* * *

“Goodnight, sweet Adrianna, and may flights of screaming angels moan thee to thy rest. You might not have stopped our game, but you probably cost our parent company more than a few dollars, between having to pay for Janet’s funeral and Charlton’s medical bills – not to mention the grossly increased chance that one of the girls will make it through to the end now that we’re one and a half hunters down. But in the end, it wasn’t enough. With only five contestants and six hours less, things are coming down to the wire for our girls, struggling through the night. Midnight is just about here, and the world is dark.”

The camera pans over the forest, where Charlton has stopped and is sitting against a tree, changing his bandages. He frowns at the wound, carefully spreading a disinfectant/anaesthetic mixture over it with a hiss of pain, then pulls out a needle and thread and sets to work stitching himself up, stolidly grunting now and then at a particularly painful moment. Blood drips around the thread, staining the ground under him, but the flow is slowing. “Charlton’s lucky – sort of – in that there aren’t any girls left in his area. For the time being, he can sit back and look himself over.”

“Meanwhile, at the Tidal Pools, things are definitely heating up. Our beautiful young Canadian babe Sam is still running for the border, with Shen Lee stalking her path. Well, I say running…” Sam is, in fact, squirming for freedom. Her massive breasts are much more of a liability than she had thought inside the incredibly tiny cave – the cameras display her passage in nightvision as she crawls forwards, pushing her way through the rocky passage. “Sam has gained enough height to be able to crawl instead of swimming, and a good thing, too – in another hour, this whole passage will be submerged again. But I don’t hear Lee. Where did he get to?”

The camera cuts backwards. Shen Lee has followed Sam, and is in the process of silently pulling two small rocks out from the wall. As he does, a large metal grate slides down with an ominous-sounding clang. The grate is attached to four cables that pass into long, almost invisible grooves in the wall, but otherwise seems to be standalone. Sam, hearing it echo down the passage, redoubles her efforts to advance. “That looks… that looks bad for our girl, gotta say.”

Outside the caves, someone is taking advantage of Shen’s distraction. Moving quickly but surely, Ling is crossing the Tidal Pools in record time, stopping now and then to listen for sounds of pursuit. She starts, and takes off like a rabbit. More than a bit behind her, Sierra freezes, holding steady for almost a minute before she realizes that she must be what her fellow contestant heard. Embarassed, she resumes searching on her own, well aware that she’s lost her companion.

“With three of our five Babes already in the Pools, it’s a silent night everywhere else. Our beauteous naked MILF Amy is still wandering the City, but it looks like she’s making progress.” Amy, still unaware that she is completely safe, is moving very slowly and carefully across the city, advancing towards the Forest.

And back in the Carnival, the last contestant, Miko, one hand protectively clutching a chunk of concrete, is in the middle of creeping across a ruined attraction when Saul DeLasse turns the corner. For a moment, Miko and Saul stare at each other, the former in horror and the latter with delight. Then, Miko takes off like a shot, with Saul in hot pursuit. Quick as a whip, the young gambler dives into the Funhouse. “And another close race! Not a good idea, though. Miko probably doesn’t know this, but in addition to its traps and wires, the Funhouse only has one exit.” Saul sets himself up just outside the door, cracking his knuckles, and considers the Funhouse thoughtfully. “All he has to do is wait for her to get turned around, and she’s dogmeat.”

Back in the Tidal Pools, Sam has crawled as far forwards as she can, and suddenly realizes that she is stuck – her breasts have caught in a particularly small gap, and she starts to breathe quickly as she looks ahead at the stars above and realizes that the gap just in front of and below her is much too small for her to fit. As she stares in horror, evaluating her options, there is another crunching sound behind her. She begins to rock herself, trying to back up, but she’s having trouble – the rocky passage that she is in descends almost perfectly at a downwards angle, all the way to this exit. Sam can’t quite get the leverage to free herself, and gravity is working against her.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to her, trouble is approaching. The heavy grate is shuddering, leaning down on the slope. With a soft snap, one of the tiny restraints holding it in place snaps, and it grinds down the slope a foot before shuddering to a halt at the next crosspiece. “This fiendish trap was designed by Shen and installed by our talented engineers. The grate actually weighs several hundred pounds, and it will continue to lower until it completely blocks off the far end. If you wander online, you’ll find that bets are being placed as to whether Sam is able to realize this before the grate reaches her where she is now.”

Back in the Pools, Ling’s madcap rush has carried her a fair distance, and she slows as she realizes that she is safe. She starts to creep forwards again, eyes alert. Further away, Sierra is having little more luck. She curses to herself as she tries to sweep the area without being spotted, keeping high above the waterline.

In the Carnival, Miko has found the piano wire stretched through the Hall of Mirrors, and is expertly threading her way through it. “Our little gambler seems to be making progress – but that’s all it is. If she can get through the maze, she’ll just be back where she… hang on. What…?”

Miko has removed the remains of her dress, and wrapped them around her right hand. Then, naked, she hefts her concrete and slams it into the mirror next to her as hard as she can. The glass shatters explosively, sending shards flying, and Miko flinches and covers herself as tiny fragments pepper her body. Then, wincing in pain, she steps through the hole and into a different passage, reaching back to smash through again.

Outside, Saul’s brow has furrowed at the faint sound of shattering glass. Suddenly, he bellows in rage and dashes into the tent. “Intriguing! Miko has correctly surmised that the mirrors were designed to be moved, and were merely double-layered glass with a thin sheet of metal between them. With enough force, the mirrors on both sides break, and the metal falls over. At this speed, Miko can just break through to the opposite side, and with the maze of tents that surrounds this one, Saul can’t guess which way she’ll go. He has to come after her. Smart thinking, Miko – but it could still be your last plan.” Miko is learning quickly, and stands carefully to one side as she smashes through another mirror, but she is barefoot and naked and there are tiny shards of glass glittering in her skin, quickly stained red by the tiny bubbles of blood. She pushes her way through the wall of the tent as Saul reaches the first of the ruined mirrors and moves to give chase.

This proves to be a mistake. Miko has been breaking mirrors, but not wires. Saul catches a face full of piano wire and lets out another bellow, staggering backwards. He pulls out his knife, snapping each wire with a vicious curse, as he struggles through the maze he himself created.

In the caves, Sam is still struggling when she sees motion ahead of her. She freezes, watching as a shadow passes across the entrance of the cave. Then Shen Lee leans down, and smiles up at her.

Sam shrieks in terror, realizing that the hunter is barely over a foot away from her. Behind her, there is another crunching sound, and the grate rumbles forwards. With a tremendous effort, Sam manages to get just enough leverage to push herself backwards, whimpering as her breasts are badly scratched by the slick rock surface. She scrambles back… for a few seconds. Then her feet slam into the metal grate, and she freezes in terror.

Shen Lee smiles beatifically as the grate rumbles forwards again, erasing the progress that Sam has made. Sam tries desperately to push it back, but the grate weighs almost four hundred pounds and she has no leverage. Inexorably, she slides back down the slick rock, breasts pressed tight against her, head pressing into the narrowing passage. She tries to brace herself, but has no purchase. Shen looks up at his prize, and studies her. The twenty-one year old girl is pinned tightly in the rock, feet pressed close against the metal grate, arms locked at her sides, her breasts and back alike tight against the rock. Her long brown hair, still soaked through from her swim, hangs down around her face, but can’t conceal the growing terror in her eyes. Shen looks up at her, through the foot of narrow tunnel that separates them, and starts checking his pockets.

Sam is paralysed with terror, watching Shen as he makes a show of considering his options. Then, with a shrug, he pulls out a small hourglass. He checks his watch, places the hourglass on a rock where Sam can see it, and sits down across from her.

Sam is watching the hourglass in horrified fascination. She looks at Shen, clearly trying to decide whether or not to try begging, and rightfully assumes that it won’t help. Instead, she watches the sand tick away, for almost a minute and a half.

*crunch* As the last grain of sand drips away, the grate snaps another restraint and rumbles forwards. This time, there isn’t much place for it to go, and Sam is shoved fully into the tiny passage. Her face presses tight against the rock, and she screams in pain as one of her elbows snaps as it is forced to bend in an impossible way. Her feet grind together agonizingly, and she is almost totally unable to move, the pressure on her body too much to bear. Her vision swims, and she starts to gasp for air.

Shen reaches out, and very deliberately turns over the timer.

Sam begins to shriek. Totally beyond words, she wriggles in terror, trying to do anything to avert what is about to happen. The weight pressing down on her grinds her bones together, and her desperate screams echo through the Pools as she presses forwards desperately. The effort is totally pointless. Trapped as she is, she can’t move so much as an inch, let alone enough to stop what is coming. The sand drips away, as she loses herself in blind animal panic.

*crunch* The grate slides forwards, and this time there is nowhere for Sam to go. Her screams rise to a fever pitch as the metal behind her grinds her limbs together, and her panic-striken face begins to push forwards as her skull fractures under the pressure. As she screams, her eyes bug out, and Shen watches her, still smiling. A moment later, the pressure is too much, and Sam’s head collapses like a balloon, bone and brain fragments dribbling through the hole to spatter the rock around the timer. Behind the grate, more blood and meat is squeezed through the holes between the metal, until what remains resembles a sausage more than a person.

Shen Lee stands, smiles, and moves on.