The Monster fell for the Rebel

chapter 3

He dragged his heavy knife through the pocket replica of his home in Midwich. He was hunting the pitiful survivors. He didn't know who was in the trial, but he hoped it would be Nea. If she was here, he would have a very hard time finding her. Between her tiny frame, speed and agility, she was as quiet as death itself while roaming his halls.

He liked that she was challenging him like always.

He roamed the classrooms, eager to find her. Find anyone. The alert of a generator exploding caught his eye, and he trudged for it. There crouched against the metal mass of gears and pistons sat the girl Nea was closest to. Feng Min, he remembered her name was.

"Shit!" She squeaked, darting off the generator, and drawing a chase. She ran through the halls and classrooms, zigzagging in an effort to lose the killer. He kept up with her easier than he did Nea, and this disappointed him. Feng Min wasn't fast, but she was agile. The jumping over pallets and windows was graceful and skillful, giving her speed with each jump. This annoyed him.

She ran through a room that had several lockers lining the walls amongst the scattering of bookshelves. He knocked her down when she tripped over a book, she sat up, glaring at a locker in front of her and sneered in anger.

"Nea!" She snarled, and instantly knew what she had done, selling her friend out like that.

He stepped to the lockers, and one by one, opened them.

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Nea chewed the bed of her thumbnail. This was nerve-wracking. The unmistakable screeching of his heavy iron sword mere feet from her had her hidden in a locker, waiting for it to go away. She had to come up with a plan, if he wasn't going to spare her. Her heart rate picked up and died down in uneven steadiness, until the racing turned into thumping, and that turned into the killer downing her friend right in front of her. Nea covered her mouth to prevent herself from making any noise.

"Nea!" She heard Feng min hiss, giving away her presence.

Pyramidhead looked between each locker before abandoning the downed Feng Min and checking each locker. When he opened the first, he shut it with little care for the integrity of the door. Her breathing picked up as he yanked open the second locker, and he let out a little huff of frustration. When he stood before hers, she felt the heat of his body through the slits of the door. He made a sound similar to a laugh, and he opened the doors, Nea let out a little yelp and slammed back against the locker. He grabbed her and picked her up, slinging her over his shoulder.

"P.H please! Put me down!" She whined in exasperation, when he didnt answer she started wiggling. He wandered towards the basement, and she started thrashing harder.

"Stop." He commanded, readjusting his grip on Nea. She stopped struggling with a defeated sigh.

"What gives?! You literally let me sleep in your arms and now you're gonna kill me?" She spat at him as he stopped at the foot of the stairs.

"Alone with you." He grumbled out, setting Nea on the ground on her feet. She looked up at him, confused.

"You want us to be alone?" She asked, furrowing her brow. He nodded slowly, reaching up to take her chin when her friend David came sprinting down the stairs, interrupting. He beamed his flashlight's light into Pyramidhead's face, blinding him and grabbing Nea by her arm.

"Time to go!" He yelled at her as the ground lit up beneath them, signaling one of the gates were open. David dragged Nea to it, Pyramidhead following close behind. Nea stumbled behind David, barely keeping on her feet as he shoved her forward ahead of him, giving the killer a chance to swing at him and connect his great knife into David's back, giving him the opportunity to sprint ahead of Nea into the open metal doors. Nea stopped and turned around to look behind her at Pyramidhead as he stalked towards her. Dwight and David grabbed her by the jacket and arms,

"What are you doing?! Go!" Dwight yelled in Nea's ear, shoving her past the safe line. She ran hard to the welcoming fog of the campfire, but not without looking back at Pyramidhead again.

He reached out for her as she ran over the edge of fog, the only thing that made him draw his hand back was the quick and sudden appearance of the Entity blocking his way.

Nea wanted to turn around, go back to keep him company, but the fog wouldn't allow it.

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When they returned to the campfire, Nea collapsed to her knees. Her chest ached, and she felt so guilty for leaving him like that, admist her confusion and head spinning. David whipped around to look at her, glaring.

"What the fuck was that, Nea?! What the hell did I walk in on in that basement?" He stomped towards her, yanking her to her feet. His stormy grey eyes scanned hers for answers. He squeezed on her arms, gritting his teeth.

"Well?" He asked again.

"I-I don't know. He's trying to tell me something." She looked away from David's accusatory glare.

"Don't be stupid with him." David whispered, releasing her from his grip. She looked to the hard dirt and turned away to go to her tent. She unzipped the thin canvas that served as the door to her little shelter and laid out on her thin bedroll. she closed her eyes, and thought about what David said.

Was she doing something wrong? Maybe she shouldn't be interacting with PyramidHead. It stabbed her heart thinking about it. Nea sighed and hid her face behind her hands. Wishing the darkness would just take her already.

"Nea? You okay in there?" Quentin's voice filled the small space through the thin fabric of the tent. She neglected to answer.

"I'm coming in." He said, unzipping the tent. He sighed and looked on his friend with pity.

"What's going on?" He asked "What was David talking about?" Quentin shuffled into the little tent and zipped up the opening again. He sprawled out on the floor next to Nea, wrapping an arm around her waist, pulling her close.

"Okay, if you don't wanna talk about it, i get it. Just...did the killer hurt you? Like, you know, sexually?" Quentin's heart rate picked up, the worry that something terrible might have happened to Nea was overwhelming.

"No....nothing like that." She mumbled from behind her hands, letting out a sigh as she slid them off her face, and took a deep breath back in.

"He...I think Pyramidhead has some kind of soft spot for me. I don't know why, or for what reason. But he does. He literally abandoned the game the second he found out i was in the trial, and snatched me up and took me to the basement to be alone. He just...he was.." Nea's cheeks flushed red and she felt her heart quicken, but in a warmer way.

"He was, what?" Quentin asked.

"He was trying to tell me something." She cleared her throat. She wouldn't tell him about his ability to speak. Pyramidhead seemed uncomfortable and unlikely to speak to anyone else unless he absolutely had to.

"What does he want?" Quentin wondered, nestling his head on Nea's pillows.

"I have no idea.." She said, but in reality, she felt like she knew.

And she found herself wanting him too, even as Quentin laid here with her. All she craved was Pyramidhead's warmth.