Collision

Chapter Nineteen

~ Chapter Nineteen ~

Ellie's P.O.V.

In the first minute we were in 'the labyrinth', nothing happened. All we managed to do was walk through a long concrete hallway. But the serenity stopped shorty after when we were faced with a dilemma of different paths. To our left, right and front, there were three ways which were all unsurprisingly made of concrete. The gray walls were no different from each other, making all the paths look exactly similar. 

The path to the left of us stretched not too far, maybe about two blocks of walking. The path in front was only a short walk, but the path to the right stretched a far kilometer or so, about half a mile. My palms were sweaty from anxiousness.

"Where do we go?" Carl asked, his voice sounding unsure. I stayed quiet, letting Michonne naturally take the lead. Because she was the oldest out of all three of us, she was technically the wisest.

"We'll take a look at all the routes for the first two turns only. If there's anything suspicious at all, then we bolt and get out of there. Get your weapons out and ready," she demanded, and we nodded our heads, taking out our dagger and knife.

Sadly, we didn't have very much ammo left, there were only enough bullets to fill one round of Carl's pistol.

"Let's go in here first," Michonne declared, walking to the path on the left. Her katana was held in front of her with two hands on the handle. She was crouched low, anticipating danger through the corner. 

After about two blocks of walking, we turned left around the wall and abruptly stopped.

"Damnit, it's a dead end," I whispered, lowering the knife to my side.

The three of us turned back to where we started and decided we'd go to the path on the right, which was the furthest walk out of all three ways. After a minute or so of walking, we started hearing distinct growls and moans. Nearing yet another pathway dilemma, Michonne led us to the right, thus stopping us dead in our tracks.

In front of us was yet another concrete hallway, but this time, there were walkers behind a glass gate. 

"Congratulations. The three of you have found your first corpse obstacle. Like all others, you will have the decision to choose which path to take, but these ones are different. In every corpse obstacle, there is either a reward or nothing at the end of the hall. If you choose to risk it, these glass gates will open and you will have to fight every single corpse to get to the opposite end of the hall. If you succeed, you will get to find out if your fight was worth it. Do answer, are the three of you willing to fight through this horde?"

The two of them were hesitant, but the voice inside me was loud and clear. "Let's do it."

"Woah, woah, we don't even know what's behind these gates. There could be around ten, maybe even twenty walkers out there! It might not be worth it, Ellie," Carl spoke, his voice sounding concerned.

"He's right, there might not be anything at all down there," Michonne stated, agreeing with Carl.

I shook my head, "We'll never know if we see for ourselves. We can handle ten walkers, maybe not so much as twenty, but just think about what would happen if we killed them all. Think about whatever is behind all those infected."

"I don't want you to get hurt." Carl breathed, gaining a raised eyebrow from Michonne. I took Carl's hand in mine and held it, letting him know my desperation. If there was anything that could help us in this 'maze' we had to find it. It could lead us back to Joel and the others. 

After a moment of silence, Michonne shut her eyes and nodded, "The two of you stay behind me just in case this goes bad. If anything happens to me, don't hesitate and run in the opposite direction, do you understand?"

"We can't leave y-"

"Do you understand?" Michonne repeated. Carl and I nodded our heads, both nervous for whatever was going to happen.

"I take it that the three of you want to risk it?"

We answered 'him' with our silence and the glass gates clicked open, a group of infected bursting through.

"No way," Carl muttered in astonishment. My eyes went wide as I saw Michonne take out the walkers.

"That's impossible, there couldn't only have been two. The glass... Behind the glass, I swear I saw..." I didn't have the proper mind to finish my sentence.

"As I expected, I would get a normal reaction from you all. This, my friends, is called a holographic glass wall. From the help of my scientist and engineers, we have built in these holographies around the maze to confuse you. In this first experiment, you all have proved yourselves to be brave, thus I applaud you. But be warned, this holographic wall made it seem like there were many more corpses, while the others will make it seem like there are many less corpses. Be careful what you risk your life for."

"As if you cared what we risked our life for," Michonne scoffed, her facial expression was furious. We scoured at the way he called us 'friends' and the way he described new technology. Why weren't civilians told about these new things being built? Was this 'holographic glass screen' being built illegally to be hidden from the government? Or was the government trying to hide it from us?

"Of course we care, why else would we be doing this operation?" None of us knew where the source of the voice was coming from. It could've been hidden speakers. It could've been from the echo of the concrete. It could've even been from the glass roof above our heads.

"What operation?" I half asked, half yelled. What did he mean by 'we'?

"Now that, dear, is something you must find out for yourself. All I can tell you is that we are rooting for you to win. We are rooting for you to find your others, because if no one won, then there is no point to this game. Although obstacles seem difficult, they were not meant to kill you. They were made to strengthen you, preparing you for everything that happens once you finish the maze. Enough of my constant blabbering, aren't you all curious to know what those two corpses were worth?"

After he stopped speaking, the three of us walked around the infected and made our way towards the end of the hall. Disappointed from the sight, Carl and Michonne walked away, but I took a closer look.

There was an infected, still moving, but it was tied up with ropes, unable to reach or bite. The two of them must've not seen, but I stepped closer, observing the undead's face.

"Guys, there's something here," I called out, sticking out my hand to it's left eye.

"What are you doing Ellie, get away from that thing," Carl insisted, but I shook my head, gesturing them to come over.

They huddled around the tied infected and also noticed what I was staring at. 

Inside the empty eye socket of the walker was a rolled up piece of paper. It must've been paper, nothing else was as thin as that. I reached in the eye and ignored the slimy feeling of fresh blood, then pulled out the paper, unrolling it as I stepped back.

The three of us observed it, then we all exchanged glances at each other, a grin on our faces.

"It was worth it," Michonne spoke for us all, happy about the map of the maze we had just obtained.