When the Clock Strikes Midnight

9:00 p.m

A/N: Hey y'all. It's been a bit. But I'm back. This chapter is kind of gory. And it's not the kind of gore that came with the torture chapters. So if you don't think you can handle the gore, then you might want to skip this chapter. Thank you for still reading!

I jump, hearing a loud horn blaring from a speaker. I quickly sit up, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. I look around. I appear to be somewhere outside. It looks like I am in a corn maze. There are corn stalks all around me, all of them the yellow that you'd expect to find. The path is dirt, with the occasional weed. I turn to look behind me and jump. Someone, one of the men in black, is standing there from before. He is holding a long machete in one hand, along with a Freddy Kruger mask in the other. I completely turn towards him, not wanting to miss anything that he might try to do.

"Hello Peach. Welcome to the 6th challenge. This will be a corn maze massacre. You, along with the other 7 competitors, are at different entrances to the maze. When the horn blares, all of you will have a 10 second head start to get away from your killer. Your goal is to survive in the maze until two of the other competitors are killed. The other killers cannot hurt you. They may see you, but they cannot harm you in any way. You cannot try and stay with another competitor. There are 8 total entrances and exits into and out of this maze. If you happen to find one of these before two of the other competitors have been killed, you will be safe. No one, not even me, can harm you. You will be brought back to the study, where you will watch the rest of the game until the first two competitors are killed. Any questions?" I shake my head, confusion and determination swirling around my brain. He motions for me to stand up as he moves to put the mask on. He looks absolutely terrifying. I continue to stare at him, too scared to look away. I hear someone's voice starting to countdown. They get to one and the horn goes off. I quickly turn and start to run, desperate to survive. The voice is counting down from 10, and in no time they reach one. I hear another horn blare and I can hear the sound of the machete trailing on the ground behind me. I don't risk turning around. I keep running, quickly finding a corner and turning left. I figure that my best shot at survival is to find an exit as quickly as possible. I'm not completely sure how far away we were all placed from one another, and how big the field is. I can hear some rustling coming from beside me and quickly turn down a different path, not knowing whether that was one of the others or my hunter. I never stop running, doing my best to control my breathing so that I'm not too loud. I take another right turn and can see a clearing up ahead. I run quickly towards it, praying that it's an exit. I enter the area and it seems to be the middle of the corn maze. I hear footsteps in the distance and press up against the corn maze right next to where I just ran in from. I hold my breath as I see my killer walk past. He is walking leisurely, trailing the machete along behind him. As soon as the machete is out of the entrance I run back the way I came, desperate to get away from him. I hear a chuckle behind me and a chill runs down my spine.

"You won't be able to run from me for long, Peach. I'm going to catch you." I start running faster, willing the tears to stay in my eyes. I take a sharp left turn then a right turn, desperate to get as far away from him as possible. I chance a look behind me and I run right into someone. I gasp, quickly moving my arms up to protect myself. It is Jack, who looks just as tired as I do. I quickly grab his hand and give it a squeeze before continuing to run. He squeezes my hand back and starts running as well. I'm not sure which way Jack had come from, and I don't want to run into his killer as well. I turn right, hoping that Jack had come from the left. I suddenly hear a loud scream and stop in my tracks. It sounded like it was on the other side of this cornwall. It was definitely a female. Either Veronica or Amy. Definitely not Hailey though. I take a deep breath and keep running, praying that whoever just screamed is okay. I run straight for a long time, avoiding turning anywhere. I hear another loud scream, also from a girl, and then a horn blare.