a 3 year old stacking blocks at the same time.
"By the way," he whispered, casting a nervous grin once she turned to look at him. "I'm Dwight. Dwight Fairfield." The grin disappeared almost instantly as he looked up at the first floor again. Meg could see a thin coat of sweat shining on his forehead, proving that he was still frightened. Who wouldn't be…? She followed his gaze enough to cringe as the heartbeat still thudded through her ears.
The man was moving around like he owned the place, eyeing the rumbling generator, then out the windows. Boldly, he stood in front of the window they had just hopped out of, and both of them could see his shoulders rise and fall. Meg's eyes widened as she realized he was sniffing them out. What was he, some kind of hound!? In his free hand was a bear trap, swinging ever so faintly as he breathed and looked for the survivors. Meg swallowed nervously, her mouth as dry as dirt, even when he turned away.
"…Meg Thomas."
"What?" Dwight looked to her, blinking as perspiration slipped down his temple. She looked to him and then started to slip through the grass quietly, keeping as low as possible but still attempting to move elsewhere. Anywhere away from the heartbeat.
"My name is Meg Thomas."
She turned away once she saw his grin get a bit more confident, his hand slipping from her wrist. Meg quickly grabbed for his own wrist or hand, latching onto him like a lifeline. The woman was scared, yes, and she knew they needed one another. If they let go…what would happen? If they split up in this god-forsaken place…
Then what?
Meg began to think, chewing fiercely on her lower lip as the heartbeat slowly faded away. She barely even registered Dwight returning the grip, his palms sweating. Meg began to see something she didn't like as she did this. The brick wall seemed to go on forever, and ever. It looked new, fresh, and hardly as run-down as the small spots of wall she had come across already so many times before.
After a little bit, as the heartbeat finally stopped, Meg quickly moved to lean up against what appeared to be a large spoil, trying to catch her breath as she wiped at the sweat along her chest and forehead. "So, I have questions. Can you answer them for me, geekboy?"
The playful name caused the other to cringe a bit and then twiddle his thumbs after letting go of her wrist. Meg noticed, and she would definitely remember to not say it again. Trust was key. "Those generators w-we found. We…we have to get them up a-and running so we c-can open the gates. A-and get out of here." There was his stutter again. Meg sighed but acknowledged what he said.
"And where are the exits?" Here, Dwight pointed in two directions. Glad to know he had found them. "Alright, well, how many generators do we need to open them?"
Here, he only shrugged, causing her heart to sink. Meg seemed to think for a moment straight afterward.
They needed to trust one another. Even if they had their differences, they had to cooperate. Had to communicate. Firmly, and suddenly, Meg grasped both of his hands between her own, a fierce look in her eyes, judging by Dwight's sudden expression of surprise.
"Dwight, I don't care who you were outside of this place. I don't care who you were with other people. This…this place is a closed off section of the world, and we need to cooperate if we want to get the hell out of here. Alive. That's a killer. A goddamn serial killer, for all we know. I'm not dumb. I've been seeing meathooks scattered all around here, and by God I don't think it's for pigs or cattle." Despite her confidence, her voice shook and she took a hand away from Dwight's to rub it at her sweating forehead.
"If we don't group up and get the hell out of dodge, we will be the cattle for whatever sick fuckery he has for us. You…need to trust me. And I need to trust you just as much." Dwight's face seemed to glow brightly after a little while of thought, and his eyes quickly became glazed with tears. Meg decided that the poor fellow had gone through hard times.
With a sniff, Dwight soon nodded in her direction, confirming that he whole-heartedly agreed before he grasped at her hands in return. "I don't know who you were either outside of here, Meg, but…you are a wonderful, and smart person. I…I'm so lucky to have you saying stuff like that to me."
The blond rolled her eyes and gently clapped him on the shoulder. "Yeah, "lucky" as in, "we both dumped here now let's team up and try to escape from a mass murderer in the woods."" Dwight couldn't help but share a smile with her, but it faded as the familiar heartbeat rang in their ears. Both of them looked up, then at one another before moving, crouching low in the grass.
Despite how they moved, Meg began to realize that the heartbeat still echoed, showing that the killer was close by. Too close. After shifting around a brick wall, the woman suddenly moved, sitting quickly in a corner and pulling Dwight into her by the back of his shirt. Thank God he was silent as he was formed to lay on her lap. Her hand quickly covered his mouth, noticing he was shaking like a leaf all over again. The heartbeat was almost deafening, and footsteps were now just as audible.
Meg's eyes widened as she saw him. The malicious glint of his cleaver winked at them, as if saying they were next as the killer walked only two feet in front of them, going away to their left. He was so close she could see the cracking of his skin, the way his muscles rippled under his flesh and how much his grin was etched into his face. She couldn't tell if it was a mask or a face, or both.
They were in the worst position. If he just turned to his own left and looked, he would see them, sitting cowardly in a corner with cold knees, unable to move. Meg might have been able to, but Dwight was with her, unable to due to fear. He was pumped with ice. She was pumped with adrenaline.
As the killer trudged onward, Meg noticed the bear trap from before was no longer in his free hand, leaving his fist to clench and unclench freely. The heartbeat slowly faded away, causing Meg to slump and hit her head against the brick wall.
Dwight questioned if she was okay, but she could only shake her head. "…Dwight, I just realized something." She looked up at the male, and he could see her hands were trembling. She let him take her hands, trying to comfort her as she spoke again. "He's setting traps down. Dwight, if he catches us…we will never make it home. We…we're pigs to the slaughter for him. That's…that's a killer. We can't let him catch us. Ever."
Meg had seen killers before. In dreams, nightmares, movies, pictures and books. She had seen people freak out, cry, and become immobile from fright just from the presence of a killer. She now understood why. She now understood why they were all so frozen with fright, like a deer in front of a car.
Dwight wrapped his arms around her shoulders, and despite how sweaty they both were, Meg wrapped her own arms around him, taking in the scent of a male's cologne. It was no longer a musky scent, but a sweet one, one that prayed she wouldn't lose. No, she hadn't developed feelings for him, because she feared that if she did, Dwight would be gone. Suddenly scooped up and carried away like a bag of luggage at the airport.
She wondered if he feared the same.
Taking in a shaky breath, she soon pulled away, rubbing at her face nervously. "We have to get the generators started. Or those birds will have something to munch on from inside us." Dwight cringed but soon nodded, moving to stand and holding out his hands to her. Meg felt all of the blood come back to her legs, as she realized that Dwight had been no light-weight sucker.
Happily, she accepted his hands and stood up, stretching out her ankles and then moving through the bushes again. She didn't crouch this time. There was a sudden sense of urgency in her brain kicking her into gear as she and Dwight held hands this time. They were most likely the only two alive, so they felt it was appropriate to wordlessly keep some form of embrace. It would, however, be harder to rip away from them if they were to be killed.
"Uh, Meg?" She looked to him from over her shoulder, his nervous demeanor back up again. "If…if one of us were to die, or…get taken away…what do we do? Save each other? Continue?"
Meg bit her lower lip, seeming to think over that. It was a nasty question, but under his circumstances, there was no mistake that she had to think of her own answer soon. Licking her lips, she spoke, her throat dry once again. "We…have to continue on. It's what we want for each other, right?"
It was a bitter moment, but Dwight seemed to agree with her decision, albeit with his gaze glancing down dimly to the forest floor. Meg didn't know what to say to him, but simply turned to look forward again.
As she did this, they both passed under a meathook, causing her skin to crawl. Her blue eyes glanced up to the swinging chain, taking note of the brown blood that clung there. Both of them saw it, but neither one of them addressed it. Instead, as a generator was right by, both of them let go of the other to fix the tapered wires and broken pipes. Just like before, the engine began to rumble.
About 1/5 of the way through, Dwight stood up, soon motioning for her that all was okay. "I'm going to see if there are any spots we can hide in real quick. Only about a few meters away and such. Okay?" Meg looked at him and nodded. As she went back to work she listened very closely to their surroundings. She didn't question the reliability of the heartbeat, but she also wondered why they were all here in the first place. Was it a sick game? Something that happened regularly with missing people?
As Dwight came back, he was soon tapping her shoulder quickly, causing her to nearly jump out of her skin and smack his silly. He noticed and quickly put his hands up defensively, but didn't speak a word as he pointed to a direction just in front of Meg. Looking up and over the generator that quietly hummed, she could see a flashlight flickering all around like a searchlight.
Meg leaped to her feet. "Another survivor! We have to get to them before that light of theirs attracts a hoard of killers!" Her voice was a hiss, and surprisingly enough to her, Dwight was the first to bend his knees a bit and tread through the tall grass. The blond followed, crouching just a bit to give them distant leg room to walk steadily over to the flashlight.
As Meg and Dwight got closer, they were greeted about ten feet away with a flashlight to their eyes. Both flinched and Dwight hissed, flailing one arm in a cutting motion. "The light!" he whispered loudly. "Cut the light!" Seconds later, the figure fumbled for the light, but both were stunned by the damn brightness of the damned thing. Meg opened her eyes and blinked, seeing an apologetic and highly worried face.
"I-I'm sorry!" Identifying the voice as a woman's was a bit of a relief to Meg, but she quickly tried to calm the other girl down. "It's okay, just get down and crouch over here. We need to hide. Now." As soon as she said that, the heartbeat started up in all of their chests. Dwight wasted no time in grabbing the girl's shoulder and starting to haul her away.
Instead of following, she freaked out. "Why do we need to hide? What's going on? Who are you!?" Meg hit the other so hard in the head, one could swear she left a bruise.
"Shut the fuck up and follow us before you die." Her words were full of both venom and truth. Meg's eyes burned so fiercely that the girl cringed and then furiously nodded before they were all slipping into the crevices and cracks of a series of boulders, crates and barrels. Meg kept a hand on the newcomer's mouth while Dwight blocked them from view, pressing himself hard into the cracks the ladies had fit through.
Dwight was attempting to be brave, making sure the killer would see him first before them. Noble AND stupid. They all waited as their heartbeats echoed in strange unison as footsteps followed soon after. The girl started to quickly panic, but she was unable to move with how Meg was crushing her head against a nearby rock, hand still on her mouth.
Meg felt the coldness of the situation settle directly into her lungs, causing her to stop breathing. It was as though she had just inhaled too much helium, or swallowed whole ice cubes. He was there again, standing tall and his shadow casting over them all. Meg was certain they all felt fear writhe in their guts as that wretched, smiling face looked around, shoulders bumping up and down lightly.
Again, he was sniffing the air, and Meg could only hope that neither one of them had soiled themselves.
Gradually, the beast disappeared off into the shrubs, glancing to the softly humming generator that had two pistons moving. Meg watched him then look around and then depart for something behind a tree.
Her blue eyes widened as a bear trap was now in his free hand, causing her to realize that all of those were everywhere, scattered about for this man to use whenever he needed. She felt all of them tense up as the killer set the item down right by the generator and pried it open with his bare hands, not letting go of the weapon of choice once. With a squeal, the rustic metal was pried open, and the mouth of the trap sat there on the ground, screaming silently.
Satisfied, the man turned, stepping over his trap and walked off in another direction. All three pairs of eyes followed the lumbering killer, all the way until the heartbeat had died down. Meg moved first, moving to carefully avoid kicking Dwight's head and to make her way around the trap. She didn't know how to disable it, so she stuck with going around it to get to the generator.
"What… Who was that?" The girl with the dreadlocks was now quite white in the face, causing Meg to look over and shrug. Dwight, however, answered for her more verbally, his voice a tense whisper. "All we know is…is that h-he put us h-here. But, we have to fix the g-generators. T-They start up the exits."
"Exits?" A glimmer of hope passed through her dark eyes, causing her to soon try to wiggle around Dwight, who eventually moved. "Then let's hurry up and fix them."
Meg raised an eyebrow at her newfound companion. "What's your name?"
Seeming to be threatened by the harsh gaze of the athletic woman, the other shied away a bit, but spoke as she avoided the rusty bear trap. "C-Claudette Morel." Meg reached around, her hand slowly becoming darker with the oils and dirt of the near-sabotaged generator.
"I'm Meg Thomas. That fellow over there is Dwight…uh, Fairfield, right?" The geek nodded and wandered over, moving to stand by Claudette and fumble with the generator as well.
This is what they did. They repaired, hid away, and then repaired again. Meg pointed out the meathooks, wanting to avoid them, and then gesturing to the leaning pallets. They would definitely be useful if they were in a hurry to run away.
Dwight gave Claudette the rundown of the heartbeat, but none of them could explain why a brick wall surrounded the entirety of the place.
Something about this sudden peacefulness bugged Meg, however. It felt…like an endless loop had commenced. They were on their third generator as they quietly spoke, leaving Meg to sit in her thoughts and keep the lining of cords together. Red with red, blue with blue… It was simple, really. Meg didn't think much of it.
But because of that, she realized that was their downfall just after.
As she tied the shadowed green with the blue on accident, a sudden spark ignited right in front of her face and the whole generator exploded on one side. Heat washed over her, and all three had to cover their faces as Claudette gasped. It had been so loud after all the whispering that it left Meg with her ears ringing.
"What did you do!?" Dwight hissed, looking her dead in the eye as she put her arms down.
"It was an accident," she growled, her breath shaking just as much as his hands were. "I didn't know it would explode!" She watched their faces turn to shades of white she had never seen before in a human, unless they were ill. Now that her ears stopped ringing, she could now hear why.
"Guys…?" Claudette's voice was a squeak, and Meg could see her knees shaking.
Dwight swallowed. "Run."
Meg blinked as her heart beat a mile a minute. For good reason. "W…why?"
Dwight screamed suddenly and sprinted off, causing Claudette to follow. "RUN!"
The blond spun around, quick to feel ice coat the inside of her throat from fear that leeched onto her. There he was, walking straight towards her like a Halloween murderer. He was looking right at her, and for a moment, she could barely find her footing as she scrambled to stand and run.
Dwight and Claudette were gone, leaving her alone against a killer.
She was going to die.