#herbeatenpath

"That's right," the girl across the generator replied in a steady voice. She was loud enough to be heard over gears beginning to turn, but quiet enough not to be heard. A learned skill. "They get closer, you go to that locker. Okay? I'll keep working."

In the darkness of the fog and lack of light, the ginger's eyes looked almost a dark green, the shade of her cap not helping any. Irises bounced around to the side. "I'll take off if needed, distract whoever it is. You keep. Going." Punctuated. But not brusque. "If something happens, wait until they're not looking to come out of the locker. Go to that pallet. You drop it and run as fast as you can and don't stop. Scream. Survive."

The newest additions to the twisted realm had arrived not too long ago. It was a big time of change for the survivors, with a new killer on the loose and new skills to learn.

Feng was trying her hardest to get the hang of things; learning to avoid the sickening toxins that made her stagger like a drunk, fighting past the jarring feeling of one moment running and the next having a knife in her side.

It wasn’t like she didn’t deal with these horrors every minute of her life here. Why was it getting her so anxious?

Didn’t they just have a new killer arrive awhile ago? Or was her brain just playing tricks on her? How long was even ‘awhile ago’ in a place like this?

All those questions buzzed in Feng’s mind as she sat away from the fire between trials. She would usually take this time to sleep or be productive, but the stress was keeping seated at the bottom of a tree.

The frustration was making her eyes cloud over with tears, only worsening her bitter mood. It felt like she was falling down the same spiral of performance anxiety that landed her in this place.

Usually, Emma was better at keeping her emotions in check around people, the exception being her breakdown in the middle of school not too long after the entire thing with Piper. But with Kieran’s betrayal, and now being whisked to this strange place where her only goal was to remain alive, even though death didn’t exist here, and constantly stuck in a loop of surviving... it became too much for the blonde, and she was ashamed to admit she collapsed behind one of the trees by the campfire and just sobbed. 

She didn’t even hear Kate approaching, and was stunned to feel the other’s lips gently kiss away one of the tears running down her face. The other survivor’s warm, melodic voice managed to slow her sobs down, and she finally looked up at Kate through red, puffy eyes. 

“I’m sorry,” she apologized. “I didn’t mean to... breakdown.”

The woman’s words echoed through Emma’s head. She wasn’t weak because of this one little slip up; at least, not in Kate’s eyes.

“Shut Up And Dance With Me!”

The Soldier gritted his teeth while he used the Window of the Shack as support. A beartrap tore open his leg, loose skin and flesh was dangling from the open wound “Watch me.” he growled at her. Usually the old man wasn’t stubborn when it came to healing wounds, but god damn her words almost sounded like a challenge.

“Ya know, I walked out of trials lookin’ worse than this.” a short and painful laugh came from the Soldier. Not that Bill was a show off but it was true. He already crawled out of the gates with missing legs and spilling guts. However the trial was far from finished, it barely even started. And knowing the MacMillan hire he wouldn’t be easy on the Veteran The two hated each other with a burning passion.