Better Than Bloodpoints

Chapter 1

The survivors sat around the campfire, staring at the flames. Nea grabbed a stick and threw it at the fire. It danced and enveloped the small twig.
“When is the next trial starting?” Feng asked the group. Everyone was silent for a good minute.
“Hopefully not for a long time.” Meg told her, no trace of emotion on her face.
The group doesn't know what happened to the four survivors that came back from today's first trial. They came back covered in blood and limping, nearly crawling. They haven't said anything since they arrived.
“So…” Dwight started, “what happened?”
“Mind your own fucking business!” Nea shouted at him.
Dwight sighed. He knew he should be used to this kind of treatment by this point but it still hurts. While everyone sees him as a younger brother, Nea seems to just hate everything about him. He can’t say anything without her cussing him out. He isn’t quite sure what he did to make her hate him… maybe it’s his personality.
“Leave him alone!” Feng defended.
“Chill out, Nea.” Jake chimed in, “We just want to know what happened, it seems like it was a hard match…”
Dwight smiled, Jake was always so kind to him. Dwight wasn’t just some loser to him, he was a friend. He was always there when Dwight was down, emotionally and physically.
“That is… quite an understatement.” Meg sighed, “The second I was placed in the trial my heart started racing, so I thought I could be used as a good distraction while, Nea, David, and Claudette get the gens done.”
“It was a great plan…” said David, “the only problem was that-”
“I forgot I burned the shroud of union, so we all were right next to each other. Then out of the window I see her…”
“Your girl.” Nea pointed at Ace.
“It is not my fault that she’s here!” He defended.
“Anyway,” Meg said, “So one thing led to another and next thing we know we’re all bleeding out on the floor, our backs covered in scratches.
“God… the pain.” Claudette mumbled. She wasn’t around the campfire, she was off to the side. She joined the group and placed a hand on Meg’s shoulder, “I was the first to get picked up.I tried… I tried to wiggle free but… suddenly the hook was through my shoulder blade.”
“He was coming straight for me,” said Meg, “I tried to crawl away but I crawled straight into her claws.”
“After Meg was hooked Nea and I knew that there wouldn't be more hooks nearby, so we started planning.” David told them.
Dwight listened to the horrific story, he couldn't imagine. What did they do to the Entity to be so unlucky?
Nea finally started telling her perspective, “The plan was, whoever got picked up would wiggle free, run through as many pallets as they could to lose him, go unhook someone safely, and run to the other hooked person. Whoever got left on the ground would crawl to a safe spot and wait to get healed.”
“So I get picked up,” David huffed, “and now all the pressure is on me. So we get a little far from Nea and I'm struggling and kicking as hard as I can, praying that she drops me. Eventually I get a good hit on her and I fall to the floor, and I book it.”
“But David's a fucking idiot and runs straight to Meg and unhooks her!” Nea shouted.
“I'm not a fucking idiot! She was chasing me and running really fucking fast so our only chance was to get someone off the hook!”
“Well did you ever think about-!”
“Maybe if you weren't such a-!”
“She’s not even that fast-!”
“You should've just-!”
All four of them started going at it, Dwight stayed quiet, Feng Min walked over to him and forced Dwight to wrap his arm around her.
“I don’t like it when they get tense…” She tilted her head to look at Dwight.
“Feng, it'll be fine, they're just… angry.” He responded.
“Guys!” Jake stood up and yelled, “Calm yourselves! I bet the killers can hear you from here!”
“Oh shut it, asshole!” Nea yelled
“You can get back at him later in another match.”
“Hey!” Shouted David.
“Okay, fine.” Nea sighed. They all sat back down, the environment tense.
“Thank you.” Jake smiled sarcastically.
Sarcastic or not, that little smile made Dwight's heart flutter. He shook his head, what was that feeling?
Suddenly a big tally mark appeared in the sky.
“It seems another match is starting…” Feng said.
“I'll go.” Jake said, extending his hand to Dwight, “Come on bud, you haven't in a while, right?”
Dwight didn't want to in the slightest but he took Jake’s hand and stood up, removing his arm from Feng.
Jake took his hand away from Dwight's. There was this feeling in Dwight's chest. He couldn't tell what was happening, maybe he’s getting ill? With the 3 hours of sleep and constantly getting beaten with mallets, it wouldn't be surprising.
“I'll go too!” Feng announced.
“Alright, Minny, come on.” Jake smiled to her.
“I'll go.” Said a voice from behind the fire.
Dwight audibly gulped as Nea stood up and walked over, seething.
“Y-you just did a match, I think you deserve a break-” Dwight protested.
“Yeah, I really do. But I'm not letting you guys lose another trial.” She responded.
“Nea, enough.” Jake gave her a stern look. “Okay, we'll be back soon I guess.”
The tally mark turned red and before they knew it the entity was bringing them into the match.