Seth continued to walk down the stairs from the rooftop location of the office building. His steps came to a halt at the sight of a closed metal door leading to the eighth floor.
"Mia," Seth called out.
Mia responded by walking over and putting the cloth bag containing the green stone back into her bag. Mia's eyes were focused on Seth, who called out to her.
"Get your shotgun ready," Seth requested.
"Alright," Mia replied, pulling out the shotgun she kept behind her back, pointing the muzzle towards the metal door Seth was about to open.
Seth counted down from five. When the countdown was over, the man opened the door fast. Mia focused her eyes, looking at the inside of the room on the eighth floor that seemed empty for the workers' area.
"Keep your guard up, Mia," Seth said firmly.
His right hand reached for the laser pistol holstered in the back of his pants, walking in cautiously while pointing the gun forward. There was no one in the place, not even in every room on the floor.
"Go to each room, Mia. Close the curtains and shut the windows tightly," Seth ordered.
Mia nodded, carrying out Seth's orders immediately. She could only rely on Seth, as he was far more experienced than her.
As Seth was about to walk towards the emergency exit, the man's ears faintly heard a clattering step from behind the emergency exit. The emergency exit and the door connected to the roof were much different, so Seth could clearly identify them.
The emergency door made of iron with a dominant red color opened roughly, a woman fell down with a pale face, constantly screaming as if she was frightened of something.
The woman with shoulder-length hair, colored dusky red like a wilted rose, was face down on the floor. She appeared to be wearing simple clothes, with a vest and shorts full of pockets.
Her appearance was professional, with the fearful demeanor typical of a child. From those two things, Seth was sure the woman before him was Joanna.
"Joanna?" asked Seth, reflexively.
Hearing her name called made the woman look up, staring at Seth, who was standing tall while pointing his laser gun at the woman. The woman's face was deathly pale, which was natural according to Seth since she had a fear of insects, especially roaches.
"Who is she, Seth?" asked Mia, coming in after doing her assigned task.
"She's the woman who was previously with me, right before we both died being ripped apart by those bugs," Seth replied, holstering his pistol as he walked towards the open emergency exit.
"Don't go there. Those cockroaches, they're chasing me," Joanna shouted.
"Of course, they're chasing you. Cockroaches are insects that can detect when someone is scared," Seth replied.
"The more scared you are, the more ferociously they will chase you," Seth continued.
Seth arrived inside the emergency exit, which looked empty and silent. He looked down. There was no way the cockroaches were chasing Joanna all the way into this place; their sheer size made it impossible to squeeze through.
The man looked back, precisely at Joanna, who was being soothed by Mia, "Did you see any other participants hiding in this building?"
Joanna was still silent, hands and feet shaking in fear, with both eyes looking blank. Seth sighed quietly, re-holstering his laser pistol as he walked towards Joanna.
PLAK!
Seth gave a hard slap to Joanna's dreamy face, making the trembling in her arms and legs disappear. Joanna's right cheek reddened with one hand seemingly clutching it.
Mia gasped in surprise with wide eyes, having no idea that Seth would slap the woman in her arms right now, "You?"
The man raised his head, his eyes looking seriously at Mia, who was behind Joanna, "What? I did the same thing to her before."
"Why did you slap me?" asked Joanna, shocked.
"To wake you up from your overwhelming fear. You are safe. Now tell me, are there any other participants hiding in this building?" asked Seth.
"I don't know, I didn't have time to check each floor," Joanna explained.
Seth recalled earlier the moment when the roof in the eighth-floor room collapsed because the weight on it was too heavy. Seth and Joanna went through the emergency exit to get to the ground floor, but before that, he reached the third floor and saw that the insects had already taken over the floor.
"I'll be right back," Seth said.
"Where are you going?" asked Mia, worried.
"To look into something."
Seth picked up his laser pistol again, walking down the stairs from the top to the bottom. The man's walk stopped when he saw a red door labeled emergency exit with the floor number displayed above the door, number 3.
He took a deep breath, trying to prepare himself for what might happen behind the door. He broke in with both hands holding the laser pistol, pointing it forward where two participants were taking cover in the area, yet to enter one of the rooms.
"Who are you?" asked one of the two people, both men.
"Did you just come?" asked Seth, breathing a sigh of relief as he lowered his pistol.
"No, we didn't. We've been hiding," replied the man.
Seth walked around, ignoring the two men, checking each room. They really hadn't been careful. The glass windows were still freely open without curtains. Seth sighed lightly as he walked in to close one window after another with curtains.
"What are you doing?" the man asked, confused by Seth's attitude.
"Those bugs will crawl up the walls of this building. They can easily break this one," Seth said, pointing at the glass window beside him.
"So, close all the windows with curtains so that the cockroaches can't see or detect your presence," Seth continued.
"Alright," said the two men, thankful for the information provided by Seth.
Just before Seth returned to the top floor, he asked the two participants about the green stone shards of life. Both of them carelessly pointed out that they each had five of those shards of life.
"Is that so? Such a pity you had to show it to me," said Seth.
"Why?" asked one of the men, asking innocently.
Seth raised his laser pistol, firing two shots at the man's body. His body was perforated in the chest and thighs, making him fall into a pool of his own blood.
DOR!
"DAMN IT!"
He also fired the pistol in his left hand at the dead man's colleague. One shot hit the man in the head, creating a hole in his round face that looked like a doughnut.
"Sorry. I was trying to win this game!"