The Shift
We keep running further into Chris's crib, and pass broken crates of supplies, makeshift hammocks and sleeping bags, the remnants of a fire. It looks lived in, cosy, almost.
"I don't wanna leave this place behind!" Buck protests.
"Do you think the… Labyrinth will shift in here as well?" Swifty asks Tavin. "We've never had this issue yet!"
"Do you want to gamble it?" comes the reply. "We don't know how this place works. Every time we think we understand it, or found a pattern, it'll find a way to throw us off."
"Let's just see," Chris says, skidding to a stop.
We look at the shifting walls behind us, racing closer, and my heart skips a beat.
"We should go," I say nervously.
"No, wait."
The shifting keeps coming, getting closer and closer to the gate with Chris's warning. If they're right, then it'll stop…
It blasts straight past and starts following us, walls splitting into segments and rippling like water.
"Fuck!!" Luc bellows, turning tail. "WHY DID WE STOP FOR YOUR STUPID IDEA!?!?!?"
And suddenly all twenty of us are sprinting full speed, stumbling against each other's heels, pushing and shoving and yelling, and then we reach the end of the cavern.
Now I see what Celeste meant. In front of us is a giant, rusted contraption, clearly out of use for a looong while, a huge slab of aged metal blocking our escape route. Gears the size of wheels, huge levers, pressure plates, wired, pipes and more interlock to form a solid wall between us and freedom.
"What the hell is THAT?" Dread demands.
"The world's worst doorstop," Celeste mumbles.
"Don't dawdle!!" Tavin yells. "Sword, Nyx - you guys know anything?"
Right, I majored in Chrona Engineering - if anyone's gonna solve this one, it'd be me.
Nyx touches my shoulder.
"You haven't forgotten everything, right?" she whispers.
"Wouldn't be surprised if I have," I grit my teeth. "Let's go."
We run to the… machine, and start examining it up and down. This technology's unfamiliar, it feels weirdly advanced, but still more primitive than what we usually use.
"Uh huh… yeah, this would be it…" my brains whirs nonstop as Nyx examines the other side.
"You might want to hurry!!" Chris calls, bouncing up and down.
"Stop rushing us!!" Nyx snaps, fiddling with a lock.
My eyes whiz over the rusted machinery, piecing it together as fast as I can.
"ANYTIME NOW!!" Bryce screeches backstepping as the corridor roars behind us.
"I figured it out!!" I announce. "It's completely dead - we'll all have to work together to give it a kick!"
"Tell us where to go," Krim says, rolling up his sleeves.
"ALL HANDS ON DECK!!" Artee yells, and everyone crowds round.
"WE DO NOT HAVE TIME!!" Neo shrieks, panicking as the walls around us start to ripple and pulse like they're alive.
"THEN HELP!" Tavin roars at him. "Sword!"
"Uh," I say, also panicking. "YOU! Pull that - YOU! Stand on that - KRIM! Hold that - AND YOU-"
I direct everyone as quickly as possible, and for a very, very long few seconds everyone's just straining at the rusted metal. Then Luc grunts and successfully wrenches it into motion, and with a few sparks, metallic grinding, groaning, screeching and squeaking, the slab peels open to reveal a gaping, dark hole.
We've done it.
Chris wipes his forehead, panting. "Haha, look at us, working together like one big happy fam-"
"EVERYONE THROUGH!!" Tavin yells, and someone tramples Chris as we all pile towards the door.
Elemental dives through first, followed by Krim. Neo stumbles over, and I bang my face on something as Nyx pushes me through, Tavin follows after us, Chris jumps in, Mist follows him.
Mist is the last person to barely make it through.
Because as I turn, see Luc's figure framed in the doorway, reaching for me, the other side of the door flips and erupts. The last thing I see if Luc's eyes meeting mine, wide and alarmed, and then he's gone, sucked into a whirlwind of movement, shifting walls and blocks of rock moving.
Once again, the Labyrinth is shifting. Mist loses her footing, but Chris grabs her and pulls her upright.
"GUYS!" Neo screeches, but Tavin grabs him and holds him back.
I stare at the tumult of blurring movement in front of me.
"Luc…?" I say.
"Jora…?" Nyx says.
"DON'T LOSE FOCUS!!" Tavin roars, but it's too late.
Wait… since when did we establish… that we're safe behind the door?
That thought runs through my head for a second, and then the floor disappears beneath my feet and I drop like a stone.
Not my day.
Once again, all sense of direction goes down the toilet. The world becomes a meaningless blur of shouting, screaming, whirling and rumbling, at some point I think I see Artee's silver hair shoot past. Buck yells profanity. Celeste is screaming. Neo's howling. Someone's powerful fingers close around my ankle, and I feel them yanking me along like a sack of potatoes.
And then, in an instant, it's over.
The world snaps back to normality and I hit the cold, hard stone surface, jarring every bone in my body down to the roots of my teeth. The walls settle. Solid ground beneath me.
The second Labyrinth shift is over, and once again we've been split up.
"Sword, Sword get up," Krim's voice says next to me, and he releases the grip on my leg.
I sit up groggily, head still ringing from getting pinned against the ground, and look around. Neo's laid out spread-eagled next to me, groaning and retching like he swallowed gravel, and Mist is leaned against a rock, pale and gasping for air.
"Fuuuuck," Chris groans somewhere. "The hell was that?"
Krim pulls me to my feet and I dust myself down. Everyone who made it past the door's here - Tavin, Elemental and Nyx are all still with us.
Bracing one hand against the stone, I take a second to get my bearings. My sight swims, ribs ache and my teeth feels like someone's been drumming on 'em.
"Everyone alive?" Tavin calls, scanning the space.
"Define alive," Neo croaks.
Chris rolls onto his back like a corpse reviving. "My soul left my body at least twice."
"Same here," Mist nods weakly. "I won't ever get used to this."
"Did anyone see the others?" Krim asks. "Luc…?"
Elemental shakes his head.
"I heard them though," Nyx says. "Mainly Buck."
I finally force myself to stand, wiping dust from my face, and that's when I actually see where we are.
My stomach churns.
The new chamber's unlike anything I've seen before.
It's narrow and tall - way too tall, the ceiling above disappearing into the shadows. The walls are made of smooth, silky metal stitched with faintly glowing lines of chrona underneath, like veins bulging under skin. The air feels hot, stale and artificial. The floor beneath me is cut neatly into hexagonal stone plates.
Not so much a cave. This is 100% somewhere man-made, somewhere maintained and used.
For the first time, it really starts giving off 'Facility' vibes.
Tavin's jaw tightens.
"Stay together."
Don't have to tell me twice.
"Do we move?" Mist whispers.
"Yes," he says, and nobody argues.
We start down the corridor that opens ahead - no curves, arches or branches, just on long stretch of metal and stone, vanishing into the dimness ahead.
Our footsteps echo too loud even when we walk softly.
"This place feels like a dentist's office built in hell," Chris mutters.
"This is hell," Neo scoffs.
"I should never have talked to you guys," Chris continues, groaning. "It's like you carry bad luck with you. After ya'll showed up this happened when it'd never happened before."
"Neo's the bad luck," I say.
"Cut us a break," Nyx protests. "We almost got mauled to death by rabid humans a couple moments ago."
Seconds later, just once, hidden lights in the walls flicker, temporarily blinding us.
Everyone freezes.
"What was that?" Krim whispers.
"Hell if I know," Chris hisses back.
It feels like the corridor is growing colder, and a shiver runs down my spine. Tavin's head turns slightly, but he says nothing, just listening.
We stand there in deathly silence for a few moments.
"Must've been nothing," Chris exhales, breaking it.
"Yeah," Neo agrees shakily. "Not like a monster's gonna-"
This time, I clamp my hand over his mouth.
"Do. Not."
Tap.
I freeze. Every hair on my bod jerks upright.
Tap.
"Shit," Elemental whispers.
Tavin raises one hand.
"Back up. Slowly and quietly."
We inch backwards, trembling, behind Tavin.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
It's a familiar, hateful, traumatizing sound.
The sound of metal scraping against stone.