Writer Games | Death Wish & 51

Task Three: Houston, We Have A Problem - Males

Dylan Cole

    "Shhht- locked from insid- crrrht- can't get to y- shhht- on your own -bzzt."  The small radio cupped in the hands of Blackwood buzzes and crackles  with static before ultimately falling into an abrupt silence. But the  message the control center was trying to get across was painfully clear;  the ten of us left alive in this underground area of mystery are now on  our own.

     The group of the remaining explorers were huddled together at the  sealed door, one that had been checked and double checked for a way to  open it once more, though no such way had been found. Horror and panic  had now silently started to settle down on us like an icy blanket, and  we all stared at each other with looks that could put those of a horror  movie victim's to shame. 

Thisbe,  Washington, Blackwood, Fairland, Owens, Travis, Wright, Gardener, Lowe,  and I; we are the only ones left of the original fifteen, and I'm not  sure I liked the odds played out against us.

     "They can't do this to us!! This is outrageous!" Travis suddenly  exclaims in rage, the thick silence shattered by the dirty blonde's cry.  "They can't just leave us here!"

     "They can though... They have..." Fairland mumbles in response,  seemingly staring at nothing, lost in her own thoughts. I as well was  having a very similar reaction to her's, my heart rate was slower than  usual and my limbs felt like lead. My gaze was transfixed on the now  silent radio still clutched in Blackwood's hands and thoughts of all the  terrible possibilities of all the things that could happen to us while  we were trapped down here were racing through my mind.

     "Please, everyone calm down. I'm sure everything is going to be  fine, this is just a minor mishap." Washington tries to assure the  disheartened group, visibly trying to stay strong, giving us a sure  smile. I give the astrophysicist a long look before suddenly speaking up  myself, my voice unintentionally monotone and dull.

     "Sure, everything is going to be fine. This minor mishap is just the  one thing that is going to get us torn limb from limb and devoured by  some beast hidden deep within the depths of this labyrinth, one just  waiting for us to stumble upon it's lair. For all we know," I continue,  unaware of the groups' paling faces, "this was all a setup, we are just  the unlucky Athenians chosen to be sacrificed to the Minotaur just as in  Greek mythology. It's going to find us and one by one-"

    "Dylan." A female voice cuts off my horrible spiel sharply, and I blink, seeing it was Sarah-Kate.

     Looking around the faces of the nine other people with me, I find  their expressions ones of varying horror and shock, their overall morale  seeming to plummet. Shit.

     "Jeez! We're all going to be fine! As long as we stick together  everyone here is going to make it out in one piece. Try to think  positively, seriously!" Sarah-Kate continues with an acted cheery  demeanor, supporting Washington's original attempt at cheering us up.

Owens,  one of the other ladies, gives a sarcastic snort at the remark. "Okay  then, I'm positive Dylan's right. I hate to admit it, but we're all dead  meat."

I  suddenly hear a tiny terrified whine sound from just behind me, and I  turn to see David's pale and distressed expression. Guilt starts to naw  at me and I ignore the urge to cringe, it really was my fault he was so  anxious now.

"H-hey..."  I say awkwardly, catching his attention. "We're going to be alright,  okay? I'm not going to let anything happen to you, we're all going to  get out of here alive." He give the younger teen a reassuring smile, and  I can see him let out a breath, trying to calm down. When he seems to  have calmed his fears, he looks up at me with a shy grin.