Chapter Text
The fire gently flickered in the dark forest in what looked like the middle of nowhere. Its ember rising and being taken away by the soft breeze that carried it a short distance before losing its hold. Fluttering down and landing softly In front of one of the prisoners here. Dwight stared at the spot it had landed between his feet as he sat on one of the few downed trees. Five large trunks placed around the safety of the light as dark woods with thick fog surrounded them.
Dwight was lost in thought. About what? What could he possibly think about in this kind of situation? Survival. He wanted to survive and get out of this hell hole. He wanted to go back to his life, or whatever he had left of it. It was better than being stuck here to suffer.
He gently pushed his glasses back up his nose and lifted his head to look around the campfire at the other survivors. There were 22 of them now counting himself. Each one appearing as he had so long ago. How long? Dwight wasn't sure. Time didn’t seem to exist here around the fire. But he was the first to show up so long ago. The first victim to appear and take care of the fire that seemed to scare away the shadows that lingered deep in these woods.
Some of the other survivors were sitting around the fire, others were in their makeshift homes that they have made themselves. The homes they had were really nothing but just small tents made out of materials they could find in the woods. Dwight had helped every friend make their own, to help create a safe place for everyone. A sense of privacy and a quiet place to sleep. They all needed that place, so others couldn’t see them break down as hope slowly left them.
Hope? Dwight didn’t have much left. He knew this. That’s why he was thinking. Thinking of anything he could do to help get him out of here. To help THEM get out of here. He needed to before his light burned out completely.
The sound of crunching of leaves caused Dwight and the others around the fire to look in the direction. They all know the sound well, but what they were going to see would be unknown until it came closer. The footsteps deep in the woods came closer as Dwight stood up and went to go meet whoever was walking to the campfire.
A large man, about a foot taller than Dwight with a more built body stepped out of the woods with his hand over his left shoulder. Bloody and injured as he limped forward to the group. David was defiantly one of the strongest out of the large interesting group. He could defiantly take a good beating and come back swinging.
“Jane, can you get Claudette? We’re going to need her.” Jane, the heaver set women with her hair pulled into a bun gave a nod and went off to find the healer. “I don’t need no healing, brat. I can handle it myself!” “David! You need-” Dwight was pushed out of the way as David walked past him. Instead of going after the larger man, Dwight stayed put and watched him leave. Weather David wanted healing or not, it didn’t matter. 3 more survivors were going to come back at any moment. There was no telling if they would be walking back or crawling. Dwight was determined to make sure everyone was taken care of. It was his job. His job as the leader. The nervous and cowardly off all of them, the leader. Dwight did his best. That's all he could do.
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The 3 survivors did some back like they always did after a trial. All of them were forced to play a cruel game of cat and mouse. Being chased by a monster that would kill them, all for the fun and to feed the Entity that kept all of them here. They were nothing but rats in a cage, ready to be picked for the next maze to run through.
The 3 survivors that had some back were Meg, Jake and Ash. Jack had been the only one not to make it out the gate and was dragged back to the camp thanks to Ash. Claudette, with the help of Feng, got to work patching them up. There injuries could have been worse, but just thankful it wouldn’t be too bad of a recovery. Jake, the quiet one that always wanted to be left alone, did finally come around. He was probably the worse to treat out of all of them since he was the only one not to make it out. But as said before. Not the first time this has happened.
After everything settled back down and many of the survivors made their way to their respected homes, Dwight stayed by the fire. He could of went to bed like the others. It usually didn’t take long for the God of this realm, The Entity, to call for another trial. The group never know who would be called to enter until it was too late to do anything. They had no choice as they were taken away by the fog.
“Dwight?” The leader jumped out of surprise as he was lost in thought again. He seemed to have done this a lot recently. Dwight looked behind him from where he was on the log to see a familiar figure standing a few feet away. Claudette didn’t mean to have scared him and he know this, but she still shared an apologetic smile. “Mind if I join you?”
“N-Not at all! Please...” Dwight motioned to the spot to his left that was open. She gladly excepted. Hopping over and taking a set next to him, focusing on the fire as Dwight did the same, watching it burn and flicker with life.
“Dwight?... Are you alright? You’ve been off recently.” This caused him to look at the women next to him again. “off?” “yes, off. Honey, you’ve been staring at the fire like it’s going to swallow you up hole. What’s on your mind?” Dwight gave a sight and gently rude his temples with his elbows resting on his knees. “I guess I have been lost in thought recently.” “Yeah... and?” “And... I’ve been thinking of ways to escape from here. The stuff we haven't tried yet. Claudette, where has to be a way out of here! I don’t know how much more I can take of this...”
Dwight felt a hand on his shoulder knowing it belonged to the women next to him as he held his head in his hands. He really was giving up hope, was he? Pathetic, right?
“Hon... You are stressing yourself out too much. You need to relax and maybe try and get some sleep. Running your brain of yours right now is not going to help anything right now. You can share your ideas with me or the others when you had some proper sleep.” Proper sleep? Dwight almost chuckled at that. He couldn’t sleep very well with all the nightmares. But she was right. Sleep was important. Maybe sleep would help improve his thinking. Maybe it would help him think of better ideas on how to get the hell out of here. What did he have to lose? He guesses sleep was probably a good idea then.
“Fine. I’ll sleep. You going to stay up for a bit?” Claudette nodded to his question. “I’m not tired yet. I’ll keep an eye on things. Now go before I make you!” She playfully raised her voice at the last part and pointed in the direction to his small little home. Dwight couldn’t help but give a soft smile. She was one of the few in the group that had this mothering instinct to help take care of the group. Claudette was the second survivor to join Dwight at the fire. He was very thankful for that and he wasn’t afraid to ambit it. Her ability with medicine was fantastic, sweet and caring to everyone, but not afraid to raise her voice if needed. She was a friend that Dwight wished he had back before he was trapped here. To have that support, someone to talk to. Someone who actually listened and cared about him.
“thank you, Claudette.” he couldn’t help but thank her for reasons she probably didn’t understand. “Yeah, yeah. Now git! Off to bed!” She gently swatted him causing Dwight to finally get up and move. He moved away from the warm fire and made his way to his small little tent that was surrounded by the others. It has 3 walls and a roof made out of wood and mud and just tall enough to be fully up on his knees before his head it the root. The last wall was a large cloth he has round that made a good door for now. It made getting in and out easy. Getting down on his hands and knees, Dwight crawled inside the small tent. The ground covered in pulled grass and put together to try and make a comfortable bed. It wasn’t too bad of a bed. Better than nothing if Dwight was concerned.
He curled up and gave a soft sigh as he left his body relax into the ground. He didn’t realize how tired he actually was. With a new survivor joining and his nerves on edge constantly, his energy was drained. He closed his eyes hoping that he would, for once, have no nightmares. He just wanted simple darkness. But as he felt himself slowly slip away; he knows that wasn’t going to happen. It would be another night of terror and sorrow.