Into The Fog - Dead By Daylight Part 1

Down the Hatch

I saw all of Ormond that night, or at least this particular, 'pocket', as Frank called it. He said every map had copies of itself. Each a different variation, but fundamentally the same.

I didn't probe into Frank's motive for keeping me alive, or even push him to let me leave. I didn't bombard him with the questions I wanted to ask, How did I get here? How did he get here? You sure we can't leave? The fuck is with the Entity?

I just let him be whoever he wanted to be. What other choice did I have?

Frank covered everything and, honestly, it was too much for me to retain.

Looping, pallet stuns, basements, sabotage, vaulting, unlocking chests (which led to my treacherous flashlight training.)

"And how am I supposed to blind an attacker with a flashlight?" I asked befuddled, clicking it on and off from the other side of a dropped pallet.

"The killers have a bad reaction to it." Frank said, smashing the pallet with a couple stomps. He grabbed the flashlight from me and shined it in my eyes. It was bright.. but not blinding.

"To you, a normal light. To us, it's like staring point-blank into a sun."

Frank trailed off, going over which situations a flashlight fails and which it succeeds. I practiced my aim until the battery died, learned all the different add-ons available in the bloodweb.. he explained what that was too.

At the end of it all, I was exhausted. My wounded bicep ached, my legs were shaky and unstable, my face and fingertips were numb from the cold. We went back inside the lodge where he showed me the vending machine upstairs.

"It never empties!" Frank said, excitedly shaking the machine.

I stare through the dirty glass, wondering if he was telling the truth.
I reach to make my selection, "D6."
BZZZZ
"OwUh!" I said retracting my hand from the machine. "Fucking shocked me.."

"Greedy survivor!" Frank slapped my back spiritidly.
"My friend rigged it. She used to hot-wire a lot of cars." He explained nonchalantly.
Frank took my place in front of the machine, punching buttons with vigor.
"You make your choice after you key in the code."

We sat by the fire while I feasted on salty chips, chocolate bars, skittles, and gummies. There was a bar in the main room of the lodge, still stocked with a variety of liquors that I was told also never empties.

Frank got all philosophical when drinking, talking about how the entity is a saviour, and how him and his friends have grown since getting here.

"And Susie? Damn dude. She was a sweet girl when we got here. This place though, it changes people. She's a monster now." He chuckled. "Real fucking nightmare."

Frank had to tip his mask back when he sipped his whiskey, which meant he couldn't see me watching everytime he did so. I wanted to know why he wore it, what it meant to him, I wanted to see his face.

"Violence is a natural expression. On Earth, we are forced to repress ourselves. We fear consequence, and the judgements of our fellow man! But here, it's different. The Entity is different." He pointed to the sky through the broken ceiling. I just sat back and listened to him preach.

"The survivors are here to express the endless pain they feel, and the killers are here because it's the only place we can thrive. The only place we can find peace through our own expressions."

I nodded, taking a swig of overly-sweetened rum, "So I get to die a cycle of brutal deaths and you get to make murder into an artful expression? Seems fair.."

Frank stood, reaching his hands in his jacket pocket.
"Well, you never really know what lessons the fog will teach you. Whether they'll be painful or triumphant, easy or difficult."

He walked over to where I was sitting and pulled a small, white novelty pin from his pocket. The pin wore the same mask as Frank. He bent, pinning it to the front of my shirt.

"What's this for?" I asked looking up, trying to get a read on him.

"I think it suits you." He answered.

Frank promised he wouldn't show me any mercy when we met again, and I promised not to expect him to. He began to lead me to the open hatch. My inhibitions, loose from the rum, pushed me to cram in some last minute questions.

"Can't the survivors just attack back?"

Frank snorted. "Sure, if you want to be immediately banished and sent to the void."

"Well, are we dead or alive? Do you know?" I asked hurriedly.

"I feel pretty alive tonight." Frank said. "What about you? Feel alive?" He grabbed my wounded bicep and gave it a squeeze.

"Ahhhhh!! Ok, yeah." I said pulling my arm back.

We were at the hatch. Looking down into the strange portal on the ground filled me with dread. I didn't want to jump into the never-ending blackness. I didn't want to face David, and the others. I didn't want another trial. I didn't want to escape terrifying killers all the time.

"Can we not just stay here?" I asked, pretending not to already know the answer.

Frank wrapped his arms around me and squeezed, lifting me off the ground. I won't pretend that I didn't enjoy it, but the moment didn't last long.

"Cya!" Frank said, as he dropped me into the bottomless escape-hatch.