Darrone surveyed the chamber. His eyes narrowed at the new opening under the stage. The demon succubus had just told them to get moving. Trap? He didn’t think so. If she wanted them dead, she’d have killed them. This was a game. The stakes were high, but it was still a game.

  There could be another culling of the herd in store, but he suspected it would be for those who didn’t listen.

  The little white woman still clung to him. He wondered why she wore clothes that were too big for her? He still hadn’t asked where she was from or how she’d gotten here. But she hadn’t been talkative since the... branding. Whatever the case, she relied on him.

  His family couldn’t rely on him anymore, since he died in those mines thanks to that creature, but here and now, this person relied on him. The mark on her forehead looked irritated and slightly swollen, but the glowing eye thing wasn’t out since the injection. Megan seemed to be a little more with it. She wasn’t biting, screaming, or kicking.

  A denim covered arm went under her rump and slid down her thighs as he picked her up into a princess carry. She wasn’t heavy at all, at least not for him. He bolted. Sneakers tapped the floor. Black rimmed worker’s glasses pushed against the bridge of his nose. Running could be heard behind him, but he didn’t care. He wasn’t losing his breath over this short a dash, even with a woman in his arms. Long brown hair wisped against his button downed denim shirt.

  Megan coughed, “That girl who died had the same name as me.”

  “You should stop dwelling on it. Lots of people died.”

  Sneakers screeched as he reached the opening, an open ventilation shaft about sixty centimeters high by seventy centimeters wide. They would have to crawl through. Another pair of sneakers screeched behind him as the strong looking Indian woman with the flaming hair reached the opening next. Darrone grit his teeth. Considering his cause of death, he wasn’t eager to be the first exploring a tight space that could be a trap.

  “You want to go in first? I doubt anyone wants to be in the hot seat with you behind them.”

  “I can turn the hair off. For a little while. I’ll keep it to a minimum just in case. If it wasn’t so well lit, you’d be begging me to be a light source.”

  When she went down on all fours to crawl inside, Darrone couldn’t help but stare. Those puffy pants didn’t hide those curves or that she worked out to keep them nice and tight. But he wasn’t going to whistle with Megan resting in his arms. He got down to his knees and looked inside as the woman shimmied further. It looked clean aside from the occasional oddly colored roach skittering across the granite floor. The fire woman took care not squish any, which made sense. They came in from gaps between the lighting screens on either side. As she crawled through, the screen flickered with the depiction of an animated face. It was that demon woman in anime form. They were television screens! Was this a trap?

  “Excuse me?”

  A lithe Asian woman with a smooth complexion ruffled her white dress as she crouched to look inside, “It looks like a v-tuber is watching us with the way she keeps bobbing her head back and forth and her eyes keep moving around.”

  Another Asian woman knelt next to her, this one wore a white fluffy sweater, jeans, and black boots, “No you’re right, what is this? Should we go in?”

  “The clock is ticking and we don’t have much choice,” Darrone said, “If you’re not going in, get out of the way so everyone else can pass.”

  They eyed him as an older looking woman with shorter hair caught up. A young-looking guy and older man with greying hair were at her sides. Darrone wondered what country they were from. They quickly agreed to start going forward and followed the Indian woman with flaming hair. The youngest man slid in first, then the oldest looking woman went in followed by the rest. The man with greying hair was the last of their group. Darrone put Megan down. She leaned a hand against the stage wall looking pale.

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  The older guy who had been with the spooky lady before she got eaten by that stone monster approached. A slightly heavyset older woman slept on his back as he struggled to carry her.

  Trailing behind the main group, an old woman followed the Asian man with broken limbs. That was the guy who had tried to hug the spooky woman before she got eaten. He’d never asked for any of these people’s names. Probably a mistake. He did know Megan though, at least her first name. And he knew Circe, there was lots of talk about that one. At least one group was really worried about her, that demon man’s group.

  A slightly heavy-set man with a black leather case in his left hand walked by the broken Asian’s side. A few other people were pushing forward as well. If he took a proper head count, including those that were already in the tunnel, there were about thirty-five people left alive in here.

  Only a few had the marks, the old lady, the Asian baseball player, the broken Asian guy in the worn suit, the monk, and this white girl leaning against the wall looking ready to pass out. Wait, that meant those with the mark were really rare. Circe plus everyone here, that meant only six players had the mark. Darrone listened as Circe’s original group approached.

  “I don’t know boss, Ebony ain’t wakin’ up still. You gotta idea? Tell me yuh gotta idea.”

  “The curse is vaguely worded. She could wake up any moment. It could reset with a new day. Or she could be out for twelve hours from the time she fell asleep.”

  How was the monk not bothered by it? He hadn’t even accepted the medicine and just shrugged it off while the others couldn’t function with it.

  “Isn’t twelve hours a day a little extreme though? I’m just sayin’.”

  “No more extreme than having your physical abilities capped into extreme weakness. No more extreme than having to endure intense pain at all times? But you’ll find the more extreme the curse, the more extreme the power. This is not a world of balance. It is a world of extremes.”

  “That’s more than I asked for boss. So wadda we do?”

  “I’ll go in backwards and drag her along. You’ll go in behind us to lift her and make sure we don’t snag on anything. No worries, I’m more than strong enough to handle it even if you should give out.”

  “Yuh sayin’ I ain’t got what it takes?”

  Darrone waved for their attention, “Would you mind going last then? Provided everybody is going through, that is. If you three get stuck, I don’t want to hold anyone else up.”

  Alfredo shrugged as the baseball player crawled into the shaft. The stains on the back of the uniform pants made Alfredo grimace, “Yeah, that sounds reasonable.”

  “Fair enough,” Kunchen said, “The tunnel itself seems safe. It probably leads to more exits.”

  The cheerful voice of Azoria rang through the shaft. Animated lips moved. The baseball player slammed into the left screen in surprise, though it caused no damage. The woman of the fire hair crawled with laser focus toward the nearby exit.

  The party of five in between them were gaped at the animation. The young man grabbed the hand of the woman behind him when she threatened to turn back.

  “If you are inside, keep moving forward!” Kunchen yelled over Azoria’s giggly voice, “This is a test of will and obedience. If you go back, you are forcing those behind to suffer your fate.

  Darrone put his hands on Megan’s shoulders, “Are you okay? Do you have the strength to keep going? I think we should go. The clock is ticking.”

  Megan nodded, “I can do this.”

  He watched the small woman slide in behind a few others. He got behind her and looked back. The monk looking guy, the sleeping woman, the big mafia looking dude, an old lady, the beat-up Asian man in the threadbare suit, and a chubby man with a dark bushy mustache holding a satchel remained.

  “I’m old and slow,” came an old woman’s voice as Darrell finished looking back. The mark of the half-moon was stamped on her forehead, “Let me go in last so I don’t slow anyone down.”

  “Zirak, you go in next friend,” Phaolo said, “I’ll follow behind.”

  Their voices became fainter as Darrone went forward. Azoria’s voice, which didn’t seem to come from the screens or anywhere really, filled the tunnel. Her beaming animated face bobbed up and down with a big goofy smile. The representation of her mouth opened and closed. She looked like those cartoons from Japan that took over his country, really popular in Johannesburg, in the neighborhoods where they had enough money for such things.

  “Welcome to the loser tunnel!” Azoria’s voice beamed, “It’s a tunnel for losers like you who decided to oppose me, or worse, outright ignore me in front of everyone. I didn’t like that!”

  Darrone looked back to see the big man with the mustache follow him. So, the slower and heavier people were entering last. That actually worked out well. But he hoped the cutoff for the time limit wasn’t further along. He hoped being inside the tunnel would count. How many minutes had passed since they started running for this exit? He gave Megan’s butt a pinch through the loose skirt to get her moving faster. She tensed, but then crawled forward until she was right behind the next person.

  Azoria continued on a loop.

  “Up ahead, you’ll find individual teleportation chambers for the majority of your group. They are for one person each, one way. Upon reaching your chosen location, each of you must face a trial of atonement! Alone!” Azoria giggled, “That’s right, it’s going to be so much fun! I bet you can’t wait to see the exciting adventures I have in store for your redemption!”