Chapter Twenty Three

     Gabiola felt like someone was watching him. His eyes felt heavy as he tried to open them. His body felt like it was confined. He could not lift his arms or legs.

     The room was dark. There was very little light. He could see that he was in an empty room. He wanted to get up, but he could not move.

     “Help,” He tried to yell, but he had a hard time talking. “What is going on?”

     Gabiola heard motion in the room. He held still and waited. Nobody responded to him. Whatever or whoever was in the room moved closer to him.

     He saw a face hover over him. Gabriella gasped in fear. Black round eyes on a scaly, dark face stared at him. The creature was holding shiny, sharp object in his hand.

     “Who are you?” Gabiola asked.

     The creature pushed the sharp object into Gabiola skin and injected some liquid into him. Gabiola is breathing was rapid and he then fell asleep.

     Gabiola woke up again. This time he was sitting. He was still and dark room.

     In front of him was another individual with scaly face. Individual stared at him with his large black eyes. Gabiola felt terrified.

     “What you want?” Gabiola asked.

     The individual stood up from his seat and walked closer to him. He placed scaly hands on Gabiola’s head and stared straight into his eyes.

     Gabiola felt the chill go through him. He could see himself strangling one of the children. He tried to shake his head, but his grip on him was strong. A dark, rumbling voice said he would be rewarded.

     “No!” he managed to protest.

     “Yes,” the voice said.

     Gabiola broke free from the individual’s grasp and he punched him in the face. His captor was taken aback and tried to get away. Gabiola began to kick and punch him until he was unresponsive.

     He had to find a way out. He exited the room and walked down a dark call. He walked down the hall cautiously and listened for anyone else who was there.

     Was the scaly person working alone? There is a light at the end of the hall. It was silent. Was there anyone else there? There was a light at the end of the hall.

     When he was closer to the room, he saw a large bright ball in the middle of the room surrounded by many monitors. He entered the room and watched the monitors.

     One was of the crop circle. The crop circle flickered with various lights. The other screens were of people killing others or walking around lost in the corn maze. Suddenly, he heard running coming from the hall.

     Gabiola turned around and saw a scaly man enter the room with a large, shiny baton. The baton hummed as it was swung at him.

     Gabiola kicked the baton from his hand. As individual scramble to grab the baton, Gabiola quickly grabbed it and struck him on the head with it.

     As a person or thing lay sprawled on the floor, Gabiola looked back at the bright ball. He swung at the ball and it shattered. He looked at the pieces on the floor with satisfaction.

     Then he swung the baton and hit the remaining pieces. Room slowly vanished. He was swinging the baton in the middle of a cornfield.

     He heard the teens yelling at him from across the field. They were running towards him. He stopped and looked at the baton.

     “We finally got out!” Magda said.

     “Where did the corn maze go?” Trent asked.

     “I don’t care, let’s go,” said Max.

     They walked to the road next to the field. They did not feel like they were in the field for long and expected their vehicles to be there. There were no cars parked at the side of the road.

     “Where’s my car?” Max asked. “Didn’t you have a car to?”

     Gabiola looked around. Warren and Schneider were nowhere in sight. There was no point to call their names. He picked up his cell phone and it was not active.

     At that moment, he saw signs all over the place. “Danger, no trespassing.” Was the sign there before? The corn maze was gone.

     “I know we were just in a maze,” Gabiola said.

     A cop car was driving by and stopped next to them. A cop exited his car. He stared at them with this suspicion.

     “What are you doing here?” asked the cop.

     “We are lost in the maze,” said Trent.

     “What maze?” he asked.

     “The corn maze that was in this field,” said Gabiola. “Where did it go?”

     The cop blinked, “They took that maze out a long time ago. They were trying to find an officer and four missing teens.”

     “How long ago was this?” asked Magda.

     The officer shook his head, “They did that two years ago.”