F9 was an awkward ride.

Lucy sat in the back, arms folded, her gaze fixed on the window, brooding. Teresa stared forward, arms crossed tightly around her weapon as if she were holding back something she desperately wanted to say.

Her lips pressed into a thin line, and whenever she spoke, it was only to give directions, avoiding unnecessary conversation.

"Second exit!" It wasn’t vague, no hesitation—she gave each direction like she’d been here a hundred times.

Jude couldn’t help but notice how precise she was as if she had a map imprinted in her mind, and each turn and landmark was as clear as day. She wasn’t just guiding them; she was leading them straight to the next destination like a human GPS, no mistakes, no second guesses.

Jude guided the car smoothly through the roundabout, taking the second exit as instructed. A small smirk tugged at his lips, curiosity getting the better of him. “How do you do that?”

“Do what?”

“How do you know exactly where it is? Every time.”

“I just know.”

Jude’s brow furrowed, not satisfied. “Are you, like, connected to a system or something?”

Teresa glanced at him, “No,” she said. “It’s more like... the system’s connected to me.” She shrugged and shifted in her seat, her arms loosening as she leaned forward slightly. “It’s the other way around,” she said. “Every device needs an outlet... I’m that outlet. You get what I’m saying?”

Then, she glanced over her shoulder, her gaze softening as it landed on Lucy, still sulking in the backseat. “You’ll be okay, kid. You know that, right?”

Lucy didn’t respond, her eyes stubbornly fixed outside the window. Teresa just sighed and turned her attention back to the road ahead.

"Okay, turn here, we are close."

As they drove, the outline of a colossal structure emerged in the distance, a metallic building gleaming in the fading light. The massive, oval-shaped coliseum towered over the surrounding buildings, with its glass and steel exterior reflecting fragmented glimpses of the city’s skyline.

Dark LED screens wrapped around the building, eerily lifeless, while tattered banners flapped in the breeze, showcasing faded images of unknown faces—yet one unmistakable: Len.

Jude stared at the arena. “I’ve only ever seen this through other people’s eyes. It feels... strange.”

Teresa’s gaze remained fixed on the structure as well. “This place... everything’s changed so much. When I first connected, all I could think about was wiping them out, saving Earth, saving humankind.” She let out a dry, hollow chuckle, her eyes darkening. “But Earth was never the one at risk... we were the ones in danger and the danger. How couldn't we see it?”

Jude’s mind wandered back to the news Abel had relayed that fateful day when he missed his chance to go home. Scenes of smog-filled cities, people masked against the thick yellow haze, and scorched, desolate forests flashed in his memory; for Jude, that had always been a reality—life under a sickly sky, where breathing freely was a luxury.

But here, in this strange fake place, the air was clear, the sky vast, and everything felt... odd. This world didn’t match the one he’d known, and yet it was becoming disturbingly normal.

The car rolled to a slow stop before a rusted metal gate, a lifeless toll booth standing sentinel. The dull screen on the machine remained unlit, the arm barring their path motionless. Jude frowned, glancing around. "Where are we?" he asked, eyeing the offline toll as if expecting it to spring to life any second.

Teresa pushed the car door open with a creak, stepping out. "This is the entrance to the maze," she said, matter-of-fact. Without glancing back, she added, "Leave the jeep. It won’t help us in there."

Jude and Lucy hurried out of the car, their shoes crunching on the gravel. Teresa moved to the back, popped the trunk, and pulled out two rifles, handing one to each of them with no explanation. "If it crosses your mind to shoot, don't hesitate. You pull the fucking trigger."

Lucy held the rifle awkwardly, her fingers fumbling along its surface as though she’d never touched one before. "What’s in the maze?"

Teresa’s eyes didn’t soften when replying to her. “Not friends,” she muttered while slamming the truck door with a clang. “Not friends and if it feels like it should be dead, it’s because it has to be. Got that? What?-No?-Then bang!”

Without waiting for a response, she crouched low, slipping past the toll with grace. "Come on," she added, "F9’s a damn hellhole nightmare."

As they stepped inside, the word "maze" took on a whole new meaning for Jude. Towering walls loomed on either side, their surfaces barren except for a few hastily scrawled chalk markings—circles and X's—at every turn.

There were no signs, no clues, nothing to suggest where they were or how to navigate the labyrinth. What unsettled him most wasn’t the maze itself but Teresa. Instead of watching the path ahead, her eyes constantly flicked upward, surveying the edges of the walls as if expecting something from above.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Without thinking, Lucy and Jude's gazes followed Teresa's, monitoring the tops of the concrete walls as if some unseen threat lurked just out of sight.

The air felt heavier the longer they walked, each turn blending into the next, with no end in sight. Time became meaningless as the walls seemed to stretch on forever, swallowing them deeper into a maze that didn't promise any good.

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The maze loomed around them, its towering concrete walls stretching high above, creating narrow corridors that seemed to close in with every step. The rough, weathered surface of the walls bore faded markings—chalk scribbles, hastily drawn arrows, and obscure symbols, remnants of those who had passed through before. Some walls were smudged with what looked like handprints or scratches, adding an eerie, claustrophobic feeling to the atmosphere.

Every now and then, Teresa would pause, her eyes scanning upward toward the top of the walls, which seemed impossibly far, as though the sky itself was unreachable from within this concrete prison. The paths were void of any vegetation or life, just barren stone, and the silence was deafening, broken only by the occasional scrape of their footsteps or distant, unidentifiable sounds from the unseen parts of the maze.

Lucy stopped abruptly as she pointed her finger at a familiar mark on the wall—a rough tic-tac-toe game scratched into the concrete. “We’ve passed this already,” she said. “I swear we’ve seen this before. Are we lost?”

"We’re not lost," Teresa responded, her gaze still locked upwards, surveying the tops of the towering walls instead of the path ahead. Her eyes moved constantly, like she was tracking something that wasn't on the ground. It was nerve-wracking, and Jude felt the creeping sense that she wasn't searching for an exit—she was looking for something else entirely.

Jude’s eyes followed Teresa’s gaze. “Is the landmark... up there?" he asked, breaking her focus for a split second.

Teresa blinked, her attention snapping back, caught off guard. “What?”

He pointed toward the sky above the maze. “Is that what you’re looking for? Is the landmark scanner up?”

She hesitated, her answer barely more than a murmur. “Something like that.” It wasn’t much of an answer, just enough to dodge the truth.

Lucy leaned in close, her voice barely a breath against Jude’s ear. "I’ve got a bad feeling about this."

Jude nodded, a subtle shiver running down his spine as he remembered Teresa’s earlier warning—*What?-No?-Then bang!*

"Yeah, me too," he muttered, eyes darting to the shadowed corners of the maze. His nerves prickled. Something wasn’t right. Jude cleared his throat, trying to mask his unease. "Teresa," he called out, "maybe it’d be easier if you told us what you’re looking for?"

Teresa didn’t break stride, her eyes still fixed ahead. Without turning, she smirked and teased, "Where’s the fun in that?"

Without warning, she halted at an intersection, her gaze snapping toward two walls marked with a hastily big scribbled "A" in bold, chalky lines. Her eyes narrowed, her smirk fading into something more focused.

"Got you," she mumbled, pulling her goggles over her eyes.

Before Jude or Lucy could react, Teresa swung her bulky weapon upward, aiming at the sky. The silence shattered as a brilliant white blast shot from the barrel, blinding them with its sudden, searing light. Jude instinctively threw his arm up to shield his face while also plunging himself over Lucy, shielding her with his body.

His free hand covered her eyes just as the blinding light filled the narrow corridor. The searing brightness made his head spin, but he held on until the intensity faded.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” he shouted, finally releasing Lucy and turning toward Teresa, eyes still squinting from the afterglow. His voice was sharp, cutting through the eerie silence. “Are you trying to blind us?”

Teresa’s lips curled into a smirk, but there was no humour in it—just a faint trace of something bitter, almost resigned. Her eyes flickered with the weight of something inevitable. “They’ll be here any moment, Watcher,” she said, her tone low, like the calm before the storm. “You ready?”

Jude’s pulse quickened. “Ready for fucking what?”

Then, from the depths of the labyrinth, a series of bone-chilling howls echoed, growing louder, closer, reverberating off the walls. Something was coming, fast.

A low, guttural growl rippled through the maze, bouncing off the concrete walls, making it impossible to pinpoint its origin. It felt like the sound was circling them, tightening, as if they were trapped in the eye of a storm, the unseen threat swirling closer.

Jude snatched Lucy’s rifle without a word, his hands moving fast to unlock the magazine. “Just point and shoot,” he ordered, handing the rifle back to her. He could feel the tension radiating from her frame as she gripped the weapon, her knuckles turning white.

The growls grew fiercer, closing in, but still, there was nothing—just the suffocating blindness of the maze and the creeping sense that they were surrounded.

Lucy gave a small nod, her fingers gripping the rifle tighter than necessary, knuckles pale, betraying her nerves. She held it steady, trying to suppress the tremble in her hands. Jude glanced her way, noticing her attempt to mask her fear, but the slight shake in her grip gave her away.

He pressed the rifle’s stock against his shoulder, his eyes narrowing through the lens as he scanned the horizon. Nothing. No smoke was curling in the distance, and there were no familiar signs of the Eidolons they had encountered before. His gut twisted—if it wasn’t the usual ones, then it had to be the other kind. The dangerous ones.

Teresa's earlier warning echoed in his mind. He tightened his jaw, fingers flexing on the trigger. Something was coming. Something worse.

A shadow shifted above, and Jude’s breath hitched. There it was—the first of them. Perched atop the maze’s towering wall, a hound-like figure, all jagged scales and a tail that coiled and twitched with predatory menace.

Its eyes glowed faintly, locking onto their group as it crouched, every muscle tense, ready to spring. It moved with an eerie grace, its gaze haunting, like something pulled straight from a nightmare.

The sharp, empty click echoed louder than it should have, freezing Jude in place. He glanced over at Lucy, her finger frantically pulling the trigger of her rifle, eyes wide with panic. Click. Click. No bullets. Jude’s own finger squeezed the trigger, the same lifeless sound. His heart dropped as he flipped the magazine—empty.

Jude's fists clenched, his heart pounding in his chest as he stepped toward Teresa, fury boiling in his veins. "You fucking cunt!!" he spat in rage. The realization hit hard—she had handed them empty rifles, and now she stood there, cool and collected like this was some twisted game.

Teresa’s smirk didn’t falter. She watched him with an infuriating calmness like she had been waiting for this reaction. “Oh, come on, Saint. Don’t act surprised. You didn’t really think you’d get a free pass, did you?” Her tone was mocking, almost boring. "Paris chose you; now show me if he did well."

Jude could feel his body shaking. “What the hell do you expect us to do? Fight with nothing? You think this is a joke?”

Teresa tilted her head slightly. “No joke, Saint. Just a test. Let’s see if you’ve got the guts to figure it out.” She glanced at the approaching shadows with a twisted sense of amusement. “They’re coming. The clock’s ticking.”

image [https://i.imgur.com/zZpnnXk.png]