Page 12 of Hell's Fear

“This is a physical puzzle, not mental. Let’s get moving, boys,” Willow stated.

She wasn’t wrong—those fuckers were heavy—but finally, we got them on their circles. Wiping sweat from my brow, I realised we only had forty minutes left as the next door opened.

We entered the room and stopped. The door behind us didn’t close, which confused everyone.

This one was full of junk. To the side was a platform containing ten holes. Willow quickly darted across and inspected the holes.

“Something fits inside,” she said, and everyone began looking.

“Here, I found two of these,” Inglorious called out, holding up iron bars with a circle on top.

“Oh, no!” Willow groaned as Fish held up another. “They’re all different lengths, and we have to place them in the correct spots so they all hit the same height.”

“We need ten of them?” I asked, and Willow nodded her head.

“Just over half an hour left before we’re locked in. Let’s get our asses moving,” Inglorious ordered, and we all got busy. Five minutes later, we had ten poles of varying lengths.

“Any idea?” Fish inquired.

“None. Stick them in and see where we’re at,” Davies said, and he and Willow shoved them into slots.

From the other room, a red light appeared and caught our attention.

“Why am I so worried?” Fish drawled, looking warily at the door.

I stuck my head around and swore. “Some of the pods have opened slightly. And two are lit green.”

“What?” Willow shrieked.

“Only the green two haven’t moved,” I replied.

“Let me think,” Willow said, stopping Davies from pulling them out. “Ten rods and ten pods. Two haven’t opened, which must mean two are the correct level. See which one’s match.”

Four did. Willow sighed and picked a pair to pull out. The red light disappeared, and she and Davies placed the remaining eight into holes. The red light flashed again, and I gazed at the pods.

“Two have remained closed, and a third didn’t lift,” I announced.

Willow pointed to three, and Davies ripped the others out.

“We’ve got fifteen minutes!” Fish called as Willow found the fifth rod.

“Bad news. One more mistake, and five of these fuckers are free,” I shouted.

Eerily, their heads turned to face me, although nothing else moved. It was fuckin’ freaky in their stillness.

“What happens then?” Fish demanded.

“They take us?” I offered.

“Barricade the doorway,” Inglorious suggested and began dragging some boxes over.

“We can’t wait for you to do that, we’re running out of time. We’ll keep going,” Davies said as Fish rushed to help Inglorious as he and Willow began the next round.

This time, they got seven correct, but three pods opened, and people stepped out of their pods. They hissed creepily and started moving towards us. Fish yelped and shoved more boxes in the doorway as a panel popped open on their side and axes and other weapons appeared.

“Willow!” I yelled as I helped pile boxes up. Inglorious began dragging a heavy table across to help trap the boxes in place.

The lights flashed red again, and I noticed the other pods lift.

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