chase?

It was just your luck that you had to stumble into a crime scene. Correction: an ongoing crime scene as the culprit is still pretty much present and is still pretty much attempting to dispose of their poor victim. Maybe this was your karma for sneaking into a closed-off park.

The area was poorly lit, an old park that the locals rarely used, so foot traffic was close to none. You had been using it as a shortcut out of convenience. You were strolling through the empty landscape, leaves crunching underneath you as you go, until you came across someone in your path.

They seemed to be struggling with a baggage of some kind. It was strangely big, almost as big as them. You had also noticed them stepping on a weird puddle. It hadn't even rained.

Alarm bells instantly started going off in your head as no one else was supposed to be here. Heck, you weren't supposed to be here either. That was when the coppery smell in the chilly air hit you with a realization. That puddle was blood.

You had to run ASAP. Immediately, you break off into a sprint before the killer spotted you first. You fumble around in your bag, trying to find your phone. After what feels like an eternity, you've managed to fish out your phone and dial 911. Somehow, you managed to wheeze out your location and what you have seen.

You could hear the crunching of leaves behind you. You looked behind to see them giving chase. This was bad.

You look forward and spot what could either be your salvation or your doom. The maze. An overgrown, unmaintained hedge maze that used to attract people to the park. You liked exploring it whenever you sneaked into the park.

The maze's walls were not that tall, only equivalent to the height of an average person. It would be a good place to hide from the killer, but at the same time, there was also the risk of getting lost and encountering your pursuer if you don't navigate well enough.

It's a gamble. You either risk getting lost in the maze or continue running through the open area of the park. As the culprit gets closer and closer you make your decision:

[[Head into the maze]]
[[Continue running straight ahead]]

-----
(MAZE)

You hesitate, and then run. Might as well take the risk and head into the maze. At your current pace, you realize that the culprit would have eventually caught up to you and made you his second murder victim.

Your heart beating loudly, you rush to the maze's entrance. It looks different at night. You've never explored it in the dark, at night, thinking it would be too creepy. Right now it is more than creepy. Foreboding. There's no time for you to mentally prepare yourself as you enter the maze, so you ignore your misgivings.

The inside of the maze is as creepy as you expected it to be. With the moon as the only light source, the entire place is dark. You're scared of what will jump out from the black, ominous shadows. As you run along, you contemplate whether or not you should use your phone's flashlight to make navigating through the maze easier. Only problem is, the battery's low and soon the phone will be dead. You choose:

[[Use the flashlight]]
[[Don't use the flashlight]]

-----
(Run straight ahead)

As if you were going to take that gamble. You were confident enough in your running ability that you won't be caught by the culprit. As long as your stamina doesn't give out first before your pursuer, you should be fine.

Though, one thing is for certain, being tackled to the ground isn't a pleasant experience. Why did that slip out of your mind? Of course they'd play dirty and not make it 'fair'. You tried struggling out of their hold, attempted to bite and headbutt them even, but it only resulted in your head being banged to the ground. The impact disoriented you as you could feel yourself getting dragged from the ground.

-----
(Use Flashlight)

You weren't going to risk aimlessly walking around the hedge maze in the dark. Who knows what else lurks in it? It was already spooky enough. After a few flicks and clicks on your phone, a beam of light appeared in front of you. You then continued to navigate your way through the maze.

It was an honest mistake. You didn't take into consideration that the culprit would use your light source as a form of tracker. You didn't expect the piercing pain to your sides as well as the sensation of being pushed down to the ground. The last thing you saw was the light from your phone being reflected off by the knife overhead.

------
(NO FLASHLIGHT)

You choose not to turn on your flashlight. It would be stupid; you'd instantly reveal your location to your pursuer. You might as well just surrender and serve yourself on a silver platter to them.

You stick to the right wall of the maze, a common tactic used in mazes to avoid getting lost. You quicken your steps as you see the head of the killer near the entrance of the maze.

They were tall enough for their head to be visible but not tall enough to easily see above the overgrown hedge maze's walls. As if to make it even easier on your part, they had also turned on their lights.

You stop when you reach the first fork in the maze. You need to choose where to go: left or right. Choosing the wrong path would send you to a dead end, and very likely, death. You choose to:

[[Turn left]]
[[Turn right]]

-----
(Turn left)

You were sure going right leads to the dead end, so left was where you headed to. You did your best to run as silently yet swiftly as possible, but the amount of despair you felt moments later was overwhelming.

A dead end. You've remembered wrong. That feeling of dread peaks as you could see the tell-tale sign of your pursuer getting closer as the flash of light they're using gave away their position. They were near the fork that led you to the dead end in the first place.

You quietly went to the corner of the dead end and huddled, hoping that the culprit opts to go right instead of left. Alas, you knew that your fate was sealed the moment you saw light appearing at the tips of your shoes.
-----
(Right)

Your panicked brain reaches a realization at the fork. You remember from your previous explorations of the maze that you should go right.

As you continue to run, you realize something else: A map! You have a map! You chide yourself. How could you forget?  You had a map, a picture of the maze from above downloaded into your phone. You solved the maze remotely and doodled atop the picture by tracing the correct path out of the maze.

You slow your run as you pull up your phone's Gallery app and find the picture. With your newfound, you continue running, making sure to select the right paths to avoid dead ends.

After a few minutes, you look back and catch your breath. You notice that there is now a good amount of distance between yourself and the killer as you see them clumsily navigating the maze with their noticeable flashlight. Maybe they took a bunch of wrong turns. Though, this didn't mean you were safe. Their movements were still fast, they would eventually catch up.

You checked your phone again. It had been around ten minutes or so since you called the emergency hotline, but there's still no sign of the police. You need to figure out a way to distract your pursuer and buy yourself more time.

[[Use your phone's light]]
[[Use your phone's alarm]]
-----
(FLASHLIGHT)

You realize that this is the perfect time to use your phone's flashlight. If this were a few minutes ago, it would have acted as a beacon for the pursuer, but this time, it would act as your ticket to freedom.

Using the map you've downloaded, you navigate your way outside the maze. And then finally, finally! You reach the exit.

Without wasting even more time, you put your plan into action. Some distance away from the exit, you place your phone inside a hedge that leads to a dead end before turning on its flashlight.

You flee from the scene, sticking to the exterior maze walls to reduce your visibility. You run back to the maze's entrance and wait. Based on the light emanated by their flashlight, they were near your phone.

With that, it was the sign you needed to bolt to the park's exit. Even if the pursuer manages to make their way out of the maze, it would have eaten away so much of their time, enough time for you to leave the park.

As you drew nearer the park's exit

You continued to run, getting closer and closer to the park's exit. Suddenly, you hear the sound of sirens. You can spot the telltale signs of police cars as red and blue lights were flashing from the distance.

As you reach the exit, you breathe in relief. You can finally feel your tiredness from running catch up to you as you approach the officials and get away from the killer who tried to chase you. Freedom at last.

-----
(Use alarm)
You could use your phone's alarm to distract their attention. It was perfect. They'd be getting out of the maze only to come rushing back into it once they hear the alarm go off.

Using the map you've downloaded, you easily navigated your way outside the maze. You managed to get out as the light from the maze indicated that your pursuer was still in the midst of it. You quickly went to work. You ran, while ducking your head for good measure, through the right side of the hedge maze's exit and set up your alarm to go off in a minute and a half before placing your phone inside the hedges.

You instantly fled the scene, making sure to continue sticking by the walls, and managed to go back to the maze's entrance. However, this was when things went completely wrong for you. The alarm did beep and caught your pursuer's attention, but it beeped too late. You've set it up longer than you should have.

Instead of going back to the hedge maze, your pursuer uses the same route you did to get your phone back. At this point, you frantically headed back into the maze. Alas, this time, you weren't successful in evading your pursuer as they tauntingly shook your phone with the map's image displayed.