Soon after everyone sprung into action, our allocated time had been expended. I saw some creatures react with panic when the leader suddenly exclaim that their two minutes of rest had passed. The complaints were loud enough that he extended it by two more minutes. Everyone then turned back to their partners and hurriedly squeezed any last remarks they may have had, acting as if their lives depended on conversing every detail to their acquaintances that they had met that same day.
Naturally, I turned to Endora. Nothing came to my mind though, as we had already talked about our past and the things that we thought about the school, among other things. I instead prepared myself emotionally, psyching myself up for any threats that would inevitably be waiting just around the corner.
"Time's up," the leader of the group announced once more. This was met with much less resistance, and we all gathered together. Still, though, some creatures were still trying to talk.
"It'd be best if we all kept quiet, as much as you want to talk to one another," he pointed out. These select few couples of aliens had calmed down and instead resorted to simply looking at each other meaningfully.
The leader slowly opened the door that led outside and peered around the corners. After a few seconds of consideration, he reeled back inside and turned around. "The coast is all clear." He made a gesture to all of us and we slowly began to move down the halls.
Unlike the situation with our official group leader, we stayed relatively close together. Even Endora and I started avoiding the back of the group, instead drifting more toward the front. We still looked around for anything out of the ordinary as our leader had advised, though. when we wouldn't find anything I would try to console myself and move forward at a slow pace, matching everyone else's.
Many moments into our journey, our group stopped and I started to hear some muttering near the front of the group. Each of us began to consult one another and instantly begin to rationalize what might be happening, but it was all relatively quiet so we could eavesdrop on the leaders of the group. Eventually, the one we had grown to trust, myself included, spoke up in a mildly hushed voice.
"We didn't foresee this crossroads coming up in our plan," he described. "I don't want to be that kind of person, but we need to either split up and risk one half of our members falling into the hands of Malus (this was the name that our group had assigned to the camp's leader) once again, but I also don't want us to wander back around if we all stick together and follow a hallway down into a dead end."
The leader stood firm. "I'll give all of you a choice. Either we go with the first option and split ourselves up into two groups or stick together until the end."
With that, he gave us a few seconds to decide while the rest of us kept a lookout on our surroundings. Endora and I reflexively looked at each other.
"Er..." Endora stammered. "Both of those things just sound wrong..."
Even though I didn't show it in a discrete manner, I figured that Endora knew that I had agreed with her. On one hand, going together seemed to be the safest option, but the sheer size of our group was bound to get us into trouble and assure even more destruction if we were to get into trouble. However, splitting up seemed to be a better strategy, but something about the fact that we would be leaving half of our group members behind to risk them potentially being harmed by our leader, no, Malus, while the latter half escaped relatively unscathed was also something to consider.
The leaders that were at the front finally told us to vote. As soon as the first option, the one to have the group split up in order to cover more ground, was spoken, I saw several hands raise into the air, mine included. I saw that the danger of having all our members getting harmed far outweighed the benefit of having all of us in one place. I peered over at Endora and sighed with relief when I saw that she had come to the same conclusion.
"Great," our leader raised his voice over the crowd once again. He realized that he wouldn't even need to count the number of people that had picked the other option since there was such a large majority. "We will split up, then. Get into groups with people you want to stick with."
I was put into a group with Endora and countless people and we finally started moving again. We were in a much smaller group this time, and we felt as if we had more breathing room. This didn't mean that we were safe, however. We all kept looking around for anything that might endanger our safety every few seconds while our leader led us through numerous corridors.
My senses started to heighten as we ventured further into the seemingly endless facility. What was left of my internal compass told me that we were slowly getting further away from the other group. Still, we kept moving. The air was beginning to get stuffy and more than one of us debated on telling the leader to turn us back around. In response, he simply told us that he knew what he was doing for the most part. He added that turning back would only lose time since we would have to go back through areas we already explored. I hoped he was right and we weren't just blindly wandering around in large circles.
The creatures that were in front of me stopped and a few seconds later I felt cold air start to drift towards my face. I was suddenly overwhelmed with satisfaction and joy, eager to finally step outside. One by one, we all managed to squeeze through the narrow doorway that had been opened.
Now outside, I finally started to load my lungs with fresh air. On the horizon was more forest, which worked to calm me down. We all simultaneously sat down, our feet remembering how much they ached while we had been trodding on them for tens of minutes on end.
A few seconds after I closed my eyes and started to lie down, I reopened them and looked over, expecting to see Endora sharing my position. I sat up when I couldn't see her, instead scanning the area around me to see if she had gone elsewhere. It was then that I started to notice that other creatures we're sharing this same concern, as some of their partners had also disappeared right under their noses.
"Don't worry." Our leader was now being bombarded with questions and demands from everyone. "We'll just go back and get them. Or perhaps they started to wander a bit too far."
We all groaned, myself involuntarily. Then the leader, as disorientated as we all were, see tarted to round us up to go back inside the facility. My feet groaned and my legs creaked as I started to walk on the cold concrete floor, everyone seeming to match both my concern and annoyance.