One Killer Maze

Chapter 15

A man walked down the hall with another trailing after him, if viewers would see these two; they'd recognize them as the creator and the announcer. There was an unfamiliar face in front of the two, talking quickly. The three of them stopped in front of a large doorway and the scientist typed in a code on the pad that was built into the wall. The doors released a tight amount of air, the large double doors swinging open slowly.

"N-now, I'm sure you've already noticed we've almost reached our goal regarding funds," the scientist stuttered, pushing up the glasses that had slid to the end of his nose, "we have been using the money to buy the products and items we need to finish the-"

The creator held up a hand, his E/C eyes, mixed with a dull red, glaring at the scientist. This shut the scientist up.

"Quiet," he spoke with distaste, "who knows what's listening."

The three of them made their way past a few other employees and scientists. There were many advanced computers and consoles in the room, buttons lighting up on the metal devices. There was a large screen beyond thick glass and many monitors watched a figure in that room sitting in front of the screen, moving their hands.

"What's the progress? How is it doing?" The man spoke up once more. The numbers on the screen on the other side of the glass stopped and the monitors in the room glitched, numbers moving all over the place.

A scratchy voice spoke through the speaker, "by.... 'it', I assume you're talking about me?"

The figure on the other side of the glass stood up, their feet lifted slightly above the ground. They whipped their head around, glaring red daggers at both the announcer and the stone-faced man. He didn't respond, which caused the other to laugh; but the person's lips never moved.

"I guess it couldn't be helped," the glitching screens soon calmed, but some of the data was now corrupted and would need to be retyped, "I wrote the manual process for the system and I'm now working on the heart of the code..."

The darkened figure's frame now slunk back to the ground. Painful coughs came from the other side, "I can't keep working like this without treatment, y'know?"

The doctors who were waiting on the sidelines quaked with sudden fear. The five guards marched forward, one of them dawning a keycard that opened the door. It flashed red, then he swiped it again, flashing green, and allowed the two doctors and five guards inside the chambers. The guards took point first, guns aimed at the young figure. Their voices were muffled on the other side of the glass and the announcer watched with eyebrows furrowed together. He looked to the older man beside him and then sighed, moving back to the door.

"I'm heading back to the stage, boss," he spoke with a tired voice. A scientist opened the doors for the announcer, who stood still for a moment, before walking through the large doorway and disappearing down the hall.

The announcer clutched his fists, his lips sealed together with an angry scowl.

"What you're doing isn't right...D/N..." He muttered to himself, his voice low enough that even the sensors couldn't pick his voice up. The blond announcer tore off his nametag and stuffed it inside his pocket. Nobody would remember his name at this point, the hundreds of thousands of viewers couldn't even tell anyone his first name; that's because they never paid attention.

The announcer began tidying himself up, drowning out his frustration with a fake smile, I swear to you...I won't stop getting the word out there. I will stop this madness.

He entered the studio and the cameras flickered on.

"Welcome back, all you watchers around the world!" The announcer began once the man behind the camera pointed at him. His words seem to drown out into nothing. Not too many paid attention to what he had to say. All of it was the same.