Disclaimer: I don't own sea quest or anything else for that matter ^^;;;

Note: wooooo I think im just writer-happy today. Hopefully I can finish this chapter before I go to bed!!!

Fear Factor

Chapter 3 - Meetings and Trials

By Faith Childrey

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"Life support functional…"

"Energy levels stable…"

"Simulation commence…"

The room was a dull gray; cold and sterile. Four walls surrounded him, a door to his left. Lucas Wolenczak groaned as he shifted on the hard floor. Pushing himself to his knees, he could survey all of the room, and its inhabitants. Around him, also waking up from unconsciousness, were four other people. Teenagers actually. There were two girls and two other guys. All five of them seemed to have awoken at the same time.

He watched everyone get into a sitting position, mumbling about their surroundings. There was an odd silence for a few seconds as the teens looked at one another that was broken by the blond girl to his left.

"What's going on?"

"Got me…" The guy with short brown hair.

"Who are y'all?" The other girl asked.

Everyone peered around trying to decide who should go first. The guy with shoulder length brown hair pulled back in a pony tail spoke first.

"David Reford."

"Amanda Noe." The blond spoke.

"Lucas Wolenczak."

"Tippy Johnston." The other girl with shoulder length dirty blond hair answered.

"Adam Caine."

They'd all gotten to their feet, their eyes surveying the room for cameras or microphones.

"Hey," Adam spoke up, "David Reford? Aren't you that UEO weapons specialist?"

"Yeah, and you're Adam Caine, UEO mission strategist."

Amanda noted her realization, "And you're Lucas Wolenczak. Seaquest's computer analyst."

"And you're-" Lucas started.

"Amanda Noe, UEO's top martial arts master." He had to chuckle at the girl's energetic attitude.

They all paused, then turned to Tippy, the fifth in their group.

Adam was the one to speak, "Um…not to be rude or anything, but who are you?"

The girl reddened slightly after hearing about all of their skills. "Um…I'm a uh…student at AppState University… I'm studying to be an elementary teacher if that counts for anything…" She gave them a nervous smile as they all tried to figure out why she was there.

The room had taken on an uncomfortable silence when a loudspeaker in a part of the room came on. "Hello children. I hope you are all feeling quite well?" The voice was high-pitched, like the voice of a cartoon doctor from old kids shows, and he had a sort of face sounding German accent. "You are all wondering why you are here, is that correct?"

"Yeah!" David spoke up, "And how bout you just let us out of here!"

"Ah, why of course! All you have to do to get out is go through that door!"

They stood silent for a moment, "What's the catch?" David spoke again.

"Hah! Clever one aren't you! The way out is through that door, but behind that door is a maze that you all must get through… then you shall be released."

Adam lowered his voice to speak to the group, "I don't like this, there has to be another door or an exit in this room somewhere."

"Sorry Mr. Caine, but that door is the only way in and out. Surprised I could hear you, yes? I can hear every sound you make! But I would advise you to get a move on. You have very little time without food and water to help you, and this maze could take days." There was a hint of amusement in the man's voice as he spoke. "See you at the end kiddies!" And with that the voice was gone.

"Great… Stuck in a madman's play house." Amanda mused irrelatively.

"We should probably check the room anyway for ways out. He could have been lying to get us to go through his maze." Adam spoke, searching the walls, ceiling and floor for a possible exit. After about five minutes of group search, they came up with only one answer; the door.

They all turned to it, not sure what to expect to find on the other side. "Well, looks like the madman wasn't lying. We're going through the maze." Adam admitted. "We don't know what's out there so I suggest David and I take lead, Lucas and Tippy, you two stay in the middle and Amanda you follow behind. If we run into a hostile situation we're gonna need to be prepared." Everyone nodded, taking their places as they began to exit the room.

Adam grabbed a hold of the door, turning the knob gently and pulling the door open a crack. Peering inside, he could see what looked like an empty hallway. He opened the door the rest of the way, cautiously moving in, followed by David and the rest of the group. The hall was indeed empty; grey walls that turned left at the end. Silently, the group moved down the hall, their eyes darting from the walls to the ceiling, watching for any movement. As they neared the corner, Adam motioned for them to stand against the wall. Carefully, he peered around the corner. Nothing. Satisfied that it was safe enough, he motioned for the others to follow. At the end of this hallway there was a door. Metal, just like the first one. Beside it blinked three colored buttons: blue, green and yellow. The five teens approached the door and stopped. Below the buttons was a sign, more like a puzzle:

He saw a frog,

That ate the sky,

Where the canary flies.

"Um… any ideas?" Amanda asked no one in particular.

Lucas stepped forward, squatting to get a better look at the buttons. After a moment he spoke, "It looks like a simplified version of a code system; get the right sequence and the door opens."

"The answer must have something to do with the lines at the bottom, but what does it have to do with colors?"

Tippy had stepped forward taking the place of Lucas in front of the panel. "He saw a frog, that ate the sky, where the canary flies… sounds like something from a kids book."

"Since you're gonna be a teacher, got any ideas on what it might mean." Adam asked.

"I think so… but its kind of an easy answer." She turned to look at the group. "Well, the buttons are blue, green and yellow… a frog is green, the sky is blue and the canary is yellow. Seems kinda easy to me."

Adam laughed at his own stupidity. It was too easy, too easy for him to even notice it. "Sounds good to me, try it and lets find out if you're right."

Tippy stood and punched in the sequence from the words. After hitting the yellow, she stepped back as the colors locked in place and the door slid open.

Stepping aside, she allowed Adam and David to enter the room first. It was a large, square room about the size of a gymnasium. In the center of the room stood a small metal table that seemed to be attached to the floor. As the group walked towards it, they noticed an array of parts arranged on top. David stepped up noting what they were seeing, "Its an AK-47 assault rifle, but it needs to be assembled."

"I don't know why we'd need it, the-" Adam was cut off as a small, metallic grinding sound filled the room. Everyone fell silent as the noise continued, their eyes darting around the room. Amanda was the first to notice the threat. "SPIDERS!!!!!!" Her scream filled the room as she ran to Tippy, climbing up on her back to get away from the eight legged monstrosities.

The others turned as saw that from the walls to their left and right were now releasing hundreds of spiders the size of quarters. They were fairly slow in their advancement, but it was still an unnerving site to see. Amanda seemed to be having the hardest time dealing with them. She was glued to Tippy in a piggy-back style watching with eyes the size of saucers as the spiders got closer.

"I think… she's arachnophobia." Tippy observed as the first of the spider army came up and she was forced to step on it. The others had begun smashing the frail creatures that were trying to run up their legs.

"If this is what's in the room, what's the gun for?" Lucas asked, but soon regretted it as more metallic grinding started up, and a large panel began to slide up at the right side of the room where the door they entered was. Still stomping on the spiders at their feet, they watched for what might come out of the opening, and were rewarded with a long, hairy black leg the length of a mans leg. What followed was even more terrifying. A bulbous head emerged covers in eyes and short slimy fangs for a mouth. The rest of its hulking body followed in a slow, deliberate crawl, and they all new why they needed the gun.

"David, get that thing assembled. It might be the only way to take that thing down." David nodded taking his eyes off the retched creature and to the parts he needed to assemble.

Tippy was having problems keeping Amanda under control. The girl seemed to be having a nervous breakdown as the giant spider crawled closer to the group. Tippy was having problems defending herself from the smaller enemies, some making it to her knee before she could swat them off. She gave out a yelp as one bit the back of her leg and she quickly swiped it away.

The large spider have halved the distance between them and the wall. All, but David, were backing up. They were trying to stay close enough to the table to assist David if the spider got too close.

With one last piece snapped in, David jammed the clip into place and took aim. The spider was close enough now for everyone to hear its ragged, hungry breathing, and then there was the clattering of bullets as David began to fire, holes ripping into the thing, hairy torso. The eyes of the creature exploded into goo that ran down its face and onto the spider-covered floor. With one last lurch, the mammoth spider stopped and fell dead in its tracks.

The clatter of the gun stopped and everything became silent one again. The smaller spiders, seeing their master destroyed began to head back to their holes in fear.

David lowered the gun and turned to the others. He let out a yelp of pain as he bent down and swatted at a lingering spider on his leg that had had enough courage to get in one last bite of revenge.

"I hate spiders…" He grumbled to himself before, again turning his attention to the others. Amanda was now back on her own two feet still looking a bit skittish, but otherwise fine. Tippy and Lucas were assessing spider bites they had received during the attack. Adam looked to be fine other than spider guts attached to the bottom of his sneakers.

"Is everyone alright?" Adam asked.

"Just a few spider bites, Ok otherwise." Lucas answered.

"Me too." Tippy said before turning to Amanda, "How about you?"

The blond let out a breath she seemed to have been holding for a while, "Ya… just a little afraid of spiders is all."

Tippy gave her a warm smile and gave her a reassuring pat on the back.

They were about to consider their next move when the speaker came on again. "I see you made it through the first test, I hope it wasn't too frightening for you. You'll notice that there are no doors other than the one you came in. I'm sorry to say the only way to go I through the spider tunnels." Amanda gave a small yelp at this answer. "Oh but don't worry yourselves kiddies, the spiders are all probably hiding…. You know 'more afraid of you than you are of them' am I right? Good luck and safe travels." His cheery voice disappeared again and the group was left to find their way through the darkness of the opening.

Tbc…

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Wow….this is fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So much better than writing stupid college papers for finals . Anyway I hope yall enjoyed it! Next one should be up soon!

Thanks for reading!!!!