Aiden moves back to the edge of the booth, looks out at the other side, and after a few seconds, he makes his way to the next booth. I do the same as him and look around at the other side of the booth before I cross to the next game. I no longer see the green light, and I don’t hear any footsteps, so I take that as a good sign and make my way over to where Aiden is.

We cross to the next booth, then the next. I can see tables when I look around the side of the booth, which lets me know we are around the food court area.

As I am about to cross to the next booth, I notice the green light has appeared again. This one is closer to us, only about a hundred feet away to our right. As it gets closer, I am able to get a better look at it, and the longer I stare, I realize that it is not just a light but part of a helmet.

The green light is coming from a visor on the top of a helmet that a guard is wearing. I immediately get back behind the booth and hope the guard didn’t see me. I don’t know for sure, but I think the helmet helps them see in the dark.

Fear rushes through my body again, and I try to spot Aiden, who is at the back of the booth right next to me. I can just see the outline of him, but I know he is probably wondering what I am doing. I point my finger in the direction of the guard, hoping that Aiden can see it and understand what I am trying to say.

I can hear the guard's footsteps coming closer, and I don’t know what to do. They know we like to hide behind the games, they will look here. Without thinking, I duck down low and walk into the game booth that Aiden is hiding behind. From this angle, I don’t think the guard can see me, but he definitely will if I am right, and he walks over here in a few seconds.

Aiden follows me in, staying low to the ground like I did. I can see the confusion on his face, but I don’t have time to explain. I know we are in a food booth, and they have cabinets and drawers, so I head over to the larger cabinets at the front of the booth and open them.

There are a few paper plates and napkins on one side of it and a few bottles of condiments on the other side. I point at the other cabinet for Aiden, and I think he seems to get what I am trying to say. He quickly opens his and starts to get inside. Once he does though, he immediately turns back and quietly starts slowly opening some of the larger drawers on the counter next to us.

I am confused at first, but then I realize he has a bigger and longer gun. Therefore, it won’t fit in the cabinet with him, and he has to hide it somewhere else.

He finds one big enough for his gun quickly, and then he comes back to the cabinets. He gets into his, and I get into mine, but I have to ensure I don’t knock over any of the bottles. I sit on top of the paper plates and napkins and hover my feet above the bottles. I hear the guard's steps get closer. He must be only about five steps away from us. I close the cabinet door as quietly as I can and wait to hear the sound of anything happening.

It is like I am hyper-aware of everything. I can hear the sound of feet as they walk by the cabinet I am sitting in, and I can tell that there is more than one guard now. I hear the sound of shuffling going on around us, but I don’t think it is all coming from inside the booth we are in. I think they sent a group to this area to check the booths over here.

When the sound of the guards becomes faint and less frequent, I relax a little bit. My legs are starting to get tired from hovering over the bottles, but I do not let them fall. The last thing I need is to make one of the bottles fall over and alert all the guards that I am inside here.

I stay in the cabinet longer in order to make sure all of the guards have left. I close my eyes for a moment, and I have trouble reopening them. I realize now that I am exhausted, and I want to go to bed. Who knows how long I have been up for.

There is a quiet tap on the door, and then I hear it open. My eyes open back up right away, and I look over to see that it is Aiden.

“What, are you sleeping in here or something? The guards are gone, and we need to go.” As Aiden is saying this, I start to make my way out of the cabinet, and I give him a slight glare.

“Don’t look at me like that. You can sleep once we make it out of here,” Aiden says.

I stand up, and the two of us look around the area before heading over to the drawer where Aiden put his gun. When he opens it, his gun is still inside. He grabs it, and we head back behind the booths.

“So I take it you saw all the guards coming our way,” Aiden says.

“No. I only saw the one. He was wearing a helmet with a green visor. I think that was the green light we saw earlier. I guessed that they could probably see us with it, so I figured we needed to hide somewhere they would be less likely to look.”

Aiden thinks about this for a second, “good thinking,” he says and then continues walking behind the game booths.

We make it pretty far, and we are only about three or four booths away from the maze. We move slowly, but we are moving without any trouble. Neither of us has tripped or gotten caught on a wire, and there have not been any more groups of guards walking around. There is the occasional single guard and sometimes two guards walking together, but ultimately, they are far enough away or looking somewhere else, so we don’t have to worry too much about them.

We cross to the back of the next booth and then the next booth after that. I can see the opening up ahead that leads to where the maze is, and I can’t help but get a little excited. After all of that running around, we can finally get out of here, and I can see Devin again.

When we reach the end of the booth, Aiden takes a look at the other side to make sure no one is coming before he crosses to the next booth. Usually, when there is no one coming, he crosses over quickly. Since he does not do that this time, I know that there must be one or more guards around.

Aiden turns back at me and puts one finger up. I do not know if this means there is one guard or if we need to wait one minute before crossing. When the sound of faint footsteps are heard, I know that it is the first one.

I put my back against the back of the booth and look to the right while Aiden looks to the left. By doing this, we are making sure at least one of us can spot the guard if he decides to come back here.

I hear the sound of a struggle coming from my left, and I immediately whip my head around to look at Aiden. I see he has his hand over the guard’s mouth, but the guard is pushing him away with one hand and reaching for something on his waistband with the other. When I notice the guard is trying to grab his gun, I move to push his arm out of the way of it and grab the gun myself.

This fails, and I end up having to use both arms to pull his hand away from his gun. In one quick motion, Aiden moves around so that his body is behind the guard’s. He takes his hand off the guard’s mouth, wraps one arm around the guard’s neck, and puts the other on his head. The guard stops fighting me and instead tries to grab at Aiden’s arm. When this does not work, he then tries to move forward and backward to shake Aiden off.

I don't know what to do, so I take the guard's gun out of his holster and point it at him just in case he manages to get free. Then I just stand there watching, feeling useless. Aiden looks like he has the guard relatively under control, so I look around to make sure there aren't any more green lights. When I am sure No one else is coming, I look back at Aiden, who has a good hold of the guard.

The guard is still trying to fight him, but his movements are slower now and less effective. Within a few seconds, the guard’s eyes close, and he passes out. Aiden slowly drops the guard’s body down to the ground.

“Are you okay?” I ask Aiden.

“Yeah. Are you okay?” Aiden asks, and I nod my head to let him know I am alright.

Aiden’s shoulders rise and fall with each breath he takes, and I know that fighting the guard must have tired him out.

I don’t know why I do it, but I walk up to Aiden and kiss him. He is taken aback by this, so I start to pull away. When I do, his hand comes up to my face, and he deepens the kiss.

After a minute, I pull away. While I do like kissing Aiden, I don’t know him or why I did it. Besides, I do not think right now is the time to be kissing anybody.

He grabs my hand and starts pulling me behind the last game booth. “Come on, we need to go. He won’t be out for long.”

It is a good thing he does not want to talk about it. If he asked why I kissed him, I don't think I would have been able to give him an answer.

“Wait,” I tell him

“Sam, we need to go. Once he wakes up, he will let everyone know where we are and what direction we are headed in.”

I free my hand from his and bend down to grab the guard’s helmet. “Now we can go,” I tell him as I push the helmet into his hands. “You can put that on. We will be quicker if one of us can see.”

“Why don’t you want it?” Aiden asks.

“Because you are the leader here, and besides, you just took the guard out, so you should get the helmet.” I tuck the little gun that the guard had in one of my jacket pockets, “Besides, I now have two guns, so you have to do what I say, and I say put the helmet on and lead us out of here.”

Aiden mumbles a fine and puts the helmet on.

“Can you see?” I ask.

“Yes, it is a little cracked on the bottom, but it works.” Aiden retakes my hand, “Let’s go.”

Chapter 32

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