The maze

The outside world was unknown to her, but she could see a glimpse of it through the window in his room.

The walls of the Rutger Maze were high. There were no footholds, no gaps, no little cracks with which to leverage oneself upwards. The sides were as smooth as silk, and just as slippery.

We had been trapped in this hell pit for thirty days now. The world was now a dangerous place, even more so than before. The government stopped caring years ago. The Putin-Russian-Iranian war had escalated to the USA, UK and their allies. The devastation caused a recession. The lack of natural gas, which in turn crippled transportation, civil wars and much more, have led to collapsed economies and destabilization of currency. People had been basically left on their own.

Rouge factions now ruled the streets. People were afraid to venture out by day, only the criminal elements were out by night. Some of us had no choice, it was either go scavenging for food or die of starvation. The few businesses which were open were heavily guarded, and pretty much operated by extortion, most of us had to steal from others to barter with businesses for basic food items. Even then they wanted much more than it was even possible to acquire. It rained a lot these days so drinking water was not a problem. The dry season was fast approaching so we had to find barrels and other accoutrements to store water for later.

The dystopia had overtaken the world so fast that no one had been prepared. We never expected the war to have suddenly shifted it's focus to include us and the entire world. Too late the powers that be realized how counter- productive fighting each other was, instead of having rational conversations they ended up killing thousands of people. Everyone was now worse of than we were before.

Roughly a month ago, a group of us had ventured out from underground to forage for food, medicine and any type of provisions. The streets had appeared clear. We were searching an abandoned hospital building when they attacked. Armed men cornered us and ordered us outside. They were huge, giant sized commando looking behemoths with face coverings and evil looking weapons.

"Move faster maggots". Yelled the one who was obviously their leader. They probably were rogue military, many of the gangs were comprised of their sort, they were well trained and deadly.

"Tie their hands B, put them in the truck. K is sure gonna be very happy with this lot".

He approached Lottia and squeezed her buttock. She kicked him so hard in the shin, he doubled over. Turning around, he slapped her face with so much force, she winced as her head was tossed to the side. With her lips bleeding, she held firmly to her sister's hand. Loana had been blind since birth, but one could not tell by just looking at her. She was a very pretty young girl. The men tried to pry her loose from Lottia, but she only proceeded to hug her sister tighter, They never went anywhere without each other. One of the brutes got his hand too close to her face and she bit down so hard that blood slid down his arm. The giant thug punched her so hard in the head that both sisters fell hard to the ground.

"Leave her alone, you damned coward, she is blind, why not pick on someone your own size".

"Enough, shouted brute number one. Lock them in and let's go". They bundled them into the huge military style vehicle.

"Let's go". One of them yelled, slapping the side of the truck.

"My head hurt so badly Lottia". She held on tighter to her sister.

Out the windows of the truck one could see only broken buildings, walls, fences, abandoned cars and a few stray animals scrounging through built up trash in search of food and water. People stayed hidden if they valued their lives. The plants had long died from lack of care, but a few fern looking ones stood valiantly against the test of time and the elements. Signs advertising banks, supermarkets, gas stations, among others, hung desolately from their hinges. A grim reminder of better and more peaceful times.

After driving for about an hour we approached a military type encampment. Once inside, the huge gates were locked. They marched us to a very high and large gate, shoved us inside, locked it and disappeared. There were seven of us, inside were a dozen or so more people. We found ourselves in a large enclosed barn-like structure, there were rough beds and one communal bathroom. We were told by the others to don some unattractive looking green clothes waiting for us in a corner. We complied and sat huddled in one of the corners. What fate awaited us, we wondered.

"Lottia, can I tell you something". Loana asked.

"What is it, Loana, are you ok"?

"This may seem strange, but I think that I am regaining my sight. I can see images, it is still foggy, but it is happening".

"Oh my.....are you sure Loana. Maybe it was that horrible punch to your head. The doctors did say it was a possibility that someday this would happen". She had been born with an unpronounceable syndrome which caused her to not have her sight since birth eighteen and a half years ago.

Armed men along with women brought food, water and certain items for the women. They were told to rest until morning. Sleep did not come easily to any of them, towards morning some nodded off, only to be awakened rather unceremoniously, with men telling them to hurry out.

"Start walking. The others who were there before went ahead, after a bit of hesitation everybody else followed. No one from the other group spoke to them except for directions on protocols inside their prison.

We walked for hours, having long decided that we were in a maze and going around in circles. What was the purpose of it, no one knew. Loana had almost totally regained her sight, she remained by her sister's side, they told no one about it. This unhappy place was the first thing that she had ever seen.

This place was like a window to her. A window to the outside world which she had never seen. Who was this man K, who kept her prisoner in a place where the only view was from his distorted window to the outside world. She knew that her captor was a man, the others mentioned his terrible nature in whispers among themselves.

For an entire month they were paraded through this maze like experimental rats without knowing why. They walked hour after hour trying to find their way out. Most days helicopters flew overhead inspecting their progress and directing them to different areas. They were not badly treated and were well fed, none of the men bothered them, except to yell directions to them from time to time. Apparently they were too scared of their leader to defy any of his orders.

One evening, they came for Loana. Lottia tried her best to stop them, but against armed men, it was a futile attempt. After biting her nails in distress for the two hours, she finally came back. Loana reassured her sister that she was ok.

"I met K Lottia. He seemed quite terrifying and evil, yet somehow, not unkind to me. He had heard that I was blind and was intrigued. I pretended that I could not see. They are running some kind of experiment for the military. Soon they will be moving to more dangerous testings, like dropping gas or something in the maze. He made me eat supper with him. I just had a little bit, I was not hungry I told him. Here, I brought you a cupcake".

"Thanks Loana. Did he tell you this"?

"Of course not. I think somewhere in his twisted mind, he wanted to let us know what fate awaited us, he couldn't tell us, so the closest he could get was having a blind girl sitting in full view of his horrible plans, seeing them but not really able to see them. I am going to make sure that his cruelty is rewarded when he finally realizes that I could see everything. His ego needs taking down a few pegs". Loana was furious.

"There were plans on desks and pictures on walls. I'm blind, remember, they didn't hide anything. What he had though, were duplicate keys to the doors just sitting in plain sight. He keeps backup ones, so he does not use them on a regular basis. I could steal it and maybe he would not notice for a long while, We could try to escape. They are surely going to kill us if we don't get away".

"It would be extremely dangerous, but so is staying here. Does he plan on inviting you to see him again". Lottia wanted to know, she was worried for her sister who could easily get herself killed.

"He is a man. Of course he will. I played to his ego like a role in a movie. You would have been proud of me". They both laughed out loud. Drawing stares from everyone.

Two day later, she went to dinner again. What did this man want with a blind woman. Granted she had always been told how lovely she was. That was never an important virtue for her though, there was no vanity in her, she cared about others more than herself, her lack of sight never stopped her from caring. People can feel empathy when it genuinely flows from someone selfless. She was flattered that he showed her kindness, she told this K person, but did not want to be treated any more special than the others. This time she ate heartily, after many years of sightlessness, she could do so with her eyes closed. He however, guided her as she progressed, and she let him.

The keys were still on his desk. After dinner he was called away for some message on a portable radio communication. He sat her at his desk. Paperwork now covered the keys. Luckily there were many, one or two would not be so easily missed. Quickly she grabbed the one marked, 'Maze gate", and pocketed it. Over on the side was a miniature drawing of the maze. Sector 10 was marked as an escape point in case of emergency. The prisoners knew all the sectors by now. She took the key to that 'small gate in maze' as well. There was no other exit but this one and the main gate. If they could get out using sector 10, she may or may not need the other key. But one never knows. She took two cigarette lighters from a large stack on the table by his window, then stood looking out until she heard him coming, and rushed back to sit by his desk.

Next day they did their vigil in the maze. By sector ten, Lottia pretended to faint in the bright sunlight. They had located the spot. Only the members of their group were privy to the plan, the others had made no effort at friendship. The group worried that there may be spies among them. They had to leave tonight, before the keys were discovered missing. As far as they knew the maze was not monitored at night. After midnight, they sprang into action. Before going to bed they had changed back to their regular clothes. No one had bothered to take them away. One by one they arranged their beds to appear as if they were fast asleep. At a glance it was quite believable in the dim light from the lone light high in the ceiling.

Being weary from the all day trek around the maze, the others were sound asleep. They slipped away unnoticed. Through the long maze they ran, sectors one, two and three, through to ten. So far so good. The others were finally told that Loana had regained her sight. They feared it slipping out, was the explanation. Finally at sector ten they opened the gate which was unnoticeable, unless one knew where to look.

A silent alarm was triggered and a tiny red light lit up by the little gate.

"Hurry, I think we tripped an alarm". Jovia said.

"Run". Loana whispered, as she locked the gate behind her. They ran, not knowing where they were heading, but they were sure anywhere was better than here.

Luck was on their side. A guard was sent to check the small gate. It was locked and ok, he reported back. Someone checked on the sleeping forms. All present and accounted for was the report sent back. He had not bothered to actually check under the sheets. False alarm was their confident report. There must have been a glitch in their system.

By the time the group was discovered missing in the morning, they were halfway to finding their way back home. Loana had left the key to the large gate and a lighter under Shane's pillow. He had his secrets hidden under there, he checked it every morning. Maybe he would find some use for it sometime soon, before bad things started happening within the maze. She hoped and prayed that they would get out too.

For now she was happy to be free to discover many other windows to the world, instead of only the view from the window in his room.

She knew that the universe had not restored her sight for nothing. There was a lot of work to be done if the world were to recover and come alive once again. ```````````

Meanwhile back at the maze

Inside his office, K replayed the videotape of the night the batch of seven had come in the front gate. Although he had constantly monitored them before all hell broke loose, he had not seen them in over a year. He looked closely at his daughters. They though that he was dead. He had never tried to get in touch with them, they were better off without him, safer with another man as their father. He had bugs everywhere. K had heard Loana tell Lottia that she could see again. He was very proud of her bravery in stealing the keys which he had left for her. He had not ordered a thorough search as he watched them escape out the back of the maze. There had been no scenario where he could have just released them, it had to appear completely unplanned. He would rough up a few of the men tomorrow for the sake of appearances, especially the ones who had hurt his children. They still had the keychain with the bug for the little gate in the maze. He could find out where they were and try to protect them in the future. Maybe things would change and they could be together again soon.

N.A. 12/24/22