The day Ziya first entered Pyramid was much like Drake's entry in Pyramid. However, when she ran towards the first flight of stairs, her pathway was blocked off by many other people who were in the midst of a large scale battle between each other. Using this to her advantage, she crept away towards the center of the arena. Fearing for her life, she continued to avoid the others. She spent a day and a half on the first floor alone, when suddenly she was approached by a couple of people. "You don't exactly look like you belong here" Chris says as the two of them approach. "What's someone of your stature doing in a place like Pyramid?".

"Watch it, she could be dangerous" a girl named Mariah says as she holds her arm out in front of Chris. "Remember the deal. You hunt for the food, I hunt for the weapons. Once we get to the higher floors, we split up and forget we ever met. We don't need a third person with us for that".

As the two of them talked, Ziya nervously tried walking backwards, hoping they wouldn't notice. However, she tripped on a small chunk of concrete and fell down. Immediately, Chris and Mariah looked at Ziya as she tried to crawl backwards out of fear. "You kidding me?" Chris asks, "you think that could be dangerous?".

Chris tried to walk up to Ziya and stretch an arm out to help her up. "S-stay back!" Ziya yells.

"Look, girly" Chris says, "I'm not as interested in participating in the killing part of this game. I focus more on survival... and you? You just don't seem like you're worth the effort".

"I doubt she would listen to you" Mariah says. "Look at her watch. She doesn't have any Respawns. She's at zero lives left, and she's definitely already seen how brutal some of the other convicts are".

"Fair" Chris says as he pulls his arm away. "I don't know what she did to get here, but she doesn't seem like the murdering type".

"She doesn't look like much of a criminal at all" Mariah says.

"What makes you say that?" Chris asks.

"Not sure..." Mariah says. "You can just... feel one of your own kind, y'know?". Suddenly, Mariah looks down at Ziya with an emotionless face. "How'd you get in this game? You're wearing the uniform, but you're not a convict, are you?".

Ziya shakes her head no. "Not a convict?" Chris asks. "Should we help her? It doesn't seem right if we just... let the game masters get away with throwing any old person in this game".

"Don't even bother" Mariah says as she turns around. "Just another mouth to feed".

"Then... wouldn't that mean it'd be my job to take care of her?" Chris asks. "I am the one gathering food, after all".

"You want to keep it?" Mariah asks with a scoff. "What is she, a dog?". Chris simply shrugs in response, then Mariah says "Do what you want. It won't be my responsibility, whatever happens to the girl".

"Wanna come with us?" Chris asks as he looks at Ziya. Ziya begins to shake a little, then Chris says "Don't worry, we won't attack you... or, I won't, at the very least".

"I can hear you" Mariah says. "I'm not some monster that just indiscriminately kills people!".

"Correct" Chris says, "you choose your targets".

"For a price!" Mariah adds. "A price, Chris!".

"Unlicensed mercenary work is still a federal crime, Mariah" Chris says.

"You didn't wine when we were making cash" Mariah says. Mariah then looks at Ziya. "Get on your feet, you little brat!" She says, "are you coming or not!?".

After a while of traveling, they pass several floors. Days have passed, though, none of them were aware of the passage of time outside of the game. Ziya hasn't said a single word since the time Chris and Mariah found her. Eventually, this grew to anger Mariah. "Hey, brat!" She says as they walk, "why are you so quiet!?".

"Um..." Ziya says nervously.

"I don't think she'll have anything to say to us" Chris says. "Just leave her be".

"At the very least, you could tell us how you got here" Mariah says.

Ziya remained quiet, unable to find the courage to speak up. "If it's a story you want, Mariah" Chris says, "then maybe we should rest for a bit. I imagine it'll take some time to explain it, and I'm a little worn out".

The three of them find a hiding spot to rest for a little while. Mariah crouches in front of her, then asks "Well?". Ziya was unable to find the right words to say at first, and this only served to make Mariah even more impatient with her. "Dammit, spill it already!" Mariah yells, causing Ziya to flinch.

"Whoa, relax" Chris says. "At least start with your name".

"Z-Ziya... Zimmerman" Ziya says.

"Ziya, huh?" Chris asks. "Start from the beginning. How'd you get here?".

Ziya gulps nervously, then starts off her story with "It all began when my father was murdered". Ziya proceeded to explain the story of how she got here. How she had met the governor, how she lost her first Respawn before even knowing she was a Respawn user, and everything in between.

After she had finished her story, there was a short pause of silence. Eventually, Mariah spoke up, saying "Then it looks like you'll need to learn how to fight".

"Mariah!" Chris says.

"No no, if she's going to stay with us, she'll need to pull her weight" Mariah says. "Look kid, if you want to stick around, I'll show you how to fight. Deal?".

Ziya nervously nods her head. "Mhm" she says.

"Good" Mariah says. "When the time is right, you'll be able to take care of yourself".

The time Mariah spent trying to teach Ziya all that she knows about fighting was not short. They crossed many floors, witnessed many changes in the game, and came across many different kinds of people. By the time they reached Floor 25, guns were introduced in the game. Their small team was frequently caught in crossfire, however, Mariah simply would not let Ziya go out to fight. She had remained at zero lives. Chris at first was suspicious of how much interest Mariah was taking in helping out Ziya. Eventually, he saw that the two of them were growing close. They began talking more and more, and eventually became almost like sisters. Ziya even began to talk to Mariah about how she hopes to escape the game to get her revenge against the governor. "Ha ha, that's quite the plan!" Mariah says.

"You two sure get along swell" Chris says.

"Hey, this kid is pretty pleasant company" Mariah says. "Better than the convicts I'm used to back in prison".

"What about... you know" Chris says, "the plan?".

"Change of plans" Mariah says, "we're busting her out of here".

"You for real?" Chris asks.

"Is that possible!?" Ziya asks.

"If there's a will, there's a way" Mariah says.

"Awfully bold words for someone who gave up on their life not long after being arrested" Chris says.

"I guess that's why I like the kid" Mariah says. "She's like a ray of sunshine! Maybe she was meant to find us, to give us hope".

"Ha ha, what would we do when we get out?" Chris asks. "Start on the family business again?".

Mariah looks down at Ziya with a smile. "You know what?" She asks. "Fuck the family business. We can go our separate ways if you want, but I'm going to give my best shot at an honest life".

Chris thinks to himself, then says "Nah, I get what you mean. The family business brought us nothing but misery, so I think I'm right there with you on the honest life thing...".

"Ya hear that, little sunshine?" Mariah asks as she grinds the knuckles of her fist on the top of Ziya's head, playfully. "You've helped two lost people find new hope in life!".

"Hehehehe" Ziya giggles, "glad I could help. I've got my own friend I'm dying to see when this is all over, but maybe we can meet up every once in a while".

The three of them were almost inseparable. Ziya continued to be the ray of hope in Mariah and Chris's life for many more floors. However, eventually, that sunshine in their lives were abruptly removed. On Floor 21, Chris has left to scavenge for food. It was just Mariah and Ziya left alone. The two of them were talking happily, but they were soon ambushed by a team of seven people. Each of those seven people had a gun, and a hunger in their eyes. "Two people, eh?" One of them asks. "How'd you get so far with such a small group?".

"Watch it, they may be stronger than they look" another one says.

"Look at their watches" a different one says. "One has thirty-two Respawns, but the other has zero. You think that is dangerous?".

"Ziya, get back!" Mariah says as she pulls Ziya behind her, and takes out a handgun. Mariah tried so hard to fight them off, but the sheer amount of firepower the enemy had was too much for her to handle. After Mariah was knocked down to her final life, she turned away from the enemy team to cover Ziya. "Close your eyes!" Mariah says before one last loud bang from a gun is heard.

Mariah falls to the ground for the last time, however, Ziya was too shocked to close her eyes. Strangely enough, Ziya didn't cry. Or rather, she no longer had the strength to cry anymore. At a loss for tears and words, Ziya stared at Mariah's dead body with an empty feeling welling up inside of her. Feeling lightheaded and numb, Ziya slowly reached for Mariah's gun. She took the magazine out of the gun and saw that it had seven more bullets left. One for each of them. "Oh no you don't!" One of them calls out as he pointed his gun at Ziya. However, when he pulls the trigger, it only made an empty clicking sound. "I'm out!" He yells, "anyone else?".

"Nope" another one says.

"I'm on empty" another one says.

"Same here" a different one says.

Ziya slowly raises her gun slowly at the seven of them, the skin around her eyes growing red from her tear ducts suddenly failing her, an overwhelming sadness in her eyes, and a shaking posture. One after another, each of the seven men had taken a bullet to the head, only to revive. However, when they got up, Ziya jumped from man to man with a knife, stabbing each of them individually. Ziya spent hours upon hours, simply killing the same seven people over and over. Eventually, they all stopped moving. They all had weapons and food, but none of them were fully prepared for a fight as it seemed. By the time Chris came back, Ziya was covered from head to toe in blood. There were eight dead bodies around her. The seven men, and Mariah. Chris was more than shocked at the site. He dropped food just to run up to Ziya. "Ziya!" He yells, "W-What happened!? Is Mariah... tell me what happened!". Ziya was motionless for a few minutes. Chris slowly approached Ziya. "... Ziya?" He asked as he reached out towards her, however, Ziya spun around with the knife. She cut off his head and the arm he reached out towards her with. After several minutes, Chris revived. His head reattached to his body, but his arm was too far to be healed. Chris ended up growing a new arm from his Respawn ability, leaving the arm with his watch laying on the ground. Now that the watch was no longer attached to a living person, it shut off, as if Chris had lost all of his lives at once. When Chris finally got back up, Ziya was crying uncontrollably. "This is your fault!" She yells. "If you... if you hadn't left for so long, you could've saved her!".

"Ziya, did you... kill all of these men?" Chris asks. When Chris looks down, he sees the number "70" shining in red on Ziya's watch.

"Get away from me!" She yells as she once again points the knife at Chris.

"Ziya..." he says calmly.

"Don't talk to me like that!" Ziya says as more tears flow from her face. "She just wanted to live a normal life... We just wanted to live a normal life! You should've been here to protect her! You know I couldn't do it!".

"Ziya..." Chris says again.

"Don't!" Ziya yells. "If you call my name one more time... I just might kill you!".

"Look-" Chris tries to explain.

"GET OUT OF HERE ALREADY!" Ziya yells. Chris freezes for a moment, then Ziya says "I'm... scared of what I might do to you if you don't leave...".

Chris eventually stands and slowly backs away. "You've... changed, Ziya" he says. Chris looks down at his arm, with the watch no longer there. He runs off to hide, remaining out of the site of the cameras in the arena. Ziya was left alone, staring at Mariah's body through her tear filled eyes.

After a long time, Ziya met with the last person who possessed a watch in the game, on Floor 12. The other man only had nineteen Respawns. This would give her twenty more lives. Nineteen of his Respawns, plus his last life. Ziya had collected a small amount of ammo, and with a blank stare on her face, shot out the other man's kneecaps to prevent him from moving. After she approached him, she used her knife and stabbed the man over and over until the game was won. However, not long after, she was approached by men in heavy armor, covered from head to toe. They grabbed her, put a bag over her head, and knocked her out with batons. When she woke up again, she was back in the cell, waiting on the next game to start. Her watch had gone from "90" to "89", due to the brute force the men in armor used to knock her out.

As Ziya finishes telling this story to Drake and Judy, Chris simply stands aside and says "Yes, that seems entirely accurate".

"You're taking all of this fairly well" Drake says to Chris.

"Losing Mariah was the worst thing that could've happened to me" Chris says. "She was my sister, and we've always been close. Then again, I guess it was a terrible experience for Ziya as well... that much, I understand. However, I had the advantage of not having much of a conscience. Ziya needed her space, so I gave her that. Her growing distaste for me was a disappointment, but what can I do about that? Women are just difficult...".

"Smooth..." Judy says. "That's your excuse? Women are difficult?".

"You're making it sound like it was my fault after all..." Chris says.

"It kind of was..." Ziya says.

"Look, I was doing my job" Chris says. "Mariah and I agreed on that before we progressed in the game. We also clarified with each other that if the other one of us were to die, that the other carries on regardless. I'm sorry you didn't get the memo".

"What I got" Ziya says, "was a sorry excuse and a lack of help".

"Sounds like a personal problem, to be honest" Chris says with a shrug. "Anyways, even after all of that, I'm still willing to keep my end of the deal".

"What deal?" Ziya asks.

"Getting you out of here, like Mariah wanted" Chris says. "I've been offering, but you've been rejecting. You're clearly struggling, so if you need it, all you have to do is ask".

Ziya thinks for a moment, then asks "How would you help?".

"Well, for one" Chris says, "ditch the other three. I'm telling you now, building a large team is a bad idea. However, I understand it's your friend's idea. That much you already mentioned before. So I can work with this".

"You can?" Drake asks.

"I was a contract killer" Chris says. "I've had worse customers...".

"Then what's the plan?" Ziya asks.

"Does that mean you can finally accept my help?" Chris asks. Ziya turns her head away from Chris, then Chris let's out a loud sigh. "Look, Ziya" He says, "I'm sorry... you know I didn't want her to go either. She was always the better one of the two of us. If push came to shove, I would've let her kill me for her freedom at the end of the game. But things changed... and we still need to get back at that governor, don't we?".

Ziya looks back up at Chris. "That all depends on your plan..." She says.

"I'm a contract killer, Ziya" Chris says. "What do you think my plan is? You three are my HVT, or high value target. I watch you from the shadows, keep you covered from a distance. You won't even know I'm there, I promise!".

Ziya holds out her hand for a handshake, then says "Good, because you have a very punchable face".

"Then it's a deal?" Chris asks.

"It's a deal" Ziya says as the two of them shake hands. "Don't get me wrong. Mariah's death is still as much your fault as it is mine... I'm not letting that go".

"But we still have a common goal" Chris says with a wink. "We're not friends, we're colleagues".

"Good" Ziya says with a short smile.

"Now, if you'll excuse me" Chris says as he stands up. "I've got a job to do. See ya around, kid".

"I'm twenty-three years old, by the way" Ziya says.

"You'll always be that kid to me" Chris says with a laugh. "Sunshine".

"Get out of here before I really do decapitate you a second time" Ziya says.

Chris begins giggling to himself as he walks away. "He's nuts..." Judy says.

"You don't know the half of it" Ziya says. "He and Mariah always had a few screws loose... I guess that was just part of their charm".

"That's... lovely" Judy says.

"You think you're ready to move now?" Drake asks. "Are you feeling any better yet?".

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine" Ziya says.

"You sure this time?" Drake asks. "Seriously, don't pull that on me a second time. I'm not moving until you're actually ready".

"No more lies" Ziya says. "I really am ready to move again".

"Good" Drake says. Drake then whistles and calls out towards the other three. "Jake, Will, George, you ready to move!?".

"Is the princess finally gettin' her shit together!?" Georgie yells from behind another barrier.

"I will kill you!" Ziya yells back.

"Yep!" Georgie says, "she sure sounds fine ta me!... crazy bitch".