7.c.viii.
Deep bellowing
growls echoed through the labyrinth accompanied on occasion by high-pitched,
blood curdling shrieks.
“We’ve been this
way already,” Supply said.
“No we
haven’t,” said Business Woman. “I don’t
recognize… Oh wait. Yep. That dead guy over there. I’ve seen that poor bastard before.”
Pieces of torn
up day traders lie scattered about their feet. A metal, gamey smell clung to
air, intermingling with the scent of terror loosened bowels. The deep roar
sounded in the corridors again. They
could feel it vibrate through their chests.
“We’ve got to
move,” said Demand. “Quickly.”
“Yeah, but
which way? Where is that thing?” said
Supply.
Business Woman
peered tentatively around a corner and then motioned for her companions to
follow. When the path split they paused
to consider their options. Someone
nearby screamed. This was followed by a
loud roar and more screaming.
And then wet
sounds.
Cracking
sounds.
Gurgling
choking sounds.
Business Woman
led them toward the disturbance.
“Wait? Why are we going toward it?” asked Supply.
“We don’t know
if this path leads toward that thing or not,” said Business Woman. “The other direction might double back and
put us right in Bear Market’s jaws.”
They turned
another corner and saw a bear-man eating a day trader.
Supply jumped
and Business Woman shifted into a defensive posture.
Financial
stats scrolled beneath the image and the scene played again but this time in
slow motion.
“That’s it,”
said Business Woman pointing to the huge telescreen hanging above the far end
of the corridor. “This whole place is
jammed with TVs. Everything is being
filmed. We should be able to get a fix
on Bear Market once they cut back to live footage.”
Another slow
motion replay of a particularly gory encounter appeared on the screen. A group, consisting of two day traders and an
errand boy, ran afoul of Bear Market.
The chivalrous day traders let the errand boy have first go at the
snarling beast, shoving their younger colleague forward and then, in a further
display of generosity, allowing him ample space for the impending exchange by
turning quickly and running down the corridor.
Luckily, the day traders were not refused a part in the fray as the
errand boy held up as well as wet toilet paper against a circular saw and Bear
Market was on top of them before they could disappear around the first corner.
Several
statistics flickered across the screen and the stock ticker continued its
ceaseless scrolling. A wide angle,
bird’s-eye shot of the arena replaced the slow motion brutality. The Crash stamped along the top of the maze,
bulldozing the scurrying day traders, trampling a few unlucky ones and knocking
several more into the death trench.
Bear Market
was visible at the edge of the screen. A
red fog seemed to hover around him.
“He’s a couple
of walls that way,” Business Woman said, gesturing. “And it looks like we can get to the end of
this maze if we keep heading the way we’re going, then take the second right,
followed by the third right, and then a quick left before – Ah! The screen changed. We’ll just have to find another TV when we
get that far.”
They moved
down the corridor, through echoing growls and screams, hoping that Bear Market
wouldn’t roar into their path.