Stranded
Wynnona
My heart pounds in my chest from the information I had finally managed to say to Athena. I can feel worry nag at me, a little voice in my head telling me that this was a bad idea, something was wrong. I pushed it back, allowing no room for distractions as I got ready to face Oriana and Lillian. Even the dull ache in my forearm seemed to fade as I centred myself. Giovanni and I enter the hangar, Lillian and Oriana ready for us there.
"So, you aren't yet dead." Lillian snarls at me. "Fantastic, I wouldn't want you to die mercifully." Oriana then lunges at me. I grab the morphing weapon that was made and gifted to me by Oriana only to find it no longer works. She lets out a wicked laugh as she brings her sword down on me. I dodge out of the way, causing her sword to get stuck in the floor. In her moment of distraction, I grabbed the bow staff from my necklace, I had moved it when I was no longer in need of my keys. I watch as Oriana charges for me. I stay on my one knee waiting for her to get close.
When she is about to bring her sword down on my head, I extend the bow staff, hearing a satisfying crack as it pushes into her jaw, making her fall back and collapse. I go to Giovanni's side, studying the hall behind him. I see two heads sticking out from a doorway and mentally cursing. Giovani is handling Lillian fine, pushing her back almost against the wall of the hanger.
"Give it up Lillian." Giovanni breaths slightly, his breath laboured as he points our father's sword at Lillian's neck.
"You're right, I can't win." She sighs in defeat as two sets of footsteps come towards us. Athena and Jake come to stand beside us. "Not without rigging the game." I barely hear her whisper. The ship starts to violently move. I faintly hear one of the ship's systems blow out, not just stopping but full on blow up. I fall to the ground, unable to hold my balance like the others. Lillian takes out a second blaster, pointing one at her brother and the other at Athena.
"Shit." I breath as I roll to grab Athena's hand, pulling her to the ground. I don't focus on what Giovanni has done to protect Jake, only on saving Athena.
The blaster shot hits her shoulder.
The force of it sends her falling to her back beside me. I roll on top of her, protecting her with my body from any further damage. I glare at Lillian, pointing a finger at her stupid hair, smirking when a blue flame lights up her hair. I look back to Athena, taking in the blood that stains her perfect skin, pale hair, and one of my old sweaters. Tears fall down her face as the ship jolts violently again.
"Hey. You're going to be okay." I tell her softly as I cup her face. I stand, gingerly helping her to her feet as Jake comes to look at her shoulder, one hand on his side. "Both of you go to the front of the ship and see if you can figure out what's wrong." They both nod and rush to follow my directions. I look to Giovanni who holds his side the same way Jake held his, then to Lillian who still hasn't managed to put out the flame. Then the hanger starts to open. The ship tilts in a way that will cause us to fall out if we don't grab something.
I run to a hook on the opposite wall, sliding my staff into it and grabbing hold of the staff on the other side. Giovanni starts to slide down the floor. I stick my foot out to him, pulling him to grab hold of my staff. When I look behind us Lillian is falling into what looks like a pitch-black maze. As she falls, we hear a strange roar. It causes a shiver to rush up my spine causing me to grip my staff harder. We now hang from the hook parallel to the floor. My muscles burn as I try to keep my grip, praying Athena and Jake get the ship stable. I spot the unconscious Oriana slide across the floor and hit the wall, just missing falling out.
The ship slowly starts to tilt back, the hanger door staying open. I hear footsteps rush to the back of the ship, looking up to see who it is. Athena stares back at us then looks to the controls of the ship.
"We have to close the hanger manually." She shouts at me over the rushing air.
"Hold on tight." I shout, looking to Athena then to Giovanni.
"Be careful." Giovanni calls as I swing my body over to the hall Athena and Jake came from. My hands grip the wall, holding tight as the ship jerks again. I drop to the wall where the hanger controls are, landing with my feet on either side of the panel and my back on the floor. I hit the switch, the hanger door closing slowly. Just as it's about to fully close some strange force opens the hanger door with strength and speed I have never felt before. The force of it ripples through the ship causing me to lose my footing. I feel my body fling itself from the hanger, my arms barely managing to grab hold of the side, clinging to the ship.
"Wynnona!" Athena shouts as I try to pull myself into the ship. She makes a move to come and help me back in.
"Don't move!" I tell her sharply, losing my grip slightly. I can see Giovanni attempting to get to me with my staff, but my eyes stay locked with Athena's. If this is the last time I ever see her I want her to be engraved into my memory as best as I can get her. "Don't you move from that spot." I say less harshly. Tears have started to gather in her eyes, slowly falling down her delicate cheeks. My arms itch to hold her close to me. My lips tingle from the kiss we shared earlier. My hands clam with the need to wipe away her tears and cheer her up.
Giovanni makes it to me, grabbing my arm to help pull me into the ship. But the ship jolts again causing me to lose my grip and fall. Giovanni falls headfirst after me.
"Wynnona!" Comes Athena's shrill cry of pure fear. Anguish comes over me as I watch the hanger door slam shut and the ship stop its violent jerking. Giovanni and I look at each other, communicating through our looks only. He extends the staff to reach out to me, pulling me closer to him using the cool metal as we fall through the air, plummeting down to the hazy surface of the unknown planet. With both our hands, we grip the staff, attempting to use our powers to land.
But it wasn't working. We plummet to the ground. I tense my muscles, squeezing my eyes shut as I wait for death to wrap his cruel claws around me and drag me away from the land of the living. But nothing happens. I open my eyes to see we are suspended a couple feet above the ground, once we notice whatever is holding us wears off and we drop to the dirt floor.
Looking around I see we are in a forest like maze. The walls of the maze are tall trees with vines, flowers, and hedges growing between them making it almost impossible to get through. There was no telling how thick the walls were. I look up to see the ship crash land several miles away from where we have landed. Smoke emanates from where my ship crashed. I feel Giovanni hit my shoulder to get my attention. I turn to look at him then where he is pointing.
In front of us is a strange robotic creature. She kind of looks like Nebula from the Avengers franchise. Her skin is however green with white eyes, in her hands are what looks to be two survival bags.
"Scan complete." Her voice says. She smiles at both of us. "Welcome home Giovanni and Wynnona Allen son and daughter of Inezze and Florence." My heart races as Giovanni and I share a look. She said we are home.
"What do you mean home?" I ask.
"My database holds no answer to that question." She says blankly, holding the bags out to us expecting us to know what to do with them.
"Where are we?" Giovanni asks instead.
"The last test, Maze of the Warriors." She still stares at us blankly. "You are randomly placed in the maze and expected to use your skills from previous training simulations to make it to the centre. You will not have your powers to help you." I feel a searing chill rush through me, making me shiver as I feel my powers drain from me. I look to Giovanni and know he's felt the same thing. "These packs contain everything you need to survive. Good luck." She drops the two packs, disappearing. I rush forward grabbing one, tossing it over my shoulders without looking at the contents and doing up all the straps. I grab the other, tossing it to Giovanni who finds a flashlight. I reach into the same pouch of my bag, grabbing my own light.
"So basically, here's a bag of shit. Good luck making it to the middle with no idea of where you are or what else is in this maze." Giovanni grumbles sarcastically, adjusting the pack on his shoulders and coming to stand beside me. I laugh softly at him, pointing my light down the corner of the maze then the other.
"What's the plan?" I ask him, turning my eyes to him. "Both paths look like they lead to no dead ends." I tell him as I scan the dark paths with my flashlight again. He tosses his bag off again, going to look through it. In it is a large set of survival equipment. There is also a large knife that Giovanni hooks to his belt. I swiftly find mine, promptly wrapping the belt attached around my thigh securely.
"Could you climb up there and get a view of where we are?" Giovanni asks me, pointing to a pine tree that stretches to the top of the walls of the maze.
"I'll give it a shot and try to see something." I tell him, tightening the straps of my bag for the climb up the tree. I go over, grabbing the bottom couple branches to test. I pull on them, mentally claiming them good enough to climb. Getting a good grip, I hoist myself up the branches starting the climb to the top. Upon getting there, I lean out from the tree to better see everything. The maze is covered in a dark mist making it almost impossible to see more than a couple of miles. I move my flashlight over the mist to try and see more, but nothing happens. I do however hear a loud growl.
Looking to my left, far off in the distance I spot a very tall, scaly creature. My heart hammers in my chest as I see its wings are outstretched over the walls, the blade like things ready to cut down anyone standing on top of them. My flashlight alerted the thing to our presence in the maze. As fast as I can I rush down the tree as the dragon like thing comes towards us.
"Giovanni." I whisper shout to get his attention, my voice urgent. He looks at me curiously as the ground shakes. "Get in the tree and hide." He doesn't argue, climbing into the tree just as the dragon turns its large head down the dead end. I watch the dragon search for us, sniffing about. My stomach contorts in fear as I feel like Chris Pratt from Jurassic World. After seconds that feel like hours, the dragon gives up going back to what it was doing before. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding, starting to climb down.
"Dragons." Giovanni breaths when we are both on the ground. "There are fucking dragons in this maze." He seethes at me.
"Why are you pissed with me?" I ask as I poke his muscled stomach. "Besides, I have a rough idea of how to get closer to the middle." I look around the corner of the maze the dragon headed in. I couldn't see him any longer even with my flashlight. "Ready?" I ask him, studying the other path, pulling the image of the maze from above into my head.
"Let's go, the faster we are out of here the better. This place gives me the creeps." He responds, allowing me to lead the way around a couple corners and paths. Hold on Athena, I'm coming back as fast as I can.