Minotaur

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Their hotel stay the night before was like any other night. They made most out of their time as friends. It was quite awkward actually. Laughing, joking around, telling stories as if tomorrow would not turn them into monsters. Prince Martinez and Aeron Doromeo were like any other best friends; they laughed together and played pranks on the other students.

Alannie Forelli and Camile Tomo were doing each other's hairs.

Elijah Packard, Roman Sta. Vicente, and Mark Adargat were wrestling each other to the floor.

Kelly Abanica and Katrina Magono were gossiping about the other contestants.

Van Dragomon and Gerald Cardenal were both relating dirty jokes.

Myren Cardenas, King Chao-Ho, and Michael Wingsworth were all talking and laughing, and just having a good time.

The rest of the students were all lounging around the hotel, playing, sleeping, and all the normal activities. Nothing sinister seemed to be brewing. But, this simple act of friendship, this simple get-together would be their last. Thay all came to one understanding: Be friends now. Kill each other later.

And right now, they're making the most of their friendships, so they can have a memory to cling on after their friends all die.

***

It was Saturday. The day of their imminent death.

The happines the night before was gone. It was replaced by fear, determination, loneliness, and grief. Each of them were seated in a big bus. They didn't bring anything with them. They only brought themselves and the clothes they were currently wearing.

Hours passed and they came to a stop. They were blindfolded and led into twenty-four individual rooms. One hour before the program begins.

***

Michael Wingsworth opened his eyes to bright light of the room. He scanned the area of the room and observed that it was old. The ceiling had hundreds of holes. The floor's tiling was cracked, and the only furniture, a table, was about to collapse. 

He spied a black bag on the table. He opened the bag and found a thin, one foot long cylinder, a bottle of water, some matches, a first-aid kit, and some chocolate biscuits. He groaned in frustration. He didn't have a weapon. 

Just then, an insistent beeping resounded around the room. A robotic voice began to speak. 

"Greetings contestant, Michael Wingsworth. You are now in the Preparation Chamber. Please retrieve the bag on the table. It contains survival equipment, food, and weapons. All chosen randomly. You will be entering the Labyrinth in ten seconds. Toxic gas will be emitted if you don't enter within the time limit. Stay Alive."

As the voice receded, a timer began to flash above the wall across from him. He bagn to think.

10... 'What's my weapon'

9... 'Is it the cylinder?'

8...

7...

6... 'Wait a minute'

5...

4... ' If I can just pull this'

3...

2...

1... "Aha! gotcha."

0...

As Michael held the metal Bo Staff, he smiled, he knew how to use this. The wall across from him began to shake, revealing a dark passageway. He hesitated to enter. He didn't want to join the program, it was suicide. Suicide to him and to his morals. But, he heard a hissing sound and sniffed a whiff of the smoke. He gagged. He didn't want to stay and smell the toxic gas. He entered the Labyrinth.

***

The end of the dark passageway was blocked by a glass door. He saw other glass doors around him. he saw the other contestants trapped within the confines of the same glass doors. He studied his surroundings. It was a small rectangular area of asphalt. The four corners of the area each had a large archway labeled one to four. 

Then a gong sounded. The glass doors opened. Pandemonium broke out. 

The students ran like crazy. The fast runners like Mark Adargat was quickly entering an archway. Michael glimpsed Mark's weapon as he entered archway number two. He had a three foot long blade with a black, rubber handle. Michael swallowed. If Mark had a blade, what about the others?

He stupidly stood, shocked to see most of the contestants fighting each other. Already forgetting the night before. Kelly Abanica and Katrina Magono were obviously allies. They were harrassing Arah Pandrino. Katrina scratched Arah in the face with her claw blade, while Arah retributed by punching her back in the face with her massive fists. While Katrina Magono was stunned, Arah made a dash for Archway number three. Kelly Abanica threw a knife at Arah, but she missed. 

Allyssa Hawthorne was about to enter Archway number four, but Twinkle Dominguez pulled her hair and dragged her to the side. Before twinkle could bash Allyssa head to the asphalt floor, Allyssa sprayed some kind of acid in Twinkle's face. Twinkle howled in agony as she clutched her face. Her once beautiful feautures were now burned and distorted. Allyssa kicked Twinkle in the back one last time before entering Archway Four. Twinkle lay motionless. Maybe dead. 

Michael realized he'd been watching in shock for a while and he was lucky that he hadn't been ambushed yet. He turned around to to bump into someone. Panic started to swell inside him. Was this the end? Was he about to die?

He looked up and saw Jersh Robbs, clutching an ice pick in her shaking hands. panic was seen in her eyes. "G-g-get away. I have an ice pick!" She whimpered.

"Jersh, I am not going to hurt you. Go. Just go on!" 

She nodded, without another word, she ran towards Archway number two. 

Michael observed that Archway number two was accomodating a lot of contestants. He figured he enter another archway to avoid unnecessay encounters. He went into Archway number one. Hoping for the best.