Part 4: Mouse trap
Dawn was tied to something with a bag over her head. She did not understand why she was put there. She could not even remember being taken. She struggled and struggled to try to get out of this fix she was in but could not budge.
Suddenly a man said, “stop moving, and I’ll untie you.”
She stopped but feared what this person would do to her. Was he there to do something terrible to her? She would fight that much, she was sure. Finally, her hands were untied, and she pulled the bag off her head. She saw four guys staring at her. She gazed around at the men and then around the room. The room they were in had no way out but one way. Looking down this hallway, she could see weird things on the hallway walls that she did not understand what it was. Dawn approached the hallway, and one of the guys grabbed her arm and pulled her back.
“Don’t try to go down that way. It’s rigged with traps. You can clearly see that by the walls, I don’t know what kind of traps, but I do know that it is probably dangerous,” he told her.
Dawn wished to understand why they were put there. It made no sense to her. She never did anything wrong in her life to deserve this. “Why are we here?” she asked.
“I don’t know. I don’t think anyone knows we are here either,” another guy uttered.
“Well, we can’t stay here forever. We will have to figure out how to get out of here,” Dawn said. She did think it was crazy to stay. They would starve to death. Yet trying to outsmart traps would not be easy. But she did think they could try something.
“And how do you suppose to get past the traps?” a third guy asked. He was not convinced that they would not all die if they tried.
Dawn thought a bit about it. There had to be a method. After some thought, she came up with an idea. She took her sock off and threw it in the hallway. Abruptly fire came out and burnt the sock to a crisp. “Well, now we know what the first trap is. Maybe we can figure a way around it,” she said. It did look like the fire was only straight on, which meant they might be able to go under it.
She did think that they could do this each time and figure how to get around the trap. Looking down the hallway, she could see outside, so the end was not far. There had to be like three of four traps total. She did not think there could be anymore.
As she began to step forward to try to go around the fire trap, a deep voice spoke, which stopped her in her tracks.
“Do be careful, my precious things. Not all is what it seems,” the deep voice uttered.
Dawn could not believe that some guy, the killer, was watching them. How else would he have known that she was walking toward the traps? And her next question would be why he said what he did to them? What was not like it seemed? This worried her.
“Fuck you,” one guy said to the mystery voice. “When I get out of here, I’ll come for you and see how you like it.”
“You should not aggravate the guy. He clearly is insane, and who knows what he will do to us if you make him angry,” another guy told him.
“I don’t care if I get him angry. This lunatic has no reason to do this to us,” the first guy said.
As if the second guy predicted it, the wall behind them began to move, pushing them forward towards the trap. Now they had no choice but to go through the traps.
“Now, see what you did,” a third guy uttered.
Dawn thought that these boys were being stupid. As always, she would be the problem solver. This was what she did her entire life; solve everyone’s problems. She would do it now again. She walked over to the first trap. Bending down low, she crawled her way to the next set trap. She stood up in the small space that was in between the traps. She was glad there was a space. This would give her time to figure out the next trap.
“Crawl, and you will be fine,” she told them as she looked around to see how this next trap was like, for someone had to figure these traps out, and she could not rely on anyone but herself.
The men, one at a time, started to crawl across to where she was.
The first guy reached Dawn and asked, “so what’s the plan with this one?”
“I am trying to figure out how it works so we can know what way to go,” she said.
“well, do it fast because that wall is not stopping,” he told her.
Why were men so impatient? It was not as if she did not try her best in figuring this out fast, but she just could not see what this trap was. She looked at the wall, there were silts on each side, but what would come out, she did not know.
As two others got to where she was at, it started to have not much room between the traps for them all to stand. Dawn worried about this. She turned and faced the last guy.
“Maybe you should wait just a bit. There is not enough room for all of us,” she told the last guy.
“I don’t think so. That wall behind me is moving. I’m not staying here,” he chose not to listen and started to crawl toward them.
As he crawled, almost to the end of the trap, abruptly, fire came out from the floor and burnt him to a crisp. Dawn watched this in horror as ashes floated down to the floor. This was what the mystery man meant by not everything was as it seemed. This made her worried that there was a second rig to all the traps, which meant they needed to be more vigilant.
“I can’t stay here. The wall is coming. I’m going to make a run for it,” one guy said. He feared what would happen if they did not.
“No, don’t, you won’t make it,” Dawn told the guy.
“And going slow, will it do any difference? I think that other guy who died may have survived if he just made a run for it. I have better chances than doing things your way,” the man said.
Another guy that was near could not believe his ears. It was not as if she knew there would be another part of the trap. And they did make it out mainly through the first trap. “You are stupid if you think you can run through these traps and survive. Have you ever watched a movie in your life or played a video game? Seriously, she did what she could, knowing what she did, and most of us made it through good enough. I’m sure she will be more careful this next time.” He would be following her. The way he saw it was whoever went first had more chances at dying and maybe the last one. He just had to stay in the middle. His odds were good.
“You just think that if she goes first, she will die first. You are such a coward,” the first guy said to the second.
“Don’t ever call me a coward,” the second guy pushed the first.
The first guy hit the second, but the second guy ducked, which made the first guy hit the third in the shoulder. The third guy twisted and stepped in the way of the trap. Both guys and Dawn stared at the third guy as he stepped backward, realizing where he was, had no time to do anything about it. Two swinging blades came out of the wall and sliced him in two. They watched as the man tumbled in three parts like he was a banana peel falling off the banana.
Dawn thought that could have been avoided. She could not believe these guys, and she would not die because they were idiots. “Now, you both need to behave, or I swear I’ll tell this killer just to kill us all,” she uttered in disbelief.
“No problem, I will listen,” the first guy said.
“Me too, I swear,” the second guy said. Watching the guy getting sliced looked painful. He did not wish to have that done on him.
Dawn looked at the blades that were slowing down. She did believe that this trap was done, and they could walk around the blades now. She looked behind her and could see that the wall had moved closer to them. It was almost to where they were. “Come on. I think this trap was done, so thank the guy for setting it. We can now walk freely around the blades.”
All three of them walked around the blades slowly. They were not taking any chances. They managed to walk to the next trap. Dawn looked at it, then looked toward the end of the hallway. She could see that there was only one more trap after this one to go through. She was so happy that they were almost done. She looked at the floor and noticed there were fake stones on the floor and wondered.
Dawn looked down at her feet, and she had no shoes and one sock. She needed a shoe. She gazed at the guys. They had shoes, she did not understand, but now was not the time for questions. “Give me a shoe,” she ordered.
The first guy did not even hesitate and gave her his shoe. She took the shoe then threw it on the stone. The shoe hit the stone, and the fake stone went down. Suddenly arrows shot from both sides of the wall. Now she knew what the next trap was.
“Don’t step on those stones,” she told them, and she started her journey carefully through the next trap. She walked all the way out of this trap and stopped right before the last trap. She turned and looked at the guys.
They were both being cautious. The first one reached where she was and was glad that he made it through. The second was being very careful, and he was almost out of it. Then he saw something change. He stopped.
“The stones are moving. What do I do?” he asked.
Dawn saw what he said. The stones were changing place and at random. She could not believe it. “You need to find a pattern if possible or just pray and step somewhere you believe won’t be a stone,” she did not know what else she could do or say to help him. “But you got to move. Eventually, a stone will pop where you are standing.”
The man began to step somewhere he thought would be safe. He was lucky. It was safe. And quickly gazed where he had been and she had been right, a stone appeared where he had been. He was glad he listened. He stepped again and slowly made it almost to the end. His last step was a fatal one. As he stepped, a stone appeared, and arrows shot him from both sides.
Dawn watched as the man fell to the floor, dead. She could not believe it they started with five people and now three were killed. She began to think that this game the mystery man played ensured that one died at each trap. She looked at the last guy. She did not wish to die, but the wall was coming, and if he had any brains, he figured it out as she did.
The guy stared at her, and he could read her mind. only one of them would survive this. “Go, I’ll take the dive, I guess,” he uttered. He did not wish to die, but he did not think they would have many choices, and he felt terrible to make her die for him.
“No, it’s okay. You can be the one to live,” she said. She quickly looked at the last trap. Nothing was there. She approached, took off her sock, and threw the sock into the trap. Lasers came on and sliced through the sock, leaving it to fall in shreds. As she saw this, she was unsure how to get across this trap.
The guy saw and figured out a method, and with the wall almost at their backs, they had no choice but to keep moving. “Go on your stomach, no lasers there, not that I saw,” the guy told her.
“Thanks,” Dawn said. “Let’s go together.” She took his hand, and they went on their stomachs and slowly moved across the trap.
She could see the end. She was glad to make it to the end. As she slowly moved off the trap, she signed in relief. The guy was just about to do the same when multiple lasers came out in a checked pattern, which went straight through him. It sliced him into bits and pieces.
His hand had been in hers, and she quickly let go of the hand that was now cut off from the rest of the man. She pushed herself away from the hand that was all that was left the whole of this man. She was terrified.
Slowly she stood up. She was out. She finally was out and survived. She looked and saw that she was right in front of the outside world. She could see the trees and plants and could smell the fresh air. She started to walk toward a tree and heard something.
“As I said, not everything is as it seems,” a deep voice said.
“I’m out there is nothing more you can do to me,” Dawn uttered in relief. She was out and free. And she was optimistic that this mystery guy was nowhere near this place. She could see the cameras in the trees as well as the cameras that were around the traps. She was no fool. She knew he watched at a safe location from there.
“Is that what you think, precious girl? You have no clue what I can do,” the deep voice expressed. As he watched this whole thing on his screens, he knew no one would survive this. He took his phone out and pressed a number. He watched her.
Suddenly Dawn felt weird. Something was wrong. “This is not fair. I made it out fair and square,” she uttered as her body began to shake. Slowly she fell to the ground.
“I don’t play fair, my precious,” the voice said as he watched her go into a seizure and foam at the mouth. The body went on for a few minutes then stopped. Dawn was dead. The killer smiled at her small attempt at avoiding her fate. He had injected all of them with a time-release poison. If only they all knew, no one ever survived him and his games.
A huge grin came across his face, onto his next game.