Page 25

Odessa

I t felt as I had been walking for miles.

With how long and winding these tunnels were, that probably was the case.

No one had spoken in hours, each of us trudging cautiously along the sides of the tunnel.

Careful not to disturb the water below. Occasionally, small bits of rock would slide off from one of our shoes and ripple the top of the still murky black water, echoing off the short, rounded ceiling.

“We should stop to get some rest soon,” Nat said.

“Oh, yeah? How are we supposed to do that? We touch that water and we’re dead,” Killian retorted.

I shuddered, imagining the worst. It might have been foolish of me to trust Dex, but I didn’t think he was lying.

Plus, he’d helped me more than once when he didn’t have to.

Staying behind to warn me just so I wouldn’t be engulfed by the acid.

There’s no knowing what would have happened to me if he didn’t take the time to do that, maybe even to his own detriment.

He could have gone off and had a head start if he wanted to.

But he didn’t. He stayed, and I knew he stayed for me.

I could feel my emotions shimmering just beneath the surface threatening to spill over and take the wheel, but I couldn’t afford to break. Not down here.

“There’s got to be a break in the tunnel sometime. It doesn’t just go on forever, nitwit,” Nat snapped, bringing me out of my thoughts.

Though it did feel like the tunnel was endless. There hadn’t been a turn or anything that we could see yet. And knowing that the other teams were right behind us, didn’t make me feel like we could stop. At least not safely.

While our alliance between each other was fragile at best, it was a whole lot better than facing the other teams alone. There was no telling how many of them were even left after the kind of bloodbath that was unfolding before we peeled out.

“I think I see something!” Reed said.

And sure, enough just ahead there was a fork in the tunnel, breaking off into three separate directions and no way to know which one was the right choice.

The water became shallow and eventually nonexistent. The floor turned into an uneven cobblestone, making it difficult to walk without twisting an ankle. At least the boots they gave us had good traction.

As we got closer, shapes carved into the limestone arches appeared. One of an anatomical heart, another that had the gods’ symbol of ribs, and the last one that resembled leg bones made into an ‘x’.

“Which one do you think is the right way?” Killian said, holding the straps of his pack and tilting his head back to study the symbols.

“Obviously, it’s the gods’ symbol,” Reed said.

“Wouldn’t that be a little too obvious?” Nat replied.

“I think it’s the ‘x’, for ‘x’ marks the spot,” Killian interjected.

“What do you think?” Dex asked. His tone was low enough that I knew his question was just for me.

My brow furrowed as I studied the markings.

The gods symbol would make the most sense, but it also seemed the riskiest. They were known for playing tricks, and that’s what made this such a difficult choice.

They’d be just as likely to point out the right way with their own symbol as they would to use it as a trap. It was impossible to tell.

“I think we should follow the heart,” Nat said.

I still hadn’t given my opinion feeling a wave of overwhelm at it all.

The sounds of people dying still echoed in my ears.

No amount of anticipating the worst could have prepared me for the reality of it.

I’d seen dead bodies before, but they were in funeral homes.

Those were staged. Calm. Their corpses looked peaceful.

Not like the gruesome annihilation that I’d witnessed in the start of these stupid games.

And I knew it was far from over. How many of us would even make it out of here?

Nervous glances were exchanged between several of us as the discussion heated up. I found myself chewing on my bottom lip as I swiveled my head, looking at all three tunnels. Weighing the options.

Knowing that the other team could be right behind us had me feeling the pressure of choosing quickly.

We had to keep moving, but I had to admit my legs were tired and I didn’t remember eating breakfast. With how dark it was down here, there was no way to really keep track of time.

And my stomach was stabbing me with how hungry I felt.

“I think we should rest first before we move on. There’s no telling what kind of traps are in any of those tunnels,” I said finally.

“Yeah, let’s do that. But we can’t linger long,” Nat agreed with a sigh, dropping her pack and sitting cross-legged on the ground. She rolled her shoulders and dug into the food that had been provided.

I joined her, taking a much-needed drink from my cool canteen. The icy water slid down my throat and into my empty stomach. There wasn’t much it could hold, and I knew that I needed to ration it.

“Fine,” Killian said joining us on the hard ground.

Dex stood with his muscular arms crossing his large chest, looking down at us before patrolling the perimeter.

The way I’d jumped into his arms should have felt embarrassing, but there was something about him that made me feel oddly safe.

The way he blocked me by using his body made my insides all warm and squishy.

Above the tunnel we had just come out from, I noticed there was an etching of a hand. I wondered what each of those etchings could stand for, because one of them had to led to the end of this maze.

“How many people do you think are left back there?” I asked, digging around for the food rations. Finally, my fingers brushed up against the silver foil and I pulled it towards me.

“Seven of them went after each other back there. There’s no way they all made it. Especially if what you said is true about the water,” Reed said.

Dex eyed him and nodded his head. “It’s true. I had no reason to lie about it.”

“What do you think they’re doing up there right now?” Killian asked, taking a seat beside Reed and gesturing to the ceiling above. The two of them reminded me so much of my brother. He’d be in training about now. Preparing for the war that raged just outside our borders.

“I think they’re sitting down for lunch. Or running off to grab some cheese with a side of some crusty bread,” Reed answered sounding wistful.

“I’d kill for some bread right about now. My mother always said that there wasn’t much that couldn’t be fixed by a good piece of bread,” Nat said, biting into her ration with a grimace.

I swallowed my stale piece of granola, the texture grating across my tongue like sandpaper as I thought of my own mother. Was she even still alive?

In my heart I felt like I would have known if she passed.

Or at least I hoped so. The two of us were so close that if I were to lose her, I don’t know how I would cope with it.

While a part of me knew I couldn’t keep her forever, there was another part that hoped I could have more time.

A selfish part of me wondered if I would get the chance to take the healing mask.

I’d been too frightened to do anything but run for my life earlier.

If I came past the healing mask again, I don’t know if I would hold back, or if I would try and take that power. I was afraid to find out what I would do, because would the power be worth it if the cost was another’s life?

“We shouldn’t linger long,” Dex warned, watching the tunnel we had come from.

I knew he was right, but the adrenaline that had been coursing through my veins seemed to have dried up. My body felt exhausted and all I wanted to do was sleep.

“You think they purposefully made the worst tasting rations on the planet?” Killian asked struggling to chew the hard bits of granola.

Suddenly a burst of flames came careening down the tunnel, narrowly missing Dex.

He had just enough time to tuck and roll before it turned into a wall of flames that were quickly encompassing the entire room.

Reed wasn’t as fast, and his arm was overtaken by the flames.

Charred flesh and smoke filled the small, rounded room making my lungs burn.

His screams pierced my ear drums filling my heart with ice-cold dread.

My instincts finally kicked in and I sprung to my feet, shoving the rations back into my pack. I hoisted the heavy bag onto my shoulders in one swift move.

“We have to move!” I cried out, stating the obvious but my teammates were all trying to help Reed put out the fire on his arm that had crawled up his face and singed his hair.

The wall of flames covered the entrance to two of the tunnels and was quickly edging into the third. We had no other choice but to take off down the tunnel marked with the god’s symbol and hope to high heaven it was the right one.