Chapter 114: Found It

While Alex and Hazel were training, time did not stop for the others. By the time Ace woke back up, only 42 hours were left.

Earlier That Day

Hunter's POV

Looking at my watch, nothing drastic had changed since I last checked it. The number '10' hasn't risen or dropped, and the timer is still ticking down as usual.

47:12:38… 37… 36…

It’s been over a day since we left camp, and I feel like we’re being burned alive. It's the hottest day yet, and we have no shade to retreat to on top of the walls. Nobody has any water left either, and Delta is increasingly making that known.

I'm thankful that we have Scar with us, though. He's really stepped up by offering his skills and leadership. His powers are a mystery, but they're cool as hell. I've wanted to ask him about them for quite a while now, but Scar isn't really in the best of moods.

"There's just… nothing out here… only endless walls…" murmured Scar in front of me, his frustrated voice just out of earshot from Forest and Delta, who were both lagging behind.

Stepping up beside him, I say, "We've been in this maze for nearly a full day. Surely, it can't go on forever. It must end at some point, exit or not."

"That's not the point. We're low on food, out of water, and losing hope. If we don't find something soon, we'll die of dehydration before we ever see the end to this maze," says Scar, keeping his eyes on what's ahead.

A thud echoed behind us, followed by Forest saying, "Scar, Hunter, hold up for a minute."

Crouching next to Delta, who's profusely sweating, sunburnt, and nearly hyperventilating, Forest offers her the little water he has left.

"Here, drink," says Forest, a frown on his face as he places his canteen on her lips and watches her gulp down the rest of his water.

"About time… you did something useful, Forest," tiredly gasps Delta after taking every last drop for herself, which makes Forest scowl in disgust and rip the canteen away from her.

"Useful? I did something useful?! You… you've been slowing us down this entire time! Forcing us to take breaks for your convenience because your feet hurt, or you're hungry, or you're tired! We've been lenient, but if I'm being honest, if we didn't have you, we three probably would've found a way out of this damn maze already!" shouts Forest.

Delta sneers, "I never asked for your help. I can handle myself out here."

Forest chuckles in disbelief and leans toward her, "Clearly not! You just collapsed from dehydration! What the hell will you do now that the last of our water is gone?!"

Delta swats him away, "Back off! Just focus on yourself, dick."

Forest takes a step back and stares at her. The two make eye contact.

"The next time you fall, I'll hold you to that," says Forest before he walks away, passing by Scar and me as we've been quietly observing their interaction.

Delta lethargically rises, her legs visually quivering back and forth as she forces herself to start walking.

"I'm nobody's dead weight…" mutters Delta as she finds her rhythm and walks past us.

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"And not only will the dehydration weaken us physically, but also mentally. Forest is feeling it, too. He never would've cracked like that under normal conditions," says Scar, and I nod in agreement.

Once Forest and Delta were well out of earshot, I glanced at Scar and sarcastically asked with a lighter tone, "So when are you going to ditch us?"

Scar matches my gaze, his eyes and expression remaining as unflinching as ever.

"Soon."

That's all he said to me before he began walking again, leaving me there to speculate in silence.

Soon? How soon? If we lose Scar, we're done for… he can't leave!

Jogging up beside him, I try to reason, "Look, I can still be helpful-"

"How so?" he quickly interrupts.

"I'm strong, and I know the maze and-"

"So, you're useless to me, is what I'm hearing," says Scar.

"Well. I-"

"You'll only be slowing me down," coldly says Scar.

Taking a moment to think, I switch approaches.

"Then why stick with us this far?" I ask, genuinely curious.

Scar doesn’t say anything for a second.

"Hey! We found it! The exit is over here!" hollers Forest a few seconds later, and the two of us, who initially glanced at each other confused, jog over to meet Forest and Delta, who are both peering down at a sharp right turn ahead of us.

"Look, down this turn," says Forest as we arrive.

Looking toward where he instructed, there was something new. Like a billboard, a large sign was placed high off the ground and spanned across the path, connected to the walls on either side. However, the sign appeared old, with cracks forming along the edges.

Nevertheless, the words 'THE EXIT' were boldly displayed across the length of the sign. From our point of view atop the walls, this turn was no dead end, and we couldn't see any turns down the path as it continued going straight until it was out of sight.

"You're kidding, right?" voices Delta, in disbelief at how straightforward this is.

"This is far too easy. It must be a trap," says Scar, unconvinced.

"I agree," says Forest.

"We haven't encountered any traps yet from up here. We might as well check it out," I say, having doubts but desperate to escape the maze.

"You take the lead then," says Scar.

Taking a deep breath, I walk forward atop the walls, taking the nearest right turn. Hearing the footsteps of the others walking behind me, we passed by the sign and continued walking.

Thirty minutes have passed, and we are still walking down the same wall. There have been options to turn left but no options to go right. No dead end either.

It's now been an hour, and we finally found it. The official exit to the maze was right below us. The sun had begun to set, and a striking gold swept over the scenery before us as a subtle breeze cooled us down from the heat. To our left, meadows bragging their wide range of flowers and beautiful, large oak trees painted the sight before us.

But what drew my eyes the most was the top of a building that peeked out from over the hills… very far off in the distance. It shone like no other, even though it was still daytime.

"Hey, Hunter. Look over there," says Forest, and I glance at him briefly to see where he was looking.

Off to the right, the gorgeous meadow came to a stark end, and fields came into view. Farming fields. I heard something, but it was difficult to get a good look, so I asked, "Scar, mind transporting us one more time? I want to get a better look."

There was no response.

"Scar?" I repeated, noticing his gaze transfixed on the building I had seen earlier.

And I saw a slight change in his expression for the first time.

Is he… angry…?

I shook him on the shoulder, and he quickly snapped out of his daze.

"Scar, can you transport us to the wall across from us? I want to get a better look at those farming fields," I say.

I didn't know how he would respond, but he gazed at the fields in question and said after a bit, "Yeah, I'm interested too."

A few seconds later, we were atop a different wall and had a much better view of what I believed to be farming fields. I was right; it was a wheat farm, but the sight I took in then horrified me. Large quantities of people were working the fields. But it was immediately apparent that these weren't voluntary workers or seasoned farmers.

Wearing rags of filthy clothes, each person was malnourished and lethargic with their movements.

"What the hell…" said Forest, dumbfounded by what we were staring at.

I suddenly heard a curt wheeze, and I turned to see Scar falling forward and off the wall, his eyes rolling back into his head before he vanished into thin air. Confused, my eyes broaden as Forest, and I hastily make eye contact before a sharp chop connects with the back of my neck. Everything blurred instantly, and the last thing I saw was a hazy image of Forest lunging toward me with an outstretched arm.