Setting: Unknown
Date: Thursday, May 4th, 1995?
Alex had long since lost faith in the markings. But it didn’t matter if they were lying or not anymore. The moment Alex told John that a girl had saved them, that was all there was to the discussion. The girl had left them half eaten granola bars and water bottles beneath some of the markings, which was probably the only reason they hadn’t starved to death. But was it kindness that drove her to do it? Or was she clever, treating them like rabbits as she left a trail behind, waiting to pull the stick back once they walked into her trap.
Alex had brought up that she could very easily have stopped if she wanted them to catch up to her. But John dismissed it, saying she was probably just terrified.
“I’m terrified too,” Alex grumbled.
And so, the pursuit continued. A few long hours or short days passed without even a glimpse of the girl. There were a few times Alex almost thought they had lost the trail, but John was… lucky enough to find the trail again. And all it would take was one crude arrow scrawled above the baseboards to refuel his desperate optimism.
<
Alex tried to keep up with the pace, but the hunger and thirst had started to weigh heavily on him. And the pain from the monster… pain that John should’ve been feeling too. But there didn’t seem to be any residual effects from that encounter for him at least, and Alex just watched as John’s back pulled further ahead.
“Wait!” Alex called out, his legs wobbling under him. “Slow down John!”
John stopped in his tracks, looking back at Alex. His eyes widened slightly as he finally noticed the state Alex was in.
“We have time to take a break, it’s fine,” John said, sliding down the wall opposite of Alex.
Alex nodded and sank to his knees, closing his eyes as he tried to savor every second of their brief rest before they had to move on. When he finally cracked them open, he caught John scanning his body, his gaze stopping on Alex’s hand. Alex looked down, the wound from the glass on his hand had reopened, and thick blood was dripping steadily down his palm.
“What are you looking at?” Alex wheezed.
“Nothing,” John said, pulling his eyes away. He tried to look up at the ceiling and pretend like he wasn’t focused on it anymore, but Alex saw the small creases in John’s forehead that showed whenever he was lying.
“It really hurts,” Alex opened his palm and feigned inspecting it, and saw John’s head tilt down in his peripherals. “Do you think they’ll have to cut it off if it gets infected?”
“Let me take a look at it. I’ll wrap it afterwards.”
“With what?”
“I could tear a piece of my shirt—“
“Of your shirt? I’m good, actually. I’ll just wait until it falls off on its own.”
John glanced down at his shirt and seemed to register how soaked and filthy it was.
“Sorry,” he said. “I wasn’t thinking.”
“I’m just joking. It’s fine,” Alex flexed his hand. “It’s barely a scratch.”
“It’s not fine,” John started. “And it’s not just about the shirt. I should’ve noticed—“
“Jesus, John. Cut it out,” Alex cut him off. “Only one of us can be pathetic at once, and it’s supposed to be my turn right now.”
John gave a shaky breath that might have sounded like a laugh in any other situation.
“Fine,” he muttered, resting his hands heavily on his knees. “Just let me know when your turn is over, then.”
Alex nodded, letting his head fall forward into his hands. He closed his eyes, trying to mentally prepare himself for pain waiting for him once he finally had to stand up again.
A soft scuff of a shoe cut his thoughts short.
Alex peered over his arms to see a young girl peeking around the corner.
“H-hello? Are… are you still following me?”
“We’re still here,” John answered, pushing to his feet. “Can you tell us what’s going on now?”
There was a long pause. Alex wondered if the girl had lost her nerve and ran away.
“Not yet.”
“Why not?” Alex shouted, his voice tense. “We’ve been following you this whole time without you even explaining where you were leading us.”
John’s eyes narrowed, but he said nothing.
“Just a bit farther… please.”
The sound of the girl’s footsteps scampering off echoed softly in the corridor ahead.
Alex stared at John, watching as he stood up and wiped his hand off on his pants. He hoped that, by now, John understood how wrong the situation was.
“Let’s go,” John said, turning toward the direction of the girl’s voice.
“Come on, John. Stop being an idiot” Alex said. “She’s clearly hiding something from us.”
“She’s just a child.”
“We don’t know that!”
“We can’t know for sure until we check on her.” John met Alex’s eyes. “I get it, the whole situation’s suspicious. But that’s not a good enough reason to leave her behind.”
John turned his back to Alex, making his way toward the girl.
“Do you care about Sarah?”
John whipped around, his face twisted in rage. “Of course I do! But this isn’t about her.”
“That’s only because you’re making this about yourself,” Alex said softly.
“I don’t care. I’d rather be selfish than whatever I’d be if I chose to leave a kid alone down here.”
He didn’t say anything else, nor did he look back over his shoulder to see if Alex was going to follow. He simply turned around, marching blindly toward the child.
Alex groaned as he realized he had no choice but to follow. He’d always thought it was a terrible trope that horror movies were led by the stupidest people. He would scream at the screen, frustrated about the fact that they’d fall over themselves so often, hide in the most obvious places, or run head first into a scary noise instead of in the opposite direction. But he never realized how terrifyingly magnetic a child’s voice would be in a hell like this.
Because innocence was the cruelest bait of all.
What felt like twenty minutes passed, and the corridors finally offered a break in the monotony. Near the floorboards, the wallpaper had been defaced.
“Look.” John said, dropping to one knee.
Alex leaned against the wall, catching his breath as he stared down at the spot.
It was another drawing in the same chalk as the arrows they’d found along the way. But this instead depicted a crudely drawn stick figure curled into a ball inside a square box. A scribbled mess of black lines loomed over the box.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
John reached out, his fingers hovering over the stick figure. “She must be terrified.”
“Or at least something that knows people react when they see a drawing of a child.”
John brought his finger down to trace the scribbled mess. “Well then they’re a good actor.”
The further they went, the less scattered, and more organized everything became. Broken desks and overturned filing cabinets pushed on top of each other to Alex’s hip. Soggy cardboard was stuck to the top of them, creating a disorienting maze. Soon, the passage narrowed so severely they had to turn their shoulders just to scrape through the debris.
A small shadow peeked over an overturned desk, before zipping around the corner.
“Wait!” John abandoned all caution. He vaulted over a pile of soggy ceiling tiles blocking his path and chased after the girl.
“John, slow down!”
Alex tried to follow, but his legs were weak. Instead of launching forward, he slipped down the slick obstacle and scraped his knee against it. He bit back a scream, and dragged himself up to his feet.
“John!”
There was no response.
Alex grabbed the edge of a filing cabinet and hauled himself over the barrier. He quickly scrambled to his feet, rushing after John and trying to ignore the searing pain shooting through his knee. Why wasn’t John speaking? Or at least screaming? A thousand things ran through Alex’s mind as he closed in on the corner, prepared for blood, a monster, or even nothing at all.
Instead, he saw a camp made out of scavenged fabrics, and John standing in the center of it. His hands were raised in surrender. In front of him, sitting cross-legged on top of a tower of filing cabinets, was the girl. She had a small canister in her hand. She tossed it absentmindedly from one hand to the other, looking down at John.
“One step closer, and you’ll figure out what this does,” she said, her voice no longer trembling.
“We aren’t going to hurt you,” John said in a gentle voice. “We just wanted to thank you for saving us.”
The girl looked from John to Alex, analyzing them with eyes that looked far too old for her face. Then, she tossed the canister over her head.
“What does that thing even do?” Alex asked, eyeing the discarded canister.
“Trick idiots.”
//Kill her.//
<
“What was the point of all this?” Alex stepped forward, trying to push out an argument in his head that he wasn’t a part of.
“I just wanted to make sure I was right about you two.”
“Right about what?” John asked cautiously.
“Right about you two being idiots,” she stated. “Do you know how many times I could’ve killed you if I wanted to?”
“We were trying to help you.” John stated.
“Exactly! That’s what makes you stupid! Anyone who would need help from people like you would’ve died before you got the chance to.”
“So why’d you save us?” Alex bristled.
“Just because you’re stupid, doesn’t mean you deserve to die.”
She dusted off her dress that was frayed at the hem and stained with grime. “I’m Lily.”
Alex finally looked past Lily and took in the camp.
Filing cabinets and overturned desks formed a jagged ring around a pocket of floor space, draped with strips of scavenged curtains and strips of upholstery to break sightlines. A wire had been stapled around the perimeter at ankle height. Soda cans were threaded along the length of the wire with shoe laces, hair ties, and other thin, rope-like objects.
It was the kind of space a homeless person might make if you left them alone in a Home Depot for too long. Office chair cushions were laid in a neat circle around a low table, looking like a corporate Barbie tea party. Piles of unopened snacks and water bottles were stacked behind a fabric wall. And within arm’s reach of Lily’s perch sat a heavy backpack.
At the heart of the camp, a battery-powered lantern burned with an orange light. And it didn’t really seem to serve any purpose, mostly absorbed by the ever-present lights of the labyrinth.
“It’s nice to meet you, Lily. I’m John, and the scary looking guy is my friend Alex.”
“Don’t talk to me like that,” Lily said as she adjusted the lantern unnecessarily. “I’m not a child.”
“You’re right. I’m not sure what I was thinking,” John plastered a poor imitation of a smile on his face.
“This place looks pretty put together. How long have you been down here for?” Alex said, still admiring her handiwork.
Lily paused, her hand hovering over the lantern. She screwed up her face, looking up at the ceiling tiles before shaking her head. “I don’t really know anymore. A while.”
There was something about the way she said it, possibly the vagueness of it, that made Alex shiver.
“Is there a way out?” John asked.
“No,” Lily said immediately, as if expecting the question to come.
“Are you sure?” John took another step, entering the circle of cushions. “Maybe you just haven’t found it yet. We’ve been walking for days, but maybe if we go further—”
“You’ll die,” Lily cut him off, turning to face him. “I walked and walked until my shoes broke and I had to find these.” She pointed to a pair of oversized sneakers on her feet she had to lace multiple times to keep them from falling off. “It just keeps going. And even if there were any, you’d run into monsters before you found it.”
“There has to be an exit. Everything has to end eventually.”
“Why?” Lily challenged.
John started to say something, but didn’t.
Lily let him stew in his thoughts for a few seconds, before continuing.
“You can stay here,” Lily said, her tone shifting, becoming almost business-like. “I have a system. There’s a drop point close where things fall down. There should be enough food for all of us to survive.”
“I can’t stay here,” John said.
“Why not?”
“Because I need to go home.”
“Then you’ll die!”
“We might,” John admitted.
“No! You will!” Lily stomped her feet. “You don’t know anything about this place. You can’t survive without me!”
“Then come with us,” John said, reaching a hand out toward her.
Lily took a step back, her hand dropping to her side, reaching for something to defend herself with.
“Come with us, Lily” John repeated, still holding his hand out. “You know how to survive.”
“No,” Lily finally whispered. “I just run and hide.”
“That’s good enough. You can show us where all the best hiding spots are.”
“N-no!” Lily scrambled backward on top of the cabinets. “If you want to leave, then leave! But if you try and take me with you I’ll scream until I get you both killed!”
“Lily, please,” John took a half-step forward. “You can’t stay down here forever. Whatever food is falling from that drop point could stop at any point. What will you do then?”
“I said no!” she shrieked, pointing a finger at him. “Get out now!”
Alex leaned heavily against the edge of the makeshift barricade.
{A wise decision}, a new, analytical voice said. {It would be best for both parties if you just asked for some food and went on your way.}
“She’s made up her mind, John,” Alex grunted, rubbing his temple to try and push the voices back down.
“I’m not leaving a child to starve to death in this place,” John snapped, shooting Alex a venomous glare before turning back to the girl. “Lily. What about your family? Your parents are probably looking everywhere for you.”
Lily’s eyes fell to her lantern.
“They aren’t,” she whispered.
“What do you mean they aren’t? Of course they—“
“They already left!” she screamed. “They said they were going to look for a way out. They told me to stay here and hide until they came back.”
She looked back up at them, her eyes narrowing and filled with a cold bitterness.
“And do you want to know why they never came back? Because there is no exit. There’s only here, or dead.” She grabbed her heavy backpack, pulling it defensively against her chest. “I’m not going with you. And if you’re going to leave… then you can’t have any of my food.”
Alex watched the defiance hardening in Lily’s eyes and knew the argument was over. She wasn’t a child waiting to be saved; she was a survivor protecting her territory.
John was still staring at Lily, pleading silently for her to change her mind, but she turned her back to him.
Alex made sure not to look at the stacks of food, knowing the hunger would only make him do something he’d regret. But if they left right now… especially without the food she’s been giving them which was the only reason they were alive so far, then they’d be dead within a day.
<
Alex squeezed his eyes shut. The voice was right. But it didn’t matter. He couldn’t force the girl to be their guide, and if he stayed, he knew he’d lose the courage to keep looking for an escape. He took a heavy breath, prepared to take another step.
“Why won’t you stay?” A small, trembling voice echoed from the center of the camp.
Lily was standing by the lantern, hugging herself, looking smaller than she had a moment ago.
John had failed, because of who he was. He was too good a man, who didn’t tell her what she needed to hear because he was too good a man to hurt her feelings.
But Alex wasn’t.
He walked past John, who made a half-formed protest that Alex ignored. Lily eyed him suspiciously, her hand moving to her bag as he approached.
He crouched a few feet away, not coming too close and lowered himself until he was directly at eye level with her.
“You’re right,” Alex said. His voice was low, conversational. “We’re both idiots. Especially John.”
Lily blinked, taken aback.
“He sees a kid when he looks at you, not a survivor.” Alex glanced back at John, then returned his attention to her. “The reality is, we’re the ones that need saving, aren’t we?”
“Of course. That’s what I’ve been saying.”
“I know… but John won’t think about it that way,” Alex said. “All he’ll think about is the fact that we left a child behind.”
“I don’t care.”
“That’s fair. You don’t really know us, after all. We’re just two people who act like they know more than they should, and will probably be dead within a week… but can I tell you something? I’m scared.”
“Okay? What’s the point of this?” Lily’s grip tightened around the straps of her backpack. She glanced at John, then back at Alex. “If you don’t want to die, then just stay here.”
“We can’t. Or, at least. John can’t. He has a family to go back to. He’s not like us.”
“What do you mean like us?”
“I lost my parents too. But it was my fault that it happened.”
Lily looked over at him, arms crossed. “I don’t care.”
“They died because of me,” Alex pressed on, seeing the way she was fidgeting. “And the only thing worse than waiting for someone to come back is knowing they never will because of you.”
“I don’t care! That doesn’t mean I have to die because of you, too.”
“Are you even alive, Lily? Look around. How much living can you do in this place?”
“Shut up!”
“What if your parents found an exit? What if they’re trying to come back for you but just can’t? And you gave up on them and are sitting in this camp, just assuming they did the same to you?”
“Just… stop it already,” she said, a scowl returning to her face as she stood there, glaring at Alex.
“Fine… whatever,” she finally said. “I’ll take you to a nearby camp, but that’s it. I don’t want to run into your bodies in a few days because you wouldn’t listen.”
She spun around and snatched up her backpack. Then, she shoved the canister she had threatened them with into a side pocket and scooped up a handful of granola bars, jamming them into the main compartment.
Alex stood up, looking over at John. It was clear that John hadn’t expected Alex to step in. Whether John recognized it as an attempt at manipulation or a moment of genuine vulnerability didn’t matter.
It worked.
“Look, I’m only doing this because I’m bored,” she snapped, marching out of her camp. She stopped in front of Alex looking up at him with a fierce glare. “And I don’t want to hear you being a cry baby about not having a family the whole walk there. So if it really matters to you that much you can… pretend we’re one,” she mumbled the last part under her breath.
“Thank you, Lily,” John said, relieved.
“You’re not welcome. Now go carry those for me.”
She pointed to the pyramid of plastic bottles. John immediately moved to comply, stuffing as many into his own pockets and handing the rest to Alex.
Alex uncapped a bottle and took a long drink. He looked at Lily, watching as she prepared to leave the only safety she had known for… however long she’d been here. But when she caught him staring at her, she glared at him.
“We go that way,” she said, pointing at the left corridor. “Stay quiet, and don’t walk anywhere dark.”
“Any other orders, boss?” Alex asked, giving her a mock salute.
“Yes,” Lily glared at him. “Stop talking down to me. I’m not a child.”
“How old are you?”
“I fell down here when I was nine,” she said, starting to walk. “And I’ve had to replace my shoes… twice.”
The implication settled heavily in the silence as the three of them began to move. Alex fell into step behind John, bringing up the rear.
((Did you lie to her?))
No.
~Of course he didn’t.~ the familiar voice purred.
~But even if he did, I’m sure my Alex must’ve had a good reason.~
~Don’t worry. Nothing’s ever your fault.~