I glance over my shoulder in a panic. The blades are closer, ever closer, and with terror and nausea, my eyes fly to Luka and Serene ahead of me. My hand reaches out of its own accord and grasps Serene’s jacket. It is not her skin, her warmth, but it is hers, and I want to be holding something good and kind when I die.
One drone whips past my head, forcing me to duck out of the way of its swinging cable. The red light of surveillance hones in on Serene’s and my connection. These bastards, relishing the close up of children clinging for comfort in their end. It’s near enough to my skull that I could reach out and grab the cable. I should do it. Hold the camera tight to me as the blades cut me down. Force the monsters watching at home to witness what it’s like to die.
The cables!
My head flicks from my teammates to the drones. So intent on capturing our final breaths, they don’t realize the desperate hope they offer us. But that’s the thing. I’m desperate. I will try whatever it takes not to be chewed up and spit out like rotten meat.
“Luka!” I scream, forcing my voice to sound sorrowful, as if it’s my goodbye and not a warning. He turns his beautiful face to me, eyes wild, and as our gazes lock, I leap forward and shove Serene off the ledge.
“Jump!” I push her toward a cluster of drones, and instincts kick in, dictating both of our actions. We grab whatever our fingers can latch onto, and we hold tight. Luka is seconds behind us, and his fists close around cables hanging from two different machines. The drones are already lurching away from the wall, but it is too late. They were too close, and we have them locked in our determined grasps.
Their power strains beneath our weight, and both flesh and machine begin to plummet. Their motors keep us airborne though, and as we descend, their upward drive keeps gravity from welcoming our deaths. We plunge despite the engines, and my subconscious prays to whoever is listening that control doesn’t shut these machines down while we are still so high.
The bladed death trap on the wall careens past where we stood moments before, denied its bloody sacrifice, and I scream at it, hoping the camera above my head has a microphone to capture my roar. I hope the sound broadcasts live for all to hear. You cannot have me so easily. I will not die for your viewing pleasure.
The drone I cling to shudders, lurches upward, and then sputters its death rattle. I guess the camera heard my defiance. Its suddenly motionless engine caves to gravity’s supremacy, and we both collapse to the ground. My ankles crack painfully as my boots smack the concrete, sending a jolt of searing fire up my shins and into my knees, but I am alive. So are Serene and Luka as they land with harsh impacts. Serene’s sends her sprawling, but Luka has her on her feet before I can even consider helping.
“Quick thinking,” Luka says as he limps toward me. My eyes travel down to his left ankle. He favors it as he walks, but when I lift my face to meet his gaze, he shakes his head as if it is nothing.
“Yeah,” Serene spits in a clipped tone. “Next time don’t just throw me off the wall, though.”
“I’m sorry,” I apologize, watching Luka stretch out his leg. “I didn’t want to clue them in to my plan. It only worked because the drones were so close.”
Serene opens her mouth, but Luka cuts her off.
“We are on the other side of our original path.”
“No doubt the traps are just as deadly,” I say. “That explosion killed all four team members with the cave in.”
The maze purrs to life as if to reinforce my statement, but before panic can sink its sharpened claws into my heart, the wall, separating our initial sector and us, moves. A small opening big enough for a single person to pass through yawns wide, and the section halts, waiting for us to obey its directions. When we refuse to take the bait, the maze shifts again. A slit separates the ground ahead, and metal bars rise to block any advancement in this part. They are too tall to scale and too closely set to squeeze through. I turn around and look at the path behind us, but a portion of the barrier opens, and a slab creeps out. It blocks any retreat. I expected that, though. I knew this place had fail-safes built in to keep contestants from withdrawing to the relative safety of the compound. We go forward, or we don’t go anywhere.
There is no way but to return to our destined race, the sector laid at our feet when we departed gate eight. With a sigh of frustration, I walk toward the opening. My teammates follow me, and once we are through, the wall slides back into place as if it had never moved. We are back where we started.
Chapter Eleven
We don’t talk as we travel. Defeat hangs heavy, and even my strong and confident Luka is faltering. I wish I knew what to say to lift the morale. I wish I could wrap them both in my arms and make everything all right, but I’m at a loss. So my mouth fuses shut, and I trudge onward, leading our disheveled group further into purgatory. I am not sure when I became our leader. When this race started, I was the middle of the pack, but something has changed. Or at least I have to believe it has, otherwise what happened to me to make me resistant to these horrors?
“I need a break.” Serene’s voice is full of pain, and I wonder how her body is holding up. Out of the three of us, she is the least athletic. Just by looking, one wouldn’t notice the difference. Her muscles are so toned, but watching her compared to Luka and I, leads me to believe we somehow have experienced grueling activities more so than she has. After arriving at intake, they put all the groups through a series of training exercises and workouts. The instructors claimed it was so we would be physically fit for the race. If the nation was going to cheer us on, they should root for the best of the best. Serene was strong during those gym sessions. Jude, poor sweet Jude, did not have the caliber we needed, but Luka was going to carry our team to the end. He was one of the most exceptional trainees there, and together, he and I were a well-oiled machine. The home viewers would surely forgive Jude’s smaller stature if Luka and I led the charge with Serene to back us up. We had it all wrong. They weren’t strengthening us to win. They were conditioning some kids to last longer than the others. There are probably bets on children like Jude. There was no need to absolve his lacking athleticism; the odds of him dying quickly were most likely guaranteed to rake in cash. And now as Serene limps, worry for her eats at my heart like a starved cannibal. I thought it would be easier to help them across the finish line, but I was mistaken. I am going to have to fight tooth, and blood, and claw to keep her from becoming the winnings to some sick bastard’s bet.
Without waiting for an answer, Serene shuffles to the wall and collapses against it. She sits motionless for a minute and then reaches slowly for her boots. She unties the thick laces and pulls them off with a grimace. Her socks follow, and as her feet are bared to the light, I suck in a breath. Blisters bloom red on her toes and heels, her skin peeling in painful strips, and my heart aches for her. My feet are in decent shape, save for the ache of constant use, but perhaps her shoes were new, their stiffness chaffing her soft flesh.
I wordlessly slip beside her and place a hand comfortingly on her back. My fingers trace abstract designs, and a sudden and violent sob bursts from Serene’s lips at my touch. She convulses with unstoppable force, and I feel her despair reverberating in my chest as if every time she breathes out, I breathe her pain in.
“I can’t even remember a time when I wasn’t terrified,” she sobs. “It’s as if I woke up, and my life was hell. I’m so tired.”
Luka sinks beside her and leans his head against the wall. His fingers grip Serene’s hand, and then he closes his eyes as if trying to shut out every nightmare that plagues us. I want him to say something. Anything to assure me he is still with me, but he is silent as Serene cries. So I wrap my arm around her shoulder and pull her to me as we collapse against the concrete.
I jerk awake with a start. Alarm courses through my veins. I didn’t mean to fall asleep, and my brain is screaming at me for my foolishness, but one glance at Serene and Luka tells me they too fell victim to exhaustion. I look around, but without the sun it is
impossible to tell if I slept for minutes or hours. I twist my neck and spine, and the lack of stiffness suggests it’s been less than an hour. Any longer on this unyielding surface would have left me sore and rigid.
I lean my head against the barrier and close my eyes, the desire to just lay here and sleep dragging me back to oblivion, but the anxiety pumping through my system has not dissipated. My eyelids peel open, and I stare at the empty silence. Something is nagging at the recesses of my brain. It is as intangible as smoke, but it is there, seeping through my mind. It forces me off the wall and into a kneel before my sleeping friends. Serene’s boots are still lying on the ground, and that same urgent nudging has me pulling on her socks and shoes. Once they are laced up, I angle forward and grab her shoulder.
“Serene?” I give her a small shake. “Serene, you need to wake up.” She moans an unintelligible response and shifts her weight, but she does not wake. Urgency is slowly inching through my nervous system like icy fingers crawling over bare skin, and I lean over and place my palm on Luka’s thigh.
“Luka,” I speak louder this time. “Get up.” He grunts in protest, but my shaking does not relent. “Luka, wake up.” One of his eyes opens, and he peeks at me with a bloodshot stare. “Please.” I’m begging now. “Get up.”
“What’s wrong?” he asks as he watches me shake Serene. “Is she okay?”
“She’s fine, and I’m not sure. Something feels off.”
“This whole maze is off.”
“Like with Jude.” I pin him with a harsh gaze, and his eyes widen at my meaning.
“Serene?” He joins my efforts to rouse her. “Serene, sweetheart, you need to get up.”
And the floor pitches.
“Pick her up!” I scream as I scramble to my feet, pulling on a suddenly wide-eyed Serene, but Luka is already moving and has her in his arms before my sentence falls from my lips. We bolt forward, dragging a bewildered Serene, and the ground beneath us rumbles and separates.
“Faster!” I urge them onward. My sixth sense gave us a marginal head start, one they are undoubtedly rushing to overcome with their trap. I shove Serene before me, and the openings in the floor hiss. We just have to get past the tears ripping apart the ground, only past a few more endless feet. We run with everything we have, and I wonder how long before my lungs explode within my chest.
“Jump!” Luka’s order ricochets off the walls, and his broad palms shove both Serene and I over the last hissing gap. Just as he is about to cross to safety, the maze clicks, and fire erupts from the earth. My scream rips painfully through my body as flames engulf him, and for a second, Luka is lost to us, consumed by searing heat. Then, with a roar of rage so vicious, Luka flies through the wall of fire and slams chest first into me. We both reel backwards, and I trip on a collision course with the ground. His arms constrict around my waist and halt my fall, cementing me to his torso as he digs in his heels.
A sob breaks past my lips, and my arms wriggle free of his hold to wrap him in a choking embrace of my own. My tears stream hot down his neck as I cling to him, desperate to convince myself that he is unharmed. For a long moment we stand locked together, and with each passing second, I grip him tighter.
I eventually notice Serene’s arms wrapped about the both of us, and I peel my face from Luka’s throat and lean my forehead against hers. Our noses brush in a soft kiss of skin. We are okay. There isn’t even a whiff of singed hair lingering on our bodies.
The wall of flames catches my eye, and my gaze wanders to the spot where we had fallen asleep. It is engulfed in rage, as if it was the focal point of the fire’s wrath. Luka notices my line-of-sight and twists our still entwined group around so he can see.
“Holy hell,” he whispers as he loosens his grip on me. “If you hadn’t woken us, we would have been right in the middle. No way we could have escaped before it burned us to death.” He looks at me with squinted brows, studying me with sudden questioning. “How did you know?”
I shake my head slowly as the heat bathes our skin. The truth is, I don’t know. Something woke me. An internal alarm determined to keep me safe, a premonition vibrating in my bones. I cannot say what is to come. I have no idea what dangers lie ahead, waiting to devour us whole. All I know is that both times the recesses of my brain warned me of danger, the maze did not disappoint.
“It’s a good thing she did, though,” Serene says. “I hope her sixth sense keeps working.”
I open my mouth to agree, but a deep rumble interrupts me. The concrete writhes around us like an earthquake readying to split the ground and swallow us whole, and slowly with the metallic grinding of hundreds of gears, the walls shift. The three of us stand frozen in both awe and terror as the maze reshapes itself into a new pattern. The path before us transforms as the walls move until the section we stand in is completely unrecognizable.
What is this place, that this monstrous structure is able to remake itself? How much money and manpower went into building a death trap that can mold to the designer’s will? It’s as if the maze recognizes something in my premonitions that I cannot see. It is taking no chances. The first time with Jude was a coincidence, but now? No, they don’t want me to warn my friends again.
“Why are they altering the design?” Luka steps forward into the unrecognizable pathway. “Is this another trap?”
“No.” But it is the only word I can whisper. He turns to look at me, but I can’t form words at the moment. A thought has overtaken my brain. It is almost intangible, but it lingers all the same, and the phrase ‘gate eight’ plays on repeat in my mind like an unholy mantra.
“They don’t want her intuition kicking in again, I think,” Serene says when I don’t answer. “They want us walking into the traps blind.”
Chapter Twelve
Uneasiness spreads over my skin like a heavy blanket, thick and oppressive as it drives against my chest. This restructured pattern feels foreign and wrong, and I am afraid of what lurks in the dark corners. What new evils did they add to our future?
My stomach grumbles in ravenous hunger. We have eaten nothing since the oily breakfast at the start of the race, but I cannot determine how much time has passed since that meal. It seems like days, but it has probably been less. Thirst is slowly starting to rear its brutal head, but it is only faint for now. After the frigid rain, I am too afraid to pray for food or water. How much more punishment can our bodies take before we break?
“Nothing is happening,” Luka says, and both Serene and I glare at him as if the devil knocked at our door and he invited him in.
“I mean with nothing happening, shouldn’t we pick up the pace?” he corrects. “I realize we are starving and exhausted, but every minute that passes in here, is a minute that could kill us. I think we should speed up while we can and try to make it to the end.”
“I’ll do my best to keep up,” Serene says. “It’s just my feet hurt so bad.”
“I know.” Luka rubs her shoulder blades as he glances down at her boots. “I would carry you if I could, but…”
“It’s okay,” she interrupts before he punishes himself further. He grins at her attempt to ease his guilt and then squints at me for approval.
“Keep your ears open.” I nod, and collectively we pick up the pace. “If you hear the maze move, run.”
We fall silent as our momentum consumes our breath. We do not jog recklessly but keep our eyes and ears peeled for danger. If only Jude had not been so blinded by fear. Bile churns in my throat, and I push the thought of our sweet companion out of my head. I’ll grieve for him later when I have survived this, otherwise my distraction will drive me to join him.
Our panting is the only sound echoing off the concrete other than our pounding footfalls. I am not sure how long we can keep this speed, but with each step, every searing lungful of air, we draw closer to that ominous tower. The end is fast approaching, but I dread our arrival. That final climb will be the worst to come, all the desperate survivors converging on a single point, crazed b
y death and the desire to win.
Thunder rolls through the concrete, and my eyes fly to my teammates.
“I heard it,” Luka confirms as the moans continue. I scan the walls, but nothing strikes me as out of the ordinary. The sky above is unchanging in its emptiness, and the ground offers no hints at the disturbance.
“Be careful,” I say between ragged exhales. “I’m not sure if it’s a trap or just a means to scare us.”
“Hopefully they are moving another team’s section like they did ours,” Serene says. I hadn’t thought of that, and my mind crosses its mental fingers. Please let it be that simple. Let us get to the tower without another ambush attempting to flay our flesh from our bones.
“We should slow down, just in case,” Serene adds, but her uneven gait gives her away. She is hurting but is too ashamed to admit it.
“Good idea,” I agree and ease my pace. Nothing has happened yet, and a small sprout of hope pushes through the dirt of my chest. I’m almost praying it is a different sector altering and not ill about to befall us. I know that wish makes me a horrible person. Longing for such suffering to fall on others will send me to eternal damnation, but I cannot bear the thought of another trap. I need the noise to not be for us. The devil can take me, but please leave my group in peace.
“I can’t decide who I want to punch first,” Serene says. “That bull of a man in that horrible suit? That awful lady with that ridiculous needle who assigned us to gate eight? Or those cafeteria employees serving greasy eggs? The only time you are supposed to mix oil and eggs is when you are making a sauce, not a scramble.”
I glance at her with raised eyebrows at her sudden outburst, but her eyes are full of sympathy. Sympathy for… me? It’s as if she was listening to the ranting in my head, and her nature within pushed passed her own pain to offer aid to mine. I love her. Perhaps my love will save my soul from hell.
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