The Pollux Hide and Seek Championship

I stand in front of the entrance to the maze. Its white walls look like something out of an insane asylum. Pieces of straw blanket the grass. The sun beats down on us. I pity the first-timers that didn’t think of bringing a hiking hat.

Some of the other contestants are jogging in place to warm up, as if they’ll be able to breeze through the whole thing. I hold back a grin. They’ll wind up lost in an hour, and then a Seeker will eliminate them.

The Pollux Hide and Seek Championship isn’t a sprint. It’s a marathon. The maze covers an entire farm plot in France. There’s no sprinting to the end of it.

I don’t think about the $10,000 prize. All I think about is following the right-hand rule, which states that if a maze is simply connected, you should make it to the end just by taking right-hand turns. Hey, it worked last time. No reason why it won’t work for me again.

The announcer holds a microphone in his hand as he explains the rules. I can see the sweat stains on his suit.

“Any contestant looking to withdraw from the competition need only shoot his or her flare gun into the air, and you will be removed from the maze by helicopter. Also, any tampering with the maze or violence against another contestant or Seeker will result in immediate disqualification…”

My shoulders ache from the backpack. Each contestant is given the same provisions to last the first few days. If I find one of those supply caches, that should get me through the whole competition. That’s my first priority. Along with not getting caught.

At last, the announcer shuts his hole. The countdown begins. My heart races in my chest. I take a deep breath. I know I can go back-to-back. They don’t call me “Julius the Jewel” for nothing.

The buzzer goes off. I hurry into the maze and hug the right-hand wall. My palms sweat from the excitement. Whenever I hear footsteps, I backtrack until I can’t hear them anymore, count to 100, and continue on. That way, I avoid any Seekers that are close by, and I keep with the right-hand rule.

“SHIT!”

I hear somebody shouting. Look’s like they’ve been caught. My heart skips a beat.  That’s one less person to worry about. I continue on.

The hours pass. I’ve only consumed about 10 oz. of water, but I haven’t found any supply caches yet. They must be getting skimpy with them this year. Eventually, the bottoms of my feet start to get sore. I take a break for a few minutes and drain what’s left in my water bottle. Then I set off again.

That’s weird… why have I been making so many turns? Am I going around in a circle? Impossible. I’ve been following the right-hand rule since I entered the maze.

I stop moving. A pit forms in my stomach. Is the maze changing? No way. No fucking way. They’ve always used a static maze.

I have to know for certain. I place my empty water bottle on the ground and start walking. If they aren’t changing the maze, I shouldn’t come back to that spot again.

My heart pounds against my ribcage. I take a right-hand turn… and another… and another…

“Oh, fuck me.”

There it is. The water bottle. That settles it. They’ve been changing the maze without telling anybody.

Panic rushes through me. I’m lost. This isn’t fun anymore. Something weird is going on. I don’t care about going back-to-back now. All I want is to get out of this fucking maze. I set my backpack down and take out my flare gun. I point it to the sky, close my eyes, and pull the trigger.

Nothing happens.

The color vanishes from my face. My gut tells me that this isn’t some random equipment failure. This is a dirty fucking trick they’re playing. First they change the maze, and then they sabotage our flare guns. They don’t want us to leave. We’re trapped like rats.

I push against the walls. They’ve been secured to the ground. I can’t break them apart or climb over them. The only option I have is to go on, right-hand rule be damned. My senses heighten. I stay as quiet as possible. My legs feel like jelly.

Suddenly, I hear footsteps. Labored breathing. More footsteps. Is somebody being chased by a Seeker?

“Stop! Let me go!”

It’s a girl. She sounds panicked. My heart sinks to the bottom of my chest. I hurry after her. She must be close by…

A scream pierces my eardrums. I stop dead in my tracks. Goosebumps cover my body.

“Oh my god…”

I sprint towards the girl. The straw crumples under my feet. I gasp for air. Sweat drips off of my face. I make two left-hand turns…

Blood oozes down the white walls like a candy cane. The pulse in my neck thumps. For the first time in my life, I know what it’s like to feel claustrophobic. It’s like the walls are closing in around me.

Terror rises inside me as I walk towards the blood stains. Nobody’s ever been injured in this contest. It’s all just for fun. Why should this year be any different? I turn a corner…

The sight in front of me makes my stomach lurch. A girl’s body lays slumped against the wall. Her neck has been sliced open. A puddle of blood expands outward from her. I hurry over to the girl. I can’t find a pulse. Her neck is slick with blood. She’s already gone.

“Holy shit… oh my god… oh my god…”

Who killed her? Was it another contestant? A Seeker? Somebody else?

I jump to my feet. My head whips around. I’m not safe just standing here. I have to keep moving.

Before I leave, I remove the girl’s backpack from her shoulders and go through it. Shit, she didn’t find any supply caches either. There probably aren’t any inside the maze at all. I take what’s left of her food and water and add it to mine. Just to be sure, I try shooting her flare gun. It doesn’t work.

It’s getting dark out. I must be really deep inside the maze now. The excitement is turning into exhaustion, but I don’t see how I’ll be able to fall asleep with a killer on the loose. I force one foot in front of the other. A throbbing migraine takes hold. I massage my scalp with my hands.

“Jewel? Is that you?”

I jump up in surprise. It’s another contestant. He gasps for breath. His long blond hair is completely ruffled. His clothing is drenched in sweat. I can’t see any blood on him. He seems to be friendly.

“What’s going on?” I ask.

“Dude… your guess is as good as mine,” he says. “This is so fucked up. I’ve been running for hours. One of the Seekers has been chasing me. It’s like he knows exactly where I’m going to be. I even tried shooting my flare gun but the fucking thing’s broken.”

Yeah, no kidding.

“What’s your name?” I ask.

“Thomas.”

He collapses onto the ground, takes a water bottle out of his backpack, and drains it. The sweat makes him smell like a locker room. He runs his hands through his long hair.

“Somebody killed one of the contestants,” I say. “I found her body. Her throat was cut open.”

Thomas stops mid-sip. His eyes bulge.

“Dude, we have to get out of here,” he says. “Right fucking now.”

“Easier said than done,” I say. “They’re changing the maze. It’s impossible to solve. All we can do now is stumble through it and get lucky.”

That’s when I hear a clacking noise, almost like a door being opened. I look at Thomas. His eyebrows raise.

“What was that?” he mouths. I shrug my shoulders.

There it is again, closer this time. Thomas stands up. My stomach churns with bile. Time grinds to a halt.

CLACK

The wall behind Thomas opens up. A Seeker stands behind him. He’s wearing all black. A ski mask covers his face. He holds a remote control in one hand and an army knife in the other.

“THOMAS! BEHIND YOU!” I shout.

There’s nothing I can do. The man grabs Thomas by his scalp and slashes his knife across his throat. Blood squirts out of the cut like a geyser. His body crumples to the ground.

Something snaps inside me. I take off running. My lungs feel like they’re on fire. I taste blood in my mouth. All I can think about is putting as much space between me and the Seeker as possible.

Finally, when I can’t move another inch, I stop. I breath in short gasps. How much running have I done? A mile? Two miles? It’s like the maze has swallowed me up completely.

“Fuck… oh, man…”

Now I know why the maze has been changing. The Seeker can open the walls with that remote. When I went around in that circle earlier, he must have opened up a part of the maze nearby. A chill sweeps over me. He could have killed me back then.

It’s only a matter of time before he finds me. Somehow, he knew exactly where Thomas was going to be. Are there cameras in the maze? No… there would be too many to monitor. Are they watching us from above? I look to the sky. There aren’t any drones or helicopters overhead. How are they tracking us?

I mop the sweat off of my forehead. The pain in my shoulders makes me want to cry. I take my backpack off, unzip it, and take a few bites of a granola bar. Am I seriously going to have to lug this thing around all night?

I freeze. The granola bar falls out of my hand. My mouth opens in an O shape.

“Son of a bitch.”

The backpack. That’s how they’re tracking everybody. This was a setup from the beginning.

I’m going to have to leave it behind. Food and water don’t count for much if I get stabbed to death. But I won’t survive to the end of the maze without them. If only I had the remote that the Seeker’s using…

That’s when an idea enters my head. I take in my surroundings. I’m standing in a T-shaped intersection. This might actually work.

Time for a setup of my own.

I take my backpack and place it in the middle of the wall between the left and right forks. Then I crouch down to the left of the backpack. I wait. My heart is going crazy in my chest. This has to work.

Clack… clack… clack…

Bingo. He’s on his way. I hold my breath…

The wall behind the backpack opens. The Seeker steps forward and picks it up. The knife dangles in his hand.

Now.

I shoot forward. The Seeker recoils in shock. I tackle him. We both smack into the ground. The knife clatters away.

I punch him in the face as hard as I can. He shouts in pain. His hands fly to his nose. My animal instincts take over. I hit him again and again and again.

Eventually, he loses consciousness. I dig through his pockets and pull out the remote. I point it to the wall nearest me and press it. The wall swings open. I go through the opening before it shuts back up. I keep going in one direction. Whenever I hit a wall, I press the button and open it.

It takes almost a half hour of walking in one direction before I finally reach the end of the maze. The outermost wall opens out onto a grassy plain. I walk out of the maze and collapse to the ground.

“It’s over! I’m free!”

The wall swings back into place behind me. I’m the only survivor.