Chapter Text
When Evan MacMillan was summoned to the killer’s campfire, he knew something was different. This wasn’t just another trial. He could feel it.
He worried for a moment he was going to be punished again for failure, but that always immediately after a trial. This wasn’t a reward either, The Entity did not bother to praise its Trapper. When he did well, he would know through what he found the next time he slept and dreamt of the Bloodweb.
Not knowing what to expect, Evan walked through the gate that, during trials, led to the survivors’ campfire, and outside of them, led to the killers’. Evan had never met any of the other killers, though he knew they existed. He had heard echoes of angry roars, revving engines, and haunting humming from other trials, and had occasionally found various items left at the campfire.
When Evan arrived at the campfire, he was shocked to see another killer there. It was a man with dark, billowing robes and a white mask frozen in the shape of a scream. This other figure was kneeling in front of the fire, which Evan noted was burning orange and black. He had only seen the fire that way twice before: when The Entity explained his role before his first trial oh so long ago, and when it sent him to find- to find…
Evan couldn’t remember. This alarmed him. He didn’t have a photographic memory, but he knew something had happened. He filed away this troubling information for later and knelt alongside the other killer out of instinct. As he did so, a figure with a bag over their head approached the fire, eerily hovering a few inches off the ground. Then a group of four teenagers in hoodies and masks. More and more killers arrived, all silent and kneeling in front of the fire.
When the last killer slouched in, a burned man with a fedora and a sweater, they all heard a voice. Its voice. The voice did not speak English, or Japanese, or any language spoken by humans. Yet they understood. They understood that some trials would be different. Some trials would have two killers. Eight survivors. Four exit gates. And speaking would be permitted. Evan nearly raised an eyebrow at that, but even under his mask, The Entity would know, and The Entity would not look kindly upon doubt. It rarely paid much attention, but when it chose to, there was no hiding from it. Its punishments were not merely physical- Evan would prefer another dozen pieces of metal in his shoulder to being forced to relive his worst memories again- his friends, his father, the mine…
Suddenly, Evan realized The Entity had finished speaking, and the fire had returned to normal. As The Entity’s presence left, Evan looked up to more closely examine who he supposed were now co-workers of sorts. Before he could, however, all hell broke loose. A girl who appeared to have been violently butchered immediately leapt at the man next to her, a towering figure in a jumpsuit and a white mask. Some creature opened its mouth- which, after a double take, Evan realized was its entire head- and lunged through the fire at a fat man with clown makeup.
Evan turned to leave. This, he decided, was not his problem. He was sure that The Entity would take care of everything, and really, he didn’t fancy getting gnawed on by the rail thin woman currently trying to tear an arm off of one of the teens. Besides, he had work to do. Bear traps don’t maintain themselves.
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The next time Evan was called to the campfire, he was unsurprised to see another killer there. It was a woman in jeans and a red robe wearing a pig’s head. He awkwardly cleared his throat, having not spoken since the last time he was tortured by The Entity and forced to beg for mercy.
“Um, hello” muttered Evan awkwardly. God, why was he so nervous? He could break this woman in two. The Entity said he was the longest-serving killer. And here he was holding out a hand to shake, completely at a loss for what else to do. The woman cocked her head at him before chuckling and returning the handshake.
“Hey. I’m Amanda. You seem better than the first asswipe, but lemme lay down the ground rules. We might both be working together, you might even have been chosen by John, but you lay a hand on me and I’ll gut you like a fucking fish. Got it?”
Evan was taken aback to hear such language from a woman, but he supposed that any girl chosen to do this job wasn’t selected for her manners.
“I assure you I’ll be the perfect gentleman. I might have worked in the mine, but I was raised properly. Who was the first… asswipe, as you so eloquently called him?”
“The creepy fatso with the clown makeup. Bitch tried to start touching my hands” she made a motion with her hand and a short but sharp blade popped out of her sleeve. “He got the picture real quick.”
“Serves him right, I suppose. Say, I should warn you, I set traps like these” Evan held up a bear trap “I can see the… outlines, I guess, through walls and stuff, but I don’t know if you’ll be able to, so watch your step.”
Amanda gave a snort and held up a reverse bear trap. “What’re the odds? I don’t wait for them to come to the pain, I make sure the pain sticks to them. Once this thing’s on their head, they gotta find the key to get it off, otherwise… they’ll wish they got put on a hook, let’s just say that.”
Evan shuddered at the unadulterated delight in Amanda’s voice. He’d hunt the maggots, and he’d hurt them, and he had fun doing it. But looking at the twisted contraption of wires and springs and blades that Amanda lovingly caressed… to Evan, that was somehow too far.
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The trial went okay. Only Jake and Nea escaped, the rest being sacrificed or, in the case of Jane, Steve, and Ace, dying to one of the reverse bear traps. On the one occasion they crossed paths, Amanda whispered to Evan that she could, in fact see his traps. Evan also noted that he could see boxes that he inferred were where the keys to the reverse bear traps were. He felt a little bad about putting traps down in front of them, especially since he was fairly certain Steve wouldn’t have died to the reverse bear trap if the regular bear trap hadn’t been in front of the last box. But Evan knew that even in this new situation, he could not afford to show mercy or slack off. He didn’t know how much it hurt to be sacrificed up on one of the hooks, but he liked to think it was less painful than The Entity’s punishment.