Brian was running for his live. Of course he was I would almost say, what else would go do if three beasts were behind you. Three beasts who weren�t really looking for a partner for a game of poker. Brian knew that if he could stay ahead of them he would live. There were many beasts in the labyrinth and he had learned one thing about them; they weren�t really the most patients creatures on earth, if they wouldn�t caught him soon enough they would let him go.
Brian had been in the Labyrinth for more than three weeks now and he had already learned more than in his entire live before the labyrinth. Strange how the Labyrinth had already become a part of his live, as far as you could call living in the Labyrinth a live. Behind him he heard the growling breathing of the beasts, one had already give up and he knew that it wouldn�t take long before the other two would stop too. Good timing, �cause he was started to get tired.
How on Earth did he end up here? As far as Brian knew he had done nothing wrong. He had just lived his live, living together in one house together with his cousin Kevin. Live wasn�t easy on Earth at the moment, but he and his cousin didn�t have it that badly. In the weekends they would perform in the local bar as a duo and they weren�t that bad. But somehow� he had been charged with murder. Murder of a young lady, a girl he had never met in his live. And now he was here in the Labyrinth. It was a great and original way to punish people. It depended on what you had done how far they would put you away from the exit. Of course, with his luck, it almost was impossible to come out of this alive. But he was going to try.
Three weeks he had been here. He had seen creatures he had hoped only to meet in his nightmares. The first thing that attacked him was some kind of overlarge chicken with claws instead of wings. He still had a wound on his left arm from that first encounter. Then he had walked around for four days without creatures, he �only� had found some dead ends in the labyrinth. The fourth day he had meet some Tigermen, as he had called them. They were a sort of human being only with a lot of tiger things on them; claws, a tail and tiger like ears. He had found out that those creatures could run VERY hard. Thank God for Basketball so at least he was in a good condition. One had almost caught him, but luckily Brian had been able to escape. Since then he had become even more careful; he didn�t had anything to protect himself only his bare hands and he doubted if that was enough against those creatures.
But the Labyrinth made smart. Soon he had found out that it was most of the time a smart thing to hide. There were enough places to do that in the Labyrinth; rocks and small cages could you find everywhere. And so he had stayed two days in a cave, while the Tigermen were camping on the open spot in front of it. Brian shivered at the memory of those days; Tigerpeople weren�t really nice creatures to look at, even the sounds they made scared the hell out of you. A week and a half after he entered the Labyrinth he found the first human. Dead. It looked like that this person had met one of the �friendly� inhabitants here. One arm was separated from his body and the rest looked like a mess. That called back other memories. There had been only one person yet who had survived this Labyrinth. When he entered the Labyrinth he was a young man, Dean was his name. It had taken him almost four years to find his way back. And when he finally was out he looked like an old man. Grey was his hair and he couldn�t walk normally anymore. He died within a week at a heart attack. Was that why he was running now? Dean was totally insane when he came out, driven crazy by the terrors of the Labyrinth. But Brian didn�t want that to happen to him and he had the feeling that he might have a change; he didn�t belong here, he was innocent, so he didn�t want to let the Labyrinth have him.
Finally the last of the three beasts gave up. Brian cursed and leaned against the ivy covered stone wall. After a minute, Brian tried to straighten and continue on, but found he couldn't. A couple tendrils of ivy had wrapped themselves around his waist and an arm. With another curse, Brian tried to set himself free. Another tendril of ivy began to wrap itself around his free wrist.
The plant began to step up its efforts to entangle Brian now as he struggled frantically against it. Brian tried holding still in an attempt to fool it into letting him go, but it was not so easily fooled. He tried systematically unravelling the plant's limbs from himself, but the more he moved away, the tighter its grip and the harder it pulled him to the wall. Brian was caught and he knew it.
The plant's hold became tighter and it began to get harder for Brian to breathe. Stars appeared in front of his eyes as they slid closed. He gave up fighting as the welcoming darkness began to overcome him, promising to relieve his burning lungs. A bright flash of light suddenly brightened his sight to a red as he glimpsed the blood vessels in his eyelids and the plant stiffened and let go of him at it. He fell to the ground gasping for the much-needed air he could now gather. He only lay there a moment, though, before beginning to struggle away from the plant before it could renew its attack on him.
�Don�t be afraid,� says a soft voice.
Brian turns his attention to the voice. In front of him stands a skinny, tall man with brown hair. His eyes are as black as the night. �Who are you?�
The man smiles. �My name is Spooner. You don�t have to be afraid of me� I can�t even see where you are.�
�What do you mean?� says Brian with a shaking voice.
�I�m blind,� says Spooner simple.
�Blind? How did you survive here?�
Spooner smiles. �I�m born here. I know the Labyrinth probably better then anyone.�
�Born?� Brian can�t believe that somebody can be born in such a desperate and scary place like the Labyrinth.
�Yes. My mother was like you, thrown into the Labyrinth and looking for the way out and my father was like me, born in the Labyrinth. You know that the Labyrinth already exists for hundreds of years and some people have simple given up their search for the way out and the settled. And that�s also the reason why there are even children in here.�
�Your mother was like you??? Are they�???�
�They are both dead. Nobody survives very long here.�
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