Hybrid

Chapter 4 : Around The Campfire

A loud gasp escapes your mouth as you open your eyes, sweating and shaking from the terror that fulfills your soul.

Is that how it feels? Is that what being killed during a trial and taken out by the entity feels like?

As you process what just happened, a part of you feels guilty for all the times you had moried a survivor when playing on the killer's side.
Getting behind the pixels makes you wonder a lot of things about video game characters and their feelings.

"Guess you died, uh? Don't worry, it will happen again. You'll survive next time."

David helps you get up from the ground with his powerful arm.
You check around. Claudette, Leon, and Quentin are there too.

"Did you make it out, guys?"

Quentin gives you a thumb up:

"Thanks to you and the time you spared for us. Sorry, we couldn't save you."

"It's nothing, don't mention it. He wanted me dead so you couldn't do much. I guess he does that to every new survivor."

Laurie, who stayed silent all along,  gives you a disbelief look before getting into the most annoying sarcastic tone you've ever heard :

"I thought you know us and the killers better than we do. Should be evident to get harassed to death by that creep as a welcome treatment."

You weren't expecting that type of attitude from her and decided to leave it there, avoiding unnecessary drama. Let's pretend that talking about Myers does that to her.

"True. But I expected to be tunneled, not morried. That was rough."

They all watch you with confusion:

"Tunneled? Mor... mor what?"

You should get rid of your old gamer language.

"Forget it. I just meant that I was expecting to be harassed to death but not being killed from his hands instead of being hooked."

Yun-jin steps up, pushing the others to make her way to you:

"Ok nerd. But Quentin just said that you got them a lot of time, meaning, you ran the killer for a while. And that's damn impressive for a rookie. That 'video game experience' clearly helped you and I won't spit on any advice and tip to make those freaks sweat a bit."

Jill and Leon join her :

"She's right. Could you teach us some technics of yours?"

"I've seen how you were dodging and running him. You've got weird but efficient moves."

You rapidly get surrounded by all of them, asking for your knowledge. You feel quite stressed since you are more of a student than a teacher.
But your unique experience could be a real-life savior for them and you can't deny them some tips and tricks.

Just remember that you're not in a video game. Make it possible.

You show them how to check the killer's location while running without losing speed.
You explain how to save pallets for a bit longer and get the hit almost every time.
You give them demonstrations of your dodging skills when the killer is too close. Of course, you avoid calling it a '360' as you don't want Yun-Jin to call you a nerd again.
And finally, you taught them how to 'rest' while in a chase to recover a bit of stamina and make it last longer.

Because time doesn't exist in this pocket dimension, nobody knows how much time it took to learn all of this but surprisingly, you don't feel tired.
Neither does your hunger increase.
It feels like you don't have any more vital needs here.

Now you think about it, you give a quick check around you and conclude that the entity never meant to mimic real life here.

Nothing to sleep in. No house, cabin, or even a tent. No device to produce or store food and seemingly, no living creature to hunt and eat in the area.

Just that sole campfire in the middle of a dense forest, a bunch of logs, and us.

"Where are the killers?"

Meg and Ash, who are the closest to you, look at each other as if they are expecting to get some sense through their eyes.

"What do you mean? We don't know where they are and we're all good with that."

"Well, in the video game, killers are supposedly in the forest too, watching the survivors, hidden by the shadows of the trees. But apparently, they aren't here at all. I was just wondering if they were living here, in that same forest with us, but farther away so we couldn't meet them by accident. "

It's only when the last word leaves your mouth that the odd silence gets to your ears. Everybody is staring at you, frozen in place but internally shaking.

You finally hear Jake's voice for the first time, he sounds way softer than you expected. And behind his apparent calm, you can feel his panic building up :

"Are you implying that we were living next to those maniacs all along without knowing it?"

Nancy, who looks frightened, speaks up too:

"Do you mean that when I was scouting the area, I could have run into one of them?"

"Wait? You are scouting around? Why? Are you searching for an es..."

Jill's cut you off:

"You'll ask questions later. But first, we need answers. Many of us go for a walk in the wood when bored or frustrated after a rough trial. Are we in direct danger? Can we meet the killers by wandering in the forest?"

They are all glazing at you, no one is moving but they're all ready to run off if needed.
You take a few seconds to choose your words wisely to avoid creating more panic.

" As I said, in the video game, they are watching you from the woods but they don't do anything. They are just staring at you before the trial starts. And I don't even think they are here in a first place. The entity might teleport one of them behind the tree just before a trial begins so he knows who he would fight against. "

" In short, none of them are here and we don't risk anything by leaving the campfire? "

" Yes, that's what I think. "

They all ease up in relief, some taking a deep breath, others laughing nervously.

" You know how to tell spooky stories around the pit, don't you?" says Kate while testing some random notes on her guitar.

" I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you guys."

Some of them give you a little nod with a smile, telling you that they have no reason to build rancor for this little incident.

" Though, Nancy, you talked about 'scouting the area'. You got any plan?"

Nancy, Jill, and Nea look at each other, then offer you to sit on a log. It seems that they have a long talk to get with you.