The Backup Plan

I awoke with a start. Immediately, the pain returned. My head spinning, I struggled to sit up.

I was back in the jungle. Where, exactly, I couldn't say – it all looked the same, after all – but how I got there was the real mystery. My first thought was Cecil – had she returned, found me beaten half to death, and dragged me to safety? She was nowhere to be found now, if so – no one was. I was alone, a rocky outcropping at my back, half covered by discarded foliage.

Tentatively, I touched my face. Without a mirror, this was the only way I could inspect the damage. Surprisingly, it didn't seem that bad – only slight swelling, and plenty of tenderness, but nothing major. No teeth were missing, too, somehow, despite how many times I was hit in the face.

"It was a valiant effort, at the very least," came the familiar snark of my Observer, almost causing me to jump out of my skin. So much had happened that I honestly forgot about him.

Looking fiercely in his direction to give him a piece of my mind, I, instead, found nothing but more dried leaves. Glancing around – he did have a propensity for popping up all over the place – I couldn't find him anywhere.

"Where are you hiding you – Aw shit," I cut myself off as the implications finally dawned on me.

Mouth shut, I held my breath and listened. Usually, Gozaborou would disappear right before we came in contact with another Participant, but I hadn't seen him at all since I woke up.

Which meant I was being watched.

"Slow as it was, you got there," came Gozaborou's cheeky reply, but I did not dignify him with a response.

I wasn't sure how to proceed. My lowercase 'o' observer could be anyone – someone who just happened across me, someone who was out to kill me, or maybe even the someone who had saved me and brought me here. At the very least, I knew it wasn't Cecil. There's no way in hell she'd be content to sit quietly on the sidelines.

Instead, this one seemed content just to wait. Several minutes had passed now, but I neither heard nor saw anything. Which was strange – did they not realize that capital 'O' Observers' disappearing act meant it was really easy to tell when you're being watched? Maybe their Observer wasn't like that as a personal choice. Or maybe they didn't like to think very hard.

Or maybe they knew I knew, and that was the point…?

"Ah well, I guess it's time we get moving," I said at last, talking to Gozaborou without actually talking to Gozaborou. "We have a long way to go if we want to get around that gap, now that the shortcut is gone." I got shakily to my feet, fighting off a bout of dizziness, and wondered just how I would go about resuming my journey.

Suddenly, there was movement in the jungle not too far from my position. Foliage was disturbed, and the telltale crunching of leaves reached my ears – someone was walking, and from what I could tell, they were coming straight toward me.

I paused, eyes locked in the direction of the sound. I was ready to run – specifically, in the direction opposite of the sound, around the rocky protrusion that was keeping me cornered – just in case whatever came out was less than friendly. I did not rule out a diversion, either, keeping my plan of escape flexible.

A few more moments passed, and as the foliage finally parted, a woman emerged. She was of average height – slightly shorter than me – but possessed striking purple hair of about shoulder length. She wore black pants and a black short sleeved shirt with a thin jacket on top – semi-formal attire, clearly. Her clothes had signs of wear and tear, however – it seemed like she had been through her fair share.

"Oh good, you're awake," she said after a tense moment, smiling.

"…Were you the one who brought me here?" I asked, looking her over for any obvious red flags.

"Ah, yes, I was," she admitted somewhat sheepishly, looking down at where I had been lying. "I saw how badly you were hurt. I did what I could to help, but I can't do much without proper supplies…"

"That would explain why I'm not in worse shape," I thought to myself. But that did little to ease my suspicions, because the number one question had yet to be answered.

"I appreciate the help, I really do, but I have to ask: why do this for me?" I replied, trying not to sound completely accusatory. "This is a competition. For me to succeed, you would fail, and vice versa."

The woman kicked her foot absently – it was only then that I realized she was wearing some stylish looking boots.

"I worked a desk job before coming here, but I was just about to begin medical school," she explained. "I thought I might be able to help someone, like I wanted to before. That's all." She did not look up as she concluded her explanation, as if embarrassed or unsure.

She didn't appear to be lying – or if she was, she was extremely good at it. Her explanation did little to satisfy me, however. Blind altruism was something a pessimist like myself found difficult to believe under normal circumstances, let alone in a setting like this, where helping anyone meant potentially hurting yourself.

I didn't wholly believe helping others here was a fool's errand or grounds for suspicion, of course. Cecil proved that much, even if her reasons for doing so were as simple as her quirky nature. But ulterior motives were the more logical choice, and it would take a lot of convincing to prove otherwise.

The most logical reason why someone would choose to help others in this place would be in the hopes of getting something in return. Perhaps, this was the case here, as well – by helping me, she hoped to gain an ally. But there's no guarantee I would be of any help, or even that I wouldn't be an immediate threat, however, which I found to be a much bigger point of contention.

"I'm sorry, but I find that difficult to believe," I replied, my own coldness causing me a twinge of guilt. "The fact that you helped me, though, is indisputable, and for that I thank you. I just can't help but wonder what you stand to gain from it."

The woman frowned, but nodded.

"I…" she began, but hesitated, "…had hoped a gesture of good faith might be a good way to get us acquainted, and then we might travel together, for a time. You got so close to the shortcut, had it not been for…" she trailed off, seemingly unsure if I'd be sore in more ways than one about the earlier incident.

Ah, so she saw that. She was there, in that clearing – maybe that's where the damage to her clothes came from? That meant that she might've been fighting, but I did not recognize her. Then again, how many faces had I seen during that madness?

Speaking of clothes – mine were in even worse shape. Blood stained a solid portion of my shirt, which was also dirty and full of holes. God only knows if I'd find a means to clean it, let alone replace it…

"What's your name?" I asked, absently picking at a tear in my jeans.

"Faye," she replied, finally looking up. "And yourself?"

"Simon."

"Nice to meet you, Simon."

"The pleasure is mine."

The exchange was exceedingly stiff. I felt like I wanted to bury my head in the dirt.

"A-anyway," I began again with an awkward cough, turning away, "I'm going to get moving now. I've lost god knows how much time."

Another pregnant pause.

"You can come with, or not, that's up to you. I have to make up for what you did for me somehow, after all."

I fast walked away, trying to escape my own awkwardness. A few moments later, I heard Faye follow after me.

"Smooth," commented my shoulder. Naturally he wouldn't miss an opportunity to take a shot at me.

"Now just where in the hell are we…" I wondered aloud, making it clear that I was ignoring Gozaborou. It was a good question, however.

"Um…" Faye chimed in from some distance behind me. "We shouldn't be far from the shortcut – former shortcut, I mean."

I turned back to her. It hadn't occurred to me just to ask – she was, after all, the one who got me from point A to point B.

"…I overheard some of the others say something about going east to get around the big hole," she added, seeming uncertain.

If what she was saying was correct, that would put us in a good direction to make progress. It would also mean we're going in the direction of other Participants – ones who participated, in some way, in the brawl I had just barely survived.

Also, which fucking way was east?

"…You wouldn't happen to know the way, would you?" I chose to ask, rather than how the hell do we figure out cardinal directions.

"East is to your left," Gozaborou chimed in.

"…You can answer that?" I was genuinely shocked.

"For now," he replied, sounding smug. Bastard.

"I think I know which way they went," Faye replied quietly, fearing she was interrupting something important.

I let her take the lead, and found her to be going in the direction Gozaborou had indicated. A good sign, for a variety of reasons.

We traipsed through more of the jungle with only the droning ambience to keep us company. It didn't take long for us to cross paths with the chasm again – although not quite as large and dramatic as the site of the shortcut, the foliage began to thin until it was reduced to mere grassland the closer one got to the gap. Right alongside its edge, there was no cover to be had at all.

Which is why we decided to stick to the jungle. More difficult to traverse, but allowing us better cover from potential enemies, it seemed the logical choice.

My mind wandered to Cecil – to whether the girl was okay, and if we'd ever see each other again. It felt bad not searching for her, but the idea seemed foolhardy at best. Plus, the closer we got to the center and progression to the next layer, the more likely we were to meet again. Presuming, of course, she remembered this was a competition and what the goal was.

Conversation with Faye was sporadic at best. I learned that while she was present at the clearing, she did not participate in the brawl itself. I distinctly remembered seeing more than a few Participants sticking to the sidelines – it's possible she was among them, drawn to the commotion but unwilling to take part.

I, in turn, told her briefly about what I had seen. I decided to stick to half-truths when it came to Cecil – that there was someone there capable of some extraordinary power that I didn't really understand. I left out the part about knowing and working with her, however.

We also talked briefly about the young man who had so soundly defeated me. I told her that that was not the first time I had seen him and while he had been more than impressive in that first encounter, it seemed his abilities are grown significantly since then. That, or he was hiding what he was capable of for some reason. Perhaps, he still was.

"It felt like he was as fresh as can be when he was kicking my ass. Maybe a second wind?"

Faye laughed lightly.

Still, how the youth was capable of that after fighting for so long against so many was a complete mystery. He did not wield any overtly otherworldly power like Cecil…or perhaps he did, and he was better at hiding it. Or it worked differently somehow.

"Ahh it's all so much to take in!" I wailed, ruffling my own hair in frustration, only to curse in pain as I aggravated my injuries. I was bouncing ideas off of Faye with reckless abandon, but I felt like there was little at risk by doing so. If the information I provided caused her to come to some sort of revelation, the worst case scenario was that she'd keep it to herself, and nothing would change. Best cast scenario, she shared it with me, and it was a net positive.

So far, nothing she had shared seemed critically important. She recounted a few run-ins with other Participants, but she had interacted with precious few, keeping mostly out of sight.

Eventually, we found ourselves on a slope downward. It was a gentle grade, not making our trip any more treacherous, but I could vaguely see, in the distance, a growing shadow that was being cast over the area.

While we were going downward, the chasm's rocky edge remained level. And thus did edge become sheer cliff, looming ever higher and casting a dark shadow onto the jungle around it.

"I sure hope we're going the right way…" I muttered in the cliff's shadow. It seemed counterproductive to be going down in order to get across.

"I-I could have sworn they said east," Faye reaffirmed, looking around uneasily. I wasn't sure if she heard me or she simply knew what I was thinking.

Whatever the case, I figured we might as well press on. We would get to our destination one way or another – it just might take a minute.

It was unclear just how much time had passed since I first arrived. Despite this, the time of day seemed to never change – it was about midday, with the sun hanging overhead. Perhaps that was yet another peculiarity of this place; fighting in the dark would present its own set of challenges, after all.

But maybe they were just saving that for another layer…

"Convenient that we don't really have to sleep, though," I said aloud, mostly to myself.

"You can if want to," chimed in my ever-present companion, "for the sake of your mental health."

"Hmm…I guess you're right," Faye responded almost at the same time, unable to hear Gozaborou. "It hasn't even gotten dark yet, huh?" she continued, vocalizing my earlier thought.

"Maybe it never will," I replied with an expectant pause. Gozaborou neither confirmed nor denied the notion, much to my chagrin.

Our journey continued. Eventually, as the cliff to our left seemed to grow to an impossible height, the ground finally leveled out again. The foliage began to change, as well, becoming far less dense. Larger trees, common elsewhere, became scarce, and the vegetation that seemed to litter the ground began to thin.

We had avoided directly tracing the length of the chasm for this reason, yet here we are anyway, almost stripped of our cover.

The air began to cool at this point as well, pleasingly so. While the moisture in the air maintained, the humidity began to drop – the mood was less jungle and more subterranean, now. With the massive, rocky cliff to our side, it felt like we were delving into the depths of the earth, despite the sky still being visible far overhead.

I moved slower now, hoping to stand out less now that visibility improved – not that I could move very well in my current condition anyway. I could see vague details of the rocky face we seemed to be following along, even from this distance, and began to notice a curvature inward.

A hole, in the rock, leading out into the chasm. Perhaps we had gone all the way down to the bottom without realizing it? The cliff continued on after the maybe ten foot diameter of the opening, stretching onward out of sight.

"There," I whispered to Faye, coming to a stop and dropping to the ground. After a confused second, she followed suit and looked to where I was indicating.

"A hole?"

"It might lead us to the other side."

"Yeah, but…" she trailed off with a frown. I looked at her, confused, but she did not elaborate. Claustrophobic, maybe?

"It's not the best, but it's something. We have to give it a look, at least. Might be able to rule it out as a waste of time real quick," I explained with a shrug.

Faye continued to frown, but after a moment's hesitation, nodded.

"We should be careful, though. Who knows who might be nearby, or already inside?"

I don't know what sounded worse – walking inside to find more Participants, or already being inside when other Participants found us.

We crept along, using what remained of the vegetation to hide our approach as best we could. If someone wasn't paying attention, it would be difficult to notice us – probably. Straining my ears, I couldn't really hear much of anything. It was only then that I noticed the ambient noises of the jungle had stopped.

"Total mood shift, indeed," I mused silently to myself.

Now at the mouth of the cave, Faye and I kept ourselves pressed against the rock as I, at the head of our two-person group, moved to peek inside. The cave continued some ways inward, but the darkness that quickly descended meant that I couldn't see quite how far. I thought I could hear faint noises inside, as well, but I couldn't be sure.

"How in the hell are we going to see in there…?"

No one – as far as I was aware – had any items on their person from when they were alive, besides their clothes. I wasn't sure I'd be able to fashion a torch – I understood the process in theory, probably, but I had never done it before. Nor did I know if we could find the necessary materials, or if the process even worked the same in this place…

"I don't suppose you have any way to light the way?" I whispered to Faye, just for the sake of it. Her hair was purple – maybe she had cool powers I wasn't aware of?

After thinking for a moment, she shook her head.

Resisting the urge to ask her why she had to think about it, I decided to creep in, anyway. Faye lingered at the entrance, unsure, and understandably so.

The darkness took hold as I thought it would, but not as completely. Keeping myself pressed against the side of the cave, but nonetheless immersed in its darkness, I found my eyes adjusting much faster than would normally be possible, and to a degree they normally wouldn't be capable of. It was by no means night vision – or even something resembling it – but it did mean traversing the cave wasn't impossible.

Extremely difficult and slow, but possible.

I retraced my steps until I was again illuminated by the outside and gestured for Faye to join me inside. My new companion, peeking around the corner at the mouth, just stared at me in confusion.

"It's ok, it's not as dark as it looks!" I whispered, enthusiastically waving for her to come in. Again, she stared. Maybe she didn't believe me.

After a few more seconds of hesitation, she slowly began to crawl inside, keeping close to the same side of the cave I was pressed to. As she drew near, I again descended into the darkness. I felt her pace quicken as we went in, to the point she nearly ran right into me as I stopped to let my eyes readjust.

"I thought you said it wasn't dark!" she hissed from behind me.

"Let your eyes adjust for a second. It's pretty cool, actually."

We waited. Eventually, I could make out the vague shape of the woman beside me, as well as the rocky wall directly to my side.

"It's better than nothing…but do you really think we'll be ok like this?" Faye questioned, seeming less flustered but still unsure. Again, understandably so.

"If we can't see shit, that goes for everyone else, too."

Probably.

This seemed to ease her concerns enough for now. As I got moving again, she was able to stay behind me without falling behind or running right into me, so it must be working fairly well for her, too.

As for my view, the darkness seemed to stretch on forever. Only a few feet of space around me were any sort of visible, and even that was just visible enough to avoid collision. I moved slowly, in fear of something unexpected – whether that be a living thing or a sudden fall.

Even without a clear view, I could tell the cave was…unnatural. It lacked the rough, haphazard construction of a natural formation, but also lacked the refined, uniform look of a man-made tunnel. It was clean-cut, but roughly so – it progressed in one general direction, but took strange turns at random and for no real reason. It seemed like someone's attempt at making something natural without really understanding what that entailed.

Eventually, after traveling at a snail's pace for an unclear amount of time, I finally spotted the telltale sign of light in the distance, bleeding out from around another twist in the path. Just as my spirits began to rise at the prospect of getting out of the dark and the damp, I heard it: the sound of voices. Unable to make out what they were saying from this distance, I could nonetheless tell they were speaking calmly, casually. That meant they were an agreeable sort – or it meant that they knew each other, possibly working together…

"Great," I whispered, glancing back at Faye. She seemed to notice the light as well, and probably noticed the voices too, given her stony silence on the matter.

We didn't have much choice in the matter, so I continued forward at an even slower, more deliberate pace. We had the advantage, completely concealed as we were – but our path to what I really hoped was freedom meant a necessary run in with whoever lay ahead. There wasn't exactly enough room to sneak by unseen, after all – especially with a light source nearby.

I quickly crossed over from one side of the cave to the other, to turn with the curvature of the path. Staying on the opposite wall meant exposure the moment we entered the light – sticking to this one meant taking a peek around the corner. A moment after I took up this new position, I felt Faye fall into place behind me. She had been quite good at keeping up, despite her misgivings.

Creeping up to the bend, I was forced to squint as my eyes took in light for the first time in…a while. The voices had stopped, alarmingly enough, but as I carefully peeked around the corner, I found the people involved – two men, one on the short side, the other average in height – had simply run out of things to talk about. Both toiled away at some task – one was attempting to repair what looked to be a makeshift sack, which was suffering from its poor construction, while the other appeared to be studying one of the torches jutting from the side of the cave.

Indeed, there were torches – four of them, two on either wall and spaced evenly apart. This particular segment of the cave seemed extra roomy, too, being significantly wider than anything we've traveled so far.

"A checkpoint or something?" I thought to myself. The cave appeared to continue on the other side, much to my chagrin. The torches did not seem to be some timely construction on the part of the men inside, either – the bag alone was proving challenging enough, by all appearances. That begged the question: what was the purpose of this cave?

"Yeah, these things aren't really burning anything," the taller of the two, studying the torches, said aloud, the sound almost making me jump out of my skin.

"How do you know?" replied the other, struggling to patch a hole in the makeshift bag.

"I've been starin' at them for like ten minutes now," the first shot back, his eyes glued to the torch. "Usually there'd be soot or ash or some shit, right? Nothing's coming off this things except light and heat."

Useful information, to be sure. But for our purposes, we were no less close to getting past these two, and now it seemed fairly obvious they were working together.

Suddenly, I felt movement from behind. Before I could process what was going on, Faye's voice cried out in surprise. Both men and I snapped to attention in the direction of the noise and found Faye out in the middle of the path, seated on her backside. Her face was twisted in pain, and her hands were at her sides – she had, by all appearances, fallen.

"Of all the times to - !" I thought to myself, teeth clenched. So much for stealth.

Faye opened her mouth to speak, but I stepped out in front of her, between her and the two men. Both were alarmed, but also confused.

"H-haha sorry gentlemen, man is it dark in there!" I apologized, putting a hand behind my head. "Almost made it the whole way without a hitch!" I glanced back at Faye, hoping she would pick up what I was putting down. Fighting was not wise, given the circumstances – I was still very much injured, after all.

"N-no shit its dark," replied the torch-appreciator. He did not lower his guard, but he made no attempt at aggression, either.

"You'd better not try anything!" shouted Faye from her position on the ground. I almost didn't believe what I was hearing – that was a line I fully expected to come from THEM. I looked at her in surprise and panic, only to find her looking quite panicked, too. Her eyes were locked on the two in front of her, and her fear was plain on her features.

"Whoa now," I interjected, putting both hands up. "Let's keep calm here…"

"You don't want to mess with us!" Faye continued, ignoring me by all appearances. "H-he was part of that fight at the bridge, almost made it across! Don't do anything you'd regret!"

"Are you fucking kidding me?!" the thought exploded into my mind as I glared at the distraught woman. I realized she might not have much experience dealing with other Participants but why was she throwing me under the bus?!

"Fight at the bridge…?" the shorter man repeated, abandoning the sack for now. Faye's words seemed to confuse him more than anything.

"Sorry, sorry, we were caught up in a huge mess not long ago, very traumatic, haha!" I spat out as quickly as possible, putting myself even more between Faye and the two men – though, now, it felt like I was protecting THEM from HER.

"Look, we don't want any trouble either, especially not in this shit!" the other man shot back, though he did not seem any less standoffish.

"Y-yeah, we're just trying to get this stupid thing fixed before we head out," the sack-fixer confirmed. "You two can go ahead of us, if you want."

I quickly grabbed Faye by the arm and hoisted her to her feet, ignoring the pain caused by such a motion. Faye, meanwhile, seemed barely fazed, her attention never wavering from the two people ahead of us. I needed to get her the hell out of here before she said something else, while hostilities had been avoided.

I wasn't exactly going to trust their words blindly, but I had the feeling the two men were, indeed, not looking for a fight. We probably would have come to this conclusion in a lot gentler a fashion if someone hadn't had her outburst.

Apologizing profusely, I dragged Faye – who kept her guard up, looking like a snake about to strike – across the dimly lit room and back into the darkness on the other side. As our sight faded, I didn't even bother waiting for our vision to adjust and instead chose to keep diving deeper and deeper into the cave, pulling Faye along all the way.

I felt like I needed to scold her, like a parent might scold a child, but decided against it. Once we were out of immediate danger, I would discuss just what the hell she thought she was doing, but for now, this was not the time nor the place.

"Alright, I think we're good," I said after a few minutes of walking, releasing my grip on Faye's arm. She remained close, but didn't say a word. After a particularly pregnant pause, I sighed. "Let's get the hell out of here, shall we?"