It's been about four minutes since you've respawned at the campfire and the three of your teammates finally show up. Vittorio comes closer and gives a pat on your shoulder, thanking you for the sacrifice you've made to protect him. Cheryl simply smiles at you, as a sign of gratefulness. But Ace, on the other hand, is staring at you behind the crowd of unaware survivors. You're not exactly sure what he is feeling about what he had witnessed, but the man will certainly ask for explanations soon.
Once everybody returned to their activities, the gambler approaches and whispers in your ears:
"I think we need to talk. Follow me, I know a spot."
He passes behind you and waits at the entrance of the forest. You don't want to have this conversation. But you know things would only get worse if you refuse to give him answers.
You accompany the man in the dark woods, turning left, then right, then left again, walking for a solid five minutes until you grasp the boxy silhouette of a small cabin.
You slow your pace down, surprised to see that little edifice lost in the middle of the crooked trees. Ace notices your discomfort and softly grabs your arm with his iconic smile:
"Don't worry, I'm not leading you to a trap or something. Just wanted to have a talk with you in private. I discovered this place while wandering in the wood, a while ago. I and a few others know about this place. Those walls got no intrusive ears."
You ease up and follow him inside.
It is literally just a box. Nothing in it. Not even a window. Only a ceiling light that flickers every once in a while. The place is big enough to let both of you sit on the ground with our legs extended without touching each other, but it won't be enough to have more than four people standing up.
You both look at each other for a minute, not sure how to start this conversation. Ace finally speaks up:
"Listen, I'm pretty sure you know why I brought you here. You know I was there all along and you know what happened was kindda weird."
You say nothing and keep looking at him with embarrassment. You don't want to sell your secret by accident and wait for him to be more specific.
"I saw you protecting Vitty and..."
"Vitty?"
Ace's face turns red for a split second:
"Yeah, Vitty. Whatever, don't try to change the topic. What I'm saying is that it was super cool from you and all. Altruistic people are always appreciated here. But why did you just stand there... menacingly?"
You've thought of a proper answer while you were walking and already know what to say. But you stutter out your response to make it more authentic and less prepared:
"I don't know. To be fair, I just panicked."
"You panicked?" He says, raising a brow, incredulous at your speech.
"At first, I wanted to make sure she'd go for me instead of Vittorio. But when she came closer, I got tetanized on the spot, unable to move or talk. I swear, I wanted to leave but my legs were giving up on me !"
You manage to get some sincere tears out of your eyes. Not because you are traumatized by what happened but because you're stressed at the idea of him investigating more on you.
The man takes his sunglasses off and softens to your cries. He shows a cheerful smile as he gently strokes your forearm:
"Sorry for making you nervous. It's just that since you came down here, shits became odd and we learned a bunch of new things, good and bad ones... and because it all came with you, a lot of us got anxious that you could be a threat to us. I know being here is tough enough without being the center of everyone's judgment. I just wanted to make sure that what I witnessed weren't any sort of shady deals with the devils or else."
He rubs his hand in your hair and lay back on the wall:
"So tell me. What happened exactly? I get it that you froze in front of the big girl and I won't blame you for that. But the fact she also stayed there with you doing a staring contest... something wrong with that and I'd like to get your point of view."
You sigh of relief. He didn't feel the entity's presence as the huntress did. You take a deep breath and unroll your version of this story, step by step, measuring your words and trying to avoid any mistakes or incoherences:
"I saved Vittorio, she came back to the hook, I pushed Vittorio away and froze in panic when the killer came closer. The fact she stood there watching at me is a mystery to me too. Maybe she is so used to us running away that she got off guard when seeing someone standing there position. Or maybe she wanted to use this opportunity to trick one of you to save me and get two kills for one. I don't know, her reaction was weird but as you said, everything is going nuts lately."
He nods, stands up, and opens the door:
"I won't talk about it to the other. I think you got enough on your plate and I do believe you're a good person. Let's forget about this incident and go back to the campfire."
A new wave of relief submerges your heart as you tightly hug your friend:
"Thank you, Ace. Sincerely. If you need anything, I'd be happy to help you."
He rubs your hair once more and you both get back to the warmth of the pit fire.
Time passes and two matches had started without you. You are glad that you can breathe for a bit, after getting on so many games in such a little time.
After some hours, people get marked again. Jake, then Feng, then Nea and you are the final selected. Or that's what you thought when Jill got the mark too. You must have turned pale seeing that five survivors were chosen but gladly, nobody noticed. Your blood flows back into your body when Jeff and Nancy got marked too, finishing with Ashley.
In total, eight of you are chosen for a trial. You raise your voice through the general noise to ask why are there so many people selected.
"It happens sometimes. The entity does what it wants here. Sometimes, we don't get any trials for a while, and sometimes, we just chain them one after the other, even getting multiple matches at once when that huge ass arachnid feels inspired." That last sentence sounded typical of Ash.
You check a second time if the number does stop at eight and gets swallowed by the thick black smoke.
You've just touched the floor and before you can open your eyes, your nose is immediately assaulted by different strong scents. Musty and humidity are mixing with a nauseating rancid smell. Something's rotten here. The fog vanishes and you explore your surroundings with your sight.
Gideon Meat Plant.
You turn around and see Ashley in a corner of the room and Jill a bit farther away. The three of you group up to a generator in the main area upstairs. It only lasted a couple of seconds before you hear a buzzing noise coming from afar downstairs. A very familiar buzzing noise.
Then a boom.
Then a scream.
Feng got caught in the doctor's blast.
Thankfully, he was too far away to reach you and you easily finished the first generator. You suggest the others to rush for the bathroom generator, as it is one of the hardest to do and would be good to get rid of. They agree and you run toward the bathroom while Ash gives you some piece of advice:
"We should warn you about the doctor... preferences. Whenever there is a new survivor, he is always focusing on them. And he is not doing this only for the first match he meets them."
"What do you mean? Why would he harass rookies like that?"
"He never told us but I guess it's because newbies aren't used to his shocks which makes them more interesting to him."
"We'll be here to help you if he gets too oppressive on you, don't worry." reassures Jill, trying to show sympathy for you.
You feel your anxiety going up your stomach to your head and try to swallow it up back in your throat. This match will be a tough one and you don't know what to expect, which is already driving you mad. As you reach the bathrooms, you hear the Asian girl screams in pain; she just got down. You tell your friends that you will unhook her and ask them to finish this gen fast.
From what you heard, she just got hooked somewhere near to pit, maybe downstairs. This map is so echoey, it makes it hard to locate sound origines. In the end, you found Feng in the cold chamber and save her from going to stage two just in time. You start healing her wound when you catch a subtle static noise. You release the girl and tell her to leave as you get an unnerving tingling sensation in your feet. It quickly navigates through your whole body, tensing up your muscles and reaching your brain before going back down. At first, it felt like bugs swarming your head, but then everything was too much. Your body is overstimulated. Cold is too cold, hot is too hot, pain is unbearable and the simple layer of clothes you're wearing is irritating. Things rapidly calm down, letting an oppressive sensation in your organism.
You come back to your mind, recalling what had caused this stress to you. You raise your head and meet the doctor's eyes through the window. He was there, watching you struggling with that very first shock with his never-ending grin. He's not talking, but you can tell how eager he is to play with you. He lets a grating laugh break the silence and prepares another shock.
You flee just in time to dodge the electricity and run in the corridors, trying to find one safe spot to get in chase with him and trying to prepare yourself for more of his treatments.
You find a staircase and directly go upstairs, knowing you'll find a palette right on the left. However, you don't wait next to it as you want to keep it for as long as possible and you place yourself behind the stairway. You see the killer getting up the stairs too, following your trails and turning around as soon as he reaches your level. You both run around that loop for a bit. You made him jump down the stairs twice by faking going to the palette but he shocked you three more times, putting you on the edge of madness. Every shock gets your nerves even more active and sensitive. More than this, you're starting to have hallucinations. You can hear his laugh even when he is keeping his mouth shut, seeing his silhouette right behind you while he is on the other side of the loop. You were thinking of leaving this loop for another one nearby until you realized that this second palette was only in your head.
The second generator has popped.
You run a bit more with him and notice something. He is not really trying to catch up on you. In fact, he is trying to get the best placement to get his shocks right where he wants them. But you ain't a fool and you know that if you make a mistake, he will definitely put you down. Tormenting you as you run is a fun sport but a test subject is better when it doesn't move anymore.
You finally use the palette right under his nose, after jogging here for two full minutes, and try to make as much distance as possible. The buzzing sound comes back, and you know you can't avoid that blast.
Boom.
It's even worse than every shock you received before. Everything is multiplied and the tingling sensation doesn't leave easily. You are so confused that you can't tell if you screamed or not. You see doctors everywhere. You're sure he is behind you, but those hallucinations look so realistic now.
A vivid pain hits your back. He is way closer than you thought and finally strikes his weapon with no mercy in your flesh.
At least, you know you screamed on this one.
You turn right and find a room with two pallet racks and a palette in between. You loop him here but hardly make it due to the obstacles blocking your vision and preventing you from reading his movement, which is already impaired by all those hallucinations.
Third gen pop.
While running, you catch a weird noise coming from him. You pull the palette down to separate the two of you and breathlessly say:
"Were you talking to me?"
The man stands behind the wooden barrier, staring at you and moving his tongue, desperately trying to make words but the device screwed on his jaw makes the process laborious for him.
"...Ou... You... I 'now...you."
You miss a breath. You can't believe it.
"I'e sheen you. 'ut w'here?"
Oh no.
"Ahh... Sh'ider 'onster."
Please no.
" 'uch 'eauti'ul cw'eature."
He breaks the palette but you're too afraid to move.
"Gonna shtudy you. Should 'e intershting."
He raises his weapon above his head and slams it on your skull.
You wake up next to the campfire, surrounded by your teammates and a bunch of worried survivors.
"What happened to me? He was chasing me and I got hit on the head."
Feng gets back the jacket she had put on you while you were unconscious:
"Indeed, he knocked you out but he didn't pick you up, at least, not right away."
"What was he doing then?"
They exchange an embarrassed glare, daring each other to say the truth. Jill takes the lead:
"He was examining you. Opening your eyes and mouth, palping your skull, your neck... and so on."
You're about to ask if he only touched your face but you decide that you don't want to know. Ashley gives you a hand to stand up and concludes:
"Feng and I tried to save you while Jill was doing the last gen. In the end, the girls got killed while I was carrying you to the exit gate. He was not happy that we stole you from him."
You feel the urge to throw up and rush toward a nearby tree to let it go. The stress of the match and the shocks, learning that he might have abused your body while you were unconscious, and the fact that he recognized you make you feel sick.
Your friends are giving you the best support they can, understanding how frightening it was for you.
First the huntress, now the doctor... it seems that they all saw your face while you were transforming in the woods. If all the killers can recognize you, this means you have a new problem on your plate.
What would happen if a killer calls you out in front of the survivors?
The anxiety flows in your mind and makes you vomit one more time. How would you be able to keep the secret if even your enemies knows it?
You feel tired thinking about all of this and decide to lay down, near a log and nap for a bit.