PAW Patrol: Lockdown

Chapter 15- Rats in a Maze

The moist, foul-smelling stench of the inner vents clouded over Chase. His paws stood on bare metal, his dull claws clicking on its surface as he took each step. The only source of light had been sealed off, dooming him to navigate the maze of ducts in pure darkness. He knew Feroxmalis was coming toward him, lured over the noise he emitted from punching the wall. Now he just needed to keep it nearby, no matter how insane it sounded in his head.

"Rocky," Chase whispered into his collar, "you have the map, you need to tell me where to go or I'm going to die."

"Do you know where the creature is?" The mix's voice came through.

The shepherd winced. "Probably backtracking now, I can't stay here."

Studying the map closely before him, Rocky looked ahead to find a branching path that deviated from the main route. "Can you see a right turn coming up?"

"Are you kidding? I can't see shit," he hissed as quietly as possible. "I'm totally blind up here."

"I don't have any way of tracking your direct movements, maybe put your paw to the wall or something?"

Rolling his eyes, Chase took a deep breath and began his journey into the enclosed hell of a maze. His first few steps were blind, even after his eyes got used to the darkness there was still nothing to see. Oddly, Feroxmalis had fallen silent, a revelation that filled him with terror. It was hunting for him just as much as he was. Keeping the tip of his tail pressed against the wall to feel for gaps, he did his best to maintain steady breaths.

The ceiling was too low and the walls were too close, each pawstep emitting a low echo he prayed couldn't be heard. He took a moment to shake his front paws, trying to fling off the sweat that was pooling from his glands. Chase couldn't imagine sweating directly from his skin like humans did, as that would probably make his situation hundreds of times worse.

He suddenly stopped, trying to prick his ears into the darkness for any low noise that could give away an approaching threat. He was met only with the faraway hum of a distant air conditioning unit, and the constant churning of his own breaths. Then he remembered something: Chase hadn't been able to smell Feroxmalis outside due to the rain, but in the ducts things were different, maybe he'd get different results?

Leaning forward, he stuck his nose out and took in three good sniffs of his environment. Immediately he cringed back as wafts of unsavory stenches invaded his nose, most notably the wrenching smell of mildew. He couldn't smell Feroxmalis, at least not yet, hopefully it would come into play later or he would die in this vent.

"Go forward," Rocky began. "The first turn you'll hit is a right. Take it."

Chase followed the instructions accordingly, keeping his tail gliding along the wall. His heart was pounding, sweat pooling under his paws. Sounds of machinery within the walls churned around him, acting as the faint flickers of sound in the dead environment. He was trying to keep himself focused, but Rocky's comment from earlier was returning to his mind. The mix had asked a harmless question: why did Feroxmalis come out of Rubble if Skye was the one announced to be infected?

A part of him didn't want to tell the truth, yet his other half demanded he did. At one point he was willing to sew his own muzzle shut so he'd never reveal Skye's murder, it was impossible to pin him. The creature couldn't jump bodies in the way Chase described, but it would be so easy to say it did. No one would ever know, but he would never sleep soundly again. He had to tell them, he had to tell the truth and be done with it. They'd berate him, possibly even attack him, but he deserved it all.