Naylor: Gimme a Whip and a Fedora

"So..." I asked as we continued down the tunnel, trying to break the awkward silence. "What kind of traps are down here, anyway?"

"Oh, there's all sorts," Josh answered, his gun pointed forward, at the ready, as we were walking forward. "But I wouldn't want to ruin the surprise," he said with a mischievous grin. Ugh. Fine, then.

"Stop!" Skyler called out abruptly, causing us all to freeze. She then paused and held her head high, as if listening to something. She suddenly cursed. "Run! Something's coming!" she shouted as she began sprinting forward through the tunnel. We were all about to follow her when we unexpectedly heard this loud rumbling noise, and it sounded like the ceiling was crumbling from behind us. We all turned to look, and suddenly this large metal ball dropped down from out of the ceiling, roughly the size of the average monster truck.

Then it started rolling. Towards us. It was like something straight out of Indiana Jones.

"Crazy," TK muttered as he started running in Skyler's direction. That's when the rest of us decided to start running as well.

"In here!" Skyler shouted as she waved to us from an alcove in the wall. Alex, Jared, Michael, TK, and Ryan followed her into safety. I was just about to join them when suddenly I stumbled, nearly getting crushed by the ball, but luckily someone tackled me to the ground, out of the way of danger.

Looking up from where I was sprawled out on the ground, I saw Lucas still running for his life, just barely ahead of the ball. He continued running until he and the ball were both out of sight.

A few seconds later, I heard a strangled scream coming from the end of the tunnel.

I rolled over on the ground to see who my savior was, and found that it was none other than Josh. Go figure.

"Lucas," Josh muttered as he stared down the tunnel. "I guess he got caught, then." So we lost another one. So how many of us were left now? Eight?

"Looks like everyone else is okay," Alexis said, coming out of the alcove and staring down the tunnel in Lucas's direction. "All right, then," she said, going down the side tunnel leading from the alcove. "Let's go."

"Wait a minute," I shouted, flabbergasted. "Are we just going to leave him?" Such great teammates...

"It's not like he's gonna die," Josh said from the ground next to me. "If we leave him now, he can find his way back on his own," he said, getting up from the ground. "Here," he said, holding his hand out to me, helping me up.

"Thanks," I said, taking his hand. "Sorry to get in your way back there."

"No prob," he smiled. "In fact, I'm actually getting pretty fond of you," he winked at me. Um... I couldn't help but feel a bit awkward.

"Are you..." I started to ask, shrinking back a little.

"No way!" he screamed, his face turning beet red with rage, and probably a little embarrassment as well.

Heh.