by J. L. Harden
“Yeah, but at least it’s not a maze.”
“It’s kind of a maze,” I point out. “All those long hallways. All those office rooms and subway tunnels. This whole facility is a giant underground maze.”
Jack nods along to what I say. He knows that both options are full of danger. He knows both options will require a lot of running and hiding. And luck. “I know this whole place is messed up,” he says. “But I’m getting the impression that the maze is designed to kill people. It’s designed as a death trap.”
“We can beat it,” I say. “We can make it. We use the maps and the info that Kenji has written on the walls of his cell. If we use that info, we can make it through.”
Kim is shaking her head. “No. No way. There’s no way we’re going in there. It’s a suicide mission. No one survives.”
“Kenji did.”
“Yeah. For a while. But you heard what they said. He’s been gone five days now.”
I look at my watch. Forty three hours left. “Guys, I’m running out of time. I’m not going to be around for much longer.”
“Don’t say that,” Kim says.
“I have to say it. To not say it, is to lie to myself. I have to come to terms with this. And that’s why I’m going. As soon as I get the chance, I’m going into the labyrinth.”
“Well, I’m coming with you,” Jack says.
“I appreciate the thought, but I can’t let you do that. I happen to agree with Kim and Thomas and everyone else here. The labyrinth is just too dangerous.”
“I don’t care,” Jack says. “I can’t sit here and do nothing. I’m coming with you. And we’re going to find Maria.”
Kim lowers her head. “This is a bad idea, you guys.”
“I know,” I whisper.
We stop talking. Everyone knows the stakes. Everyone knows what we have to do.
And no one likes it.
I climb into the top bunk and Kim takes the bottom bunk.
Jack stays on the floor.
I stare at the concrete ceiling of the cell for a few hours. I try not to scare myself with everything that could go wrong. I stare at my watch, and I know that even while I sleep, it will not stop. I’m down to forty hours. Just under two days. Is that enough time to do what I need to do? I don’t know.
Sleep eventually comes at some point. It comes on quickly. And unfortunately, it is over all too soon. I wake to the sound of my watch beeping and the cell doors sliding open.
I check the countdown. I have twenty-seven hours left. I can’t believe it.
I’ve been asleep for over thirteen hours!
Too long.
Way too long.
And even though I obviously needed the rest, I can’t afford to waste my last days on earth sleeping.
Jack and Kim are both awake as well. They wake slowly. We can hear people whispering throughout the prison.
Hushed, urgent whispers.
Something is wrong.
A shadow moves across the bed sheet, our makeshift curtain. A large shadow. It is Ben. “Open up guys.”
I pull the bed sheet down and it falls to the floor.
Ben is dressed and ready for war. He is armed with his shotgun and his revolver. “Thomas wants to speak with you,” Ben informs us. “He wants to see your blueprints. And that access card you been bragging about.”
“Why?” I ask. “Why has he changed his mind all of a sudden?”
“Something is wrong,” Ben says as he points over his shoulder. “The door to the labyrinth is still open.”
Chapter 27
We step out of our cell and Thomas confronts us immediately.
“Show me those blue prints,” he demands.
Kim retrieves the blue prints from her back pocket and hands them over.
Thomas quickly unfolds them and scans through the designs. “This is useless,” he says. “Completely useless.”
“What do you mean?” Kim asks. “It shows the entire layout for both prisons.”
“It doesn’t show the layout of the labyrinth. That whole section is blacked out. We can’t use this. We can’t leave. We have to stay.”
“No,” Kim says. “We have to make a move. We have to go. It’s not safe here.”
“But no one has ever survived in that place,” Harry says. “No one lives. It’s a death trap.”
Thomas throws the blue prints back at Kim. “It was you. You guys came here. You screwed everything up!”
The messed up thing is; I kind of believe him.
“Tom, settle down,” Anna says. “We need to think this through.”
“And keep your voice down,” Ben adds.
“We have to get down to the cafeteria,” Harry says. “We have to stock up on food and water. We’re going to have to risk it.”
“With the door open?” Thomas asks. “Are you crazy?”
“What else are we supposed to do? We’ll starve to death.”
“We can survive for a few days without water,” Doctor Hunter says. “A few more without food.”
“Any infected down there?” Ben asks.
We lean over the railing and look down to the ground floor.
It appears to be empty. The prison is still and silent.
“OK, let’s think about this,” Jack says. “The door to the labyrinth opened early and it hasn’t closed.”
“Yeah,” Harry says. “It usually opens and closes in twelve hour cycles. At six and six. But it’s still open.”
“But there doesn’t seem to be any infected in the area,” Jack continues. “Maybe the labyrinth has been cleared out. Maybe the experiment is over. Maybe we’re free to leave.”
Jack is right. There doesn’t seem to be any sign of the infected. No noises. No screams. No howling moans. Not yet.
“Do you really think the infected have been cleared out?” Doctor Hunter asks. “Do you really think we are safe?”
Anna points to the entrance of the labyrinth. “Oh my God. Look!”
Someone, a man, stumbles through the doorway to the labyrinth, they make their way over to one of the plastic tables that are bolted into the floor. They lean against the table for support. And then a few seconds later, they collapse.
The person is wearing military fatigues and boots.
And I can’t believe it.
It’s Kenji.
Isn’t it?
I look closer. “Kenji!’
“Keep your voice down!” Thomas snaps at me.
“We have to get down there,” I say. “We have to help him.”
Thomas shakes his head. “No way. No goddamn way. He could be infected. He could’ve led a whole horde of them right to us.”
“I don’t care. I’m not gonna leave him there to die.”
I make a move for the fire escape ladder but Thomas pushes me back. “Grab her,” he says to Harry.
Harry moves up behind me and puts me in a bear hug.
Kim and Jack are about to leap into action but they don’t need to. Ben punches Harry in the side of the face. Actually, Ben almost punches his fist right through Harry’s face. And as a result, Harry is knocked clear off his feet and he releases me immediately.
Thomas aims his rifle right at my chest and I freeze. This is sheer stupidity on Thomas’s behalf because Ben is armed with a shotgun.
Ben points the shotgun directly at Thomas’s head. “Don’t even think about it.”
But Thomas is undeterred. “Lower your weapon, Ben. We can’t go down there. You know how dangerous it is. You know.”
“We can go down there,” Ben replies. “And we will go down there.”
“What the hell is your problem?” Thomas asks. “Why are you doing this? Yesterday you wanted out. You were leaving. And now all of a sudden these people show up and you’re staying? Now all of a sudden you’re prepared to risk your life and everyone else’s life?”
“I told you,” Ben says calmly. “They saved my life. I owe them.”
“I don’t care. It’s not worth the risk. Y
ou can’t go down there. No one is going down there.”
“Why not?” Jack says. “It’s not like we’re risking your life. Stay up here. Lock yourself in your cell.”
“Oh, I’m staying up here, don’t you worry about that. But if you go down there, you’re going to attract them. You’re going to rile them up. We can’t have that. I won’t allow it.”
Harry is slowly getting to his feet. “You’re going to ruin everything.”
Ben steps forward, finger on the trigger. “Get out of the way, Tom.”
As Ben steps forward, Thomas takes a step back and he bumps into the hand railing and very nearly falls over. He very nearly falls ten stories to his death.
But he doesn’t. He regains his balance. He makes sure he has a firm grip on his rifle and he makes sure his feet are firmly planted.
Thomas is becoming frantic and paranoid. He is showing us the worst of humanity. He is turning his back on a person in need.
This is cold blooded and methodical.
The sad thing is; I can see his point. And it is an excellent point. If we go down there, we are risking our lives and we are risking the lives of the group.
It is a huge risk.
But Kenji is down there. He is sprawled on the concrete floor. He is defenseless and exposed and exhausted.
He could be dying. He could be dead. He could be infected. But I don’t care. To hell with the risk and the danger. I need to get down there.
I reach over to the holster strapped to Ben’s leg. I pull out the old cowboy style revolver. I point it at Thomas’s chest. I think about shooting him. I think long and hard.
But I don’t.
I point the gun at the ceiling and I pull the trigger.
The noise causes Thomas to flinch, and in the split second where he takes his eyes off Ben, he loses his weapon and his position of authority. Ben snatches the weapon out of his hand and gives it to Jack. He then grabs Thomas by his collar and lifts him off his feet and slams him into the bars of the nearest cell. The wind is knocked from Thomas’s lungs and he collapses to the floor in a heap.
“Come on,” Ben says. “We don’t have long.”
Thomas is breathing hard, trying to suck in as much air as he can. He makes eye contact with me. “You’ve killed us all,” he says between breaths. “You’ve ruined our one shot at survival.”
And the messed up thing is, I agree with him.
Chapter 28
We climb down the fire escape as fast as we can. This is not very fast. It feels like we are climbing forever. And it feels like the longer we take; the less chance we have of saving Kenji before it’s too late.
We finally make it to the ground floor, and quickly move over to Kenji. We stand around him in a circle, at the entrance to the labyrinth. I am hesitant. I am keeping my distance, not fully believing that Kenji is alive.
Not believing that he is alive and breathing and sweating.
He is covered in dirt and grime and blood.
He looks like he is fresh from the battlefield.
Jack and Kim are both silent. They are in shock.
No one else says a word.
Not Ben.
Not Harry. Not Doctor Hunter. Not Anna.
No one.
Thomas finally climbs down as well and runs off to the cafeteria. He is probably on his way to get supplies so he can stock up and stay in his cell for as long as it takes.
We continue standing around Kenji in a circle and no one does or says anything. No one knows what to do and I am too scared to get any closer.
Kim finally acts. She leans down and rolls Kenji on to his back. “He’s breathing,” she says.
And we can see that he is breathing hard.
“Is he infected?” Harry asks.
“I… I don’t know,” Kim answers.
“Can you see any bite marks?”
“No.”
“We should stand back,” Harry says. “He could be infected. He could be about to turn. We should take care of him.”
Kenji opens his eyes. They appear to be unfocused.
“He’s awake,” Kim says.
Kenji tries to sit up. “Water.”
Anna steps forward with a canteen.
Kenji is finally able to sit up. He takes the water and gulps it down. “I’m not infected,” Kenji whispers. “I’m fine.”
He slowly gets to his feet.
And now I am in shock as well.
Kenji looks at me and makes eye contact. And I want to hug him. I want to hold on to him and never let go. But his look, his stare, his eyes are cold.
He is so cold.
He has changed.
I see this immediately. This place has changed him.
Flashes of writing appear in my mind. The writing on the walls. The words appear right behind my eyeballs, like a weird heads up display.
The writing is on the walls. The walls of his cell.
Everyone is in danger.
“Kenji, what happened?” I ask. “Where have you been? What did they do to you?”
“Nothing,” he answers. “I’m fine. But we need to move. We can’t stay here anymore.”
He steps forward and hugs me. But it’s weird. It doesn’t feel right. It feels wooden, almost robotic, almost forced.
He shakes hands with Jack. And then hugs him, and then he hugs Kim. Everyone is smiling. Even Ben is smiling. But Kenji is not. I can’t explain it. I don’t know what’s wrong. I don’t know what has happened to him.
“Where is Maria,” he asks.
I shake my head and he knows immediately that she is in danger.
“She’s in trouble,” I finally say. “We have to go and get her.”
Kenji nods. He is not surprised that Maria is in danger.
“What happened?” I repeat. “What were you doing in the labyrinth?”
“The labyrinth is the key,” he says quietly. “We solve the labyrinth, we earn our freedom. That’s the way it works.”
The dark entrance to the labyrinth towers over us.
“Should we be standing down here with that thing wide open?” Harry asks. “I mean, the damn zombies could run out and ambush us at any second.”
This is not a comforting thought. Harry is right. We should not be standing here.
“Are they nearby?” Harry asks. “Are they close?”
“They are always close,” Kenji says. “The only way to survive is to keep moving. Once we enter the labyrinth, we have to move. We have to run. You stop, you die. The Oz virus is designed to find life.”
“What do you mean, once we enter the labyrinth?” Anna asks. “You’re not suggesting we actually go in there?”
Kenji nods. “It’s the only way.”
I hadn’t seen Kenji since the military outpost. I thought he was dead. “I thought you were dead,” I whisper. “I thought I had lost you. I… I…”
I am speechless.
When Kenji first disappeared, I tried desperately to convince myself that he was alive. That he had escaped from the outpost in time. That he had made it to a safe distance. That he was nowhere near the blast zone, nowhere near the massive thermobaric explosion. That he had not been vaporized.
I tried to convince myself that he was alive, but I had failed. I knew he was dead. Deep down. That place in your heart, that place in your soul where it is impossible to lie to yourself. In that place, I knew he was dead. And yesterday, a few hours ago, my fears had been confirmed. Thomas and everyone here in this prison had told me that Kenji had run off into the labyrinth and died. So less than twenty-four hours ago, I thought he had died in this very labyrinth. I thought he had been chased down and cornered by the infected. By a bunch of goddamn zombies.
But he is not dead. He is right here.
He is standing right here.
He just gave me a hug.
And I want to jump on top of him and hug him back. I want to break down and cry with joy.
But I don’t. I can’t move. I am paralyzed.
&nbs
p; My heart and my head are all over the place. They are being torn in a million different directions. I can barely cope. But I have to. I have to keep going.
I swallow my feelings and I tell myself that we need to get Maria. We need to save her from a psychopath. This is all that matters.
“How did you get out?” I ask Kenji. “How did you get here? What the hell happened at the outpost?”
From the darkness of the labyrinth we hear a noise. A howling, moaning scream.
“I was taken,” Kenji whispers.
“Taken?”
“Yeah.”
“By who?”
Another scream. Another howl.
“We have to go,” he says.
“Right now?” I ask.
“Yes. Right now. We stay here, we die. We’ll get trapped.”
Thomas returns from the cafeteria and he has a bag full of food. “I vote we stay. Well, I’m staying. Don’t care what you idiots are doing. But if you want my advice, I say we grab as much food as we can carry from the cafeteria. We reinforce the barricades and we lock ourselves in our cells. We wait it out.”
Kenji shakes his head. “No. That won’t work. There’s too many of them. If you stay here you will die. Simple as that.”
“The infected can’t get through the barricades,” Thomas says. “They can’t get through our cells. We are safe.”
“Do you really want to live like that?” Jack says. “Huddled in your cells with the infected snapping their jaws and reaching through the bars? You’re crazy.”
“You can’t stay in your cells,” Kenji repeats. “You can’t survive. You won’t survive. It’s not just the infected. It’s not just the zombies. There are monsters in there. Giant mutations. Big, bad things. They will rip those barricades apart. They will rip the bars of your cells apart. And then they will rip you apart.”
Thomas hesitates at the mention of the monsters. In his mind, he is second guessing himself.
“Aww no,” Jack says. “Not those goddamn monster mutation things. I hate those things.”
“What mutations?” Thomas asks. “What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about monsters,” Kenji says. “Things that have mutated and grown. They will climb up those stairways. They will reduce those barricades to rubble. They will destroy the bars of your cell. And then they will eat you alive.”