[DISCONTINUED] The Elevator

Chapter 2 - Part 2 of 3

The last beep sounds, and most of the elevator races off. Now the timer reads 4:59, 4:58, 4:57... Sloane, the mohawk boy and Logan are already ahead of me, and leave the elevator fast. I turn around and see Astrid, sweat beads across her hairline, and she still hasn't removed herself from the wall. Her chest and shoulders heave silently.

I reach out my hand, looking her in the eye.

"Come on," I say, urgency embedded within my voice, "we have to start somewhere."

She takes it gratefully, then looks back at Ethan. "Ethan come on, join us."

He looks up and frowns.

I urge, "we are leaving now, you know what they said, you won't lose a stripe if you don't complete the level."

"This has to be a dream," he says under his breath, "this can't be real."

"If it's a dream," Astrid gently pushes, "then it doesn't matter."

This works, and the three of us stride out the elevator.

Hot and humid air immediately brushes my skin the second I step out, though I still shiver. My eyes adjust soon enough, and trail around. The walls to the maze are tall, and are possibly made from old stone, but stop meters from the enormous ceiling.

It's dark like an early winters night. There is a subtle source of light, green light? But I can't tell where from.

Some of the others run, their shoes hitting a mixture of dirt and gravel. The first turn is a left, so I pull Astrid after me and follow, her hand still in mine. It's sweaty, but I keep a hold and don't say anything.

"Okay where do we go?" She asks me, voice and hand still quivering. "What do we do?

"This can't be real can it?" Ethan adds.

"We just follow our gut, and we follow it fast," I answer, the warmth making me shiver. Along the side of the next wall, lay glowing lanterns, some neon blue and some green glowing lanterns, the light I made out before. A couple have already been taken, though it looks like there were twenty exactly. Astrid lets go of my hand, and races to grab the handle of a green one, Ethan follows her and takes a blue.

Once I catch up, we turn right and end up in front of two paths, one continuing straight ahead, and one to the right.

"Which one?" Astrid stares at me, showing the blue glowing light from the lantern down the two ghostly corridors. A musty dirt smell enters my nose, it's so strong it hurts.

It doesn't matter, should it? How are we supposed to know which is the correct path?

I stare up at the open ceiling, a large timer hangs in the air with bold red numbers. 4:21, 4:20, 4:19. There's a loud clunk every time a second goes by.

"Well the end of the maze is the back of the elevator, let's just go right," Ethan suggests.

A loud scream rings out over the grounds, turning into a cry. It curdles my insides and sends a jolt to my heart instantly raising it to the bottom of my throat.

"Oh god!" Whimpers Astrid, her hand flying to her mouth. "Oh my god, what was that?"

"I don't know," I answer shakily, biting my inner cheek to stop from collapsing out of fear, reluctant to admit it sounded similar to Sloane's voice, perhaps even to myself.

Ethan gulps then wipes his hands down his pants, then turns down the right corridor. "We need to keep moving, come on."

We pick up our pace, and turn down the right corridor. Then another right, then straight ahead, avoiding left turns as much as we can. Astrid's breathing becomes more and more shallow, mixing with the exhaustion of our almost-running speed as Ethan stays in front.

I wish I could help her. But there's nothing I can do but help the both of us finish this level. We've already started and I couldn't remember the way back if my life depended on it. We need to keep going or we won't make it back.

Another couple of yells echo through the corridors, not so far from us, then thudding and scratches. I let out a small cry this time.

"There – there must be s – s- something in here with us!" Whispers Astrid, pushing hard through the stuttering as we walk.

Our guide turns back to us unreassuringly. "They wouldn't put anything in here that would hurt us...right?"

I grip a hold of my arms, chattering my teeth as we begin slowing down. "Right? It would be too easy without an incentive – "

"Help!" Two loud cries from the next corridor over make Astrid and I jump, and I swear I hear Ethan squeal. I can definitely tell this time that one of those voices belong to Sloane.

"Run," Astrid tells us, and we do, the light blue hue of our lantern flashing up the walls as we run and turn the corner.

What I see next is horrifying.

I recognise Sloane first, then Logan, then the mohawk boy. They all run around like crazy, down in a shallow pit in the floor, flicking their arms out and manically brushing their dark clothes. Then I see them. The spiders.

They are fast, rapidly crawling down in the pit. The sound of chittering and light tapping of running legs makes my skin recoil. My body fidgets, and my eyes are frantic, I want to help though I don't know how.

Ethan runs up and shines the lantern over the top of the pit forcefully reaching the lantern down right beside a screaming Sloane

Almost instantly, the black spiders detach from their bodies, and run back into a couple openings of pipes along the side walls, while Ethan covers the pit in the blue light.

The three let out gasping and whimpering noises, still continuing to frantically brush themselves down, even when every single spider is gone from view.

"Are you guys okay!?" I say as Astrid and I race to the edge of the pit, reaching out a hand to help them back up.

First Logan shivers, wheezing, then says, "that was not okay! Not okay!"

"Spiders...," Sloane begins with wide eyes filled with trauma and grasps at her forearms, "...are the worst."

"Thank you," the mohawk boy looks up at Ethan with a nod, "how did you know to do that?"

Ethan frowns. "Spiders hate blue light, let alone neon blue light. I am guessing that what these lanterns are for and why they attacked you all. Spiders love green." We all look down at the lanterns the other group carries – one bright green and a blue.

Sloane gasps and snatches the green lanterns from the bottom of the pit, covering it at once under her red flannel. Logan picks the blue one up and holds it out defensively.

"There's only two and a half minutes left," I say, glancing back up to the timer, "we need to keep moving though, I think the end is somewhere close."

Once the others have made it out to the other side, Astrid, Ethan and I jump down, our shoes crunching against the gravelly dirt, then the others help hoist us up.

When we've all crossed to the other side, hoisting each other out of the now spider-less pit, Astrid speaks next, with clamped hands over the middle of the green lantern, preventing the light to shine through.

"Did anyone get bitten?"

The three examine their arms and legs as we watch.

"I've been bitten." Sloane finally says, showing us numerous large red lumps along her arms. "They sting so bad."

"So have I," the mohawk boyadds, glancing down to his leg, "they look like they are swelling up too."