Escape Games

Chapter Four

The dog led them down the corridor for about five or six minutes, turning once in a while to make sure the others were still behind her. They came to another corner where a small alcove in the wall held the entrance to another room. The door was open, presumably this was how Bear had gotten out. Mac managed to use one foot to nudge the door open further so he could get himself and Jorik inside. 
     Inside, the room was made of stone just like the corridor, except the room had portraits hung up on the walls, and numerous chairs and couches filled it.  A huge area rug lay in the middle of the room, and there was a massive fireplace on the far side of the room, crackling flames lighting the space along with the lanterns on the walls, sending shadows over the pictures. 
     A digital clock on the wall opposite the door looked very out of place compared to the rest of the room.  Instead of showing the time, the clock showed twenty-nine days, twenty-three hours, and forty-eight minutes.
"I don't like that clock," Jorik grumbled as Mac set him down on one of the chairs.
"I don't either," Mac told him as he opened a drawer in one of the side tables. "It's probably here to put pressure on us. I'd bet there are more speckled around here to torment us. But at the same time, we should probably pay attention to them if we want to be efficient with the time we do still have." Jorik huffed.
"You're probably right," he admitted. He sighed and looked around the room.
"Is there something I can do to help?" He asked after a few seconds.
"If you can reach the cabinet next to you, searching the drawers for anything useful would be nice," Mac answered. "If you can't reach, don't worry about it, I'll get to it." Jorik was able to reach, so he began searching the drawers.  He found nothing of interest in the first two drawers, but in the bottom drawer he found a box of bullets. 
     "Will these be of any use?"  He asked.  Mac walked over to look. 
     "These look like the incendiary rounds I use with my handgun," he said.  "They must be some of the extras the dog had in her pack."  He unzipped one of the pockets of his backpack and put the box inside. 
     "Was there anything else in the drawers?"  He asked.  Jorik shook his head. 
     "I didn't see anything else," he said.  "But maybe I just don't know what to look for."  Mac gave a small smile for the first time since waking up. 
     "I trust your judgment," he told the elven.  "I wouldn't have asked you to help search otherwise." 
     "At least someone in this world thinks I'm competent," Jorik said after a second.  He sighed.  "Thank you."  His eyes had softened and he no longer looked as grumpy, though he still had a deadpan expression on his face. 
     "No problem," Mac told him as he began searching another drawer.  Bear had been sniffing around the room, but now she stood in the doorway and watched the corridor. She sniffed the air, but didn't seem to smell anything dangerous. Mac finished checking the drawers and moved the area rug to check underneath it before checking the stones around the fireplace. Jorik watched him with genuine curiosity.
"What?" Mac asked, noticing the elven's interest. The humanoid shook his head.
"Nothing," he said, averting his gaze. "Sorry."
"It's fine," Mac said gently. "You can watch if you want. It just seemed like you wanted something." Jorik shook his head again. 
     "No," he said.  "Just curious." 
     "If you want to watch, I can bring you closer," Mac stood up.  Jorik opened his mouth to protest, but closed it again as Mac was already by his side.  Mac crouched and Jorik put his hands on his shoulders.  Mac picked him up and carried him the handful of steps to the fireplace.  He set the elven down a couple feet from where he'd been checking the stones. 
     "So, what we want to look for is anything that could indicate a hidden compartment or opening.  A loose stone can be a good indication a lot of the time.  Sometimes there are hidden switches, too."  Jorik moved to sit on his left hip. 
     "I didn't realize monster hunters needed to know detective tactics," he commented.  Mac gave another small smile for a second. 
     "It doesn't hurt to have additional skills," he said.  "You never know when you'll need them." 
     "True," Jorik said.  He moved into a kneeling position for a closer look at the fireplace.  Mac moved to the other side of the structure to check it.  After about ten minutes, he moved to the hearth.  Once he'd made sure there was nothing hidden there, he stood back up and went to Jorik. 
     "It doesn't look like there's anything else here," he said, crouching in front of him.  "Let's go."  Jorik didn't hesitate this time.  He placed his hands on Mac's shoulders and hopped on his back once they were standing.  Mac carried him to where the dog still stood in the doorway. 
     "We're going, Bear," he said.  "Come on."  She gave a half-bark and walked slightly in front of Mac as he carried the elven back into the corridor. 
     "So where are we going now?"  Jorik asked as the group moved further into the maze. 
     "Right now," Mac answered.  "We just want to find another room to search for useful items, and maybe take a rest in.  And we need to figure out something for your missing foot." 
     "I'll be able to manage once the bruising heals," the elven said.  Mac gave a small sigh. 
     "If we did find something, would you try it?"  He asked.  Jorik huffed. 
     "I suppose," he answered.  The two were quiet for a minute before Jorik spotted something in the distance.  He gave a small grunt and stretched his neck to get a better look. 
     "Easy with the squirming," Mac said.  "I can only balance you to a certain point."  When the elven didn't respond, he sensed something was off. 
     "Hear something?"  He asked.  "Or see something?" 
     "Something big moved across the corridor a few hundred meters down," Jorik answered.  There was a growly undertone to his voice.  "I saw it stop and look at us."  Mac noticed Bear also on alert.  She gave a low growl of her own. 
     "Which way was it moving?"  Mac asked. 
     "Left to right," Jorik answered. 
     "Then we'll go left," Mac said.  "We want to put as much distance between us and it as possible."  He found another split in the corridor before the one where Jorik had spotted the creature, so he turned left there.  Bear walked beside him, her head up and her ears pricked and twitching.  Jorik had his head on a swivel, trying to keep his eyes and ears out for whatever beast was lurking in the maze with them. 
     "See or hear anything ahead of us now?"  Mac asked after about twenty seconds.  The flickering light of the lanterns wasn't much to see by, and his flashlight wasn't in his pack. 
     "Nothing that seems dangerous at the moment," the elven responded.  "But it looks like the floor changes up at the intersection there."  He had his neck stretched out again. 
     "It looks like the straight path just goes to a dead end," he said after another half-dozen steps.  "Get me to the junction, and I'll try to see what's down the other paths." 
     "Right," Mac walked a little faster, trying to save a few seconds.  The large tiles the floor turned to at the junction reminded him of the floor tiles in his old middle school or high school.  The lighting switched from the lanterns to florescent ceiling lights, but still flickered eerily. 
     "What do you see?"  He asked. 
     "There's a door about a hundred feet down on the right," Jorik answered.  "Otherwise it looks like just a dead end."  He squinted to look down the other way. 
     "The left one goes too far for me to see with the lighting," he added after a few seconds. 
     "Since we're here, do you want to check the right side first?"  Mac asked him.  "Then after we can check the left side so we don't have to come back?"  Jorik only needed a second to think. 
     "Fine by me," he said.  "It wouldn't make sense to double back if we don't have to."  Mac nodded. 
     "Okay," he said.  "Let's go then."