Cheating Death – Chapter 25

By MyNameIsCAL

I woke up to blinding lights, my head feeling like it was going to explode. There were more thoughts now, more voices clouding my own thoughts, although I managed to fix onto Max's.

Where are we? I asked her.

I don't know. We were moved here when we were asleep, Max responded.

It took me a while to adjust to the lighting. We were still in our clothes, which were now wrinkled and torn in a few places. Max was leaning against the opposite wall from me. I realized that each of us was chained to a wall.

"What are they going to do to us?" Nudge whimpered, shutting her eyes after a while.

Iggy blinked a few times, unaffected by the light. "I can hear someone through the wall. They're going to come in here soon. I can't tell anything else they're saying though."

I closed my eyes, trying to focus on the other side of Iggy's wall, but there was nothing but the roar of noise coming from the voices I couldn't sort out. The light suddenly dimmed, and I felt disoriented as a white coat stepped in. Jeb appeared behind the white coat, wearing normal clothes.

"This is your final test. It is simple. You pass it, you live. Make a wrong move, and you die." Jeb adjusted his glasses. "And if you get through everything, then maybe we can make a deal."

The white coat began to unchain us, and I slouched over onto the ground, the coldness of the concrete almost soothing to my head.

"You're such a traitor, Jeb!" Max snarled.

"No, Max. You only betrayed yourself."

The door closed and the lights intensified again, all of us cringing except for Iggy. Max came and sat next to me. For what seemed like the longest time, we sat there, wondering how much longer we would be stuck in here. Iggy went around the room, his hand sliding up against the wall.

I want you to focus on my thoughts, Max said, her eyes meeting mine. You're going to be okay, Fang.

Iggy suddenly pushed up against one of the walls, and a doorway emerged. The light immediately darkened, and I could barely see the outline of Max sitting next to me.

What just happened? I looked around.

C'mon, I'll help you up. Max took my hand and we stood.

"Iggy, it's dark in there," Nudge warned.

"Is it?" Iggy mumbled. "The room sounds…hollow…"

As soon as we all passed through the doorway, it shut behind us, and we were consumed in pitch black. Max's grip on my hand tightened.

"There are ledges," Iggy continued to speak, barely audible over all the things I could hear. "No one move."

There was silence for a moment, and then you could hear Iggy talk, now farther away.

What did he say?

Take four steps forward and then three directly to the left, Max answered.

I felt another hand slip into mine. Nudge's hand.

"Walk with me," she said. "I…I don't…"

It's okay, Nudge, I told her.

She started forward and Max and I moved after her. We did as we were told, Iggy's voice closer now when he spoke once again. In the darkness, we slowly moved according to Iggy's directions. There was something that he could hear, something that was helping him determine which way to go. And then we reached a dead end.

"No!" Iggy let out a cry of anger, and I found his train of thought soon after. This was the only path. Every other place is a drop.

"Maybe we were never meant to find a way out," I thought out loud.

Suddenly this vibration started to come from below us.

"The floor is…turning!" Iggy shouted.

It felt like I was falling backwards, and I leaned forward, feeling for the ledge and hitting the side of it.

"Don't let go!" Iggy sounded frantic. "Nudge, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Ig."

"Max…Fang?"

"Yeah, we're fine!"

"Nudge, I love you."

Her voice quavered in response. "I love you too, Ig."

All you could hear was our breathing. In darkness, time almost felt infinite, although I was sure it was only a few minutes.

"Hey, there's a floor here."

"What?" Nudge sounded like she was out of breath.

"There was as floor, the whole goddamn time!" Iggy began to laugh. "Just let go. You're all too short to feel the ground."

I let go, Max following. She took my hand. We were still standing in darkness.

Can you see anything? Iggy's voice came through.

No, nothing. Just darkness.

More time went by. Iggy began to lead us in another direction, the four of us chained together by hands. We were surrounded by walls now instead of ledges. I'm not sure if that sounded comforting though. What if the walls decided to close in on us? And the thoughts I could hear in my head, they were getting louder as we continued following Iggy. It took a lot of strength to even focus on what Max was saying to me.

"Do you feel that draft?" Iggy questioned.

I leaned against Max and she pulled my arm around her.

Fang, focus! You're going to be fine. Max's voice came through urgently.

"I found a door." As soon as Iggy said that, we were blinded by white light and hit by cold air. Stumbling forward, we entered a small confined room. For a moment, my head cleared.

And then Angel's voice came through. Fang, you have to listen to me very carefully…