Inside the Labyrinth, the first thing Austin noticed as he took in his surroundings was how much metal steel and stone made up the place. The, with place was all metal steel, with various wiring and cords lining the arc cobblestone roofing 60 feet above the hard, cement ground. Along the spacious walls were red, blue and rusty brown pipes — and the tunnels themselves were various in size; some were wide enough to fit 4 people through side-by-side, while others were so narrow that Austin knew only person could fit through at a time. The areas of tunnels that still had it's cobblestone roofing arcs had faintly working lightbulbs lining them every few feet. Meanwhile, for the parts of the roofing that looked like the roofing was blown off, the night sky could be seen in all it's starry glory, through the vine-ey branches that partially covered some of the opened roofs of the tunnels — The vines looked awfully similar to those of the Great Oak back in the Meadows that covered much of the open roof in the Meadows, but Austin didn't waste too much on comparing them, as his attention fell on the reason why he was even here: Stryker and the three scouts.
The boy Stryker was carrying by the shoulder looked to be unconscious and badly wounded, at maybe 17 years old, with blond hair and an athlete's physique — thin, but toned with a runner's build, as evident through the painful looking gashes and open wounds Austin noticed throughout his body. He had a leather protection vest with a harness that must've carried a weaponry and other supplies that wouldn't fit on his utility strap or belt. Austin didn't know this, but this was standard issue scout gear; all of the other scouts wore this when they went out scouting the Labyrinth.
"What the hell, newbie Austin?!" Stryker snapped, as he leaned his injured friend on the cool metal of the Labyrinth wall, before turning and glaring daggers at Austin. "Why did you follow me out here! Are you insane?! You're as good as dead now, Newbie!"
Though Stryker had a few cuts, scrapes and smaller injuries and the including a the claw slash across his chest, Austin realized that he had no real injuries — at least, none life threatening at the moment.
"Y-you guys wouldn't have made it, Stryker. I figured you'd have a better chance at surviving if I–."
"If you risked dying, too!" Stryker slapped his forehead, before laughing, almost maniacally, before abruptly stopping, and sighing heavily. "Jeez, what is it with you newbies and disobeying my orders? No point in crying over it now. Zachery, how's Atlanna?"
Austin turned to the other boy, who was carrying a boy via his shoulders. Although the girl was as unconscious as the boy Stryker had been carrying, and just as tired and worn down and dirty, Austin could see that Zachery and Atlanna were related, probably even siblings. The two shared the same brown eyes, freckled face and flaming orange hair. Zachary was definitely older though, maybe 19? The girl had to be no older than 16 years old. Wore the same scout issue gear over a plain shirt and pants.
'They're definitely siblings,' Austin summarized.
"She wasn't clawed like Trevor," Zachary eyed the boy Stryker leaned against the wall, as he answered. "But the Annihilator did toss her like 10 feet into the air, then into a steel wall. I think she has a concussion at the very least. We can't know for sure until the Bandagers check her out."
'So they did run into Annihilators,' Austin thought to himself in realization. 'Oh, and what's this?'
Austin also noticed that the two of them also had a leather sheathed short swords whose hidden blades were no less silvery nor less sharp as the ones back in the Oakhouse of the Meadows. It had him realising he didn't bring a weapon with him at all. The thought of possibly encountering an Annihilator without a weapon brought a sense of dread from within Austin.
'No!' the Voice inside him urged. 'This is not the time for regrets and fears! You have to survive!' it said. 'Focus.'
The voice was right. He was in a giant maze, filled with people and beings that'll kill him if given the chance. This was not the time to despair in fear and regrets. Shaking his head, clearing his thoughts, he decided to refocus.
"—eed to find a place to hide," Zachery was in the middle of saying as Austin, when a sudden screech resounded all around them, chilling Austin to the bone.
"Annihilator," Stryker answered Austin's unspoken question before he could even ask. "Probably the same one that attacked us before. Zach's right; we need to hide. But, with Trevor and Atlanna, we can't go that far."
Austin took a look around, discerning where he was, using the memory of the layouts he'd been studying all evening to think about where they could go to hide. 'Ok, Austin,' he thought to himself. 'You've studied the layout and sequence of change of this place for the better half a day, Austin. It's time to use that knowledge.' Down one tunnel was a very wide passage, with arc stone roofing 20 feet high, with some chunky gaps in it, showing the night sky. Down his right one was a narrow tunnel with an enclosed roof, lit up by lightbulbs, to his back, was the closed vaulted door of the Meadows.
Turning around, Austin made his way to Trevor, slowly picking him up to his shoulders, which only served to feed the others two's shock and curiosity. "What are you doing, Austin?" Stryker asked.
As Austin hide Trevor's body behind a huge pile of stone, where he'd be out of danger, hopefully.
"I— They should be hidden here so we can lead the Annihilators away," Austin grabbed Atlanna's other arm and helped Zach put her beside Trevor's unconscious form. Then the three of them looked for more scattered chunks of stone to hide them from view. This lasted for about 2 to 3 minutes. By the end of it, Austin was certain that no monster could happen to acquire the sight of the two unconscious scouts. "There. Now, we need to lead—."
Suddenly, another screech was audible once more, only this time it was closer. It was so malicious and bone-shiveringly chilling that Austin could practically hear it's owner's thoughts, like the screams of a madman: 'I SMELL YOU AND I'M COMING!'
"We need to go!!" Zach jumped, leading Stryker and Austin down the narrow tunnel.