Random Vignette

Snicker-snack. Snicker-snack. Snicker-snack.

Some things, I reflect, swords were still good for. The ends of the metal bars glow as I run past them. Running, always running. The damn maze stretched forever. Turn left, jump the bottomless pit, duck the swing blades, hop through the grinders. Movement off to the side? Friend or foe? Doesn’t matter, keep running.

It seems like ages I’ve been stuck in this bloody labyrinth. There’s no way to turn back, somewhere far behind me the whole thing is slowly melting into slag. I can see the glow at night, ominous and deadly. Where the walls aren’t atomically smooth, they’re deathtraps. Every corridor is lethal, the inhabitants doubly so. There is scant time to rest, or for food and water.

Forward again, sword back, gun out. The maze wasn’t complex, but it sure was big. Here comes the gauntlet. The pistol kicks against my hand, silver bullets impacting bodies, pressing them against the wall for me to pass. Don’t look at the faces. Just don’t. Right, left, and…it ends. Too tired to shout, or cheer, I jog up the slope and collapse, panting into the grass. Grass! How long has it been since I was in anything but those metal walls, fleeing this supposed grave?

I stare at the sky, the myriad stars dimmed by the light of the deathtrap slowly devouring itself. “This time, Cain, it’s my turn.”