Death Maze

Chapter Five

Death Maze _ Chapter Five _ Starving

I awake multiple times throughout the 'night' and each time am confused about where I am. After I remember and calm down some, I sigh and roll over, only to fall back into a most uncomfortable sleep. It feels like only five minutes have past when Josey is shaking me awake.

"We need to move," rubbing sleep from the corners of my eyes, I grab Josey's hand and she helps me stand.

"We need to find another pair, ask them what we've missed."

I walk to the door sleepily and twist the handle.

"Oh, fuck me." I mumble.

Groaning, I rub my hands down my face. "Let's get this over with"

I'm sure hours went by before Josey finally found the right key.

"Thank God." I say, bouncing on the balls of my feet behind Josey while she slowly unlocks the door.

"Stay quiet." She says, looking at me over her shoulder.

Slowly and dramatically we walk out of the room. Everything is quiet. It doesn't seem like anything has changed, but for all we know it might only be us left alive.

We walk down more hallways and weird rooms, this time we make sure one person is holding the door open while another snoops around for anything helpful.

"You know what would have been smart?" I say, barely above a whisper while holding a door open so Josey can snoop around safely.

"What?" Josey asks, not even giving me a single glance.

"If you guys had come up with some way to communicate, it would have been useful”

Josey looked back at me, confused, expecting clarification before she turned away to face the front.

 “Like, you could have left messages carved into doors for the others”

She stops what she's doing and looks at me. She stares for a moment before answering

"That's actually a really good idea." She sighs and looks down

"If only we'd have thought of it sooner."

"Well, maybe it isn't too late. We could still leave signs for the others. Maybe they'll get the hint and start leaving some, too."

Josey just stares at me, so I continue.

"For instance, this room seems safe, right? Haven't found anything good or bad. So..."

I take a knife out of my pocket and carve the word 'SAFE' deep into the door, followed by the initials 'J, A'

"Now the others will know, too."

Joey grins at me then walks forward and hugs my side. "You're a genius" she mumbles.

"I try." I say with a wink.

"Now, let's keep going. I'd really like to find some food." My stomach rumbles, right on cue.

Josey giggles and covers her mouth. She walks back out the door and I follow.

We walk for what has to be at least 5 hours, carving 'SAFE' into doors and 'DEAD-END' into random walls we pass.

"What about this door?" I say to Josey.

"We haven't been in there yet. Look, the color of the door is painted a light blue. I wonder what's behind it?"

Josey peaks at the door then grabs my hand to tug me along.

"Probably something bad." Pulling my hand from her grasp, I walk back towards the door.

"Well, let’s find out." With a grimace, Josey stands behind me while I open the door.

Both of our mouths drop.

"Sweet Jesus." I say and drop to my knees.

"Food. Water. Oh, a fridge."

Finally. Finally we've found food and water.

"I can't believe it." Josey whispers.

I stand up and take in my surroundings more properly. It's like your modern kitchen, only not as fancy. A scratched up wooden, square table with four chairs just the same. A working fridge, sink and stove. Against one wall there was a cabinet that must have perishable foods in it.

I walk straight to the sink and turn the tap on. Just like a thought, running water. I cup my hands and splash water on my face and into my mouth. I moan and turn to see Josey hiding a laugh.

"Need a cup?" she says, thrusting a small plastic cup into my hands.

I take it greedily and fill it with water. I hadn't realized how thirsty I was.

"Where'd you find that?"

She cocks her head to the left, motioning towards the cabinet that has it's doors thrown open.

I gulp down the rest of the water, place my cup aside and practically run to the cabinet. My eyes pop out of my head.

Silverware, chips, cookies, chocolate, canned food, and lots of other sweets. I grab a big bag of cheesies and rip it open. I begin to devour it.

"That's not healthy at all." Says Josey, munching on a carrot stick.

"It's what I've lived on all my life," I say, patting my stomach.

"My tummy misses it." Josey laughs and this time, doesn't cover it up.

She takes out her own knife and walks to the door. She carves 'FOOD!' into it and adds a big circle around it. She flops into a chair and finishes off her carrot while I finish eating the cheese sticks.

"Man, that was so good." I say, while I begin to lick the cheesy powder off my fingers. My stomach gives another growl, not yet satisfied.

Suddenly I hear a male voice. "Hungry, are we?"