Chapter Text
Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.
The sound of a syringe taping against Emily’s thigh was faint in the room where the survivors were gathered. It was early in the evening, one of the last three evening matches since there was six in total matches throughout the day. That’s if you didn’t count the two verse eight matches that only happened in the middle of the day. Plus not counting the weekend five versus five as well as blackjack. On the weekend, those were the only matches played to give both hunters and survivors a temporary break.
Only a few survivors had stayed for the late matches, the ones that weren’t in the match were eating cookies and cupcakes that Emma had provided for an after-dinner dessert. Normally you would think how can one consume baked goods when you’re watching your teammates either get attacked or dodging attacks.
Sadly after a while, you get used to the scene of blood and gore, even by doctor standers. That and the sweets Emma baked were absolutely delicious. Also, you could not eat Emma sweets, she’d be so hurt if you didn’t. So Emily took the sticky bun with a napkin that Emma had offered her with that ever so bright and cheery smile. Like the girl was made out of sugar herself with how sweet she was.
Emily took a bite of the bun, the sweetness alluring as she savored it as she turned back to the screen which was split into four smaller screens showing each one of the survivors. Underneath the large screen were four empty chair placements for rocket chairs if they were ever sent back to the manner. In-between the chairs was the door that took the survivors back to the manner after they decoded the cipher and exited through the exit gate. Above the door was a little hatch for when you escape through the dungeon. The host of the manor truly thought of everything when designing something like this.
On-screen there was Norton, Martha, Vera, and Fiona, currently at Arms Factory. Fiona and Norton had met up at the shack together to decode in both wearing fancy attire. Fiona with her new deduction star attire and Norton with his Mr.Mole skin as they like to call it. Vera with her Fatal Affection skin, which I’m sure Martha was quite fond of enough to wear her Black Swan skin to match with her. Everyone looked so fancy in a game about surviving someone hunting you down.
Everything was going fine and well as a match could go till Fiona and Norton's heart started to beat, notifying them to disperse. Norton was down in less than two minutes top. Fiona calling out with her long passage for help as Vera answers. The Ripper must-have been feeling in a generous mood today by how he seemed to bring his rose cane to carry the survivors. There was only so much you could speculate since you couldn’t actually hear the audio of the matches.
Not to say Norton was happy about being bridal carried to the basement into a rocket chair by the way he was squirming to get out the ripper hold before he got put down into the basement. He was saved minutes later by Martha and Fiona after Martha shot The Ripper squarely in the chest, oh that must have been painful. Jack recovered by slashing at her arm leaving claw marks against her skin. From what she could tell by Martha looking at her own injury, it wasn’t anything too bad that couldn’t be healed once Emily treated it.
Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.
Fiona and Martha escape The Ripper via her long passage but Norton wasn’t that fortunate having not gone through it. Martha had gotten knocked out, Fiona doing her best to heal her She’d hope Martha hadn’t received a concussion with how she hit her head on a crate. I’d have to do her upper back now. Watching the four screens, Emily noticed that Norton go down and is sent back to the manner in under seven minutes.
Taking my medical bag with my supplies, Emily moved towards the spot as Norton comes down in the rocket chair, the barbed wire disappearing off Norton as he gets off the chair. Emily gives him a one over- his left arm needed to be cleaned of blood and so did his back, then just some tape and gauges and he should be okay. Well not okay, but at least healed enough so that he’d just be sore.
The game doesn’t heal the wounds you get in-game when you come back to the manor, sadly. You’d think it would, but no. But to counter that, it has everyone heals faster than normal so it’s a balance. Something that you get used to, after all. Emily is just thankful no one gets broken bones or such during these matches from jumping from such a high place or getting hit and ending up against something hard. After finishing Norton up, Emily looks to see Vera is now in the chair with Martha coming to her rescue even without a gun.
Norton thanked me but before he can say anything else or Emily to return the gesture, he’s dragged off by the Acrobat and the Gardner. Mike on one side of his arm as he clings onto it as Norton moves to kiss the blond head, making what appears to be his ears go red as well as Emma who takes the other arm, leaning against Norton as they walk off, likely having only come for the Prospector.
Vera is back down with Martha at half health. Fiona dodges a compressed fear air while going to save Vera, using her passage to come in front of the chair from behind, The Ripper misses her and hits Vera instead, tearing into one of her puffy shoulders on her dress. Both flee but Vera has been hit by another compressed fear air. Leading her to the rocket chair back to the manor and into my caring arms for healing.
Emily gives Vera a reassuring smile at her effort as she motions her to the bench with her to tend to Vera wounds. Being careful as she pulls the damaged sleeve away to tend to the dripping blood from the claw marks on her arm and shoulder.
“Jack as my first match? Not a good way to start the end of the evening.” Vera sighed, touching her shredded sleeve, it would come back together thanks to the manor magic- but that didn’t mean the Perfumer didn’t mourn about her clothing. Emily knew how Vera cared for all her clothing.
“He wasn’t as laid back as he normally is in the morning.” Wiping the blood with an iodine soaked cotton ball as Vera slightly winced but that was it. She had been treated more than enough times for it not to hurt so much.
“Oui, I do agree, no matter the survivors, he usually waits a few minutes before attacking, usually chasing after us before actually doing anything. Even going so far as to comment about how ripped my dress will be. Le salaud…” Vera was French so sometimes Emily would catch her swearing-in her native language as well. It’s not like it was hard to tell the beautiful lady wasn’t french. Her accent gave her away at times.
“Perhaps he has other matters to attend to after the match and wants it over as quickly as possible?” At that moment, another survivor goes down and its Martha. Vera sighs sadly and shakes her head as Martha is chaired. It seems Fiona is looking for the dungeon to at least escaped even if it will be a defeat. At least Fiona will get points for escaping through the dungeon.
“Well, yes, that could be it but I’m not so eager to be picked again. I only partake in the evening matches because Martha likes to do them so she doesn’t have to do them in the morning-”
“Because you two are doing other energy-related things in the morning?” Emily couldn’t hide the giggle that escaped from her mouth when she saw Vera ears go red along with her face, turning away from me yet she still punches my leg in a manner that is telling me to be quiet.
“Oh hush you. Others might hear you- how did you even find out about us- you know what, it doesn’t matter, just mon dieu, Emilie.”
“Of course, Vera. Being with Martha isn't the only reason why you’re playing so often." Clipping the bandage with my scissors, Emily clips the metal piece onto the end of the bandage, keeping it secure and stable on the Perfumer's arm. Vera moves it to test it and she seems satisfied with it. That is, before turning to Emily with a pout, it was quite a cute look on her.
"Okay, that was my first motive, my second motive was that I must get the Crimson Bride outfit. Emilie, you've seen how beau it is. I only need a few more victories to be able to get it." There's a hint of determination in her eyes, knowing her, she'd get it to show it off to Martha. It was an elegant outfit that was very fitting for Vera.
Speaking of Martha, the coordinator came back in a rocket chair grumbling all the while as Naib helped her off the chair. Her face instantly lighting up when she saw Vera, coming over and sitting right next to her.
"Sorry, I couldn't protect you.” Martha put her hand on Vera clasped hands as she pecks her girlfriend’s cheek. “I’ll make sure I double shoot Jack next time.” Emily didn’t doubt that with how trigger happy Martha was, she just hoped the Coordinator didn’t miss or the Hunter not hide behind something to block the shot.
Moving to the other side of the bench, Emily go about treating Martha wounds on her arm and shoulder, dividing her attention between Martha's injures and the rest of the match. Fiona seemed to be knocked down but at least she got out through the dungeon, leaving a defeated score for the team.
Giving Martha a soft pat on her un-injured shoulder, Emily gives her the clear to go as she goes to work on Fiona before the next match starts.
---
The next match was Murro, Tracy, Lucky and Eli at the Sacred Heart Hospital. The hunter was Wu Chang. To put it lightly, Murro needed more than a few bandages, maybe a stitch or two on behalf of Fan Wujiu being out more than Xie Bian.
Brooke was not harmed in the playing of this round for once, whether that be lucky or not. Only Tracy managed to get out, even if she tried saving Eli with only her bot Xie Bian wasn’t having that it seemed. Emily was going to need more medical supplies before tomorrow’s game if she ran through them all in the evening matches.
---
The last match of the evening was on the way and we were already at a disadvantage. First, we were at Arms Factory which should have given us more than an advantage with all the pallets and walls to jump and hide behind, but the Hunter was Wu Chang. Trigger happy Martha shot Xie Bian early in-game and Fan Wujiu wasn’t happy about that at all. She went down after we completed one cipher, Emily went to work on another cipher while she was in chair and half-way to launch off point for her, then that's when Vera went down next.
The moment Vera went down, Kurt saved Martha as far as I could tell via communicator and healed her. It was almost like when one was saved, another was hurt. It was ever so much as a pain, but at least, Emily could try to cheer herself up by dancing while decoding.
But it seemed Fan had it out for Martha with hitting Xie if her grunting was anything to go by through the communicator. The moment Kurt and Emily save Vera, Martha went down for the last time. Vera swore under her breath in French as she ran towards where Martha had gone down. Emily would have run as well to save her fellow friend but it was useless when the moment she would be put on a chair, she’d be sent back to the manor- forced to wait for Emily either at the waiting room or back at where Emily went to treat other survivors if she wasn’t with everyone else watching the match.
Emily was running towards the next cipher, breath ragged as she swiped the sweat that had gathered on her eyebrows onto her red dress. This was the cipher Martha had been working on as she could tell by it being halfway completed. Emily worked as quick as her fingers could to pop the cipher. The clicking sound went off when it was completed as the lights flicked on above it, confirming it was done. Emily started to head out to the next one which was towards the middle with a hurry when there were only three survivors left with two ciphers left to pop.
Well, she would have if her heart hadn’t started to glow purple and her heartbeat increases.
Looking behind her, she saw it was Xie Bian coming for her with his ever so sweet and intoxicating smile. Now, as far as the many matches I’ve played against him, he was never one for conversation. Not Xie Bian, but Fan Wuiju would say very threatening things while he laughed and chased you down. Unlike Jack who would make light chit chat as he was hunting you down or Robbie with his creepy childish laughter, not even like Joseph as you could hear his loud breathing from a mile away.
Xie Bian just smiled his same smile that could fool even the oldest survivors like myself into believing he was a nice hunter who didn’t indeed want to rip you a new one.
Gaining speed with his long strides towards Emily, she threw the wooden pallet down to get some distant- only for Xie to disappear from in front of her. Where did he- the question was answered when the sharp tip of his umbrella tore through the back of her shawl. Emily heard the fabric rip, knowing she had a bruise back there now. She could feel the blood being soaked up by her dress.
Not looking back, Emily rolled over the wooden pallet, the blood pumping through her to get any amount of distance from the teleporting hunter. Anywhere that could provide protection as well as give her the distance she needed to heal herself if possible. That place being in the middle of the map- she could see pallets that hadn’t been used, oh what a blessing. Checking behind her as her heart was still hammering, Xie Bi’an had his arms raised as he was standing there-
Emily's eyes widen as she started to backpedal, he was teleporting.! The umbrella whizzed by her face as she was trying to think of a new strategy on the spot- what could she use, what could she use- the pallets next to the shipping container weren’t use! She could use those for distant!
Emily could hear Fan Wujiu laughing as he had gotten closer- she didn’t even know he had gotten that close. Running to the pallet, she had tried to pull the wooden thing down upon the hunter to stun the man, yet he was faster than her arms as his umbrella swiftly jabbed her in the chest with such a force that Emily lost her balance, falling onto the dirt ground- her head hitting the ground with a thud as she was sure she was seeing stars.
Fan was standing above me in all his lanky glory with a predatory grin on his face that had me sweating. Emily tried to crawl back from the hunter but it never really worked as the sound of helium reached her ears as she was swiftly tied by her waist to a set of balloons. The action giving her an ounce of vertigo as he carried her to the spot she had just run away from. It was useless to struggle when the chair was so close but she did anyway- managing to get Fan to walk into a wall.
“Fucking- I’m going to smash you damn kneecaps.” They were on the same level so she could hear his threat loud and clear as she visibly tried not to let a shiver show.
Getting thrown into a chair was never nice especially when it had rockets and barbed wire on it- it was even less nice when suddenly an umbrella was harshly pushed under your chin against your neck to keep you still as barrad wire kept you strapped to a chair with wrist restraints. There was gonna be a bruise there too with how hard Fan pressed against her neck- it felt too long to be normal.
Fan Wujiu face was twisted in a grin yet his stance made it seem like he was listening- likely to hear her fellow survivors. Emily could see Kurt hiding in the grass not too far from her so she made a point not direct any attention to the spot as she started to struggle, thinking maybe just this one time, she’d be able to get out of this chair without any help.
Fan finally left to patrol around the area for anyone coming to save, not spotting Kurt as he grew back to his normal height and untied me from the chair. The moment Emily was loose and they started to make their escape, the deafening sound of a bell reached their ears as they both fell down to the ground. It was Emily's first time hearing it since the match started so she was able to focus on not giving into it even as her body tensed up while running for her to obey the sound.
Sadly the same couldn’t be said for Kurt as his body tensed up and started to move in the opposite direction He must have already heard the bell once and failed to not give in to it. Injured but much alive, Emily's legs pumped her all the way to the shack as she collapsed against some boxes, going to treat whatever wound she could around her arms as quick as she could.
Taking her medical kit from her side, she pulled out some sanitizing wipes to clean the cuts and a roll of bandages. The moment the gon rang as Kurt fell down, she knew time was of the essence before Kurt was sent blasting back to the manor. Emily was quick but steady about cleaning as she tunes into the communicator to talk to Kurt and Vera.
“E: Kurt I’ll be there, just- I need to heal or I’ll go down trying to save you.” It was a hushed whisper as she could feel her heart starts to beat, causing her to stumble in her healing.
“K: Emily, it doesn’t look good, he has blink. Vera are you almost done with the cipher??” Despite his chipper voice, it was laced with worry- who wouldn’t be strapped to a rocket chair.
“V: It’s almost primed, I just need a little more time, just keep him distracted.” Vera french accent was dripping into her English pronouncing like it normally did when Vera started to stress out.
“E: We will all be sent back to the manor if anyone one of us gets back on a chair, I’ll try my very best.” Peeking from behind the box, Emily could see Fan looking for her or either Vera to secure his win, there was only one more cipher left.
“V: Je sais, je sais, just keep him busy. I’m almost done.” Was the last thing Vera said before going back to focusing.
Healed to the best of my standards, Emily ran back to where Kurt was currently. He was already half pass blast off time. Emily noticed Fan Wujiu out of the corner of her eye as she rounded the corner to save Kurt. Fan was on her tail as he brought his umbrella back with a sort of glee.
Emily paled as she let out a terrified squeak, ducking as the umbrella soared pass her and ended up scratching Kurt against his cheek. While Fan Wujiu utters a string of words about breaking my spine, Emily removed the barbed wire as fast as she could as she and Kurt made a break for it.
Kurt who she thought was in front of her had gotten knocked down as by announcement of the gong. Emily's heart dropped thinking she had managed to save her teammate.
“E: Kurt- I’m sorry- I didn’t protect you hard enough. I should have at least body blocked but the fog- it had blocked my vision.” She was currently hiding behind a finish cipher watching an outline of Kurt being strapped into a chair.
“K: It’s okay- it happens. See you back at the manor.” He was still optimistic about the outcome as Emily watched him fly into the sky. She did a cross against her chest to mourn the loss of him. When her heart was peaceful, she started to run to the cipher Kurt had been working on.
“E: Vera, how the cipher progress.” By the humming of Kurt cipher, she could tell it was halfway done.
“V: Nearly done, just tell me when to pop- merde!” Vera voice rang in alarm through the connection, alongside a scream- Xie Bi’an must have appeared in front of her. Oh no- Vera was at half health as well as out of time on the chair- if she went down that would mean-
The gong went off, confirming my fear. I could hear her arguing with Xie Bi’an even if the hunter likely wasn’t saying anything to her.
“V: Merde! Stupid Guard! I guess you’ll be escaping without me, Emilie. Au revoir.!”
Her laugh was the last thing Emily heard as she saw her friend go up up and away from the map.
Now it was just Emily and Wu chang. She only had two options now. Pop the cipher and head for the gate- oh, but yet that would be dumb because the hunter would likely have dentition so it would be a one-hit kill or risk trying to find the dungeon in one of the four places on the map. She was deciding on which would be more logical but she knew the more she waited, the quicker it would take for the crows to find her to alert Wu Chang of her location.
Emily ran back to the shack, checking to see if the dungeon was there but with no luck- but then she recalls almost tripped over it when she was running away from Fan Wujiu near the middle back at Kurt cipher- so turning around, Emily head back to the middle, only to find the Fan Wujiu waiting for her with the dungeon wide open behind him.
He was grinning, knowing he had won and that Emily was the only one standing against him and a flawless match. It was too bad for him that I had healed myself up or else he would have won flawlessly. Well, he could still win if he suddenly switched with Xie Bi’an and he siphoned my soul, making me unable to escape through the dungeon. So Emily sought to act before he got the idea. She would just have to bear the attack to escape.
Rushing past Fan, she landed a nasty gash on her arm from his strike with his umbrella, but that didn’t stop her as she made a jump into the dungeon, hitting the soft ground with a thud, thankful for her knees not buckling. Not wanting to look up and see the sneer from Fan, Emily started to make her way back to the manor.
---
Emily had successfully treated everyone for the night after such a tiring match with Wu Chang, herself included. Some bandages around her arms, shoulders and upper back paired with some pain pills should do the trick. She should be back to her cheery self in the morning with a good night's sleep.
She checked her supplies to find out what she had run out of because, quite frankly, she was positive she had no more bandages, gauzes, cotton balls, medical patches and rubbing alcohol. Most of the reasoning for that being the poor injures Naib had received from both the morning matches *and* the two verses eight matches.
Poor Mercenary was just dripping in blood, his clothes were ripped and his previous gashes had been reopened after she took the time to stitch them back together. She nearly yelled at Naib to promise her that he wouldn’t partake in any more matches for the next day. Even with the speeded healing, the man just didn’t know when to stop protecting his friends.
Even if she did appreciate it when there were far too many close calls with Jack claws or Michiko fan.
So here she was, going down to the front of the manor to retrieve her box of medical supplies she ordered three days ago. Emily had ordered them after the announcement of the new hunter a week ago when everyone started to come back with burn marks and saying how the hunter had nails in it bat which made her have to give everyone a Tetanus shot *just* in case someone got rust in there cut.
Because blood can rust against metal and who knew if the penguin hunter- well Guard 26 was their name, but… he looked like a penguin so it was just an inside joke between the survivors. But back to blood, it can rust and that getting into your skin is not good at all.
Coming down the stairs in her pale blue nightgown with her hair let out of its bun, Emilly quietly made her way into the parcel room. It seemed someone was also expecting a package of sorts as they were checking their box. The gray hair and the blue pajamas with gold stars on could only be Aesop.
Aesop turned towards Emily likely when he heard her approaching. He still had on his medical mask, his shoulders relaxing when he noticed who it was. “Greetings Miss Dyer. Just retrieving my embalming supplies.” His voice was muffled against the mask, but that was all he said before Aesop took the small box and exited the room just as quietly as he likely entered. Emily let him pass as she saw a box sitting under her name.
Smiling, she walked over she had picked up the box- it being quite heavier than usual- actually. It was a lot heavier than usual. Yes, there was some glass vials in here along with bottles of cleaning fluid alongside different sort of bandages, but that shouldn’t have made it this heavy.
There must be some sort of mistake. Emily put the box back as she looked for a name on the box. Maybe she has gotten one of the other survivor's boxes by mistake, it can happen sometimes. She remembers getting Tracy's box of gears, machines and other trinkets, Tracy had been embarrassed when she had to trade Emily box of medical supplies for her own box.
Searching for the name on the top of the box with her finger, Emily found it- yet the name caused her to freeze and her heart to all but accelerate, a wave of fear washing over her being.
How had she gotten Xie Bian and Fan Wujiu package!?