The Murder Maze

Chapter 22

The three friends sat in front of the devilled woman as she kept laughing. She was much stronger than them, all of them. They had no chance from the start and they knew it. The second Foxy got injured, their hopes to escape flew away with the wind of a storm. Even though they knew that they had very limited chances of escaping but they had decided to remain optimistic the entire way through, in fact they had no choice but to stay optimistic. The instant any of them lost hope, they were all doomed for failure. They were all bound together whether they liked it or not and they weren't leaving anyone in the maze but if any of them lost hope then it was all over, their chances fluttered away. As long as there is still hope, chances of surviving may be low but with a little bit of faith and a lot of determination, they would never be zero. Foxy, Graypaw and Clucker all gave each other glances, they were a mixture of goodbyes, sorrys and see you soons but it seemed like in between the three of them, all hope was lost. They had all crumbled to the ground one by one. Foxy's wound had re-opened and had started to bleed again, not to mention her bruised rib felt like they'd been cracked by a single kick, Clucker was having a hard time seeing straight from power of the shoe she'd been hit with and Graypaw was just crumbled to the ground in pure pain. It reminded him of his past and his father, back then he was able to get back up but now... the punch he'd been was far to severs to recover from instantly, although he could feel it getting better, he couldn't see himself walking around without a few stretches for his aching stomach.

Once she'd finished cackling, Lizzie finally calmed down and looked across from side to side at the three people she'd knocked down in less than a minute.

"Well, that was easy, I get it that you're injured and all but you could've at least given me a bit of a fight. Oh well, I guess this is the end of the line for all of you. Once I kill you all I need to do is get that pesky rat out of the center. The little boy with autism that never leaves the middle of the maze, just you wait for when he gets out of the center, he'll get twice the beating I gave you. It's been annoying that I can't bring any more people to play because of him. Anyways, enough about him and a little more about you. Your time is up folks, today is the day you bid farewell to all you've loved. Although I'll be honest with you, killing the crow was quite fun, I mean I haven't killed in a while so I'd almost forgotten to thrill you get from killing but I must admit that killing you is going to be a lot more fun. I'll be able to take my time and really watch the blood spill out of the holes in your skin.". Her eyes were dark and her mind, very obviously distorted. She continued her speech as a blue light began to shine from the back of her neck.

"Now come one, accept your fate. Take on your roles just like your friend did and become one with the maze!". At this point the three laying on the floor had pretty much accepted the fact that exiting the maze was impossible rom the start and false hope was never worth. They did until they saw a shadow behind Lizzie. She'd been so lost in her evil speech that she hadn't noticed Iyan creeping up behind her. With a powerful whack to the head she fell to the ground. It seems quite ironic that all they had to do to defeat her was hit her hard enough, after all, she was still human, she just had more than a few screws loose in her brain. The three watched as she fell and Iyan stood there with a little pink chair he'd found in the corridor. He had kept his hope, and the chances of winning were never zero. Grayson slowly got up and stretched his back to elongate the muscles on his stomach, Heather held onto her head until the spinning stopped once and for all and Roxanne waited patiently for the pain to subside.

"Damn Iyan. Not bad. I just hope that wasn't strong enough to kill her.". Grayson spoke in a very familiar and friendly tone, Iyan had just saved their lives and he was undeniably grateful and slightly guilty of the way he'd treated him before. They all decided to take a five minute break to try and calm their pain and think straight. After that they simply ripped off long strips of Foxy's Nirvana shirt and used they to tie Lizzie's hands and legs together. They then decided to take her back to the center where they had a much more opened space. Grayson carried her on his back the whole time but this time the walk back wasn't that long, Iyan seemed to have memorized the route and brought them back to the middle in no time.

They set down the girl and moved her black hair aside to reveal their last bit of hope, a microchip. It had been placed into her skin at the mid-point of her neck. Her skin seemed to have adapted to the change of the small piece of metallic technology and had healed around it. A wave of relief fell over the three teenagers like the wave of a tsunami, of course they still felt guilty that they hadn't been able to find Darius but they were happy that his efforts were not in vain. On the way back to the center they had picked up the knife that Lizzie had set aside, after all, a real knife was always better than a fake knife and if Lizzie woke up despite the powerful hit to the head that would have likely caused her a concussion, they would need a way to defend themselves, a knife was the perfect solution to that problem. Heather, who had been carrying the knife on the way back to the center, knelt down next to Roxanne who was inspecting the microchip in Lizzie's neck. She held the knife in front of her eyes with her palm open as if handing the weapon to her friend,

"Will you do the honors?". Heather found it only fitting that Foxy be the one to carve out the microchip from Lizzie's neck, she was the one that had come up with the plan and she was also the only one that would be able to manage to expertly draw around the chip without damaging it. Foxy smiled and nodded before grasping the knife. She brought the blade close to Lizzie's neck, her hands were trembling as she knew that if she were to damage the chip even slightly then there was a possibility that they would never get out but she knew that she was the most skilled when it came to this particular task.

She took a deep breath and began applying pressure, once the initial cut was made and small drops of her crimson blood began to pour out, Foxy felt oddly at ease and simply continued to trace out the shape of the microchip. Once she'd outlined a square with about a three millimeters gap in between the cut and the chip, she used the tip of the knife and stuck it under the side of the chip. She took her time to skillfully pull out the microchip and placed it gently in the palm of her hand. She breathed a sigh of relief to see that she'd made no damage whatsoever to the chip. She held the chip in between her index finger and her thumb to inspect the little beauty of technology.

"Ok. Who's neck are we plugging this little piece of the future in?". She looked around the group with a small smile on her face, she was still very proud of her dissection. Iyan looked directly at her and raised his hand,

"I'll do it.". His voice wasn't much different than any other time he'd spoken but he had a hint of confidence in it this time. Foxy's smile dropped a little as she glanced over at Clucker.

"Are you sure Iyan, I mean it's going to be hard and painful I'm sure? Anyone of us can do it.". There was a slight stutter in Heather's voice as she spoke, she didn't want to seem rude but she wasn't sure if Iyan would be able to handle that much pressure.

"I am sure.". His sentences were as straightforward as ever, no time to mess around.

"But..." Heather was about to give Iyan yet another reason why it would be better to let someone else take control of the maze before being interrupted by Graypaw,

"Relax Clucker, if Iyan says he can do it then who are we to say he can't right? Autism or not he's tough, let him do it.". Grayson still didn't know much about Iyan and Iyan wasn't even his best friend yet but he had amply proved his worth and deserved the benefit of the doubt.

"If Iyan's sure then let's do it.". Foxy held up the knife and the microchip ready to start the implantation process. This moment right now would be the moment that decided their futures and if they would ever get out of the maze alive.