Chapter XXI: Sense of Worth
"Welcome back to hell" Gerald says as Drake looks around himself at this maze.
"L-look at the bright side" Drake says. "At least there's only a maximum of three of these mazes... ha ha...".
"Also, the mazes are shorter than the last ones" Chris says.
"Now what do you think they did to compensate for that?" Judy asks.
"Right..." Drake replies. "It's probably full of turrets or something".
"Maybe worse" Ziya adds.
"I'm curious as to what exactly gets worse" Chris says.
"I dunno..." Ziya replies. "I'm sure they've thought of something to make us as miserable as humanly possible though".
"Oh, that's guaranteed" Gerald says. "But we're almost at the top floor. I'm still willing to bet, that with the height of these ceilings, that we're still deep underground. So trying to dig our way out of here would likely be futile, if you consider factors like pressure and density at lower altitudes below ground".
"And without an accessible pipe of some kind" Chris adds, "like a sewage system or something, we won't be able to make it to the surface. The ground will be too hard to just dig through, and we don't have the necessary tools for that anyways".
"Then we keep moving" Ziya adds. "The likelihood of being, at least somewhere close to the surface gets higher as we progress. However, there's no guarantee that we'll even reach the surface at the top floor".
"That's also correct" Gerald says. "However, you'd still have to think about how the game is set up. If everyone dies nearly halfway through the game, wouldn't that make all of the weapons, rations, and supplies all gathered on those floors alone?".
"Yes" Judy says, "so they likely have some way to set up this game after each game is finished".
"Like a maintenance system" Chris says.
Gerald snaps his fingers and says "Right! Now, how do you think they get in and out to set up this game each time?".
"I haven't seen any maintenance shafts or exits" Judy says. "So they must be well hidden".
"I'd think..." Chris says as he rests his chin on his right hand, "that they'd have to place it somewhere we couldn't reach".
"On the earlier floors" Ziya says, "as well as the recent floors, the entire ground area is accessible".
"Then it must be above ground level" Gerald says. "Think about who runs this game... don't you think they'd have access to equipment to allow them up and down walls?".
"The only realistic thing I can think of that would let you do that..." Judy says as she thinks, "is a rappel line...".
"Now we're using our brains!" Gerald says. "This is why I'm investing in you, even though I plan to kill you after we take care of our business".
"... We?" Ziya asks.
"Well, I'm sure you have... your business outside of Pyramid" Gerald says. "But I have one thing I want to handle when all is said and done".
"And that is?" Judy asks.
"And that is" Gerald says, "none of your business. After that, I'll simply track you down myself. Then, Ziya, we can have our duel. One on one, mono e mono. The rest can remain, I've lost interest in them".
"Hey, fuck you too, buddy" Chris says.
"Now let's go back to using our brains..." Gerald says. "Maintenance routes being above ground level of each floor and everything sounds like a very likely possibility. Now, if that were true, what do you think is behind those walls on Floor 1?".
"Unless this is still deep underground" Judy says, "and the lines are primarily accessible from an above sea level parameter... then the top floor just might...".
"Just might be where the maintenance lines all come together" Ziya says.
"Bingo!" Gerald says.
"But I doubt our luck will be that good" Ziya says. "I'm sure they've added more to it than that".
"Question" Gerald says. "How deep underground do you think Floor 50 was?".
"It has to be over..." Judy says as she thinks. "Well... each floor looks to be about... twenty meters in height, roughly estimating.... so twenty multiplied by fifty is... one-thousand meters?".
"A whole kilometer!?" Chris asks.
"Right, and that amount of pressure from that depth, and lack of oxygen would... well, it wouldn't be favorable conditions for humans" Gerald says. "Meaning there has to be some way that they equalize the oxygen levels here, as well as the pressure".
"Right" Judy agrees, "I haven't felt any change of pressure the whole time while progressing".
"Which means there's something equalizing the pressure above Pyramid" Ziya says.
"Equalizing that pressure would be pretty hard with just a couple small vents for oxygen to come through" Gerald says. "It's likely that there's either something accessible from the other side of the walls on the top floor, or the area behind those walls are hollow entirely, leading to the ground level. If it were shafts, they're at least man-sized ones. Otherwise, they wouldn't be able to set up the game".
"This is all hypothetical though" Ziya says. "In reality, we'll have no idea until we get there".
"Until then" Gerald adds as he looks at Drake, "try your best not to slow us down".
"I've got it, don't worry" Drake says.
"Do you got it though?" Gerald asks. "Because I don't think you do...".
"Hey, I don't harass your crew" Ziya says. "Don't harass mine...".
"Then lead the way" Gerald says in a condescending tone, as he gestures his arm towards the corridor leading into the maze.
Ziya stands up and takes out her sledgehammer. She strikes the corner of the wall, at the entrance of the maze, and picks up a chunk of concrete that was broken off. "Alright" She says, "let's go". The team ventures into the maze, marking corners with the chunk of concrete. However, after turning the first corner, Ziya spotted a turret sitting in a corner that was aimed down the next corridor. She quickly retreats around the corner, taking cover from the sensors of this turret. "No good" she says, "there's another turret up ahead".
"Is it in close quarters?" Judy asks.
"Yeah, not too far from us" Ziya replies.
"Then, with it being in a closed off space" Judy says as she raises her shotgun, "this should be effective". Judy trades places with Ziya, and Judy began to stand at the edge of the corner, anticipating her shot. She takes one deep breath, then swiftly moves around the corner. In one swift movement, she gets on one knee, tightens the stock of the shotgun against her right shoulder and fires once at the turret. She immediately moved back around the corner to take cover from the turret in case she missed, slowly exhaling in relief.
"Did ya get it?" Chris asks.
Judy peeks around the corner and sees several scratches from the pellets all of the turret, as well as a shattered infrared sensor on the turret. "Y-Yeah..." Judy says, "I think I did".
"Only one way to know for sure..." Chris says as he slowly walks around the corner and stands in the middle of the corridor. However, nothing shot at him.
"You're insane..." Judy says.
"Heh heh Heh" Chris giggles, "am I?".
"What if I did miss?" Judy asks.
"Aw, you're worried about me?" Judy asks.
"Well... you do still have most of the rations..." Judy says as she smiles nervously.
"Well... it was almost a touching moment..." Chris says. "I'll take what I can get". Suddenly, Chris comes to a sudden realization. He frantically checks all of his pockets of his worn down and torn jumpsuit. In one of his pockets, he feels several crushed wrappers and something powdery. When he takes his hand out of his pocket, it was covered in his dry rations, degraded to a powdery form. "Oh no..." Chris says. Chris begins shuffling his hand around in his pocket, rigorously digging around for any rations that might have survived. However, there was none. "No! No no no no no!" Chris begins to panic.
"It's... all gone?" Judy asks.
"Must've been from the explosions" Drake says. "I guess it was wishful thinking, hoping that dry food would've survived an impact from something like that".
"You let the food get destroyed!?" Judy yells.
"Whoa, cool down!" Chris panics.
"Cool down!?" Judy yells again. "Cool down!? We need food to survive, you asshat! How many did you lose!?".
"Uhh... three?" Chris nervously replies.
"Tch!" Judy scoffs.
Judy begins stomping down the corridors of the maze. "Wait, where ya going?" Chris asks.
"Well have three rations worth of time less than we did previously..." Judy says in an angry voice. "Are you coming or not? We don't have much time to get out of here".
"Y-.... Yeah, that's fair" Chris says.
The team moves down the next corridor and come up to the next corner, which split in two different ways. They come up to the corner and begin to peek around both corners, as they decide which way to go. However, as Ziya, Judy, and Gerald come up to the corner, they hear a clicking sound as they sink less than an inch into the ground. The floor beneath them, in this intersection, was a pressure plate. As the three of them stepped on this plate, the walls around them began to shake and move suddenly. Ziya, Judy and Gerald got separated from the rest, as the walls all around them closed in. Drake tried to rush in before the walls closed, but he only managed to smack into the wall after it closed. As he leaned against the concrete wall, he could hear some banging coming from the other side. "Drake, are you there!?" Ziya asks with a muffled voice as she knocks on the wall.
"Yeah, I'm here, Zizi!" Drake replies.
"We're boxed in here!" Ziya says. "There's no exit here, but there might be a way to change the maze around again! Look around for another switch or pressure plate! We can't get out of here until you do!".
"Don't worry, Zizi!" Drake yells. "I'll get you out of there!".
"You done yelling?" Gregory asks.
"We need to find another switch" Drake says as she starts to walk the other way.
"You sure something like that will even get them out?" Chris asks.
"What do you mean?" Drake asks.
"Well, let's say you find that switch..." Chris says. "What if it puts them in another trap... or what if it puts us in a trap, while keeping us separated?".
"Either way, we have to try" Drake says.
"You're determined..." Chris says as he watches Drake stomp past the remainder of this team in anger.
"What else am I gonna do?" Drake asks as he continues walking. "Move on without my friend?".
Chris smiles, then says "Now that's what I'm talking about! Let's go to it".
Drake takes the lead, as the team roams around aimlessly. Chris suggests taking the lead, but Drake replies "We're looking for a trap, not an exit. You had luck on getting us out of here before, but what we need is to trigger all of the wrong things in this maze".
"Right... I get that, but..." Chris says.
"But nothing..." Drake interrupts. "We're moving".
Chris sighs, then says "At least check the corners first, for turrets".
Drake walks around the next corner without checking first, and comes face to face with a turret. It had looked like the turret was previously set to watch a corridor that was changed by the pressure plate. Now this turret was right against Drakes face. Without hesitating, Drake immediately stood between the two machine gun barrels of the turret, and the turret opened fire, missing every shot it made. Drake pulls out his pistol, and presses it against the sensor of the turret, then shoots it. The turret's firing slowed down dramatically, until it came to a sudden stop. "There. Done" Drake says as he walks the other way, his pistol still in his hand.
"I think he's lost his mind..." Gregory says.
"On the contrary..." Chris says as he studies Drake. "I think he just found his mind. If he has enough sense to be that focused on one goal, then there's still at least hope for him. That alone shows that he stills has at least some of his sanity left".