Gasoline

Prologue

Run.

That was all the boy could think of to do.

The Committee had told him upon arriving at his household that he must be taken away temporarily to be run through the Trials.

What every teen waits for their whole teenager lives.

Normally, you take the test at the age of 15, so it was a shock to the fourteen year old that he would be tested a year early.

It seemed strange, but he didn't resist.

To resist the Committee's wishes would mean to immediately be thrown into the Reformatory.

Or worse.

But now, the exhausted boy would gladly take death over this living hell.

He didn't know how long he had been running, he just knew it had been quite a while.

And he was being hunted.

He felt betrayed. Bamboozled. How was he supposed to know that an Endurance test would mean to run through a maze until he found a way out?

It didn't help that the Committee threw in one of their new pets to make the challenge more interesting.

The boy, upon noticing the snarls and howls of the creature had stopped, paused to catch his breath. As a result, he let his mind wander slightly.

Weren't Mazes supposed to be banned now? He had learned it in history class...

A scientist scheduled to be on Death's Row came up with the brilliant idea to connect a mechanical element to a type of puzzle that had been long forgotten.

A maze.

It used to be a fun, genuinely interesting activity for children to solve back in the Days of Old.

But once a machine aspect was added to it, it quickly became deadly.

After a few fatalities, Mazes were limited to teenagers and adults. Soon, it became a kind of sport to see who could make it out of the Maze first.

It was so thrilling to emerge into the light at the end of the tunnel, to hear the cheers of those who wished for your safe arrival out of the Maze.

The winner was praised greatly and even earned a special medal.

But for some odd reason, the Loser never found their way out of the Maze.

And no one ever went in to find them.

It is believed that the Losers got so lost among the twists and turns of the Maze that they eventually starved to death. These rumors eventually led to the banning of the use of Mazes. They have neither been confirmed nor denied.

That was fifty years ago.

So why was the Committee, the GOVERNMENT, using one for the Trials? Were the Trials not supposed to be fair?

The boy snapped out of his thoughts as a furious snarling rang out from behind him.

The Creature had found him.

Inhaling sharply, the boy prepared his lungs for a second before sprinting off in the opposite direction of where he had heard the howls.

Panting, the boy skidded to a halt as he found himself at the edge of a precipice.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

The boy whipped his head around quickly to find it staring at him.

Yet again, the Creature.

How did it find him so quickly?

It then hit him.

It had been farther away from him.

The roars had echoed off of the walls...

He had fallen for its trap.

He backed up towards the edge of the sudden drop as the Creature padded ever so slowly towards him.

Slobber dripped from its long fangs. Its dark, cruel eyes seemed to bore into his soul.

There was something strange about it though.

It seemed as if...

It LOOKED as if...

It was made of shadows?

The anxious boy looked behind him at the drop.

Die from jumping off of a cliff, or being mercilessly torn limb from limb by a mysterious animal?

He hardly had time to think about it as the Beast was now upon him.

. . .

Hours later, a voice sounded over an intercom.

"The Endurance test has been deemed a failure. The female is the winner. Take her to temporary confinement before the other teens are ready for the Branding."