Eventually, Lucas grew irritated. "What do you want?"

The child didn't respond, but instead spread his arms wide, still smiling creepily. Lucas felt somewhat disgusted, thinking over what to do. There were no rules given to him this time, so it was likely he had to discover them on his own.

The objective and the method of clearance.

"Want me to carry you?"

Seeing that there was still no response, Lucas sighed and crouched down to swing the boy over onto his back, where ice-cold hands clung to his neck. 

Refusing the child's request might lead to his death, and accepting it could too. Regardless, he just wanted the kid to stop standing in his way.

There were short breaths fanning his neck, the slight vibrations of silent giggling making his shoulders tense.

'Damn, this kid's creepy.'

It wasn't long before another voice echoed all around him. This time, it was a mature, elegant woman's voice, devoid of emotion. "Danny, where are you?"

The hands around Lucas' neck tightened, painfully squeezing.

"Danny, come out."

"Danny, I see you."

"Where are you?"

Obsession seeped from the monotone voice, hiding heavy resentment and threats, seeming to scratch at the back of their throat. It continued endlessly, until the boy on his back begun to tremble. 

Lucas tilted his chin to glance back, only to witness the horrible sight of two beady eyes right before his own, wriggling with unshed tears as the child continued to smile.

His eyes were warped and sobbing, while his lips were stitched into a unwilling smile.

"Don't look at me." Lucas turned his head away. "You're too creepy."

The body on his back shuddered once more, seeming to release more silent, sorrowful cries. The man sighed, turning at a corner to get further away from the woman's calls.

It was likely that he would fail to complete this Story if the woman caught the annoying thing on his back, so he could only keep moving. 

The more he walked, the more lost he got. It was like a maze, a complicated and incredibly curse-worthy one.

When he wandered around the next aimless corner, a long shadow stretched before him. At the end stood a slender and tall man, knocking lightly on the glass. A curious expression rested on his relaxed features, a natural arrogance displayed in his leisure disposition.

What caught Lucas' eye, however, was a striking tattooed ring around his finger—a delicate, wild crown interlocked with the letter 'A', connected by curling thorns, wrapped in a viscous hold.

Lucas himself had several tattoos on his body, including a rather similar one on his ankle that symbolized the gang he was a part of. But it simply contained a fancy 'A', and does not seem to hold the same weight that the ring tattoo does.

Rich blue eyes flickered to meet his own.

"It looks like I'm not the only one here?"

The sly curve of a careless smile. Lucas recalled a certain person he met in the previous story, immediately frowning with evident dislike. The man simply dripped with deceptive charm, and Lucas despise those like that. 

Always annoying, always sneaky.

Without a word, he turned around to leave.

"Aren't you rude?" called out the other with a short laugh. "I think we might be required to work together. Considering the aim of this Story is to exit the maze—and I doubt you're having much success."

Lucas paused. "I don't need your help."

"Then do you know where the exit is?"

"Why would I tell you?"

"Out of good will, of course."

"I have no good will," stated Lucas bluntly, cocking his head. "But if you pay me, I can tell you what I know." He glanced at the expensive watch adorning the other's defined wrists, and the smooth clothes that seemed to be made of fine material.

The man raised an eyebrow. "How much?"

Lucas thought about it for a moment. "$50 per information."

"So expensive."

"If you're poor, leave me alone."

Before he could turn to leave again, having said what he did more as a passing remark to stop the man from speaking, the other smoothly pulled out a wallet and started to rummage through a thick pile of bills. 

He slid a $50 note between two slender fingers, handing it out.

Lucas stared at it before walking closer to grab it. After pocketing the money, under the child on his back's watchful eyes, Lucas kindly fulfilled his side of the deal. "I don't know anything."

"I think you're breaking the rules."

"I said I'd tell you what I know."

The man nodded, leaning against the railing. The light enveloped him softly, seeming to beat with life against his muscular frame. "You're right."

A scraping sound of nail scratching glass interrupts their conversation, and both heads snapped towards the direction.

"Danny!"

It was an angry screech now, splintering through their eardrums. Both men winced, while the child's shaking grew more violent, almost like an out of control massage roller on Lucas' back.

He really did not want a massage right now.

He doesn't say anything else before turning and breaking into a run, leaving the man in the dust. The other stared at him before running after. His physical ability was excellent, and he soon caught up to Lucas.

"Stop following me!" hissed Lucas, already tired with the weight constantly pressing on him.

"I don't have many options, unfortunately!"

"Then take the kid!"

His attempt at passing responsibility failed. "I don't want your kid!"

They almost slammed into the glass, feet sliding across the floor as they took another sharp turn. No matter how fast they left, the scraping nail followed, as if right behind them.

Lucas could hear a low muttering escaping the child. "I just want to play. I want to play. Play, play, play, play."

He didn't want to turn around to see what sort of warped expression was on the child's face but cursed when the tiny, grubby hands started to tug on his hair. 

Those soulless black eyes certainly did not make him want to keep carrying this troublemaker.

Then, when hot tears started to stream into his shirt, dampening his entire back with an amount of water that a human shouldn't be capable of producing, he threw the child to the man still following behind.

It was a capable and careful throw, the boy landing perfectly in an open pair of arms.

"...don't pass your responsibility onto me!"

With the burden lifted off his shoulders, Lucas' speed increased. "You accepted it!"

"Was I supposed to let the child fall?"

"Yes!"

Actually, if he assumed that the man wouldn't catch the child, then he wouldn't have considered tossing the kid away. After all, to fling a child went against too many morals, and he wouldn't do it.

"Play, play, play, play," chanted the small boy in a dull voice. 

The stranger thing was that it wasn't a childish, high-pitched sound but instead the low voice of an adult that escaped his lips.

The man paused, squinting at the expansive eyes only inches away from him. "What do you want to play?"

"I want to play. Play. Play anything. No working! I don't wanna to be good. Don't wanna wake up. Hummmm....."

"Does your mother want you to do work?"

"Mommy won't let me play."

The child was sobbing now through his eerie smile, and the man quickly understood. If all the strange 'instances' or such were called 'Stories' in this apocalypse, then this was likely the story of a boy forced to grow up too soon. 

The aquarium represented the lost childhood, while whatever chased them was the shackles that prevented him from living.

Lucas also came to this assumption, and tactically shared a look with the other. "If this is a maze, then do we have to help the boy escape from his mother in order to complete the objective?"

"There's only thing to do in a maze—find the exit," agreed the man.

But they'd been running around for a while now in this distorted time, and there were no signs or hints of an exit. 

The sorrowful cries were just behind them now, the woman's scarily long and slender shadow creeping closer and closer. It was as if somebody had pulled and stretched her out, making the movement unstable.

Lucas narrowed his eyes, a thought flickering in his head. The other stared at him questioningly when he stopped, glancing at the wriggling darkness that slowly approached.

And without another word, he lunged at the man.