The first two mimics crawled into two of the makeshift tents to rest, while Charles and the last one remained by the fake campfire.
Josh, Sarah, and l exchanged a glance and quick nods, then I laid out my bed of cloth near the tents.
'God, I should've made a real shelter when I first got here...'
Josh and Sarah followed, slipping into their tents. We all pretended to be asleep.
It took Charles and the other mimic several minutes before they, too, shuffled off to their respective shelters.
We held still, feigning sleep for what felt like thirty minutes.
Exhaustion hit me in waves.
I felt my consciousness blur, every breath heavier than the last.
'I feel like i went through a war...'
I yawned quietly.
'If I let my guard down for so much as a second, I'll fall asleep.'
I waited a few minutes more before rising slowly to my feet.
My job was to watch from outside being the only one without a tent made me the lookout by default.
'This would be so much easier if this maze had a day-night cycle. Then at least I could move in the dark...'
I muttered the words under my breath while checking that all the mimics were asleep.
Then I crept toward Josh's tent, gently pulling the lap open -our agreed signal. Next, I slid to Sarah's.
She was already up before I could whisper, spear in hand, eyes sharp.
"Fast as always" I murmured.
"You were a bit slower than I expected," she shot back softly. "Almost thought something went wrong."
'Seriously? Criticism at a time like this? Josh's personality has been rubbing off on her.'
"Not yet,'" I whispered. "Let's keep it that way."
Two long minutes passed. Josh's tent was still silent.
"Did that idiot fall asleep in there? Seriously?" Sarah whispered, barely hiding her annoyance.
"Probably." I replied, trying to hide my disappointment
'Then again, I couldn't blame him--my eyelids had betrayed me more times than could count earlier.'
"Listen. I know where he stashed the backpack. I'll fetch it. You wake him. We'll meet inside the southern corridor. The narrow one that leads straight ahead."
She didn't say a word. She didnt need to. A quick nod and she slid toward Josh's tent. I hurried the eastern corridor and turned left.
'There it is!'
A decayed body slumped against the wal, clothes clinging in dusty folds.
I bit back the nausea and shoved it aside.
And then - the backpack.
Torn apart. Bottles split open, food reduced to shreds. The cuts weren't random. They were deliberate. Precise.
'No. No, no, no.'
My stomach twisted as I stared at the fabric-- deep slashes like something with claws had gutted it.
'Claw marks?? What the hell could've done this?'
Then it clicked; Charles.
'That lazy, calm smile. That fake composure. He knew we'd plan to run from the start. He was the one who had done this.'
My fists curled, nails digging deep enough into my palms to draw blood.
'He's been playing us this whole time. Again. Does that sly bastard think we wont escape simply because of some measly supplies? I'll show him'
I sprinted back toward the camp, staying wide of the tents, breath shaking.
The southern corridors opened before me like the throat of some sleeping beast-- like a warning of what lays ahead.
As I rounded the corner, Josh and Sarah emerged from the shadows.
Sarah looked panicked; Josh was still rubbing his eyes.
"Yuwon?" Sarah asked sharply. "Where's the backpack?"
I shook my head, still panting. "Gone. Torn to pieces. Something clawed through it."
Her eyes widened in equal parts of shock and anger. "Charles?"
"Who else?" I snapped. "We have to move. Now."
Josh blinked groggily. "Wait-what? What happened?" He asked, too drowsy to make sense of the situation yet.
"No time!" I barked, grabbing his arm. "If we stay, we die."
Sarah followed after us, running at a steady pace. "Then what do we do? Leave for the exit without any supplies?"
"Yeah! It doesn't seem like anybody is chasing after us for now, so we just have hurry even more than before!" I let go of Josh's arm as his senses finally seemed to come back
"Yuwon--wait! What if--" she attempted to ask, running after me. But I cut her off
"We can always gather supplies on our way to the exit! Dont stress the situation too much Sarah!" I shouted back, silencing her for the moment.
We tore through the corridor, the camp fading behind us-- every echo of our footsteps louder than it should've been, paranoia creeping on all three of us.
After nearly thirty minutes of weaving through the vast, endless passages of the maze, we finally slowed down.
Sarah and I slumped against the wall, gasping for air, our clothes damp with sweat.
'God, my throat's on fire. and we don't even have water left. But even so...'
I glanced at Josh, standing a few meters ahead.
He was breathing heavily but nowhere near as drained as we were, calmly wiping a bead of sweat from his forehead.
'Does he run for sport or something? He's built like a twig but somehow not dying like we are...'
I pushed myself to my feet and offered Sarah a hand. She looked up at me - face flushed, still panting - and stood on her own, brushing my hand aside.
"At least we've built some distance," Josh said, trying to ease the heavy silence that had settled over us.
His voice was light, but his eyes weren't. He is just as despaired as we are.
"It's not enough,"" Sarah replied flatly. "There's no telling how far the exit is - or how long until they wake up."
"And if your hivemind theory's right," I added, "then they can alert the others before we're even close to safe.'"
Josh sighed, rolling his shoulders. "Then we keep moving." he said simply, turning away and heading down the corridor.
Sarah and I exchanged a brief, puzzled glance before following after him.
'Weird. He's not usually the type to take the lead.'
We moved in silence for a while.
The corridor stretched endlessly - concrete walls cracked like old porcelain, the air heavy and stale.
I glanced around as we walked, and even though this is a unexplored path we were taking, it strangely felt like the walls were watching us. Like old paths got blocked while new ones appeared when we weren't looking.
After a few minutes, Sarah broke the silence. "Does anyone else feel like this place..shifts when we're not looking?" she whispered.
Josh didn't turn. "It doesn't shift. It's us running low on energy due to dehydration. We've been running. for hours."
I frowned. "No. She's right." I glanced back, squinting. "These walls behind us... They had cracks just a moment ago. Now they look perfectly fine, like replaced by a new set of walls.'
Sarah's grip tightened on her spear. "Do you guys think this maze is also some sort of supernatural being?"
"Either that," Josh muttered, "or someone's controlling the maze."
"Great" Sarah scoffed. "as if we didnt have enough to deal with." her voice shaking.
'Is she.... scared? Throughout my entire time in this maze, i haven't seen her like this even once.
I glanced down at her hand, the one that was holding the spear she had carefully sharpened in advance. It was trembling. She's terrified, holding herself together by sheer will.
I almost reached out-- a pat on the shoulder, words of encouragement-- anything- but stopped.
'wouldnt that be a bit out of place...? I doubt it would help anyway. Bad moment to feel sentimental.'
"Quiet," Josh hissed suddenly, crouching. We followed suit.
Two figures in black suits moved through a corridor far ahead - clean, deliberate, eerily calm.
One lean with slicked black hair, the other taller, broad, with short brown hair.
"Are they some kind of Men-in-Black cosplayers?" Josh whispered.
"They're either mimics... or newcomers," I replied quietly, suppressing a laugh.
"Either way," Josh said, "we avoid them."
"Agreed-" Sarah began, but stopped as a wall appeared between us and the men, cutting off our view entirely.
It looked as though it had always been there.
"..."
"..."
"..."
We stared in silence.
"Well" I muttered, brushing a hand through my messy hair, "at least that means we're getting closer to something."
"True," Sarah said. "This never happened anywhere the camp."
Josh didn't answer, just resumed walking.
The walls grew thicker, the corridors narrower, the air colder.
'Feels like that memory before I woke up here.. like the walls closing in.... even the color changed - pale gray fading into suffocating black.'
I glanced around as we walked, my eyes landing on Josh.
'His feet are trembling. His neck is covered in sweat-- even his hands are. Is he nervous because of the change in our surroundings?'
"Yuwon." Sarah spoke, her tone low
"Yeah? Whats up?"
She extended the hand-- the one that was holding her spear
"Take it"
"Uh..what?"
"I said take it."
I grabbed the spear and studied it in my hands.
'Its surprisingly heavy.'
"Could have just said that you wanted me to carry it" I snarred at her, attempting to lighten the mood.
"No, its yours. It was yours from the start."
'Wha...?'
"You're the best fit to use it. Josh's too tired, and l don't have the strength for it. You're the only suitable one." She spoke matter-of-factly
'Why does that make actual sense?'
"But i already have a brass knuckle."
She glanced at me, her face glaced in confusion
"And i have two knifes. Just take it."
I glanced down at the spear and sighed.
'Lets hope i won't have to use it.'
"Alright... thank you Sarah."
"No need" she said softly. "Just wield it well when the time comes"
We walked on.
The corridors tightened around us, the air thick with the promise of something waiting ahead.