▸ dead by daylight; oneshots.

quentin x david.

the unnerving sound of trees aching and cold wind blowing rang throughout each of the survivors ears as they all walked through their current trial at different angles. meg, she was probably on a generator in the cornfield with claudette not trailing too far behind. david was... god knows where, but quentin? he was too occupied cleansing a totem and worrying about his surroundings to even be focusing on the main objective; fixing the generators.

the sleep-deprived boy was anything but cowardly, though. he'd been through more than the human mind could handle, only because he had his best friend and a few shots of adrenaline by his side. he had determination. he was witty and insightful, and knew exactly what to do in stressful situations such as this, but... something was off. perhaps it was the fact that he'd been awake for about a week or so. he'd honestly lost track at this point. numerical data and keeping a rough idea of how many days had gone by without a minute of sleep wasn't important anymore.

what was important, however, was surviving.

quentin valued his life more than anything since he was dragged into the fog, and now there he was, watching as his cold fingers fidgeted with the small pieces of wood and leather bounding the skulls into place. it wasn't long before he heard a satisfying crack and watched the figure fall apart, and he even let a small smile tug at the corner of his lips, but that was quickly replaced by a look of pure dread as he heard something other than a heartbeat. something arguably worse; the growing sound of children humming an all-too-familiar lullaby.

"one, two, freddy's coming for you..."

his fight-or-flight response kicked in almost instantly, because as soon as he heard the voices right in his ear, he hauled ass towards the fractured cowshed as fast as his legs could take him, which wasn't that fast considering his body was ready to collapse right there and then. he held out for long enough to run inside though, his chest heaving as he leaned against one of the bloodied walls. the humming had died down a bit at least, but he could still hear it faintly in the distance, which discomforted him a great ideal. that discomfort switched to surprise and slight relief as he felt a larger hand clap him on the shoulder, causing him to jump a little,
"You alright, kid? You look like you've just seen a ghost, all pale-faced 'n stuff." a gruff voice asked, making quentin have to look up slightly for his blue eyes to meet the opposing brown ones. come to think of it, they were a deep and beautiful brown that matched the intimidating man's tough physique nicely. he forced that thought out of his head, blinking himself out of his mindless daze before recollecting what was just said to him,

"I, uh.. y-yeah, im fine.. just had a run in with him, that's all."
"him? you mean the killer?"
"yeah, right.. the killer."

david didn't seem to be too impressed with quentin's choice of words. it was as if the older man was lacking belief. he'd seen quentin in action before, the kid was usually fast and determined as hell, and right now he was seeing anything but that. it was as if he were legitimately scared of something. none of the survivors were really 'scared' anymore. it was an endless live or die series that they'd just have to relive anyway, no matter the outcome. quentin knew that as well, but there was something wrong. something he was actually fearful of.

the awkward silence didn't seem to last for long, because the soft lullaby returned to the scene of the crime, gradually getting louder the closer the burnt man got.
"we gotta get out of here.. c'mon." quentin forced out as calmly as possible, grabbing david's wrist and tugging him along as the two exited the cowshed out of an open window as quickly and quietly as possible. that didn't seem to trick the beast well enough though, because a moment or so later, quentin could feel his eyelids grow heavier and his head droop in exhaustion, the image of freddy krueger present in the corner of his eye. he knew david had fallen into the dreamworld too by the way he sprinted off so fast without so much as a warning, and quentin wasn't left trailing far behind.