The Minotaurs of Maze World

by Eddie Patin

  He gasped.

  When Jason finally saw the beast, he was surprised by it. There was a huge, black form up ahead, just inside the shadows of the pines...

  His heart quickened and Jason saw his vision pulsate around the edges.

  Crouching low and trying to control his desperate breathing, Jason approached the tree line then dropped to his knees. He braced his rifle on a big branch. He felt the wetness of the snow seep through the legs of his suit immediately. The Merc armor wasn't waterproof, it seemed.

  The alpha was across the clearing, upright but keeping fairly still, just inside the tree line on the other side. It was perhaps fifty yards away.

  Amazing that it didn’t see me, Jason thought, then he considered the wind. There was a breeze coming at him from the north. He was downwind. The alpha couldn’t smell him.

  It looked like the minotaur was sitting or crouching in the shade of the pine trees, staring down the ridge at the town. Jason saw the lines of its horns moving as the creature gazed at Ridgeview, looking up and down the streets below.

  Resting. Dying?

  This is it, Jason thought.

  He settled in behind his Rigby as quietly as he could then brought his head down behind the sights. The gun was nestled into the crook of a pine tree and one of its branches, so his sight picture was solid.

  It was a perfect setup.

  Jason aimed at the beast, putting his front sight into the black mass of the alpha’s neck as best he could. Its body was very dark and hard to distinguish, but Jason could approximate where its vulnerable spot would be by the movement of its head and horns. He saw steam rising in the chilly shaded air from the beast's mouth and nostrils.

  Flicking off the safety, Jason calmed his breathing, ignored the insane fear and adrenaline coursing through him, then put his finger on the trigger, letting out a long breath. He squeezed...

  The Rigby Magnum Mauser let out a tremendous boom that immediately echoed through the mountains, thrusting back hard into Jason’s shoulder and slamming his eardrums painfully. He saw the minotaur take a hit and heard the thwack. The monster grunted then roared, jumping to its feet with a thunderous crash!

  Then it turned and fled, continuing north along the ridge toward the lake and deeper into the trees.

  "Shit!"

  Jason pursued, cycling the action.

  Did he hit it? He'd heard the hit—he was pretty sure—but the monster was still going!

  Plodding across the clearing, Jason burst into the trees where the monster had been hiding and looked around, desperately searching for some sign that he had mortally wounded it. There was nothing. Sure, there was some blood—just like before—but not the massive splash that Jason was hoping for.

  He rushed after the tracks, dodging through and over deadfall, taking his time around boulders and rock formations, snapping branches underfoot and sending gravel and chunks of snow tumbling down the hill. The terrain was becoming steeper and more difficult to navigate quickly.

  Jason heard a sudden crack of a branch breaking further up the ridge on his right. He spun with his muzzle up, flushed with chilling fear. The man suddenly remembered that the alpha had been hunting him and Riley in that canyon. It was smart, it may try to lead him into a trap...

  Shit.

  There was nothing up there, but Jason was certain that even though he didn’t see anything, that monstrous beast could be up there somewhere, hooking around on him.

  Jason immediately slowed down, following the tracks—which were getting harder and harder to find in the broken-up landscape—frequently turning around and scanning the areas to his sides and back. Terror crawled up his spine and Jason felt like he was in the Wilderlands again—albeit a snowy version of it—being chased by unrelenting predators from all sides.

  The alpha minotaur didn’t come for him. Jason figured that it would, and that he’d be screwed, but it never came. It never charged suddenly out of the trees from hiding like a black freight train of death on thunderous hooves.

  It was simply ... gone.

  Jason followed on and on—trying to make sense of the diminishing trail—feeling colder and colder. Eventually, he made it around the north end of the ridge, and looked out onto the sparkling blue waters of Lake Granby. He wasn’t finding blood anymore, and now, what he thought were occasional hoof-marks could have just as easily been random spots of snowmelt.

  The minotaur was freaking gone. He’d lost it.

  In time, continuing around the north edge of the ridge, Jason went on for a little while into the triangular valley where he’d found the Dreadwraith—the T-Rex—in the Wilderlands version of this place. He stopped and sat on a stump.

  "Screwed," he said to himself. "Not good."

  Jason looked up and saw birds in the trees. If he was still following the alpha, all of the wildlife would have scattered when it came through.

  The alpha minotaur was gone, lost into the forests of Colorado and the Rocky Mountains.

  There would be people looking for it; people asking questions.

  Jason could hear sirens down below around the ridge.

  Disappointment and fear flowed through him...

  Then he gasped and looked down at the OCS. Jason propped his rifle into his lap, then pulled the device up in front of him and unlocked the screen.

  "Yes, it’s an emergency," he said—as if to convince himself—then pulled up the ‘Going After Alpha’ bookmark. Standing and holding his rifle on one shoulder, Jason stared at the coordinates and visualized himself moving from one space to another within the same multiverse. He imagined time as a line and saw himself moving backwards along it. In his mind's eye, he watched a rift open up right next to the Wilderlands rift, back where—and when—he set the bookmark...

  Jason felt the flex. Then the quiet mountain air with distant sirens became aflutter. A rift opened in front of him with a snap—a brilliant orange flash and tumbling ball of energy that quickly expanded and flattened out into a vertical disc that spun madly, roaring and sputtering and throwing sparks all around in the snow and trees until...

  The spinning orange fire rippled pulled away from the portal's center. The window left behind smoothed out, and Jason was left staring at a vision of before. His point of view was from exactly where he had stood when he made the bookmark, looking at the snowy slope leading up into to his backyard.

  But there was one problem.

  Jason was already standing there—a few steps ahead of the rift—reloading his Rigby rifle just like before. Jason saw himself, dressed in dusty Merc armor, his windbreaker jacket dirty and his CamelBak still appearing miraculously brand-new on his back. The sight of the past Jason's shortly-buzzed hair and dirty, determined face was a shock.

  Jason recalled back when Riley had him look backwards through time to the bookmark in the garage. He'd stared at a past version of Riley and himself messing with the OCS.

  Was that Jason ... him? What would happen if he went through?

  "It has to be done!" he told himself, letting the OCS drop back down to his side and holding his rifle in low ready.

  Jason stepped through...

  Chapter 26

  Jason Leaper 934 set foot down into the snow downhill from his backyard. As soon as he was clear, he released the rift. Around Jason's boots were footprints from the exact same pair of boots already.

  Of course, he thought. He’d been here several minutes ago...

  The rift behind him fizzled out with a pop and Jason heard a gasp. He made the same noise himself as he looked ahead.

  Now there were two.

  Jason stared at an exact copy of himself—from the clipped hair and Merc armor to the jacket and CamelBak backpack and OCS hanging from one side—currently finishing loading his own Rigby Magnum Mauser (like Jason 934 had already done), ready to head up the slope in pursuit of the minotaur...

  The other Jason turned around in shock at the sound of the new rift opening and closing, immediately swinging the muzzle of his r
ifle around at Jason 934. Then the other Jason quickly pointed the gun down at the ground.

  "What the fuck...?!" other him asked, mouth dropping open, brow furrowed.

  It’s me, Jason thought, staring in awe. It’s exactly me ... back when I dropped the OCS and reloaded the rifle!

  "I didn’t expect this!" Jason 934 exclaimed, staring at the other Jason in surprise. They both crept toward each other, the same boots squishing through sloppy snow, mirror images: both held the same rifle, wore same armor, same jacket, backpack, hair and face—everything dirty and dusty from scrabbling around in Maze World. They looked upon each other with the same blue eyes...

  "Holy shit!" the other Jason said. "What the hell’s going on?!"

  Jason 934 suddenly remembered his single, unsuccessful shot at the alpha moments ago up on the ridge, so he loaded another .416 round from the rifle’s sling into the mag-box. "It’s the alpha!" he replied excitedly. "It’s—you just bookmarked this spot a minute ago, right? Maybe just a few seconds ago?"

  "Yeah..." The other Jason’s eyes lit up with surprise and understanding. "You’re ... future me?!"

  "Yes!" Jason replied with a manic laugh. "The alpha rampaged down the street until it went through some fences and backyards, then broke out into the green belt several houses ... um ... well, it doesn’t matter, because we can see where it came out again. It headed up into the ridge, bleeding. I shot it and it got away. I lost it in the mountains! We’ve gotta catch up to it sooner!"

  "Together?!"

  "Of course!" Jason replied, totally weirded out by hearing his own voice and tone reflected in the other. "I didn’t think that this would happen; that there’d be two different versions—"

  "Me neither!" other Jason said with the same tone. "This is crazy!"

  "Let's hurry!" Jason said, "We should follow it together and flank it or something!"

  "Did you shoot it in the neck?"

  "Yeah, I think so," Jason replied, making sure that his safety was still on. It was. "But it wasn’t enough. Let’s coordinate."

  "Okay. I was gonna run up to—" The other Jason was motioning toward the house.

  "I know exactly where it’s going. Let’s cut it off! It’s easy to track all the way to the lake."

  "You went all the way to the lake?!"

  "Come on!"

  Jason turned and plunged through the bushes so that he could connect with the hiking trail. He heard the other him stomping after, grunting as he pushed through the branches that always tore at his face. It was his voice—his noises.

  "There are car alarms! And smoke!" other Jason exclaimed as they ran north on the gravel path.

  "Yeah, it really messed up a lot of cars and stuff on Kestrel," Jason replied, already starting to lose his breath.

  "We really need to start doing some cardio!" the other one exclaimed.

  "Yeah, really."

  The two Jasons ran as far as they could before slowing down to walk quickly, then Jason 934 pointed out the broken and splintered section of fencing several houses down from their own.

  "There! See?"

  "Yeah!"

  They ran on, panting and humping their heavy rifles all the way to the spot where the alpha minotaur’s hoof-prints crossed the path, leading up to the ridge.

  "Is that blood?" the other Jason asked.

  Jason 934’s heartbeat was pounding in his ears and he hardly heard him. He took a sip of water from his CamelBak.

  "Yeah, it’s wounded."

  "Oh yeah!" other Jason replied, looking up toward the ridge, squinting against the sun as he tried to slow his breathing. "Riley shot it several times and Gliath probably hurt it a bit too. I shot it once or twice ... uh ... we...?"

  "There’s a lot more blood up the hill. You’ll see."

  They followed the trail of blood and churned snow up into the trees. Jason 934 felt overwhelmed with a sense of Deja Vu. He literally had done this before. His mind swooned from time to time and he was tempted to doubt his sanity as he felt like his brain was glitching here and there, but he told himself that it must just be a side effect of going back through the same experience again. His mind kept trying to make sense of something that he was never meant to actually experience.

  "This is so freaking weird..." Jason muttered.

  They hiked on and on. Jason led the way, following the same trail that he'd seen before. When they came across the next big splash of red blood in the thick, melting snow—something Jason 934 was expecting—the other Jason gasped.

  By the time they were approaching the clearing that Jason 934 remembered—the place where the minotaur would be hiding inside the pine trees on the other side—he stopped and crouched low. The other Jason peered around and waited, attentively.

  "Okay," Jason 934 whispered. "You see that clearing up there?"

  The other Jason looked. "Is that where we fought off those raptors and carried the dino leg back to the cave?"

  Jason shook his head. Earth and the Wilderlands weren’t exactly the same. He'd been privately wondering the same thing at the time, but gave up the thought when he'd noticed the minotaur.

  "I don’t know, and you don’t know either."

  The other Jason frowned then smirked. "Yeah, you’re right."

  "The alpha is sitting in the trees on the other side of the clearing," Jason said. His other self craned his neck trying to see, but they were still pretty far away. "Last time, I kept going this way, got to the tree line, then took a really good shot. I’m sure I hit it, but it still ran away."

  "So what’s the plan?"

  "You do the same thing I did last time. Wait in that spot with your gun trained on it. I’ll go down the ridge and try to skirt around to the other side. Wait until I’m there, then shoot it in the neck just like I did before."

  "God, this is crazy..."

  Jason went on. "When it turns to run toward me, I’ll shoot it again. Hopefully that’ll do it."

  "Okay..." the other Jason said, hesitating. "Wait—how will I know when you’re in position?"

  Jason 934 pondered for a moment. He thought of making some sort of signal—maybe snapping a branch to make the minotaur look over or something. Then he pulled out his phone, unlocked the screen, and looked at his reception. Full bars.

  "I’ll text you ... um ... me. Think we have the same phone number?"

  "Test it."

  Jason quickly composed a text to his own phone number, with the word ‘test’. His fingers were cold. It was chilly in the shade. He sent it and immediately felt a rush of icy panic. "Oh shit—put it on vibrate!"

  Both Jasons rapidly turned the volume off on their phones.

  An instant later, each phone buzzed, showing a text saying "test" from their own phone number.

  "Goddamn, this is freaking weird," the other Jason said.

  "Agreed," Jason 934 replied, putting his phone away. "Okay—head up to the clearing’s edge and get the thing in your sights. I’ll text you when I’m there. If it hears me and moves before we’re ready..."

  "We’ll do the best we can."

  "Yeah."

  With that, both Jasons separated. The second Jason followed the exact same path that Jason 934 had taken earlier. Jason 934 knew exactly where his past self would figure as a good place to stop and brace his rifle, because he’d already figured out the same thing himself.

  Jason hiked a good ways down the ridge. He knew that the alpha minotaur had really sharp senses. He also remembered that the minotaur was upwind from him last time—if Jason made it all the way around, the beast would smell him.

  He’d have to be ready. There was an excellent chance that the monster would hear him stumbling and snapping through the woods before he made it to the other side. It was nearly impossible to move completely silently, even with the snow.

  Jason realized that he'd forgotten to warn the other to be careful about his shot placement. Jason 934 would be in the background of his past self's shot.

  He hoped that the other him would re
alize the same thing.

  Moving quietly through the woods along the slope over deadfall and carefully around big pine trees and snowy boulders, Jason made a big arc around to where he figured the minotaur would be hiding. It was lucky there was still so much snow. His boots made light crunching sounds whenever he tried to move too fast, but it was a hell of a lot better than snapping twigs and branches and kicking rocks loose.

  Eventually—amazingly—Jason made it all the way around and he never managed to spook the monster!

  Maybe it’s not there anymore, he thought. That actually made a lot more sense.

  But as Jason steadily and slowly climbed the ridge—steam pouring from his mouth, which he kept wide open to quiet his breathing—he suddenly heard a low grunt from up in the trees between his position and the other Jason’s. His heart leapt into his throat and started pounding. Jason stared into the murky woods toward the clearing. Even though he couldn’t see the open slope or where his past self was hiding, he could definitely see the heavy, black form of the monster sitting just inside the tree line. The beast was perhaps fifty yards away.

  How did it not notice him? Was it dying? Maybe Feeling faint and not paying attention?

  The plan was working.

  Jason smiled, and silently pulled his phone out. He unlocked the screen, and saw a text from himself to himself after the test message:

  "In position. Are you okay? It’s been a while... :/"

  He smirked and suppressed a chuckle, then responded:

  "In position. Ready when you are. Don’t shoot me!"

  Jason put his phone away, took aim, flicked off the safety, and waited...

  The minotaur sat still, a huge, muscular lump of a silhouette occasionally moving its head. Jason could easily see the sharp lines of its horns move back and forth as the beast looked down at Ridgeview through the trees. It let out low, animal sounds from time to time.

  Then the other Jason fired. The boom of his Rigby was tremendous—even from where Jason 934 was waiting—though it didn’t hurt his ears from here. A half-second later, there was a heavy, meaty thwack from the beast, and the alpha minotaur exploded to its feet with a grunt and a roar, snapping branches and sending snow flying!