"Why did you kill him Ellie?" I ask quietly, as we walk down to the pond.
"Tyler?" she replies.
"Yeah."
"Only one of us can win, right? And they're not going to pull a star-crossed lovers again, are they?"
"So to win, you'd kill me?"
"We're allies."
"So were you and Tyler. Didn't stop you."
Ellie thinks through her reply. "Don't make this hard for yourself Maria," she says finally. Then she laughs, masking the obvious, 'Yes.' Seeing as we're hunting down Tyrese I let it slide once again, but it's only a matter of time, I think.
We spot Tyrese fifteen minutes later. He's leant against the Cornucopia lazily, basking in the sun. How can he be so relaxed, on his own in the arena? We watch from the bushes, my knife raised, Ellie's bow drawn. We tiptoe over to the Cornucopia, sure we can take him out alone, when others appear. Mackenzie appears first, knives in hand. I know he can't throw them, but my heart thuds nervously anyway. Graydon follows at his heels, a burlap sack swung over his shoulders. And Randy is with them, cleaning a spear for Tyrese. It seems they're using her for a slave. We make a quick decision.
"We shoot Tyrese, and then run, got it?"
I nod. "But where do we run?"
"The maze," she tells me. "The backwards arrows are still there."
"Got it. Who's gonna shoot him? You?"
"Yeah." Ellie loads the bow, and gets her aim. She waits, waits, and waits some more.
"Fire!" I say, and she obliges.
Time splits. The arrow soars. My heart beats. Her heart beats. Tyrese's heart stops beating.
The arrow catches him in the back and as we run, the cannon fires. I lose Ellie halfway up the hill, and duck into a bush for fear of being seen. The Careers are taking chase, spreading out. In fact, Randy is just steps away from where I crouch. She pokes through the bushes, and my heart is about to explode as I raise my knife. It lodges in her back and the cannon fires. Two down.
I gaze at the stocky blonde, sprawled in her pool of blood. I take the knife, wipe it on a bay leaf, and carry on. I could kill anyone right now, without hesitation. Later the human feelings will come, but now adrenaline is blocking them very effectively. I carry on, slipping through the bushes toward Graydon. Tyrese's death was so simple. He was ignorant and paid dearly for it. I am ten metres away from Graydon when a cannon fires, startling me.
Graydon takes off up the hill and I've missed my chance. Who was it? It can only be Mackenzie or Ellie, Graydon was right here in front of me and I'd know if I was dead. Today has been a bloodbath, better than the first day in terms of drama. I can feel it though, somehow, I will be out of the dome and the terror it brings soon. Perhaps not today, maybe not tomorrow, but - whichever way - I will be out of here, headed home.
That night, as I nestle in the bushes, Mackenzie's face appears in the sky along with Tyrese and Randy. Ellie is okay and I set out to find her in the dark.
She's in the woods where we first camped, a nasty cut across her shoulder. I put on antiseptic cream by torchlight, and wrap it up.
"Who killed Randy?" she asks me as I wrap her arm up and put it into a sling.
"Me. Who killed Mackenzie?"
"Me." I think for a minute, and realise it would've had to have been her. Graydon was with me and Randy was dead.
"Oh, yeah," I reply. That night, on guard, I am in turmoil. I haved made the final three, one opponent is asleep completely at my mercy, and the other is not a terrible threat. It will just come to a terrible stand-off between me and Ellie, so I take her bow and step forward. Everything in my body screams apart from my mouth as I send the arrow into her back. A cannon fires and I cry. I've taken a life. She could've gone home. I have to remind myself that she would've killed me for victory. Then, as dawn breaks, I take what will be helpful and look for Graydon, whilst I am on a roll.
I think, as I sent that arrow flying into Ellie's back, I lost my soul as well.