I N V A D E R S **also being trashed and rewritten soon**

||Chapter 13 - Survival||

"When were we in water?" I asked, turning to Winston.

"Oh. That."

"Yeah, that."

"After the maze, there was a chamber that filled with water." He shrugged. "We almost drowned, but I saved us." He smiled proudly.

"I'm not so sure I should thank you." I quipped nervously, still fighting off waves of dizziness.

"I think you should sit down." Winston said worriedly as I swayed a bit. 

"No really, I'm fi...."

Was the ground coming closer or--

Smack.

My face landed in the dirt, only making my pounding skull worsen. 

"Alright, let's get you to the fire." He cooed.

I groaned as Winston gently helped me sit up and settled me a comfortable distance away from the heat of the flames. I kept my eyes closed, as it helped lessen the pain. 

A thought occurred to me suddenly, "Where's the..." My eyes popped open and I looked frantically around. "Don't tell me you lost the backpack."

"Well...."

"You've got to be kidding me!"

"What else was I supposed to throw at that cat?!"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe the knife that could of done a lot more damage instead of everything we needed to survive in this hell hole?!"

"Look, I'm sorry. That thing was shaking you like a rag doll... I panicked."

I sighed, releasing my knotted anger. "No, I'm sorry. I'm just in a lot of pain, so whatever comes out of my mouth is probably very irrational."

We sat in silence for a moment. I listened for sounds of any oncoming threats, but heard nothing. All I could hear was the beat of Winston's heart and the crackling of the flames. After a while, the pain in my head lessened. 

"So what exactly did the speaker tell you?" I asked to break the silence.

He cleared his throat and in an perfect imitation of the slimy voice from the speaker, said, "You've past the next test. Proceed to the last challenge. If you survive, you will be freed before the deadline."

I let out a small giggle, but it was almost scary how accurate his impersonation was. "That's all he said?" I asked.

"Yeah. And right now, it seems like all we need to do is kick back and relax."

"If we've learned anything from this, it's to never think anything is going to be easy." 

"Damn right... I think we should look around for an exit or something."

"Sounds like a plan. I feel better now anyways."

Though the waves of pain were much less when I stood up, it was still prominent, especially in my arm. I found keeping my left arm securely tucked into my chest the most comfortable position as we explored the surrounding "woods".

"Hey, I think I found something." Winston called from behind my right shoulder.

Having my arm still curled to my chest, I carefully navigated through the trees to his location. He was kneeling and studying something on the ground. 

"What did you find?" I asked as I knelt beside him.

"A trap door."

I looked at the ground in front of us and sure enough, it appeared that Winston had peeled back a patch of grass, almost like carpet, to reveal the small trap door.