Dawn Chorus (Proxies x Reader)

I pitch my tent in rhythm to the humming of my neighbor, a rather inefficient way to work. I drop my poles several times and the hollow plastic echoes too loud for my liking. At least I had enough foresight to bring a lightweight plastic structure rather than metal that rings for miles unlike some people. There is no subtlety or grace in setting up this camp. People chatter and hum and drop metal tubes like all this ruckus is inconsequential. Maybe to them it is. This is a common run, a busy run, the kind where if someone dies it is unlikely to be you. But it has to be someone.

I nearly give up, pack my bags to find a quieter corner. Safety in numbers doesn't mean much when the numbers are this rambunctious and attention nabbing. But I don't want to be deeper in the woods either. I get my tent up. I don't stake it to hold it in place. The structure is shaky, and the dark green material starts to sag and dip and rest against itself rather quickly.

"That's a bad tent." Mason lurches up behind me.

He is hunched far beneath the weight of three packs stuffed to the brim like this is a several day backpacking trip rather than a night traipsing through the woods as fast as we can. His face has gone red and sweat already darkens around his collar and armpits. Camilla and Sadie are nowhere to be seen.

Mason must notice my searching, as subtle as I try to be. "They are setting up the path back to base camp. This will be camp one. A few people are setting up a camp two deeper in the woods for the tougher runners."

"A little far in for camp one, isn't it?"

Mason shrugs. "Not really. It depends on the activity in the area and this is another light spot. A lot of the edges have high activity levels, that's why base camp is in a field near town."

"Basically in a park." I don't mean for it to sound like a complaint, but Mason is frowning.

"Better safe than sorry, (Y/n). You don't have to use the base camp, clearly you are already setup here, but some of the runners are really young, or really new to this."

"Is Annabella coming this year?"

Mason sucks in a breath between his teeth; it whistles a little. "Not this run. She's still a little nervous and this is a high activity forest."

"No one is treating it like high activity." I skim the crowd around us, normal clothes, scuffy sneakers, wide smiles, and lots of noise.

"It's a big run, low risk for skilled participants which most everyone here is. Your decade isn't even impressive in this crowd. I recognize faces that had been running over a decade when I first started." He nudges me with his shoulder, smiling smugly.

I shove him back. "I don't need it to be impressive." My nose scrunches up. "And you only started three years ago."

"Thirteen is bigger than ten, just saying." He shrugs as I roll my eyes. "Anyways, I have to get Camilla, Sadie, and I all set up. We are doing a second run in a different part of the woods in a few days, so we are here for the long hall. Catch up with you in the run?"

"If you're stupid enough to stand around."

He laughs and claps my shoulder a little too hard. I stumble forward, scuffing against my unstable tent. It sags further, like two little frowns meeting. Mason's laughter drifts away through the camp as he finds a place to set up. His shirt is a deep red, bright as blood in the fading light of day, but dark enough to disappear into the woods at night. A good shirt. I pinch the black cotton of my own top. The leggings are a nylon material, a little too glossy but with good pockets for my phone and ID. I'll stick on fluorescent orange epaulettes in hunting season, but tonight I'll be dark and sleek drifting through the woods. Maybe I should throw on some color to ask for trouble. My tent really is sad. I fish stakes from my bag and pull the structure back up, securing it firmly to the ground. I can always abandon the tent.