Capewood (Book I) *Completed*

Alicia

"Katherine! There are five minutes left on the timer! We need to get out now!" I say barging into the room. Katherine shoots up and looks at me confused. She's still in a daze trying to gather her thoughts waking up in such a panic. "There's no time for that!" I say as I run over to the bed and grab her hand. I drag her out from under the covers, and I pull her towards the door. The time on the wall across from the beds now states 00:04:33. That means we have a brief amount of time to cover a massive perimeter. 

"I thought we were waking up 20 minutes before it was time to go!" says Katherine as she follows behind catching up on the reality of our situation. 

"I may have dozed off," I say honestly as we run out the door of the cabin and onto the porch. We jump down the four steps it takes to get to front door. We make a long dash for the opening of the maze, and realize that the door is closing quickly. If that door closes, we are in for a human BBQ.

"Quick, run!" screams Katherine as she somehow magically develops a superhuman speed. She grabs my hand, and we barely make it past the gateway that is closing off the maze and our section that's provided a haven for the past 12 hours. When we are finally safe from the threat of an explosion Katherine falls to the ground gripping her side. She takes a couple of deep breaths and then without warning leans over and begins to puke. 

The smell is out of this world disgusting as bile clings to everything in the air and travels up my nose. She spews for a couple of minutes and then takes a deep breath and leans against the wall. "Th-"

We are interrupted by the explosion that sends us flying backward and into the wall. My head connects with the metal lining of the maze, and the last thing I see is Katherine flying several feet past me.

*********************************************************************************************

I  wake up covered in sweat and Katherine is sitting next to me. She looks at me with an angry expression as I try and sit up. My head starts to spin, and I'm trying to remember what happened. 

"That was the most irresponsible thing that I have ever witnessed in my whole life!" says Katherine now that she sees I'm awake. She stands up from her spot on the wall with a wince, once again grabbing her side. "You had one job, Alicia. One job and that was to make sure that we didn't die!" 

There is a distinct ringing in my left ear. I can't hear anything out of it other than the ring of that is persistent. "Excuse me?!" says Katherine snapping to get my attention. "Are you dead now? Can you not hear me? What the hell was that Alicia?!" 

"Stop screaming at me," I say getting up from the wall slowly. I have to use the maze as a balancing tool as I get up. I can't seem to stand steady on my own. "I made a mistake. Haven't you ever made one?" 

Katherine snorts at this response and throws her arms in the air. I hear her wince in pain again though, and she grabbed her side again, causing her to regret her dramatic gesture immediately. "A mistake?!" she begins to laugh hard, but not in a fun and silly way. Like she's so angry she's about to snap kind of way. "I made a mistake, Katherine. Haven't you ever done that before?" she says in a mocking voice. "Yeah, Alicia, the only difference is my mistake didn't almost cost someone their life!" 

"Are you forgetting that your ungrateful ass was woken up from sleeping in time to save you? Do I need to remind you that I could have just left you there?"

"Do I need to remind you that I could have easily slit your throat in your sleep?" Katherine retorts back, a little too quickly for my liking, "but you didn't see me plunging a knife into your throat." 

There's one thing I hate in this world, and that's someone that is cocky. I don't like people who act superior like they've never done anything wrong in their whole life. I understand that I made a monumental mistake that could have cost both of us our lives. What I do not understand though is why she's sitting her screaming at me for if I took care of the situation? 

I step up to her and look down at her. I tower over her. She can't be more than 5'3 on a generous day. I'm about 6'4, and extremely muscular. She'd be stupid to keep picking a fight with me, but something tells me Katherine is stupid when she's upset. "I said stop yelling at me," I remind her bumping into her chest. 

"You don't scare me, Alicia," says Katherine as she takes a step back and kicks me in my shin. I hunch forward and grab it screaming out in pain. "Oh look, you're my size now," she says in a taunting voice. "You can sit here and try to navigate your way through excuses and how it's not a big deal, but the truth of the matter is you messed up royally. You legit almost got both of us killed!"

I grab ahold of her neck and push her up against the wall. She winces and then tries to get down, but I'm holding onto her to tight. She doesn't gasp for air. She just looks at me defiantly after awhile. Then without any warning, she tucks her legs in and kicks me straight in the chest. I fall backward, letting go of her neck, and then she stands up quickly and begins to run towards the other end of the maze. 

"Listen here," she says. "I've had no targets since the start of this game, but you've given me a pretty damn good reason for you to be one," she says. "You better be prepared, because next time we meet, only one of us is leaving." 

She turns down the hall and walks away from me in the maze. I am still trying to catch my breath from the impact of her feet slamming into my chest. 

Well, Alicia, you fucked up.