The Rat in the Maze (Poofless-esque)

Obey

Awkwardly and unsteadily, you balance your ass on a four-way corner of the little white bars between the tiles up against a pillar, waiting for several seconds to test how steady you are before pulling out your phone. The bright screen light is almost unwelcome to your wide, burning eyes. The lack of texts, calls, and notifications since all this started is deeply disturbing to you. You hope the others are all okay. You briefly envy Jon for being too damn poor to afford the plane tickets and entry fee for the convention. You could be sitting around on your ass, getting drunk on camera, too. To be fair, you would bet your liquor collection at home that he is sober and on the verge of bawling right now. He has even more friends in this fucking mosh pit of death than you do.

Me: Where are you?

You wait for Preston to reply. Time runs a third as fast as it should and you get ready to throw your legs back around the thick, silver pipe and continue slothing your way to nowhere when your phone vibrates violently in your hand. It almost falls out of your grasp, and a drop of sweat slides down toward the weak ceiling tiles, reminding you of how precarious your situation is.

Pearston: supply room 3 floor w guy w key u?

Me: Coming. You stay.

You can feel his hesitation from here and you can already smell the brimstone of his wrath. He doesn't want you near him on one level, and he also doesn't like that you, of all people, are trying to save his ass. So much for his damned guns and his concealed carry permit.

Preston is two floors higher than you are. There is no way for you to get inside the solid metal vents, and the ceiling doesn't connect with other floors. How are you getting upstairs?

Stay up in the ceiling until you find a safe way upstairs - go to Ladybug

Find a way down now to keep Preston from doing something stupid - go to Contest