Mckenise did know where we were going…the issue was trying to get there. We'd been walking for at least a day now, when I say us I mean me, Opal, Penelope, Mckenise, and Miriam. Which left Basil alone. We'd made a bag or sorts by tying the four corners of a square of fabric together and shoving some supplies inside. A few bandages, beef jerky(Which is so gross but I am so damn hungry), and a bit of dried fruit. We'd left Basil with the rest of dried fruit and all our other provisions…but now I was starting to wonder if it would be enough? Whatever, he'll be fine. We've got a girls trip…yay? Yeah. Yay. Miriam let out a small noise of pain, her grip on my arm tightening. I could tell her feet hurt, yesterday we'd had to stop because they'd started to bleed and a few had popped. It still hurt, we'd have to change her bandages again soon. I'd wondered why she'd been wanting to come so badly, but she seemed sure that if we were facing what she thought we were, we needed her. Penelope turned back, looking at the three of us. Mckensie kept walking in front of her, pausing when she heard the girl speak. "How's everyone?" She asked, the bags under her eyes haunting in the torchlight. "I'm feeling pumped! The maze is sooooo cool, and we're almost there, right?" Opal said excitedly, looking at Mckenzie. "Uhm…yeah…I think so" Mckensie said quietly. She was really bad at navigating the maze, I think we'll be lucky if we ever make it back to the intercross. The rope marks around her neck had faded slightly but were still visible, her face spotted with a few red patches. "I think we should probably stop soon, maybe rest?" I said, looking at Miriam. She nodded "We've been walking for," She paused, taking a few steps back then holding her hands up for a moment. "About ten ish hours?" Miriam Guessed, before running to join back with the group. She'd been the only one to notice that if you stood in the middle of certain hallways at twelve you could see a light shining through the bricks right above you. If the light was farther down the hall you could use your hands to tell how far along it was the way she'd taught me how to tell time by the sun back in fifth grade. If it was behind you…that was a little bit harder. We weren't quite sure how to tell if we were facing the right way so actually telling time was hard but the passage of time was easier. Penelope let out a quiet sigh "I don't know, this doesn't seem like a good spot" She commented. Mckensie let out a groan, honestly, vibe. "I do agree, this halls sort of…freaky" Miriam commented, looking around. I didn't think it looked that weird. Instead of tiles like usual the hall had more of a stone castle type look with a weird spotty looking spackle. Do I know what the heck spackle is? No. Am I only calling it that because that's what Mckensie called it?…maybe…it looked pretty cool. Personally, I wanted to pass out here and now, my legs hurt, and my knees were sore, and my back hurt from sleeping on stone floors for days. I needed to sit the heck down and…okay I don't know what to do from there. One thing at a time! "Yeah, I can't do this guys," Mckensie sighed, slumping down against the wall "I need a break" She decided. I looked at Miriam before sitting down beside Mckensie. Miriam sighed, looking around nervously before sitting down beside the two of us. My hand clasped around her arm, almost making sure she was still there. Miriam put her head on my shoulder, just as worn out as the rest of us. She was too warm for my liking, either a fever or from all the walking we'd been doing. Her burns seemed to be healing but I could still see her falter on that side when she walked every so often. Penelope continued to pace at the wall opposite for a few moments before Opal dragged the older black haired girl down, forcing her to sit. Opal seemed more content, she closed her eyes, probably trying to sleep. Not so long after I heard Miriam's the little puff, puff, puff of Miriam snoring, I would be lucky if my shoulder didn't have drool on it when she woke up. Mackenzie's body went limp, falling down onto the floor. Penelope and I stared at each other in silence for a good few minutes. I sighed softly, putting my head back and enjoying the few moments of calm. But as I looked around…it almost felt like the walls were closing in on me, that eerie feeling I got sometimes. Usually it just meant I was home alone and listening to creepy things and had freaked myself out again. But sometimes…I got a sort of feeling, like I was being watched, or something was about to go wrong. "How are you feeling?" I asked Penelope, hating the way the silence made me feel. Penelope paused before answering, she ran a shaky hand through her sister's hair. "Fine…I guess. I just don't know how much longer this is going to take" She admitted. Penelope seemed just as worried about running out of food as I was. "This place gives me the creeps" I commented, looking around again. The hallway was quiet, my voice didn't echo even in the empty space. I had liked the wall, the look of the place…but now…in the eerie quiet…it made me feel like at any moment I would be the next one dead. "Same" Penelope agreed "If we die make sure I get a viking funeral" I decided. "...What?" Okay clearly Penelope had never heard of viking funerals before. "Y'know, put my body on a ship, send it out on a lake, and light the damn thing on fire" I explained. Penelope didn't answer, just slowly blinking and looking at me. Viking traditions are SO cool. First of all, wedding swords?! Absolutely savage and way way way wayyyyyyy better than a stinking ring. I should get Miriam a wedding sword. Also, they created the blood eagle which isn't a sick metal band like you'd think. It's an execution method and it's super duper freaky, very cool. And setting your corpse on fire? So much cooler than getting put under a bunch a' dirt like a puss. "So anyways…back to…anything else" Penelope gave me a look I didn't quite understand. "So…my Dad's dead?" I offered, trauma dumping is usually a good response to silence. Penelope took a solid minute and a half to respond "Uhm…I don't have a dad either. I was born from a sperm donation actually" She admitted, oh damn. "Awesome, is Opal too?" I wondered, Penelope nodded "Yeah. Mom and Dad made the choice together I guess, or not. We don't…talk a lot so I never asked" Penelope admitted. Depressing. Sometimes I wondered if the draws were rigged to just choose the most traumatized angry kids. And the crazy's. "Y'know, me and Miriam used to make little theories about the maze" I chuckled. "Like what?" Penelope tilted her head to the side, her face was pretty blank but I could sort of tell now she was actually interested. "I think my favorite was the…oh what did we call it?" I paused, trying to remember the dumb name we'd come up with. "Okay I can't remember but basically we had the idea that maybe they pumped some sort of gas into the maze to change how people act" I explained. Penelope thought for a second before she spoke, something I seemed unable to do. "Why? That sounds so random?" Honestly she was right, it did. "Well y'know how everyone always acts so...I dunno, angry, and always make crappy decisions? When Mir's cousin got sent it he acted really…weird, not how he usually did. So we were starting to think maybe they're messing with the candidates somehow?" Okay it sounded a lot less stupid when I explained further. Good job me. "Makes sense…I don't think any of us are acting that different though?" Penelope challenged. "Miriams a lot less cautious, and I mean you should know how many bad decisions we've made" I gestured jokingly to my ear, referring to the fact her left ear was nearly torn off. Penelope seemed unamsed "At least all the blood on me is mine," She gestured to the bloodstain still visible on my dress "And your hands look like hell". Penelope was right…they did. My hands really stung, banging against the wall had really marked them up. They were black, blue, yellow, and green with bruises, a few scratches stinging in the cold air. We sat in an uncomfortable silence, both just sort of…thinking. I drifted off to a nightmare filled sleep not too long after.
