Page 30 of Hell's Fear

“Something to do with this panel?” Wraith inquired, pressing it.

Nothing happened.

“This is annoying,” I muttered aimlessly, kicking at a panel. I jumped as it slid open, and a mess of wires faced me. “Huh?”

“Great, we’ve got to connect the fuses,” Rock surmised as he sat. Rock, being a contractor, had the best chance among us.

He took ten minutes chasing the wiring and then connecting it correctly. Once he’d done so, the panel lit up. Lust, gluttony, greed, envy, wrath, pride, and sloth all began flashing up in the seven boxes. Each box rotated through the sins before starting again.

“Which goes where?” Bomber inquired.

“There’s no order,” Slaughter mused.

“Try left to right,” I suggested.

Bomber pressed on the first box as soon as it hit gluttony. The box glowed green and turned off. He pressed sloth next, which repeated gluttony’s actions.

“Have those sped up?” Slaughter asked as Bomber let the cycle run twice before hitting envy.

“Yup. Oh fuck!” Wraith said as they got even quicker.

If that had been me, I’d have got the timing completely wrong, but Bomber managed to nail the last four sins.

The bars dropped, and we walked across to the exit that opened up for us.

We entered the next room, and Bomber retreated behind me. I turned and frowned as Bomber paled and bit his lip.

“Huh, I don’t get it,” Slaughter said, scratching his head.

“I do. What animals would you find in prisons? Rats, spiders, snakes, and bats. That’s what this represents,” I stated.

“Dude?” Rock muttered as Max shoved to the back.

“Ain’t ashamed to admit, I’m terrified of snakes,” Max murmured, looking around with jerking motions.

“Keep the rats away from me,” Bomber moaned.

That was going to be difficult as what I hoped were robotic rats, snakes, spiders, and bats filled the room that looked like a prison visitor’s centre. They were everywhere.

“Anyone got a clue?” I asked. There were lots of tables and bolted down chairs. Yet again, we found ourselves locked in.

We tried pushing the gate, but it was shut tight.

A bat swung dangerously close, and Bomber squealed—a six-foot-five man squealing like that was just wrong.

We spent a few moments looking around while Bomber and Max cringed in a corner.

“I don’t understand,” I finally said, shrugging.

“Me either. Did we pull the really fuckin’ hard suite?” Shotgun demanded.

“Check the panels. Maybe there is a hidden one again,” Slaughter suggested.

It was a good idea because two sections opened. The first contained two water guns, which had me scratching my head, and the other held a tap and sink that moved forward.

“Okay, we’re meant to hit something, but what?” Wraith asked, looking completely confused.

“I don’t see anything,” I murmured.

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