Push the Limits

16

And then she stopped breathing..

"How.. How could you?" Dan whispered bitterly at Cornelia.

"It had to be done, Daniel. I would have been done for if she wasn't dead."

Dan stood up to face the charred woman. "What kind of a person are you?"

Looks of guilt and regret flashed in her eyes. She sighed and dropped her gaze. "To be honest? I don't know anymore."

Dan was taken slightly by surprise with this response. He expected a snarky comment, or perhaps a death threat.

"I am old, Daniel. They have changed me so much that I don't know if any original part of me still exists. I was once young and eager, like you. But that was decades ago."

"Decades? You don't even look old. Aside from the.. Burns." Dan inquired, almost forgetting that this was the same woman who had just killed Thea.

"Looks can be deceiving. Would you guess that I am over two hundred years old, Daniel? Would you?"

"I wouldn't guess that. But how?"

"They pumped so much anti age formulas into me, providing me with surgeries and shots so that my life could be preserved. I'm their asset." She said sourly, as if the words were poison on her tongue.

"You keep referring to a 'they'. Who is it?"

Her breath hitched. "I-I'm not actually sure.. They always drugged me before they produced tests on me. They label me as the CEO of this organisation, but I always had the feeling that this was never the case."

"Oh.." Dan had no real response.

"Can you help me, Dan? They won't be able to fix me this time, and nobody will last long if the power is out."

"What do you need me to do?"

"Go back the way you came, and get Denise to help you. Go back through the labyrinth, and find the Maintenance Room. I can provide you a rough set of directions, but when you're there, you need to manually override and activate the auxiliary power. Doing it automatically won't work well enough. Can you do that?"

"I can try. For Thea." Dan said.

"Good. I can activate the automatic auxiliary power long enough for you to reach Maintenance. You won't have long, but you have to try make it.
The hallways will revert back to their original freezing temperature once the power goes out again. I can't guarantee you won't get cold." Cornelia said.

"Alright. Let's do it." Dan agreed.

"You'll have to run back to the arena," Cornelia added, "I don't know the whereabouts of the creature, so you'll have to be careful. Now go. I'll give you directions once you get to the arena."

Dan was just about to step out of the console room, when Cornelia's voice stopped him.

"Good luck, Daniel." She said, monotonous.

Dan shook her off and began to run, back the way he had come.

He was gone too soon to hear Cornelia's sinister laughter quietly echoing within the console room.

He leapt over the mangled pipes and dodged the live wires. Before long, he was back in the arena, and he only just noticed that the power was back on.

Denise was lying in the centre of the arena, arms outstretched, drumming her fingers in the dirt.

"Denise!" Dan called out to her. She sat up, and upon seeing who it was, she got up and ran over to him.

"Dan.. I thought you were dead. Where's Thea?"

Dan looked down. "Thea's.. Dead.."

"What?!"

"Cornelia killed her. But, Harry. What happened?"

"He was one of them. A traitor," she snarled, "just like Michelle and Caleb. Wait, who's Cornel-"

"Denise - I'm sorry, but listen. You have to help me. We're about to get instructions over the speaker, and then we have to find the Maintenance room in the labyrinth and get the power back on. If we don't, we won't get back home."

"Dan, I-"

"Alright," crackled Cornelia over the loudspeaker, "here are the directions: left, left, right, second left, fifth right, left, right, right, and then it's the third door on the left. Good luck."

"Um, what?" Dan stuttered.

"How were we supposed to remember that?" Denise fumed.

"I think I've got it. We have to go, or we'll freeze halfway there, the power she's providing is only temporary." Dan said.

"Okay, but-"

"Denise, let's go!" Dan said, grabbing her hand, and starting to run.

They made the first two turns, a left, then another left, but when they went to turn to the right, they ran straight into the snarling jaws of the beast..