The Maze

Travis

I stepped back through the door that led me into the room with the fire place and back into the white hallway. The man in the suit began walking, leaving me no choice but to follow after him. I stumbled for the first few steps, cursing as each movement jolted the branding on my shoulder. Someone could've fucking warned me

about that part. The man had handing me my shirt back but I knew the act of putting it on would hurt more than it was worth. So, for now, I just clutched the fabric in my fist and shoved the pain down to the pit of my stomach.

"Congratulations, Travis. You may now begin your maze.

The male maze consists of unique tests to determine where you fall in each characteristic that is desirable in society. How you react to each situation will decide your place in society. You may only enter each room once. Failure of any test will result in failure of the maze."

The man placed his hand on the wall and a door slide open. I took his lack of movement as my queue to step inside the room. The light was so bright at first, I had to cover my eyes. By the time I was able to squint enough to allow my sight to adjust, the man was gone.

I found myself standing in the middle of a line of about 5 people, 2 in front of me and 3 behind, waiting to speak with a young lady at a large counter. I glanced around and found myself to be at a bank of some sort. The beige walls were bland, decorated with generic landscape photos. To my back left and right, were offices encased in glass windows. No one appeared to be inside those offices. Actually, it was only the 7 of us in here; the 5 people in line, the teller and me. Was this supposed to be some sort of financial test?

We all stepped forward as the person in the front finished with the desk. I watched as they walked past me and out of the door behind me. I wondered if I could walk out that door too. I took a step towards it and stopped. If I tried to leave, who's to say they wouldn't kill me on the spot for trying to abandon my maze. I shook my head slightly and turned back towards the line. The next person took a slip of paper and walked to a different counter to fill it out. We all stepped forward and then it was my turn.

The lady at the desk smiled at me. She looked young, my age even, with long dark hair and hazel eyes. I wondered briefly if this was part of her maze. I had never heard of mazes mixing with others. But then again, I hadn't heard much about mazes at all. "How can I help you today, sir?"

I looked around, trying to find some sort of clue to what I was supposed to do here. "Uh, I'm not sure."

The lady nodded. "Ok. Do you have an account with us?"

Before I was able to answer, the sound of gunfire filled the room. My immediate reaction was to drop to a crouch and cover my head. I heard the teller scream and hoped it was from fear. I glanced up and saw three large figures standing in front of the door, all in black ski masks, all carrying assault rifles. Another quick glance confirmed that the other people in the bank reacted the same way and dropped to the floor.

"Listen up." The masked man in the middle spoke with a gruff voice, "You're going to do as we say, and nobody will get hurt. Got it? Everyone to the middle of the room where we can keep an eye on ya." No one moved. The man then aimed his gun in the area and held the trigger. The sound caused everyone to react, and we all moved to the middle like he had instructed. The teller lady crawled from around the counter, and I breathed a sigh of relief that she wasn't injured.

"Now, one of ya is gonna tell me the code to the safe." When no one spoke, the man walked towards the teller and grabbed her by her collar, lifting her to her feet. She whimpered as he lowered his face to hers. "Don't make me repeat myself." He growled

"I-I-I don't kn-know" She tried to pull her face away, but the man reached up to grab her chin and hold it in place.

The clicked his tongue. "Somethin' tells me you're not being very truthful." He cocked his head and one of the other men aimed his gun at the woman. "Maybe this'll jog your memory."

"P-please. I-I don't know. I swear."

The man dropped the teller's shirt and she crumpled to the ground with a sob. He waved one of the men over and they walked to the back where the safe must be. The third man stayed in front of the entrance.

I slowly scooted my way toward the teller. "Hey. Are you ok?" She shook her head and I put a hand on her shoulder. Her body trembled under my fingers. "It's going to be ok. What's your name?"

"L-layla" she said softly.

"It's nice to meet you, Layla. My name is Travis." I rubbed her shoulder. "We're going to get out of here, but I need to ask you something." Layla nodded but didn't look up from where her face was buried in her hands. "Were you able to hit the panic button?"

She nodded and I released the breath I'd been holding. "Good job, Layla."

She continued to sob softly as I took in the people around us. An elderly man sat to the left of us, with his back to the counter, eyes closed. A woman sat next to him, clutching a small girl to her chest, shushing her quietly. The child looked to be about 10 at the oldest. To the right was a young man, maybe a few years older than me. I watched as he looked at the robber then at the rest of us with a glint in his eyes.

He slowly pulled himself toward where Layla and I sat. "Let's jump him." He whispered

My brow furrowed. "I'm sorry?"

He nodded at the guard. "You and me? We can take him."

I shook my head. "That's not a good idea."

The man gave me an angry look. "And sitting here is better?"

"He has a gun. What if something goes wrong and he fires?"

"What if he gets bored and fires anyway?"

I sighed. "We don't know when the other two will be back. It's not safe." I paused "And even if it did work, he wouldn't be able to keep up with us." I nodded toward the elderly man who was now talking to the little girl softly.

The man rolled his eyes "So, we leave him."

This made Layla look up at the man in front of us. "Mr. Roberts is one of the sweetest people I've met. I would die before I left him here."

He shrugged one shoulder "That's your choice."

I decided then that I would keep the information about the panic button to myself. This man was willing to put everyone in danger, what would he do if he knew help was coming and got cocky?

"What's your name?" I asked him

He rolled his eyes "Charley"

"Look, Charley. I get what you wanna do. But it's not a good idea. Right now, we just need to stay calm."

Charley huffed but I was saved from the response by the other two robbers walking into the room. The first man had taken off his ski mask, revealing short dark hair and worn middle aged feature. A long scar ran from his left eyebrow down to the top of his lip. The eye that it ran through was white. He looked at each of us individually before stopping on Layla again. Without breaking eye contact, the man raised his gun and shot Mr. Roberts. Blood sprayed on the counter and on the front of the little girl he was talking to. Layla and the girl's mom both screamed while she sat in shock.

"Did you hit the panic alarm, you little shit?" He asked her.

My heart dropped in my chest. Layla shook her head. "I didn't! I swear!" She sobbed.

The man walked over and grabbed the little girl by her throat and lifted her in the air. Her mother screamed and tried to grab for her, but the other man hit her with the butt of his gun, knocking her unconscious. The leader put a pistol up to the girl's head and looked at Layla again. "I'm going to ask you one more time."

I stood up before Layla had a chance to answer. I kept my hands raised in the universal surrender sign. "It was me. I hit the panic button."

The man dropped the girl who scrambled to her mother, sobbing loudly. He walked toward me. "You're going to regret doing that, boy." I opened my mouth to apologize but the man reached out and punched me, knocking me back onto the floor.

I could feel my broken nose and the blood gushing from it. I looked up at him as he raised the pistol, his finger on the trigger. I heard a loud bang, a scream, then nothing.