***
The next day.
Seth opened the emergency door slowly, afraid that there were rabbit monsters behind the door at any time. Seth peeked slowly. There was nothing behind the emergency exit, only an empty staircase leading to the lower floor.
"Where are you going?" asked Mia.
The woman was still in the place with Joanna. They thought this was a good place for them to stay until the game on the floor was over. Seth thought so, too, considering they had been there for more than a dozen hours, and there was no threat from the monsters.
Even so, Seth certainly couldn't stay there forever, especially after realizing the acquisition of life shards began to increase among the top parties in the standings. Now, Seth Party was fourth in the standings from its previous fifth position. Seth was about 68 shards of life away from the third-place party, Arcada.
"I'm going to go look for shards of life. You guys better not follow me," Seth explained.
"And leave you in danger out there? Of course, we can't do that. We're a group. We have to work together to achieve our victory," Mia said.
Joanna gasped in shock at Mia's words. She looked back, trying to question what Mia had just said. Mia's eyes returned to Joanna's doubtful gaze as if to show she was on Seth's side.
"You can't decide. Your life is entirely Joanna's responsibility. You should ask her if you want to do that," Seth said.
After seeing it was safe, Seth decided to take a big step out of the floor. The only way to get to the ground floor was down the stairs; there was no elevator or other faster way.
Mia paused, looking seriously at Joanna. She wanted to go after Seth, but Joanna seemed to be holding back, not wishing Mia any harm. Joanna knew very well that Mia still couldn't kill the rabbits, so she was worried Mia would be killed because of her anxiety.
"I can't let you go. It's pretty dangerous out there. Not only are the rabbit monsters hunting us, but the other groups are, too," Joanna explained.
"Then what if Seth gets killed? The group will disband, and we won't have anything here," Mia interjected, showing her dislike for Joanna.
"He's an expert with that gun. I'm sure he'll do just fine," Joanna said.
Mia clucked her tongue, insisting on leaving the place to get to Seth. However, Joanna held her back. That made Mia even more furious.
"If I can't go with Seth, then you can't protect me anymore!" threatened Mia.
She took the shotgun she kept behind her back, pointing the tip of the shotgun at her chin with an upward aim. Joanna was terrified while trying to calm Mia, who looked like she was about to act recklessly.
"Calm down, Mia. You don't have to do that," Joanna pleaded.
"Let me go, or you'll watch me die!" snapped Mia.
Joanna was silent, her head constantly turning back and forth from the direction of the emergency exit to Mia. Joanna's head was spinning violently. She had to decide something quickly so Mia wouldn't make the wrong decision.
"Alright. You can go but under my watch," Joanna pleaded.
Mia smiled widely. She lowered the shotgun from her chin as she dashed off the floor. She looked down when she reached the emergency stairs and saw Seth had almost reached the first floor.
"Wait, Seth!" shouted Mia.
The young woman strode quickly down the stairs, occasionally jumping on them so that she could catch up with Seth, who kept going away. Joanna had trouble keeping up with Mia's pace. For some reason, Joanna seemed to see Mia as if she was flying above the clouds.
"Mia, wait for me!" Joanna moaned.
Joanna finally made it downstairs to the lobby. The emergency door opened, revealing Seth and Mia talking in the room. Joanna needed to re-adjust the tempo of her breathing, which was ragged from descending hundreds of stairs from the eighth floor.
She saw the lobby was a complete mess, with human remains, cockroaches, and rabbit monsters scattered about. The floor of the room was stained with fluids from cockroach stomachs, human blood, and carnivorous rabbits.
"You also seem to have decided to come along, Joanna," Seth explained, looking to the side to realize Joanna was already in the same place as him.
"Mia insisted on coming, so I had no choice but to go with her," Joanna said.
"Alright. You should stay alert. I've planned a new destination, a hotel with five floors. I've been watching it last night; it seems the place is heavily populated by the game's participants," said Seth.
"Uh, we're not hunting the monsters?" asked Mia, surprised to hear Seth's purpose.
Seth smiled broadly with both hands reaching into the back pockets of his pants. He showed two pistols with fully charged plasma bars, "We're still going to hunt them down, and we're also going to hunt down the humans."
"If you can't kill humans, then don't get in my way. Do you understand?" Seth asked.
Joanna and Mia could only gape in shock, unable to believe what they had just heard from Seth. Joanna immediately jumped to protect Mia, protecting her from a murderous threat like Seth.
"How can you kill someone so easily? Have you lost your mind?!" Joanna moaned.
"This is a survival game, nor do the rules prohibit participants from killing each other. I'm sure the group leading the table is the group that probably killed more people than us," Seth explained.
"Did we kill other participants?" asked Joanna, curious.
"I did. The two participants on the third floor, I gave them a shot that perforated their bodies just to get a shard of life," Seth retorted.
"You fucking psychopath!" moaned Joanna, getting sick of Seth.
Seth turned his body around, staring at the front door of this office destroyed by the participants' attack on the monsters. Joanna and Mia looked speechless, not knowing what to do with Seth.
"I'm more of an opportunist than a psychopath. I maximize the opportunities I can get," Seth snapped.
"How's that? Do you still want to be with that killer?" asked Joanna.
Mia took a deep breath, trying to assuage the doubts that beset her heart at the moment. She then let out a long breath. After thinking hard enough about the good and bad of joining Seth, Mia decided to stay with him.
"We'll stay with him, but we won't commit murder like he did!"