Made Useful

3. To the Lab

Petra wasn't one to beat herself into the ground by blaming herself for things clearly out of her control. But as she and Ivor ran across the mesa with the mystery woman, Petra couldn't help but pin this nightmare on herself. If she had just taken a moment to listen, to calm down, they wouldn't be where they were right now.

Jesse wouldn't be under the control of a crazy computer.

The sun was going down when the woman suddenly dropped them into a hole, forcing Petra to stop short.

Ivor, however, kept going and fell flat on his face into the ditch. "A signal would've been nice!"

The woman ignored his comment. "Gotta tell you guys, that was some pretty smart work distracting PAMA. Now we just need to get off the grid. Get back into hiding...that way we can figure out what to do next."

Ivor rolled his eyes. "Some plan."

"Watch that sass, now."

He immediately changed his tune. "Ahem. Yes ma'am."

"Look, I don't exactly know what's going on here," Petra shot the woman a glare. "But that machine has my.closest friend."

"Ouch, Petra, ouch," Ivor crossed his arms. "We're playing favorites now? So are you talking about Jesse or Lukas?"

Once again, he was ignored. "I still might be able to save them," the woman sighed. "But I REALLY need your help."

"What do we need to do?"

"Get to my secret lab."

"Great, let's move. Not only are those zombies strong, they're fast."

The woman nodded. "We'll need to split up. You two head to the lab while I lead the mobs away. Got it? I'll use the back route, throw them off our trail."

Petra straightened. "Is splitting up really a good idea right now?"

"Hey, I'm doing you a favor--I'm offering to be the bait!" The woman pointed. "Just start walking that way and look for the 'big difference'. You'll see it!" She went to climb out, pausing to add, "And armor girl--stay out of your head. I know you've been up in it this whole time, but you need to focus on surviving."

And just like that, she was out of the pit and gone, taking the surrounding mobs with her.

<>

They had been running for some time when Ivor said, "She is...intriguingly cryptic, isn't she?"

"Annoyingly cryptic, you mean?" Petra squinted at the scenery as they approached the rock formation they had been pointed towards. "Uhm, that's weird."

Ivor tripped and fell face-first into what Petra realized was a painting of the land ahead of them. "So strange. It's like an exact copy," Ivor rubbed his head. "Or is it? Seems just a little off..."

"She said 'look for the big difference'," Petra peered around the painting. "Just give me a second."

"Well, hurry up, because I think those monsters are coming back!"

It took her only a moment. "That cactus, over there!"

Not daring to look at the amount of monsters encroaching on them, she grabbed Ivor's wrist and ragged him towards the cactus. In its shadow sat a trapdoor, which covered a lever.

"Quickly, quickly!" Ivor hissed.

"You could be more helpful, you know!" She snapped back, flipping the lever.

Nearby, sand began caving in, revealing a massive chasm. On peering in, the found a very long drop.

"Hope you've got an idea for what comes next," Ivor exclaimed. "Don't have any more Ender Pearls, do you?"