Bab 4: Amazing
This was a worst-case scenario for Zyra, it never occurred to her that she would be separated from her sister.
She always thought her sister Kayle would be nearby for support, encouraging her and cheering her on.
Yet here she stood by herself all forlorn at one of the many entrances of the outdoor garden mazes surrounded by a batch of unfamiliar faces.
No one paid her any mind too wrapped up in their private thoughts. It seemed like a simple maze.
The easiest solution to find her way out would be by holding on to the hedge wall until she reached the exit.
No doubt whoever created the maze would have had that in mind while designing it.
Using that common method meant that as long as you maintained contact at all times with the hedge wall eventually the challenger would find their way out.
This maze would not be as easy as it looked if it was expected to weed down the participants from under 700 to under 300 persons.
It would be very easy for the creator to trick the gullible by leading them on a circular path right to where they originally started.
Then they would be automatically disqualified and returned to the outskirts.
Zyra knew she had to think like Kayle. She felt the wheels slowly turning in her brain.
What would Kayle do next? She thought back to all the conversations she had with her big sister throughout her childhood.
Then she remembered the bedtime story of Hansel and Gretel.
How they used breadcrumbs to find their way home.
Zyra had nothing on her to leave a trail; everything had been taken from the competitors when they had been searched by the guards.
She needed to be smart and think quickly on her feet. What else could she do?
Then it came to her.
It was a hedge maze and Kayle too was blindfolded; she envisioned her sister breaking off twigs to make a new trail.
If she stepped on multiple twigs in a row then she would automatically know that she had been down that path before and just avoid it.
Turn her focus to an unexplored path instead. What was it that Kayle always said whenever she laid new booby traps?
Think.
She felt like her brain was going to explode from all the pressure and concentration she had been doing.
Eureka.
Kayle's disembodied voice rang out in her ears. "Zyra, don't you ever run down a path that I have set with two trails of booby traps. There was no way you could avoid triggering them."
That was it!
She would apply that same advice to this maze and avoid going down paths that intersect each other.
Zyra figured that without Kaye's support this would be her only chance at escaping the maze.
The hedge maze was a glorious sight to behold.
Thick, tall, and neatly trimmed if it wasn't for the competition turning it into a sinister labyrinth she would have loved to explore it on her own.
It looked picturesque and straight out of a fairy tale.
If fairies, elves, and dryads were real it was the perfect location for them to be found. Zyra could imagine people getting lost in the maze and not being found for days.
She wondered how long it took them to build it or who knows maybe it had been around for years and was ancient even.
So much history and knowledge about Earth before the wolfbeast invasion was lost due to the ongoing wars.
Get a grip on reality she thought.
Zyra needed to stop dwelling on the past and pay attention to what was going on around her.
She could feel numerous eyes on her sizing her up, she was easy pickings with a target on her back without her sister around to defend her.
Then she convinced herself that her twig plan was the best and only way to get out of the hedge maze since she had limited time to figure out other ways.
This idea was at least doable.
Zyra encountered other participants along the way but they left her alone.
Everyone was fully aware that time was against them and they had to figure the hedge maze out quickly or risk losing their only opportunity for a better life for themselves.
A lot was at stake and she encountered a few that had succumbed to hysteria or were losing their grip on their sanity.
So far her plan seemed to be working as Zyra made her way through what she felt was the heart of the maze.
Here she felt the temperature drop and it sent shivers down her spine.
Zyra was confident she would find her way out of the maze until she felt the first raindrop.
She thought this was the worst that could happen as the rain could wash away her twigs and send all her hard effort away along with it.
Then she started to panic and picked up her pace and realized the worst was yet to come. Zyra heard voices screaming in the distance.
Who knows, how long, or whatever it was that was making the other participants scream out would take to reach her vicinity.
As far as Zyra was concerned as long as she could hear the screams it was a little too close for comfort.
She had to find her big sister and know that Kayle was alright.
When they were younger their Parents would play a game with them called Marco Polo.
They told her that it was a game based on a real explorer.
He liked to travel the world and discover new things.
When they played the game they could use their imaginations and be like him.
Just like in the maze a family member would be blindfolded.
They would try to find the others by shouting "Marco!" and they would respond by saying, "Polo."
Sometimes when it was her turn they would deliberately taunt or provoke her and she would follow the sound of their voices until she tagged one of them.
The person she tagged would take over as the new explorer and the game would continue.
She knew that if somehow Kayle managed to hear her voice she would instantly catch on and they would make their way towards each other.
It was worth a try and she had nothing to lose.
Should they both somehow manage to make it out of that maze alive it would be nothing short of amazing.
Zyra started shouting "Marco" at the top of her voice.
When a male came up from behind her and grabbed her by the waist with one hand and covered her mouth with the other.
She started to buck like a wild animal in a bid to dislodge him but his hold on her only tightened.
"Be still unless you want to die."
She instantly stilled for she recognized the voice.
It was then she heard a roar close by.
The ominous sound shook the hedge and she stood petrified since that roar belonged to no creature on earth neither human nor animal.
It shook her to the core and turned her stomach upside down, just how close was it?
"Run!" He shouted.
It was the unconscious guy she once helped. He shouldn't have been in the maze and worse been able to enter undetected.
There wasn't time to ask him anything for he was already on the move.
He certainly didn't wait to see if she followed as he sprinted along the path.
She didn't know how far or how long she ran.
Whenever she found herself slowing down he would drag her along with him.
He was letting her know he wasn't going to give up on her or leave her behind.
She was reaching her limits and didn't know how much more she could take.
When she collapsed he stopped and picked her up.
Then kept on running with her, they heard more screaming, followed by the sounds of bones breaking and flesh being torn apart.
She could smell blood in the air and couldn't help but wonder if that too was her fate, to be eaten alive.
He carried her in his arms for some time, which allowed her some time to catch her breath.
Then he said, "I can go no further with you. Keep going straight and you will soon reach the exit. Don't stop, or you will surely die."
She had no choice but to push past her exhaustion.
Zyra didn't want to die yet not like this.
Kayle was waiting for her at the exit and she didn't want to disappoint her older sister.
So she kept pushing past her limits until her legs felt numb and she no longer felt like she was in the maze.
Once she knew she was over the exit line only then did she give in to her exhaustion? Before she passed out she whispered, "Marco."
Was it her imagination or did she hear the reply "Polo" before she lost consciousness.
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