A day later, Tom and Dasha returned to the outskirts of the city.
They immediately began digging.
They worked in shifts, taking turns whenever one of them became exhausted. As the days passed, they talked more and more. Five days of digging gave them plenty of time to learn almost everything about each other.
Their childhoods.
Their families.
Their dreams.
Their fears.
Their lives.
There was only one thing Tom still hadn't told Dasha.
He was from Upware.
After five continuous nights of digging, they finally managed to create a tunnel deep enough to get through.
Tom climbed out and looked around.
"Dasha?"
He waved his hand.
"Hey! I'm here! Where are you?"
A moment later, Dasha appeared from the other side.
Tom smiled.
"We actually did it."
Dasha looked at the tunnel.
"Finally."
Tom sighed.
"Maybe we should come back tomorrow night. We could take a break, freshen up, get some proper sleep—"
Dasha immediately interrupted him.
"We don't have much time, Tom."
She looked toward the forest.
"We need to start moving."
Tom sighed again.
"Yeah... you're right."
So they continued.
The moment they stepped into the forest, everything changed.
The trees were enormous and packed tightly together. Very little light reached the ground. The only source of illumination was the faint moonlight slipping through the branches above them.
It was almost completely silent.
No people.
No buildings.
No sounds of the city.
Just the occasional movement of leaves.
They walked for about a kilometre before suddenly noticing a large wooden board standing in the middle of the path.
Tom stepped closer.
"What's that?"
Dasha read it aloud.
WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE
Below it were three warnings.
SILENT JUNGLE — BEWARE OF TRAPS
WILD JUNGLE — BEWARE OF ANIMALS
UNKNOWN JUNGLE — BEWARE OF THE LAND
Tom stared at it.
"So... the forest is divided into three areas."
Dasha nodded.
"Silent, Wild, and Unknown."
"And we have to get through all three."
"Looks like it."
Tom looked at the final warning.
"'Beware of the land.'"
He paused.
"That sounds reassuring."
Dasha gave him a look.
"Very."
They studied the board for a moment.
The Silent Jungle came first.
Which meant traps.
A lot of them.
Tom looked around.
"So how exactly are we supposed to get through this?"
Dasha thought for a moment.
"We could deliberately trigger the traps."
Tom looked at her.
"That's your plan?"
"If they're going to activate anyway, we can at least control how we approach them."
Tom slowly nodded.
"Actually... that might work."
They had brought ropes and supplies with them, so if one of them fell into a pit or became trapped, the other could pull them out.
It was risky.
Extremely risky.
But they had no better option.
So they split up.
Tom went down one path.
Dasha went down another.
Step by step...
They deliberately moved through the forest, expecting traps to activate beneath their feet.
For hours, they continued.
A branch moved.
A stone shifted.
A patch of ground collapsed.
But somehow...
They remained safe.
Tom kept moving.
Dasha kept moving.
Neither of them knew exactly where the other was.
Until suddenly...
Tom stopped.
"Dasha?"
Nothing.
He looked around.
"Dasha!"
A voice echoed from somewhere nearby.
"Tom?"
His eyes widened.
"Dasha!"
They followed each other's voices.
A few moments later...
They finally saw each other.
Tom smiled.
"Thank God."
Dasha laughed.
"We actually made it through."
But something felt wrong.
Tom looked around.
"Wait."
Dasha stopped.
"What?"
Tom pointed behind them.
"We've been walking for hours."
"Yeah."
"But we've somehow ended up back here."
Dasha looked around.
Her smile disappeared.
"So..."
"It's not actually a trap."
Tom's expression changed.
"It's a maze."
They were trapped.
The paths they had been following weren't leading them forward.
They had been circling around the same area the entire time.
Tom scratched his head.
"Okay..."
Dasha did the same.
"What do we do now?"
"I have absolutely no idea."
They looked around again.
Nothing.
No clear path.
No exit.
No way of knowing which direction they had originally come from.
And now...
The sky was beginning to change.
The darkness was slowly fading.
Sunrise was approaching.
Tom looked upward.
"We've been here all night."
Dasha nodded.
"Yeah."
Neither of them spoke for a moment.
Then...
Crack.
A leaf moved behind them.
Tom froze.
Dasha slowly turned around.
Another sound.
Crack.
Closer.
Tom stepped in front of Dasha.
"Stay behind me."
"What is that?"
"I don't know."
The leaves moved again.
Something was approaching.
Tom tightened his fists.
Dasha stepped backward.
Then...
A massive creature emerged from the darkness.
A Komodo dragon.
It stared directly at Dasha.
She froze.
Tom's eyes widened.
The creature lowered its head.
Its jaws opened.
And in the next instant...
It lunged straight toward Dasha's head.