More pipes jutted out of the walls, every twenty feet or so, each one ejecting the same dark acid.
The vapors from the acid made them cough and their lungs felt heavy. It burned their eyes and nose as if they had come into contact with it.
Just ahead the road split into two directions, directly right and directly left. Katie decided to go right but skidded to a stop when it immediately led only to a dead end. She tried to push the others in the opposite direction, but that was only another dead end. There was no way out.
The putrid was quickly gaining on them. The smell made them feel dizzy and it was harder to think clearly. Koran was looking around frantically as if he knew there had to be a way out.
Like cooling lava, the acid bubbled and slowly crept its way through the path. Every now and then a wave of black goo would cascade down, spilling quickly towards them.
“Vines,” said Koran. Katie barely had time to register what he said before Koran began climbing up the wall on a particularly thick vine.
Tyson was closest to the vines and grabbed onto one.
“Katie!” Tyson shouted. Katie reached for a vine and lifted herself up, just in time as the acid reached them. With the walls blocking its path, the acid level began to rise.
Koran was the quickest to get to the top. Katie wasn’t sure what was up there or how they would get back down. She did her best climbing up, but her upper body wasn’t as strong as Tyson’s or Koran’s.
Katie looked down. There was already two feet of tar that was rising only quicker. She climbed as fast as she dared but worried that her vine would split apart. Tyson hadn’t quite made it to the top yet, and she was careful to not be directly under him.
She stopped climbing when she realized that Tyson was completely still. Katie looked up in an attempt to see what was going on. All she could see was the look of fear in Koran’s eyes as he lay flat on his stomach with his hand reaching down for Tyson as far as it could. It wasn’t enough.
Then it struck Katie what was happening a split second before Tyson’s vine snapped and he fell back. At that moment where everything seemed impossible and unreal, Katie stretched her arm out and closed her hand when she felt any contact.
Katie caught Tyson by his wrist.
It was a miracle that Katie’s vine didn’t also snap with the added weight and momentum of Tyson. Katie screamed when her arm was yanked down with Tyson’s weight and she screamed again, not daring to let go of him or her vine. Tyson’s wrist was slipping from her hand, but he grabbed her wrist as well.
Nearly in tears from the pain, Katie tried to pull Tyson up higher as the acid level was dangerously close. Tyson’s shoes seared as the acid reached them and he lifted his legs higher. Katie wasn’t strong enough to lift Tyson.
Tyson put his feet on the wall and found another vine to hold on to. He looked at Katie and nodded. She did the same but with a look of severe pain in her scrunched face. By this time, Tyson let go of his grip on Katie and he swung slightly away from her. When Tyson managed to balance his body and keep his vine still, he continued his climb up.
Katie held onto her vine with both hands. Her eyes were closed, and tears fell from them. The pain was extreme enough that Katie almost considered letting go.
She opened her eyes and looked up when she heard her name being called. Tyson had made it to the top. She looked down. The acid nearly reached her. Katie lifted her legs and planted her feet against the wall. Slowly, Katie willed herself to keep climbing and quietly made her way to the top. When she was close enough, Koran and Tyson grabbed her hands and pulled her over the summit.
Katie rolled onto the stone floor. When she got up, she noticed another change to the maze. She expected to see what the top of the city looked like, standing on the walls and looking over it. But there was just another road and two walls on either side. She looked behind her and saw only a dead end, marked by a wall too high to see the top of. There was no more river of acid that they had just hardly escaped from.
Koran jerked his head to tell them to keep going. He jogged ahead with Tyson behind him. Katie followed.
They ran for a few more minutes, and then the narrow road opened into another part of the city. There were only a few buildings here and otherwise open land. Several hundred feet away Katie saw a gate. This one wasn’t as large as the one that led into the city.
Katie thought that this must be the end. In her head, she begged that it was.
Rays of sunlight leaked out over an unseen horizon. Dawn was nearing. They had run out of time.
Koran stared out into the distance, realizing what was happening. Not knowing what to expect next, he shouted to the others. “Run!”
They sprinted across the barren ground. There was a powerful gust rushing with them. Katie looked behind her. A storm of clouds and thick fog that ate up everything in its path expanded quickly as it menaced towards them. It passed over a building that vaporized as it got swallowed.
Katie kept running, faster than she thought she ever could. Her body was drained of energy, but they were so close. They were at the end. They couldn’t give up now. They couldn’t fail now. That thought alone fueled the adrenaline
