“Do you think we’ll survive?” Lawrence asked me.

I looked at him, then up at the cliff we’d fallen down. The twins were next to me, still sleeping, evidently exhausted as they didn’t wake up to me picking them up and running when something massive and seemingly invulnerable came toward us.

The obvious answer was no, but I figured if I said that Lawrence would definitely start crying. His face was already strained, his pale skin having tanned in the few days we’d been diving into dungeons, his brown eyes wavering even as they tried looking through my visor.

“Stop overreacting,” I lied, confidence infused into my voice, “The number one rule for any adversity in life is to remain calm.”

“That doesn’t answer my question!” Lawrence insisted, hand reaching out as he clung to me like a child.

As my hands were full holding the twins, keeping them off the cold stone ground in the lower levels of the maze we’d found ourselves in, I couldn’t push him away.

“We’ll be fine,” I snapped, holding the twins closer to me as if they could be the barrier between Lawrence and I.

Lawrence visibly relaxed at my words, curling closer to me as a gust of frost escaped his lips.

“Right… Right, yeah. Of course we’ll survive. Sorry.”

I really, really wanted to replace him, after this adventure.

If we survived.

Which we wouldn’t. Because not only were we in a dangerous maze full of invulnerable creatures, we also fell down a cliff and were all only uninjured because Lawrence protected the potions with his body.

I guess the man had some uses, if only those that required him to be a meat shield.

Sighing, I shifted, standing up and awkwardly carrying the still-asleep twins. The fall had been bad, with me only surviving because of my helmet, having landed flat on my back from a fall much more than a mile in my attempts to keep the twins as safe as I could.

Maybe I hadn’t survived, but the potions still managed to bring me back? The healing potions were really powerful… I guess that’s one more reason Lawrence was useful, I suppose.

I wouldn’t have minded had he not healed me, though.

What, and leave these two abused souls alone in the world? No way in hell.

“Tch,” I scoffed, unable to help the noise at my own thoughts. At my own annoyance.

My wish to die was much greater than my wish to help other tortured souls. Besides, the chances are great they’d hate the world, too, once they actually saw it.

The plastic of my outfit kept me off of the ground as I shifted uncomfortably on the dented material.

No. No, the chances are absolutely massive that they would adore every second on the planet their previous captors had never let them see.

I sighed at my lost argument, looking at the albino children in my arms.

Seventeen…

Jesus Christ had I gotten old. How old was I now, anyway? Twenty-eight? Time flew by so fast…

Well.

Whatever.

“Who are they? You hold them like you know them,” Lawrence muttered as he further curled into me, shivering.

We’d have to leave this area. We needed to find somewhere warm if we wanted to survive longer than a single night.

“They’re just some kids I found here. I gave them my potion, which is why they look so big, but I thought they were seven or something when I first saw them.”

Lawrence’s nose scrunched, his eyebrows pulling together as he looked at the kids—one of them now partially on his lap as he further pushed against me.

“Seven? They look like they’re in their twenties!” Lawrence cried.

“Dude, they were clearly trafficked or something. They got little to no food, no sunlight at all I bet, like—Agh. I have a video of it, you’ll just have to see it later. They looked bad,” I replied, “I had to give them a potion just to get them to look like this. They were half my size before!”

Lawrence looked dubious, but didn’t press me. His arms wrapped around me, his head attempting to tuck into my neck. I sighed, standing up.

“Okay, let’s go.”

A confused look flashed over his face, but he stood up hurriedly. I thought he would ask why we were moving, or maybe question some other decision I made, but he didn’t.

I guess he’s never really questioned my decisions before…

Weird.

Looking around, I wandered toward the darker areas. So far the brighter areas have been cold, so maybe I’d get lucky and find a cave leading to a lava pool or something.

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Minecraft-style.

I didn’t know. We were just walking along the lonesome cold paths that stretched infinitely upwards and infinitely onwards to keep our warmth.

My arms were tired, I noted quietly within my own mind.

Maybe it would have been better if we’d all died to the fall. Then we wouldn’t have to suffer through dehydration, starvation, or hypothermia.

The sounds of Lawrence’s footsteps echoed out alongside mine, and I took a deep breath only to release it. My visor fogged up, but I didn’t bother trying to fix that issue.

There was nothing to see.

No monsters. No snow. Not even any dead bramble on the walls.

Where we’d fallen in the maze was clear of all life. Of everything. It was just stone and cold air.

Hours passed like that. Me, tired and carrying the twins that still hadn’t woken up. Lawrence, quietly gasping for air as he drags himself alongside me. No matter how long we walked, he didn’t question it.

Eventually, the twins did wake up, relieving me of the notion that they’d fallen into a coma or something. Barefoot, they didn’t bother asking me to put them down, but they did adjust so all of their weight was evenly disbursed, taking most of the effort off of me. Their arms wrapped around my shoulders and their legs were wrapped around my waist, their heads resting on my shoulders.

Despite my attempts to keep them warm, their feet were looking frostbitten.

“Take sips of the last potion we have,” I told Lawrence, and the twins, ignoring the numbness in my own fingers, “It’ll heal the frostbite.”

Lawrence didn’t speak, taking out our last potion and carefully taking less than a sip. To both of our surprise, it healed him fully, his blackened fingers becoming pale once more. The twins’ feet and fingers were healed, too, and we continued after I shook my head at the potion offered to me.

In a clinical and pristine maze, it was no surprise that no caves were found by the time my legs gave out on me. Looking down, the reason was obvious as red blood poured from black ankles, bones showing through. To my surprise, around the black ankles was blue skin.

Skin actually turned blue when cold? Damn.

Damn, that was wild.

The twins gave me concerned looks, on their knees, Mable’s arms on my shoulders and Maple’s hands clutching at my chest-piece. I met hazel and pinkish-red eyes, their eyebrows scrunched together.

“Here,” Lawrence said quietly, giving me the potion. I lifted my helmet with numb fingers, grabbing the glass with my teeth and sipping carefully.

The moment my fingers seemed usable again, I reached out and took it from my lips, giving it back to Lawrence. He put it away quietly as I pulled my helmet back down, only having lifted it enough to show my lips.

Standing up, I reached out for the twins again. They practically slammed into me, climbing me like monkeys as they returned to their spots, holding me tightly.

“Sorry,” I muttered, “I didn’t mean to drop you.”

Glancing to the side, I saw Lawrence looking conflicted, his lips twisted down and his eyebrows risen together as he looked at me, then away. Swallowing, I looked forward as my own eyebrows scrunched.

Why’d he look like that? Was he worried about the potion running out? He and the twins took it hours before I did, no way was he conflicted about that…

A feeling twisted in my head, and I frowned at the oncoming headache.

How annoying.

Was he doubting my words now that I’d collapsed? Thinking that we wouldn’t survive now because of the weakness I’d shown?

…

My face relaxed, my shoulders doing the same.

Yeah, that was probably it. Well, at least he seemed pretty okay about the idea of us dying. I looked over to him, seeing him lost in thought.

Poor guy.

He probably had family to get back to. Maybe a wife and kids, even. He looked to be somewhere in his thirties, it was very possible.

“How old are you?” I asked curiously, “I’m pretty sure I’m twenty-eight, but I don’t really remember.”

Lawrence shrugged, “Outside of the dungeons? I’m thirty-eight.”

“Oh!” I hesitated to do the math. Ten was right, right? “You’re a decade older than me, then.”

Lawrence gave a half-smile, though it dropped immediately as he looked ahead. I did too. So far we’d been following the left wall. Eventually we’d get to where we wanted to be.

Be that somewhere warm or just finding stairs or an exit.

When Lawrence collapsed and wouldn’t wake up, I had the twins help me put him on my back. Maple borrowed his shoes to ease my load, carrying his sister after I stumbled several times.

“I never told you what happened, did I?” I asked the quiet twins. They shook their heads, and I nodded, “We fell. There was a monster and you guys wouldn’t wake up, and I ended up running us into a dead end. There was nowhere to go and I decided death by falling was a better way to go than being eaten and dissolved by acid in something’s stomach.”

The twins were silent for a moment before Maple spoke, “Why didn’t you fight it?”

“We tried,” I muttered, “Grenades, bullets, me hitting it as hard as I could. Eventually I just told others to retreat and scatter. I have no idea if the military men that were with us are okay or not, but if they are I think that’s the only way we’ll survive. There’s no food nor any water that I can find. Snow would work for hydration, but there’s none of that, either.”

Maple nodded quietly, his long white hair flowing around his shoulders with the motion. Unlike me, the twins had limp, straight hair. Very fine, thin strands that accentuated their beauty.

Mable’s black hair covered her eyes, her pale skin making her look like some horror-movie villain.

They both looked like villains, actually. With refined facial features and naturally long lashes that gave them a sort of cat-eye appearance, their natural beauty only made the quiet, low way that Maple spoke sound sophisticated and dangerous instead of meek as it had sounded when they were still half my size.

Looking around to distract myself from my very obvious staring, I held Lawrence’s legs just a bit tighter. The twins would have a good life outside, if we survived. I would make sure of it, even if I had to ask Davis for a favor.

The twins stopped only a step after I did. I continued hurriedly, glad they couldn’t see my embarrassed look.

Why would Davis ever do me a favor? With all that’s gone on, he’s probably forgotten about me already. After his concern over my injury faded, he treated me like normal once more, so to think that my old boss would do me a favor and give two unqualified individuals who probably couldn’t even read a job?

My narcissism is really showing through, here. Did I really think I made an impression on a man like him? I already knew I didn’t have a chance, so why did I suddenly mistake his temporary concern for any amount of genuine care?

Christ, I already knew I was exhausted, but this was really too much. My footsteps staggered as my vision blurred, but before I could right myself a very loud click echoed out.

High above, the sound of stone shifting on stone reached our ears. Looking up as the ground vibrated beneath us, I stared at the familiar orange liquid spilling from the slots created in the maze walls.

“A fucking lava trap?” I practically yelled. Or tried to, anyway, my eyes widening as my voice and legs gave out.

Now? Now?