Honey-Comb [A Dead by Daylight Fic]

Chapter 14

There was a palpable shift in the air, it hummed like the bees, a dancing crescendo of fear that swam along the breeze. Honey could hear it like a dull lullaby gently whispered over her shoulder. She hadn't noticed them before, how many of them had clung to her coat and crawled up her cheek, the soft, fuzzy bodies of a hundred bees or more lovingly caressed to her warmth.

They didn't bother her and even if they had she'd have done nothing different.

Experience bred patience. Besides, this almost felt natural. Which was certainly a bizarre sentiment to have, as Honey didn't make a habit of being covered in this many bees.

'Do you understand now?'

The voice belonged to neither fog nor bogeyman, distant and far away like a memory she never had.

Honey turned her wrist over, watching the bees crawl along her knuckles and down the smooth shapes of the hook.

'Who you are.'

In all that time she hadn't much moved from her spot, still breathing heavy as if she'd run a five mile marathon in moon shoes.

David's body had been claimed sometime ago by the curl of spider like appendages made of shadow and mist. They left nothing behind but a black mark on the pavement, like it had never happened at all. And she could almost believe it didn't- if only the blood on her hook and shoes didn't betray such fairytales.

Her emotions were at odds, crossing blades as morality cut ribbons of guilt into her, while logic argued over a perfect phalanx that death was only temporary. This realm existed outside that of her own and as such was not confined to the rules of Honey's reality. It was one, big macabre Groundhog Day, repeating itself over and over again in perverse trials where killers stalked their prey and shed their blood to a web of black mist.

'What you are meant to be.'

Honey clutched her hook tightly.

If she wasn't in the proverbial shit then - she certainly was now. At least she'd solidified her place among the wolves.

'Say my name - become immortal.'

A pair of crows squawked and fluttered off. The Entity chuckled like thunder. The mist grew silent, as mist should be, and October regained its voice in the crisp bristling of trees. The street lamps buzzed and the generators rattled, golden spotlights cast bubbles of normality upon the world, as if she were still only just on her way home. Another ten minutes and she'd be flopping down on her bed with Netflix and a soda wondering why she couldn't fall asleep until four a.m.

A snap of twigs stole her attention from the distraction of her own self reflection. She straightened up and stared into the darkness. There wasn't much to see there past the parked cars and suburbian landscaping. Prickly bushes, crooked shade trees, picket fences, and jack-o-lanterns. The longer she looked, the more their silhouettes contorted into one another, until she wasn't even sure what she was looking at anymore.

"I can see you," Honey lied, unable to see anyone.

A howl echoed through the street, another victim, a man it sounded like, snatched up from hiding.

Out of reflex Honey turned to look, granting a moment's grace of safety for the other survivor crouched behind the bushes. The girl booked it, ran like her life depended on it, which it did, and left all manner of distress in her wake.

Honey whipped about and sprung into action. "Hey!" She shouted and gave chase, "oh my God, stop running, I'm super out of shape," she exclaimed, still breathless from her assault on the late David King.