The team continues moving through this maze after a short rest. They turned down many corridors and took many different turns, but always kept ending up at the same location somehow. "This is the third time we've seen this same place, since we started moving again" Judy says. "What the hell are we doing wrong?".
"It definitely wasn't this hard before" Chris says. "Do you think the maze is changing somehow?".
"How'd you get through it so fast the first time?" Drake asks Chris.
"Well, I wouldn't exactly call it fast..." Chris says, "but I just kind of moved randomly".
Drake pushes Chris to the front of the group, then says "You lead us then!".
"Hey, I'm not that bad at directions!" Ziya complains.
"Well, what we're doing now isn't working!" Drake says. "We have to change something up, or we'll never make it through here".
"I'm sorry that there's not a sun or something I can use to tell which direction we're facing!" Ziya complains again.
"Look" Judy says, "no offense, but I'm with Drake on this. We need to switch things up for now".
Ziya crosses her arms and follows behind Chris. She isn't taking a liking to the idea of having Chris lead them at all. "Well?" Ziya says to Chris. "Where to now?".
Chris shrugs his shoulders, then points straight forward and says "This way, I guess?". Chris leads them around for a while until they come across a wide open area within the maze. In the middle there were some bullet shells and blood, but no body on the ground. Chris picks up one of the shells and inspects it for a quick second. "Parabellum" he says. "Nine millimeter rounds... looks like whoever was here hasn't found a new weapon yet, at least".
"Either that, or they've found a better weapon and no longer care for their nine millimeter anymore" Ziya says.
"That's possible" Chris says. "It's stupid... but it's possible".
"Come on" Drake says, "we've at least made progress. We found a new area we haven't seen yet, so we're definitely getting somewhere".
"Right" Chris says as he stands up. "Let's get moving then". As the team exits the open area, and enter the maze again, they found a trail of blood moving down the corridors. Every few steps, there was a couple drops of blood, making a trail throughout the maze. "Looks like someone got the Royal Treatment".
"What the hell does that mean?" Judy asks.
"It looks like whoever was here, was toyed with" Chris says. "By the looks of it, they were probably shot just for fun. Whoever attacked them didn't finish them off".
"That's a fun thought to let rest on our minds" Drake says sarcastically.
"Should we follow the trail?" Chris asks.
"No" Ziya says sternly.
"Oh come on, Ziya" Chris says. "Where's your sense of adventure?".
"Sense of adventure..." Ziya says with a disappointed look on her face. "We're stuck in a game where people kill each other for competition and apparently for fun now, while starving, getting lost in several mazes, running out of water, constantly waiting to be attacked at every turn and losing hope... and you want me to have a sense... of adventure?".
"Fair point" Chris says, "counter point, I'm following it anyways".
"But-" Ziya argues.
"No buts" Chris says, "I'm finding us a way out, remember? The likelihood that they managed to escape is slim, but there's also the chance that we'll find out where other people are or where they have been. Taking that into account, it can narrow down the possibilities of which way the exit is".
"Figures" Ziya says, "leave it to the only person crazier than I am to lead us to certain doom...".
"Enough grumbling" Chris says, "let's move".
They follow the blood trail for a long while. Eventually the blood trail seems to end when it's met with a large dried pool of blood. When the team went to go check around the corner that the pool of blood ended at, they found a wide open area at the end of the maze, with the stairs to the next floor. "You've got to be fucking kidding me..." Ziya says.
"I told you" Chris says, "you just need to have a sense-".
"Don't" Ziya says as she rubs her forehead in frustration. "Don't say it".
"I'll be damned" Drake says. "There's the exit...".
"I'm both amazed and disappointed" Judy says, "yet thankful all at the same time. This loony actually pulled us through...".
"So, on to Floor 19? Anyone?" Chris asks with a smug look.
"Oh, I'm so gonna hit you" Ziya says as she looks up at Chris. "Just you wait".
"What did I do?" Chris asks. Ziya walks past him and begins going up the stairs ahead of him. "What... did I do?" Chris asks again.
After the team moves up the stairs, Drake says "However left that trail of blood is probably still alive. There's no body anywhere, so something must be wrong here".
"Agreed" Ziya says. "I doubt someone would just let someone get away with their life like that in this game".
"Don't worry so much" Chris says. "I know our position is... well, better left unsaid, but the more you worry needlessly, the worse you make it for yourself. Just, follow behind me, alright?".
For a while, the team moves throughout the maze. They still mark which corners they turn down by scratching an arrow into the walls. They went in a circle a few times, but eventually they found another wide open area in the middle of the maze. This time, they saw both blood and a body. There, lying on the ground was Georgie, laying on his left side. The team looks at each other in confusion for a moment, then Ziya slowly walks up to Georgie. She winds up her leg and kicks Georgie really hard in the stomach to roll him onto his back. Georgie's body rolls over and exposes his watch. His watch was turned off and no longer showed any numbers. "He's dead" Ziya says. "He sure didn't get far before finding trouble".
"Serves him right" Judy says.
"But now we have another problem" Drake says. "He got away with so many lives... so who has them now?".
"Does he still have any food left?" Judy asks.
Ziya pats all of Georgie's pockets, checking everywhere for anything he might have. "Nope" she says, "nothing. No food, no more bullets, no gun, no weapons... even his canteen is empty".
"No food, no water and no supplies" Chris says. "Well, I guess that much is to be expected. Come on, we're not taking a rest just yet".
The team continues onward. Eventually, they came across another clearing inside the maze. In that clearing, Chris found another revolver. He throws it carefully at Ziya and says "Here, take it. This one can be yours".
"Oh, uh..." Ziya begins to says.
"We only need two more now" Chris says. "That way we can each have a better weapon".
"But I already have an SMG" Ziya says.
"Oh... right" Chris says.
"Here, Drake" Ziya says as she hands it over to Drake. "You take it".
Drake takes the gun and opens the revolving chamber. "It has no bullets" Drake says.
"We'll worry about that later" Chris says.
"No, I'm pretty worried about that now..." Drake says.
Eventually, they make it to Floor 18, where they decided to take their next rest. However, their rest was cut short when they were woken up to the sound of gunshots. Waking up in a panic, everyone immediately checks their surroundings to make sure the shooter wasn't anywhere near them. The area was clear, but gunshots were still going off somewhere deep in the maze. Chris stands up and begins to move towards the sound of the gunshots. "What are you doing!?" Ziya asks.
"Checking it out" Chris says. "If we move fast enough, we may be able to get some supplies, as well and maybe even find a way out of here faster".
"You're insane!" Ziya says. "That won't work out so well!".
"Remember the last time you thought something like that?" Chris asks. "And we ended up getting off of the first floor in this maze?".
Ziya clenched her fists in anger, then starts groaning. She walks up to Chris and punches him in the face, then says "Fine! We'll go in, but don't get us caught up in a fight! I'm too tired for combat right now, and I don't feel like dealing with people at all!".
"Okay, messaged received!" Chris says, rubbing his face.
The team moves in quietly, trying to follow to where the sounds of gunshots were echoing from. Eventually, they come across another clearing. There, they found three dead men on the ground, and that man they've met before. Gerald, who met them in the towns before this maze. However, his team was now a lot smaller. It was just him and two others now, and it wasn't his teammates that he just killed. He and the two others leave out of the opposite side of the clearing from Drake and the rest. Waiting until enough time has passed for them to be far enough away, the team decided to start moving again so they wouldn't have to be caught up in another fight.
"Did they leave anything this time?" Judy asks, immediately checking the bodies.
Chris was also checking the bodies. Eventually, he stands upright and says "Nothing... they took it all, even the water".
"Same here" Judy says. "This guy has nothing on him either".
"I guess this solves the mystery of who was behind Georgie's death" Drake says.
"This could be really bad" Ziya says.
"What makes you say that?" Chris asks.
"Those guys got caught in a crossfire of multiple teams in the ghost towns from earlier" Ziya says. "Even if they seem to be missing a couple team members, if any of them could survive that... then they have to be dangerous".
"Oh yeah" Judy says, "he's the one who let us get away, isn't he?".
"Yeah" Ziya says. "I'm assuming he doesn't plan to let us get away a second time. If Georgie had all of those Respawns and lost them to Gerald... then that likely means he has nearly one-hundred lives by now. With those skills and that many lives, I'd rather avoid him at all costs".
"Then avoid him we shall" Chris says. "We should find those stairs before they do. If we can get ahead of them, then all we have to do is keep up our speed and we'll never have to see him again".
"Right, then let's move" Ziya says.
Eventually, after moving around while feeling exhausted, they come to the exit of maze. "Do you think we made it to the stairs before the others?" Drake asks.
"I would sure hope so" Ziya says.
"One more thing before we leave" Chris says.
"We don't have time!" Ziya says.
"No, it's just right there" Chris says as he points towards the far left corner between the wall of the maze and the wall of the stairs. There, they could see what looked like a tunnel that was dug into the wall. The tunnel was now shallow, and looked to have been recently filled with new cement. The concrete filling the tunnel was a slightly different shade of gray than the rest of the walls. "You see" Chris says, "this is where that man escaped from. Problem is, the tunnel was deeper last time I was here. Also, there was left over pieces of a sewage pipe left inside of the tunnel that was dug into here. Somehow, someone managed to fill this hole in during the timespan that this game has been running".
"Do you think that have maintenance shafts throughly Pyramid?" Ziya asks.
"It's possible" Chris says. "However, I'd assume this wall is too think to tunnel all of the way through, if that's what you're thinking. As well as, if they'd take the time to reinforce the walls of this maze with rebar, then they've likely done that to all of the walls in Pyramid".
"And we don't have anything that can breach rebar..." Ziya says.
"Not yet" Chris says. "We haven't been to the top floors... maybe we can find something there".
Drake sighs, then says "Here's to hoping then".