Becky took a breath and stepped through the door. Her foot clicked on concert in a well-lit hall with lights in the ceiling above that was about 10 feet high. The hall was about 10 feet wide as well giving it the look of a perfect square.

At the end of it appeared to be a T intersection where she could choose to go left or right. Soon after she walked a few paces she heard the steps behind her of Patrick and Samantha. There was no sign of Tyrone or Calvin. It seems they were already well into the maze.

Becky turned to her fellow new players and said “well, first things first. I guess we should put our points in stamina or strength. I plan to put 3 in strength and 2 in stamina but do as you like. I don’t think we should waste too much time debating on what is the best idea”.

Becky turned forward and said “I would like to spend my points”.

*Status screen active. Please select the where you would like to spend your points by vocal command or selecting the plus key near the stats you wish you increase. For other options please see the point option screen *

Again she saw her name, height and skills. What she was more focused on was where here stats. They read.

LV: 1

STR: 10

INT: 15

DEX: 15

WIS: 15

STA: 5

CHA: 10

Points: 5

She saw her stamina was low but figured in this type of situation being able to run faster was probably better than being able to run longer. She had no idea how fast the things were that might chase her in this maze.

She brought her STR up to 13 and STA up to 7 and said “exit status screen”. It closed immediately. Behind her she heard Patrick and Samantha doing the same thing. She didn’t ask what they used the points on or if they even used them. Frankly, she figured she needed to be worried more about herself right now.

She simply turned back and said “is everyone ready now?” They told her they were; but what to do now? Go right or left? Did it really matter?

She asked them “do either of you have any ideas of what we should do?”

Samantha surprising spoke up “Well, this is a maze right? To solve a maze usually you need to get to the center or the opposite side. I say we aim for one of those as they are probably our best chance”.

Patrick said “I think that makes sense too. We should probably aim for the center first as best we can guess. If nothing is in there we just continue on to the other side That is probably the best idea”.

Becky said “Okay, let’s do that. For all we know we could have entered near the bottom or the top. This maze could also be a circle or triangle instead of a square. If we are going to aim for the center we should look to find the edges first. Once we do we can have a good idea what kind of shape we are in and where the center is”.

Patrick and Samantha were not sure if this was true but it sounded like it made since. Becky to be fully honest wasn’t sure either. They had to do something and having a goal as opposed to wondering around made more sense. Becky said “let’s go right, then keep going in that direction till we think we found the edge. Count our steps as we walk upward but not when we need to take detours. Then we will count our steps down in the opposite direction”.

It seemed with this there was no more need to discuss. They were feeling restless about waiting any longer with the countdown. They went to the T section and all turned right counted their steps as they had no other way to measure distance.

They all tried to walk about the same stride to keep their count the same. After about 30 steps they were forced to turn left and stopped counting. They were soon able to turn right again and continued their count. It was a bit tricky but all the turns looked to be 90 degrees. They had to back track a few times as well and subtract steps but on the whole where able to keep a good orientation just keeping track of turns.

After a while they came to a smooth straight wall that was blocked on both ends. Patrick said “is it the edge or not?”

Becky said “I don’t know… I count 1405 steps to get here just about. We should back track a bit and try to get around. If we can’t go any higher we will assume this is the edge and work out way down”. After back tracking a bit they were able to turn in the same direction again but could get no higher than 1411 steps up before finding the same smooth wall that was blocked on both sides.

Samantha said “well, it isn’t exactly the same but I guess that is to be expected. It isn’t like it is an exact measurement. I say we call this about the top of the maze and then we go down to find the bottom”.

They all agreed quickly and checked the time. They had 49:21 left. They would need to pick up the pace a little. On the way down they ran into a dead end. This time instead of just finding a cement wall there was a green box.

*Congratulations, you found a bonus game. If you choose to play and fail ankle cuffs with a 1 foot chain will be attached to you for the rest of the game. If you succeed you will receive a 25 point skill unlock gift card redeemable for any single 25 point skill. Do you wish to play a game with gambling and calculation to try to unlock this prize?*

Becky was puzzled. She assumed skill unlocks were part of the points option screen. She remembered hearing that spoke of earlier that you could use points to unlock skills. What kind of skill would 25 points give you? Of course it didn’t matter. She knew she could absolute not afford to lose. With ankle cuffs on like she wouldn’t be able to run if she needed to.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

She turned to both Patrick and Samantha and said “I am not going to play this. You two do as you want but I am continuing on”.

She turned to leave and they followed her. It seemed they agreed it be a bad idea or perhaps were just scared to be alone in here. She would be. They continued to walk downward. They found another dead end which had a bonus game for an item but again decided against it. After about 2000 steps from the top they reached another smooth wall that ran along the side. They doubled back and tried to go lower but could not.

They sat together for a moment. Patrick said “so it seems this is in fact a square or rectangle shaped maze. One side is about 2000 steps. I think we should just assume a square shape for now and with the theory this is 2000 steps high and 2000 steps wide. We are still pretty close to the wall we entered from so I say we try 1000 steps up and 1000 steps over. That should put us near the center. If we don’t see anything near there we go 1000 more steps over and see if we hit a wall”.

Clearly it was the right thing to do. There was a bit under 40 minutes left to find the exit. Even though about 1/3rd of the time had been used they were all pretty happy. They felt they had a strong handle on what to do and a good reason to do it.

*Alert! Player Calvin failed a bonus game and created a new entity*

All 3 were shocked. Samantha asked “that idiot, why would he do that? That is such a stupid risk to take and he doubles our chances of dying”.

Becky assumed it probably did. Maybe even more than double depending on what was created; clearly to take such a risk Calvin was confident he would be okay but showed no value for anyone else’s life here.

*Alter! Player Tyrone has encountered an enemy. Player Tyrone has been removed from the game. 4 players remaining*

Silence fell over the group for a moment. Patrick asked “do you think it was the entity Calvin created? What if it spawned right near Tyrone? But I guess it could have just been the original one too”.

That idea terrified Becky. What if Calvin played such a game again and lost and something popped into existence right next to her?

Samantha was going to say something but Becky interrupted “It doesn’t matter now, he’s dead and our chances of dying just doubled. The longer we are in here the worse our odds. You don’t know if Calvin will do something stupid and create another entity. We need to move now and quickly.”

She got up and began to walk in the direction they spoke of counting her steps. She was not going to die here. She wasn’t in love with her life outside of this game but she wasn’t just going to sit still and die. She was going to live no matter what. She was happy to hear them following her though. The pace had quickened.

It was a lot harder to aim for a particular location in the maze then just a wall. They had to keep track of more and be careful with detours. More games were passes along the way. Before long they got to where they thought the center would be. It was just more maze.

Patrick said “So the end isn’t in the center?”

Samantha said “Well, we assumed it was a square. It could be longer than high or some other weird shape. In either case we should look around more”. They decided to do so and searched the general area as best they could. They gave the area a good scan of 50 steps up and sideways in all directions but found nothing. It seems this was either not the center or the center wasn’t where the exit was.

Becky said “Well it was worth a try. We should he half way to the other side of the maze though if we are right. We should get moving…”

She was going to say more but heard footsteps coming. They clacked against the cement like hers did but they felt lighter. Something was weird. It was like there was someone walking on the ground but also someone walking on top of maze too. It made no sense. They did sound like human footsteps. Could it be the acoustics playing tricks?

As the steps rounded the corner she was shocked by what she saw. It was as if a nightmare was living and breathing in front of her.

She saw a black paper thin square. It was the color stretched out almost liquid like. On it were legs just like tiny human legs. 2 legs walked on the floor, there was a pair on either side that walked along the walls in a perfectly casual manor like that was the way gravity was supposed to work and 2 legs walked along the ceiling all of them in perfect unison.

On its surface of the square were dozens and dozens of long thin arms that she guessed had a good 6 foot reach in front or the entity. They were much thinner than her arms but she got the feeling they were far stronger. The only other thing on the square was 6 large eyes and below each large eye was a large mouth.

They had no particular order on the creature except each mouth lined up perfectly under its own eye. Some were facing straight in line with the square and some facing diagonal. There were wide empty spaces on it with no eyes or mouth and other parts where they appeared too bunched up. The mouths spoke in voices that sounded almost human.

“Look, you see food?” “Yes, they look tasty!” “Me hungry, can we eat?” “Yes, we can eat” “I want some!” “I share, we all share right?” “Yes, sharing good” “Can I have leg?” “I want arm.” “I like fresh food.” “They look fresh!” “Yes, fresh is best!”

It started to move towards them and though the legs still had a walking motion it was going much faster now. They all ran in the opposite direction.

“What the hell is that thing?” Patrick said

Becky said “It doesn’t matter, just run”.

Samantha started to cry “I just wanna go home”. Samantha ran quicker in a hysterical fear out pacing Becky and Patrick around a corner.

“Look food!” “Yummy!” “Tasty food is good!” “Catch it.” “We share.” “I got it.” “I got it too.” “I hate when food runs.” “We won’t let food run away.”

Samantha had just turned the corner to see the exact same kind of monster, It grabbed her, its long arms and bird like talon fingers wrapping around her arms and legs and neck. They closed around her so tightly they drew blood.

“Oh god, it hurts! Help me!” Samantha yelled as the arms dug into her soft body and pulled her forward towards the smiling mouths.

“Let her go!” Patrick said as he tried to stick at the hands. A few of the eyes stayed on Samantha but some turned towards him. The arms reached out trying to grab him. They scratch him a bit but couldn’t get a good hold. He tried his best to pull Samantha out and to hit or break any of the dozens of arms holding her. The arms though were like steel. They were so thin but had no give at all.

Becky yelled to Patrick “you can’t help her! You have to run. The other one is coming from behind us.”

Samantha cried “Help me, please don’t leave. Oh god I don’t want to die!”

The creature’s arms pulled her hand toward ones of its mouths and started to chomp down hard with its perfectly square teeth. Flesh seemed to simply disappear in clean chunks behind every bite. Blood splattered against the shape and other mouths with their long thing tongues licked it up.

Becky in an odd moment of detached clarity thought “but this thing paper thin… where can the hand being be going?’

She realized it didn’t matter. The hand was gone now and the wrist was being eaten one quick clean chomp at a time in a rhythmic machine like fashion. Other arms were pulling her other hand and legs to other mouths on the creature,

She heard the other one behind her. She tried to pull Patrick away but he was determined to save Samantha. She turned and ran into an opening around the corner away from them. She heard Patrick get grabbed. The last thing she heard was screaming from both of them for her to come back and help. She cried and ran and cried and ran. It was all she could do.

She stopped a moment tried to collect herself. She and checked the clock and saw 20:45 left. Even with all that turning and running she still thought she knew the direction she had to go to get to the other side.

*Alter! Player Samantha has encountered an enemy. Player Samantha has been removed from the game. 3 players remaining*

*Alter! Player Patrick has encountered an enemy. Player Patrick has been removed from the game. 2 players remaining*

She almost forgot that would happen. She ran the back of her hand against her eyes to rid them of tears. She made a promise to herself in 21 minutes she would still be alive. She began to move.