Survival Of The Fittest

Nina gave Ray a smile, not wanting to show that damn it, that hurt! "Don't worry, it's just a scratch. I hurt my wrist a while ago, but it should be fine. Thanks, though," she added. "We'll walk; my leg's kind of sore."

Ray seemed to be doing well, but Nina didn't want to apply her standards to him; he was trying to hide his exhaustion, but Nina could tell from his overcompensated posture.

Nina let her hair down (her head was getting sweaty) and shook her head. "Okay, so let's go!" Nina turned and continued more slowly down the path.

The path was narrow, so Ray had to walk a step behind her. Ray squinted his eyes to see more clearly in front of him, as it was a bit shady because of the enclosed walls surrounding them. They walked quietly towards Sophie, and Ray felt uncomfortable sensing the awkward silence between them.

Okay, Ray; here's your chance. Say something; start a convo. Just don't make a complete fool out of yourself.

"So, why are you out here all alone?" he asked, almost tripping over himself. Luckily enough, he was behind her and she hadn't noticed. "I would think you'd have your friends or something coming with you,"

He pushed a small branch from in front of him, blocking his view. This part of the maze was becoming a bit more familiar to him, as he thought it over. Hopefully, Sophie wasn't too far away and was closer than he thought. Last thing he wanted was for them too become even more lost in here especially if Nina was more hurt than she was letting on.

Sophie continued to look from her position in the tower for Nina and Nina's companion. They had to be close, if they followed Sophie's directions properly. She continued to look in hopes of seeing them.

Oh, I know, I'll stand near the path up to the tower to guide them to it.

Sophie moved over to where the path allowed the patrons of the maze to climb up.

"Hey! Come towards my voice! I'm standing right where you climb the tower! If you're close, follow me!"

Ugh, got to keep going.

Sophie tapped her foot.

Oh! I know!

"Hey! Follow this!"

Sophie began to clap her hands together.

"Alouette, gentille alouette! Alouette, je te plumerai! Je te plumerai la tête!"

Thank you, Mother, for teaching me this song.

Nina smiled. Sophie was a pretty good singer, admittedly, but this didn't really seem the time. Still, it was pretty helpful.

"Okay, I'm coming!" Nina called, and turned the corner. Sophie stood at the end of the path, clapping along to her own song.

"Hey!" Nina called, jubilant. She was glad that now they didn't have to keep following each other like some game of Marco Polo.

As Nina ran to Sophie, she gestured at Ray. "Do you know Ray? He goes to Aurora with us." Nina paused, then continued, "Oh, before I forget, what's that song? I've heard it before."

Ray kept hearing Sophie screaming, and she sounded closer as they kept walking. However he couldn't tell if the echoes from the enclosed walls were only amplifying her voice to give that illusion. As they took another turn, Sophie began singing. She was a good singer he thought, but like him she seemed to be out of breath.

As they began taking the final turn (by Sophie's directions), Nina was the first to spot her. As they approached her, Ray thought he recognized her and figured she went to Aurora with Nina and him too. He couldn't remember her last name, but he did know there was a Sophie that went to his school. She was about a foot or two smaller than he was, but as skinny. Ray could tell she wasn't wearing that much makeup, but he didn't believe she needed to as she had a pretty face without it.

"Do you know Ray? He goes to Aurora with us." Nina said reaching her, then added on "Oh, before I forget, what's that song? I've heard it before."

Okay, now that we've all found each other. It's about time that I step up and get everyone like I said I was gonna do. Maybe first, I should figure out where the hell we are.

Ray looked around him, half paying attention to Sophie and Nina trying to figure out their location. For whatever reason, Ray could not remember how which direction to take from this position to find the exit.

Just great Ray, just great...

"Et la tête! Et la tête! Alouette! Alouette!" Sophie continued to sing.

Before she could continue, she could see Nina and Nina's new friend approaching her. She stopped singing and began waving.

"Yes! It worked!"

Nina and Nina's friend had arrived. Nina asked if Sophie knew Ray. Sophie was sure she had seen Ray in a few classes, but she never got close to him. Still, it couldn't hurt to have an extra person to help find the way out.

"I'm sure I've seen you before, but nice to meet you, Ray," Sophie said.

Nina asked about the song Sophie was singing.

"Oh, that's 'Alouette', a French nursery rhyme my mother taught me. But anyways, let's get out of here. Any ideas?"

"Well," Nina began, gazing upwards, "let's climb your tower again, try and find the path."

Nina was pretty glad to be back with Sophie; she was a good source of energy.

Ray was nice, too, but he was pretty quiet. Nina wondered if he was just really shy, or maybe a little nervous. She couldn't blame him; some people just needed a leader in these kinds of situations. A leader like Nina, perhaps.

"Well, c'mon!" Nina smiled, and waved the party towards the path. "Let's go check it out!" She trotted up the slight incline, careful not to hurt herself again. She sped up as she got into a rhythm, and was in a full-blown run as she got to the stairs.

When she reached the top, she called to Sophie, "Wow, you got lucky finding this place!" The view was beautiful; Nina had heard of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, and she thought this must be a bit like it; walls and walls of greens, violets, lavenders and other natural colors. Nina laughed as a light breeze carried her hair and cooled her skin. She could stand here all day.

But she had a job to do, and more importantly, she had to help her new friends.

Scanning the walls, Nina noticed that the path she'd just gotten off was perpendicular to the tower. She realized that it veered left (she'd long since lost the compass directions, and didn't care to reorganize herself now that she was so close), and became curious.

"Hmm..." Nina scratched her chin as she quickly tried to piece together the pathway.

"I'm sure I've seen you before, but nice to meet you, Ray," Sophie had said, as he was thinking to himself.

Ray snapped himself out of his thoughts "It's nice to meet you, Sophie. Or I guess meet you again." he replied.

As Sophie and Nina began talking about the song, he tried to piece together the memories of this location. Standing next to the large towers, Ray figured that at the top he could see clearly. The plan was pretty perfect as the look-outs pretty much showed the maze in it's entirety.

However before Ray could tell Sophie and Nina his plans, Nina beat him to it "Well, let's climb your tower again, try and find the path." and had already began taking off, leading the way.

Dang, she beats me to it again. She's definitely way out of my league. How can I even help someone who clearly doesn't need it.

"Well, c'mon! Let's go check it out!" she called, waving for them to follow.

Ray looked at Sophie and shrugged, "Well, I guess we should follow before she loses us for a second time" he motioned for Sophie to take the lead, and he'd follow behind.

Ray, you have to got to do better with this "helping out" thing.

Nina and Ray looked ready to climb back up the tower and scope out the exit. Sophie made her way up and got a look at the area around them.

"Well, since the towers are in the corners of the maze," Sophie said, "we ought to try and stick along the edge of the maze, if it's at all possible."

Sophie continued to scan around the maze.

"Do you guys have any idea which way the exit is from here?"

Nina barely heard Sophie's question; she was so intent on her pathfinding, her only response was a quiet, "Mhm." She'd seen the exit; a small doorway in the far left corner, a ways away from them. Nina squinted and pursed her lips as she searched for the connection.

Then she saw the path, and it was like a lightbulb went off over her head.

"Got it!" Nina declared triumphantly; she could finally get out of this damned maze!

Pumping her fist in excitement, Nina turned to Sophie. "Hey, you got a sheet of paper and a pen?" Nina pointed down to the path they'd come from.

"If we go down that way, then turn right with the path, then take the second left and the third right, we can  get out!" Nina took a breath before continuing. "So we should probably make out a map or something, right?" Nina looked over to Ray.

"Hey, Ray! You got any paper!" She called over. "I need to make a map!"

"Sorry but I doubt anybody brought pen and paper in a maze," he answered her.

He looked around the maze, enjoying the small breeze. Ray wasn't too big a fan of heights, and wanted more than anything to get moving-- if anything, just to get back on the ground again. Even with a map, Nina's plan did seem a bit complicated compared to Sophie's. He looked at the outer edges of the maze, and realized that following the outer paths did lead to an exit at the far left end of the maze. Also if they were to get lost, the outer paths would lead to another tower so they can have a different view of the maze and plan accordingly. Even though Nina's plan could work, it was risky. One wrong turn would make things a lot worst for them all.

Why is it that I can't remember how to get out from here? I must've been through this maze a dozen times. It's typical that my mind wouldn't remember something when I need it to.

Ray looked back at the girls, "I think Sophie's plan would be a lot simpler considering we don't have a pen or paper for you to make a map. If we follow the path near the outer walls rather than go through the middle of the maze, we won't get any more lost than we already are. Plus, like Sophie said, they do lead to another tower so if we need to make other plans; we can easily do that"

Sophie listened as Nina and Ray discussed ideas to get out. Nina seemed to have figured out a direct path out of the maze, while Ray thought they should stick with Sophie's idea of sticking along the outer portion of the maze. Sophie continued to look around the maze area in hopes of getting a general direction.

"Well," she said, "I guess we could try Nina's plan, but make sure to at least have a general bearing of which direction this tower was. You know, like Ariadne's String, we just keep a reminder of which side is the wall."

Sophie held her left arm, and turned her body so that the arm was pointing towards the wall of the maze exterior.

"My guess is that one of us simply moves while keeping one arm held towards this wall and moves so their arm is always pointing towards this side."

Sophie paused and lowered her arm.

"Actually, that might be kind of silly. Regardless, we might as well just try to stick to the edge. So, uh, who'd like to lead us out? I think Nina and I discovered that I might not be the best person for that job. Ha ha."

Nina nodded, and said, "If you stick to the right side of a corridor in a maze, it'll always take you to the exit." Nina then slapped her forehead. "Oh, damn. I was doing that before I ran into you!"

Nina was slightly disappointed she had to give up authority, but it only made sense; so she did.

"Sophie's plan would work better than mine, especially without a map." Nina said, offering a brief smile to Sophie. "So your plan is a go; I'll lead the way. Any objections?"

"Sophie's plan would work better than mine, especially without a map. So your plan is a go; I'll lead the way. Any objections?" Nina had said. Ray was happy that they had agreed to a plan, as he hated being up this high. Heights always made him uncomfortable, and the last thing he wanted to do was seem even more awkward around the girls.

"No you can lead, Nina" Ray replied, hesitantly. "Although Sophie's plan to keep an arm out so we know what direction the wall is, sounds like a great idea. I can easily do that with you leading."

Yeah, holding my arm out while walking won't make you look stupid at all, Ray. Still at least you'll actually contribute to something while we're out here because you haven't done jack shit

"So let's get going then," Ray said quickly, wanting to get off this tower.

Nina was going to lead them out of the maze. Sophie was fine with that. The last time she tried to lead got her separated from Nina and caused several run-ins with the walls. Ray even offered to do the arm technique Sophie suggested. That sort of surprised Sophie, but Ray must have seen the logic in it.

"Okay, you can lead," she said to Nina.

Sophie then turned to Ray.

"Okay Ray, this arm idea might be a bit difficult, but it shouldn't be that hard."

Sophie held her left arm to the wall.

"For the most part, you're going to have to move sideways."

Sophie gave a slight sideways walk, moving her right foot out, then bringing her left foot closer to fill the gap.

"If you have to move backwards, what you can do is turn around and hold your other arm towards the exterior wall."

Sophie lowered her left arm, turned around, then raised her right arm.

"That might be helpful since your arm is likely to get tired. If you want to switch, I can easily handle the arm responsibility for you."

Sophie lowered her arm and turned to Nina.

"Whenever you're ready, let's go."