Chapter VIII: Purgatory

As the team begins to make their way to the next flight of stairs, Chris watches them from a long distance. He sits in the shadows, out of sight, loading large bullets into a magazine. "This is for you, Mariah" he says to himself. "I've been silently taking out most of the competition myself, keeping them all off of her back for you. In return, she kept me waiting". Chris loads the magazine into a sniper rifle, then says "In the end, looks like it's finally back to where we left off. I'll take over from here, as long as you can finally rest in peace. I'm busting her out of here...".

The team progresses all the way up to Floor 35, over the span of a couple days and several rests. As they progress, Georgie, Will and Jake found three more people to join the team, or rather, join their side of the team. To keep up the act of being on the same side, the newest three members, Jon, Kyle and Frank each continue to spread out rations for the entire group. When they finally reach Floor 35, the floor layout looked the same, but they've managed to find a few machetes. Georgie, Jake and Judy each now had a machete, as everyone else possessed a combat knife. In addition, Drake still had the dagger that Judy gave to him. Up to this point, they've managed to avoid conflict really well. However, shortly after trying to rest, another team of five people managed to come across Drake's team. Each of the enemy team members had a machete, except for one. One of them had somehow found a katana. "A sword..." Judy says nervously. "That is... deadass... a sword! Where the hell did any of them find a sword!?".

"Let me handle that one" Ziya says. "A katana only looks threatening. In this place, with our current weapons, it's actually rather foolish to try and use such a delicate weapon". Ziya slowly puts away her knife, and pulls out a rebar pole.

"You sure about that?" Judy asks.

"I'm sure..." Ziya says as she runs up to the man with the katana. The man with the katana swung straight down at Ziya, from an overhead strike. Ziya swings her rebar upwards at the sword, and the two clash with a loud strike. The part of the blade that met Ziya's rebar chipped off, and a small crack formed in the blade. With her other hand, Ziya punched the man in the face, causing him to lose focus on where he were holding his blade for a second. His blade dropped to the ground, then Ziya struck downwards on the back of the blade with her rebar, snapping the blade in half. The man raises his newly shortened sword, inspects the broken blade, but then points it at Ziya again.

As that was happening, Drake charged at the man on Ziya's right side. Using his dagger, he swung at the man, only for him to dodge. The man brought his knee up, hitting Drake in the face and knocking him onto his back. As the man tried to cut off Drake's legs, Ziya smacked him in the back of the head with her rebar. As the man was unbalanced, Drake got up and drove his dagger into the man's chest.

As Ziya was dodging the man's short sword, Judy attacked the man on her left. She shoulder bashed the man, hiding the knife under her elbow, holding onto it tightly with her left hand. As the man fell over, Judy ripped the knife out of his stomach, then climbed on top of the man's chest, then dived her blade into his chest.

As Judy was taking care of that man, another man approached her, only to lose his head. When Judy looked up, Georgie was standing next to her with a newly bloodied machete. "I can't let ya have all o'the fun" he says.

"Mm..." Judy says as she turns her head back to her target. As the last two of the enemies tried to jump in to help their friends, Will, Jake, Jon, Frank and Kyle attacked as well. By the time the fight was settled, Ziya's watch showed "96" Respawns, Drake's showed "25", Georgie "15", Jake "12", Will "15", Judy "13", Jon "18", Kyle "17", and Frank "20". There weren't too many lives to be gained from that group, but the team did acquire machetes for each of them, as well as a little bit of food.

This food managed to get them to Floor 30 together before they ran out. It took a very long time to reach Floor 30. The floors were getting noticeably smaller, however, the smaller space also meant the groups were closer together. So, in order to preserve energy, they waited for the other groups to move before progressing. In addition, they also had to cross over hills of concrete and through pits to get past all of the floors. By the time they reached Floor 30, they once again ran out of food. As well as, the game seemed to once again change. There were now concrete buildings all over the floor, each of them really close to each other. There were now thin alleys between buildings, small concrete structures blocking everyone from moving any one single direction, occasionally second floors to certain buildings one could use to gain an overlook on the layout of the floor, but too many corners for people to hide around. The floors now looked like empty towns, however this was mostly cause for alarm, as it'd be too easy to be ambushed if you didn't tread carefully. It'd be impossible to travel around the outside of this town, as there were buildings that would touch the very outer walls of the floors, making the entire floor the town. "Well, what's the plan now?" Jake asks.

"Watch your back, obviously" Ziya says.

"You say that like it's easy" Jon says, "but it's not that simple, is it?".

"No" Ziya says as she begins to walk towards the first building. "Of course it isn't. I did tell you that traversing these floors would start getting harder, didn't I?".

"No" Kyle says.

"Yeah" Georgie says, "but I didn't think they'd pull anythin' like this!".

"How'd they manage to build a freaking town inside of an underground arena!?" Judy asks.

"We're not here to sightsee" Ziya says. "Come on!".

"Wait up!" Drake says as he catches up to Ziya. "Isn't this a little too dangerous to just walk into?".

"The last team I had" Ziya says, "they specialized in territory like this. I learned all that I could from those two".

"Ah, you mean Chris and Mariah, right?" Drake asks.

Ziya nods her head, then says "Just listen to me, and we'll get out of here just fine".

The team slowly moves into the town. Traveling down the thin alleyways, one at a time, they tried to slip between the buildings silently. They managed to pass several buildings without a hitch, but they suddenly hear the sound of metal hitting the concrete ground. Most of the team began to panic, as they tried to move faster. "Shh" Ziya says quietly. "Split up and keep eyes on each other. Spread out to keep eyes covering a wider area".

Judy nods and slips out of the alley, then runs and hides in an alley across from theirs. Ziya and Drake move forward a little, and take cover in an alley ahead of the others. The rest of the group separated to other alleys across from each other. Remaining silent, waiting for any sign of anyone who may be near them, the entire team remained perfectly still. Everyone, except for Drake, who was trying to cover his ears. He was once again hearing whispers calling his name, only this time, much louder than before. "Drake?" Ziya asks quietly. "What's wrong?".

"It... sounds like someone is whispering into my ears!" Drake says.

Suddenly, the sounds of boots shifting on concrete were heard from the other side of the wall their backs were against. Ziya put her hands over Drake's mouth and harshly whispers "Shh". The two of them waited, without making a move or sound, their hearts racing. After a while, Ziya let's out an elongated sigh of relief. "Okay" she whispers, "I don't think anyone heard us".

Suddenly, the wall against Drake's back shatters with a mighty impact, as a sledgehammer crushes his spine. The sledgehammer pulls back through the newly made hole in the wall, then comes back through the wall, shattering even more of the wall and demolishing Drake's skull after passing through the cracked concrete. Buried under some rubble, Drake's watch goes from "25" to "24". A large man, holding the sledgehammer, steps through the newly made hole. He turns to face Ziya, and with a grim smile, raises his hammer again. As he swings his hammer straight down, Ziya leaps backwards. Leaping from wall to wall with a fluid movement, Ziya climbs the wall and stands on the ledge of the wall her back was previously against. She jumps down, landing on the handle of the sledgehammer, while the hammer still lay against the ground. Ziya's weight from landing in the handle of the hammer pulled the hammer out of the man's hands. The man looks down at Ziya in disappointment. "What do you think disarming me of my hammer does exactly?" He asks.

"Aren't you forgetting about something?" Ziya asks.

Before the man has time to question Ziya, a dagger pierced through his back and came out from his stomach. "She means me" Drake says as he rips the dagger out of his back.

Falling to his knees from the pain, Ziya picks up the sledgehammer and raises it over her head. "Clench your teeth" she says, then swiftly brings the hammer down onto his head. By the time Judy and the others met with Drake and Ziya, the man was already dead. Ziya's watch now showed "100" Respawns, as Drake's was now at "24". "The hell happened here!?" Judy asks as she looks at the new red paint job that decorated the entire alley.

"One hell of a headache..." Drake says as he rubs his forehead, trying to ease his pain from regenerating a new head.

"Let's get out of here" Ziya says. "Someone is sure to have heard that. If we don't get moving, we may have to deal with several teams of people within such a small space".

"Any chance to get the fuck out of here sounds good to me" Jon says.

"Preferably somewhere to rest" Drake says as he continues to rub his forehead.

"Yeah" Ziya says, "we won't be able to pass through this floor so quickly. We may as well try and get some rest while we can. If others come, they'll occupy each other, giving us a better chance to rest easy".

The team squeezes between several more alleyways, pass through a few buildings before coming across a building with a second floor. They decided to rest on the second floor for now. As Drake goes to lay down, Judy walks up to the empty space in the wall that serves as a window. She stares off across the town, as Ziya asks "How much further until we reach the next flight of stairs?".

"Tch, we're only halfway there" Judy says as she sits down.

"Great..." Drake says sarcastically.

"So..." Will says, "we're out of food, we're only halfway across the first town, who knows how long these towns will be going on for! This is not a good situation!".

"Not so loud!" Ziya says harshly.

"You know how long we'll have to be stuck in these towns, don't you?" Jake asks Ziya.

"Until Floor 20" Ziya says.

"Ten floors..." Georgie says. "Wonderful".

"Well, did anyone check that one guy's body for food?" Ziya asks.

"He didn't have anything on him" Judy says. "I checked".

"Well, I'm going to rest for now too" Ziya says. "Who's staying up to lookout?".

"I'm going to sleep too" Judy says.

"Guess we'll be staying up like usual" Will says. "You three going to sleep as well?" Will asks as he look at Jon, Kyle and Frank.

All three of them shake their heads. "I'm good. I don't need to sleep yet" Frank says.

"Do we need six of us to stay up for lookout though?" Judy asks.

Suddenly, the distant sounds of a wall collapsing could be heard, paired with a scream. "Yeah, maybe we do" Ziya says. "You six make sure no one comes up here".

"Erm- okay..." Kyle says.

Ziya slips the handle of the sledgehammer she took from that one man into a loop on her jumpsuit, meant to hold tools. "As long as we're clear on that" Ziya says as she lays down.

After Ziya, Judy and Drake all fall asleep, Jon asks "So when do you think would be the right time to strike back at them?".

"When we have better weapons" Georgie says. "We'll need ta keep our distance from them. With the amount of lives that girl has, they'd definitely hold the upper hand in close combat".

"As well as, we need to consider other possibilities" Will says. "With food running out, we may need to... preserve them for the last moment".

"Are you suggesting we eat them?" Kyle asks.

"I'm suggesting" Will says, "that when push comes to shove, prioritizing survival is what's important. It won't get us very far if we resort to a last resort before making it out of these towns".

"Right" Georgie says. "And when yer starving, even a little girl like that crazy bitch starts to look a little appetizing".

"I guess that's true" Kyle says.

"It's all about stretching out your resources in a game like this" Jake says. "Don't rush it. That won't get us out of here".