17 The Hag, The Beast, and The Child

Andres and Logan were rolling their fist and popping the hips. They were beating their chests in sync with one another. Heads were bouncing as bodies were slain across the run-down hospital. It was a delightful coincidence that Logan and Andres both started off lost in the same location.

They began thrusting their hips and humping air when they'd seen three patients in scrubs.

"Stop," yelled Logan with his hand up.

Andres stared sternly at the approaching patients and said, "No".

The patients took no mind and began running very quickly towards them. The two boys feared none. They both swung their arms to the side and started to dance while singing, "No. We don't want no scrubs. Scrubs are the victims that get no blood from us. Hanging out the windows side, wishing they could hear our cry. Yet screaming at me".

The patients were close to approaching the two. Logan whipped out a pole he found and began beating their heads while Andres began punching through them.

Bodies laid dead in blood while Logan began searching their lifeless bodies for loot. One of the patients sprang up to grab Logan, but Andres kicked and began stomping the patient in the head.

"I wouldn't want to be on that end of his foot," said Logan as he continued his rewardless search.

A soft tune came onto the intercom with Logan noting how nice it sounded. Andres looked around and saw an old skinny black woman walking down the hall with tubes throughout her nose and wires from her body.

"We have to go," he stuttered.

Andres was already jumping through flights of stairs whereas Logan took notice of a little bald black girl with a torn teddy bear stepping towards him. The sight of the girl stuck a fear in Logan that sent him flying quicker than Andres.

The two boys ran like a stampede of rhinos alerting everything in the building. Logan finally saw the exit door and jumped up for a flying kick. His kick flew straight through with the door slamming open while Andres was just a minute behind.

"No more hospitals for this month," said Andres.

As Logan nodded his head he heard a noise nearby from behind a few bushes.

"What's that" asked Logan stepping towards the bushes.

"It's me twerp," said a voice.

Logan immediately asked why Carter was snooping around in bushes.

"What are you doing running out of a hospital looking like you pooped yourself," asked Carter.

Logan quickly replied, "how about you go find out yourself".

"Pass. I got more important things to do" said Carter.

"Like what," asked Andres.

Carter jumped out from behind the bush with a clown suit on.

"Why are you dressed up like a clown," asked Andres.

"Don't worry about it," said Carter.

"It's the month to scare people," said Logan.

Andres observed as Carter's clown design could scare somebody like Dani who's terrified of clowns, but decided to respond with a smug.

"So what's up with you," asked Carter confused by Logan less than usual aggressive behavior, "You don't want to fight"?

Logan answered, "Not today. I want to get this treasure".

"You know you have to actually face your fears for it, right?" asked Carter just as he was slammed to his face and dragged him into the woods.

"Wow," said Andres. "What do you think that was"?

Logan shrugged his shoulders and answered, "Probably a malboro or some kind of plant creature. Carter does hate wildlife... Grabbed him right by the ankles".

"Let's head out," said Andres as he began walking towards the road.

"Gotta love the house zoning themes where we can safely walk on the road and only deal with the problems we want to," said Logan.

Andres smiled widely, "Yeet".

It didn't take long before they reached the recreation center where a lot of people were playing around. They walked inside where they saw Jaivva leaned against a wall.

"Come get Dani!" she yelled, "She's in here making out with girls".

Andres openly noted, "Oh, so Jeff is nowhere around".

"Nope. And Dani is being wild," said Jaivva with a big smile on her face.

Logan explained that Dani is always wild and is just a little "Calmer" for the sake of Jeff when around him. Jaivva kept on laughing as Vanessa walked by.

"Hey," said Vanessa with a big cheeky smile, "What have you guys been up to"?

Andres answered, "We basically duo raided the entire hospital and overcame our fears. Now we just have to find the treasure".

"Oki. Did you hear about Dani" she asked.

"Nothing new honestly. She's always up to something," said Logan.

"I never knew that," answered Vanessa.

"So what're you up to now," asked Logan.

Vanessa clasped her hands and said, "Me and Hakim were going to help each other beat our fears. But for now we are trying to eat and get ourselves together".

Logan stated, "Careful. Often times defeating your fears has very little to do with combat. If you ever find yourself in a situation you can't win, then you're possibly going the wrong way about it".

Andres added, "Also, you shouldn't need help. All fears were designed to be defeated by the single-player being tested".

Just as Vanessa opened her mouth to speak, she was cut off by Logan who said, "But be careful. many players who fail to obtain their own treasure may try to take yours instead"

Vanessa stared at the two boys with her eyes held wide and said "Oki. I am going to get Hakim some food now".

As she left Logan and Andres fist-bumped one another noting they're still steering players on the right path. As Logan and Andres watched Vanessa leave, Logan couldn't help recognizing the sword on her back from somewhere. But he didn't know where.

They saw Dani prancing along with a gleeful smile.

"Guess who we saw in a clown costume," asked Logan.

"It's that nasty moron of a turd Carter. I swear I hate that guy. He chased me down the road in his stupid clown outfit and made me sweat. Now I have to forget about my problems by finding comfort in Mimi's friend," said Dani.

"The girl you kissed" asked Andres.

Dani smiled and said, "I am getting her drinks too. She's nice".

As Dani walked off, the two boys stood trying to figure out what to do next.

.............................................................................................................................................................................

Elsewhere in the middle of a garden two leaders were in search of their treasure together. Jeff threw his arms in frustration. Tall bushes formed random paths that zigzagged himself and Teddy into circles.

The pair bickered like an angry couple, continuously shifting blame. After all, who else's fault could it be that they were stuck in a maze. Time went on before they placed the blame of leadership on another.

Teddy advised Jeff to be a leader, not a follower. Whereas Jeff insisted that Teddy was a better leader given his over-achieving team. Ironically, not only did Teddy not accept the praise, he hated being a leader.

To Jeff's amazement, Teddy claimed himself to be terrible. He relied on his team itself to perform well and carry him through difficult tasks. Seeing Jeff's facial expression, Teddy had to ask why he was a leader.

Jeff continued to hang his head low and explained that he just wanted to take care of his sister. If he made it to pro he could live comfortably with her and their friends by making a few racks each month.

It was a noble cause. But Teddy pointed out that his team was near over-powered for a unit to be failing so much. He went as far as placing the responsibility on Jeff.

Jeff smirked revealing his plan to avoid all hardships to get to the top. Teddy died on the inside, yet maintained his show of empathy.

"So aside from living off the success of others, how do you expect to become pro?" asked Teddy.

"That's what I'm saying-".

Teddy quickly cut off Jeff from finishing his sentence and said, "No that's not what you're saying. Why do you not have confidence in your team? You think The great El Chales or The Paragon Sisters are where they are because they hid around? Or better yet any pro player has made it by doing what you do"?

Jeff stared at the tears of sincerity in Teddy's eyes as wisdom passed on. He thought hard before revealing how clueless he was.

Teddy asked, "Or how about this, what is the point of playing this game if you don't have fun and live a little"?

Jeff continued walking slowly through the maze with his head down and trying to get his thoughts together. His lips would tremble, but not utter a single word. Teddy stopped and observed as Jeff was really down and saddened by his realization of failure.

"Hey, don't beat yourself on it," said Teddy. He smiled and placed his hand on Jeff's shoulder, "Failure is a part of leadership. If you're not failing, you're not doing your job".

"Thanks," mumbled Jeff as he stood in place.

While Jeff was in his own head with his thoughts, Teddy could not help but to get an eerie feeling about their surroundings. He began thinking and contemplating about the maze. He knew both he and Jeff was in the maze due to their fear. But what was the fear? The fear of going around in circles? Or is it the stress of puzzles? Teddy was growing with frustration like a bacteria in Steven's room.

With the feeling getting stronger, Teddy smirked at Jeff and said, "Hey, let's keep moving".

A giant club was thrown at Teddy, knocking him down He realized Jeff had already sprinted past him and got away with the club. Teddy looked over at an ogre walking its way slowly towards him with a giant metal ball attached to its foot. Taking note of the ogre's incredibly slow speed, he ran deeper into the maze.

As Jeff was running in hopes to just escape the maze, he found himself running in an open field away from the maze.