~Dwight~
I had just unhooked Steve when the Huntress saw me and began to chase me. I was proud of Jake for finishing the generator by himself. I tried to go inside the main building by jumping through the window, but it was blocked off by a piece of plywood. "Shit." I muttered under my breath as the Huntress caught up to me. I started running in another direction, but she was already too close. She hit me with her hatchet, and I ran faster. I ran into the building, up the stairs, and vaulted out the second floor window. I ran diagonally from there, hoping I'd lose her. And I did.
"Hey, I'll heal you." Kate offered as she opened a chest.
"Where have you been?! I haven't seen you this whole trial."
"She chased me around for a bit behind the building, but I quickly got away. I did a generator, and here I am. 2 generators left." She explained as she picked up a Med Kit that she got from the chest. She then used it to heal me. I looked out the window to see Jake getting chased by The Huntress.
"S-Shit, Kate! What are we gonna do?" I yelped. Jake had just gotten here, and I didn't want him to risk getting hooked.
"Dwight, Dwight... he's fine by himself. Look at him." Kate reassured me. I looked back out of the window to see Jake dropping pallets and not taking a single hit. Wow, he's good. He ran off and hid behind a boulder, as the Huntress went inside the building — wait, I was in the building! I looked behind me, dazed, and almost instantly took a hit. Damn, why am I so fucking stupid?
I jumped out the window to see Jake right there, finishing up the second to last generator. "Watch out!" I warned him, knowing the Huntress would come out of the window any second. "I-I'll try my best to distract her, okay?" I said as Kate ran out of the building with the Huntress at her tail. "Or... Kate will. Yeah, that works." I trail off as I help Jake with the generator. We finish it and he smiles at me. I hadn't seen him smile before — he seemed like a mysterious and serious kind of guy. He should smile more. He has a nice smile.
We ran off to the final generator and worked on it as The Huntress chased Kate. She hit her and eventually downed her, and was getting ready to hook her.
"Wait, I'll be right back." Jake prompted.
"But- Jake- wait-" I stuttered. He hushed me and ran off. He went over to the hook where the Huntress was about to put Kate, and sabotaged it — without a toolbox. He snuck his way back over to me, and watched as Kate wiggled off the Huntress' shoulder.
"Holy shit, that was amazing!" I said in disbelief.
"It was really nothing, Dwight, but thank you." He seemed to be appreciative of my admiration. Plus, I loved the sound of him saying my name. It made me feel special — and not much made me feel special. It made my stomach queasy and my face flushed...something about him felt so genuine; so real. I got so distracted by all of the sensations I was feeling at once that I had accidentally set off our generator.
"Shit! I'm so sorry." I whispered frantically.
"It's okay, I've set off several today." He reassured me. He always seemed so damn calm. No matter what the situation was. This was his first trial and he had already done so much. "We can just finish it up and run."
"Okay." I nodded. Then, there it was. That damn humming. I got up and ran towards her, trying to get her to leave Jake alone. I turned, and she hit me. She chased me around a rock, I took an extra sharp turn, and she downed me. She picked me up and I tried to wiggle off, but it was no use. I got hooked. I was hoping Jake would finish the generator and help me, but Kate and Steve were running towards me. Kate unhooked me and they both healed me. I thanked them, and continued towards Jake, where he finished the generator.
"Jake! Behind you!" Steve yells. He turned around to see the Huntress right there. Kate and Steve ran towards him and started going in opposite directions, while I went up to the exit to open it.
I see Jake hiding behind a boulder next to the exit. "They'll be okay." I troldell him. "We can wait inside here for them." Jake nods. The exit opened and Jake joined me as we waited behind the brick wall. Kate and Steve ran up to us and smiled. We all escaped together. We began to walk back to the campsite.
"Hey! Nice work, Jake!" Kate congratulated Jake.
"Thanks." Jake said in a monotone voice. He seemed really irritated, and it made me wonder if I did something to piss him off, or if he was just in a bad mood or— moral of the story, I was worried what was wrong.
"Yeah man, you really helped everyone out back there." Steve pat Jake's back.
"You saved me when I was about to get hooked!" Kate cheered. "So.." Kate trailed on trying to get Jake to talk. "Why don't you tell me about yourself?"
Jake sighed, then spoke, "My dad was a CEO of his own company, my brother was pretty much a successful copy of him, and I couldn't really keep up with my parents because they were way too hard on me. I dropped out of school and lived on my own. I kind of just did my own thing by myself. I was out taking a walk to clear my head, and then I ended up here. How about you guys?"
Kate spoke up, beginning a monologue. "I was a folk singer. I had it all. I had learned how to play guitar, I had gone on tour. I loved it... I gave to people who didn't have enough, and always tried to go back home to Pennsylvania. Everything was perfect — but one day, when I was playing a song, I got whisked away. Nature turned against me. It grabbed for me, and I tried to fight back, but I couldn't. Before I knew it, I was here, with no sign of how to get back home."
"Damn." Steve said. "I was a babysitter, pretty much." Steve began as Kate snickered. "What? I was a damn good one, and these kids were cool — one of them had superpowers and she grew up in a lab. She helped us fight the Demogorgon from the Upsidedown and I helped find the commies that let them into our world."
"Commies? Let a what now into the who from the what?" Kate tilted her head in utter confusion as Jake and I did the same.
"I'll explain some other day." Steve sighed. "To be honest, I hardly understand it." Kate pat Steve on the back sympathetically.
"It's your turn, Dwight!" Kate applauded happily.
"Oh. Yeah." I replied. "I wasn't really a good student, I kind of just breezed my way through things. There's not too much interesting to say about me..." I trailed off awkwardly. Damn it Dwight, you always mess these things up. Nobody's going to think you're interesting — Steve fought the Demogorgon, Kate was famous, and Jake is... amazing.
"I'm sure there's more than that." Jake chimed in. "I can tell there's more to you than what you say there is."
"Thank you." I smiled anxiously, feeling the heat in my cheeks. "I- that means a lot to me because you... yeah." I trailed off. Oh my god. What was that? OhmygodwhatwasthatDwight.
"You're welcome." Jake smiled back. Aw. Soon after, we reached the campgrounds. It had gotten very dark rather quickly, but I managed to make out Yui and Quentin's faces.
"Guys!" Kate yells. Kate was friends with a lot more people here than I was, for I was always way too awkward to strike up much of a conversation (unless it was mandatory, like in trials). They began talking about random things I didn't really care for, but I decided to cut in and ask where Jake would be sleeping.
"I could bunk with you, Dwight, if that's not a problem." Jake offered as he came around from behind me. "Unless you share a tent with Kate, or something..." he trailed off.
"Huh?" I blurted out. What was that supposed to mean?
"Oh, no, I share a tent with Feng!" Kate giggled, probably embarrassed that Jake would suggest something like her and I sharing a tent.
~💀~
The night came fast. I found some blankets we had tucked away and handed them to Jake. "It's not much but-"
"Thank you." He smiled. He seemed rather appreciative of it, which honestly was a shock. Today was his first day here and he had already been through so much.
We went into our small tent, which could hardly fit me, so I wondered how we were going to fit the both of us. I could just lay on him... I thought to myself. Dwight, what kind of thought-
He sat his backpack of supplies down that had been given to him and rolled out his blankets. They were quite sizable. "You can feel free to lay underneath these, too — they're pretty big and they look comfy too." Jake murmured. Is he implying something?
"O-Oh, sure! Thank you." I grabbed some of the blanket, took my hat off, and laid down on the pillow. Jake seemed a little squished, for there was not much room in the small tent. "Uhm...sorry the tent is so small." I apologized frantically.
"It's okay, you can lay close to me. I don't mind." Jake reassured me as I scooted over a little more. He got squished even more. "Here, I- just-"
He laid flat and offered for me to lay on his chest. OhmygodOhmygodWhat? I laid awkwardly on his chest and looked up at him.
