Until morning comes

[15] (the real one)

The group sat around the campfire in complete silence. Ashlie was looking off into the distance with nick glancing at her every few seconds. Cory and Uni were quietly whispering to each other every now and again, and Tommy was staring into the illuminating flames of the forever burning fire.

Nick knew something was wrong with Ashlie the moment she stopped responding. He worried about her, not only was she his sister, but his best friend since Infants.

They always did everything together, and when she disappeared he hadn't known what to do with himself, he hadn't known what he would do without his beloved sibling, and only now has he realized she was in trouble. Yet he couldn't do anything about it, he hadn't known where she was. He regrets not figuring it out sooner.

Looking over one more time at Ashlie he sighs before standing up and sitting next to her.

"How many." He spoke, staring off into the distance with her. Ashlie--surprised by his sudden motion--looked over at him, her head tilted ever so slightly.

"What?"

"How many times have you needed me, yet I wasn't there." Nicks head tilted towards the sky, studying the moon. It sure has moved, maybe not a lot, but a little bit.

Silence filled the air once again. It wasn't an uncomfortable silence, but it wasn't quite a comfortable one either. The air was filled with the littlest bit of tension, yet it wasn't that noticeable.

"I-I'm sorry, we'll get out of here; I promise." Ashlie was stunned at nicks sudden display of upfront emotion, she smiled and it went from a fake one to a real; heart filled one as he smiled back.

Maybe there was hope after all, maybe she hadn't given up yet. But were they really going to get out of this place. only time can tell, but was time really trusting.

_______

Black.

It wasn't a comforting color.

It was a color of evil, of darkness, of death.

So nick had noticed, every time his vision faded to black, every time he felt he was losing consciousness. He knew what the color brung.

Destruction, madness, terror.

All different words, yet all a product of the color.

The color of insanity.

Nick knew he had to be petrified on the inside, he didn't think he was ready to enter the land of hunting.

He wanted more time to talk to Ashlie, in a safe environment where the killers wouldn't be able to reach them.

He truly was scared.

Sure he had gotten scared many times by this killing game, yet he hadn't been this scared in awhile, all his mind had focused on was getting out, now that his sister was acting weird he had become scared for her more than himself.

Game.

Was this really a game? A psychotic killing game, filled with misery, distress and despair. It sure seemed like it, like a game he had played once.

It was a killing game where you and one other person entered a random map, and there were three rounds. Win 2/3 of the rounds and you win.

This was kind of like that game, except real.

And instead of it being a one on one, it was a one on five. Now that got nick thinking, could we take them down, surely there are more of us than him considering they've only ever seen one killer at a time.

But the killer had an upper hand, he had some form of power, and the survivors had nothing, nothing but the clothes on their backs, no form of protection. Even if they are lucky enough to find a chest, all that was in there was either a med kit, flashlight, worn-out tools, maps, keys or if your lucky enough a fire cracker.

They truly were a lost cause.

Was anyone even looking for them? Before nick had come here he had done research on the town of weeks, where the Macmillan estate was held. once a prosperous industrial area, then a ghost town who held a staggering 364 missing persons reports. It couldn't of been a serial killer, considering there were never body's found.

So had all those people that disappeared really come here, to this place. If so where were they now. Nick should of done more research, but he was only focused on finding Ashlie.

Perhaps, there were different campfires, through different exists. Nick remember dawn telling him once that if they went through the right exist they should all meet up at the same fire. Perhaps he knew that there were different campfires, and different groups.

But why haven't they seen anyone else yet?

Perhaps they will later in the future, or perhaps they won't.

Either way nick wanted to find a way out of this hell as soon as possible.

For nick was scared for Ashlie, Uni, Cory, Tommy, and himself.

Nick was truly scared of the color black.