You definitely should've taken the risk for that water bottle.

You haven't seen anything else for ages, and you're thirsty. The heat isn't helping. You're starting to have a headache. But you've definitely gotten away from Cross, at least for now.

You're being much more careful about which turns you take, and listening out for anyone that might be behind you. And definitely checking in any mirrors you pass. Why are there more mirrors than anything else in here? It was a little bit of warning, at least. You nearly ran into Error once. She was walking ahead of you, just past the corner you were about to go around. She wasn't facing the mirror, so she didn't notice you quickly back tracking to find another, safer route.

At least, you don't think she noticed you. You didn't get attacked, so you assume you managed to get away, at least.

You still have no idea how long you've been there. It feels like ages. You just...want a nap. Maybe a little bit more than just a nap. You're tired.

You're so tired, the speakers suddenly playing a little jingle doesn't even make you yelp. You look up and wonder why the PA system plays the Walmart sound whenever there's an announcement in the store. Was this a Walmart warehouse once?

"-don't think we did get their name," Error's voice mutters in the background.

"Oops." Nightmare seems to be at the microphone, but turned away. "Well, whatever. They know who they are." His voice becomes clearer. "Listen, it's like 11 pm, so we're going to be done for the night. Go find one of the safe areas, unless you want to be impaled, I guess. That would suck though. Goodniiiiight~!" And the speakers shut off.

Oh. Right. Cross told you about that. They'd put spike traps all over the floor that they activated if their new victim was still alive when night came, to encourage them to stay in one spot until they came back in the morning. Where had she said the safe spaces were...?

Dead ends. Right. You found one not that long ago. Where-

Small holes in the floor opened. A neat grid of death that you wouldn't be able to squeeze through once the spikes came up. Lovely. You can already see the spikes rising. They're slow right now, but you don't know if they'll get faster. You don't imagine it'll feel too nice if you can't find the safe spot, either, though.

You're too tired to run, so you speed walk back to where you were before, to try to find the dead end. The spikes steadily rising. It takes you a few seconds to get lost. Great. You're too tired for this. You'd lay down on the spike bed at this point if you thought you'd survive it. God, why did this happen to you? You haven't lived a perfect life, sure, but 'average' is pretty good. You don't deserve this. You-

Oh those spikes are getting higher. They're about up to your ankles. You're walking on top of them now and you're not sure how long until they break through the soles of your shoes.

Oh! There's the dead end! A spike-less haven! You run for it. As soon as you're safe, the spikes shoot up with a SHhnk!

They reach up to your waist now. You'd be dead if you'd been just a little bit slower.

You back yourself up against the wall and slowly slide down to the floor.

How...How long had they spent working on this? This was ridiculous. It must've taken forever. Even if they had help. Unless they happened to already find it with spikes in the floor, which was unlikely.

You examine the spikes from where you are. They're very evenly spread. They're not perfect, though. Some of the holes are a little bigger than others, or at slight angles in the floor. This was definitely not done by professionals. They quality of the spike holes probably varied from area to area depending on where they started and ended. It was impressive. Terrifying. But impressive.

You slide further down on the wall until you're laying on the floor, staring at the ceiling. You watch the fans spin around and vaguely wonder if the Meme Squad is just going to kill you in your sleep. You don't think they would, but you have no idea. Slowly, you drift off to sleep.

You're woken up by the screaming bell you heard the day before, that warned you that the Meme Squad was hunting you.

"Gooooood morning, [Y/N]!" Cross sounds way too cheerful for first thing in the morning.

...Wait. They know your name now?

"We really should've learned your name sooner, but we have your driver's license so. We know it now."

Oh. That makes sense. You suppose. You groggily sit up, and notice the spikes are gone. Like they were never there to begin with.

"Anyway. Hi. Good morning. It's 9 am. Error and Nightmare are already inside. Please help yourself to any snacks you find. We dropped some stuff here and there. And by dropped i mean we stood on the catwalks and threw them into the maze. Non perishable stuff, so probably not any real breakfast, but yeah. Free food. You're welcome. See you soon!" The speakers shut off.

You groan. "Ohhhh fuck you. All three of you. God damn it."

The day crawls by slowly. You find a Twinkie on the floor. Several, actually. You're pretty sure that they weren't supposed to be in one concentrated area, but you pick up as many as you can. You're still starving. You'd prefer actual food, but these are better than nothing.

You run into Cross and Nightmare, at different times, and manage find somewhere to hide until they move on and start looking elsewhere. You find another trap with water. Just a net trap. Nothing deadly. You grab the water, and use your glass shard to cut through the net. It was easy, and now you have water.

The water's not cold, but you don't care. You're too thirsty.

A few hours later, you also find another net trap baited with a happy meal and another bottle of water. You're still hungry, and you don't care too much how long that's been there. There's enough preservatives in those things that it's probably fine. You trigger the trap, shove a few nuggets in your mouth, and then escape. You're not sure if triggering the traps alerts any of the Meme Squad, but you don't want to risk it, even though you'd like to sit there and scarf down your nuggie prize. Everything's still surprisingly fresh. The apple slices are even a little cool still. Weird.

Regardless, you managed to survive the day. And you think you made good progress. You were paying much more attention to where the dead ends were today, so when Error took her turn on the PA system and said it was bed time, you didn't have to waste much time trying to figure out where to go. You were safe.

You felt much more confident now. Of course, whenever you saw one of the Meme Squad, that confidence immediately vanished, but you're pretty sure that you could make it out now. You know what you're doing now, sort of.

Maybe tomorrow you can get out.