The Makings of Evil

Chapter Fourteen - Lost in the Maze

Crowose and Godwin led Taylor, Zack, Cloey, the other man, and I to the end of the marble hallway. Crowose still didn't seem happy with me. "Hey, at least it's not me this time," Zack whispered. That didn't cheer me up.

At the end of the hall, I now noticed a marble door that seemed to vanish into the rest of the wall. Crowose reached forward where there was a white handle in a dent in the door. She pulled and slowly, with a grinding sound, the marble door was yanked open to reveal a dark passageway. One by one, we all slid inside, Godwin first. Crowose followed last, closing the door behind her.

We trudged through the dark until we reached a rusted elevator. From there, we found ourselves many stories below in a dimly lit corridor.

"Now, remember what I said last night," Crowose spoke from behind, "Pair up and try not to get lost. Watch out for traps!"

I turned around to seek Taylor but she and Zack were already paired, giggling and laughing.

Cloey noticed me staring. "Zack's my little brother," she said, "I don't understand why he's a part of the mission." She paused before adding, "Let's work together."

"Sure," I replied. It was not really a question so I had to agree.

Then Cloey raised her voice above everyone else's, so that Crowose could hear. "How do we know that the traps won't kill us if Mr. Traitor Dr. Gwen designed them? You did say they were real."

"He made these traps before that . . . incident happened," Crowose retorted, "Besides, the advanced engineering team helped and they are as loyal as ever." I could tell that she horribly wanted to tell the truth.

Cloey pulled out a knife and I grabbed one too; these were the only things that we were allowed to use in training. She started twirling it around and around, throwing it and catching it. I stared at her and she said, "Knives are my weapon, but mine are much bigger." I knew that I would not want to get on her bad side.

Cloey and I set off into the maze-like corridors, the first pair to begin. I did not know what to expect, knowing Dr. Gwen's intelligence. "Maybe there will be robot demons or something," Cloey suggested. She was starting to really scare me.

Now I didn't feel like the Girl of Strength, if I even am, but like a little girl, confused when she woke up on a white marble ledge in a large ravine. This isn't even the real mission! This is training! I wondered how the real mission would feel. Cloey strutted confidently beside me, her knife barred, not a fear in the world. She didn't know Dr. Gwen's intelligence. We continued down the endless hallway, not a trap to be seen, becoming bored.

Suddenly it hit me. "How will we find our way out?" I asked.

Cloey shrugged. "Dunno," she said, "I guess we'll find out."

Then there was a clinking noise up ahead. My companion stopped in her tracks, as did I. The noise was coming towards us.

Then we saw it. Like Cloey suggested, a robot.

It had beady red eyes and built in spears. "Run," I mumbled, my voice barely audible. Cloey did not have to be told twice. She didn't have to be told at all. We ran the way we came, the robot in a clumsy pursuit. We stopped and turned to face it. It tried stabbing us with its spears but we dove to the side and scratched its metal flank with our knives. We swiped and the robot did too, though it missed more than we hit our target. There was a lot of commotion as metal hit metal. The robot was slow and we easily defeated it. After it fell over, Cloey just had to stomp on its head. Sparks flickered and we quickly backed away. Cloey and I high-fived, then we were on our way once more.

We turned left down a narrow passageway and I stepped on something hard. Reluctantly, I looked down to see a remote-like device with a camera. "Press the red button," Cloey suggested, as if hypnotized.

I gave her the look, but pressed the button anyway.

Instead of exploding like I would have thought, the camera created a hologram map. A map of the corridors. A red dot represented us, orange dots displaying the others. "Well, this is just our luck. Now we know how we're getting out of here," commented Cloey, "Well, let's get a move on." I nodded, so surprised, feeling extremely lucky.

Cloey and I continued down the dusty hallway, using the hologram to guide us. Suddenly, a yellow dot appeared in front of our red one.

"What does that mean?" Cloey demanded, thrusting her finger through the image.

Before I could reply, whatever the yellow dot was, it was upon us.

It was soft and furry, unlike any device or trap. It tore at my arms and clothes, and I was just barely able to slip away. I scrambled to where I had dropped my knife and then the creature was upon Cloey. "I don't think it's supposed to be here!" I exclaimed.

"No kid-ahh!" Cloey replied as the creature clawed at her stomach. She swiped at it with her knife but failed to meet flesh.

I grabbed my knife and aiming very carefully, I threw it at the golden furred creature, sending it catapulting away in pain. My knife had struck its flank. Cloey shakily stood up and used her knife to stab the creature's throat. She missed and instead she stabbed it in its forehead, which was probably even more painful. It bled to death as Cloey pulled the knives back out.

"If that thing was supposed to be here, then I'm guessing that it was Madame Lee's idea," I muttered.

"Yeah," Cloey responded. She was bleeding much heavier than me. "Wasn't that a leopard?" Then she slowly sank to the ground and lay on her back. The cold stone probably felt refreshing. "I need a nap. And drugs," she added. The broken device that had once held the hologram was scattered everywhere.

I heard footsteps running towards us from behind. I turned around to see Crowose and Godwin. "Thank goodness," I moaned.

"Someone alert the Healing Ward," Crowose instructed, "This was not supposed to happen. Only controllable robots were supposed to be down here. I'm not sure how a live creature got in."

Cloey was barely able to keep her eyes open. Pain was expressed on her face, blood pouring like a waterfall from her stomach. Then it dawned on me. "Andy," I whispered to Crowose, "He's struck again."