Melody had been silent with shock. Then, she piped up. "So zombies
are real? That is just-wow, I can't believe it." She was starting
to talk more, it was a nervous habit. Eventually, the general
groaned. "Get this human away from me! All of you, enter now!"
"Okay, okay!" Kieran growled quietly, stumbling toward the entrance
of the maze as one of the many zombies shove him forward. Of all
things that could happen to him on the full moon... It was
beginning to get dark, but, fortunately, Kieran could see somewhat
well in the dark. The maze still looked intimidating... through the
zombie general had said that the maze repelled creatures of
darkness? Those were general-ly (pardon the pun) bad... maybe it
would be fine? That was just wishful thinking though He decided to
hope for the best, prepare for the worst, as many liked to say.
The leafy maze reminded Kieran of the bushes he'd trimmed just
yesterday, and he shivered. That was only a day ago! How did he get
from there to here so quickly? After dodging the feet of some of
the startled humans, he scanned the maze with his eyes, ears and
nose to see what he might discover, or what might discover him.
The vines shifted to close behind them. The only way left was
forward. The maze seemed to be constantly changing. A path might
have led left, but then ended at right. To the humans, it was
disorienting. But if one kept a clear head and looked above the
dark green walls, it was possible to navigate.
The labyrinth disoriented Kieran at first, but after stumbling
around for a bit, he quickly regained his footing. He made sure to
focus on the starry sky above, which seemed to help. Kieran was
careful to stick with the humans for safety, and hope none of them
would wonder why a strange raccoon creature was following them.
Come to think about it... when - if Kieran survived until next
sundown, he would be fine with explaining to the others about
himself being a monster; despite the awkwardness, Kieran thought it
would help. Awkwardness wasn't something he could really afford to
think of now.
Melody rubbed her head. "This place is crazy..how are we supposed
to find the center?!" She looked down for a split second. "Huh? Is
that-" Melody sighed. "I must be seeing things. Melody was sure she
had seen that racoon dog before. But where? That was bugging her,
and she was already dizzy.
"Hey! Get off of me you rotten meat bags!" Winnie snapped at the
zombies, only to be roughly pushed towards the labyrinth. "Fine,
fine I'm going! Geez" She muttered, and walked inside. At first,
the ever changing scenery made the brunette extremely dizzy,
but after a few moments she seemed to regain her stupor and began
walking forward. Suddenly hearing Charlie's voice, she looked
around, however her friend never came into view.
"I don't know!" She called out. Winnie continued stepping forward,
trying to find her friend, or anyone familiar for that matter. Like
the girl who she had made the stupid decision to follow, or the
raccoon..or was it a dog? Either way, it had definitely looked
similar to the one who had basically saved her and Charlie, and at
this point, she wouldn't be surprised if it was the same one.
Night was falling... maybe they could find somewhere to rest. If
they didn't they would be even more tired in the morning, meaning
they could get disoriented and lost far more easily... Finding a
small clearning in the maze, Kieran tried barking and circling
around the area to make his suggestion known. If he could speak to
the others, he'd have suggested setting up a guard post every hour
or two, but there was only so much to communicate as a canine.
Melody sighed and sat down. She wrapped her arms around her knees.
"This is all my fault. If I hadn't come, then no one would be in
this problem." Melody promised herself that the minute she got out
of here, she would never complain about moving again. Then she
wouldn't cause any more problems for these people.
Kieran sat down and shook his head. If Melody hadn't come, he
guessed that the zombies would probably just find other victims.
His message probably wouldn't get across, but he didn't like it
when anyone he knew beat themselves up over nothing.
A few hours passed. Suddenly, there was a bright flash and a bang,
and a large hole opened in the side of the labyrinth, revealing a
path that looked a lot different than the others...something about
it called Melody. She stood up, hesitant. She glanced back at the
others. "Should we?"
Kieran sprang back in surprise, then crawled up to investigate a
little bit. He didn't want to enter a path that he hadn't seen yet.
Maybe it would lead them closer to the deer elemental thing...? Or
maybe not... it was really hard to track their progress in this
hedge maze. They could be making tons of progress, or none at all.
It was hard to know. In fact, they didn't even know how big the
labyrinth was...
The leaves trembled as if even the Labyrinth could tell that this
was not natural. It kept trying to close the hole, but it would
open again and again. Flowers would bloom on the ground than fall
back into the ground. They always led down the path....
What was this? Kieran stared at the gap, bamboozled. Was some
monster or force trying to help them? Or maybe trap them...?
Whatever the case, this was the only different path they'd seen,
maybe it was a good thing? Perhaps they were making a dent. Kieran
hesitantly put a paw down towards the path, looking back at the
group to see if they understood what he was trying to say.