But I needed to be strong. Not just for Grant but for myself. I was scared, but I would continue on, anyway.
At first, I didn’t encounter anyone or anything. I stumbled down my path, trailing my fingers over the hedges as I moved. Soon, the darkness cleared, revealing vines crawling along the cobblestone ground.
Except, they weren’t vines. They were snakes!
First, the spiders, then the isolating darkness, and now snakes. They were making me face my fears.
To escape the slithering monsters, I scaled the hedge and traversed over the pit of vipers. Once out of reach, I jumped onto the cobblestone and high-tailed it down the trail in case the snakes decided to give chase.
My heart throbbed in my chest as a bloodcurdling scream echoed around me, but it cut off in a wet gurgle. Too high to be male. One of the female contestants must have succumbed. If I was lucky, the fallen competitor was Natalia.
The path narrowed the deeper into the maze I traveled, and several minutes later, a dark shape scurried across the trail up ahead. Big eyes reflected the light before the creature dove into the hedge with a rat-like squeak.
Cautiously, I moved forward, wary of the threat the unknown animal posed. Too busy searching the path for overgrown rodents, I didn’t notice the creeping plants until they coiled around my ankles and tugged. With a yelp, I fell, my fingernails ripping as I clawed at the cobblestone for purchase.
The vines wrapped around me, climbing up my legs. They sprouted from the ground and circled my wrists. Inch by inch, they dragged me toward the hedge, intent on burying me beneath the leaves and roots.
I fought back, struggling against the thorny grip, but the more I wriggled, the tighter the tethers cinched. Something screeched, a clicking cry, and the large rodent-like creature charged at me from the opposite side of the path.
With a shriek, I dodged the first strike of beaver-like teeth, and the mammal growled. The size of an overgrown opossum, it clicked its teeth at me, black eyes gleaming. Then, as my feet disappeared beneath the brush, an idea sparked.
“Come and get me, you ugly bitch!” I strained against the plant’s grasp. “Come on!”
The monstrous rat lunged, and I angled my arms to catch it. The sharp bucked teeth sliced through the vines holding me prisoner, and with my hands free, I protected my face. Incisors carved into my forearm, and I snarled in agony as I arrested the wriggling creature and shoved it under the wall of brush.
With a new victim, the vines took my offering, loosening around my feet. They crept around the screeching rodent, and the moment I could manage it, I escaped the plants’ clutches.
As the creature wailed in defeat, I jogged away, inspecting my bleeding arm. Thankfully, it was a superficial wound and wouldn’t slow me down too much. Though the risk of me contracting rabies had skyrocketed.
After finding a cache of weapons hidden in a briar patch five minutes later, I felt more prepared. With a Glock tucked into my boot and a cut-off shotgun in my hands, I pressed onward as my arms and legs stung from multiple thorn scratches. I’d never been more thankful for the hunting trips I’d taken with my dad than I was in this moment.
When a putrefying zombie stumbled onto the path behind me, I shrieked and sent a buckshot into its decaying face. Turning tail, I sprinted down the trail, hoping to outrun it.
The maze was eerily silent as I navigated the best I could through the turns. I could only hope I was heading in the right direction for the exit. I had just turned a corner when I saw it.
Sitting in the center of the aisle, the creature watched me with glowing eyes. Its face was human with cat-like features—pointed chin and slanted eyes. But its body was anything but humanoid. The saggy skin was covered in sparse golden fur. Wings as white as bone curled against its side, though the tips were a rich scarlet, as if dipped in red ink. Blood dripped from—his? Her? I wasn’t sure since its features were oddly androgynous—mouth as it gnawed on a butchered arm, and I gulped. Well, now I knew what had happened earlier to the screaming competitor.
I might have sluffed a lot of school, but I wasn’t stupid. I knew exactly what this creature was.
Twisting on my heel to escape, I found my exit now blocked by woven ivy. Grabbing on to the branches in an effort to climb, I cried out in pain. Thorns pierced my palms and glinted red with my blood under the dim light illuminating the narrow space. Thinking fast, I took my foot and attempted to smash through the barbed foliage with my boot. However, each time my foot connected with and damaged the wall, more ivy creeped from the sides to strengthen it.
Cursing under my breath, I snuck a glance over my shoulder. The sphinx continued to watch me, its gaze unnerving as he, she, whatever, waited for me to come closer.
If I couldn’t climb, couldn’t break through, then there was only one way out of here. Straightening my shoulders, I turned back to the sphinx, begging my legs not to give out. I’d already died once by a cat. I didn’t want it to happen again.
Slowly, to show I wasn’t a threat, I sauntered forward. The sphinx eyed my approach, and when I was close enough, it tossed the arm aside.
“Warrior,” it said, its monotone voice doing nothing to confirm its gender, “to continue through the maze, you must answer three riddles. Answer correctly, and you shall pass by unharmed. Answer incorrectly, and your journey ends here.”
I couldn’t speak, couldn’t even swallow as the nerves numbed my tongue. Silently, I nodded.
Content with my response, the creature sat on its hind legs as its wings expanded toward the sky. Its towering presence in the narrow space overwhelmed me. All I wanted to do was run and hide.
A hiss whispered across the path. I spotted a serpent slinking around the sphinx’s clawed feet. Its body scaled over the sphinx’s hind leg, swishing and flicking as it went, and the movement appeared like a caress. Staring at the snake’s body, I realized what it was. The sphinx’s tail.
“Solve the first riddle,” the sphinx ordered, its eyes shifting from glowing orbs to black pits.
“I’m right behind you,
creeping on the ground,
I follow you home,
but I don’t make a sound.
Careful when you turn around.
What am I?”
I gaped. Shit, I really felt like a mouse caught in a trap. Maybe Natalia was on to something, after all. “Um.” Dissecting its words, I mulled them over out loud. “Right behind you… creeping on the ground. Hm, I follow you home? Damn, that sounds like a stalker. Hold on. What was the next part?”
“But I don’t make a sound.
Careful when you turn around.”
Tapping my thigh, I tried to connect the dots. But I was nervous as hell as the creature lurked before me, regarding me with unnatural intensity. Shifting from foot to foot, I scanned my surroundings, as if something could give me inspiration. However, my gaze landed on a combat boot bathed in blood, torn muscle, and dirt, and I panicked. I didn’t want to end like this. I refused to end like this.
What had the riddle said? I’m right behind you, creeping on the ground? Glancing over my shoulder, all I could see were the vines slinking over the leafy wall. Hm, the other part of the riddle stated that whatever it was, it didn’t make a sound. So it was something that creeps along the ground silently. But as I inspected the ground, all I found were chirping insects.
Turning my attention elsewhere, something caught my eye. The maze corridor was dimly lit up ahead, but with every flutter of the sphinx’s wings, shadows stretched across the path.
I nearly jumped up and down in relief. “A shadow!” I cried. “The answer is a shadow.”
A rumble sounded from the being. “Correct. Now, answer the second riddle:
“Mouthless, I will share a name that is not mine,
I will show the years I have seen with no eyes.
Memories I possess, but I have no mind.”
It paused to allow me a moment to absorb the first part before continuing:
“So co
ld, damp, and dark this place
to stay you would refrain,
yet those who occupy this place
never do complain.”
Squatting on the ground, I stared at the earthy floor. Winged insects of all sizes skittered across the ground, chittering as they went. I stared at a wounded beetle-like bug struggling to crawl as I contemplated the riddle.
The place is damp and dark… And no one wanted to stay there. But there are some who do, but they don’t complain. So, either they enjoy being there once they get there or they physically can’t complain. Who are they, and why don’t they complain?
The beetle-like insect tottered in my direction, and I picked up a broken branch of ivy to poke it away. The creepy-crawly toppled over onto its back. Its legs gave a few feeble kicks before it stilled. And that’s when it hit me.
Gazing around the insect-infested ground, I noted the countless lifeless shells of deceased beasties. It was like an insect graveyard.
Gulping, I stood and faced the sphinx again. “I-Is the answer a grave?”
The sphinx nodded, and its eyes blazed again for a moment. “Correct. Now, answer the third and final riddle:
“It comes to bedsides, icy bridges,
battlefronts, and crumbling ridges.
When it comes, it comes alone,
taps a shoulder, then is gone.”
My heart throbbed in anticipation and fear. This one was harder than the past two, much more vague. But if I could just figure it out, I would be able to pass the sphinx by without donating my leg as a chew toy.
Think, Lea, think.
For the next several minutes, I replayed the sphinx’s words in my mind. I couldn’t mess this up. If I did, I wouldn’t be able to escape. The sphinx blocked the only exit.
Bedsides? People visited the bedsides of the sick, right? And icy bridges were slippery… Battlefronts were bloody, and crumbling ridges were, well, crumbly. So it goes to all of these places? If that was the case, I needed to figure out what all of those things had in common.
Icy bridges, battlefronts, and crumbling ridges… All of those were dangerous. People died all the time from… Jerking straight, I blinked at the creature and resisted the urge to facepalm. Of course! The answer was so obvious.
“Death.” I swelled with pride. “The answer is Death.”
“Correct.”
The sphinx’s eyes flashed a brilliant white, and its frame began to tremble. A scream tore through the air, and I watched in horror as the creature’s skin hardened and cracked. Before my eyes, it turned to stone.
I gulped, waiting a moment to make sure the sphinx was really a statue. But after several minutes of the creature remaining immobile, I chanced a step forward. When nothing happened, I squeezed past it, careful not to touch the stone.
With one last glance at the sphinx, I rushed down the trail to face my fate.
Chapter 17
We All Fall Down
Ten minutes later, I staggered from the mouth of the corridor into a circular space enclosed by foliage. The opening behind me closed, sealing the pack of zombies chasing me on the other side while simultaneously trapping me within the courtyard filled with unknown horrors. My relief at escaping the brain-connoisseurs was short lived as I scanned my surroundings.
A fountain stood in the middle, water arching through the air until it splashed into a shallow pool. Loose stones crunched under foot as I spun, scrutinizing the courtyard with no exit, and I gripped my gun in preparation. If this wasn’t a trap, then I didn’t know what was.
The figurine in the center of the fountain caught my attention, and my shotgun clattered to the ground as shock jolted down my spine. It was me, constructed of stone and marble, yet it wasn’t me at all. It was like looking through a warped funhouse mirror. My reflection flickered with familiar yet altered aspects of my face—me, but the worst version of my features. Its expression was twisted and ugly, and the blank, jeweled eyes glowed from a sinister fire flaming within. It looked alive.
Stone grinded as the sneering statue angled its face in my direction, and I squealed like a girl, stumbling back as I stared at myself. It didn’t approach me, still cemented to the fountain itself, but its marble lips stretched into an inhuman smile.
Twigs snapped as a path opened to my right, but before I could make my escape through the new passage, a body stumbled into the courtyard, flailing his arms as he warded off a swarm of bats.
“Get the fuck off me, you creepy little bastards!” Grant bellowed as he ducked and swerved. The bats squeaked as they spiraled into the night sky and disappeared. Armed with a crowbar, he stood at the ready should they choose to return, but they didn’t. “Yeah, that’s what I thought… fuckers!”
I snorted, and he whirled on me with a yelp, his voice an octave too high. For a split second, I contemplated retrieving a weapon, but he didn’t attack me. The moment recognition flared, he dropped the crowbar and charged me.
“Jesus Christ, Lea!” He bundled me into his arms, and I embraced him desperately, ignoring the sweat and blood in his hair. “Are you okay?”
Nodding, I eyed the untrustworthy statue. “Yeah, are you? Are you bleeding?”
“It’s fine.” His dismissal annoyed me, but there were more important things to focus on at the moment. “You sure you’re okay?”
My head bobbed like my neck was missing a screw, and I darted a glance at the creepy statue of myself. “I think the statue wants to kill us.”
Grant’s brows disappeared into his disheveled hair, and he stared at me like I’d lost my marbles. “Huh?”
Instead of answering, I pointed, and he whirled to face the fountain, only to jump back with a shout. “Fuck! Is that me?” He squinted at the statue. “Why’s it smilin’ like that? Shit, Lea, this is fucked up.”
Genuine fear trickled over his features, and I darted my gaze between him and the stone figure that was obviously me. “It’s not you. It’s me.”
“Why do I look like that?” He tripped backward, his eyes watering. His terror spurred my own. He looked nothing like the Grant I knew. He was a childlike version of himself, and his lower lip trembled. “Lea, why do I look like that?”
Somehow, he didn’t see what I did when I viewed the statue, and dread coiled in my gut. This was the final challenge. The earlier obstacles had been child’s play. We had reached the end game, and as the statue shook and cracked, both Grant and I cowered.
Statue-Lea broke away from the fountain, chunks of stone splashing into the pool, and I whimpered as his glittering eyes captured me. He was me, a terrible version of myself, but me nonetheless. And from the look in his cruel eyes, he was planning to kill me.
I heard Grant’s fearful murmur but couldn’t turn away. I was imprisoned by the stone’s gaze, and as the sculpture approached me, rock crunching, I froze.
“Did you really think you could make it to the end?” Statue-Lea asked, its voice my own but garbled and grating to the ears. “Did you believe you stood a chance? That you had what it took? You’re pathetic!
“You’re a nobody, a piece of shit slut who spread your legs for grades. Did you think Andrew actually liked you? You were nothing but an ass to fuck when he got bored. You disgusted him.”
“Stop,” I begged as my back met the hedge. “Please, stop.”
But he didn’t. He smiled evilly and advanced, poisonous words pouring from hard lips. “You were a disappointment in everything you did, an embarrassment to your father. Your mother just wanted you to be more like Megan. And Megan hated you, didn’t she?
“You’re weak.” Tears slid down my cheeks as the truth of his words slashed through my chest. “Everyone here knew it. You made it this far by riding the coattails of those stronger and more capable. And when it got too much, what did you do? You spread your legs like the good whore you are.”
“Shut up!” My butt hit the gravel, and I covered my ears with my palms to drown out his words. But they played through my mind like a cruel song.
I clapped my hands over my ears again to drown out the inhuman voice as fear and anger boiled inside my gut in equal measure. “Shut the fuck up!”
A whine broke through my panic, and I glanced over to see Grant’s deathly pale face gaping in terror as the statue closed in. His normally olive skin had turned ashy with fright, and his hands trembled at his sides.
“I didn’t mean to.” He whimpered, his hands disappearing into his dark locks, twisting painfully. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to.”
I didn’t know what he saw or heard, but whatever he currently experienced scared him to death. Grant, the guy who had protected me and been my friend. The guy who had opened himself and shown me his weaknesses. He needed me.
The statue said I was a disappointment and weak, that I was worthless. But it was wrong. I wasn’t the same boy who fell down those stairs and died. Sure, it had only been a few weeks since my untimely demise, but those weeks forced me to confront myself, my weaknesses and failings. It had also shown me my strengths.
Win or lose, I had fought valiantly for my place here. I outsmarted the competition and trained my ass off to make it to the final round, to this moment. And, like Grant said, I hadn’t lost my humanity along the way. I wasn’t perfect, far from it. But, damn it, I wasn’t weak!
The Death Games Page 18
