Chapter III: Blame Me

After a while of running towards the stairs, the group stops to catch their breath. There were a lot of people between them and the stairs, and they were too exhausted to fight them all off. "So, what's yer plan anyhow?" Georgie asks.

"Dunno" Ziya says, seeming more exhausted than the other two. "I'm helping him... so I'm leaving the choice up to Drake".

"I-I just thought it'd be easier to have people work together" Drake says, "so we would have better luck breaking out of here".

"Of Pyramid?" Georgie asks. "Ya plan... on breaking out... of Pyramid?".

"There were rumors of a man who found a way to escape" Ziya says.

"I've never heard no rumors of any sort of escape!" Georgie says.

"That's because you weren't here, in the last game" Ziya says. Ziya then turns to look at Drake and says "I still think it's a bad idea trying to even work side by side with these people. I'm the only one who's been through this mess before, you shouldn't listen to anything that-".

"Because it makes sense to listen to the person who's killed the most?" Drake asks.

Ziya grits her teeth and says "To be fair... this whole place doesn't make sense unless you've taken the time to learn about it".

"Whoa, explanation... now" Georgie says. "Last game?".

"Bite me" Ziya spits at Georgie.

"Why're ya so hostile ta me, but not ta the... twig over there?" Georgie asks.

"Because he's my childhood friend and I don't know you" Ziya says with a stern look.

"And what exactly is this place?" Drake asks. "I know it's a death game arena or whatever, but didn't Chris say something about cameras too?".

"We're a show..." Ziya says. "For people's amusement. Most people don't know about Pyramid, but some people watch these games... typically high class people".

"Who hosts these things!?" Drake asks.

"The same man who proposed the idea" Ziya says. "Governor Dylan Floyd".

"And ya know this because?" Georgie asks.

"Bite me, Georgie" Ziya says.

"Ah yes, o'course!" Georgie says. "I should'a seen that comin' from a mile away".

"So..." Drake says as he looks at Georgie, "what about you?".

"What about me?" Georgie asks.

"What's your story?" Drake asks.

"What do ya wanna know?" Georgie asks. "I was a convict on death row. A serial killer, who had a good run. Three years it took them ta catch me. After physical examination in prison, they come ta find out that I am a Respawn user. Ironically, nobody I killed was a Respawn user, so I never had any extra lives. I was given a chance ta gain freedom and I took it".

Drake was looking down nervously, and Ziya was staring at Georgie. "What?" Georgie asks. "At least I'm honest!".

"It's the honesty that makes me trust you less" Ziya says.

"Sounds like yer problem" Georgie says. "Now, what ta do from here? Isn't it about time we get movin'?".

"I guess so" Drake says.

"Right!" Ziya says as she suddenly jumps to her feet. "Then let's get moving!". Almost immediately after taking her first step, Ziya began to collapse. She fell to the concrete floor and passed out.

"Marvelous..." Georgie says.

"She didn't sleep" Drake says. "I guess she was lying about feeling fine".

"Or she's become numb to it already" Georgie says. Drake looks at Georgie in confusion. "It's a good survival tactic" Georgie says. "Sanity doesn't last long here in Pyramid. Once ya finally let go of your sanity, sometimes emotions and... other things go with it. I'm assuming for her, she gave up on feeling tired".

"What did she force herself to go through?" Drake asks himself.

"Hell, probably" Georgie says. Georgie began to reach out towards Ziya with one hand. Before Georgie could reach Ziya, Drake suddenly grabbed his hand to stop him. "What're ya doing, kid?" Georgie asks.

"Leave her alone" Drake says.

"I'm just waking her up" Georgie says. "Why are ya stopping me? We need ta keep movin".

"Why am I stopping him?" Drake asks himself. "J-Just... Leave her to sleep for now" Drake says to Georgie. "We'll get moving when we're all ready".

"Hm" Georgie says. "In that case, I'm gonna rest while I can". Georgie then stretches out across the hard floor. "Ya can handle watching out for us, right? Then again, it's no problem o'mine if ya die off... we'll wake up from someone trying to kill us, and we actually have lives. You, on the other hand, are screwed".

"Yeah... thanks" Drake says.

As Ziya slept, she remembered the times she spent with Drake when they were kids. At the end of her dream, she was talking to Drake. "I wish these moments could last forever" Ziya says. "Times where we can just relax, have fun, not worry about the future".

"Don't worry" Drake says as he hugs Ziya, "even if the future gets hard to handle, or even maybe a little confusing, I'll still be here for you. That's what friends are for!".

"Mm... thanks Drake" Ziya says. Suddenly, she hears Drake make a sound that sounded like "Guh". As she looked up, she could see blood dripping out of his mouth. When she looked down, she saw a knife stuck in his chest, with the handle in her right hand. "No..." Ziya says. "No, I didn't- but! This can't be happening!".

Suddenly, Ziya's head pops off from the concrete floor in Pyramid, gasping in terror. She made Drake jump in surprise. "What!? What's going on!?" Drake asks.

"Oh... I was asleep?" Ziya asks.

"Yeah... you kinda just... passed out randomly" Drake says.

"Oi" Georgie says as he wakes up too, "she finally awake?".

"Yeah" Drake says as he stands up. "You two ready to move on?".

Georgie sighs and says "I'm 'bout as ready as I'll ever be".

Georgie and Drake begin to walk, but Ziya still hasn't gotten up. "You coming?" Drake asks.

"Huh?" Ziya asks as she looks up at Drake.

"Are you okay?" Drake asks.

"O-oh... Yeah" Ziya says as she finally stands up.

For a long time, the three of them walk, avoiding anyone else on this floor as they attempt to reach the next floor. When they finally reach the stairs, they run into Chris. Chris was waiting under the stairs, and came out when he sees the three of them walking. "Aren't you a little late, Ziya?" Chris asks. "You of all people should be further ahead than this".

Ziya continues walking, trying to ignore Chris. However, as Ziya puts her foot on the first step, Chris puts his arm in front of her. "Get out of my way" Ziya growls.

"How long?" Chris asks.

"How long, what?" Ziya asks.

"How long are you going to blame me for Mariah's death?" Chris asks.

"Get out of my way" Ziya says again.

"That's not an answer to my question!" Chris shouts.

"Who's the madman?" Georgie asks. "Friend o'yers?".

"Mind your own business" Ziya growls.

"I can help you, y'know?" Chris says.

"You're the last person I'll ask for help" Ziya says.

Chris stares Ziya directly in the eyes for a few short seconds. "Fine" he says as he lowers his arm. "I can see you're at least keeping the other man alive. I have no idea what you're doing by the side of yet another convict, seeing as you still hold onto that grudge against me".

"The third member of this group isn't here for me" Ziya says. "It's for Drake".

"What is your goal this time?" Chris asks.

"Getting out of here" Ziya says. "Now stay out of my way. You can stay here and hide in this shitty game, I'm getting the two of us out".

"Two?" Georgie asks.

"Shut up, Georgie!" Ziya shouts. "Mind your own business!".

"Getting out of here, huh?" Chris asks. "Interesting... now that you mention it, I have some business to attend to".

Chris starts walking up the stairs before Ziya and the rest. "Where are you going?" Drake asks.

"Hm?" Chris asks as he turns around. "Oh, don't mind me. I'll be out of your hair for a little while. You have your own matters to worry about". Chris then walks up the stairs, then continues walking until he's out of sight.

"Takes all kinds, I guess" Georgie says. "First, it was that big angry dude... then a crazy chick who likes ta yell at everyone except one guy. Now it's happy home Harry over here, who just mysteriously shows up, doesn't attack anyone, and walks away".

"To be fair, you're a serial killer" Drake says.

"True" Georgie says.

"Come on, let's go" Ziya says as she starts walking.

After finally reaching floor 48, the three of them continued walking towards the next flight of stairs. They didn't take any breaks. They continued walking, no matter how tired any of them got. "Isn't it about time we start resting?" Georgie asks. However, Ziya kept walking and didn't reply. "Hello?".

"Just because I let you live" Ziya says, "doesn't mean you can address me".

"Well, shit" Georgie says, "I thought I would help. Aren't ya worried about slave drivin yer boyfriend?".

Ziya immediately stops, turns, and glares angrily at Georgie. "How hard am I going to have to hit you, in order for you to permanently shut your mouth?".

"I'm fine to keep moving" Drake says. "If you guys wanna keep moving, then let's keep moving".

Ziya continues to lead them to the next flight of stairs. Most people who were on this floor seemed to have already made their way towards the next flight of stairs as well, trying to rush their way to the top. There were plenty of people on this floor, but it was easy enough for them to avoid conflict with such a wide arena. When they finally reached the next flight of stairs, they began to climb up, only to be stopped by a group of voices. "Not so fast" a voice from the top of the stairs calls down to them.

When the three of them look up, there was a group of six people waiting at the top of the stairs. The six of them begin walking down the stairs towards Drake and the rest. "You're not getting any further than this" another man says.

"This is the last floor you'll ever reach" the third one says.

Ziya begins to walk forward towards the others, however, Georgie stops her. "What are-" Ziya begins to ask.

"Hold on a second" Georgie says to her. Georgie then looks up at Drake and says "Hey kid".

"Me?" Drake asks.

"It's about time you learned to fight too" Georgie says. "Get in there, and if things get dicey, we'll step in".

"Please, it's six against three" one of the other men call out.

"Wait a minute" Ziya says to Georgie, "they'll kill him!".

"He'll either die, or learn" Georgie says. "Either way, we'll be better off".

"This guy?" One of the six say as he approaches Drake. "Is this a joke?".

"H-hold on a minute" Drake says.

Without hesitating, the man hits Drake across the face with a rebar pole. The impact knocked Drake down, onto his back. "This'll be too easy" the man says. He then raises his pole and plants it firmly into Drake's skull. As Drake's watch shows the number going from a "1" to a "0", Ziya breaks loose from Georgie's grip.

Drake was screaming in pain, but began to sit up as he tried to lash out against his assailant in anger. However, when the man swung his pole, Ziya jumped in the way. The man knocked Ziya out of the way, and broke her neck with the one single blow. "Get out of the way, bitch!" The man shouts. "I'll deal with you later!".

The man raises his pole to stab Drake, while Drake sat on the floor. However, when he brings his pole down, Ziya got in the way of that too. Crouching over Drake, to block the pole from stabbing him, the pole pierced right through the back of her heart and killed her again. Ziya accidentally spat out blood on Drake's face, while trying to put on a fake smile. As Ziya's Respawn counter went from a "91" to a "90", then to "89", she tried to hold a fake smile to keep Drake from worrying.

"Get out of the way already!" The man says as he kicks Ziya over. He then raises his pole again to smack Drake over the head with it. However, when he came down with his pole, Ziya once again crouched over Drake to protect him. The pole crushed her skull, and her head smacked into the ground next to Drake.

When Ziya revives again, she lifts her head off of the ground and tried to smile at Drake again. "Why?" Drake asks.

Ziya smiles and says "It's what friends are-".

Suddenly, the man hits Ziya again with the pole, waits for her to revive, hits her again and again. Over and over, he killed Ziya right in front of Drake. Until eventually, a hand stops his pole from hitting Ziya again. When the man looks over, Drake was holding the pole with his hand. Drake rips the pole out of the man's hand, and hits him across the face with it. Knocking the man to the ground, Drake hits the man over and over. Blood continued to accumulate on the ground under the man as his skull was repeatedly smashed in. Drake didn't stop until the man's watch hit "0" and his face never regenerated.

Drake looks up silently with an emotionless expressing, at the other five men. "No!" Ziya says as she gets up, "it wasn't supposed to be like this!".

"You wanted to protect him!" Georgie says. "It's for his own good that he learns how to do this!".

"I'm supposed to protect him from turning out like me!" Ziya shouts.

"Just let him go!" Georgie says.

"Drake!" Ziya says as she suddenly hugs Drake. "Stop!".

Drake looks down at Ziya, then shakes his head in confusion. When he looks back up at the other five, they were slowly backing away. "You don't have to do this!" Ziya says. "Leave that part to me! Don't let go of your emotions that easily!".

"I guess if ya want someone beat right" Georgie says as he picks up a rock from the ground and walks past Ziya and Drake, towards the other five men. "You've gotta do it yourself".

Drake couldn't bring himself to move, let alone close his eyes or speak. He simply watched as Georgie managed to grab one man and beat him to death several times over, as the other four managed to escape. There were no words Drake could find. In fact, he remained in that state for hours. After they reached floor 47, and after they finally decided to rest, Drake went straight to sleep without talking. After he fell asleep, Ziya simply glares angrily at Georgie.

"Ya can't expect ta be able ta baby him forever" Georgie says.

"This wasn't the plan" Ziya says.

"Then what the hell was the plan?" Georgie asks.

"To protect him" Ziya says. "Get him out of here at all cost. I couldn't care less about me making it out of here! As long as he ended up fine, that's all that mattered!".

"Yeah, well" Georgie says, "ya should've known that would never have worked out". There was a moment of silence before Georgie speaks up again. "I guess most people's first time is usually like this. The blank, empty, mindless feelin' he must be going through. His mind must've just went through something major. He really fell hard asleep".

"And it's all your fault" Ziya says quietly.

"By the way, what's yer Respawn counter like now?" Georgie asks. "I managed to squeeze two more lives out of one of them. Now I'm sittin' pretty with six lives".

Ziya picks up her watch and looks at it. "Eighty-two" She says as she shows her watch to Georgie.

Georgie picks up Drakes left wrist while he slept. "What's the man's watch showin'?" He asks. When Ziya and Georgie look at Drake's watch, it showed the number "12" on it. Georgie whistles and says "Kid really did a number on that man's face". When Georgie sits up, almost proud of Drake, he looks over at Ziya. Ziya has a cold, emotionless expression on her face as she seemed to stare at the floor. "Ya never smile when you're not around the kid, do ya?".

Ziya glances over at Georgie and says "Mind your own business".

"Right..." Georgie says. "So yer just always that cold then?".

Ziya continues to stare at Georgie, without blinking. Eventually, she says "Every five floors".

"Pardon?" Georgie asks.

"In case you're wondering" Ziya says, "approximately every five floors, the game makes a drastic change. If you haven't noticed, each floor is just a little smaller than the last floor. Well, every five floors, they add something else to the game to keep it interesting".

"Like what?" Georgie asks.

"Different layout, different weapons" Ziya says. "That's the only help I'll be giving you. If you're going to be of any use, you may as well be prepared. However, I still refuse to trust you".

"I've already explained myself ta ya" Georgie says. "I don't see what yer problem is".

"My problem is everything about you" Ziya says. "Why would anyone here be that honest about themselves? Why should I believe that you're actually going to help us in any way, especially after what you pulled?".

Georgie thinks for a few seconds, then stands up. "Yer right" he says. "And I have a plan. I'll get ya yer help yer boyfriend so desperately wants. I'll be back".

"And what do you think you're doing?" Ziya asks.

"I'm gonna grab us some teammates" Georgie says. "Maybe then, you can stop being such a twat".

Georgie then walks away, leaving Ziya and Drake alone. Ziya sits next to Drake and says "I hope you never come back" quietly at Georgie. Ziya then looks down at Drake and says "Please don't lose yourself, Drake. Not before you were even able to recover your memories...". Ziya places one hand on top of Drake's head and begins humming again, this time nervously, as she was now wondering what could be going through Drake's mind.