Respawn: Last Man Standing

Chapter XIV: Gerald

The team followed Chris through the maze, with hopes that his apparent stroke of luck wouldn't run out before they made it out of the mazes. However, even Chris began to lose hope after a while. After several hours of walking through the maze at random, they kept arriving in places they've already been, marked with arrows scratched onto the walls by a chunk of concrete that Ziya is still holding onto. After so long of marking all of the corridors they've passed through, every twist and turn they had made was through a corridor they've already been through. They tried turning every direction that they haven't tried, but to no avail. They only wound up back where they started again. That is, until eventually they made one last change of direction. They ventured deep into the maze again, and made one turn around a corner that they haven't marked yet. The last corridor that hasn't been visited yet. Although it was the last hope of them making it out of the maze, they were met with a rather unpleasant surprise. After turning the corner, they met a group of four people. At the front of that group was Gerald. "Wrong turn?" Gerald asks with a weary smile on his face.
"It's you again!" Ziya says as she jumps back and puts her hand over her submachine gun.
"Not so quick, slick" Gerald say as he raises one hand in a show of surrender, then leans against the wall, sliding down until he was in a sitting position. Gerald exhales deeply, then says "I'm really not up for this". Gerald looks over at Ziya and says "Hey, I thought you guys died off already. I was about to be disappointed, especially if you had managed to lose all of those lives somehow in just a couple floors".
"What makes you say that?" Ziya asks, her hand still hovering over the grip of her gun. "And what gives? Taking a rest in front of your enemy like that...".
"I told you" Gerald says, waving his hand in the air, "I'm really not up for this right now. I thought when we spotted one of your teammates, that someone managed to finish you all off... yet, here you are, over half of your team gone, all the way down to Floor 17, and... where's your watch?".
"Same could be said about you" Ziya says, "where's the rest of your team?".
  "Dead" Gerald says calmly. "I assume the same story on your end?".
  "If that story is that of betrayal" Judy says, "then yes".
  "Guess we had the same result but a different story then" Gerald says. "No betrayal on my end, though casualties have happened... I assume our meeting means that we're moving the wrong way?".
  "We covered every hall, every corner and everything in between" Chris says. "There's nothing in that direction".
  "Then we're all lost" Gerald says as he sighs. "Wanna make a deal?".
  "A deal?" Drake asks. "We get turned against by most of our team, and you expect us to make a deal with someone who promised to try and kill us later?".
  "Oh yeah- no... I am most definitely still looking forward to us fighting later" Gerald says. "There's no point in lying about that here, however, this maze isn't the right place for that, nor do I have the energy to do so at the time. I lack motivation".
  "And what's stopping me from killing you now?" Ziya asks.
  "The fact that I can also decide to look the other way" Gerald says. "I've heard some... interesting stuff from your friend back there. What was that redneck's name?".
  "Georgie" Drake says, "and he's not a friend".
  "Right... Georgie" Gerald says. "He seemed tough, but man did he squeal! What an interesting target... put up a fight at first, but he really wasn't much to behold".
  "Not surprising" Ziya says. "He was shiesty for sure, but that's all he really had going for him".
  "He said something about a... crazy bitch and her boyfriend trying to find a way out of this game?" Gerald asks.
  "What business is it of yours?" Drake asks. "... also... boyfriend?".
  "Don't sweat the details" Gerald says, "just repeating what I heard. However, if you're looking for a way out, you suddenly have my interest held in a new light. It's actually rather conflicting, if you ask me-".
  "We aren't asking you" Drake says.
  "You see" Gerald continues, ignoring Drake's input, "I'm rather interested in what the player with the highest Respawn count is like in a fight. I'm so interested in it, that I can't accept just watching it, I want to experience it first hand".
  "So... you want to die?" Ziya asks.
  "Pfft- haha! I like you! I really do!" Gerald says. "However, I'm also interested in seeing this through... this... breakout you have planned. So, how about a deal? No strings attached, no protection deals... just a simple and upfront deal".
  "No" Ziya says firmly.
  "You sure?" Gerald asks. "It is a most interesting deal. We can get out of this maze... both of us are four men strong in group size, both teams have our assets... we can make it out of here. After that, I promise to keep my group separate from yours, and all I want is to see you guys break out of here".
  "And then?" Ziya asks. "Let you attack us?".
  "No no no no no" Gerald says, "we can have a duel!".
  "A... duel?" Drake asks.
  "It's not going to be... educational enough for me if we just ambush you for an easy kill" Gerald says. "We get out of here, you can even set the stage if you want... then... we duel. Simple as that".
  "And if we refuse?" Ziya asks.
  Gerald pulls out a revolver and says "Then we duel here, of course". On his watch, the number "91" shown in bright red. Although they didn't know it, Gerald now had one more Respawn than Ziya. "So... whatcha say?".
  Ziya thinks for a minute, then turns around to talk with the others. "You think we can take 'em?" Ziya asks.
  "With that many lives?" Judy asks. "I think that's too risky!".
  "I think accepting any deals in Pyramid are too risky" Chris says.
  "Yeah, but you probably have plenty of lives" Drake says. "Judy and I don't really have much ground to stand on here!".
  "Right!" Judy says.
  "So, now we have to deduce if we think he'll be true to his word" Ziya says. "Obviously we can't trust him, but do you think he just might be crazy enough to actually carry out such a ridiculous promise?".
  "There's no way to know for sure" Judy says. "He's in the way here, and I'm pretty sure he won't let us just walk away without taking his deal... He only let us through the first time because we indirectly accepted his deal!".
  "We also don't know what kind of firepower they're carrying" Chris adds. "Fighting them now would be trying to take a chance on if we do or do not have better weapons. Joining their forces temporarily would be taking a chance on if they will or will not keep their end of the bargain. However, if they do keep their word, then we'll at least have a chance to study them as we go along".
  "The way I see it" Drake says, "we don't actually have a choice. We either fight them now, or take a chance to fight them later. If they turn out to not stay true to their word, then we'll still have to fight them now anyways. At least with one option, we have a chance to ready ourselves... a chance, if that, only if they keep their word".
  "The man seems obsessive" Ziya says. "I don't think he'll keep his word after all, but I do at least think what Drake said makes sense. We can take a chance, but on one condition". Ziya then turns around, then asks Gerald "Can I add a condition to the deal?".
  "That depends on the condition" Gerald says.
  "We can keep one of our members in the back of the group" Ziya says. "Someone to keep eyes on you, as we try to make it out of Pyramid".
  "Ah, clever" Gerald says. "Trying to cover all bases to make sure the deal doesn't go wrong. I like it. Alright, I'll allow this condition, so is it a deal?".
  "Deal" Ziya says. Ziya turns to Chris and says "You stay in the back and keep watch over them, got it?".
  "Alright" Chris says, "but why me?".
  "Because" Ziya says, "I still don't like looking at your face, and you have the best weapons out of all of us. We don't want to take a chance on them being able to take away our best firepower. If they fight back at any point, we'll be counting on you to pull us out of that situation".
  "Also the food" Judy says. "We don't want them stealing our food".
  "It's always the food with you, isn't it?" Chris asks.
  "Are you done?" Gerald asks. "I don't wanna sit here forever".
  "Yeah, let's move" Ziya says.
  After walking down a corridor for a while, Gerald points down a corner and says "We came from that way, so we should go the other way for now and see how that goes". Ziya marks the walls with her concrete. "What are you doing?" Gerald asks.
  "Marking where we came from" Ziya says.
  "Good thinking" Gerald says. "Anyways, this should lead to a new area. So follow me".
  After a while of walking in the silence, Ziya asks Gerald "So what did happen to your team? Half of you are missing".
  "It's impossible to think you can take on so much without losing something" Gerald says. "This much as is true to life as it is true for Pyramid. We took on too many teams at once. Our one saving grace was that they also fought each other. Only half of us made it out, but with us, we took all of their combined Respawns. Then we ran into that teammate of yours. He had quite the mouth".
  "So how'd you end up here?" One of the men in Gerald's team asks.
  "Long story, and I don't feel like sharing that right now" Ziya says.
  "That reminds me" Gerald says, "I've given you my name, but I don't think you've been introduced to the others. This tall man to my right with the body builder physique is named Gregory. We just call him either Gregor or Greg. This skinny tall man here is named Micheal, and the shorter one is Tyler".
  "Yo..." Gregory says unenthusiastically as he raises one hand.
  "Don't worry" Gerald says, "they don't talk much, but much like you, everyone has a story. There's always a reason for what we do, although not everyone can understand someone's reasoning".
  "And what's yours?" Ziya asks.
  "I don't feel like sharing that story right now" Gerald says with a smirk.
  "Smartass" Ziya says.
  "I think we're going to get along just fine..." Gerald says. "That is, of course, until we try to kill each other".
  "Yeah... thanks for the reminder" Ziya says.

  After venturing for many more hours, they all finally arrive at the next set of stairs. They take a rest on the next floor and continue moving again. After one group rested, the other group took their time to rest, with one person from each team staying awake while their team rests in order to watch the other team. It was clear that both teams expected the other team to make a move, however, neither of them were willing to make the first move. There was a stable tension in the air between the two teams, however, they kept moving together nonetheless. The next maze on Floor 16 took them a long time to make any progress on. They ventured through the same halls over and over, just like with the previous floor. Eventually, they decided to take another rest after coming to a wide open room within the middle of the maze. With half of this maze cleared, many walls marked with concrete and many hours spent on this one floor, neither team had the energy nor will to fight. Regardless, both teams remained vigilant in their suspicions of the other team. Like this, they would make progress throughout Pyramid, though made with tension.