Song: Persephone by Tamino

Arena, Lake, Day 8: Marin Callahan

Marin had refused to bathe since Solomon's death. She just couldn't bring herself to touch the water of the lake – the lake where he had swum, the lake in which he had died in. Her skin was coated in a thin layer of grime and Marin knew that she stunk to high heavens. She just couldn't bring herself to care.

She was beginning to annoy her allies, she could tell. She saw it in their eyes – the eye-rolls they exchanged when Marin refused to do something, when Marin wouldn't eat, when Marin yet again volunteered for guard duty because she couldn't sleep. She saw it in the looks they gave her – the ones they thought she didn't see. They were wrong. She saw.

It was true that Marin had done next to nothing since his death, but she couldn't help it. The drowning feeling was back – the water was up to her ears, almost covering her entirely. It was an effort to breathe, let alone to raise her arm and bring food to her mouth, let alone agree to go hunting with Topaz and Vita. She knew she was a liability. She knew that soon their alliance would break, and she would have to manage on her own without their help. She knew that. But for now… for now, at least, Marin could pretend that she was anywhere but here. For now, she could indulge in her depression.

"Hey," Vita said, sitting next to her by the fire and gesturing for Topaz to join them. "We gotta talk about what's happening next."

"What do you mean?" Marin asked, raising her eyes to Vita.

"Well," Vita said. "We're in the final seven."

"Seven? Are we really?" Marin asked. She couldn't remember hearing another cannon.

"Yeah. Didn't you hear the one before?" asked Topaz.

Marin shook her head.

Vita laughed. "I'm not surprised. You're a vegetable."

"Vita!" Topaz admonished.

Vita rolled her eyes. "Oh, fuck off, Topaz, you know it's true, she's useless."

"Still," said Topaz, looking at Marin. Marin shrugged, pretending that it was no big deal, that she didn't care what was said to her. Vita's words stung, but they were true. At least she wasn't making things up. Marin was useless – any fool with a brain and at least one eye could figure that out.

"Anyway," Vita continued. "We have to break the alliance at some point, and I for one would rather do it sooner rather than later."

Topaz nodded. "When do you propose?"

"Final five?" Marin suggested.

That way there would be less chance of it coming down to two of them. Marin didn't want to have to kill her allies, her friends, to go home, but she knew that if they were the last ones left, she wouldn't hesitate to do whatever it took to get home to Minnow. She would kill a thousand friends if it meant she could hear her daughter's laugh one more time. Still, she would prefer it came down to herself and someone she didn't know.

Vita shrugged, and looked at Topaz. "Sounds good to me."

"Okay," said Marin.

"I'm so ready to get out of this fucking arena."

"Same," Topaz said, leaning back and kicking up dirt, a bit too close to the fire for Marin's liking. Vita threw Topaz a nasty look; she was very protective over the fire, as she spent a good portion of her time keeping it burning. It didn't matter – they had stacks of lighters – but Marin knew it would only cause fights.

"Me too," whispered Marin, thinking of Minnow, of Del, of home. It felt further away by the day – as Marin grew tireder, as the water around her grew taller, Marin felt more and more hopeless. She couldn't see how she would make it out of the arena, couldn't see how she would best her fellow tributes – if she didn't have the energy to eat, how was she meant to raise her dagger and go about killing people?

"Well, that's settled, then," said Vita, rising from the log and shaking first Marin's hand, then Topaz's.

Topaz let out a sigh, and picked up a dry leaf from the kindling pile which she began shredding into tiny little pieces. "I can't say that I'm thrilled we have to split up, but I spose' it's for the best."

"Better we split up sooner rather than later – I mean we wouldn't want it to come down to just us, would we?" Marin said.

"No," said Vita, giving Marin a small smile, which Marin found slightly confusing – she didn't think she'd said anything that warranted a smile. "No, that would suck."

"Who's left?" Topaz asked, furrowing her eyebrows in thought. "There's the girl from Ten… boy from Nine…"

"That kid from Five."

"Who else?" Marin asked, wracking her brains. "Oh! The boy from Eleven."

"Yeah, but who's the other one? That's only three, there's someone else."

"Oh. Girl from Seven, isn't it?" said Topaz.

Vita scoffed. "I highly doubt that. Isn't she the one that got a One in training? The one that wouldn't stop crying? How the fuck's she meant to have survived?"

"Luck, maybe?" Marin suggested, not really caring. It didn't matter, at this point, who was alive – after all, most of the tributes would probably be dead in a matter of days. Hopefully Marin wouldn't be one of them. "Or maybe she has some sort of secret skill. Maybe it was an act." She was grasping at straws, she knew that – she doubted that anything more than luck had allowed Seven to survive. But then again, miracles happened.

"Maybe. But I bet that was her cannon before," Topaz said.

"Well, whatever the reason is, she'll be dead soon," Vita said, standing up. "Now, I'm going to go hunt, could anyone care to join me?"

Topaz practically jumped to her feet. She obviously also understood the importance of staying in the Capitol's interest, or maybe she was just bored. "I'm coming. Marin?"

Marin shrugged. Her limbs felt like lead, and she doubted she would be much use to them. "Someone has to guard the supplies."

The other two seemed to have forgotten the fact they'd agreed not to leave anyone behind, or perhaps they no longer cared, because ten minutes later Marin was sitting alone, watching the still water of the lake and thinking of home.

DAY 9

It had been a slow day, mostly – Marin knew that wasn't a good thing. At this point in the Games, the audience would be expecting things to move quickly, with a death or even two per day in some cases. She was glad when the cannon sounded sometime in the afternoon, although it hadn't been their kill – none of the Careers had killed someone since the boy from Seven. She wondered who it was – yesterday's cannon had been the boy from Eleven, who Marin hadn't seen since the Bloodbath. She couldn't even remember his name. Lynx or something.

Marin could sense that her allies were getting anxious. After they had gone hunting in the morning, Vita had spent the day shooting at makeshift targets they had hung on trees, as well as sharpening her array of swords and knives. Topaz had spent it stabbing at the air and practicing her rolls and defence moves. Marin had spent it twiddling her thumbs and folding and re-folding her photograph of Minnow.

Dinner arrived in three neat parachutes. Their sponsor gifts were getting smaller as time went on, and they were shown the hierarchy of their alliance by the extravagancy of their gifts. Vita was given two whole steaks, with a side of green vegetables and a small loaf of bread. Topaz was given a container of rabbit stew, with an even smaller loaf of bread. Marin was given a small bowl of vegetable broth and a single slice of bread.

She wasn't surprised that the audience didn't like her as much as her allies – she was, without a doubt, the least exciting of the Careers. They liked Vita because she was ruthless. They liked Topaz because she was skilled. They liked Marin because she was pretty – but she knew that the arena had made whatever looks she had possessed in the past fade. On top of that, she hadn't done anything interesting for days – in fact, she hadn't done anything interesting since the Bloodbath, which she was still trying to forget.

Her allies didn't share their food with her, not that she had been expecting them to. Topaz and Vita had a practice spar, using branches instead of swords so that they didn't accidentally hurt each other – Marin sat by the fire, watching the flickering flames and savouring their warmth.

"I'll take first watch," Vita said, when Topaz announced she was heading to bed.

Marin agreed; she was tired, and although she knew she was just going to spend the night staring at the roof of her tent, at least she would have some time away from her allies' paranoia. The paranoia followed her into the tent.

She wasn't sure if it was a good thing or not, her wanting to be away from them. Someone else was sure to die soon, maybe even in a matter of hours – they would soon have to split up. If anything, she should be wanting to be around them more, because who knew how things would play out.

Maybe, she thought, it's better for me to distance myself. It would only make it harder on her, after all, if she grew even closer to them than she already was, because that would make their deaths harder. And they would die soon, both of them – they had to, after all, if she was to make it home to Minnow.

0o0o

Marin didn't know how she had managed to fall asleep, nor did she know how long she had been sleeping; it didn't matter, anyway, because Topaz's piercing scream woke her up.

Sitting up in fright, Marin pulled her blanket up to her chest, shivering for a moment before finding her dagger and hastily tying up her shoes.

Slowly, quietly, she unzipped the tent. Topaz's scream hadn't ended, and for a moment Marin thought she was back at the Cornucopia during the Bloodbath – except this time her ally's scream wasn't a scream of grief. It was a scream of pain.

Where's Vita? Marin wondered as she tip-toed over to Topaz's tent, her stomach sinking. Surely Vita hadn't… oh, there she is.

The door to Topaz's tent was open. Marin knew that Topaz hadn't been the one to unzip it, she couldn't have been, because Vita was currently in the process of cutting her open. From the looks of it, the girl from One hadn't even left her sleeping bag.

Marin tried to conceal her gasp, but found herself unable to. It was a gory sight; made worse, perhaps, due to the fact that it was her ally's – her friend's – blood that was dripping from Vita's hands, her friend's blood that had splattered all over the plastic of the tent, her friend's internal organs that weren't internal anymore. Vita had abandoned her longbow for the sword she had taken from the Seven boy – she evidently wanted to put on a show for her buddies in the Capitol. Marin could hear Topaz's dying, rattling breaths, desperately clinging to life for as long as she could. Marin knew that there was nothing she could do for her.

Vita turned around, her face as still as a statue's. "Oh, hello," she said, standing up. Topaz's cannon boomed. Marin took a step back. "I was leaving you til' last."

"Why?" Marin managed, walking backwards, away from the tent. She was glad that she had had the sense to bring her back-up dagger as well as her main dagger – something told her that she was going to need both. She reached up and took them both from her breast pocket.

Vita sneered, watching her. "Is that even a question?"

She seemed different – maybe that was due to the fact she had just gutted Topaz, but Marin didn't think so. Vita had redeemed herself to Marin the other day, but Marin was starting to believe that her gut feeling over Vita had been correct from the start – she wasn't trustworthy. She wondered if Vita's supposed grief over Alaric had even been real – the emotionless statue of a girl standing in front of Marin didn't seem capable of grief.

"Answer it anyway," Marin said, finding that she was curious to know the answer.

Vita wiped her hands on her pants, her smeared scarlet handprints marring the fabric. "Topaz is the better fighter, and a lighter sleeper than you. If I had've attacked you first, she would have woken at the first scream – I probably wouldn't have had the time to finish you off. And then I could have had two well-trained Careers fighting me – those are odds I don't want to play around with."

Vita took another step forward. Marin stepped backwards.

"You took a little bit longer than she did to wake up. I knew you would, I heard you snoring. You sound like my Dad, by the way, it's pathetic," Vita said with a smirk, taking another step towards Marin.

Taking another step backwards, Marin noticed that Vita was trying to push her towards the lake – didn't she remember what district Marin was from?

"It wasn't the final five," Marin said, her throat dry.

Vita grinned. "I don't think that matters anymore, Marin."

"You're crazy," Marin whispered.

Vita let out a laugh that raised goose bumps on Marin's arms. "No, I'm not crazy, Marin, just determined. And anyway, is crazy such a bad thing to be in the arena?

Marin couldn't think of anything to say to that, and instead took another step backwards, right in the nick of time, too.

Her ex-ally lunged forwards, and Marin felt a cut open up on her arm as she dove out of the way. "You're just prolonging the inevitable, Four," Vita said, blocking Marin's dagger easily as she stabbed.

"I know," Marin replied, jumping forwards again, stabbing wildly at her ally. She could barely see, in the darkness. It didn't help that their clothes were dark as well – it made it very difficult to tell where Vita was. Although, that meant that it was likely hard for Vita to see Marin, so at least she had that on her side.

Vita swept her legs, and Marin fell to the ground, landing hard on her tailbone with a small yelp of pain. Wincing, Marin looked up at Vita, who was raising her sword – she could just make out her ex-ally's face, pale in the moonlight. Marin didn't bother crawling backwards – instead, she stabbed Vita's thigh in what she hoped was the femoral artery. The spurt of blood that followed told her that she had stabbed the right place.

Vita yelled in pain, and fell to the ground, quickly trying to get up. "Oh, shit," she whispered, propping herself up onto her elbows before pushing herself back up to her feet.

Even in the dark, Marin could tell that Vita was bleeding – she could see the blood, soaking through Vita's pants, slowly pooling onto the ground. She was getting dizzy, Marin could tell – she was trying to stab at Marin, but was missing, as though she was seeing two Marins and was trying to kill the wrong one.

The moon came out from behind the clouds, lighting up their campsite. Vita's face seemed unnaturally pale in the light, and Marin could see just how much blood she had already lost. She fell again, and it pooled around her, the moon making it glow as she took her dying breaths. This time, Vita didn't stand up again.

"Fuck you, Four," Vita whispered. "I was gonna… was gonna win…"

"Sorry, Vita," Marin said.

Her former ally made one last small sound – Marin wasn't sure if it was a groan, or if she was trying to say something – before her cannon went off. An eerie silence settled over the campsite, and Marin thought she could hear her heart beating in her chest, hear the blood pulsing through her veins.

Marin didn't know how long she stood there staring down at Vita's body. She didn't know what to do. She felt frozen, as if the water she was drowning in had turned to ice, forever enclosing her in a frozen prison. Her allies were dead, there were three other tributes left – what was there left for her to do, but stand there and wait? Wait for something to happen, wait for rescue, wait for death? Marin had no idea what to do. She was scared – terrified, actually – but knew that now the time for indulgence was over. Now she had to do what she had to do to go home.

Only when the sun started to peek over the horizon did she move.

It was like she was a robot, following a series of instructions that had been programmed into her brain. Pick up your dagger, Marin. Clean it on the grass. Step over Vita's body. Stay away from Topaz's tent. Go to your tent, Marin. Lay down on your bed. Don't close your eyes. Don't move. Don't even breathe. Wait until you hear the hovercraft leave, Marin.

She couldn't say she was surprised that Vita had been the one to break the alliance. Marin wouldn't have done it, after all, and she doubted that Topaz would have – the girl from One was loyal. Had been loyal.

Marin only started crying when she realised that her hands were still covered with Vita's blood.

Oh, man. I'm real sad now. Poor Topaz, I liked her. Vita, not so much, but she was fun to write and has a family out there too that wanted her home.

I read somewhere that if the femoral artery is severed, you can bleed out in a matter of minutes/seconds depending on exactly how severed it is, and also how quickly the heart is beating. Now, I'm not a doctor, and also I've never cut someone's femoral artery (nor do I intend to), so I have no idea if this is accurate or not. But I just guessed that Vita would die quicker because she'd been exercising – that is, brutally murdering her allies. So her heart was probably beating a lot of blood into her legs and arms.

Again, I don't know and I'm not a doctor or a murderer, so I really can't judge how accurate this is. I don't really care to find out for myself. So yeah. Sorry.

Have a great day/night, and tell me what you thought of this chapter, I love hearing your thoughts!

-Audrey :)

PS If you're reading this, give me a sign. No I'm not desperate for reviews and validation, you are! Just kidding… hahaha… totally kidding…

PPS Ignore that first postscript, my crippling loneliness is showing lol haha jk jk