There was a cabin in the woods. Small and unobtrusive. Its figure was hidden by the surrounding trees, bushes, and tall grass. Its four walls were covered in faded paint, dirt, moss, and ivy.

Margot led her team to it. Following her senses. Following the directions that she’d been given by the missive. Following the stars and watching the thin seam that separated the illusory world of the game from reality. It took a while, and progress was slow because they’d had to skirt a number of the other cabin’s people that they happened to almost bump into in those woods.

Fortunately, the inevitable happened and the orange, blue, and yellow cabins teamed up to go after the violet cabin. Margo could hear their fighting from all the way on the other side of the woods. As for the Indigo cabin, their campers seemed to be lying low. Hoping to survive and win by sheer virtue of being the only group to keep their noses clean.

Thus the green cabin was free to get to where they needed to go, with little to no problem. There’d been perhaps a single instance where they’d run into something that might have been the game’s version of a wild dog...or some kind carnivorous deer, but that was nothing a well aimed fistful of lightning couldn’t fix.

Now here, they were. Exactly where they needed to be.

*Knock, Knock, Knock*

Margot’s knuckles rapped against the door. The sound was muffled by the padding of the costume, so she had to compensate by adding more force to her knocks. Resulting in stinging knuckles and faintly dented door.

“Why are we here again?” said Thomas.

“Because it’s the place we need to be...Now shush...and remember to be polite. For the love of all that’s holy, remember to be polite.” said Henrietta. Who’d had a little more of the plan explained to her, while she’d overseen Margot’s extraction of tonight’s key item.

“Yeah...I get that, but what does that mean exac-...” said Thomas. Sounding just a touch petulant. Not quite likely the insinuation that he was ever anything but polite.

The door open and the group beheld a man. An ordinary man. Brown haired, brown eyed, and tan skinned, wearing a cardigan, a button shirt, comfortable slacks, and tennis shoes. A man who’s normality made him out of place within the game world.

“Hello...Uh, I’m not quite sure how you got here, but you really shouldn’t be here.” said the man.

“We know.” said Margot. Wishing she weren’t in the suit so she could give the nervous looking stranger a reassuring smile. It was just one amongst her long list of reasons for wishing she weren’t in the suit.

“Uh...then, are you going to go?” said the man.

“We will we just thought we’d stop over for a spot of tea and give you a hardy thanks for all your hard work.” said Margot. Opening the box she was holding and stepping forward a little to give the man a proper look at the contents.

“My...My hard work. R-, really?”

“Yes.” said Margot.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

“Er...Well, in...in that case, I suppose it wouldn’t be too much of a problem if you were allowed to just stop for tea.” said the man. Brightening up a little.

*************************************************************************************************************

Five minutes later, the four cuttlefish and the one man, were in a sitting room. Bathed in the warm orange light of a fireplace. Listening to a radio play soft jazz in the background. On the table in front of them was a tea set, with the bulk of the table taken up by a cake.

The cake was the special item that they’d needed to pick up before coming to the house in the woods. Moon-juniper and red-velvet. Their hosts favorite. The cake’s presence was what got them in the door.

Now they sat talking about nothing. Margot felt her saliva drying up as she stretched herself to the limits of who she was as a person, and pretended to be someone with actual social skills.

She might not have been able to make it if it weren’t for cabinmates. While Ashley turned out to be nearly as shy and reserved as Margot, Thomas and Henrietta were of a great help. Pushing the conversation along and keeping tea time alive.

Suddenly a bell rang from somewhere inside the house.

“Huh? What’s that?” said Thomas. Pausing in the middle of an anecdote that centered on one of the summers of his youth.

“Nh...Oh, that. It means it’s time for me to be getting to work.”

“Ah, well, that’s a shame. I guess you’ll be wanting us out of your hair.” said Margot. Making to rise.

“Eh?...Nah. That’s okay. You guys sit tight. If you don’t mind waiting around for a bit. It’s been ages since I’ve had company and honestly I doubt I’ll need to work this shift for too long.” said the man.

The man got up and excused himself from the table. Thomas got up and wondered over to a large box with one side made of darkened glass. It took a while but eventually the youngster realized he was looking at old fashioned cathode ray tv. Something that one could only see in museums in the current.

“Woah...Hey, Sir, do you mind if we turn on your tv?” said Thomas.

“Huh? Oh, sure...Go right ahead. I’m afraid there might not be anything on though. I don’t have cable, and the local channels don’t really broadcast clearly when you’re out this far.” he said. Sounding slightly sheepish.

“Oh, that’s perfectly okay, sir. This things a beaut. A real classic.” said Henrietta. Her inner-tinkerer drawing her to the television as well.

“Ha...I’ve never heard that one before. But yeah, knock yourselves out.”

A moment later, while Thomas and Henrietta were trying to figure out how to turn the massive box on. A figure walked in. Taller. Paler. Its limbs extends. Its skin bluish. Its face frozen in a terrifying rictus. A manic smile with far too many teeth.

The figure wore a uniform. A very familiar uniform. One that the campers had seen often. Out of the figure’s mouth came the familiar voice of the man.

“Alright, so I’m off. The bathroom’s down the hall and to the right, if you guys need to use the facilities. Toodles.” said the man.

“Yeah, thanks. We really appreciate it. Knock ‘em dead out there.”

“Heh. I’ll try.” said the figure. Its monstrous smile growing even wider, all but cutting its head in half.

The shambling dishelved creature wandered out of the room, and soon they heard the sounds of the front door opening and closing.

As soon they were sure the creature was gone, the green cuttlefish rounded on their leaders.

“Wh-, What the fuck was that?” said a trembling Thomas.

“That was Tom Wob. A hard-working employee of the camp.”

“The hell it was! That was fucking Mr. Wobbles. The nightmare mailman who’s been trying to break into our cabin and tear us apart for the last six days of this awful ass summer-camp vacation.” said Thomas. Standing now. Hands clenching and unclenching inside his suit as he eyed the door as if expecting their host to storm back in and reduce them to mince.

“Also true…” said Margot. Taking a sip of tea to calm her rattled nerves.

“M, Is this Mr. Wobbles house?” said Ashley. Speaking in a horrified whisper.

“Didn’t we just go over this? Yes. Yes, it is.” said Margot.

“Then why the devil are we hear? I thought the whole point of coming here was so that we could be safe?” said Henrietta.

“Yes...and that’s exactly why we’re here. Tom Wob is a perfectly decent, perfectly sane, individual, with a slightly unsavory professional alter-ego. Mr. Wobbles is an insane, pandimensional, immortal-level terror of the void. No matter what, we were going to run into one of them by the end of this night.” said Margot.

The other cuttlefish fell silent as they absorbed Margot’s words. Their bodies trembling as they began to hear the sounds of screaming, fighting, and running further out in the woods.

“I...I’m guessing this is something like waiting out a hurricane by entering it’s eye.” said Thomas.

Margot nodded.

“You guess correctly.”

Another moment paused, and then strangely all the tension drained out of the room. The cuttlefish returned to what they’d been doing, be it reading, drinking tea, or fiddling with their host’s television.

They raised the volume on the radio, and did whatever they needed to do, to drown out the sounds of people dying horribly outside.