A dark beginning

Huff, huff, huff. I hear footsteps. My friends? Maybe. The enemy? Possibly. Panting. Also my friends? Yes. Too dark to see, even with my superior vision.

"Guys, we need to find some way to –huff- lose this thing!"

Jack? Forgotten he was here. I could hear the fear and panic in his shrill voice. He's been crying.

"Just-keep-running!"

Aphrodite. She sounds pissed but still scared. Ah hell.

Just then we hit a corridor in the long impossibly never-ending halls with some gas lights lining the walls. It was just then the shadowy black tendril snaked out from behind us, racing towards me.

"CRAP! Zoey!" Aphrodite shoved me as she screamed my name, making the tendril miss me by inches.

It grabbed her ankle, dragging her to the ground and into the darkness behind us. She screamed in agony.

"Aphrodite!" I tried running to her aid, but was cut off by her voice, and the acceptance within it.

"Zoey… Just go, please! I am disposable, but you and the rest of the nerd herd need to get to the top. Now!" I swear I saw a tear fall from her eye. "Remember me as a friend. I kinda li- ahhhh!" She was interrupted when a tendril shot around her neck, nearly decapitating her.

What could I do? I ran.

Goddess, please help us! Please help Aphrodite.

As we rounded the corner a dark figure stepped from the darkness in-front of us, intent clear.

Before it could make a move Heath pushed me aside and tackled it with all he had. It dissolved into shadows and encased him. Heath gave a terrible pain filled gasp.

"Heath!" Again I stopped, wanting to help.

"No Zoey! Don't come near me-ahhhh!" He screamed in pain and I had to stifle a sob.

I felt a hand tugging on my shoulders as I heard Stevie Rae's voice behind me. "Come on Z, he needs us to keep going, or this would be for nothing.

Again, I ran.

"Left, right, left, left, up the stairs!" I was panting, and leading everyone through the maze before us. "Left, right, right, left - no right!" As we rounded the corner I glanced back, seeing a dead end at the left passage, and gave a sigh of relief.

"Up the stairs there! Quick!" I said.

As we bounded up the stairs I mentally recalled all we lost so far. Dallas, Kramisha, and Venus were the first three to go. Damn it, they died just getting us into this cursed place!

Who else? Heath… My heart ached. Aphrodite, Prof. Anastasia. How did she die? That's right, the spike pit. I shivered. My heart once again cried out as I remembered my grandmother. Standing at the entrance to these halls. She is dead for sure, and the darkness barely seemed to pause. Darius… That's right, he stood against five dread golems. He's surely dead.

"Zoey!"

"Huh? What" Erik's voice broke my inner babble.

"Zoey, there's three passages up ahead. Which way?" He sounded panicked.

"Umm, ohh goddess." Left. "Left!"

As we turned left we piled into a room full of them.

"Sand golems!" Darius' voice surprised me as he and Erik leaped into battle with them. Stark lifted his bow and notched about four arrows and let them fly.

Each arrow hit its mark. It was then I noticed Darius' left arm had been ripped from his body, and that their attacks had no effect.

"Run Zoey, run! You need to get to the top!" Stark kissed me fast, and started launching more arrows at targets.

We ran. And as we ran I counted the ones left. Me, Damien, Jack, Erin/Shaunee, and Stevie Rae, Johnny B., Dragon Lankford, and Lenobia.

We hit another staircase that carried us into another treacherous room, full of not sand golems, but death mockers. Ah hell.