#ks18

This was it. The moment all of Panem had been waiting for with baited breath was finally upon them. Fox and Delilah had beaten the odds, and now the two of them of them stood face to face as part of the final four. Delilah surveyed the girl in front of her, hair disheveled, eyes wild, mouth a snarling mess of teeth and lips; this was not the same Fox Delilah had come across in training.

Finally, Fox turned with shaking hands to face the petite redhead she loathed. The girl who had killed Colt, sweet, innocent Colt, and done it with no signs of remorse. The girl who had sent Fox into a mental spiral that powered her up and made her a killer, though in her own mind she was focused on being more of a protector, an eliminator of those who would hurt her or others. She’d disposed of the other killers, but now the biggest and worst remained. The one who had claimed the most lives as if it meant nothing at all.

“Looks like you’ve found your fight Foxy.” Delilah snarked as she kept her distance from the other girl. “What did it take? Seeing me kill Colt or losing Imogene?” She knew she was playing with fire here but she wanted to see just how far gone Fox was. Delilah smirked, strutting toward Fox. “What’s wrong, sweetie, cat got your stupid little tongue?” She cooed.

“SHUT UP! SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP! I DON’T TALK TO FILTHY MURDERING SCUM LIKE YOU.” Fox screamed at Delilah. She was twitching, ravenous, a lunatic. If there was any shred of the girl she had once been it was buried deep inside. She was practically frothing at the mouth. What did Fox say about rabid animals? They should be put down for their own good? That sounded about right. Fox’s mind flashed red, she pictured Colt bleeding out on the ground and Charlie slumped lifeless and her body kicked into motion. Fox sprinted the distance between her and Delilah and jabbed hard at the smaller girl’s stomach with her shovel. Delilah laughed, blocking the hit with her war hammer as she cackled. “Oh, look at you, getting all feisty! Too bad you won’t be alive much longer to keep at it.”

Fox let out a low growl and lashed forward with her machete, stabbing deep into Delilah’s thigh and causing the Career to scream out, slashing at Fox’s cheek with one of her deer horn knives. The cut from training she’d given Fox re-opened and blood dribbled down Fox’s cheek, but it didn’t stop her. Taking her dagger, Fox aimed at the re-opened wound in Del’s shoulder, her weak spot. Del blocked the hits expertly, as a trained Career does, but that didn’t stop Fox from fighting back.

Delilah struck Fox’s face hard, her knuckles digging into the cut on her cheek and Fox tumbled back, thrown off-balance by the punch like their fight back in the training centre. She pulled her gas mask tightly over her face just as Delilah dove on her, pinning her to the floor with her knees on Fox’s arms. Fox’s heart pounded as she looked up at the girl, who smiled sickeningly.

“Now, you’re just a stupid little hick girl, right Fox?” Delilah taunted, dragging Fox’s chin up and staring at her through the eye holes of her gas mask. “So I’ll explain to you,” she cooed, holding up a vial of an unmarked substance. “Some people call this zombie powder. But it’s gonna kill you, and it’s gonna make it so much fun for me to play with you first, doesn’t that sound fun?” Fox’s heart pounded, but she slowly reached one hand to the side, trying to move slowly as to not be detected by Delilah’s knee pinning her arm.

Delilah pulled at the gas mask to get the toxin in Fox’s mouth, but struggled to get it off of Fox’s head given the way the straps ran around the back of the girl’s head which was currently pressed into the floor. As Del yanked Fox’s head up by her hair to unstrap the gas mask, Fox jerked her upper body up quickly, smashing the hard surface of the gas mask into Delilah’s nose, breaking it. As she did so, Fox reached the last few inches for her dagger, which she drove directly into the bandaged wound in Delilah’s side, twisting it and angling it upward, weakening the muscles there. Delilah shrieked and Fox took the opportunity to throw her hips up quickly and jolt pain through Del’s side wound, allowing Fox to free her arm and push Delilah off, thankful for years of harmless wrestling with Eagle teaching her how to unseat someone far larger than Delilah.

Fox shakily but quickly got to her feet and Delilah sprung at her again. Fox knocked the vial of toxin from her hand and it hit the floor, rolling across with some oozing out from a crack in the container. Delilah snarled, shaking her head at Fox. “You know I’m gonna kill you… just like I killed everyone else, Fox, don’t go thinking you’re special. You’re just going to share a plot of dirt with that little kid and no one is going to ever remember you… or him.” It pained Delilah to speak of a young boy so nonchalantly when little Rory was at home watching, but she knew she could weaken Fox with the mention of Colt. But Fox only had one thought on her mind. Kill the killers. Kill the killers kill the killers kill the killers…

While Delilah eyed the vial, Fox socked her in the jaw, stunning her long enough to scramble up the unstable mountain of gold. Acting quickly before Delilah came back at her, Fox reached back and grabbed the bottle of alcohol from her bag, never breaking eye contact with Delilah so she wouldn’t be caught off guard. As Delilah lunged to attack again, her sword sliced along Fox’s thigh as Fox brought the bottle of alcohol down hard onto Delilah’s head, still holding the top part of the bottle. The bottom of the bottle smashed, leaving Delilah drenched in alcohol and covered in tiny cuts along with a bloody lump where Fox smashed her. The liquid dripped into her eyes and cuts, causing it to sting painfully and Delilah screeched, blindly thrusting her knife toward Fox as she tried to regain her sight through the blurriness. “You fucking bitch!” Del shrieked. “Are you fucking crazy!?” Fox was left holding only part of an empty bottle with sharp, jagged edges as she dodged Del’s anger-infused hits.

Fox lunged forward, slicing across Delilah’s chest with the jagged bottle. The glass ripped Del’s shirt open and left angry claw marks across her chest. Del tried to break the glass with the hilt of her knife but Fox stabbed with her machete in her other hand, landing it deep into Delilah’s thigh and the force of the swing sending both of them down to the floor. Fox scrambled on top of Del, bringing her dagger down hard into the wound on Delilah’s shoulder and twisting it, clawing through the muscle and nerves and leaving that arm essentially useless.

Fox resumed her clawing at Delilah’s chest, face, wherever, she could reach. “You’re heartless!” Fox screamed, spit flying from her mouth and landing in the open chest wound. Delilah fought back, clawing and slashing at Fox’s arms and body with her knives. As Del left a long cut down the side of Fox’s thigh, Fox moved again to smash her dagger into Del’s other shoulder, slicing through muscle and flesh as she screamed.

“I hate you I hate you I hate you I hate you how could you I hate you…” Fox’s screaming was more and more intense as she clawed with the glass, getting closer and closer to Del’s heart. Delilah regained a grip on her knife with her remaining good arm and slammed the hilt of it into Fox’s hand, smashing the rest of the glass over her, covering her in little cuts. Del used the opportunity to squirm slighly away from Fox, reaching for the cracked and leaking vial of tetrodotoxin which lay on the floor close to them. Grasping it, she tossed the chemical at Fox, aiming for her face but missing, splashing a bit more over her body. Fox couldn’t be calm anymore. With so many cuts over her body and a toxin now dripping from her skin, she didn’t know how much time she had left, if any. She had to end this now.

Armed with the shovel Fox swung it into Delilah’s chest, winding the girl. “I am just, in my cause.” Her whole body trembled as she spoke. “You’re a murderer, you need to be put down!” She swung the shovel into Delilah’s shoulder forcing the girl to scream again.

With all her strength Delilah kicked up into Fox’s thigh wound causing the girl to falter. “You killed, you’re just as bad as me.” She knew exactly what effect the words would have on Fox.

“I WASN’T THE ONE TO KILL AN INNOCENT KID. I DIDN’T BREAK UP A SET OF LOVERS.” She slammed the shovel into the side of Delilah’s head dazing her. “YOU KILLED COLT.” She slammed the shovel on Delilah’s face breaking her nose. “YOU MURDERED A LITTLE KID.”

A malicious grin overtook Fox’s face giving Delilah pause. “Time to burn for what you’ve done bitch.” Fox giggled before tossing the lighter at Delilah. The flames landed on her pant leg before spreading like wildfire up her alcohol soaked tribute outfit. She dropped to the ground screaming as she rolled in an attempt to extinguish the flames.

Clutching her shovel, she had to finish the job. Del laid on the floor, burned and bleeding with her heart nearly exposed from Fox’s clawing at her chest. Fox grimly dug into her body with the shovel, prying her heart out like it was a buried treasure. Delilah was now truly heartless as the final cannon of the Games fired.

There was only one final obstacle in Sutter’s way and it was the one he was looking forward to the most. His revenge was only partially achieved with Kyan but there was still the other half of District Four. Sutter stood stoic across from Delilah, the two of them staring at each other. By now both of them were injured and bleeding, but Sutter felt as strong as ever. All he wanted to do was rip the girl’s throat out and watch her suffer as she bled to the death. He was sure that Delilah felt the same way about him. The only thing was that only one of them would get that satisfaction.

“Well, damn. How did you not just die of guilt?” Delilah jeered, slowly swinging her war hammer around to taunt him. Sutter stood confidently, refusing to be affected by her words. Getting to him was exactly what she wanted.

“I had something I needed to do,” he replied through gritted teeth, making it clear what he needed to do was kill her. She just smiled in return, obviously amused by his whole determination of vengeance.

“Oh are you talking about that slut we killed at the feast together? Did you say goodbye? You know, that was fun, we should do it again sometime.” Delilah retorted, her answer silenced by a growl from Sutter who stood stock still across from her. He wanted this over with and he wouldn’t bow down to her taunts. “Fine. Then do it,” she cooed in attempt to provoke him. Delilah was always one to appreciate a good fight and it was evident that with Sutter that was what she was going to get. Without waiting any longer, Sutter took all three shurikens and threw them at rapid fire in hopes to distract Delilah a bit. She tried to dodge them but was not fast enough as she one of them cut her cheek. While she was busy focused on herself, Sutter went charging towards her and tackled her to the ground. The two fell to the ground with a hard thud, both of them grunting from some kind of injury. Delilah swung her fist around to hit Sutter in the groin, which made him yelp. She let out a laugh, throwing him off of her so she could grab one of her deer horn blades. As Sutter lay in pain on the ground, she swung her weapon around and plunged the sharp point into his shoulder. He screeched, the sharp pain making him wrap his hand around her throat. She gasped as he threw her back on the bottom, her head hitting the hard ground. Once she recovered, her hand wrapped around Sutter’s strong wrist.

“You know Sutter I expected better from someone who scored an eleven. You’re tall, strong, and by all evidence should actually be a challenge.” Then suddenly, she raised her dual edged sword and made a long slash across his back. He fell off of her, shrieking as his now open wound hit the ground. Delilah wasted no time climbing on top again, digging her nails into Sutter’s cheek. Her nails broke his skin, making blood drip down his cheek. He gritted his teeth as he spit into her face. Unseating Del as she scrambled backwards, wiping futilely at her face. She fought to get to her feet as Sutter stood.

”Even your little bitch of a girlfriend put up a better fight than you before you decided winning was more important than she was.” She grinned maliciously at him and watched as something inside the boy snapped.  He lunged forwards and though Delilah had training, Sutter had brute strength. The axe slammed against her hammer, jarring her arm back painfully. “I’m going to make you regret ever volunteering. By the time I’m done with you, you’re going to beg me for death.” He growled and launched himself at Delilah again. He passed her block and sunk the axe into her shoulder making her scream with pain. Delilah swung the hammer weakly at Sutter and caught him in the stomach giving herself a little breathing room. Already her arm felt weaker as the warm blood trickled down her arm.

If she couldn’t beat him with strength, she was going to have to rely on her speed. Sutter was emotional, rash, reckless. He charged forwards and Delilah sidestepped him. Spinning she slammed the hammer into his back with all her might and he gave a sharp cry of pain. Pure adrenaline kept him from buckling under the pain as he stumbled forwards, catching himself against a pillar. Sutter started fiddling around with his pockets which was never a good sign so Delilah charged the boy. The two exchanged blows as Delilah slammed her hammer hard into his stomach.

Sutter doubled over, his ribs broken as Delilah looked down at the knife sticking out of her stomach. She pulled it out and saw that Sutter had put something on it. Immediately a fierce pain gripped her system and she fell to the ground wracked with spasms. Doing the only thing she could think of Delilah lit the smoke bomb and set it on the ground beside her. Her vision danced and blurred as the smoke rose and billowed creating a wall between them.

A sudden noise forced Delilah’s eyes open. She pulled herself upright listening for it again. “Della!” The voice screeched making her blood run cold. All pain forgotten Delilah rocketed to her feet, her eyes searching frantically in the smoke. Finally they locked on to a small shadow cowering in front of a big shadow.

“I told you I had plans for him if you chose not to cooperate Miss Lalonde.” Even here Xanthus’ voice was unmistakable. Where once it gave her chills, now it did nothing but enrage her. Gripping the hammer tightly Delilah screamed as she charged Xanthus, swinging the hammer into his knees. His legs were already injured and he had no chance to dodge it causing them to buckle under the force of the assault.

“If you so much as lay a fucking finger on him I’ll-” the rest of her sentence was incoherent screaming as she brought the hammer down on his wounded chest, fracturing what few intact ribs he had left. Sutter gasped for air under the crazed girl and in a last ditch attempted sliced upwards at her with the hand axe catching her in the side. “FUCK YOU. TAKING CHILDREN JUST BECAUSE YOU CAN.” Delilah was too far gone to even notice and slammed the hammer against his hand forcing Xanthus to drop it with a scream.

She slammed the hammer against his jaw filling his mouth with teeth and blood. “I’m not Xanthus you psycho bitch.” He moaned as she continued to pummel him. He raised his arms over his face to protect himself but they did little as Delilah brought the hammer down relentlessly. Blood sprayed up from the assault coating the both of them and filling Delilah with a sense of righteous glee.

As Fox stumbled into the catacombs from her cavern, the light trickling in reflected off the shiny surface of the floor caught the girl’s eye. Coins. Gold ones. And jewels, and incredible piles of riches like she’d never seen. Her eyes glinted and she smiled, her face curling into a sickening grin. If she could just kill three more people, it’d be all hers.

Kineos was behind a pile of coins when he heard another tribute walking through the catacombs. He took a peek and it was Fox, from District ten. Kineos nocked an arrow into his crossbow and aimed it at her head, a quick and easy kill is what he was hoping to go for. He took a deep breath and fired it, missing hard.

As she looked into the pile, an arrow whizzing past her head grabbed her attention and she whirled around to see Kineos across from her, clutching something in his hands. A small crossbow. Fox frowned, where had she seen one of those- she paused, her eyes narrowing.

That was Imogene’s crossbow. And knowing that Kineos was holding it meant only one thing- that he’d killed her. They were gone, they were all gone. All her friends were dead. And Kineos, the boy in front of her, had killed her last one. She had to get revenge. With that, Fox charged across the catacomb to Kineos, her shovel outstretched. The fire blazing in her eyes was dangerous and Kineos was slightly startled, firing another arrow toward Fox. It clipped her in the shoulder and she snapped the shaft of the arrow off, continuing her charge.

Kineos threw his crossbow to the side and pulled out his dagger and dirk and prepared for a good little battle. She had a shovel out with her along with a machete. Kineos thought to himself, Who the fuck has a shovel in the games?

But it didn’t matter as Fox closed the distance and swung across with her shovel, connecting against his face. He heard a slight noise and looked up at Fox who was slightly blurry and she hit him again but on his back. He stumbled back, cursing, as Fox brought the shovel around into his other side, stabbing it into him. Kineos let out a yell and slowly got up, she could just kill him right now but didn’t, she must have wanted this to last. He looked at her and gave a small smile “Is that all you got you little bitch?” She let out a small snarl and swung her shovel again and Kineos dropped down and swiped his dirk across her leg and she let out a yell. He jabbed with the dirk then at Fox’s stomach, causing the girl to jump backwards, avoiding the hit but losing her proximity to him. Pulling her machete from her belt, Fox sliced hard at the gauze-wrapped area of Kineos’ left arm.  He let out a shriek as Fox sliced the gauze away, exposing the flesh again. Moving closer, Fox jammed her hand into the exposed skin, pulling hard at whatever tendons she could reach and Kineos screamed harder as she clawed at his flesh.

Bringing around his dirk again, Kineos knocked Fox off his body, sending her to the floor. Fox rolled at the impact of the floor and sprung back up to her feet, her eyes glinting.  Kineos’ blood dripped on the floor in time with Fox’s muttering of “kill the killers… kill the killers… kill the killers…” that penetrated the catacombs. Kineos approached her again and she continued to mutter as she shoved into him hard with the handle of her shovel, aiming for his head. He ducked, the shovel’s head smashing into his shoulder, causing it to crack as it shattered on the impact.

As he stumbled back from the hit Fox quickly lit the smoke bomb she’d taken from Joule and tossed it in a high arc right at Kineos. She snapped the gas mask over her face as it detonated right in front of the boy as he turned and tried to run. As he struggled to locate the girl through the smoke, she got low and crept across the floor to wind around at his back. As she did, she sprung forward and smashed both of her daggers into each side of Kineos’ ribcage, blood spurting over her shirt and over the floor, spattering over a few stray gold pieces that lay there.

Kineos shouted out, taking his dirk and shoving it hard behind him, slicing across Fox’s hip and opening the wound she’d bandaged there. Fox screeched back in anger, kicking his wounded knee from behind hard and sending him crumpling to the floor. As he toppled down, he reached for the front of Fox’s shirt with his hand and pulled hard, bringing her down with him.

Fox pulled herself on top of Kineos, pinning his arms down with her legs and squeezing her knees hard to send pain coursing through the boy’s body. “You can’t kill my best friend and not expect me to fuck. You. Up.” She hissed, her eyes manic and her tone rough and harsh. Kineos grappled for his dirk on the floor next to him and took it, slicing it into the side of Fox’s leg from where his hand was pinned underneath her. She shrieked, grabbing the front part of his hair and slamming his head against the floor, the small pieces of gold jingling as she did, and causing him to let go of the weapon which she threw across the floor. She pulled her dagger and held it to his throat, keeping him in place.

Wrenching around to grab the sheet of plastic while keeping Kineos’ head down with the threat of her knife, Fox stretched it over his mouth. “Death by deoxygenation relaxes the brain as the flow of breath stops and stops you from moving so I can give you what you deserve for killing her,” Fox hissed. Kineos struggled, moving his hips to try and buck her off but Fox was strong, she’d spent much of her life roughhousing with her older brother and knew just where to move herself to cause extreme discomfort to Kineos.

The plastic wouldn’t stay and she screamed. “Stop! Let me do this!” She screeched. “Don’t you understand? Do none of you understand that you deserve this?!” Fox screamed to anyone who was listening. Kill the killers kill the killers kill the killers… pulling her lighter, Fox moved the flame up to the plastic which she held on with one hand flat over Kineos’ face while she pressed his injured arm down harder with her left knee, causing him to gasp, holding the plastic in place. Burning the plastic, Kineos began to scream as the plastic melted to his face. Fox moved the lighter around, sealing the plastic in around Kineos’ nose and mouth, and sat back, smiling, as the boy’s breaths eventually slowed.

Fox navigated her way through the tunnels with adrenaline pumping through her veins, adjusting the gas mask to prop up on her head so she could pull it down if she needed. Her eyes were manic and glossy, darting about as she looked for any signs of life in the pathways. She needed blood spilled, particularly that of a killer. She needed to know she’d taken care of one person who was just going to hurt everyone else. She couldn’t handle knowing this many killers were out there. Almost every person left had killed, it was wrong.

A shiver shot down Joule’s spine as she slowly moved forward, her ears on high alert as she moved. I one hand was her dagger and the other her axe. The golf club bumped against her leg, but she paid it no mind. It was actually quite comforting, knowing it was there. She knew she was going to need all help she could use, even a golf club.

It was dark, but not pitch black, thankfully. She wanted to call out for Jeremiah or Kineos, but she knew that, for as likely as it would be for her to find them, it would be triple as likely to find someone who wanted to kill her. Two allies amongst the seven tributes still alive. The odds were definitely NOT in her favor.

Suddenly the tunnel she was walking through opened up into a larger room. Adjusting her grip on her weapons, she edged in slowly, keeping to the walls as she crossed the room, when her ears perked up at the sounds of someone behind her. Whipping around, her  eyes widened almost comically as she realized it was someone else. Raising her axe, she called out softly. “Cap? Kineos?”

Her hair stood on edge when a familiar voice rang out through the cavern. “Afraid not, Joule.” She immediately recognized the voice as Fox’s, there was something different about her, something darker.

As she burst into a larger chamber, Joule approached from the other side. Fox narrowed her eyes, racking her brain from the Fallen from days previous. Was Joule a killer?. Then Fox remembered: Joule and her allies had killed Avery and Zeke. She had to go. Fox let a malicious smile come over her face and charged at the other girl.

Tightening her grip on her axe, Joule stepped forward, a frown on her face. This clearly wasn’t the same girl she had met in the Capitol, but then again, she wasn’t that same girl either. Fox looked perfectly fine, almost completely unharmed and Joule scowled. While her leg was almost completely healed up, it was definitely a weak spot. And she was half blind.

How the fuck did she managed to live this long without encountering ANYONE?

“Fox. Any chance of the two of us walking away? Pretend like we didn’t see each other?” She asked, a last ditch effort of escaping unharmed.

The look on the other girl’s face told her her answer, and Joule knew her answer. Fox looked pissed. Not just angry, but murderous and Joule wanted to laugh. Why was she so angry? Nothing bad had happened to her. Nothing at all. She was whole and had never had to fight for her life. She had never killed. But Joule had. And now, she would again.

Joule panicked a little as Fox charged her. What had happened to the peaceful yet snarky girl she’d encountered in training? Joule let out a low swing with the hand axe, aiming for Fox’s stomach, but Fox used her shovel to block the hit to her abdomen, holding it out with the handle between her and Joule. Holding the shovel this way in both hands, she pushed forward, knocking into Joule’s chest hard. Joule used her axe as she fell from the impact to slice at Fox’s leg. Fox yelped just a little, but jumped back in time to only end up with a couple small slices to the fleshy part of her thigh.

Fox advanced on Joule as she lay on the ground and the girl from Five scrambled to get to her feet, her leg still a bit sore from her injury which slowed her standing. Joule ducked to avoid the blow as Fox swung the blade of her shovel at the girl, her eyes still glinting and manic as she fought. “Stay still!” Fox screeched, stabbing her shovel downward at Joule’s leg wound and pulling her poison-tipped machete from her belt, swinging it wildly at the younger girl. “I’m trying to make this fast for you!”

Thinking of all the injustices that she had been put through, Joule felt her blood begin to boil. Stepping closer, she switched her axe for her gold club, feeling her anger seep into her body. The clang of metal on metal was harsh in the cavern Joule raised her golf club to defend herself from the shovel coming at her, the sound of it cutting through the air seeming louder due to her compromised vision. The clash of metal was harsh against the quiet of the cavern as each girl matched and blocked the other’s attack, seemingly even matched. It seemed Fox’s endurance was higher than her own as Joule’s arm began to burn and give from the strain.

Grunting from exertion, she twisted the club, before pulling it away, causing Fox to jab her machete forward, cutting into Joule’s arm. She let out a cry of pain, but did her best to ignore it as she brought the club up, taking advantage of the other girl’s position and swinging it into her head. Fox staggered back, her hand coming to clutch at her head. Unfortunately the hit was only enough to disorient her for a moment before she was back, swinging her machete at her head once more, backing Joule up towards the wall.

Ducking down, Joule dropped to the ground before scrambling away, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a smoke bomb, lighting it quickly and launching it at the other girl. Fox had just enough time to register the item before slipping her gas mask firmly down over her face. The smoke bomb activated, sending thick, curling smoke throughout the entire cavern. The moment of distraction the smoke bomb had caused was enough to allow Joule to disappear into the smoke, allowing her a few moments to regroup and try and come up with a way to defeat the other girl. Fox looked through it, the mask providing her with eye protection so she could see still- and what she saw was the shadow of Joule working at something.

Joule could hear the whoosh of the machete as it was swung around and tried to quiet her breathing, sticking low to the ground and close to the wall, careful to stay behind the other girl. She quickly untied the rope around her waist, fashioning it into a noose like knot before dropping to her knees, sneaking closer to Fox. The smoke was beginning to clear, and Joule knew she was running out of time to put her plan into action.

Reaching into her pocket, she pulled her other smoke bomb, lighting it as stealthily as she could, however Fox whirled around, knocking against Joule’s right temple with her shovel, a gas mask adorning her face. Having not seen the shovel coming from her right, she was completely caught off guard, the force knocking her to the ground and lit smoke bomb to roll away to the corner of the room.

Fox stalked forward, her machete raised when suddenly her leg was pulled out from under her. She had accidently stepped into the noose that Joule had laid on the ground, and with one hard yank, she was able to catch Fox off guard and send her tumbling to the ground as well.

Staggering to her feet, Joule armed herself with her axe in her left hand and her dagger in the right. Her head ached and she was white stars littered her vision, but with the pain came the rage. She would never have had to experience this kind of pain if Fox would just GO AWAY.

Joule swung the axe high into the air, before slamming it down, catching nothing but the dirt floor as Fox rolled away. She turned her head, searching for the other girl, but it seemed that Fox had figured out her whole right visual field was dark. Swinging her weapons through the air, she searched through the dark for her opponent, careful to turn her head to compensate for her blind eye.

She felt the dagger dig into her shoulder before she saw it and gave a blood curdling scream as she spun the blade twisting before it finally was torn away, digging her own dagger into Fox’s side, once then once more, before her grip gave.

“I told you to stay fucking still,” Fox hissed, jerking Joule’s head to the side, causing the girl to whimper. Joule slashed her dagger backwards and it sliced Fox’s hip, which Fox retaliated to by driving her dagger hard into Joule’s ribcage, giving it a little twist and hearing the girl cry out. Fox threw Joule down by her hair, the younger girl stumbling a bit before regaining her footing, clutching her side. In the dissipating smoke, Joule had difficulty seeing given her lack of eye protection and her previous injury to her eye, which Fox just now noticed. Fox smiled a little- a weak point. In the brief point of Fox’s distraction, Joule lunged forward and smashed her golf club directly into Fox’s nose, breaking it. Blood poured as she shrieked. “What the fuck are you doing? I’m not the killer!”

Drawing her swiss army knife, Fox lunged after Joule who had found Fox again through the smoke. The light was filtering back into the darkened tunnel and Fox took the opportunity to slam the head of her shovel hard into Joule’s back, knocking the wind out of her as she stumbled forward. Fox approached on Joule’s right side, taking the corkscrew section of the swiss army knife and driving it hard into Joule’s eye socket, twisting her fist to embed the object deep within the girl’s eye.

The girl screamed violently, the sound ricocheting off the walls and Fox began to panic. She had to end it soon, she knew somewhere behind her mental deterioration that she was causing pain, and couldn’t bear to live with that on her conscience. Now, Fox knew she had to end it, to euthanize Joule like they did the cows and horses who could not go on any longer. Joule could not go on any longer as a killer. Fox would make sure of that.

With the corkscrew still in Joule’s eye, Fox wrenched her arm down and took Joule to the floor of the cavern. Ripping the corkscrew from her eye socket, Fox brought her shovel down hard over Joule’s head, hoping for a kill, but Joule moved just in time to only have a severe headache from the impact. The girl shrieked and flailed, reaching for her dagger. She grasped it and tried to slam it into Fox’s kneecaps and calves, but the older girl smashed her shovel hard into Joule’s hand and disarmed her, breaking her fingers.

“Stop it! Stop struggling!” Fox shrieked, lifting her gas mask from her face now that the smoke had dissipated. “You deserve this! You fucking deserve this!” Fox threw herself on top of Joule, pinning her arms down with her knees. There would be no more escaping. Fox grasped her pouch of nightlock berries and fished around for the ones she needed.

“What the fuck is wrong with you!” Joule spat, jerking her head forward to try and unseat Fox. She wavered a little bit but got her balance back, using one hand to shove Joule’s head back and the other to try and get her mouth open. Joule struggled, snapping and screaming and flailing under Fox’s weight. The older girl nearly was thrown off a couple times before she had it. “Stop it!” Fox leaned down and screamed in her face. “You’re a murderer, you deserve this! I’m doing you a favour! I’m doing everyone a favour!”

Fox brought her dagger down, narrowly missing Joule’s skull from the girl moving again but leaving a long line down her cheek. The weapon, having been tipped with poison, left an extra sting and Joule, knowing she didn’t have much time left, lunged up, slicing her own dagger farther into the wound across Fox’s left hip. She cursed loudly, landing a punch to Joule’s mouth.

Now unable to fully control herself from a few missing teeth that were rattling around her mouth and inching toward her throat, Fox used her thumb and forefinger against the sides of Joule’s cheeks to force her mouth open and force the thread of nightlock berries she’d strung together earlier in the caverns into the girl’s mouth. Joule struggled and cried and tried to move, but the poison on the dagger Fox had cut her cheek with had started to cause her body to slow down and grow weak. Her fight was lessening, and Fox kept a grim line on her face as she worked. Fox used the needle and the little bit of remaining thread that were left out of Joule’s mouth to seal her lips shut, preventing the berries from being spat out.

Fox shoved her jaw upwards hard with one hand, forcing her to break the berries with her few in-tact back teeth and making the juice run down her throat. Joule shook a little, tears running down her cheeks as she tried to be brave, but soon her body stopped moving altogether. As they say, nightlock kills the victim as soon as it hits their stomach: and this was an intense version of the familiar euthanization Fox had performed only a few times.

As soon as Sutter was done stitching himself up, the ground began shaking and a hole slowly started to pull him underneath the ground. It wasn’t long before Sutter dropped, grunting as pain shoot up his bad leg when landing. The space around him was dark and cold and very lonely. No other tribute was in sight but he knew everyone else was down here somewhere. He strapped his pack tight around his shoulders, keeping out his machete just in case.

It seemed there was only one way to go, which the Gamemakers obviously did for a reason. They were trying to lead him somewhere and he was ready to find out. With a slight limp, he began walking through the tunnel. The ceiling wasn’t high enough so he had to duck down a bit as he made his way as quickly as possible. Curiosity pushed him to keep going, eager to figure out what this whole thing was. Clearly this was just another obstacle of the arena, but what was it for? After a few minutes of walking, the ceiling grew and the walls widened. On the other side there was another tunnel, possibly the only other way in and out. He had a feeling he knew what this was but his suspicions were confirmed when he heard footsteps coming from the other tunnel. A small smirk spread across his lips when he saw a familiar face walking through the other side.

Down the dark tunnels Kyan went.  Ducking his head lightly, he wondered what awful events the Gamemakers had in store for him.  Since he was alone, he thought only he had to endure this underground fate for having avoided the party of the Games up to the Top Eight.  He continued traversing through the dark tunnel, and decided to prep for whatever may come ahead.  As he walked, he pulled out his rope and his knife, using it to slice the rope up into two 3-feet long ropes.  Like he had done so many times before back home, he tied a knot on each of the two ropes, toward the ends, and continued walking.  He hoped that he wouldn’t run into any trouble.  However, he soon learned how wrong he was when he reached a large antechamber where he came face-to-face with a tall, dark silhouette.  Sutter.

“Sutter,” Kyan began as he took one small, hesitant step toward the boy.  He recalled the lighthearted times they shared back at training, but Sutter appeared to have no sympathy for those moments.

"Nice to see you again, Kyan," he snickered as he tightened his grip on his machete. His blood boiled with anger as he looked at the boy. It was Delilah’s District Partner and even though he had nothing to do with what had just happened prior to this, he was still connected to the girl in a way and that just added fuel to his fire. It was evident that the Gamemakers were just pushing everyone together in attempt to make the numbers drop. Sutter’s eyes remained glued to Kyan, examining any injuries he might have. They may have once been considered friends but that was at the Capitol. Here those titles disappeared and Sutter was ready to take the boy down. All he could think of was that he came from the same place as Delilah, the girl who tricked him into killing Tessa. It made the drive to kill him double, his whole body filled with adrenaline and rage. He wanted to make Tessa proud and the only way to do that was by going home, which meant Kyan had to die. "Seen your girlfriend lately?" Sutter mocked, slowly walking towards the boy with an amused grin on his lips.

"She’s not my girlfriend," Kyan retorted, slightly annoyed at the assumption a few people had made before. Kyan stared back at Sutter, crossing his arms over his bare chest that had slashes down the middle of it. "Where’s Tessa?" He asked softly but was clearly unafraid and didn’t actually care about the answer. Sutter gritted his teeth, his grip around his machete so tight that his knuckles began turning white.

"She’s dead because of that bitch," he snapped, his scowl slowly turning to a wicked smile. "And now you’re going to die because of it." At this threat, Kyan’s hand gripped onto his spear. He could see the anger in Sutter’s eyes, aware this was not going to be like the fun they had had during training.

“Come on, Sutter,” Kyan chuckled nervously, both his hands still holding the ropes.  “We had such a good time at the rock-climbing wall.  Hey, I even let you beat me at rock-climbing.”  Kyan hoped the lightheartedness of the topic would melt Sutter’s already broken heart.  However, Sutter remained stoic, his face still expressing the same anger and animosity. "Sutter, I had nothing to do with Tessa’s death. Don’t blame me for what Delilah did," Kyan defended himself, not wanting to be the victim of revenge against his partner. He knew only one of them was coming out of this alive but he could at least try to calm the boy down so he wouldn’t get ripped to shreds.

"I don’t give a shit! She’s not here but you are, so you’re going to pay for her." On this, Sutter pulled out one of the shuriken from his pocket and threw it as hard as he could. The blade hit above Kyan’s eye, leaving a long scratch by his eyebrow. The boy raised a hand to his face, bringing it back down to find blood on his fingers. He frowned, raising his eyes to meet Sutter’s bloodshot, anger-filled ones. He didn’t want to hurt Sutter but he left him no choice. If he wanted to survive then he had to fight back.

Why am I always cleaning up Delilah’s messes, Kyan thought as he straightened his position back to Sutter who was now ready to attack again.  “So, I guess there’s nothing I can say to change your mind,” Kyan gritted his teeth.  A broken man is a dangerous man, and Kyan had the unfortunate luck of being the first opponent Sutter faced right after Delilah murdered Tessa.  Sutter glared down the boy from Four, his revenge unwavering.  “Fine,” Kyan sighed.  He didn’t want to fight, especially someone he had gotten along with, and his words were clearly not getting through to the emotional boy.  Gripping his two ropes with one hand, Kyan slowly pulled out the lighter from his pack and held it tightly in his hands.

Kyan needed to work fast so he quickly lit both his ropes with the lighter before tossing it into his pocket.  With both ropes aflame, he held one in each hand as Sutter came once more.  Bracing himself,  Kyan waited until the boy was close enough to attack.  In one swift movement, Kyan brought his elbow up and knocked it under Sutter’s jaw, causing the boy to back a bit.  Kyan couldn’t rely too much on his injured legs so he figured he’ll have to utilize his upper body.  Sutter, only angered by Kyan’s defense, charged again.  His anger made him more aggressive but it also made him sloppy.  Not allowing Sutter to get within range again, Kyan whipped his right rope toward the boy.  Sutter raised his left arm to protect himself from the fire and a muffled groan escaped his lips.  The small confinements of the chamber made it difficult for Sutter to dodge the fire so the fire poi left a first degree burn on the arm.  Kyan began spinning the ropes, using the two-beat weave to create two circular walls between the boys.

Angry by this trick, Sutter pulled out his grappling hook and tossed it toward Kyan, hoping for it to interrupt the fire-weaving and hit the boy.  The hook broke the circle but it landed amongst the tree roots behind Kyan.  His eyes flew to the weapon that had barely missed him, and this distraction gave Sutter enough time to approach Kyan and swung his machete, cutting across Kyan’s stomach. Kyan screamed, backing up a bit to cover the bleeding wounds with his hands. Taking the chance, Sutter ripped out the spear and threw it across the room so the other boy couldn’t have it.

A pained groan left Kyan’s lips as the scratches on his chest opened up again and the stitching on his right calf broke, a small trickle of blood bleeding down both injuries.  Kyan narrowed his eyes at his attacker and raised his ropes once more, this time wrapping one around Sutter’s ankle and pulling it forward, causing the boy from Seven to fall onto his back.  Using the other rope, Kyan repeated whipped onto Sutter’s chest, leaving dark burn marks across the fallen boy’s body.  Each hit caused Sutter to flinch upward against the pain until finally, before Kyan could land another hit on the boy, Sutter rolled onto his side and pushed himself up.

Sutter approached him, but Kyan quickly raised his war hammer and swung it, connecting it with Sutter’s bad leg. He let out a loud scream, gripping onto his leg as collapsed to the ground. Seeing the opportunity, Kyan held Sutter down and pressed his bowie knife against his throat. Sutter thrashed around underneath Kyan’s grip, attempting to break loose but in return just got the blade pressed down harder.

"Don’t you want to be with Tessa, Sutter? I can help you get to her if you let me. I’ll make it quick but you have to stop moving," Kyan offered, hoping that Sutter would take the bait and let him just kill him. Sutter stared up at Kyan, pondering over the thought of being with Tessa again. He wanted nothing more than to be able to hold her in his arms again, to be able to look into her bright blue eyes that seemed to smile for her. It was lonely without her by his side. The spaces between his fingers with empty now that hers weren’t there. "I can see how much her death has affected you. You’re angry, I get that, but don’t let it consume you. You’re far too good of a person to turn into a bloodthirsty killer. If you’d let me, I’ll make it as painless as possible and you can be with her again. Is that what you want?" A tear built up in Sutter’s eye, feeling conflicted with his choices. He wanted so desperately to be with her but he knew what Tessa would want him to do. She would want him to fight, to live. He stared up at Kyan, who didn’t seem to notice that he was slowly loosening his grip on the knife. Silence between them lingered for a few seconds before Sutter finally made his decision.

"I do. I do want to be with her," he said quietly. Kyan nodded his head, taking a deep breath. He didn’t want to kill Sutter but it was what he wanted so he would help him. Right before Kyan could slash his throat, Sutter gritted his teeth and got ready. "Just not today," he added. His fingers wrapped around a big lock of Kyan’s hair, yanking it to the side to pull the boy off of him. Kyan screamed, wildly whipping around his knife in attempt to be released. He managed to cut Sutter’s cheek, but it was too late. Sutter slammed the boy’s head as hard as he could into a tree root that stuck out of the ground. Kyan immediately got dizzy, his head pounding with his possible new concussion. He became disorientated and was unable to stand to his feet as he laid groaning on the hard ground.

Sutter reached in his pack for his hand axe before kicking Kyan so that he was on his back. The boy’s eyes were closed and at first Sutter thought he had maybe gone unconscious from the hard blow, but then his eyelids fluttered to indicate that he was still awake. Sutter bent down with his hand axe and smirked at Kyan, whose eyes were struggling to remain open. Without waiting a moment longer, he raised his axe then slammed it down to connect with his left wrist, chopping off his hand. Kyan screamed, his eyes popping open from the pain. Before Kyan could move, Sutter raised his axe again and this time chopped off his right hand. The boy let out murderous screams, crying as he attempted to scoot away. “Shut up. You didn’t need them anyway,” Sutter said with a sneer. “Here, catch!” He joked, picking up the unattached hands to throw them at Kyan. “Oh wait, you can’t catch.” Sutter let out a laugh before rolling his eyes at the boy who continued to scream. Kyan did his best to drag himself away from the District Seven boy, but it wasn’t very useful considering he now had no hands to defend himself with.

Sutter walked towards the boy as he pulled out Tessa’s navaja knife. Kyan kicked out his legs in front of him, managing to connect his foot with Sutter’s groin. The boy groaned, doubling over in pain for a moment before forcing himself to push through it. He had work to finish and he couldn’t let that get in the way. “Fucking asshole,” he murmured, clenching his teeth as he limped over to the boy who was bleeding out and still trying to get away. Kyan tried to kick him again but this time Sutter was ready for it. He grabbed his foot and twisted it in an unnatural position, hearing the snap as he broke his ankle. The boy let out even more screams, his whole entire body filled with pure pain.

Eventually Sutter managed to pin him down, putting all of his weight on top of the boy’s cut up chest. Sutter dug one of his cleated shoes into Kyan’s forehead and the other on his chin, allowing him to pry open the boy’s mouth. Kyan tried to escape Sutter’s grip but his weight was too much. Sutter reached his hand into Kyan’s mouth to grab his tongue. He pulled it out as far as he could, which made the boy cry out a bit. Using the navaja knife, Sutter began cutting off Kyan’s tongue, watching as his mouth filled with blood. As soon as it was completely off, Sutter raised it to show him. “How did that feel?” Kyan moaned, gagging at the blood that dripped down his throat. “What’s the matter? Cat got your tongue?” Sutter joked, laughing as the boy turned his head to the side to help get the blood out of his mouth.

Kineos was sucked underground and he looked around. It was pretty dark down here considering there wasn’t any sky or any light for that matter down here. There was some poking out every now and then but it wasn’t that much. Kineos sat there for a little bit, letting his eyes get used to the dark so that he wouldn’t be completely useless down here. He put his dagger in one hand and his dirk in the other hand, just in case he was attacker soon. Once they were adjusted to the dimly lit cavern, he started walking throughout the maze underground. He didn’t know where Jeremiah or Joule was but he needed to see them soon so they could pair up again. Kineos kept on walking until it turned hard and it opened up in a little room and there was already another tribute standing there.

Crawling through the tunnels was a frustrating endeavor for Imogene, even though she had the aid of the night vision goggles. She had a lot to carry and it seemed rather ridiculous to her as she navigated through the dirt. Finally, she emerged into a larger cavern. Light trickled down from above as roots dripped with water. She removed the goggles, as they were clunky and annoying. Looking around, she gripped her spear as she came across another tunnel opening. If she’d come from one, she had every right to expect that another tribute would pop out of the other. And if so, she would be ready, but more than anything, she hoped it would be Fox so they could figure this mess out together.

Tossing the goggles in the dirt, she quickly loaded her bow with an arrow and nocked it just as she heard rustling in the tunnel. With her eyes trained on the dark hole, she steadied her breathing and waited. A light appeared and she knew whoever it was had a flashlight. It wasn’t Fox, that’s for sure. She frowned, but prepared herself for an inevitable battle. Finally, a red headed boy stumbled into the cavern, armed with a simple dagger and a blowtorch. A pack was strapped to his back too, and who knew what he had in his pockets, but she could tell it was something because the unfortunate truth of the matter was that those disgusting plaid pants were tight as hell.

“Shit,” Kineos murmured once he finally laid eyes on her. She smirked, having the upper hand. “Alright, look… I am not here to fight…I just want to find my allies.” His hands were up a little and he looked less than enthused that he was at the tip of her arrow.

“That’s too bad, ain’t it, carrot top. There’s 8 of us left and I have a feeling that’s what the Game Makers want… so if you’re not gonna fight me, just stand there and look pretty would you?” she cooed.

His brows perked at the nickname, clearly unamused by it. He cricked his neck, stretching a little, his eyes never leaving her. “If that’s how you want it, blondie,” he retorted, giving her a stupid nickname that referenced her hair color in return.

His fingers inched to his pocket and she tightened her stance. “Whatcha got in there huh? Something real nice I bet. Well you better think twice about that,” she warned. And still, he moved towards the smoke bomb he knew would help him in this situation. Imogene, feeling threatened by this, released the arrow. It sailed into Kineos’ thigh, just above the knee-cap as his fingers gripped the smoke bomb. He screamed out, having not expected her aim to be that good. In truth, it wasn’t, as she’d been aiming for his chest.

“Bitch,” he murmured, now crippled but the blow. As she loaded another arrow, he dropped the dagger and lit up the smoke bomb with his blowtorch. Imogene shot another arrow towards him but missed, and he chucked the bomb in her direction. It smacked against the dirt wall of the gopher hole as smoke poured from the little grey ball. She choked and coughed as the smoke billowed, hiding her from his view and vice versa.

“Oh you must think you’re so smart,” she coughed.

“I do, as a matter of fact,” Kineos replied with a laugh that turned into a cough.

“Sure, I can’t see you, but you can’t see me either jackass,” she laughed back. She clutched her bow and inched backwards, knowing that he would either attack or expect her to. But she was smart and as she backed up, she found the wall and crept back into the tunnel opening that she came out of. Loading her bow, she sent a shot out into the smoke, hoping to catch him. He didn’t utter a single sound, so she knew she missed. She loaded and shot again, this time in a different area. Still, nothing.

She cursed to herself silently, wondering what Kineos was up to. Maybe he’d even retreated back into his hole and turned back the other way, using the smoke as a distraction. Finally, she heard a noise, it was her opponent, who was fumbling in the smoke with his pack. Dropping her bow, she reached into her pack and brought out the crossbow. It was smaller and easier to use and would allow her to use her other hand for other things. Knowing he had the blowtorch and dagger and not much else, she expected Kineos to use it. She grabbed the bottle of isopropyl alcohol from her pack and unscrewed the cap. Finally, the smoke began to dissipate. She nocked a bolt into the crossbow and stepped back into the cavern armed with only her crossbow and alcohol. The spear was nearby, if she needed it.

Kineos was prepared now, and he turned on the blow torch. He began to heat the blade with the fire and laughing as if he’d planned on this the entire time. Releasing the bolt as soon as she caught a glimpse of his form in the smoke, he screamed and she knew she’d struck him, but she didn’t know where. He groaned and staggered closer to her as she loaded another bolt. She sent it flying as he charged her. The blade glowed hot orange and she saw, even now throught the smoke, that she’d caught him in the shoulder. The blowtorch made the cavern glow blue and orange as he closed in on her.

His growl echoed against the dirt and as he stabbed forward, she splashed the open alcohol bottle towards the blowtorch, causing an explosion of flames. She let go of the bottle and ducked, but both were caught in the fire as as it plumed between their faces. His eyebrows scorched off and he was nearly blinded. His eyes watered and he dropped the blowtorch before it set something else on fire. It was kicked away in the scramble as Imogene lurched for her spear. Kineos drove forward towards her. Her fingers curled around the handle but he was already on top of her, rendering the weapon nearly useless. She tried to smack him over the head but let go as soon as the hot blade of his dagger sunk into her shoulder.

“You fucking bitch, I had plans for that,” he sneered.

She kneed him in the stomach as she screamed out in pain, the only thing she could think of. His hand gripped her shoulder and he twisted the dagger in her skin, maintaining control over her. The pain caused her to clench up, rendering her unable to fight back. He yanked the dagger from her shoulder and slammed it back down into her chest, inches away from her heart. She screamed, kicking underneath his weight.

Suddenly, in a blinding explosion, the alcohol that splashed onto the blowtorch caused it to explode, blowing Kineos off Imogene’s body and catching them both on fire. Kineos rolled through the dirt, quickly expelling the flames from his pants. Imogene, having done the same, rolled over the flare gun in her pocket and remembered its presence. Still on the ground, as Kineos was righting himself, she pulled it out and rose it, her hand shaking. The dagger was still in her chest and now Kineos had procured a dirk from his pocket. The fire died down quickly due to the damp dirt in the gopher hole, but ultimately ruining his blow torch.

“What the-  Who gave you a gun?” Kineos froze, paralyzed at the sight of the weapon. He had no idea the difference between a flare gun and a real gun, no matter his level of genius. She pulled back on the trigger without hesitation and shot the flare straight towards him. The flare exploded into his shoulder, blowing a chunk of flesh and bone from his upper left arm. She dropped the gun as Kineos’ screams filled the cavern.

His screams turned into a haunted and adrenaline filled holler as he launched himself onto her body. She had dropped the gun, but he landed on her before she could get the dagger removed from her shoulder. His impact only caused the dagger to delve deeper into her skin. She cried out, tears streaming down her face now, as the boy’s other blade found her stomach. Blood loss was getting to Imogene, and she began to fade, even as Kineos’ shoulder wound dripped onto her. His right arm, still plenty strong, pulled the dirk from her stomach and continued to stab into her abdomen. Finally, she stopped struggling. Kineos stabbed and stabbed away at her middle until the cannon fired, signalling her death.

Everything was silent, that was what Delilah noticed first thing after the announcement finished. Not even the sound of a breeze rustling the leaves in the trees, it was an eerie stillness that seemed to suit the mood in the arena. Nine were left and after today Delilah was pretty sure it wouldn’t even be half that. Call it the calm before the storm, it wouldn’t last.

The fairway  stretched on before her, reaching the green where a glistening cornucopia now stood, ready to be ransacked of items. Delilah was a little disappointed there didn’t seem to be a single tribute there yet. Maybe someone was hiding in the trees nearby waiting to see who came and if they left anything but that didn’t matter. Cowards like that weren’t much a concern.

Tessa finished her taco and began to pack up her stuff.  She layed out her weapons, looking over at Sutter.

“I don’t need all this, you can take some,” she said, handing him Clifton’s machete.  “You can have some of these too,” she pulled out three of the shuriken they also stole from Clif. Sutter reluctantly took the weapons, making sure he could reach them easily if he needed to. She packed up the rest of her things, keeping her knife in her pocket and her machete in her hand.  All of a sudden, a voice came over the arena.  There were three mini cornucopias they could go to in order to find stuff they need.  Tessa looked over at Sutter.  The voice, who she recognized as one of their Gamemaker’s, began to list the things they could pick up.

“We could use the clothes,” Tessa said, looking down at their disgusting outfits.  “And the water,”  It was risky.  They had no idea who they could run into there.  “What do you think?” Sutter thought in silence for a short moment before raising his eyes to meet hers.

“I say we go. We just need to be careful,” he said, aware that the other tributes would probably want to take the opportunity for these supplies too. Plus, he couldn’t help but want that letter to send home to Callan.

“Okay,” Tessa said, standing up.  “Will you drive?” She smiled, dangling the keys in front of her face. Sutter smiled, playfully snatching the keys out of her hand.

“Anything for you,” he teased, pressing a quick kiss to her cheek before grabbing his stuff. Thankfully they had the chance to clean up their injuries. Who knew if they would run into another tribute, and if they did, having untreated wounds would only hinder their chances. After making sure they both had everything they needed, they jumped into the golf cart. Sutter turned on the ignition, looking over at Tessa for a few seconds before focusing his attention back to the wheel. Although this was rather tempting, he couldn’t fight the bad feeling in his gut. They weren’t the only ones who needed things and that could lead to trouble. Tessa loaded there stuff up in the back seat and hopped in next to him.  With slight hesitation Sutter stepped on the gas and drove as quickly as he could towards Hole 15, the closest place that had supplies. Tessa bit her lip, hoping they wouldn’t run into anyone.

After only a few minutes of driving, they reached the small cornucopia.  Tessa gripped her machete.  “Here we go,” she said softly.  Sutter slowly pulled the golf cart to a stop, deciding to leave the key in, just in case they needed to make a quick getaway. He tightened his grip on his bow, slowly stepping out of the golf cart to look around.

“Stay close,” he said quietly to Tessa, not wanting to let her out of his sight. Tessa nodded, but knew she would do what she had to do in order to protect Sutter.  That was all she cared about.  They stepped out of the cart, weapons in hand.  Tessa’s pack was strapped tightly onto her back in case she needed to grab one of her other weapons. Together, they began to approach the cornucopia. So far no one else had arrived, which was a good thing for them. “Let’s try to be quick. I don’t want to take any chances of waiting around too long,” Sutter said, Tessa nodding her head in agreement. The two separated so they could grab what they could. As Tessa was grabbing the the set of camo uniforms, Sutter made his way further in to take a look around the weapons. A small smile spread across his lips as his eyes landed on the molotov cocktail kit. It was something that could be helpful for later so why not take it? Just as he was bending down to grab it, he heard something not too far away. He immediately looked up to find the feisty redhead from District Four. It was Delilah, the exact one that he had dared Kyan to kiss not too long ago. She was staring at him with cold eyes, quickly approaching him.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” she threatened, and without waiting another second she hurled a shuriken at him. It landed in the hand that was wrapped around the kit, which made him drop it with a scream. Sutter ripped the sharp shuriken out of his hand, throwing it to the ground. Hearing Sutter scream made Tessa jump as she hadn’t even realized that they had company. Her eyes landed on Delilah who was running full force towards Sutter. She gasped, letting go of the camo uniforms so she could help her lover. Right now what they were wearing was the least of their worries so they could always take the uniforms once they fought off the Career. Sutter stood to his feet, wasting no time to load his bow at the girl. His hand was bleeding but he didn’t care. As the redhead got closer, he released the bow, hoping to hit her. Unfortunately, she ducked, the arrow flying past her head. She looked over at Sutter with a mocking grin, obviously entertained with how the beginning of this fight was going. “You’re going to have to do better than that,” she called out with a laugh. Sutter growled, feeling his body fill with anger and adrenaline as the girl provoked him.

“Well it’s a good thing I can,” he replied, scowling at the Career. Tessa bit her lip, watching as the pair prepared for battle.  She didn’t want Sutter to die, and knew she would jump in front of him if she had to.  In one quick motion Sutter pulled out another arrow and loaded it into the bow before letting it go. Delilah tried to dodge it but she wasn’t fast enough as it landed into her shoulder, making her shriek. Sutter let out a laugh similar to the one Delilah had before as to mock the girl. She looked up at him with fire in her eyes as she yanked out the bloody, breaking it in half before throwing it to the ground. “Come fight me, bitch,” Sutter provoked her, itching to just rip the girl’s throat out. Maybe he was making a risky move but Delilah was here to fight so no matter what he said or did, blood would be spilled. She cocked her head at him, amused at the boy’s bravery.

“With pleasure,” she answered, striding confidently towards him. Sutter put away his bow to take out his machete, knowing a close combat fight was what Delilah would give him. As Delilah approached Sutter, she pulled out her dual edged sword with a sneer. “You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into, Seven,” she said. Sutter rolled his eyes, unafraid of her threatening words. Once she was close enough she swung her sword at him with a grunt. He tried to jump out of the way but she managed to slice his arm. He clenched his jaw, forcing himself to ignore the pain. Luckily it wasn’t his dominant arm, so it didn’t affect him too much.

Tessa didn’t know what to do.  She fumbled for something, anything to distract Delilah and get her away from him.  Her hand found one of her shuriken.  She threw it towards the redhead.  It flew past her, but barely missed causing her hair to whip away from her face.  She glared at Tessa.  

“Stay out of this, Blondie!” She yelled before turning back to Sutter.  Delilah went to swing her sword again, but this time Sutter was ready. He lifted his machete, the metals clicking against each other. He knew he couldn’t hold out much with his machete compared to her sword, so while he had the chance he kicked his leg out in front of him, connecting with her gut. Delilah doubled over with a gasp, taking a few steps back so she could catch her breath. “You’re going to regret that,” she managed to get out, glaring up at Sutter. Without waiting a moment longer, she charged towards him, bringing her sword around. The sharp edge slashed into Sutter’s thigh, making him howl in pain. He dropped to the ground, gripping onto his bleeding leg. His machete flew out of his hand, and his pack landed next to him, just an arm’s length away. Delilah laughed, digging her heel into his leg, making more blood come oozing out. He screamed as she stepped on his wound, trying to dig his nails into her ankle to get her off. She just rolled her eyes, bending down to sit on top of his chest, making sure to keep pressure on his leg so he was weaker than her. “I told you you would regret it,” she snickered, whipping out a deer horn knife to press against his throat. Sutter spit into Delilah’s face, attempting to thrash out from underneath her. She wiped away his saliva, shooting him a dirty look as she pressed the knife a bit harder against his throat. “Now, now, Sutter. You wouldn’t want little Tessa to suffer the consequences of your mistakes, would you?” She warned, placing her feet on both sides of his head to keep it still.

Tessa climbed into the cart.  Her breath was fast, and her muscles were weak.  She pulled herself onto the seat, eagerly twisting the key and turning on the cart.  She slammed on the gas and the cart bursted forward. Tessa took off in the cart and Delilah, eyeing Sutter carefully, made a run behind the protection of the cornucopia. Her mind was working a mile a minute as she pressed herself against the smooth wall of the cornucopia. She’d taken on two tributes at once before but that had hardly counted as Colt could do little more than poke her with his shuriken. Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of an approaching engine. Tessa had circled around the back of the cornucopia and was driving full speed at Delilah. Taking off running Delilah rounded the cornucopia but even uninjured she was no match for the speed of the cart and had to dive to the side to avoid being run over.

Sutter had been lying in wait for Delilah to come back around and as soon as she dove he let his arrow fly. A scream broke the formerly peaceful silence of the arena as the arrow sunk deep into Delilah’s thigh. She knew better than to remove the full arrow and merely broke off the shaft before standing up to find the bow once again pointed at her face. Delilah couldn’t run to Sutter in time to stop him from shooting her between the eyes nor could she beat him in a ranged fight. Her only option was to once again take cover against the onslaught of arrows by ducking behind the side of the cornucopia.

As she expected Tessa came racing around the cornucopia on her new toy but this time Delilah was ready. “Not this time bitch.” Delilah yelled, leaning back. The cart narrowly avoided her and she grabbed onto the side, hauling herself up beside Tessa. Delilah grabbed her blade, spying the wound on Tessa’s arm and digging it in before the girl could even register what was happening. She shrieked in pain and sent an elbow into Delilah’s throat choking the girl and releasing her grip on the knife. It dropped to the floor of the cart and Delilah’s hand darted to grab it but Tessa grabbed her wrist keeping her from grabbing it. Using her free foot Tessa kicked the knife and sent it spiraling off the cart. Using all her strength Delilah slammed her weight sideways into Tessa sending them both tumbling from the moving cart and onto the turf.

The two girls rolled for a minute before coming to a halt a short distance from each other. “Tessa!” Sutter screamed, knowing Delilah wouldn’t be down for long. His leg was weak and bleeding out and he needed help. Sutter flipped onto his stomach, screaming as his wounded leg hit the ground. As Delilah continued shrieking and rubbing at her eyes, he used his arms to drag himself away, not wanting to be in the way when the girl got up again.  Tessa ran over to him, grabbing his arms and helping to pull him away.  

“Are you okay?” she asked, trying not to cry as she saw the blood pouring out of his leg.  Sutter nodded and Tessa turned around to face the Career whose eyes now matched her fiery hair.  

“She fucked up my knee.” Sutter said in between grimaces. He stood up, trying to walk on it but almost took himself to the ground when he did. “I’ll take care of her, just use your bow if you need it.” Tessa murmured. She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before striding quickly across to where Delilah had gone. Uninjured she crossed the distance in no time and swung angrily at Delilah who raised her sword to deflect the blow. Delilah countered and once again Tessa raised her shield to block but Delilah had other plans. Resting on her good leg Delilah kicked upwards knocking the machete from Tessa’s bad hand. The fell to the ground and Delilah kicked it away from both of them before Tessa could try to pick it up again.

“What are you going to do without your boyfriend to protect you?” Delilah taunted, a twisted grin growing on her face. Delilah has seen Sutter take out his bow again and made sure to keep Tessa between the two of them.

“Tess, I can’t get a good shot!” He yelled at her across the green. Tessa glared at Delilah but refused to say anything. Delilah took a weak swing at Tessa’s unprotected side and watched as she twisted her body to block it with the shield. She laughed as she swung again, this time at her legs and Tessa had to crouch to block the attack. Her blood was boiling and Tessa surged upwards with the shield catching Delilah by surprise and slamming her right in the face. Stars appeared in her eyes as she struggled to stay alert and keep her grip on the sword.

Black blossomed in front of Delilah’s eyes and Tessa charged again, this time knocking the shield straight into Delilah’s chest and sending the girl sprawling onto her back.

“Oh you’re going to pay for that,” she said angrily. The Career’s vision was fuzzy, and she clearly couldn’t properly see what she was doing.  Tessa thrusted her machete forward, missing the girl by just an inch.  Knowing she would get nowhere with the sword, Delilah abandoned it, dropping it to the ground and pouncing on Tessa.  She landed on the ground with a hard thud, her machete flying from her hand.  The Career pinned Tessa down, putting her knees on her shoulders.  Delilah smiled.  “You’re trapped now,” she cooed, leaning close to Tessa’s face.  She wrapped her hand around her throat, squeezing tightly.  She pulled her pack off her back with her other hand, quickly rummaging through it as Tessa struggled for air.  She pulled out one of her deer horn knives, holding it close to Tessa’s neck.  “I’m sorry it had to end this way.  You two were actually kinda cute,” She shrugged, pressing the tip of the blade into Tessa’s skin.  She cried out, choking for air. Her hand quickly felt the ground, looking for anything to aid her.  She finally remembered her knife in her pocket.

She slid in the wet ground and Tessa pulled out the navaja knife to finish the career off. She aimed the knife right for Delilah’s heart. Blinking out of her stupor Delilah found herself weaponless and with no time to react did the only thing she could think of. She thrust her hand forwards and the knife sunk into it, protecting her heart.

Her scream was probably heard across the arena but the pain helped wake her up. She brought her knee up into Tessa’s gut before punching her in the jaw. The blow knocked the girl from Seven off of her allowing her to rip the knife out of her hand before scrambling on hands and knees to grab her sword. She had just picked it up and started to stand when she felt an arm tighten around her throat. Tessa had her in a headlock and was squeezing the life from  her. Delilah tried to swipe the sword at Tessa but her other arm locked down Delilah’s leaving defenseless.

“Do it now! Sutter, shoot her now!” Tessa screamed, as she tried to contain the struggling Delilah. Both girls’ eyes followed the bow as Sutter took careful aim, making sure he’d hit his mark. Delilah stopped struggling as she watched Sutter breathe in, then exhale. Springing to action as Sutter’s finger left the bowstring Delilah stomped as hard as she could on Tessa’s foot loosening the girl’s grip on her. Grabbing Tessa’s arms Delilah spun the two around and held her still as the arrow sunk into Tessa’s spine.

She let out a small gasp before crumpling to the ground without another sound. “TESSA!” The sound was barely recognizable as it was more scream than words. Sutter’s face was contorted into a mixture of rage and grief as the realization of what’d he’d just done sunk in. Delilah took advantage of his momentary inability to act and took off running for the cornucopia. Sutter was immoblie and with her level of injuries, she thought it best to take her chances with the feast items instead of finishing Sutter off.

Sutter aimed at the career as she sprinted for the opening. By now Delilah had thrown enough shuriken and her aim was perfect. The tiny metal star hit Sutter right in the hand causing him to fire the arrow sky high. Sutter growled as he tried to nock another arrow but gave up when the career disappeared into the cornucopia.

“Sutter?” The voice caught him by surprise. “Sutter what happened?” Tessa’s voice was weak and, caught off guard as she gathered supplies, Delilah realized she’d never heard her cannon fire.

“Tessa?” Sutter croaked, his words jumbled by a mouthful of blood. Amazed, Delilah watched from the mouth of the cornucopia as Sutter pulled himself across the wet grass to where Tessa hadn’t moved since being struck by the arrow. He reached her and laid her head on his lap, his hand moving to stroke her hair that was matted with blood. “Tessa I’m so sorry.” He whispered, tears brimming in his eyes.

“Shh.” She soothed him, eyes locked on his though she couldn’t move. “It’s okay it’s okay.” Sutter let out a sob and she smiled up at him.

“You look so beautiful.” He whispered to her, his hand hand leaving her hair to clutch hers.