Chapter 3

I placed my hand on the cool metal of the doornob, looking at Brendyn and Ryan one last time. The handle twisted easily in my grip and I pushed in the door, causing me to step into the room. It was pitch black. The door slid silently shut behind us, closing off the rest of our light. My eyes adjusted to the lack of light, but I still saw nothing in any direction. I didn't panic, I tried not to think about what might be out there. I reached out blindily and searched for a lightswitch of some sort along the wall. My hands came up with nothing and I finally regained my composure enough to ask, "Matt, Connor? You there?"
"Right here." I jumped at Matt's closness and reached out to grasp his hand.
"Connor?"
"Yes?" His voice carried from what seemed like a long distance away. The silence and darkness were starting to get to me. I could feel my body swaying, at least, I thought I was swaying. I couldn't tell which way was up or down. I shook off the wave of nausea and reached out toward the sound of Connor's voice. I touched fur and recoiled, slamming myself into Matt.

He pulled back, not enough to let go of my hand, but enough to make me feel alone again. "Matt there's something in here." My voice shook.
"It's fine Mel, grab Connor, this is a game," he said the word like a dirty word, "so there always has to be a chance that we can win."
"Connor?" I called again.
"Right here." His voice sounded closer this time. I reached out and, thankfully, found Connor's hand, grasping it tightly in my own. We moved slowly through the dark, silent room. I couldn't stand the silence, so I started to hum. I felt like running, but my feet disobeyed me, feeling tentitively along the floor, afriad something might be there. I could feel myself shake and I almost thought I imagined it when Connor let go and ran. I could hear his feet pounding in the silence and me and Matt stopped. I saw nothing as I watched silently waiting to see what was going to happen to Connor. He whooped and I jumped, I saw a crack of light shine through the room and I smiled to myself as Connor ducked out, holding the door for us. "Come on!"

I tugged on Matt's hand and started across the floor. Something fuzzy rubbed against my leg and I shied away from it, backing into Matt. Connor's voice rang through the room, "I can't-hold it- much longer guys." he grunted. The room gradually became darker until the light was completely cut off again. "Hurry up Mel." Matt urged as we picked up the speed a little in the direction- or what I thought was the direction- of the door. I hit another fuzzy thing and heard a low growl. The scream in my throat came up and I leaped at Matt, throwing my arms around him. He tried to push me away, another thing growled at me, I finally registered the sound. Wolves, I thought. There were wolves in here. I swore under my breath but contined to move foward.

I felt hot breath on my neck and screamed, running foward with no drive excpet to get away from the things in here. I felt them chasing behind us and I fought to struggle on. "Melanie, slow down!" Matt called.
"There are freaking wolves in here and you want me to slow down?" I screamed at the top of my lungs.
"What wolves Melanie? What are you talking about?" Matt yelled back. I ran straight into a wolf and jumped back, jumping onto Matt and clinging on with my legs and arms like a koala. Matt ignored me and continued to move foward until one of the wolves jumped foward and snagged my arm. The weight cause Matt to fall over, the wolf lost it's grip, but not before it had bitten a good amount of my skin.

I felt tears well up, but I took a deep breath and reached out, finally feeling the door. I yanked it open and me and Matt surged out, panting. I stumbled and fell to the ground, taking the time to check the damage. The wolf had yanked on a good chunk of my arm, but it hadn't hurt anything serious. Other than that, I had a few scratches on my legs. I looked at Matt, a sarcastic smile on my face, I fought to make sure it didn't quiver, "And you wondered what I was talking about."
He looked at my arm and frowned, "I swear I never heard anything except you screaming."
I flushed, "Well this certainly isn't made up Matt."
I saw the other's looking at me, "I'm fine, let's go."
Three holes opened up in the wall. Huge metal bars slid down over them and they had our names in red written sideways along one of the bars, like blood. It looked like part of an animal cage. One of the bars said Ryan an Connor, the second, Matthew and Brendyn and the last said Melanie. I sucked in a deep breath, standing up and striding across the room to the big metal cage. It slid up, making a creaking noise like it had been there for years. I stepped in to what would be my second challenge.