.. -. - .-. — -.. ..- -.-. - .. — -.

Tik. Chad continued to run as fast as he could. Tok. He was running, running out of time. Tik. It was far too close. Tok. The clanking sounds that came with its movement grew ever louder. He reached out in the darkness of the corridor and felt only the cold, stone bricks. He was trapped there, in this God-forsaken labyrinth concocted only to confuse, disorientate, and drive completely mad, anyone who set foot inside. Tik. Tok. Tik. Tok. He stood still, there in the corner listening to the mechanical apparatus that clung to the ceiling and followed his every move. Tik. Tok. The loud sounds of metal on stone continued to move faster and closer, until he saw a faint orange glow shift into the hallway. The clanking stopped, but his clockwork shadow continued to click and whir. Tik. Tok. The glow slowly grew brighter as the machine restarted its slow advance. It continued to brighten until the lantern appeared around the corner into the opening of the hall. Tik. The light was being held by a hulking metal fist, wires connecting them together. Then, the behemoth of industrial might rounded the corner and came fully into view. Tok.

.. -. / - …. . / -… . –. .. -. .. -. –.

The moon was high in the sky on the other side if the small broken window. Chad groaned and ran his fingers through his dirty brown hair, wincing as he felt a welt on the back of his head. Realizing that Michelle and his younger brother Dylan were in the foreign room as well, he rushed over and shook them awake. The two slowly stirred and Chad finally noticed the decrepit state of the room they were all in. The floor was filthy, coated in dirt and grime, and the walls were made of hard, cold stone. Chad remembered his cell phone, but when he took it out of his pocket, chunks were all he found.

“Damn it,” he grunted, “Where the hell are we?”

Michelle groaned, “Ugh, what happened to us?” Her light hair was turned brown with a coating of dirt, as were her clothes.

Chad helped her to her feet, brushing some of the dirt off of her. “I have no clue, all I remember is going to that diner for lunch…” He looked around the room looking for a way out. “Are you okay? You aren’t hurt are you?” He refocused his gaze into hers.

“I’m fine, just a bit sore.”

“I’m great too, don’t you worry about me,” Dylan said as he attempted to lift himself to his feet unsuccessfully. “Agh, I think my ankle is broken.”

“Great,” Chad sighed dragging his brother to his good foot. “Not only do I not see a way out, now we have to drag 300 pounds of deadweight.”

“I can hear you.”

“Like I said; deadweight.” Chad continued going through the shelves of books that lined two of the walls for any kind of clue as to where they were. All he found were ancient looking tomes and decrepit encyclopedias of various topics; nothing that could help them.

Chad looked up from one of the books, “ Michelle did you find something?”

She had been staring at the empty wall of the room, running her fingers along the grooves of the bricks. “I don’t know; possibly.” She turned away from the wall to face Chad, “This wall is warmer than the rest, I can feel air moving between the bricks. If we could knock one loose, it could be our way out.”

“Yeah, too bad the strength of the group is useless right now.” Chad said glancing over his shoulder at his immobilized brother.

“Shut it, I can take down this wall without my ankle. Help me up.”

Chad and Michelle hoisted Dylan to his unsteady feet. Dylan proceeded to lift one of the heavy oak shelves and rammed it against the barren wall. His blow dislodged a brick and loosened several others. Dylan collapsed back on the floor, clenching his teeth and gripping his ankle, now swollen and black. While Michelle checked on Dylan’s quickly worsening ankle, Chad pushed more and more of the stone bricks from their place in the wall until there was a hole that the three of them could each fit through.

“There, now let’s get out of this place.” Chad helped Dylan to his feet and through the hole. They had expected the wall to lead outside, but they were sadly mistaken. The warmth from the wall was coming from a long, dark hall way lit by oil lanterns on the wooden beams that supported the ceiling.

The hall went on for what seemed like miles twisting, turning, doubling back on itself; disorienting the hapless trio. After some time they couldn’t even find their way back to the room that they had regained consciousness in. Dylan’s ankle had become far too inflamed for him to continue to walk any farther, so he stayed behind with Michelle; but Chad was determined. He had to find his way out, he had to save them, all of them.

This is when it found him. The little clockwork spider. At first chad ignored it, but over time its clicks and whirs worked their way into his head. The small mechanical creature crawled its way across the ceiling following Chad’s every step. Tik tok went its miniature springs and sprockets as its metal legs pitter pattered on the rough ceiling.

Chad looked up at his new friend. He studied it. It was very finely crafted. The metal work was smooth and the inner workings were flawless. He could tell that much skill and craftsmanship went into the making of the machine. The bronze and copper parts blended seamlessly as they swayed to and fro.

CRASH.

A massive sound came from far down one of the long branching paths. It was heavy metal on the cold stony floor of the corridors. This sound was followed by a loud, yet quieter thumping sound that moved side to side. Whatever had landed was on the move.

Chad increased his pace, going from walking speed to jogging, to running, and finally to full sprinting. His stamina soon wore thin though making him need to catch his breath. Even with his speed, the little spider continued to follow him with its tiks and whirs. Its eyes darted around the hall, but always returning to Chad. But the spider wasn’t the only sound that seemed to follow him. The loud thumps were still moving, and seemed to be getting closer to him now.

That’s when Chad was met with a realization. He had no clue where his brother and Michelle were and no idea if they were safe or not. He wracked his brain; how could he have forgotten them? What was this labyrinth doing to him? What could it have done to them? He took off, running back, he hoped.

Hours he spent searching, running, hiding. So long he could no longer remember what he was looking for. All he knew is that he couldn’t let the crashing thuds find him. But no matter how far he went or how many turns he took, the prodigious noise still advanced on him.

The titanic monstrosity had Chad cornered, pushing him farther and farther backwards against the wall. Its arms rose and reached for him, but they weren’t menacing. They were almost… welcoming. Then suddenly the machine’s massive arms flew upwards into the ceiling, collapsing it on Chad. Unbenounced to Chad, it was the only way the mechanical being could finally die.

Chad opened his eyes only to view what he recognized as the maze, but through some kind of visor. Slowly he realized the truth of the situation and the inevitability of what had to happen… and sought himself out, in search of his death.