“Just try and find your way to the exit, I’ll meet up with you later!” 963 yelled from the other side of the wall.

  “.....Fine! I trust you 963! I expect you to do the same for me!” I yelled to keep him from worrying.

  “….Right!”

  After that, I heard three more loud bangs, and 963’s voice faded away like a lost echo.

  “....He’ll be fine. I can’t imagine that robot dying in a place like this. Meaning….!”

  I slammed my fists together and faced forward with confidence.

  “I, the great Zero, shall get through this dumb maze and meet him on the outside!” I roared confidently. “Every time I’ve been in front of him, I’ve been acting like a loser! I bet he doesn’t even think I’m that strong! Hm,hm,hm! Well, little does he know that I’m stronger than him, and I’ll prove it by getting outta here first!”

  I sprinted forward and began running through the maze again, and not long after, I found myself at the 4-path crossroads once again.

  “Hmmm….even if I choose the right path, won’t the maze just change again?”

  When I snuck into my Dad’s office and saw the map of the maze, I traced in my head a line from start to finish. I definitely had to take the path second to the left. Even if the maze wasn’t moving now, I don’t know if the path is the same because of its annoyingly crazy movement.

  “Well, there’s nothing else I can really do except try. Standing here doesn’t really solve anything.”

  I ran to the path second to the left again and continued down the corridor. As I kept running, I noticed that the corridors had changed. Before, it felt like we were running a straight line that just looped back around, but I reached the first turn I'd seen since taking this path, unlike the last time I ran through it.

  “What? Did the guy controlling the maze take a bathroom break or something?” I snickered as I turned the corner.

  Continuing on down the hallway, the lights were gradually getting dimmer, but I saw another light at the end of the pathway. I barely noticed that the lights were on in this place until it became dim once more. Natural light faded away as it was replaced by the stupid red and green lights that appeared all over this hellhole.

  I continued running, not knowing where I was going. The map that I had made showed this maze in a diamond-like fashion, because of the walls dividing us, I thought of the diamond as split in half, so I was in the left triangle right now. Because of that, the path I thought was right would be completely unreliable.

  “The best thing I can do is just wing it.” I shrugged, deciding not to think too hard about it.

  I found my first crossroads after running through a long corridor. I could choose to go left or right. I chose right and continued on. I faced about two more crossroads and chose left, then right, respectively. After doing that, I found myself in an eternally long hallway.

  The constant sprinting started to make my gift act up, as I could feel the thorns beginning to grow inside my body. The path continued until I was met with something I didn’t see on the map. The end of this place led to a small tunnel, inclined like a slide.

  “Hahaha…..this is probably a terrible idea. ” I said, putting my hand up in the air and forming a mouth with my palm. “Oh, but Zero, we must think of the physical repercussions that traversing such a slide would have. To slide, or not to slide?” I said, mocking 963’s voice.

  After making myself chuckle, I worked up the nerve to grab the top of the tunnel and swung myself inside.

  As I slid down, the metal grinded against my pants, and I silently thanked myself for bringing the combat suits beforehand. After sliding for a couple of seconds, I saw the literal light at the end of the tunnel and braced myself.

  I slid out and couldn't help but notice that I was airborne. I quickly looked down and saw that I was about 40 feet in the air.

  Reacting fast, I swung my sword backward, and it pierced the wall behind me. From my high vantage point, I was able to see the room I was in. I was in a large circular room with reflective walls. The room’s floor was metallic and had various scrapes and dents in it, as if it had been used often. Looking slightly forward, I saw a large metallic closed door, and a small figure with black hair standing in front of it.

  I nipped my left thumb and brushed it across the blade, strengthening it. I already explained this to 963, but my blade gets different strengths based on what blood type it absorbs. My blood type makes it vibrate, which gives me wayyyy more power. The vibrations also help cleave through tough objects, such as this wall.

  The blade started glowing orange, and I began sliding down the wall. I slid for a couple of seconds, with the sound of grating metal echoing throughout the entire room, until I was low enough not splat on the ground.

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  I walked forward until we were a couple of feet away from each other. Blood dripped from my thumb, making small sounds as it collided with the ground with each step I took. Staring at me with determined, dull, black eyes was No.9.

  “Zero.”

  “No.9.”

  “Turn back. Please.” She said, both sheepishly and with defiance.

  “And why would I do that? Better yet, why are you standing there, acting like you’re going to stop me? Aren’t we friends?” I asked, making a dramatic expression.

  “F-Friends? You acted like you hated all of us until 963 came. And even when we got closer, you constantly glared at me and tried to exclude me from stuff.”

  “I did that because I couldn’t trust any of you. And I guess I was right.” I grumbled, narrowing my eyes in her direction.

  She started to say something, but quickly turned away to avoid my gaze.

  “I’m….doing this for 963’s sake.”

  The nerve of this…..

  “Tell me, how is stopping me from escaping this prison….. helping 963? You must know we’re working together. As a matter of fact, how did you figure out where we were going to be? No offense, but you don’t seem bright enough to figure it out.” I said, pointing in her direction.

  “…..No.1 told us.” She barely squeaked out.

  “No.1? You really allied with that psycho over us?! I knew you were dumb, but I didn’t know you were—“

  “Shut up.”

  Her voice vibrated throughout the entire room, and her expression turned into one of malice. I tried to speak, but no sound came out.

  She began walking forward while staring me down.

  “You don’t know anything about me… about any of us. I-I’m not gonna lie and say I love the other numbers or agree with them. But everyone has their reasons for not wanting to escape. It’s not black and white like you think.” She stated, continuing to get closer and closer to me.

  Does she think I don’t know that? It doesn’t change the fact that all of them would get in my way if I tried to escape. However, regardless of what I thought, I couldn’t even say anything back! The only sound coming from me was the blood dripping from my thumb to the ground, so much so that it was forming a small puddle.

  “Right after you and 963 went inside the forbidden area, No.1 appeared. He had been watching you two the entire time.”

  What?!

  “Once you guys went inside, he told me the truth of the place you were in, and how once you got out, you would immediately start planning to escape.”

  “Wait, wait! Are you telling me that when we told you what happened in that place, you already knew?! You were just acting?!” I yelled, realizing her gift had worn off.

  “If I said anything, No.1 would expose me!”

  She stopped walking and began shaking her head profusely.

  “But….but even then! I still didn’t want to help, but he told me that if you two actually escaped, you would just be dragged back here, living a more enclosed life. And….and……”

  She grabbed her left elbow and looked away.

  “963 would be treated as a fugitive and sentenced to death. I was told if I could stop you here, they would subdue him without killing him.”

  “…..Do you know how stupid that sounds?” I asked, unable to even look at her.

  “Do you expect him not fight back at all? How would they just subdue him? Did they give you walkie-talkies so you could tell them I’ve been stopped?” I continued, curling my fingers.

  “Well….no, but—!”

  “If they really wanted to spare him, they wouldn’t have separated us in the first place! Why hide the conditions of both of us by splitting us up, unless they wanted to split our fighting power in half!”

  “The reason why we split you up and put more numbers on that side was that we knew 963 was smart! He would see how many people he would have to fight and surrender. He wouldn’t fight a losing battle!”

  “Who’s even on the other side?!”

  “Um….” She started as she began to count her fingers. “No.3, No.4, No.7, No—Hey! I’m not gonna give you information!”

  “Who’s to say he would even have a choice to surrender?! Do you just believe everything No.1 says to you? No.7 isn’t in her right mind, and No.4 and No.3 openly hate 963. Who’s to say they won’t go berserk and try to kill him? You have zero way to communicate, you’re just being told what to do, and you’re secretly hoping everything turns out ok. You think you’re being some hero, but you’re just scared. You’re scared of No.1 and scared of this place, you don’t want to think for yourself!”

  I pulled out my sword with the hand that wasn’t bleeding and pointed it at her.

  “All you want to do is follow orders and hide from reality. I hate people like you the most.”

  I began walking forward, and in response, she hastily stepped back. This cat-and-mouse game continued until her back was against the wall, with me standing about 10 feet in front of her.

  “And besides, you thought those guys would be enough to stop 963? For someone who watches him so intently, you don’t understand how resilient he is when he’s determined.”

  “H-He doesn’t even have control over his gift! How cruel are you to put those expectations—!”

  “Enough about him. There’s no point in worrying about my knight, I know he’ll make it to the other side. But you guys were idiots to place more numbers on his side anyway.”

  I heard the quick sound of footsteps from behind me, along with a shrill feminine voice.

  “I told you she’s not gonna listen!”

  I didn’t know where she was before, but her voice sure gave me an idea. She was on a straight path right for the puddle of blood that was left by my thumb.

  “Wait, No.6 don’t—!” No.9 yelled.

  “You see, I’m not only called Zero because I was the first number here.”

  I heard the splash of No.6’s foot hitting the blood. I smiled and clenched my fist as it bloomed and burst, right as No.6 passed it.

  “GAAAAAH!” She screamed as she tumbled past me, her ankle visibly sprained.

  She flew a couple of feet past No.9 before becoming visible and colliding with the wall.

  “It’s because you all couldn’t even be compared to me.”