Joy was alone for the rest of the night.

She didn't know why the others hadn't returned yet, but she figured that maybe they wanted to get at least one kill before going back. She hadn't heard any cannons fire after the bloodbath so that might be why.

But hopefully they'd get here soon.

The mall was more than a little creepy at night; the lights had powered down and only dim ones were switched on. The stores themselves were completely dark, however, and filled with shadows. The speakers had been shut off, and there was nothing to replace it.

Joy actually missed the music. It had given her something to focus her attention on rather than the now. She'd found herself being transported into a whole new atmosphere, where beautiful people danced and played and sang about how much they loved each other. And for all those lonely hours, Joy wasn't lonely at all because she was with them. As the physical her sat on a painted crate wrapped in a blanket, the astral her bent and warped and writhed in tune to the endless stream of melodies. A universe where only she and ghosts existed.

But then it was shut off and she was unceremoniously kicked out of that universe.

Joy shivered and wrapped her blanket closer around herself. The air conditioning seemed to be turning the whole arena into a tundra. She couldn't help but feel that she was completely unprepared for this. Like this was an actual tundra. Her eyelids were heavy with incoming sleep, but it wouldn't be right to sleep at a time like this, when she was completely alone, and meant to be guarding everything.

She yawned and wished the others would get back so that one of them could take over guard duty. She felt like she would drop from exhaustion at any moment. The pile of blankets in the cornucopia was calling her name. And the crate she was sitting on was starting to get really uncomfortable. Also she really needed to stretch her legs…

...

...Before she knew it, it was daytime. She knew this because the lights and music had been switched back on.

Joy rubbed at her bleary eyes. Had several hours really passed that quickly?

Oh no. She'd fallen asleep, hadn't she?

She shot to her feet and looked around. None of the supplies appeared to have been stolen. Nothing else was missing.

Thank god.

The others would have probably killed her if there was.

She raised her arms above her head and stretched them and yawned. Time to start the day.

As she rummaged around in a paper bag for something to eat, a cannon suddenly cut through the air. She gasped in fright and dropped the bag. The apples and muesli bars inside spilled onto the floor.

That was someone else who's life was over for good.

Joy took a deep breath to compose herself and hide her reservations about this whole thing. She bent to pick up the food, trying to stop her hands from shaking.

As she selected a muesli bar and munched on it, she walked around the cornucopia, looking around all the shops for any sign of life. It was as still as it had been yesterday. She was the only person here.

Or so she thought.

A single muffled, cautious footstep had Joy spinning around to face a clothes boutique named Chic Petite. From behind a rack of sweet candy-coloured dresses peeked a curtain of pale blonde hair and part of an even paler face. Just as soon as Joy noticed, it had disappeared.

She reached out for her sword. Her knuckles whitened from how hard she gripped the handle. This tribute could be dangerous. Potentially armed. She couldn't stay here; she'd be a sitting duck. As much as she didn't want to do it, she knew she had to if she were to make it out alive.

"Hey, Joy!"

Granyte appeared at the top of the escalators, Herman and Sandy in tow. He waved to her with one hand. In his other hand was his bloodstained sword. So he must have been the cause of the cannon from before.

Joy froze on the spot, unsure of what to do next. Did she dare turn her back on the boutique? Did she alert Granyte to the other tribute's presence. What would the tribute do once they realised they were outnumbered...?

Granyte peered down at her. "Are you all good?"

Joy inclined her head towards the boutique. She moved her sword in front of her chest to better defend herself.

Granyte understood immediately. Motioning for the Fours to follow him, he silently moved down the escalator and tiptoed over to the boutique's entrance. Joy held her breath as Granyte looked behind the same rack of dresses. His sword immediately leapt into action, swiping away at a blur who, within the blink of an eye, had slid across the floor between his legs and effortlessly bypassed both Herman and Sandy as they went for her at the same time and only ended up clashing their tridents together. Hermen growled in frustration and the sound rattled Joy's bones because that meant that she had to do it now…

Joy only looked at the tribute's chest as she plunged her sword through it. The cannon was instantaneous.

"Nice, you got her!" Granyte called. "She was fast, that one!"

Joy looked upon her face before she could stop herself.

It was the girl from Nine. A small, pasty fourteen-year-old wearing a peach-coloured cardigan and a floral-print skirt. Hair splayed out across the floor in a blonde wave. Eyes half-lidded and mouth twisted in pain. Guts and bone visible through the stab wound Joy had inflicted…

She'd done this. She had taken someone's life for the crime of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. A killer. A monster. A sadist.

A Career.

"Fuck you!" Herman shouted, startling Joy away from her self-loathing. "I was gonna get her! Granyte promised me the next kill!"

"Calm down, man," Granyte said, clapping a hand on his shoulder. "Shit happens, you know? There's always next time."

Herman growled again. "Next time, I better be the one to get a kill."

"There's no guarantee of that," Sandy said quietly. Joy realised dimly that that was the first time she'd heard the Four girl speak.

"Shut up!" Herman whirled around and pointed his trident at Sandy. "I don't wanna hear another peep out of you, got it?"

"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning," Granyte said, amused.

"You can shut up too!"

"Herman," Granyte's voice changed to something more hard and serious, "Seriously. Calm down. It's not the end of the world."

Herman narrowed his eyes so much that they became dark slits. His lips were pulled back menacingly across his teeth as he tightened his grip on his trident.

Joy was silent. The tone of Granyte's voice gave her goosebumps. And she'd never seen Herman so angry like that. She cautiously took a couple of steps back as she watched the two stare each other down. Granyte had his arms folded. Herman gave a low hiss like an angry cat.

But Herman relented and turned away, marching into the cornucopia.

Granyte rolled his eyes and turned to Joy. "Congrats on your first kill. Ronette will be pleased." He gave her a pat on the shoulder and went to go find something to eat. Joy looked over at Sandy. She was in the store, rifling through the dresses.

Joy pointedly ignored the body of the Nine girl, instead choosing to fixate on the sign for a juice bar nearby. She heard faint whirring as the tiles holding the body detached from the rest and descended into the darkness below. When the tiles returned seconds later, the body was gone. All that remained was the blood.

Ronette and Platinum returned a few hours later, frustrated at not getting any more kills. As Granyte tossed them apples and muesli bars, he recounted the gory tales of his kill - the boy from Three - and Joy's. And Granyte was right. Ronette was pleased.

"Good," she said, giving a respectable nod in their direction. "Looks like the backups are earning their keep better than the rest of us."

"Hey, remember who got two kills during the bloodbath?" Platinum protested.

"And? When we had that Ten girl cornered, you let her escape." Ronette then explained to the others how they had an altercation with the Ten girl, who was able to easily bypass them due to Platinum not responding quick enough. Herman chuckled at this foolishness. Sandy remained silent as always.

Granyte tried to be encouraging, saying that tomorrow was always another day.

Joy didn't respond.

The next day brought the news that Joy was dreading: she was going hunting with Ronette. And she couldn't use the same excuse as last time, because Sandy had offered to guard the cornucopia. She couldn't even bring Granyte along for support, because Herman wanted to spend some "guy time" with him and Platinum.

Brilliant.

Nevertheless, she and Ronette grabbed their swords and headed up the escalators. When they reached the second floor, Ronette led her up another escalator. And so on and so forth until they reached the top floor.

Joy went over to the glass barriers and looked down. The enormously elegant chandelier blocked most of the view, but if she squinted and tilted her head just right, she could just make out the bottom floor, where Sandy would undoubtedly be pacing around, bored. The sheer drop down made her feel dizzy, so she backed away and looked quizzically at Ronette.

"What are we doing all the way up here?"

"If I were an outlier tribute, I'd want to get as far away from the cornucopia as possible. So there are bound to be some tributes hiding up here. Now come on."

Joy followed dutifully as Ronette walked over to an electronics store. She silently waved at Joy to check the store next door. Joy obliged.

It was a jewellery store. The place was quite narrow and most of the available floor space was taken up by gaudy display cabinets. Joy kept her hand on her sword as she crept around, not even daring to breathe. The floor had a thin carpet, making it easier for her - and anyone else in the store - to move more noiselessly. She looked past the glittering rings and brooches and necklaces and focused on the world around them. It was quiet. And a cursory glance behind the cabinets revealed that the place was empty.

Joy moved on to the next store, which was full of shelves upon shelves groaning under the weight of all the books on them. It had that unmistakable smell that always lingered around books both old and new. It made Joy feel calmer. Like she'd been draped with a big soft blanket.

As she moved through the store, she couldn't help looking at the titles on the shelves. Most of them were fairly new, but there were some she knew were centuries old at this point. Knowing that fact made her feel weird, for some reason. Old and new, side by side, in a future that was such a far cry from anything either of them had ever predicted. She briefly wondered what the authors might think of today.

She was shaken from her thoughts by a new sensation. It crept up her skin, making her react as if wrought by a sudden chill. Goosebumps appeared along her arms and legs. Her shoulders squared up and she drew in her breath. She held her sword, bracing herself for an unknown danger.

She was being watched.

She didn't know how she came to that realisation or why, but she just knew. Whoever's eyes were there, they were burning a hole into her flesh.

Joy turned back towards the way she came in. It was probably best to go alert Ronette so she could at least have some backup. But as soon as she took a step, fear shot into her veins. Her feet were paralysed on the floor. She was overwhelmed with the sudden and inexplicable feeling that if she took another step, she was as good as dead. It was so suffocating that she could barely swallow.

Moving her head ever so slowly, she took in her surroundings. She was standing in between two shelves; one that spanned the entire wall and one that was at shoulder height. Everything was as silent as it had been when she entered. She couldn't see anything suspicious.

Until she looked down.

Running along the length of the floor at ankle height was a clear wire. It was only centimeters from her foot. She'd been so preoccupied with looking at all the books that she hadn't even paid attention to the floor. She would have definitely walked right into it if she hadn't stopped.

And then a sudden surge of alarm flooded her senses, screaming at her to MOVE!

Joy ducked down right as something thudded above her head. She looked up to see a throwing knife stuck into the spine of a book.

Fuck.

Joy didn't hesitate to crawl away, as far from the spot as she could without revealing herself. Then she rose to a crouching position, sword in hand, on the lookout for whoever threw that knife.

The silence was deafening. She felt like she was going to be sick. She just wanted to be far, far away, somewhere good and warm where no one would hurt her ever again.

Her dreams were violently shattered when pain suddenly seared through her body like white-hot fire. She screamed and swiftly swung her sword in a circle around her.

And now there was someone else screaming.

It was the boy from Three, and he had just taken Joy's sword in the neck.

Joy had taken his knife in her hip. She stayed in that crouching position, too dazed and in pain to move. The boy collapsed sideways, blood spurting out of his neck. His cannon fired seconds later.

"Joy?" It was Ronette. Joy had never felt so happy to see her.

"Jesus," she said when she saw the scene, "you okay?"

Joy only nodded dumbly, refusing to let her tears fall.

Ronette helped her up and led her back to the elevators. Time to head back.

"At least you got a kill," she reassured her.

Joy didn't respond.

It was Ronette's turn to help Joy clean up her injury. She cleaned and dressed it just like Joy had done to her a few days ago. Joy had discarded her blood-stained clothes and exchanged them for a floaty blue and white summer dress. Having her wound be confined in tight shorts seemed like a painful idea.

"It doesn't hurt so bad after a while," Ronette had tried to comfort her. "You get used to it."

Nevertheless, that was the end of hunting. For Joy, at least. Ronette headed out again, this time with Sandy. And once more, Joy found herself with only the music for company.

As she settled on a crate with a blanket, she heard, "Heyo Sandy! I got bored, so I came back!"

Granyte appeared suddenly from around the other side of the cornucopia. "Hey, you're not Sandy…"

"I got injured so we came back," Joy explained. "Ronette went back out with Sandy."

"How'd you get hurt?" Granyte sat on a crate next to hers.

'The boy from Three got me in the hip. I got him though."

"Ah, I was wondering whose cannon that was," Granyte nodded. "Also, ouch."

Joy pulled her blanket tighter around herself. She felt cold. She hadn't thought to grab a cardigan or something when changing her clothes, and now that she was sitting down, really didn't want to get up and move her sore hip around.

So she stayed sitting on that same crate.

A few more hours passed before the others returned. They were all in grouchy moods as none of them had gotten any more kills.

"Well, Joy got a kill today, didn't she, Ronette?" Granyte grinned, throwing her arm around Joy.

"She did," Ronette confirmed. "I'm glad that at least someone here's pulling their weight."

Platinum folded his arms. "So she's got the same amount as me?"

"Yes."

"And me!" Granyte added.

Ronette gave a respectable nod. "Looks like I was wrong about the backup volunteers. You two are better than I thought."

Joy was able to block out Herman's grumbling about how unfair it was that the backups have more kills than him. She wasn't able to block out the way Platinum glared at her.