This is the continuation of the series I was working on last year. I took time off to write a novel in November for NaNoWriMo, and then ran out of steam. Just getting back into it now. The links for the earlier chapters can be found at the end of this post, as well as for my Nano Novel - My Sister's Keeper. Thanks for reading.
Bad Trip Part 11: Enter the Maze
Taylor opened his eyes and scanned his environment. He found himself in an unfamiliar location. And not for the first time. Rising to his feet, Taylor quickly realised he was in a small enclosure with two doorless exits. There was no roof above him, allowing him to make out the sky, although as seemed usual in this world, there was very little light. It wasn't night time, at least it didn't appear that way to Taylor. But darkness seemed to be a feature of this place. One that helped enhance a particular mood the creators were aiming for.
This is the maze, it would seem, he told himself. The Master of Ceremonies had warned him it was the third level. But what had happened on the second level? He tried to remember all the details. Taylor could remember the hallway, and being dragged into the room. That's right, he recalled. It was room number minus one. Taylor scanned through the details as best he could remember them. He was dragged into that room by someone that looked just like him. But then his appearance changed, and looked just like the Gamemaster. Then what happened? His memory went blank. Was that it? Was that the completion of the level? Or did the intruder alter things and bring an early end to level two. Because now he found himself here, in level three. In what appeared to be the start of a maze.
Taylor looked at the walls surrounding him. They were high. Too high to scale. He had to exit through one of those two doorways. Was there a right exit and a wrong exit? Is that how this level worked? Or perhaps they were both correct exits? And that was just part of the game, to mess with his head, to frighten him. There had been a lot of that already in this game.
But what if both the exits were the wrong one? What if that was the case? That neither of them lead to safety. To a way out. There had to be a way out, he told himself. Surely they wouldn't leave him stranded here? Would they? What was it the intruder told him? They wanted something from him. The Gamemaster wouldn't confirm that, but it seemed logical. And if so, then the game's purpose was to help extract that information, not to leave him stranded, or worse – dead.
Taylor looked at one of the exits, then the other. They both looked exactly the same. He felt no different about either of them. Time to make a decision, he ordered himself, and started marching to the exit on his right. He stood silently at the opening and looked out in front of himself. More darkness. There's something out there. There always is. But what? And he knew there was only one way to find out. He put one foot into the darkness, then the next. He continued, slowly, until he had reached many metres into the maze. Behind him the light of the room he was in sat suspended, offering him one last chance to turn back and wait. But for what? No, he knew he had one choice - to keep moving. Maybe his eyes would adjust to the low light. Maybe the light would improve.
Taylor walked along the maze corridor, slowly, feeling his way forward as best he could. The walls felt rough, and uneven, liked they had been built without much consideration for beauty or their duration. But then does it matter how they look if no one can actually see them, he thought?
"Are you going the right way?" Taylor froze. Who said that, he wondered? It didn't seem to come from behind him, or in front of him. It felt like it came from above. But there was no one there. The light was dim, but he could make out he sky.
"If you pick the right way you will get out," the voice boomed at him. "But if you pick the wrong way then you won't."
"Who's there?" Taylor enquired, nervously. He looked around, although the light was still too dim to make much out. He darted his eyes around hoping to make out something, or someone.
"Will this help you?" The volume of light in the maze rose. Taylor could see where he was.
"Who are you?"
"I am part of the Game. A part you haven't met yet. But I'm afraid we don't have time to chat. You best keep moving."
"Why?" Taylor asked, not completely sure he wanted to hear the answer.
"They're coming for you," the voice told him.
"Who's coming for me?"
"Turn around and see for yourself." Taylor did as instructed, just in time to notice three wild beasts start to enter the corridor from the room he had been in to start with. Taylor stood frozen, partly in fear, and partly unsure of exactly what he was looking at. They looked like wolves, but very large wolves. Their teeth looked capable of ripping him to shreds, should they get the chance. On their backs were large spiny protrusions. It seemed to add to their menacing appearance. They ran on all fours, just like wolves. And very quickly, he noticed.
"Run, now!" the voice ordered.
Taylor snapped out of his daze, and did as instructed. He turned and bolted, as quickly as he could. Thank god for the light, he thought. At least now he could see where he was going.
He wanted to turn and look, to see if they were gaining on him, but was afraid it would slow him down. He kept his head pointed forward, his gaze ahead of himself, and ran. His lungs burned with the sting of oxygen being pumped into him. He felt the pain but pushed on regardless. He knew being torn apart by those beast would be far more painful. He had no choice, and he knew it. He had to out run them. But for how long? How far did this corridor continue for?
The snarl of the beasts was growing louder behind Taylor. He didn't need to look. He could sense them gaining on him. He continued to run, to push himself, as if his life depended on it. Because it did. But he was running out of steam. There has to be a way out of this trap, he thought. "Help," he yelled out loud as he thundered down the corridor followed closely by three hungry beasts.
For the first time he noticed something different up ahead. The corridor had just gone on forever up to this point. There had been no change of scenery, nothing different had presented itself. But now he could make out a large black space on the floor about one hundred metres in front of him. He wondered what it was. It was too far away still to make it out properly, but it seemed to cover the whole corridor.
He kept running towards the item up ahead. He tried desperately to make it out, whilst staying one step ahead of the beasts behind him. When Taylor had covered almost half the distance, a sense of dread filled him. He started to notice what it was. It was a hole. A large hole. A pit perhaps. Another trap it would seem. He had to jump across, and hope the beasts didn't have the capacity to do so. Falling in wasn't an option. What if it was shallow, and they jumped in there with him? What if it wasn't shallow and the fall killed him, or left him severely injured? He continued to race on towards the hole in the floor ahead knowing full well he had no choice. He had to jump it, and hope he can make it to the other side.
Taylor reached the hole and leaped with all the energy he could muster, hoping desperately to reach the far side. As he launched himself into the air he could hear the beasts behind him all topple over the edge into the dark depths below. They all yelped in fear as they realised what was happening. In their blind devotion to hunting him down and capturing him, they had failed to make out what lay ahead. Taylor's body hit the far side with a thud. He hadn't completely cleared the distance, but had instead landed on the edge, and started to slip back into the hole. He dug his nails into the dirt of the floor and tried desperately to hold on and prevent himself from slipping any further. He found himself half in and half out of the cavernous drop below. Scrambling with all his might, he managed to lift his left leg out and up onto the floor, lifting his whole body with it. He crawled away from the edge, and lay on the floor, panting breathlessly, as he started to grasp just how close he had come to his own demise. As he thought about what had just occurred, he realised he had not heard the beasts land below. Just how far did that drop go?
"You made it." The voice was back.
"Is that the end of the level?"
"Oh no, not yet. You're only just getting warmed up. You lasted longer than most. You must be a natural at this survival thing. Good for you. I'll give you a moment to get your breath back. But then it's stage two."
Taylor dreaded to think what that involved. But he didn't have to. It had already begun. The floor below him opened up and started to swallow him. He was about to rejoin the beasts, it would seem.
This fiction is my own work, written for Steemit
Image Credit: Pixabay.com and Unsplash.com
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