Golding

I glance in the mirror and am immediately forced to look away. I am radiant, I am glowing. I am not Amber Golding.

I grasp the tube feeding into my arm.

"Transformation incomplete." A melodic female voice warns.

"Yes!" I yell, "yes!" Still have a chance, still have a chance.

I grit my teeth and rip the tube from my arm. Nothing. No pain, no blood. The tube drops to the floor.

I launch out of the hospital bed and skid down the hallway. Faster, faster, I urge myself. And it happens. The cuff on my wrist blinks, 80 mph. Not possible. Even if I had left the tube in and let the Alter complete I would've been able to reach a maximum of 60 mph. What have they done to me?

The alarms begin bleeping. They have noticed my absence from Ward 5. Far behind me I hear them running. But they will never catch m. Then I turn the corner. Dead end. Confused, I spin around and take an immediate left and then three rights. Dead end. Then I realize I am in their final defense. Their final chance of capturing me. Their Maze. I am right where they wanted me. In their game. They will test me. They will make me kill. They will make others kill me in turn. They will turn the terrain in here each night to test our capacity. We will be televised. We will be cheered. We will be killed. We will be forgotten.

I no longer hear the footsteps behind me. But the image of the Maze ripples and the mirage of a concrete jungle with concrete wards and steel bars wavers and then becomes real. And from behind the buildings, my first opponent appears.