✭°Damianya°✭ ʷʰᵃᵗ ⁱᶠ

Infinite Labyrinth

Becky pov

When I woke up, Chase was gone. "Chase...Anya owes you a favor." I groaned, walking into a grassy field that had wilted flowers and dead plants. "Chase!" I called, pausing as I took in the mountain of dead bodies. I saw him, sitting at the trunk of a dead willow tree. All was still and quiet.

A few more steps ahead grows a bank of wildflowers. As I approached, I saw they weren't really blossoms, not at all. The weed was disguised as wildflowers with shades of violet and yellow. I gathered an armful and began my way to Chase. 

He sat there, an anguished look all he could muster. Two dead girls laid side by side, a blonde speared cleanly in the chest and the brunette with multiple bullet wounds. Chase was plucking the wilted flowers around him and tucking them behind their ears.

There wasn't any words as I offered him a portion. We decorated their entire bodies with those deceptive weeds one stem at a time. Masking the gashes on the blonde girl's neck. Over the ugly, jagged wound across her temple. I fashioned a garland for her to clutch. 

Chase weaved the brunette's hair with those same wilted flowers, occasionally adding a dash of vibrancy. "I'm sorry." There was silence. Chase closed their unblinking eyes, covering it with a strip of cloth. "Hush, you're in a better place now." 

I can't tear my eyes from the emaciated girls, smaller than ever, and I don't have the willpower to leave. Not without knowing where they'll go. Another meaningless sacrifice, the purpose lost in vain. "They wield no power."

 I can't bring myself to scorn— let alone hate— Chase. 

My fury surges as I think about the cruelty and inequity they imposed upon these test subjects. Yet, no hovercraft. No descending parachutes. Nothing, only silence remains. 

Then the anklets seemed to vibrate, squeezing the flesh as a bright laser-like beam pointed directly at the sky. The anklets tremble from pressure and shot up zapping cords all around the children's bodies.

 Somewhere, two timers finished, a loud beeping noise ringing across the labyrinth. Times up. The cords flashed red, and their bodies exploded from inside out, inner organs and parts bursting and spilling out as the skin bulged and tore.

I have no idea where to go now. My feet wander with Chase, and I'm not even slightly watchful of who might be targeting us. This makes me an easy victim. Except now I'm armed with three knives and a shotgun, which I won't hesitate to use on anyone I meet on sight.

 No one materializes though. The beeping of finished timers had gone off multiple times in a row for the last few hours. There aren't many of us left, and it's a big maze, according to Chase. 

"Are you sure this is the right way?" I ask, holding onto the back of Chase's new backpack. We found it resting in another clearing soon after I witnessed my first death in this place. 

"Yes, there is a tracker that alerts the top competitors whether we're in a 10-mile radius. We're 2 miles away." It alerts the top competitors...so it's a double-edged sword. One could locate someone with ease and kill them quicker, or find someone they need to protect, like in our case.

Damian pov

"You can trust me to lead you out of here—"
"Don't listen to Damian, Anya! Let's get out of here now."
"Come with me and Chase, we know how to leave this place!"

Anya distanced herself from the clones, her back hitting a dead end. She was cornered. She looked straight at me, but instead of ecstasy and relief, her eyes were pained and lost.

This wasn't what I had imagined. 

I- I was supposed to be her beacon of salvation.

I advanced slowly, wary of the clones that could kill me, and stood in front of Anya. "Hey," I whispered, "I'm not a clone. Your parents, your nasty uncle, Becky and me came here for the sole purpose of finding you."