The crackling of the fire stirred Maxi from her slumber. She shivered as she opened her eyes, letting in the faint light of the early dawn. A layer of fog had settled on the Arena overnight, the kind that would dissipate as soon as the sun came out. Maxi couldn't decide if the air around her was eerie or peaceful.

After a moment, she settled on both.

A few meters away, Nerida sat on her backpack, holding her hands over the fire to warm them up. Maxi whistled faintly, just enough to get the other girl's attention. "Hi," she whispered.

"Good morning," replied Nerida softly.

"How long till sunup?"

"Not sure. A couple of hours at most."

"All right."

For a moment, Maxi considered going back to sleep, but she was already too alert. She could sense every small rustle of the leaves, every flap of a bird's wings overhead, every breeze that passed through. With a sigh, she sat up and rubbed her eyes, purging away any remnants of grogginess.

Like it or not, Maxi's day had started.

The first thing Maxi did was scan the area for Arnav. She was relieved to find that he was still lying in his sleeping bag – both because it meant he was asleep and because it meant she knew where he was. Arnav had a terrifying habit of disappearing and reappearing at will, growing more distant and more intimidating by the minute as he entirely ignored all of Maxi's attempts to get him to stay. What kind of a meat shield kept running away from the person he was supposed to protect?

In theory, having Nerida around should make the situation better; if things went badly with Arnav, she hoped that Nerida would be willing to help her out rather than leave her to die. But Maxi still wasn't entirely sure she could trust Nerida. The girl was reserved, apprehensive, and altogether unlike any of the lackeys that Maxi was used to controlling at school. In some respects, she preferred Arnav to Nerida; her stretch in prison had taught Maxi a thing or two about how to handle volatile men, but reserved women were a completely separate animal.

Better the devil she knew than the devil she didn't.

The thought of cutting her losses and leaving had crossed Maxi's mind multiple times. But she wanted all the protection she could get. Hopefully, if it came to it, Maxi could set Arnav up to attack Nerida in her place, giving Maxi enough time to get the fuck away. But for now, she had an alliance to maintain – one way or another.

Maxi stood up and ambled over to where Nerida was sitting. "How'd you sleep?"

"Fine. You?"

"Fine."

Maxi tried to think of something to add, but there wasn't much else to say. She was desperate to fill the silence somehow; it reminded her too much of the seemingly endless quiet of death row. But there never seemed to be much of anything casual to say to Nerida, and Maxi wasn't particularly interested in talking strategy when Arnav could wake up at any minute. So all she could do was wait and hope that she'd somehow get used to the silence.

She could talk with her friends all she wanted when she earned her freedom.

As the two sat together, Maxi noticed a new rustling sound echoing through the woods. But instead of dissipating with the breeze, this one seemed to be coming closer and closer. "Do you hear that?" Maxi breathed.

"Yeah," Nerida replied. "Should we wake Arnav?"

"I don't know. If it's someone we have to fight, we need him, but if not, I'm worried what he might do."

"Agreed. Let's see who comes first?"

"Yes."

The two drew their knives and stood back-to-back, in a vague attempt to canvas the entire perimeter of the clearing. Maxi held her breath as her heart beat faster, adrenaline coursing through her veins as she tried to discern who might be coming.

A small, blonde child in a green jacket stepped into the clearing. Maxi let out a breath she didn't even know she was holding; she had never felt more relieved.

"Oh!" the boy exclaimed. "Oh no." Maxi watched the wheels turn in his mind. He hesitated, then drew a knife and leaped towards Maxi. But before he could even swipe at her with the knife, he was yanked out of Maxi's field of vision.

"I've been waiting for someone like you," Arnav sneered. "You'll be perfect for my plans."

Maxi's heart dropped. Rationally, she understood that these were the Games; she was not afraid of killing, and she knew that the child would have to die. But he couldn't be much older than twelve or thirteen. Yes, he had to die, but he didn't have to die at Arnav Newton's hand.

Nobody deserved a fate like that.

Steeling her resolve, Maxi turned to face Arnav, who was in the middle of binding the boy's hands and feet. For a moment, she thought about trying to talk Arnav out of whatever he was planning; maybe she could convince him that the boy was just too young for this – which he was. But there was no time to talk or reason with her incorrigible district partner. She had to act before Arnav dragged the boy away, consigning him to the same fate as the boy from Five.

Maxi had to take the boy's life into her hands. Maybe then she could finally get Arnav back in her control.

Nerida couldn't watch.

When she decided to ally with the Sixes, Nerida knew she'd be close to death. She thought she'd be able to handle it; death seemed to follow her everywhere in Six, after all. But being surrounded by death was far different from being up close and personal with it, from hearing someone snuff out a life from just meters away. A part of her wanted to do something to break the cycle, but these were the Games. She'd attached herself to the Sixes because Nerida didn't think she could kill on her own, and the others did have to die for her to survive. So Nerida chose to stay silent, to hide behind the very devils she feared from back home.

Nerida knew she could only stay with the Sixes for so long if she wasn't willing to kill. She just hoped she could stretch that time out for as long as possible.

A scream cut through the forest. Nerida couldn't help but whip her head around to see what had happened. There was the boy, blood gushing out of his chest. There was Maxi, bloody knife in her hand, staring up at Arnav.

And there was Arnav, a murderous look in his eyes the likes of which Nerida had never seen before.

"What the fuck did you do?"

"I was saving him from a fate worse than death," Maxi spat. "A child that young didn't deserve to go through whatever you did with Five."

"What I do in here is none of your business."

"Of course it is! We're allies! What you do affects me and Nerida. I'm not ready for you to fuck up my chances in the Arena because you won't listen to me."

"Because I won't listen to you?" Arnav stormed towards Maxi. "Do you think I have ever done anything because you told me to? I'm not your pet, Maxi. I'm not your servant. I'm my own fucking person with my own fucking goals."

Maxi started backing up. "But how did you get here? Who convinced our mentors to put time and effort into you? Who is the reason your interview wasn't a complete shit show? Who is the reason we have sponsor gifts and-"

"What the fuck are you on?" Arnav growled. "My interview was a shit show. It was always going to be a shit show because that's who I am. We have not gotten a single sponsor gift since we launched. And quite frankly, I would not be surprised if I ended up here because of your manipulation back home."

"What do you mean?"

"Don't think we didn't see it, Acceleration," Arnav spat. He grabbed Maxi by the throat with both hands, squeezing tightly as he pulled her towards him. "We knew exactly the shit you were pulling in prison. We let it slide because you'd be gone soon enough. But you weren't content to go down alone. No, you had to drag me down with you. And I'm done with your bullshit, Maximum Acceleration. I'm so fucking done."

Maxi started to thrash, struggling against Arnav's grasp. But with each thrash, Arnav just lifted her higher and higher off the ground. Maxi gasped for air, barely managing to choke out, "Why not just kill me?"

"Because this is far more satisfying."

Nerida felt her heart racing. She needed to do something – and fast – but it seemed like there was no good option. She could leave Maxi and Arnav here, but that would leave her alone in the Arena without protection. She could let Arnav kill Maxi and stick with him, but there was no guarantee he wouldn't turn on her in this state. That left one option: find a way to save Maxi. It was the right thing to do, without doubt; seeing Maxi in this powerless state made Nerida's heart ache. It was the very position she most feared finding herself in. But as Arnav's grip grew tighter, Nerida realized that the only way to save Maxi was to kill Arnav.

She looked down at the knife in her hands, which was violently trembling. Nerida had hoped this day would never come. The whole point of allying with someone more powerful than she was so that she wouldn't have to be the one to backstab, to thrust Arnav into the very state of powerlessness that she so dreaded. But if she did nothing, she'd be leaving Maxi in that position.

Both Arnav and Maxi were killers. But in this moment, Maxi was powerless. It was Nerida's duty to save her.

Quietly, Nerida crept up behind Arnav. He was so focused on Maxi that Nerida doubted he was paying her any attention, but she didn't want to take any risks. Nerida took another look at her knife, its gleaming blade looking almost menacing in the mist of the morning. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and slammed the blade hilt-deep into Arnav's back.

It was as if time froze. Nerida felt a change in Arnav's demeanor, his anger giving way to shock, then rage, then anguish. A ragged gasp left his lips, sending a jolt through Nerida's body. She let go quickly and stumbled back as Arnav swayed, then collapsed forward - right on top of Maxi.

Nerida knew she needed to do something, anything, if she wanted a chance to save Maxi. But she also did not want to get any closer to Arnav if she could help it. So she watched, paralyzed, as he began to claw for the knife on his back. Somehow, Nerida had placed it perfectly out of reach of both of his hands; even when one would brush against it, he couldn't find a way to grasp it. Nerida watched as his movements became more and more sluggish until he eventually stopped thrashing.

The silence of the forest was deafening.

Nerida walked over to Arnav and carefully extracted the knife from his back. Blood gushed from the wound as Nerida rolled him off of Maxi. She dropped to her knees beside Maxi and shook the other girl's body, but there was no response. Nerida buried her head in her hands. She'd waited too long, left Maxi powerless in the hands of Arnav. If she'd acted a moment sooner, she might have saved her ally. But because of Nerida's hesitation, Maxi was dead.

If given a chance to do it over, would Nerida have done the same thing? Would she have killed Arnav, forced him into powerlessness in the same way he had to Maxi? Or would she have let him kill Maxi to stay on Arnav's good side, to keep herself protected from those who held even more power than he? Nerida didn't know. But she couldn't help but feel a sense of emptiness wash over her. No matter what Arnav had done back home to put him in this position, he couldn't possibly deserve the fate Nerida had subjected him to. Nerida didn't know if she could ever forgive herself for that.

What was she to do now?

There was nothing to do but move on.

Nerida looked up. It was lighter out now, maybe because the fog had dissipated. Through one of the small gaps between the trees, she could see the sun, barely cresting over the horizon. A third day had dawned in the Arena, and Nerida was still alive to see it. She had no shield, and she had no crutch, but she had herself, just as she did every day back home. If she'd made it through back then, what was to say she couldn't now?

Nerida took a moment to rifle through her allies' bags, as well as the boy's, extracting the supplies she felt she could use and packing them into her own. Then, knife in hand, she set off into the Arena, pushing the images of destruction out of her mind as best she could.

Nerida Nyansas had the power to keep herself alive. And she was not going to let anyone take that away from her.

"Keep up, Ace! We've got places to go!"

"Where exactly are we going?"

"I'm not sure. But we gotta get there!"

Ace sighed, trailing after his sister as they walked through the forest. He knew that there wasn't much to aim for in the Arena; other than "kill," it wasn't like they were being given specific tasks to complete to earn their survival or anything like that. But it still felt frustrating to be wandering aimlessly, seemingly without a care in the world. Even worse was that they had no idea where any of the other tributes were. They hadn't seen anyone else since they killed that boy from Ten on the first day of the Games, and not for lack of trying, a nearly ridiculous fact given that they'd covered what seemed like the entire Arena since they launched.

Admittedly, Ace wasn't particularly interested in running into another tribute. He did not want to run into a fight because he somewhat doubted that he and his sister would escape with their lives. But at this point, he just wanted to do something.

"Hey, Ace? Do you see that?"

"Huh?"

"Look, through the trees. That little hint of purple."

Ace looked at Ona's jacket, then followed her finger with his eyes. Sure enough, peeking out from amongst the oranges and reds of the deciduous trees was a small hint of purple. "Other tributes?" he whispered.

"Other tributes." He crept up so he was standing next to Bellona, who was looking ahead very intently. "What do you want to do?"

"I think we should attack."

"Attack? What do you mean?"

"We need to make moves, Ace. We have to do something. And that something needs to be knocking other tributes out of the way so we can get out of here."

"But we don't even know who they are! They could be Careers, for all we know."

"There's only one way to find out!"

Without looking back, Bellona took off in the direction of the purple speck. Reluctantly, Ace traipsed off behind her. He was fully aware of the fact that, not moments before, he was hoping they could find other tributes. But Ace was more interested in knowing where his competitors were than in actually approaching and fighting them. However, he wasn't quite ready to let Bellona run off on her own just yet. The two had been through so much together; now wasn't the time for them to break apart.

He really hoped she wasn't about to get herself killed.

"So, what's the plan for today?" Lambell asked, twirling a knife around in her hands.

"Unsure," Marie replied. "I do want to try to get another look around the Arena; it feels like we haven't quite hit everything that there is to see here. But we have to be careful which way we go." Marie looked up. "I'm not letting us get too close to the forcefield again."

"So how will we know where to go?" asked Ritz.

Marie thought for a moment. "We wait until the forcefield starts to move today. Once we see where it is, we turn our backs and walk as fast as we can. Then we know we're getting away from it."

"I think we have a little distance from it anyway," Lambell suggested. "But that's a good idea. What about before that, though?"

"Honestly, I think we can take it easy. It's been a long couple of days already, and I doubt it's much more than a couple more hours until the forcefield moves."

"Sounds good to me," Ritz confirmed. "I think I'll take a nap."

Ritz lay down on the softest part of the grass, resting their head on their bag and closing their eyes. They didn't think they'd ever feel comfortable letting their guard down like this during the Games, especially not in broad daylight. But there was something about being around Marie (and Lambell, to a lesser degree) that made Ritz feel safe. The more they thought about it, the more they realized that they'd never really felt safe before.

They certainly didn't feel safe back home. Ritz had always been the target of ridicule in Nine, both from those outside the Society, who did not understand its mission, and from those within the Society, who only saw them for their physical differences. But Marie didn't know about any of that – and if she did, she seemed not to care. Ritz was her ally; Marie trusted them, had actively chosen to keep them around and send Ryelee away when she easily could have made the other choice. For the first time in their life, Ritz felt like they could just breathe – no, like they could just be. And what a lovely feeling that was.

It was far better than the feeling of getting stabbed in the stomach.

A scream left Ritz's mouth as they opened their eyes in a panic. They pushed against the ground to try to sit up, but something pushed on their chest, keeping them pinned down as something else stabbed into their chest. "Marie! Lambell! Help!" they called, barely able to form the words through the pain.

But neither of them responded.

Ritz became more frantic. They turned their head left and right, but they couldn't catch sight of either of their allies. They tried once more to push themselves up the ground, putting every ounce of strength into their arms, but whatever – or whoever – was pushing them down didn't let up. Ritz thrashed, trying to worm their way out of their assailant's grasp as they let out scream after scream for their allies. But they felt themself growing weaker and weaker as their attackers stabbed again and again.

And their allies were nowhere to be found.

There was no way Marie had left. Her loyalty couldn't have been a lie. Why would Marie choose to protect Ritz once only to abandon them another time? She had to be right there, fighting another person who'd snuck up on them. She'd come to save them soon, they knew it.

All they had to do was hold on a little longer.

"Bellona. Bellona! I think that's enough!"

"No! I need to make sure they're dead!"

"You've stabbed them like, so many times. I'm fairly confident they're dead."

"But what if-"

A hovercraft appeared out of thin air, cutting Bellona off. The kids watched as a claw emerged from the hovercraft, closed around Ritz's body, and lifted it into the air. "See?" Ace deadpanned. "They're dead."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Bellona replied, throwing her backpack onto her back.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm going to hunt down our next target."

"Next target? What do you mean next target? We got very lucky with this one that our opponents weren't strong. But anyone else would easily kill one or both of us."

"I don't think so," Bellona grinned. "I have someone in mind that we can definitely beat." And before she could react, Bellona was off.

Ace sighed. He knew he shouldn't entertain Bellona's idea. Back home, success in their fights, whether in the Academy or on the streets, had only fueled Bellona; with every match they won, she would look to bigger and bigger targets until they were knocked down multiple pegs and knocked down hard. That was one thing in Four, where being knocked down a peg might mean a broken nose and a black eye; it was quite another here in the Arena, where being too big for their britches could lose Ona and Ace their lives. Splitting off from Bellona could mean the difference between Acestes's life and his death.

Yes, he'd volunteered for this. But reality was only just hitting Acestes Adrina, and he wasn't quite ready to die.

And yet, when push came to shove, Ona was his sister. Ace couldn't deny that it was getting more and more difficult to follow her by the day, but his loyalty to her ran deep. It had been the two of them against the world since they were born, after all. As challenging, oblivious, and brutal as Ona could be, he still couldn't bear the thought of leaving her to die.

So Ace picked up his bag, albeit tentatively, and ran to catch up with his sister. "So where are we going?" he asked, hoping she wouldn't sense the slight shaking in his voice. Maybe this time, she'd be reasonable. Maybe she'd use a little bit of logic to think about whether her plan was a bad idea before she launched into it. Maybe Bellona would prove that Ace could trust her to make decisions about their next steps.

But his sister's answer only confirmed Acestes Adrina's worst fears.

34/8. Cyei All, District Eleven Quell Male. Killed by Maximum Acceleration.

33/10. Maximum Acceleration, District Six Quell Female. Killed by Arnav Newton.

32/7. Arnav Newton, District Six Quell Male. Killed by Nerida Nyansas.

31/6. Ritz Marquette, District Nine Quell Male. Killed by Bellona and Acestes Adrina.