The trees shouldn't have been there. The sky should have been bright – like, just hit noon bright. And it should have been behind a ceiling.
Truth be told, it was the smell that woke me up. Fresh dew and campfire smoke were far flung from the computer room smell I was used to. Not that my mind was clear. It stayed pretty fuzzy.
Long enough for a familiar face to appear above me, accurately confused by who I was. I focused on the very German nose that held a pair of glasses for a pair of Korean eyes. It gave me time to sort out what I could remember.
"Hey." The lower tone of the man's voice confirmed my suspicions.
"Hi," I responded. "Did L.A. suddenly get more trees?"
"Not that I'm aware of. Would say it's nice to meet a fan here, but..." He looked around. "Not sure where 'here' is, but it doesn't look nice."
I finally managed to sit up to take in my surroundings. A dense fog surrounded us, trees just visible in the mist. The two of us sat near a bright campfire that warded away the cold that threatened to take my fingers. It left a sinking feeling in my gut. The entire scenario felt too familiar, especially with what I could remember after turning on my computer.
"So, you already know me, I'm guessing," he said to break the silence.
"Humor me, anyway," I replied, shifting to sit on a log with him. He was probably used to it, but shit, anything that could be considered normal would help my nerves.
He offered me a small grin and held out a hand. "I'm Mark."
I took it and tried to offer back my own grin. It was probably really weak. "Ani."
His grip was firmer then mine, though it wasn't uncomfortable. It did make me a tad self conscious though.
"Nice to meet you, even if the setting isn't the greatest."
"Same. Though I'd say the setting graduated to terrifying."
Mark shuddered with a grimace. "Ugh, Balloon Boy is NOT the face I need to think of right now."
I sulked a bit apologetically. "Sorry."
His eyes darted to me briefly, and he straightened up, "Hey, hey, no, that's not-- Ah, dammit, no, it's fine, this is just. Really unnerving."
"Tell me about it," I muttered in response. "It doesn't help that I think that, uh."
"This might be Dead by Daylight?" Mark stood up again, rubbing the back of his neck. "I was about to stream it with Jack, Bob, and Wade. You?"
"I was about to start recording my own sessions, yeah. Maybe we ended up in your version. We're waiting on one of them to show up, right?"
"Yeah, totally. Uh. Except." Mark stared at the ground in exaggerated shame.
"You were going to be killer first, huh?" I groaned. He nodded in response. "Okay, well. If this is Dead by Daylight, we still need four. Right?"
We looked around the fire.
We both screamed.
Murmurs like knives dug into my ears.
P̸͙͂a̶̰͚̽̏w̵̮̯̎n̴̯͋ṡ̴̴̢̫̬͒̚t̷͌͜ò̵͉̫͋ ̶̠́̈p̴̘̭͒l̸̻̰͐a̷̧̔̽y̶̼̏̐ F̴͈̠̆o̴̟̿ù̸̯r̶̸̼̣̊̀̒̾a̷̳̒g̷̫̞͝͠ǎ̶͓͉i̴̲̙̇̽n̴̡͚̍͗s̴͚̭̈́t̵̴̟̭̮̊̈̂o̷̼̊̚n̴͓̭̒e̶̛̺̭͂P̶͖̈̅l̷͔̠̃̄ẹ̴̲̏̄a̶̯̘̓ṣ̶͓͊e̸͔̠͘͘m̷̻͂̎e̷͔̩͆̔,̸̣̓͆ ̵̲͝p̶̢̖͊̍ë̷̯̒ẗ̴͇͍́̈́s̸̙̺̕T̷̪͛w̸̮͐̚o̸̗̊ ̷̞̳̒͂f̶͙̻̀͠i̷͍̼͒̃g̷̻͐h̶̢͗t̴̷̝̺̘̐͊̎ṭ̷̅̓h̴̫̜͛̃ř̵̨̛é̸̬͑ë̴̳̠́̒
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Four Against One; Two Fight Three
FanfictionThe Entity has always been an unimaginable force, and it found a way to pull people into its realm. When two let's players are forced into its games, they can only hope they can rely on each other to open the exit gates and get home.
