As the team finally reaches floor 45, they see a more wide open arena. There was a lot less debris, as large chunks of concrete and rebar were a lot less common. It had looked like a few concrete pillars were destroyed and the debris from that were left behind, rather than a concrete complex of debris and rebar. There were still rebar poles and chunks of concrete to use as weapons, however, there also appeared to be Ka-Bar knives laying around. Though it were few and far between, combat knives were beginning to appear on the floors. In addition, there were also tall concrete barriers that one could easily hide behind for cover. This would allow some to sneak past the competition in order to keep the game progressing beyond this point. After a while of trekking through this floor, it was time for Drake, Ziya and Judy to rest as the other three watched out for them. As the three of them slept, Georgie and the others talked about their plan. "We could take on Judy easily while they slept" Jake says, "but the amount of lives the other two have would be the biggest problem".
"That's why we need more people on our team" Will says. "If we have more people, then no matter how many lives they have, we could take 'em down!".
"Correct, but think harder" Georgie says. "The girl says she's been through the game before. Whether or not she lyin', she was right about the floors changin' every five floors. If they added knives on floor 45, think about what we would have access to by floor 25".
"More people with more, and better, weapons" Will says. "At the right moment, we could keep them cornered and wipe them out".
"Right" Georgie says, "as well as buying time 'til then gives us the advantage. We'd have the benefit of the doubt by then. They could come ta slowly trust us".
"Just make sure to hoard all the weapons you can" Jake says. "We'll need them".
"So, why'd you join the team?" Will asks Judy after she, Drake and Ziya wake up.
"Because" Judy says, "when your back's to the wall, there isn't much room for mistakes, as well as not much room to complain when an opportunity is provided. Opportunity seldom shows itself, so when it does, you don't really have a right to complain about it. So here I am, against my better judgement".
"And why is a team against your better judgement?" Will asks.
"Because, I get the achy feeling that I'm not going to like any of you" Judy says.
"Are all ya women like this?" Georgie asks.
"Shut up, I think I hear someone" Drake says as he peeks around a corner. As Drake peeks around the corner, he sees a team of two people walking past the concrete wall they were hiding behind. "Zizi" Drake says, "you take the left, and I'll take the right".
Ziya nods at Drake, then the two run around opposite sides of the wall at the two people. The man Ziya attacked used a knife. As he swung the knife at Ziya, she used a rebar pole to counter. With her pole having a longer reach, she smacked the man's knuckles, breaking several of his fingers. He dropped the knife on the ground, which Ziya then used against him. As the man screamed in pain, holding onto the wrist of his hand with the broken fingers, Ziya drove the knife into his stomach. Causing the man to lean over from the pain of a knife wound, Ziya head-butt the man's nose and knocked him to the ground.
The man Drake attacked used rebar. However, Drake deflected the first attack with a rebar if his own. Using the force of the man's swing, Drake knocked the rebar out of his hands with his own rebar. As he dropped his weapon, Drake tackled him, grabbing onto his throat as holding on as his watch counted from "5" to "0".
As Drake focused on his target, Ziya kept slashing different parts of her target's body. As his watch counted down from "7" to "0", Ziya kept mutilating the man's body. When his watch finally reached "0" and his eyes opened for the last time, Ziya threw her knife right between the man's eyes. As she drops her weapon, Judy shouts "Watch out!" as she runs up to Ziya. A third man ran up to Ziya, but Judy used her shoulder to knock the man out of the air as he tried to jump onto Ziya. Knocking him to the ground, Judy kept stabbing the man in the heart until he stopped reviving.
"Thanks, Judy" Ziya says as she looks over at Judy.
"Don't sweat it" Judy replies, as she proceeded to check all of the pockets of the three dead men. "Tch, they barely had any food at all" Judy says as she checked the final pocket. Suddenly, Judy sits up and throws a little packaged, dry food at Drake. "Here, I don't like owing anybody" she says.
"Great, now our problems grow" Georgie says as he and the others walk out from behind the concrete wall.
"So... to the next floor?" Jake asks.
"Yeah... yeah, that should-" Ziya begins to say before she falls to her knees and vomits.
"Did all of that make you sick?" Will asks.
"No" Ziya says as she quickly throws dust and small rocks over her puddle of vomit, "Don't worry about it".
"Are you sure you're good to move on?" Judy asks.
"No point in waiting" Ziya says as she begins to stand. "Let's go". As she walks away, she takes one quick look at the vomit on the ground. A little bit of redness seeping out from her vomit, from under the small rocks. "Just an ulcer" she says quietly to herself, "you've still got time".
The team eventually makes it to Floor 44, although the fatigue was beginning to slow Ziya down. "I'll be damned" Georgie says. "These floors really are gettin' smaller. We're beginning to breeze past the floors now".
"Enjoy it while it lasts" Ziya says. "It won't be very easy to just run through the floors eventually".
"Think we can make it to the next floor before we need to rest?" Will asks.
"We should be able to" Jake says.
"Are you sure you're okay to keep moving?" Drake asks Ziya.
"Don't worry" Ziya says, "I'm fine".
"It's strangely quiet on this floor" Judy says. "Lately, it's been getting quieter and quieter. Do you think most of the competition has already died off?".
"Unlikely" Ziya says. "By now, most of the others have probably already gotten the idea that they need to preserve energy, rather than attack wildly. The ones that are alive from here on out are the ones better at survival. Do not, under any circumstances, drop your guard".
"Question" Will says, "if you've been through this before, then do you know how many people might usually make it to the top floor?".
"Not many make it to the twentieth floor" Ziya says. "In my experience, no one even made it to floor 1 in the last game".
"They didn't?" Drake asks.
"Game ended on floor 12" Ziya says. "There were only two of us on floor 12. By that time, most of the team members of all the different teams died off. Either by treachery or starvation".
"So that's why they allow teams?" Jake asks. "Because of betrayal and starvation?".
"Not like they can do anything about it" Ziya says. "Who would they hire to come inside the game, just to tell people not to form teams?".
"Someone like you?" Jake asks.
Ziya glares at Jake with an emotionless expression. "She didn't tell us to not form a team, to be fair" Drake says. "She told me not to trust you guys in specific, which I don't".
"I hate this game almost as much as I hate you" Ziya says to Jake. "One more accusation like that, and I'll personally make sure you don't reach the next floor".
"Well, I'm helping you get out of this game, aren't I?" Jake asks. "I'd say, if anything, you should be thanking us for our interest in finding a way out of here. You just keep bulldozing away all the competition, and we'll help find a way to escape this hell".
After a while of talking, they arrived at the stairs that lead up to floor 43. "Don't forget" Ziya says. "We have a common goal. We're only together to achieve that goal. We are not friends. As long as you keep your end of the bargain, I'll keep you alive".
"Yer always so very meticulous, aren't ya?" Georgie asks.
"I'm surprised you can understand a word with that many syllables" Ziya says as she turns around and begins to walk up the stairs.
"I'm surprised yer still such a twat" Georgie says.
"Wait up!" Will says as he begins to run up the stairs after Ziya. "We need to find somewhere to rest for a bit. I have no idea how long we've been walking, but I'm getting sore here".
"Sounds like a personal problem" Ziya says.
"Just let them rest" Judy says. "If they sleep, then we don't have to hear them talk".
"... Good point" Ziya says.
As Georgie, Jake and Will go to sleep, Drake, Ziya and Judy stay up to watch out for them. "So how far do you think we'll have to go before we can figure out a way out of here?" Drake asks.
"That depends" Ziya says. "If that rumor of someone who managed to escape turns out to be true, we'll have to find out how and where they managed to escape from. However, we are deep underground. My guess is, we'll likely have to make our way to the top floor to pull off anything like that".
"And once we're out?" Judy asks. "I'm assuming you still want me to stick around for that information".
"If you would, that would make this easier" Ziya says. "I plan on taking up... grievances with the governor. You, Judy, as well as Drake... I actually like you two. Drake is a friend of mine, but you have information as well as wit. You seem capable".
"As for your grievances?" Judy asks.
"As long as I can have what I need set up" Ziya says, "I'll take that matter into my own hands. I just want to know how and when to strike. After that point, you won't need to help with anything else".
"That much I'm actually willing to help with" Judy says. "I have my own personal vendetta against the governor".
"As for me?" Drake asks.
"You won't need to do anything" Ziya says. "You still need to recover your memories. I'm assuming you'll have your own goals to manage, that is, assuming you won't recover from your amnesia by the time we can get out of here".
"He has amnesia?" Judy asks.
"Yeah" Ziya says. "I can remember him, but he can't remember me".
"How'd you get here?" Judy asks Drake. "In Pyramid, I mean. You guys said you weren't on death row?".
"Well, it's a weird story" Drake says, "but I didn't think about it too much until now. Now that I think about it, it seems likely those rumors about an escapee is true".
"Why do you say that?" Ziya asks.
"Not long after losing my memories" Drake says, "a man with a watch approached me. He slipped this watch I'm wearing now off of his wrist. Looked like he broke his own fingers or something to get it off. Then he slapped the watch on me, and I was taken by some people in suits. Suddenly, I ended up here".
"So the watches can also track our locations then?" Judy asks.
"I think so, yeah" Drake says.
"Good to know" Judy says. "We'll need to get these off before planning an attack on the governor".
"Keep them on for now, at least" Ziya says. "Regardless of being able to be tracked, we can use our Respawn counters for scare tactics. The high numbers alone can deter most attackers. For now, this will be a useful tool as we progress".
"Right..." Drake says as he looks down at his watch, the number "20" shining in red numbers. "By the way, what's your lives at?".
"Seven" Judy says.
"Ninety, again" Ziya says. "Back to where I started".
"You two are insane!" Judy says.
"To be fair" Ziya says, "most of his lives were taken from me by another guy".
"Are those three going to wake up soon?" Drake asks as he looks over at the other three members of the team. "We'll need to move through these floors as fast as we can, if we're going to get out of here".
"Yeah" Ziya says, "more than forty more floors to run through, and not a whole lot of time. Food is already becoming an issue, and starvation is probably the worst way to go for a Respawn user".
"How so?" Drake asks.
"When you use a Respawn after starving to death" Judy says, "your body fully heals what damages were done that lead to your death, as well as other damages sustained within a certain time period before your death. For instance, if you lost a limb as you were being choked to death or something, you'd grow your limb back. However, with starving, your stomach would fully heal. The bad part is, while your innards are once again intact, your hunger has not gone away. You'll immediately begin starving again. The more lives you have, the worse it becomes, as the pain tends to be unbearable".
"That's the main issue at hand" Ziya says. "We're limited on time. However, if we allow hunger to control us, and we killed each other off, the game would end faster. This would only serve to have one of us thrown into the game again, only to fail. Our only option is to keep the game running, so we can get out of here before being thrown back into the game".
"Then the three idiots do serve a purpose after all?" Drake asks.
"As much as I hate to admit it" Ziya says, "they do serve a purpose. Still, I'd look out for them if I were you. I can't trust them for anything".
"Point taken" Drake says.
Judy looks up at the large numbers "43" painted on the walls of this floor. "Floor 43" She says. "Seven down, forty-two to go. With the floors getting smaller, it should be relatively easier to pass through".
"That is, until the floors make bigger changes" Ziya says. "The game masters will do anything to keep the game interesting. Mazes, terrain... you name it. This game starts off crazy, but it only gets crazier".
"Do they ever leave out food?" Judy asks. "Weapons are nice, but we're going to need some food".
"It's rare" Ziya says, "but you can occasionally find food. However, there's usually only enough food for one or two people. The point of it is to keep people fighting for the food, for their survival. I know of one crazy person who's managed to live in this arena for an extended period of time. Lucky for him, he's good at finding food. Unlucky for us, he's the one who usually finds it".
"Chris..." Drake says.
"That's the one" Ziya says.