I flip onto my feet in a crouching stance and spin, coming face to face with three enormous rodent-like creatures. They’re completely furless, covered in painful-looking sores and boils, and their eyes glow red. They’re each at least six feet long, and the stench coming off them is unbearable. In the crowd, people cover their mouths, but it’s all part of the spectacle for them, all part of the evening’s entertainment.

The rats see the group of five children huddled in the corner. Within a second, they gobble them up. The boy next to me screams. I cover my mouth, trying to stop myself from retching, and glance around me desperately, searching for somewhere to run and hide. But all around me is nothing but the flat open arena ground.

Then the ground suddenly begins to shake and rumble. A series of walls burst up, so fast I’m knocked off my feet. The giant rats scurry to the far end of the stadium, seemingly afraid. I take my chance and run to the opposite side. Walls spring up all around me, blocking me in, forcing me to backtrack. At the very least, they provide a barrier between me and the boy who was trying to kill me. But when everything stops shaking, I realize what has happened. Surrounding me is a maze.

My heart pounds. I can hear the rats scurrying around at the other end of the stadium. The sound of their claws on the metal grating makes my stomach turn, as does the screaming of the children they are catching and eating. I can smell their odor as it wafts through the maze toward me, but the walls are so high there’s no way I can see where they’re approaching from. I’m completely blind.

I start running, disorientated and panicked. I’ve always been a fighter, not a runner. This is completely out of my comfort zone. And it’s made worse by the way the ground suddenly rises and falls, by the way the walls suddenly grind and begin to move. I feel frantic, like I’m trapped in a nightmare.

I can hear the pounding feet of the rats from just the other side of the wall and smell their putrid flesh. They are so close. A wall is starting to move and I launch myself at it. It’s just low enough for me to pull myself up on top. It springs back up to its full height, and I’m just a few yards above the rats. Their disgusting noses sniff me, but I’m just out of their reach. I run along the top of the wall away from them. While being able to see where they are is useful, it won’t help me in any way if I don’t find a way to kill them.