A JSE Fanfic
Part Nine: The Maze
[This is part of a small ten-part series I wrote for Halloween 2019. There's a new villain in town, and Jackieboy is on his list. The group arrives at the last location, and find a surprise inside.]
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“Oh cool, this building has multiple stories,” Jackie commented, peering out the car window as it rolled to a stop. “This guy’s upgrading for the grand finale.”

“Yay, a whole three floors,” Marvin drawled. He rubbed his temples. “Let’s just get this over with.”

“You can say that again.” Jackie opened the car door and stepped out. The time was 5:05am. They had a little over an hour to finish this game, or…well, at this point, Jackie didn’t know what would happen if they didn’t finish. But he didn’t want to find out.

The building had a double-door entrance, made of blacked-out glass. Yet another typed note was pasted on the door. Jackie leaned close and read: "Jackieboy should go inside alone. After ten minutes, the others should follow. If you don’t follow these instructions, I be you can guess what’ll happen ;)" “Did he really type out a winky face?” Jackie muttered.

The others had followed, now reading the notes on their own, at their own pace. “That’s bullshit, he can’t threaten us,” Marvin growled.

'Well, we don’t know that,' JJ signed. 'For all we know, breaking his rules will lead to the death of innocents.'

“Or our own death,” Chase added.

“Y’know I’m sick of not having a choice,” Jackie sighed. Out of sheer spite, he ripped the note off, crumpled it into a tiny, tight ball, and threw it down the street. “Alright. I’m goin’ in. Set a timer for ten minutes, then follow me.”

Chase suddenly wrapped his arms around Jackie, squeezing tight before letting go. “Be careful, bro.”

Jackie smiled. “I will be. Promise.” He took a deep breath, looking around at the others. “I’ll see you guys soon.”

“Good luck,” Marvin said.

'Ten minutes and we’re there,' JJ reminded him.

“Thanks.” And he turned to the doors, took another breath, and disappeared inside.

The ten minutes spent waiting felt like an eternity. Marvin paced around the sidewalk, unable to keep still. JJ kept checking the time on his phone every twenty seconds. Chase went back inside the car and turned on the radio. Until, finally, JJ signed that time was up.

“Welp.” Marvin folded his arms. “I’ll be honest, I’m kinda nervous about going inside.”

“At least you have cool magic shit,” Chase pointed out, climbing back out of the car. “All I have is a gun, and I don’t even have that right now.”

'If it makes either of you feel better, I doubt there would be a situation where force would count,' JJ said helpfully. 'These are puzzles and games, mind over matter.'

“Oh great, another thing I don’t have right now,” Chase muttered.

'You came up with the idea to use the search feature,' JJ pointed out. 'If you hadn’t done that, we may not have gotten to Marvin in time.'

“We’re wasting minutes!” Marvin suddenly shouted. “Let’s go.” He pulled open the door and ducked inside, the other two hurrying to follow close behind.

The inside was a small room with three doorways. Two were open, one was blocked by a roll-down door that resembled a garage door. “Uh…which one do we take?” Chase asked.

I don’t know,” Marvin said, looking back and forth between them. “Guess we choose one at random? Other than the closed one.”

“Might as well.” Chase strolled forward, the other two close behind. The room beyond had three more doors, as well as a flat screen mounted on the wall.

'It’s a maze,' JJ realized.

“We don’t have time for a maze!” Marvin shouted. “We have less than an hour to finish this!”

Suddenly, the screen on the wall flickered to life. “Well, then I guess you should hurry.” It was the gamemaster’s voice.

“Shut the fuck up!” Marvin yelled.

“You know, there’s the trick about hugging the right wall.” The flat screen solidified into a video of a shadowy figure, sitting at a desk. “Maybe if you hurry, you can get to the second floor quickly. You’re really gonna want to see what’s up there.”

They exchanged looks. “…what’s on the second floor?” Chase ventured to ask.

“Well I’m not spoiling it for you,” the gamemaster said, shrugging. “Guess you’re just gonna have to…STEP up to the challenge.”

“Was that a pun? Was that a shitty pun?” Marvin demanded. There was a faint wheezing sound, and Marvin whirled on JJ. “Don’t laugh, it’s not funny.”

'It wasn’t,' JJ agreed. Yet he was smiling.

“I’ll just remind you of the time limit,” the gamemaster said. “See you soon.” The silhouette reached to the side, and the screen turned off.

“Alright, we’re running through this maze with our hands on the right hall, let’s go! Go!” Chase didn’t even wait for the others, just breaking into a run. Luckily, the others followed.

The rooms were identical, except for when they ran into a dead end. Soon there was no way to tell where they were within the building. With no way of knowing where to go, they kept to the right-wall rule. Until, finally, they came to a metal staircase leading upward. JJ checked the time and told the others: '5:36 in the morning.'

“That took way too long,” Chase said. “I’m pretty sure this guy is deliberately wasting the time he gave us. But we still have some left.”

“Well, let’s go upstairs, what are we waiting for?” Marvin started climbing.

The staircase to the second floor led to a single hallway with six doors. Five of them were open, one shut tight. “…okay now I don’t know where to go from here,” Marvin admitted.

'Check the doors,obviously,' JJ signed. 'I suggest checking the closed door first. It must be closed for a reason.'

“Alright, might as well.” Chase approached the closed door and turned the handle, only for it to stop turning. Locked. Luckily there was a key on a ring hanging from a peg in the wall. Chase grabbed it, tested the key in the door’s lock and found that it fit, then unlocked the door and opened it.

Upon entering the room, Chase froze. It was empty except for a screen mounted on a wall and one other thing…or rather, one other person. Chase gasped, covering his mouth. He could feel tears building in his eyes. “Sch…Schneep?” he whispered.

It was Schneep indeed. He was sitting in the corner, leaning against the wall. His eyes blinked slowly at Chase, looking a little dazed and out of it.

Marvin and JJ peered over Chase’s shoulders. JJ covered his mouth in shock. Marvin, who hadn’t been around for Schneep’s apparent death, just looked confused.

“Schneep!” Chase hurried over, kneeling next to Schneep and hugging him tightly. Schneep took a moment to realize the contact, stiffened, then relaxed and returned the hug. “Schneep, you’re okay! You’re okay, oh my god!”

“Mmm…” Schneep murmured.

Chase backed away from the hug, looking him over. “Oh my god, how are you okay?! We saw—well, I didn’t see anything, but I heard—”

“Mnn…faked…” Schneep said slowly.

“How could you fake that?” Chase shook his head. “You know what, it doesn’t matter, explain to me later. We have to get you out of here.” He climbed to his feet, pulling Schneep with him, who stumbled and practically fell against him.

“I…am so confused, just…” Marvin ran his hands through his hair, turning around to face the nearest wall. “So he’s not dead. It was fake. I shut down for nothing, okay, that’s fun. I…okay. Give me a moment.”

JJ, for his part, ran over to Chase and helped him support Schneep, draping one of Schneep’s arms over his shoulder. Schneep leaned his head against Chase, eyelids fluttering. JJ frowned, and signed, 'Drugged?'

“I’m thinking so, yeah,” Chase agreed. “Well, we should get out of here before anything worse happens.”

Marvin turned around. “Guys, I think you’re forgetting something.”

'What?' JJ asked.

“Where’s Jackie?”

Everyone froze. Then Chase slapped his forehead. “I’m so stupid! We gotta find Jackie.”

'How do we find him? Just search the building?' JJ asked, confused.

The screen on the wall turned on again, the silhouette of the gamemaster showing up once again. “Well, maybe you guys should come up to the third floor. Jackieboy’s waiting for you up here.”

Chase frowned. “This feels like a trap.”

“Maybe it is!” The gamemaster agreed. “But do you really want to take that chance?”

They all looked at each other. And then, in unison, shook their heads.

“Great!” The gamemaster leaned closer to the camera, and the shadows hiding his appearance lifted some what. Only enough to see his face…or rather, the mask he was wearing over his face, hiding it all. It was red, with a white smile upon it. It was impossible to even see the gamemaster’s eyes, just black eye-shapes where the holes would be.

“Holy shit,” Marvin muttered, tensing, taking a step back. JJ shifted uneasily, and Chase pulled Schneep closer.

Impossibly, the mask’s smile seemed to widen. “I’ll see you soon.” And the video cut to black.