MY DEAR READERS I MUST APOLOGIZE. I wrote this chapter at least a month ago while babysitting and had no service, so I was unable to post it, and I have gone this entire month thinking that I had posted it, and for this, I must apologize. I have not dropped this story, and I have no intention of dropping it, though I am officially in college and things have been crazy, so my updates will be slow, so just be warned. I do plan on finishing this, it's just getting crazy up in here! I hope you all will stick with me through this, and thanks for all of your patience!

I'll Try This On My Own

I don't know how long the initial pain lasted, but it seemed like ages. I also have no way of describing it other than that it felt as if my entire body was on fire on the inside, and stuck in a tub of ice water on the outside. Like that awful feeling when you're cold and take a hot shower, and it burns for the first couple of minutes, but a gazillion times worse.

What even is a "gazillion"? Is it an actually amount of money, or is it just something people use?

A million thoughts raced through my mind as the burning sensation continued to course through my veins. Old thoughts, new thoughts, thoughts on different words that still perturbed me. Before long, the thought were even too much, and the burning sensation had made its' way to my brain. I was honestly sure that this was how they brainwashed their soldiers; melting their brain, then refreezing and solidifying it and inserting new memories, while deforming the old ones.

I didn't even realize that I had passed out until I opened my eyes and found myself in a completely different room. I was no longer strapped down to the medieval torture table, nor was I on a table at all. I was on the ground. The cold, boring, same old stone ground. If I ever saw a stone again, I was sure I would explode.

"Richard," a voice echoed through the room, seemingly coming from nowhere, until I noticed the blinking light on a very out of place looking speaker. "I am pleased with your results," the voice continued. "Greater men have succumbed to the effects of the drug much faster."

"Yeah, care to explain what was in said drug?" I questioned, giving the best batglare I could to the speaker. Whether or not the voice could see was beyond my knowledge, but I at least felt I was putting up a little bit of a fight.

"Just a little something we created for training," the voice responded, seemingly amused. "Worry not, for it's not the last time you'll encounter it."

"What—" I started, but was silenced by the same burning sensation running through my body. I gasped at the unexpected pain, but just as quickly as it had begun, it had passed.

The voice chuckled, "For the next portion of your training, you must escape from the labyrinth that you now find yourself in. There are check points along the way that you must reach. Some check points will have safe places to rest for a brief moment, others… well, you'll just have to find out."

"How do I know which way to go?" I asked, pushing myself up onto my shaky legs.

"You will have to figure that out on your own. You have until the injection leaves your system. If you fail to escape in that time, we will simply have to start again."

"How long—"

"Enough time," the voice replied. "Now, you may begin your journey."

The light on the speaker went dark, and I knew that trying to contact them again would be pointless, so I started walking in one direction.

As I walked, I took stock of my brain. All of my memories were intact, so I guess my brainwashing theory was wrong. Apparently they just genuinely enjoyed inflicting pain.

I walked through the maze, making sure to keep track of where I turned. I had nothing to mark where I had started, so I had no idea if I was walking in circles or not, though I made sure to never make more than 2 left or right turns in a row. I continued to walk for what seemed like an hour when the wound in my back started itching. Of course they couldn't scientifically heal it or something. Better to leave me trapped and wounded so I couldn't fight back if it came to it.

About two hours into the trek, the burning sensation returned. It was fast but painful, and must have lasted about a minute before it subsided. I took a couple of minutes to gain my bearings and check my injury, as the shock of the pain had sent me to the floor. The last thing I needed was for the stitches to pop. I wondered what they would do if I started to bleed out. They had worked rather hard to get me here just to let me die during my first day of training. Or maybe it was my second? I had no sense of time in the fortress, and since I had been knocked out for a while, I had no idea how much time had really passed.

When I started walking again, I had to remind myself of the last turn I made. I began reciting the order, "left, left, right, straight, right, left, straight, straight, left…" that was when I got lost. "Straight, straight right? Or was it straight again?" I groaned as I walked, stopping when I came to a fork in the maze. I hadn't encountered any of these yet, so I knew I was possibly going the right way—at least going a new way.

I looked down both paths, studying them, looking for some sort of clue about where to go. That was when I saw it—all the way down the right path, faint, yet bright, a red flashing light. Either flashing lights meant danger or check point, or even both! But it at least meant progress, so I started down that way.

As I got closer, I knew I was right about the light being a checkpoint. There was an old looking computer screen sticking out of the wall. It was obviously old, but also had a new, modern look to it. There were wires sticking out of it from many different sides—some were red, some were think and curly, some were even plain wire with no protective casing on it. I made a special point to not touch any of those ones.

The screen lit up as I reached it, almost as if it had sensed my arrival, and there was a message on it.

Turn around, it read.

I didn't even think. I turned around immediately, just in time to see a giant metal tube shaped object covered in extra sharp spikes barreling towards me from the ceiling. I immediately threw myself to the ground, lying as flat as I possibly could, just narrowly avoiding the device as it slammed into the wall and lodged itself there. I waited a moment longer before getting back to my feet, making sure that there was no way it would be called back to where it came from.

I continued down the path until I came to another intersection. I knew I couldn't go backwards from there, so I took a right, then a left, then went straight, and left again, running into a dead end. Immediately, I turned around and headed back the way I came, going straight through the area where I had taken the last left.

It had to have been another hour when I felt the next wave of pain, this one lasting longer than the last two. After about three minutes—I counted the seconds to try and take my mind off it—the pain subsided again. If I survived this, I would definitely never complain about stubbing my toe again.

After another hour and fifteen minutes, the lack of water started to affect me. I was feeling sluggish, and my head was starting to hurt, and it's really hard to be alert when you're dehydrated. Fifteen minutes later, I saw it in the distance. The next checkpoint—this time with a blue light—flickering in and out in the distance. It was straight ahead, a clear shot, and I found myself, while not running, moving faster to reach it.

I should have paid more attention, and my mistake cost me, because before I knew it, the floor was gone. Or rather, it was there, I was just in it. It was an illusion. There was no floor; it just looked like there was. I had at least had the mind to grab onto the ledge, so I pulled myself up back where I was, surely popping at least one stitch in the process.

I took stock of my surroundings. I had no way of knowing what was actually the floor, and what was part of the illusion. I would have to tread carefully, checking each step before I took it. The system worked, and everything would have been ok, had my body not spasmed as a wave of pain overtook me. In the suddenness of it, I lost my balance on the small patch of solid ground that I had found. I had no control over my body as I fell, sure that I was about to reach my end, dying in the most terrifying way possible. Falling to my death, just like my parents had…