Chapter 7:

Above respect for life and good or disregard for life and promotion of evil, the chaotic neutral places randomness and disorder. Good and evil are complimentary balance arms. Neither are preferred, nore must either prevail, for ultimate chaos would then suffer. This view of the cosmos holds that absolute freedom us necessary. Whether the individual exercising such freedom chooses to do good or evil is of no concern. After all, life itself is law and order, so death is a desirable end. Therefore, life can only be justified as a tool by which order is combated and in the end it too will pass into entropy.

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The voice was soft yet rough, quiet yet loud, weak but powerful. Maria turned around and recognized the oddly dressed executive. He wore his white sweatshirt and swim trunks and black flip flops. His hair looked paler up close, closely resembling grey more than blonde. She looked into his eyes and felt slightly smaller to him, even if they were the same height. Something in his eyes had her tongue tasting coffee, a strange flavor but a bitter one. It was different than what most people she met tasted like; either bitter, sweet, bittersweet or nothing. But tasting bitter coffee was a new flavor.

Getting out of her slight stupor, Maria licked the top of her mouth to get rid of the taste. Her voice small but clear answered.

"Why should I follow you?"

His face contorted into a sneer. "Because you are incapable of staying alive at the moment I am your... babysitter for the night."

Maria's eyes narrowed at his blunt statement of mockery. She tsked and looked at the members of the beach that were heading to each of the cars, either yelling and shouting out of excitement that's to come or staying quiet out of fear or lack of excitement.

"I'm sorry but your sorry excuse of militia men oh so kindly rendered me slightly useless by putting a bullet in my leg."

His sneer continued to be displayed on his face. It was irking her seeing that he wasn't as phased with the comeback as she would have liked him to have been.

The blonde placed his hands in the pockets of his sweater and turned to follow the others into the lot with the cars. His body stopped as Maria continued staring into his back.

"Are you going to follow me?"

Maria's hand clenched into a fist, wanting to punch the blondness out of his hair. But she wasn't going to because she didn't need another bullet inside of her, especially not in her current predicament. She also knew that she needed him to protect her, although she wished she didn't.

Without another thought to her already pounding head, Maria continued to follow the blonde executive.

Both walked towards the parking lot that held the Beach's vehicles. Maria followed Chishiya, not knowing how the vehicle placement worked. Both stopped in front of one that was parked the farthest from the Beach entrance but was closest to the wall.

All of the cars were black but the brands were different. Some were jeeps while others were compact cars while others looked as if they've been through war, so much so that none of them looked familiar at all.

Without a spare glance at Chishiya the young girl stepped into the back seat of the jeep. The executive moved to the passenger side of the of the jeep, no word spoken to the female.

It took a few minutes for the others to arrive in the jeep with them. One of them, being the designated driver, cheered much louder than the others as they sat in the car.

Maria sat in silence behind the driver seat and stared out of the window. She wished for nothing more than to zip the others' mouth shut as she listened to them screaming about how the nights game was going to be easy to beat. With each minute passing her headache grew stronger, dulling the minuscule pain from her left leg.

It wasn't long until the vehicle slowed to a stop and the others enthusiastically threw themselves out of the car. The last person to leave was herself as she had no energy and a throbbing leg to carry herself with.

"You might want to hurry up... if you don't want to be left behind." An agonizingly annoying voice pointed out.

Maria did nothing but mumble curse words under her breath. She grabbed her stick from the floor of the back seat and set forth to where the game was going to be taken place. Everything was dimly lit, the tall lamps doing nothing but illuminating a small circle from where they stood and the lamps on the floor only illuminating a few inches around it.

She followed the others up the mysteriously familiar path. The dirt covered steps were surrounded by lush bushes and trees, a fence standing next to the path, as if inviting anyone who decides to take the path. The group walked up the small set of stairs and continued walking into a playground. Maria's eyebrows furrowed.

"What the hell are we doing at a playground?" one of the men from the group threateningly asked.

"Like hell that I know!"

Maria tsked and moved away from the goons that were brought along with her.

She moved her eyes away from them and spotted the familiar table that held the games phones. Her and Chishiya picked one up together, not giving a single glance of acknowledgement as each of the phones scanned their faces. Without another second to waist, Maria climbed the small rope that led to the top of the slide and sat down while leaning her head against the cold bar. Chishiya moved to the trees where the shadows embraced him.

"Please wait for the game to commence," she heard the familiar voice speak, "Fifteen minutes until registration closes."

Each minute passed quietly as more and more people grabbed the phones that were sat on the table. Each person stood alone, save for those who came in twos, and stood quietly. It wasn't long until registration finally closed.

"Registration has now closed. Total of eight players. The game will now commence. Game: 'Riddle Me This'. Difficulty: 4 of Diamonds."

Maria looked around at the other players and analyzed each of them. Out of the three females that were there, including herself, one wore a cheerleader outfit while another wore joggers and aloose t-shirt. Maria wore the same leggings with attached pockets but now included a bullet sized hole. She couldn't help but judge the cheerleader as she stood out among them.

"Rules: Players will solve the given riddles. If the riddles are not completed once the timer has ended, all players lose. Clear condition: solve the riddles. The time limit is one hour."

Maria let out a small sigh. She knew that the longer the game, the more difficult it was to finish it faster.

"The first riddle," the female voice continued, "I have cities, but no houses. I have mountains, but no trees. I have water but no fish. What am I?"

The players sat in silence as a small breeze pushed its way through the surrounding trees. Everything was eerily quiet while the clock ticked down. Maria couldn't help but feel slightly off. She knew there was something other than answering riddles. Almost every game there was someone dying every second, someone being chased by a beast and blood splattering every second. There had to be something more than just answering riddles to finish the game.

Maria sat there thinking.

'What has everything but nothing?' she thought. The only thing that she could think of was the mind itself. But her answer didn't make sense. If it was something physical then it had nothing to do with the mental action of thinking. What was it?

"Well?" the girl in the cheerleading outfit questioned, fear lacing her voice. "Does anyone know the answer?"

Maria looked away with a sneer on her face.

"Why don't you use that tiny little brain of yours if you want the riddle answered?" one of the beach's men retorted back.

The girl scoffed and barked back. "I don't know anything about riddles!"

"Well that's not a surprise..." he mumbled.

"Hey!"

Maria looked back down at her phone. The riddle was taunting her. She didn't know it either. She knew she was screwed. Maria wasn't the best at diamond games; she wasn't the best at anything that included thinking from IQ perspective. Her decisions were based more from common sense and gut feeling rather than genuinely thinking a problem through.

Maria felt a pair of eyes on her. Without looking around she knew them to belong to Chishiya; he was the only one that gave her a feeling mystery and confusion.

"Well, think about it," one of the men from outside of the group said, "If it can even show what we created and what the earth originally made, then shouldn't it be something that we can see all of it from?"

"You mean like a satellite or camera?"

"Not exactly..."

"Then what the hell do you mean?!"

"I think it could be something like a map. Cause if you think about it, we can't see buildings on a map because a maps purpose is to show the outline of the city, not the buildings in the city. Same with mountains and trees and water and no fish. It shows the outermost part of what resides in it."

Maria looked at the man in the suit with utmost respect. Even she didn't think that it was referencing a map.

"So, is that our final answer?"

"The answer is a map!" the the suited man confidently yelled into the phone. A few seconds later a green check lit up the screen. Everyone sighed in relief as the next riddle was spoken.

"First, think of the color of the clouds. Next, think of the color of snow. Now, think of the color of a bright full moon. Now answer, what do cows drink?"

Maria chuckled at the obvious riddle. It didn't take much of a brain to use common sense to know that cows mainly drink water.

"This ones easy. Milk!" the other beach member exclaimed.

Maria expected a laser to strike them all or at least him. But nothing happened. Shocked gasps filled the quiet night air as everyone, excluding Maria who still sat at the top of the slide, stood. Eyes were frantically moving around, searching for lasers or animals that would jump out and kill them but nothing happened.

A small, but chilly breeze blew past everyone, moving a few strands of hair into their faces. Chills rose on Maria's arms and she couldn't help but cover them with each of her hands. Something felt off. She suddenly felt herself standing next to the pole that held the top of the slide and felt herself get paranoid.

She shivered as her chills got worse.

"That's not the right answer you dumb ass!" the beach member said.

"It has to be water," one of the women said. "If you think about it, the question is asking us to use our common sense by confusing us with things that don't really matter. It's making us think what color is associated with a cow on accident rather than having us think of the normal answer first."

"So?"

"The final answer is water!" she said into the phone. Another green check mark appeared on the screen but it didn't make Maria any more wary. There had to have been some type of punishment for guessing the wrong answer. There was no possible way that Borderlands were going let them live unscathed.

"What gets bigger the more you take away?"

Maria couldn't help but think of cheese. She remembered an old friend asking her this question. Maria only remembered it because of the swiss cheese she used as an example.

Without waiting for the others to discuss the answer, Maria spoke into the phone, loud enough for the others to hear her. "A hole."

A green arrow appeared on the screen of the phone.

"No way! How did you get the answer that fast?" one of the younger boys exclaimed in awe. Maria paid no attention to him as she looked at the screen and waited for the female voice to give them another.

"If I have it, I won't share it. But if I do share it, I won't have it. What am I?"

Maria's eyebrows slightly furrowed together.

"Well... Does anyone have any idea what the hell the answer is?" the cheerleader asked.

Maria felt wary over the riddles. They were common riddles that most people have heard about. But why were they giving simple riddles?

"This one doesn't make any sense! There's multiple things that can answer to this like money or physical objects!" One of the men shouted irritatedly.

Maria sighed. She looked at the timer on the phone. '51 minutes left,' she thought. She looked at the ground in thought. The thought of the riddle's answer was swirling in her mind until she noticed an unusually sized dot speeding on the ground. She jumped down from her perch among the playground slide and walked over to the lamp. She bent down and took a closer look, noticing it to be an ant. The ant itself was quite big, a little too big to be considered normal. It looked to be at least half of in inch. She noticed it was a bit thicker than the average fire ant.

Maria tensed once she spotted another one. More followed after it as she moved backwards, away from the disgusting insects. With the help of her phone, she shined a light on the ants.

"Fire ants..." she muttered. One of the other players responded in question, not being able to hear her properly.

She paid no attention as she watched the ants. Each one was marching perfectly behind the other, creating a straight line. Maria watched as each of them slowly but surely made their way to the groups of players.

"Hey! You standing by the trees!" Maria glanced at Chishiya. "You're just standing there and not even helping us out!"

From the corner of her eye she noticed Chishiya moving closer to her and the others. A smirk plastered itself on his face causing Maria to scoff and turn away.

"Do you all really think that we only have to answer the riddles?"

Maria continued watching the ants. More shivers coated her arms forcing her to rub them with her palms. Something felt wrong as she watched the ants march. She looked to the right, watching more ants form a new line and listening to the white clothed beach member.

"Behind riddles are hidden questions and answers. But you're all only focusing on what the game is telling you to focus on."

A thought struck Maria. She knew what the answer to the current riddle was, and what they had to focus on after the riddle was answered.

Maria took her phone and said into it, "The answer is a secret."

A check mark appeared on the front of the screen, surrounded by the familiar green hue. She turned towards the others, standing next to Chishiya who stood slightly further away from them.

"So what the hell are saying?!"

Maria scoffed. "He's saying that you all don't have brains because you're obviously not thinking." Maria brought the phone up and faced the screen towards the others. "I don't know if you've noticed yet but there hasn't been another riddle since I answered to last one..."

"When did you answer the last one?!"

"Never mind that. The point is this isn't just a damn diamonds game. From the looks of it this might include a little bit of a clubs game..."

Maria looked down to check the remaining time that was left only to be stopped by a small yelp that was heard across from her, causing her to look up and notice that one of the players, whom had guessed one of the riddles wrong, was slowly being covered in the fire ants that she had previously seen.

"Shit..." she mumbled.

The others started to gasp and screamed as the boy tried smacking away the ants that were slowly blanketing his skin. The beach member grew more panicked as pain engulfed him and he fell to the ground with a dull thud. Everyone watched as his body seemed almost completely lifeless. Maria noticed the small heaving of his chest which told her that he was almost on the verge of death.

The ants slowly moved away from the body while the others attempted to avoid them. Maria turned to the others with a sense of urgency in her words.

"Alright... First off, we need to find the parks lake. My guess is that there's a map somewhere hidden in the lake, either in a hole or a box or something but it should be more obvious than the rest of the task."

The others led the way as her and Chishiya followed behind. While the others were frantically looking for a pathway to find the lake Maria was looking at the ground. She wasn't sure if it was after every wrong answer or every few minutes, but now she knew what the punishment was. She hated bugs more than humans on earth.

Bugs have many different shaped and sizes and Maria found that the bigger they were, the uglier and disgustingly horrid they were. She hated bees because of their constant loud buzzing and she hated spiders because of their many eyes and legs. Bugs were unnecessarily furry for creatures that weren't meant to be easily noticed.

Maria shivered just thinking about what other creatures the game had in store for them. But she also couldn't help but think back to the boy. No one checked if he was dead or alive, but judging from the ants, he most likely just went into shock from the excruciating pain.

Not much longer, from the frantic searching and screaming, the players finally found the lake that belonged to the park. There was a wooden fence surrounding the slightly rippling water. Across from the area where they stood was a small shack sitting at the edge of a dock. Moss was growing around the fence and small bits of the rocks that were protruding from the water.

Maria walked around to get a glimpse of the front of the shack only to see a small light hanging from the entrance. The others stood behind her as they were too scared to go inside. Maria felt a slight ping of worry but brushed it away.

With one small breath Maria took a step forward into the darkness. She brought her phone up and used it as a flashlight, illuminating the molded brown wood of the shack around her.

The smell coming from the wood was moist and slightly rotten. With the mold clinging onto the wood the shack was barely staying alive. The floorboards creaked and the air was so wet it felt as if she was walking through water in an air bubble.

On one wall there were fishing lines and rods and tiny little fish edibles that fisherman used to catch fish. On another was a medium sized window and a desk in front of it. Maria guessed that was where a worker sat to ensure the safety of the guests as well as give out fishing supplies.

The last wall caused Maria to step back. Footsteps slowly entered the shack but Maria didn't spare the person a glance.

"What are the deadliest insects in the world?" a familiar voice said beside her.

Maria had no clue. Her chest contorted in slight fear. She hoped more than anything in the world that there were no more bugs. She could handle ants, but deadlier bugs made her grab the top of her shirt in discomfort.

"You're not scared of being killed by Niragi but are afraid of bugs..." Maria could feel the smirk on the blonde mans face. Her left hand squeezed the piece of wood that she still carried with her.

"I'm not scared... Only highly disgusted..."

"40 minutes remaining."

A tsk escaped Maria's lips as they stood there. A sudden shiver ran across Maria's skin. She felt the sudden urge to scratch her skin and scratch the top of her head. She felt multiple pairs of eyes on her causing her to point the flashlight in every direction.

She stopped in the corner of the room on an item that looked too dusty and worn out to be considered new. Without hesitating and avoiding the spiderwebs that attached themselves to the item, Maria drug it out and into the line of light.

"Well shit..."

She walked outside of the shed while dragging the suit.

"Alright everyone..." she began, already extremely tired of the games antics, "we need a fast swimmer."

With the little bit of finger strength Maria raised the webbed garment up for the others to see. There were mixtures of expressions on each persons face as they stared at the suit in front of them.

"Is that a wetsuit?" one of the men asked.

"By the looks of it, it's a unisex wetsuit..." another one spoke up.

"One of you is going to be swimming down into the lake and finding something that looks like a treasure. From the answers to the riddle my guess is that it's going to look like something close to a treasure whether it's a code or an actual item," Maria explained.

"Why don't you do it?!"

"Why won't you?" she retorted.

She couldn't allow herself to let the others know that she couldn't swim very well. Doggy-paddling was already difficult for her, but wearing a suit and not dying in the process of getting whatever it was in the water was even more of a far stretch for her.

"It's alright. I can do it..."

The man in a suit took off his jacket as well as undoing the buttons on his shirt. Maria looked away, not wanting to look at the man and instead looking in the dark river for any sign of a treasure or creatures that could possibly be harmful.

She spotted a fin moving in the dark water but couldn't see enough of it to know what it was. She spotted a rock just off the edge of the water and tossed it dryly into the lake. Ripples coated the top but no movement was detected underneath.

She looked back to the man who had finished changing into the wet suit. She eyed his slightly burly chest and thick legs, taking into account that he was someone who constantly exercised.

"Alright... There's something in the water but I'm not sure what. My guess is that it's guarding the treasure underneath..."

The man didn't look the least bit effected as he stretched his arms and legs.

"I'll just be quick about it..."

The last article the man grabbed was the goggles that attached itself to the suit. They plonked on his face with an odd suction cup noise. He walked towards the edge of the water and took a few moments to look into it. Maria saw nothing on his face, no emotional turmoil existing in his presence. It was as if the man was accepting whatever fate the water had in store for him.

Without another second to waste, the man jumped into the dark water.

Alright you guys! I know that it's been a few months since the last update but I'll have you know it was slight writers block and work that prevented me from writing any more. Hopefully the next update will be sooner but I'm not too sure. I hope to post again by november but I can't promise. BYE ^_^