Roenan stood, dumbstruck, but Saive pushed out at his chest, forcing him to stumbled back into the row. Saive rushed past him, shockingly deft for how frail and weak he seemed to be.
"Follow me!" He yelled ahead as he ran down the row. Roenan turned and sprinted after him. They ran a short way until they hit the end of the row. Saive skidded to a halt, glancing right and left until he turned right and disappeared around the corner.
Roenan's stomach dropped when Saive disappeared and he feared that he would find out Saive was another hallucination. When he rounded the corner he saw Saive again, beckoning Roenan toward him with a finger to his lips. Roenan crept quietly over.
"This is the last spot I remember being last time. I don't remember anything else." Another row branched out left and right before them. Roenan moves forward and look down both ways.
"Should we stick together or break apart? If we make the wrong choice together we're both fucked." Saive breathed urgently.
"No, we always stick together." Roenan said.
Then a harsh snarl ripped through the silence. Roenan slowly looked over his shoulder.
A huge dark, wolf-type of animal was staring up at them with its head hanging low. It's deep red eyes were fixated on him and it's wirey fur was standing on end in every direction. White foam dripped from its mouth as a snarl purred deep in its throat.
The wolf suddenly lunged and dove, grabbing the front of Saive's throat with its mouth and taking him to the ground on his back. "Saive!" Roenan yelled as his vision swam he landed hard on his back.
"No, no, no!" He yelled sitting up and looking to the front of the maze. He could hear barking, snarling and blood curdling screams echoing out from a distance within the maze. "No!" He screamed as he scrambled to his feet and into a sprint toward the entrance. He darted through and cut to turn right. Drakke was standing at the end of the row, leaning casually against the hedge, one foot cross over the other. His was smoking again.
"What?" He asked. "Don't look at me. Go save your friend. You gonna let him die in there?" His cigarette bounced as he talked and he nonchalantly nodding his head toward the direction of the snarls and screams that wouldn't let up.
Roenan sprinted toward Drakke and didn't even look at him as he brushed past to turn and follow the path he'd taken the first time. His lingering smoke smelled like the flower garden that Roenan had in the backyard of his childhood home once.
His eyes were watering with frustration as he continued to sprint. He stopped abruptly at the location he had been when Drakke's voice had quizzed him to turn left or right, just before he had found Saive. The snarls and yells were getting closer ahead of him, but Roenan was being blocked by Drakke again, appearing out of nowhere and looking down on him. He bent down to put his mouth next to Roenan's ear, close enough that his lips touched.
"I have something I want to give you. Give me your hand." He whispered. Roenan felt Drakke press something into his hand, and then he felt a unbearable slice down his palm. Roenan gave a quick, distressed shout and shoved Drakke back, only to find Klonjjerik standing before him with no expression on his face and a dripping knife in his hand. Klonjjerik lunged forward grabbing at Reonan, and Roenan flailed trying to get out of his grasp. His cheek was slapped, hard.
"Get it together!" Saive hissed. "What are you doing?"
Roenan opened the eyes that he hadn't realized he'd closed. Saive was hovering over him. "I thought we were sticking together. Where did you run off to?" Roenan looked Saive up and down. He didn't look any worse for ware than Roenan had seen him in the dead-end. "The dogs-" Roenan cut off, unable to say more.
"Yeah they're in here. I found the exit. Are you coming or not?" He asked bluntly.
"You came back in here for me?" Roenan asked in surprise.
"Are you coming or not!" Saive yelled.
Roenan hopped to his feet.
"Fight the drugs," Saive said in a low voice. "If you thinking you're fading, say something, I'll smack you back into reality again."
"Thanks." Roenan said, unsure.
Saive returned a curt nod. "Let's go."
He took off and Roenan followed pace right behind him. He felt like they were running sporadically, and at times he questioned if they were actually making it toward the exit or back to the entrance. Saive skidded to a halt and Roenan fumbled to a stop right next to him. He was now staring down at a dog that looked more familiar. He recognized them as the average breed of military dog that the Vernajjians used as companions... and weapons. It was staring at them quietly. "I think I'm hallucinating again."
"You're not." Saive answered quickly.
The dog began to growl. It bent down before it charged forward and lunged at Roenan, grabbing his upper left arm in its teeth. It yank him and he twisted, stumbling to the side as his arm was pulled. He could feel the teeth sinking into his skin. It violently shook its head and Roenan yelled against the tugging pain. He reached up and smack the dog in the snout as hard as he could. It's locked jaw didn't budge but it stopped shaking its head.
Suddenly, Siave was on top of the animal, wrapping an arm around its chest and it's neck. The dog let go and Roenan fell forward as he heard the sound of a scuffle. He looked back so fast he felt a muscle pull in his neck.
Saive was slowly lowering the animal to the ground. He rest its limp body down gently and put his hand on top on the animal before whispering an apology.
His eyes darted up to meet Roenan's. "Are you okay?" He asked.
"Did you kill it?" Roenan asked.
"No, I don't like hurting animals. But I had to knock it out." Saive responded. "Answer my question."
Roenan looked down at his arm. It was pretty torn up and blood was running down out of the puncture wounds, but his adrenaline was pumping too much for him to really feel anything. "I'll survive."
Once Roenan was up they began jogging again through the maze. Saive was breathing hard, almost gasping for breath and they moved. But Roenan didn't bring it up because Saive looked determined and wasn't asking if they could stop. When they turned down a long row, Saive jogged forward but Roenan was staring in horror to the image he was seeing at the end.
Vernajjian medics were leaning over someone he knew well, attaching him to IVs. Blood was pooled into the tile underneath him and he looked like he could have been dead. Roenan's heart twisted.
"Kaiden?" Roenan gasped.
Saive was still jogging forward as Roenan watched his first boyfriend bleeding out on the tile of the maze.
"Saive..." Roenan's voice broke.
Saive glanced over his shoulder and then slowed to a stop. He turned around and jogged lightly back toward Roenan. He pulled his hand back as he approach and back-handed Roenan's cheek. Roenan's head whipped to the side. "Easy!" He gasped, bringing his hand up to his cheek. He looked down the row and saw nothing but the clean tile and the hedges. Relief swam through him.
"What the hell? Does this thing come in waves? Why aren't you hallucinating?" Roenan asked bitterly.
"I am. I'm just controlling it better than you are. Let's go."
Saive jogged ahead and Roenan followed. "I'm a little pissed off that you lose your fucking mind when I touch you but you're just fine when you're smacking me across the face." He said, his voice a little out-of-breath as he ran. Saive snorted, as he continued to jog them through a few more twists and turns until they finally stumbled out into an opening. There was a wall across from them with door in the center.
"What's on the other side?" Roenan asked.
"I haven't checked yet." Saive answered. He was staring intently at the door.
Roenan looked at Saive's profile. He knew Saive could have just gotten himself out of this dog-filled maze, but he had decided to turn back before heading through that door, just to give Roenan a fight chance.
"Thanks." Roenan said quietly.
"Mnn." Saive hummed in response. He turned to face Roenan. "Be prepared for anything on the other side. We're not free when we get in there. Nothing gets better."
Two dogs came through the exit of the maze and into the opening, their toenails clicking quickly on the tile. Saive and Roenan broke for the door and Roenan got to it first. He gripped the handle and swung open allowing Saive ran through without slowing pace. Roenan quickly followed, shutting the door tightly behind them.
It was pitched black and Roenan could hear Saive wheezing somewhere to his left along with his own heavy breathing.
Without warning the wheezing stopped and Roenan heard some shuffling, like there was a struggle happening.
"Saive?" Roenan asked loudly. "Saive?!" He exclaimed, grabbing around in the dark. He heard a door open and close somewhere behind him and everything went quiet again. He turned and ran toward the direction he heard the sound but stuttered to a stop when bright lights flashed on in the room with a buzz.
The room was bright and plain as many of the rooms in Vernajja seemed to be. There were four people in the room with him. Roenan gasped in shock when he saw who they were and ran toward them. "Hey!" He exclaimed loudly as he ran toward the men who were all wearing Jaedan military uniforms. He ran into one of the men, grabbing fistfuls of his suit and sinking into him. "You have to help us. I'm a Jaeden prisoner here and they took one of your men. I think he's a special agent... Saive. Does that name ring a bell to you?"
The man tossed grabbed Roenan and tossed him to the floor, pulling a gun on him. Roenan felt a wave of dizziness passed over him, and he instinctively threw his hands out in front of him and made an unsolicited noise of distress. Images of his mothered flashed in his mind.
He heard a creak before the man with the gun said, "Get in." In clean Jaedan, with no hint of a Vernajjian accent. Roenan looked over to the noise of the freak and saw what looked like a ground entrance to some type of basement.
"Why are you doing this? Are you turncoats?" Roenan breathed.
The man walked over to him, his boots tapping loudly on the floor. He squatted down next to Reonan and yanked his arms down from in front of him. He grabbed into Roenan's shirt and pulled out his tag. The man glanced down at it before shoving it in front of Roenan's eyes. "A Vernajjian military tag." He spat. "Now get up!"
"You don't understand..." Roenan began, but the man kicked him hard in the side. He arched arched his back at the pain.
"Get in!" The man demanded again.
Roenan slowly climbed do his feet, staring daggers at the Jaedan's who looked at him with indifference.
Roenan saw that it was a trap door had been opened from the ground. He looked down and saw some steps that led to a small square dirt hole. He felt the tip of the gun to his back. "Go." The man demanded. Roenan closed squeezed his eyes shut and took a deep breath, wishing he was still hallucinating. "Now!" The man shouted pressing the gun in between his shoulder blades. He reluctantly stepped forward and made his way down into the muggy darkness.