Walking clueless in a sudden maze, disoriented and desperate for a sign, but they only followed one; and it was not quite effective as Ryder predicted, “I have seen that same number four times now, we are walking in circles,” said the woman with a hint of annoyance in her voice.
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Ryder examines the walls again, and the woman was right; the same dent lingered on the wall with it remains on the ground was present, “I said we would know what crossroad we are in, I didn’t say anything about which way to take to get to the next,” Ryder explained.
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“… Let’s search around again, see what we can find.” The woman examines the walls and their numbers again, trying to find a button or a lever.
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Ryder looks at the dent one last time, then turns around to look at the woman, seeing her touch the small holes on the wall carefully, “You know… you never told me your name.”
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“… Does it matter?” The woman replied vaguely, then proceeds to touch the bottom of the wall.
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“W-well, if we are going to work together; I need something to call you by. “
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The woman again returned with silence before he turns around his back on her as he sighs, his stomach bellowing for even asking, but the silence was broken, “… Evelyn… Evelyn Gilly”
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Without the woman knowing as she continues to examine, Ryder turns his head back to the woman before giving her a weak smile. Ryder goes back to his wall, knowing that there is nothing more to see other than the dent, which had several hanging fragments of stone from whatever impact. He goes down to look into the dent. Thinking that it was only a small hole while he rubs his fingers on the fragment to feel the texture, but as his finger lands on another fragment, it breaks. The fragment gets off from the dent and falls onwards to the ground, with Ryder’s eyes following it as it fell. When the fragment touches the wet cement ground, Ryder freezes. Ripples from the impact emitted, he frantically rubs his eyes repeatedly from the sight he saw: the water rippled, but it was not everywhere; it only rippled on one pathway of the 3rd crossroad. Another thing that was strange: only the fragments of the wall rippled on one way, while their footsteps rippled throughout.
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Staring at the sight for at least a minute, he realizes and snaps out his daze; he moves his hand towards Evelyn while laying his eyes still on the ripple. He signals Evelyn rapidly to come, even though her back was still facing Ryder. He kept doing so for a few more seconds until he turns his head and realizes his mistake.
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“Hey!”
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“Shhh!” replied Evelyn, “Don’t shout, do you want us to get killed?!” said Evelyn a little quietly.
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“Oh sorry. Come here, there is something you need to see”
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Evelyn stands up and walks over to Ryder while his eyes lingered on the wet floor. And just like Ryder, she was surprised, “This… this is not possible,”
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“Then why does it look like it is,” said Ryder, “This maze is something more than an insect’s nest.”
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Evelyn turns her head towards the direction of the ripples, one of the four ways of the 3rd crossroad, “Hmmm… It may point a way, but to where exactly?” said Ryder as he touches the ripples.
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Evelyn walks towards the pathway, leaving Ryder behind still sitting down. Ryder notices and thinks that she was just examining the road, but she continued to walk. He quickly stands up, “Hey! What are you doing?” he shouted.
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Evelyn firmly tilts her head to Ryder with her face embedded with a look of stern, “What do you think I’m doing?” she replied in a serious tone, “Going to where the ripples lead. And again: Don’t. Shout.”
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“Sorry, it’s just we don’t know where it leads. What if it leads us to a dead end, or maybe to where the insects live,” said Ryder worryingly.
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“This is better than staying in one place for too long,” replied Evelyn, “And besides, you were the one who decided to come with me; if you want to be by your own then suit yourself.” Evelyn turns back around and starts walking away from the crossroad.
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“Hey wait!”
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The two of them delves into the very path the ripples take them, Ryder catching up with Evelyn after getting a head start ahead of him. Turning to any corner that came across their way, and when there was more than one path; they take a fragment from the ground and drop it onto the wet floor, following the way the ripples pointed. Everything felt like it was the same. However, changes started to occur: the walls were becoming somewhat bigger and wider; the wet floor became more like a puddle becoming deeper and deeper as they take a step forward.
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“I think we’re getting close” said Ryder confidently, “The walls are different now.”
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Evelyn stayed quiet, gazing at the new walls and feeling the depth of the wet floor as she takes her steps. Ryder strides confidently while he follows behind Evelyn, searching for the second crossroad. With every step they take, the walls and floor became different; and just when they thought they were close to the next crossroad, they are met with another set of pathways as they follow the ripples.
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“… I’m starting to wonder how big this maze is,” said Evelyn.
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Ryder was walking while looking up, getting bored and tired of walking; as he gazes at the top, he notices something in the darkness of the ceiling. It seemed to be a medium-size balls riddled with a black color dangling on the ceiling, but he shrugs it off, thinking it was his mind playing tricks on him because of his boredom, “Do the ripples really tell us where to go? Or does it only tell us halfwa-“
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Ryder stops, as he sees Evelyn’s hand standing upright; telling him to halt. The gesture made both Ryder and Evelyn stand still; Ryder breathing slowly as he moves his eyes around to see what caused Evelyn to stop. Seeing no reasons around them, he moves his eyes to look at Evelyn’s hair, “What? What is it?” he asks quietly with a little worry.
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“… Listen,” she said simply as she tilts her head left.
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Ryder goes silent, as well as Evelyn; focusing on their ears for any sounds. For a moment, the air stood quiet like them. But only for second. A faint sound rings at the back end of their eardrum, ringing like there was something at the distance. Which started to come closer. As the ringing became louder, Ryder’s heart beats with dismay. The ringing started to sound like the buzzing the black insects made, making Ryder sweat profusely; ready to run. But to his surprise, he sees Evelyn unfazed, “Is…there something wrong with her?” he thought, but that was not the case.
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While staring forward, Evelyn spoke, “That… is not the insects.”
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The sound of heavy switches came, then bright lights suddenly turn on; blinding both Ryder and Evelyn as they stood. Ryder quickly places his hand on top of his eyes, still squinting despite the shade his hands gave. He tries to look at the top, trying to see where the lights came from; and to his blinding surprise, a few balls of white light was dangling near the top of their heads. The light emitted not only a dazing scene, but also a tiny buzzing, similar to what they heard before; then more buzzing came louder into their ears. But it was not from the light. Evelyn — while covering her eyes with a piece of cloth she got from her clothes — quickly moves her head around, and saw the sight she never hoped to see again. Ryder looks back from the light and sees Evelyn’s face, filled with fear and dismay; and with one call from her shrill voice that echoed.
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“RUN!!”
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Evelyn begins to run away in front of him, and without any thought, he follows suit. Running nonstop without looking at what’s behind him, but Ryder knew; the buzzing in his ears said it all. They kept running, Ryder following Evelyn’s steps as she runs and turns to any corner they came across. Heavily sweating, and his heart moving frantically; Ryder didn’t mind any of what came onto him, as long as the insects never catches up, he was fine burning his legs tired and his clothes becoming soaked. Evelyn kept running also, slightly faster than Ryder; but she was not as sweaty as him while they ran for their lives. They kept making splashes of water as they take hard steps on the floor, and almost fall down as they turn around the corners. But there was one that didn’t make them slip, but made their faces lit. As Evelyn turns left, and Ryder followed suit; they started to run again, but after Ryder faces forward towards the path, seeing fog at the bottom side of the wall, but the top was visible. And what he saw, made his mouth gape in regret. It was a dead end.
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He was about to stop, until after taking a few more steps that the fog below the wall disappeared; and a patch of vines appeared embedded on the wall. He continued to run but he was becoming hesitant; until Evelyn still continued to run the same pace, if not faster than before. Confused as he ran, Ryder tries to reach out to Evelyn before she crashes, but she was far from his grasp, slipping from the small piece of her clothing that he caught. He was about to stop and turn to the side, hoping that there was a way that they couldn’t see, a corner hidden from the wide pathway. They were almost at the end, with Evelyn still running as fast as she can, while Ryder prepares himself to go to the side and hide, “I’m not going to die!” he thought to himself loudly, neglecting Evelyn.
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As Evelyn steps into the large room where the dead end laid, she still continued to run. Ryder’s mouth gaped at the sight, reaching out; but not to Evelyn. Ryder, about to grab the corner and turn, but was stopped by the sight of Evelyn sliding down and through the vines on the wall. Silent at the scene, Ryder stopped in daze, looking back and forth at the corner and the vines; but his time was little short lived. The bugs followed, crashing on the wall as they turn and continued to zoom towards Ryder’s juicy skin. With his time to decide cut off, Ryder decided to follow Evelyn; running towards the patch of vines while the bugs ran hot on his tail, with one biting his leg and slowing him down. He screams in pain, and his chest rapidly deflating, but he continued to run as fast as he could while the bugs transforms into a wave, about to swallow Ryder whole. As the bugs touch one strand of his hair. He slides down and through. The flying insects crash onto the wall, freezing their buzzing for a whole minute; the wall shaking disturbingly while it drops small pebbles from above, while Ryder rolls down the steep crevice. He grunts in pain while rolling over small rocks and patches of weed.
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He hits the end of the crevice on his back, making him scream slightly as he moves his shoulders and arms; making sure nothing is broken. But as he makes his upper body sit up, something hard presses against his neck, making him unable to make him squeak a word or a shriek. His eyes close form the impact, trying to grab the thing that pressured his neck. He slowly opens his eyes, without any blinding light, but a dim darkness. Although the crevice was dark, he still saw his attacker: A man with short black hair and eyes, wearing a blue ruined shirt below his faint beard. The man shouted in a baritone voice, “Who are you?!”
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Still being pressured from the neck, Ryder only squealed a few disgruntled noises, “I. C-can’t. Bre-brea-“
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“Stop!” A woman’s voice echoed, “He is with me.” A faint figure of a woman appears just behind the man’s ear as far as Ryder can see.
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In his relief, the man averts his arms away from Ryder’s neck, making him fall down on his hands and breathe deeply; coughing as he caresses his own neck. After he regains half of his air, he plumps back against the steep ground he came through, resting his head and shoulders. He wipes his sweat from his forehead and touches his neck once again for any bruises, then as he lays down; a woman walks beside his head, Ryder almost instantly recognizes Evelyn’s stare as he sees her from below.
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“… Get up,” said Evelyn as she stares Ryder down as he lays, “What took you so long?”
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At first, Ryder didn’t answer; he was still busy filling his chest with the air that left him, his elbow over his eyes and forehead. But he makes a small gap for his right eye to see Evelyn; and with a deep breath, “I… I almost slipped… That’s all” he said in low voice.
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As Ryder slowly stands up on his knees, he lifts his head up only to see the man who choked him sitting on a rock behind Evelyn. And as he stands up fully, he sees three more people with them in the crevice: One of them was a woman, with long brown hair and black eyes; she had a skinny stature and was pacing back and forth; the second was another man, medium black hair with small grey eyes; he had normal sized body with his shirt revealing half of his stomach. And lastly, the final one surprised him. For it was the little boy Ryder saw back when he first awoke, sobbing silently as he hugs his knees tightly to hide his head.
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The man with small grey eyes approaches Ryder while he rubs the back of his neck as he stretches it, “Hey, are you okay?” the man asked, “I apologize for him over there, I know he can be aggressive, but he was just surprised when you came rolling in that’s all.”
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Ryder averts his eyes from him and then towards the man that choked him. As Ryder looks at him, he exchanges them with a glint in his eyes, and his eyebrows tucked close to each other as they look, making Ryder dart his eyes back to the man in front of him almost instantly.
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“Y-yeah, it’s alright,” Ryder stuttered, “Being in this maze, I can understand why anyone can be jumpy.”
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“That and the thought of there were no one else in the maze beside us,” said the man, “We saw a lot of… stuff during the walk towards here, we thought everyone else were dead.”
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“My name is William by the way,” The man lowers his head slightly, “The woman walking around is Larah, I met her back at that Leopold guy’s house; the little boy sitting on the ground calls himself Channe, whatever that means; and the guy's name that choked you is Sine; he can be rough around the edges, but he has been quite helpful as far as we’ve been with him, except of course, you know.”
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Ryder tilts his head to the side of the William’s head, looking over his shoulder as he examines the boy sitting on the ground and the woman — now laying against on a wall — looking through a large hole leading outside and covered with vines just like the others, “Why are you all here?” Ryder asks as he retracts his head back.
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“Same as you, but hiding,” said the man turning around and walking slowly for Ryder and Evelyn to follow, “Just like you, we were trying to find the 1st crossroad after we found out about the numbers and the ripples, and we found it. We were trying to decide which road was the right one before the lights went up.”
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“Wait, you didn’t have time to see where the ripples went?” asks Evelyn.
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“There was a… problem.” William arrives below the hole, “The ripples… they didn’t appear when we drop a pebble.”
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“But… Wh-“
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“Because we don’t know how all of this works!” The woman named Larah snapped, “Come on William! If you’re going to invite guests here, make sure they’re not freaking annoying!” Larah storms off to the opposite side of the wall.
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She left them in complete silence, until William broke it off with a cough, “Sorry about her, she’s just terrified,” said William nervously as he turns to the hole and flicks away some vines.
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Ryder and Evelyn both walks up to see what’s outside, and bewilderment hits their heart. The walls were massive — much more massive than before, and everything of it was filled with obscured numbers painted in black, “Luckily, it seems the fog has subsided; we can see everything clearly than before.”
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Ryder and Evelyn perk up their eyes as they examine the walls and the ground, with Ryder reaching out his finger outside to touch the wet floor; to his surprise, it was much deeper, “How can we tell where to go if the ripples don’t work?”
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“Well, the man who choked you suggested that we do a process of elimination, but it put our lives at risk,” said the man.
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“We are already risking our lives here, Mr. William,” said Evelyn with a slow and low tone.
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“… Well, we can do that,” William shoots a look at the man who choked Ryder, “By the way, you never told me your names.”
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Ryder places his hand on his chest, “My name is Ryder.”
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William moves his head to the side, looking at Evelyn as he waits for a response with his perked eyebrows. Evelyn however, shrugged and looked away, but she answered anyway, “…I’m-.”
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“AHHHHHH.” A blood curling scream is heard, from the walls all the way down into their crevice; making all of them shift except the man. Ryder, Evelyn, and William quickly move their heads slightly outside the crevice, trying to see who let out the noise. But all they heard after was splashing, a faint splashing; but it became louder as they listen. As the splashing came closer, they peeked eyes slightly up, and they saw who did it. A woman, coming from a pathway of the crossroads; she was running until she decided to rest in the middle, catching her breath tirelessly as he holds her knees and coughs as she rests. The skin around her eyes were red, her eyes wet with tears while if falls down her shredded clothes.
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William saw her, and peeks his head and body more to the outside; he raises his arm as high as he can and waves, “Heeyy!!” he shouted.
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A hand grabs William’s shirt, trying to drag him back into the crevice, “What are you doing?!” Ryder said as he tries to pull William.
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“Trying to save her, what do you think I’m doing?!”
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William shouts at the woman again and waves until she heard him. The woman lifts up her head and sees William’s face and arm, trying to urge her to come. The woman gasps in relief, touching her chest and wiping her tears hastily. She starts to run again towards the crevice, trying as hard as she can to resist the pain of her tired legs. William smiled, but then turned upside down; in fact, his eyes flared in shock. The buzzing suddenly rippled through their ears, like somebody plugged a radio nearby. But to their shock, it wasn’t a radio. The woman screamed again, now louder and shriller than ever; William and the others were shocked by the sudden buzz that they averted their gaze away from the woman, until she screamed repeteadly. As they looked back, the woman was surrounded by the black bugs; her figure disappearing as the more bugs swarms onto her. Ryder tried to go out and help her, but his leg was pulled back; Ryder grabbed William’s leg, preventing him from exiting. They couldn’t do anything, except watch as the woman scream.
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After exactly a minute, the woman stopped making noise. Evelyn tries to see if she was still alive, but the bugs were still swarming around. Then, the swarm subsided; flying away and going to another path. What they left, made their heart black. The woman stood still, but she wasn’t the same. Her body became shriveled, from once a young woman, to a husk with nothing but rotten flesh dripping with black blood. Her eyes all white, with her mouth still screaming; her body flays down on the ground, like it was dead leaves.
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William and Ryder’s eyes stood still on the flaying body, while Evelyn and Larah looked away with Larah quickly going to the other side as she vomits. Ryder, shocked to a still, thinking of only one thing.
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“What… where the hell are we?!”
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