You took a few steps forward and carefully opened the door, checking to see if the coast was clear. And, of course, it wasn't. But you reasoned that as long as they didn't see you or that you didn't make any noise, you'd be safe. Which you concluded was correct because it had been that way for the previous week.

So, you told the others to carefully walk behind you with taking the lightest footsteps that they could ever take, but Scaramouche's feet were SO. FUCKING. LOUD. 

Every Infected's head jerked around wildly, and all eyes were on the five of you. And now, all of you were hurrying through the building, your eyes darting all over the place as you tried to find a secure place to hide because of Scaramouche's noisy ass feet.

You

"Over there!"

You noticed an empty room, but honestly, it most likely wasn't even empty. All of you ran in there, you slammed the door shut as you were the last one to get in. 

You

"Phew... Everyone's here, right?"

Scaramouche

"Aww come on, this is just like last time!"

You

"Okay!... Okay... I know how much Scaramouche's gonna complain, so how about we just... Go out there and kill them all?"

Hu Tao

"We have to kill them?!"

There was some kind of growl in Hu Tao's voice that kind of scared you to be honest.

You

"Well- Do you want to?!"

Hu Tao

"... I... Don't know. I-I mean- Are we just supposed to slash this thing at them?"

You

"Well, specifically at the neck. If you don't go for the neck, it doesn't die."

Hu Tao

"Ah... Ahaha... I see."

Scaramouche

"Yeah! Let's do it!"

Xiao

"No. Things will get messy."

Childe

"I'd hate to take sides but... Scara, I'll have to agree with Xiao on this one."

You

Shit... Nobody's gonna agree with each other here. "Fine. To keep all of you safe, how about we all make our way to the top floor in like... A certain way?"

Childe

"What do you mean by a 'certain way'?"

You

"Like... We all hold hands just so that nobody gets left behind."

Hu Tao

"Oh? Sounds like a plan to me!"

Xiao

"As foolish as it sounds, it might just work. I can arrange the spots. Y/N will go in the front since they're experienced in battling the Infected, they can rid of any enemies in the front. The person who trails after the number one spot that Y/N holds is Childe, who will rid of enemies who may be following us from behind. As for I, Hu Tao and Scara, I say that Hu Tao stays in the middle as she isn't as experienced, Scara goes behind Y/N since he's reckless but yet still better at handling a blade than I am, so I shall stay 4th in line."

Childe

"Well that's... Complicated but yet well thought of."

Scaramouche

"Huh?! You're kidding!"

Hu Tao

"Hm? What's wrong? I don't see anything wrong with the arrangement."

You

"No, you don't get it! Xiao, why can't you take the 2nd spot in line?!"

Xiao

"Scaramouche is better at handling a blade than I am."

You

"But!... I don't wanna hold Scaramouche's hand!"

Scaramouche

"I don't wanna hold theirs either!"

Xiao

"I can't think of any other ways to change it..."

Childe

"Hey, come on now... It's not a big deal."

You

"Y'know, Scaramouche probably scratches his ass with his hands!"

Scaramouche

"I do not!"

Hu Tao

"Okay, hurry up! We've got no time for this!"

Xiao

"Agreed."

Both you and Scaramouche groaned, both annoyed, then joined your hands together hesitantly.

(KDJHFKJG I JUST REALIZED HOW WEIRD THAT SOUNDS)

You

"Are you all ready?..."

You looked behind you to look at the others, all of you had already gotten in line.

They all nodded. 

This time, you didn't slowly open the door. You straight up just kicked it open and started running.

Scaramouche

"What was that for?!"

You

"I don't wanna waste time! We've all got good stamina anyway!"

Over a short time, and for the first six levels, you were all able to outrun the Infected who were after you. You and Childe just had to get rid of one or two of the Infected because they were getting in the way. There were plenty of the Infected by the time you arrived to the 7th floor. You located a room that was available and locked the door so that all of you could rest and regain your strength.

Childe

"I... Have never... Run... That much... In my life..."

Childe said, flat on the ground as he was barely even able to breathe.

All that everyone heard was each other's heavy breaths and their own loud ass heartbeats.

You

"Hey!... We made it to the... Um... 7th floor! We're doing good so far, don't you think?"

Xiao

"Ahem... For a group like this, making it to the 7th floor was pretty good... Especially since... We were all able to run at the same pace."

Everyone had their bottles of water, then got ready to go out once again.

Scaramouche

"And there's how many floors in this tower again?..."

You

"Uh... Like 40 of them."

Hu Tao

"40?!"

Xiao

"That means... 33 more to go. With enough breaks, we'll make it."

Childe

"Yeah! We'll stop at the 14th floor since we now know that our group is able to last going up 7 floors."

Because some of the stairwells were filled with Infected, you'd have to travel all the way to the opposite side of the building simply to get to the next floor. You climbed from floor 1 to floor 4, but had to dash from the south stairwell to the north stairwell because the stairway you were traveling was blocked. Then you took the north stairway from the 4th to the 7th level, where you were found in a blood-streaked room.

You all entered your pre-arranged line and then departed once more. You were all able to reach the 14th floor. Every floor you walked up was filled with more and more opponents, it was just like a video game. You all took a break, drank some water, and ate some food before rising from the 14th to the 21st floor.

Childe

"Hey, look at that! We're halfway!"

Xiao took a look out the window, he was literally able to see the entire Upper City.

Xiao

"Hm. What a view."

Hu Tao

"Eep!... We're really high!"

You

"I heard that the Council's building was tall, but I had actually never gone to see it for myself... Now that I'm actually in a place like this, it feels quite strange."

And once again, you all energized, got ready, and went to the 28th floor. There was just a few more to go, and this would finally all be solved.

29... 30... 31... 32.

The north stairwell had been blocked once more. The 32nd floor was actually quite spacious, meaning that it had been more easier for all of you to move around. 

You

"Oh come on! I was sure that we wouldn't have run into more interruptions!"

Coming up the stairway, you all opened the door to the 32nd floor. However, there were a few Infected blocking your path, so you drew your gun and aimed very carefully at them.

Hu Tao let go of Scaramouche's hand, Y/N hadn't realized though and continued getting closer to the Infected to get a better shot at killing them.

Hu Tao

"That's..."

Childe, Xiao, and Hu Tao had completely stopped running.

Scaramouche

"Hey- Hu Tao!"

Xiao

"Stop!"

Xiao started running once again, he threw himself right into your back, making both you and him fall right over.

You

"Xiao- Why'd you do that?!"

Xiao

"Please! Don't do it!"

You

"Do what?!"

Xiao was all over you, trying to grab that gun of yours.

Xiao

"You can kill anyone but him!"

You

"Wh..."

You moved your eyes to look at the Infected person that you had almost killed. From his attire, and just the way he looked in general, he was obviously... Someone from Teyvat. Childe and Hu Tao stood there, their eyes filled with fear. Scaramouche was just there, confused as to why everyone has stopped moving.

Scaramouche

"Uh... Guys?! Are we gonna make a stop here or are we continuing?!"