How Far One Goes

Chapter 1 - Core Mechanics

                                                          Maya/Luke - Maya

As soon as the voice from the monitor fades away, I turn to Luke, glaring. I barely know him, but already I know that he’s my only actual competition. I can’t let him win.

He smirks at me. “Whatcha waiting for? Grab your candle, I think the weaker person should get the head start, you know, since I already have the advantage.”

Normally, I would bash his head in for being sexist, but I wasn’t one to pass on a chance to gain the lead.

“Later, jerk.” I grab the candle in the nearest corner and run off in the leftmost direction. To my surprise, the path leads me to some sort of cavern that’s already lit up with torches on the sides.

The sudden change from almost total darkness to a room illuminated with fire makes my eyes sting, but I ignore it. Taking a deep breath of anticipation, I slow down to a walk. This light can go away at any moment, I might as well take it in.

I think to myself and wonder if there are any clues in this cave that can give me an advantage. I take a closer look at the walls but find nothing. Luke enters the cave from behind me, making me jump and drop the candle.

“Way to go, loser.” I say with a huff.

“Relax,” he says, grabbing a torch. He walks to the other side of the cave and disappears.

I follow and yell after him, “What are you doing? This is supposed to be a team effort!”

“I gave you an advantage and you didn’t really take it. And team effort? Don’t make me laugh, we both know we’re only in this for ourselves. Sayonara.”

I stand there, watching him fade from my spectrum of vision. Then the torches go out.

                                                                        Todd/Alice - Todd

 “Well, there they go,” I remark, watching the other four people grab their candles and run out the door.

My partner retorts in a snippy tone, “I know for a fact that I got the runt of the pack. I don’t care what you do, just get out of my way and don’t slow me down.” She grabs the candle and starts walking. “Are you coming? I said not to slow me down.”

It takes me a moment, but I say “Wait!” and run after her. Making a mental note that she was not one for small talk, I catch up to her in silence. Grasping the opportunity to take a closer look at Alice as I had never been able to before, and I see that she is absolutely stunning. I try not to stare, but her green eyes are focused directly in front of her, and often turned to glare at me. Her black hair contrasts the brightness of her eye color. Apparently, I look too long and she catches me.

“What?” She snaps. “Stop staring at me.” She walks ahead a little faster.

“Nothing!” I say in surrender. “Well…”

She stops walking and raises an eyebrow at me. “What?”

“You’re beautiful.” I say, looking down at the floor. It was dirty, as is the ceiling. The tunnel is narrow, but I make a big space in between us so she doesn’t get the opportunity to hit me out of annoyance. Was that creepy? I thought.

“Shut up.” She keeps walking, maybe even faster now. I quicken my pace to keep up and I catch a tinge of red. She exhales quickly and looks over. Before I say anything, she points a finger at me and repeats, “Shut up.”

“It’s a shame about this ‘one survivor only’ rule. I’m sure you had big plans for a future, but I guess now--” I’m cut off by her angry yelling.

“I still have plans for a future! If you’re admitting defeat now, barely ten minutes into this sick game, then you have absolutely no chance of surviving!” She shouts at me. Then, her voice becomes deadly and quiet. “But besides that, I’m going to be the only one with a future here.” What she says next makes my heart stop cold. “The moment the teams are over, you’re dead.”

                                                                   Cullen/Venice - Cullen

I grab my partner’s arm as she grabs the candle. We leave at a light jog and I don’t look back. We slow down once the tunnel walls begin to get narrower. I try my best to be friendly, thinking allies were better than enemies.

“Hey, so you’re Venice right?” I ask. She looks at me with her wide brown eyes. Venice reminds me of my little sister; she’s small and appears fragile and innocent.

“Yep,” she smiles. She doesn’t seem to show any threat, so I tell her my plan for the whole game.

“Since we’re partners, I guess I should be honest with you. I don’t plan on winning. I’m not the strongest player out there and one of the other teams had really strong-looking members.” She’s about to say something, but I put my hand up to tell her to hold on. “I’m not finished. That doesn’t mean I won’t try. I want to win, but I just don’t think I will. If we work as a team, then we should be fine. I’ll watch your back if you watch mine.”

“Are you just saying that because I look small?” She raises an eyebrow at me curiously. I laugh and put my hands up in surrender.

“No, I think you’d be fine without me. I just think it’d be better if we worked together and weren’t out to kill each other, okay?”

“That’s fine then.” She stops and reaches to shake my hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Cullen.”

“Same here, Venice.” We keep walking and find a room. I try to open it but it’s locked. After various attempts to open it, we give up and sit down, leaning on it.  

It’s silent for awhile, but she breaks it by saying, “So Cullen… like Edward

Cullen?” She laughs. I shake my head.

“Just… don’t even go there.” I refuse to say more, but she keeps laughing.

“So Venice? Why not Rome, or Florence?”

She stops mid-laugh and repeats what I said earlier. “Don’t even go there,” but adds “Edward.”

“Shut up, Italy.”