"The College: Stalkers"

A/N: I'm sorry.

~Can you hear me, are you listenin'?

This is the sound of my heart breaking

And I hope it's entertaining~

Earhart Robertson

Earhart's hair was soaked. Their pilot goggles were fogged over, and they rubbed at them with their shirt, attempting to clear them. The rain had come out of nowhere, starting as a trickle that Earhart gladly whistled and skipped through. It quickly turned into a downpour, the rain falling so hard that the raindrops hurt their skin as they made impact.

They ran as fast as they could to escape it, and were quickly led to the nearest building they could find, a large, four-story dorm room attached to the college campus that Earhart had spent the day walking through. It had been a strange couple of days.

With everything happening at the bloodbath, Earhart had run, and by the time they remembered they were supposed to be with allies they had already been going for an hour. They tried doubling back to look for them all, Jamie and Julian and Denver, but they had no luck. They hadn't been able to find anybody, really. There were a few noises, screams and screeching and a canon late into the night. Earhart had just found a quiet spot under a pretty pinkish white tree and slept the night away.

They woke up early, which was already strange for them. Their back was a bit sore from leaning against a trunk the whole night, and they decided to find a nicer place for the next night, and began their exploration of the college campus. It wasn't too big, but it was like a maze, and exploring all of it was taking them the entire day. That was, until the rain stopped their exploration short and forced them into the nearest building.

Now they were wandering down a grimy, musky hallway that smelled like a mixture of garbage and some foul chemical reaction from one of Theaden's science experiments. The air was thick and there were vines and moss everywhere, along with a few spiderwebs but no spiders, Earhart noticed. A lot of the doors had writing on them, but Earhart didn't stop to read any of that. They kept on marching through the halls, searching for something, even if they weren't sure what exactly it was they were looking for.

They hadn't done much thinking on what all was going on, and what would happen in the next few days. They didn't have any intentions of doing that, either. Their only conscious thought was that it would be neat if they ran into Jamie and the gang. Other than that, their thoughts were baseless and temporary. Earhart hopped from thought to thought, ideas forming and dissipating like white, fluffy clouds on a sunny day.

They reached the end of a hallway, and reached to pull open the staircase, but when they tried to pull it open, nothing happened. They tried again, and still nothing gave. A moment of inspection found a metal pipe blocking the door from being budged. They grabbed hold of the pipe, ready to pull it free and continue their exploration, but something stole their attention for a moment.

Taped to the door was a yellow scrap of paper, tiny, sloppy handwriting sprawled across it in frantic lettering. Earhart pulled it off, and not entirely sure of themselves why, decided to read it.

Jacob started acting a bit unhinged earlier today. At first we thought he was just a bit stir-crazy, all of us are feeling that a little bit at this point with the whole lockdown order. But he kept on getting worse, and eventually Matt stole a peek at him while he was showering and saw it - a bite mark right across his shoulder. Jacob was hollering that he was okay, that he felt normal, but nobody wanted to test it. We locked him in the staircase, and now we all can hear him. It was like crying at first, and then it turned to screaming, banging against the door all day. Took him a while to finally go quiet. We're leaving now, the dorms aren't safe anymore, some of the floors are just swarming with them, and in case anyone finds this place I thought I'd leave you this note so you know what's going on. Guess that's all a lot of words to say one thing: don't open this door. Don't open any doors. Get out of here while you still can. I'm not sure anywhere is safe anymore, but anywhere is better than here.

Earhart got to the part about the shower before scrunching up their nose and tossing the note onto the ground. They pulled the pipe out of place, grunting as they tossed it onto the ground. Earhart pushed open the door.

The smell hit them before anything else. It was enough to make them gag, and they stumbled back, holding their elbow up to their nose. Ahead of them, just above the landing of the staircase, a giant cluster of white roots and fungus spread across the wall in a vaguely human shape.

"Blegh, gross," Earhart said to themself. Still though they moved forward, pinching their nose shut as they walked in. They left the pipe in the doorway so that a crack of light made it through, enough for Earhart to see their way down the stairs so they could explore the next level.

They stumbled in, and got a closer look at the wall. The roots were a mixture of white, tan, brown, and even a nearly red color, and Earhart wondered for a moment if it were some sort of art project as they got closer to it. The air was thick with tiny little spores that had Earhart coughing as they breathed them in, even as they pulled their shirt over their face.

The roots moved. Earhart barely had time to react as an arm, covered in the same white, red, and brown roots as the wall, broke off of the wall, slashing out towards Earhart. They let out a scream as they leapt back, just barely avoiding the hand as it lashed out. Another arm broke free, and then a misshaped head, with roots growing from the top of its head broke away, locking onto Earhart and letting out a scream.

Earhart stumbled back, tripping on the stairs and crawling up the staircase. Behind them, they heard another ripping sound, and then a thud as it landed on the ground. They felt something take hold of their ankle, and quickly shook free, slipping out of the grip. They stumbled onto their feet, dashing towards the door and swinging it open.

They glanced back for a moment, and immediately regretted it as they saw a monster straight out of a picture book charging up the stairs at them, one of their eyes overgrown with the roots and a half-scream, half-clicking noise rising from it. Earhart slammed the door shut, and fumbled with the pipe as they forced it back into place.

The thing kept on banging against the door, but the pipe held it firmly shut, and Earhart slunk to the ground, breathing heavily. The adrenaline pumping through them slowly calmed down, and they dug through their backpack, looking for some water as they sputtered for breath, their dry throat and cracked lips leaving them feeling like they were unable to so much as stand anymore.

But all that was in there was the flashlight, knife, dirty t-shirt Earhart had changed out of, and the strange gas mask that Earhart hadn't figured out the point of. They took it in their hands, looking it over with curious eyes as the door continued to bang against them. Earhart felt their forehead growing warm, and let out a nervous cough.

Lana Birkhead

Lana watched them through the window.

She found the spot they were sleeping at and had set up her camp nearby, not entirely sure where else to go. She supposed that she should have killed them all in their sleep when Udon fell asleep during his watch. Lana wasn't sure why she didn't. Instead she kept following, kept watching from a distance. She made her way onto a rooftop and followed them down the street by walking across the roofs for a while, but then the rain had started and they had all rushed onto the college campus.

She lost them for a while after that, but managed to catch them slipping into a massive dorm room and waited outside in the rain for a while before finding an entrance on the opposite end of the dorm and following after. After that she had ascended the staircase to the top floor, found a room, and watched through it. It didn't hurt that the room she found just so happened to have binoculars lying on the bed that she could use.

The dagger was away in her backpack, and it probably wouldn't need to be used again, not with the sponsor gift that had come for her the previous night. She had panicked when it came, worried that it would give away her spot, but Talon, who was on watch at the time, seemingly didn't notice. Inside the package was a weapon unlike anything she had ever used or seen before. There were three long, sharp blades, attached to a handle that looked almost like brass knuckles. There was also a strap that made it attach to her wrist, so that she didn't have to hold onto the handle all the time. They gave her two of them, and when she slid them into place it looked like both of her hands had three blades coming out of her knuckles.

It wasn't as familiar as a dagger, and it felt awkward to hold, but she decided that if someone had sent them to her, that meant she was supposed to use them. The only question was on who.

There were a few more groups also in the college. The District Three pair was wandering the second floor halls of the same building that her old allies were setting up camp on the first floor of. There was a lot of movement on the third and fourth floors, but Lana couldn't get a good enough look at anything specific. Whatever it was, there were too many of them to be tributes.

The center building had the District One pair set up in a first floor room, and they hadn't moved at all and seemed like they were going to stay put. Which was lucky for Denver, Jamie, and Julian, because they were only four rooms down. The top three floors all had the same strange movement as the other building.

And then there was her building. She heard a scream come from a few floors down earlier, and planned on checking it out, but had wanted to watch for just a bit longer to see if Talon and everyone else would stay in their room or leave. They seemed like they were getting ready to bunker down for a bit, though, and so Lana stuffed the binoculars into her pack, slung it over her shoulder, put the dagger at her belt, and exited the room.

The floor still seemed silent from the hallways, and Lana made a mental note to view the fourth floor from outside and see if she could spot anything in any of the rooms. The sound seemed to come from the staircase that Lana hadn't used, and so after ensuring her door was firmly shut, she walked to the other side of the hall.

The staircase was bolted shut with a metal pipe, and taped to the door was a brief note that Lana quickly scanned.

Do not open.

Lana hesitated for a long moment. There had been a scream, not one of the mutts, but a real human one, and so she should investigate that. The man had been specific when he told her where she was going. She would have to find people, hunt them, and kill them. And she knew there was a person near her. But if it said to not open, did that mean she'd get into trouble if she did?

Something crashed against the door before Lana could make the choice. It let out a screeching sound, not quite the same one that she heard out in the city the earlier night, almost like a clicking noise. It definitely wasn't the scream that came from the staircase earlier.

Lana backed away, and felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise. She wasn't sure if it was her imagination, but she thought that she heard a door creak open. She clutched the handle of her knives, sliding the balls of her feet against the carpet, her ears trained behind her, listening for footsteps. Her head whipped around.

Something unrecognizable was staring at her from across the hall. Red, white, and brown roots covered them, overgrowing their skin and even covering one of their eyes, but beneath it all she could still see the outline of what looked like a human. She tightened her grip. It screamed.

Lana was frozen in place as it charged at her, letting out an inhuman scream as it staggered towards her at a frightening pace. Raw instinct kicked in as it swiped out at her, and she dodged, rolling out of the way and slashing out with the knives at its legs. It didn't even seem to notice or get slowed down, it's head snapping back to her as it let out another scream and charged again.

This time it reached out as if to grab her, and she leapt backwards, watching it slam head first into the wall so hard that the drywall cracked open. Another scream came from the room that it had slammed into, and two more of the creatures charged through the doorway, slamming the door open as their heads whipped around the room before locking onto Lana.

Her shock wore off, survivalist instinct kicking her training into action as she stood on her toes, bouncing back and forth as she held the knives up, somewhat glad that she had more than just a tiny dagger to fight these with but wishing it could've been a bow instead.

Then another scream rang out, this time behind her. She spun around, doing a 360 to peek at what was there while still not avoiding her main targets. Another two of them came out of one of the rooms, mimicking the others movements. Before she had any time to take in the situation she was now in, they all charged.

This time the instinct that spurred her into action was different. It wasn't technique, or stance, or agility. It was survival. Lana turned and ran.

They followed after, and with both staircases blocked she had no choice but to turn and burst into one of the doors, wincing as she did so and letting out a micro breath as it was revealed to be empty. Like all of the other rooms on the fourth floor, it had a small balcony, and Lana slashed out with her knives at the glass sliding door, relieved to find it easily shattering against the steel. She wasted no time waiting for the glass to fall, and dove through, closing her eyes and wincing as the shards sliced against her skin.

She was met with cold air and the feeling of rain pouring down on her, freezing drops that were nearly icicles and stung with every contact. She ignored it. They were fighting at the doorway, stalling each other as they all fought to be the first one in. That bought her just enough time to step back, get a running start, and dive over the rail to the balcony next door.

The metal was slick, and she nearly slipped while jumping and while landing, but her arms hung over the edge and held tight until she grabbed a foothold. The creatures were on the balcony now, and so she quickly shimmied her way around to the other side of this one, well out of reach of their grabby arms. One of them nearly dove over as it lashed out towards her, and the others bumped into it and sent it falling off over the edge of the railing. Lana watched as it slammed into the cement below, its head bursting as it went still.

Lana thought to stop and catch her breath, but they had other ideas. One of them screamed out at her, then turned and ran off the balcony. She was confused for a moment, until she saw through the sliding glass as it came charging towards the balcony.

It shattered the glass, and Lana was unable to let go of her grip to shield herself, forced to just close her eyes and hope none of the pieces hit her in the eyes. Another wave of cuts made their way across her body, but that wasn't her worry now. Just across the guard-rail the creature was staggering to its feet, letting out a series of croaks as the other three followed their friend's lead and ran off the neighboring balcony.

The one nearest her charged at her, and she let out a scream, slashing wildly with one hand as she held tightly with the other. The blades found themselves dug into the creature's head, and it let out a quiet croak, its body stiffening as it went still. She pulled the blades out, and it fell to the ground in a heap. From the ground, in the dark, Lana saw one orange eye looking soullessly through her.

She heard screaming coming from inside the building, and with her arms shaking, she looked down below. The fall was too far, but there was a balcony on the floor below her too. The railing was directly below her, and if she didn't land correctly it would break her spine in half, or she would just miss entirely. Even if she did land, it was still a ten foot fall onto metal.

Two more of the creatures came diving through the shattered glass, stumbling over each other and the corpse of their friend, and the decision was made for her. She dropped down so that only her fingers were gripping onto the slick metal, nearly slipping as she swung out her feet and let go.

The rain stopped for a moment as she passed under the balcony. The railing was directly below her, and against all her training Lana tensed up, closing her eyes as she abandoned any hopes of steering herself and left it up to hope.

Her ankle hit against the railing, a sharp pain in her shin as her legs folded out of the way. Her shoulder hit next, this time against solid metal as the air left her lungs and she curled into a ball, gasping for air as nothing came. Her ankle screamed in pain, while her shoulder bruised and ached, but worst of all was her gut, where the blade attached to her hand was still dug in.

She rolled onto her back, coughing up and wheezing for air as she held tightly to her gut. Outside, the rain continued to pour down, so that her rapid panting for breath and quiet tears couldn't be heard.

Jamie Curie

Something about the college dorms gave Jamie the creeps. Denver had of course wanted to bunker down there the moment they saw it, and as much as Jamie wanted to argue about how terrible of an idea that was, he couldn't think of a way to phrase it in a way that would change the man's mind. Denver's guard was down once they had gotten in, and they were relaxing in one of the rooms, the first one they had checked, Denver tossing a ball against the wall much to Jamie's annoyance and fear, while Julian slept on the bed.

Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.

It was driving Jamie insane, and just before he felt ready to snap out, take the ball from him, and lug it out the window, he thought of an alternative.

"Wait," Jamie said. His eyes widened and he went over to Julian, shaking him awake. "Did you two hear that?" He asked, shaking in his boots as he glanced at the door.

"What?" Julian asked, rubbing his eyes as he yawned and stretched out.

"I heard something coming from outside." He bit his lip. "It kinda sounded like the screaming sounds, the ones from earlier. What if they're in here too?" He sped up his voice so that by the end it was a rabid panic.

"Did you hear anything?" Julian asked Denver tiredly.

Denver shrugged. "N-no," he said.

"Maybe I just imagined it," Jamie said. He dug his hands into his pockets and looked at his feet as he let his legs dangle off the bed. "Everything about this place just scares me."

Denver smiled, and waved him away as if he were telling him he thought there was a monster under the bed, instead of warning him of the fact that there were deadly mutts stalking the arena, waiting for the chance to kill all of them. "It'll b-be fine," he said.

Thunk.

He threw the ball again, and this time Jamie really was about to jump up and steal the ball from him. He didn't care anymore if it blew everything, there was something in this dorm building with them, Jamie knew it, and this idiot, this absolute brainless, idiotic, dummy was sitting here making noise, shouting out to all of the mutts, we're in here!

Jamie stood up.

Thunk. Click. Click. Click.

He froze. Denver did the same, ball still in his hand before he dropped it to the ground. Julian looked up, rubbing his eyes in confusion as he stirred himself awake.

Thunk. Click. Click. Click.

It came again, steady and deliberate, from the bathroom door. The bathroom door which led to the neighboring room. The neighboring room that they had never bothered to make sure was locked.

The gears in Jamie's brain started turning, trying to think of some way out of this, some solution to the problem that was in front of them, a way out. He was still thinking when the door burst open.

A monstrous looking thing that might've almost been a person stumbled through the doorway, letting out a scream as it locked its eyes on Julian, who was right in front of it. Julian barely had time to scream before it lashed out at him, pinning him down to the bed and biting him in the neck, tearing his flesh out. Jamie was suddenly glad he skipped lunch.

Another one came through, and this one eyed him up, and Jamie let out a scream, his throat tightening as he scrambled further back against the wall. "No, no, no, please!"

It ran towards him, but Denver dove in the way, shoving the monster to the ground. "G-g-go!" He screamed. Jamie stood frozen, and Denver yelled again. "Run!"

The monster climbed back to its feet, lashing out at Denver, who could do little to defend himself as it tore into his arm, tackling Denver to the ground. Jamie didn't need another warning. He hopped off the bed, sprinting away as fast as he could while Denver's screams followed him. He ran through the bathroom, and out the open front door and into the halls. He felt like he could collapse with relief when he found them empty, but a canon booming was enough to spur him back into movement.

Boom!

He wasn't sure where to go, what to do. Nowhere felt safe. He ran to the door that they had entered the dorm from and swung it open. Outside the rain was pouring even harder than before, but Jamie didn't care. He just needed to be as far away as possible from this place. He slammed the door shut behind him, but stopped short of continuing to run. Outside it was pitch black, clouds blocking out the stars and moon and leaving everything in complete darkness. He hugged the door, inching against it until he slid to the ground.

The tears came without him realizing it, and before he knew what was happening he was full out sobbing, hugging his knees as he rocked himself back and forth, shaking his head and burying it deep into the curled up ball he had made himself into.

This wasn't how it was supposed to go. The Capitol loved him, he had done everything right to make sure of that. But they still sent those-those things after him. They would have killed him if it weren't for Denver, in the same awful, terrible way as Julian, slowly tearing into him until he bled out. . . .

Boom!

The second canon rang out, and Jamie was officially alone. He hugged himself tighter, and wondered if they were going to keep sending them after him. Were they on the other side of the door right now, just waiting to burst through? Or maybe they were outside in the darkness, slowly creeping towards him, watching him now.

He shivered, a cold chill running through his bones as he dug himself even deeper into his corner. He would just stay there, and whatever they wanted to happen would happen. He wouldn't run out there and worry about what was in his shadows. It was only two days, and he was sick of it already. He couldn't take it anymore. He didn't want any of this. The fame and money and love and all of it, it wasn't worth it. He just wanted to go home.

Why couldn't they just let him go home?

Talon Olympus

The day was proving to be full of surprises. The first had come inside of a drawer in an office building, where Talon had found a revolver with two bullets in the chamber. That was already a good find, and when the rain had driven them inside of the dorm building, he had expected it to be the last notable thing of the night. Then, two canons went off in close succession. And even more interestingly, Udon claimed that he opened his window to let in some fresh air, and had heard screaming coming from the building across from them just before the canons went off.

Everyone else seemed content at taking the small victory and calling it a night, each of them bunkering down in their respective dorm room they had claimed, but Talon had different ideas. Two screams. Unless it was the D3 or D1 pair, which considering their popularity and talent Talon severely doubted, that meant that an entire alliance hadn't just been killed. Either part of one had, or two tributes had gotten into a fight. It was also possible two tributes had allied together in the arena, or that Juniper and Inesa stuck together for some reason, but if that were the case then they could confirm it when they found their corpses.

For the time being, it was time to do what Careers were expected to do when danger was near. Hunt for it. Ciera and Udon had expressed doubt at the idea, and so the two of them were put in charge of watching their makeshift base on the first floor. They had cleared the entire floor and barricaded the staircases and doorways, so it was unlikely they'd have any intruders, but it never hurt to be certain. Complacency led to death in an arena like this.

That left Nikola to hesitantly follow after, while Maya seemed excited at the prospect of something interesting happening. A day of checking drawers and investigating buildings had dulled her wits and humor. Nikola seemed like he wanted to stay with Ciera and Udon, but hadn't vocalized that desire, so Talon made the decision for him.

Talon still held onto his sword, the revolver at his belt as he tried to preserve the limited ammunition. Nikola grumbled about only having a dagger, so Talon made Udon hand over the hatchet, which he grumbled about in turn. Maya seemed happy with just the dagger, though she stayed close to Talon for protection, and he had no doubts that in a fight she would hide behind him before leaping into the fray.

Ciera halfheartedly wished them good luck as they left through the front door, and just like that they were out in the pouring rain. Talon was relieved to find that the rain no longer hurt to stand in. He could handle the pain, but they had to take this slowly and carefully, and he didn't need them dashing across the field because the raindrops were pelting them.

"That's weird," Maya said quietly, in a low enough voice that Talon could barely hear her from a foot away.

"What's that?" He asked, equally as quiet. If Nikola was annoyed at not being able to make out the conversation he didn't show it.

"It's warmer out here," she said, and Talon paused to think about that for a moment. Maya mirrored his thoughts. "Why would it be warmer at midnight than it was at sunset?"

"Well the rain was sent to drive us inside, so if they're making the rain more bearable. . . ."

"They're trying to keep someone out here from dying from hypothermia," Maya finished the thought.

"If they wanted us to come back out they'd just cut the rain off, so I think you're right." Talon hummed. "How long ago was it that Udon said he went outside to get some fresh air?"

"About an hour, before the canons by a good bit. This could be related to the deaths, but it might not be. Could be someone else."

"Two deaths and a third on the verge of it," Talon said, curling and uncurling his fingers around the handle of his sword. "I wonder what's causing that."

Their conversation was cut off on that thought as they reached the neighboring dorm building. They approached the back exit, and Talon gazed around the courtyard again, trying to spot something but unable to see through the impenetrable curtain of darkness that the city had been set in.

Nikola cracked the door open, and Talon fell in. He was the first through the door, flicking his sword by his side as he spun around the hallway, somewhat surprised to find it empty. Nikola closed the door quietly behind him, and Talon motioned them forward, the three walking as silently as they could manage across the carpet floor.

One of the doors in the middle of the hall was open, and Talon motioned towards it, then creeped ahead, giving himself plenty of distance if there was something waiting around the corner. Maya and Nikola's hands both shook, but Talon's held steady as he pushed through the door, quickly taking in his surroundings. The room looked like most of the others, but Talon spotted one thing that immediately piqued his interest. On the counter was a half-eaten energy bar.

The bathroom door was open, and Talon didn't wait for his allies as he slid through the crack without making a noise. The other side of the bathroom had its door wide open, and Talon immediately saw something that made him glad Maya and Nikola were hanging back. Last thing he needed was one of them to scream and ruin their advantage.

He quietly slid the door shut behind him so as to avoid any distractions, and continued creeping forward. The creature never saw him as he swung his sword clean through its neck. He was surprised how easy it was to cut through, and he nearly lost his grip on the sword as the head rolled onto the floor. Blood coated its mouth, and one orange eye stared up at him blankly while the other was covered in some sort of invasive fungus. Despite the overgrowth, it was clear that beneath it all was something that was once human.

Talon set down his sword, and let out a low whistle, knocking on the bathroom door twice. Maya was quick to come through, and she dropped her dagger on the bathroom floor as she did so, staggering back.

"Oh," she said quietly.

On the floor, the tattered remains of Julian Clement and Denver Lyon sprawled out, their guts spilling over the floor as chunks of them were tossed aside. Nikola entered the room, and even he took a step back as he did so, muttering something quietly under his breath.

"Hovercraft won't be able to get them in here," Maya said quietly. She bent down to where Julian's remains were, and looked up to the blood-stained sheets of the bed just above him. "I think he was sleeping."

Talon bent over, and picked up a small tennis ball that lay just beside Denver's corpse. He shook his head. "We should salvage whatever we can. Backpacks, food, the whole deal. And we should start thinking about wearing those masks." He pointed to the dead creature. "That's fungus growing all over this guy. Might be possible whatever's turning them into that spreads through spores in the air. Would make sense why they gave us masks. If we see any spores, well, we might want to consider our options."

"He was so sweet," Maya said, and it was as if she didn't hear a word Talon had said, her eyes still locked on the small boy from Six. "The night of the party, him and his district partner and that other boy-" she cut herself short, shaking her head. "It doesn't matter, I guess."

Thud.

Neither of his allies seemed to notice the noise that came from across the hall. Talon decided to let it go. "You two should take these bodies outside. Their families deserve to be able to bury them." He shook his head. "Nobody should rot away in a place like this."

Nikola looked uncomfortable, but Maya nodded her head in agreement. "C'mon Niko, I'll grab Julian, you can take the other one."

"And what about you?" Nikola asked Talon, looking at the bodies in disgust.

"I've got something to take care of quickly," Talon said, and he left it at that.

The two worked on dragging the bodies outside, and Talon walked out of the room and to the one next door. The door was closed, but wasn't locked, and Talon slipped it open quietly. Inside, Earhart Robertson was huddled in the corner, dagger held tightly in their hands as red eyes darted across the room. Sweat poured from their forehead.

"S-Stop! Right there!" Earhart said, waving the dagger at him. Talon held up his hands, smiling kindly as he took a step towards them.

"I'm a friend. That thing that tried to harm you, it's dead now. It can't hurt you." He set down the sword.

They looked at him hesitantly, their hands still shaking as they set the dagger down. "Are you sure?" They asked. Talon noticed their bag in the corner, the gas mask against one of the walls, a small crack in it as if it had been thrown. A hint of orange was in the flakes of their eyes.

"They'll never hurt you again," Talon said. "I promise."

Earhart's eyes watered, and they grabbed onto their knees. "I just wanna go home," they said weakly.

Talon paused for a moment. "I remember your interview," he said, placing every word carefully. "You said that you wanted to be an explorer some day, right? That's why you hold onto the pilot goggles?"

Their hands went up to the goggles on their forehead, and they nodded their head slowly. "Yeah. I mean, maybe. I guess." They scratched at their neck, sweat continuing to come from every pore.

"I want to show you something," Talon said, and he was just in front of Earhart now, crouching in front of her as he smiled. "I want you to look out the window at something. I promise you won't regret it."

They looked unsure. "What is it?"

Talon stood up, and looked out the window himself. "One thing about all of us in the arena, we all get to be explorers." He paused, and offered a hand to them. They tentatively took it, and stood up on their tip-toes to peer out the window. Talon stepped behind them. "And we all go home at the end, eventually. But until then, we get to go visit somewhere that nobody's ever written about. Who knows, it might even be the greatest place in the entire world."

"And we get to go there?" Earhart asked.

"Yeah," Talon said. "Real soon." His voice went soft. "Real soon."

He pulled the trigger, and the bullet went clean through their head. The canon went off in unison with the gunshot as they fell forward, their head resting against the window.

Boom!

Footsteps came running up behind him, and Nikola was at the doorway, looking out of breath as he looked at Talon in fear and confusion. Talon calmly pocketed the revolver.

"What the fuck was that?" Nikola asked, and he looked over to the body on the ground and looked back to Talon in even more bewilderment. "Are you trying to get us killed? Everything within a mile probably heard that and is running here right now!"

Talon bent down, picking up his sword and running his shirt along the blade to wipe the blood clean. "Then you better help me move their body outside, shouldn't you?"

Nikola brought a hand up to his head, seeming ready to yell out in rage, but swallowed it and rushed over to Earhart, taking them by the legs while Talon took hold of the arms. Maya held the door open for them and didn't ask any questions as they set them down next to Julian and Denver, laid out peacefully on the front lawn, the pinkish white trees hovering above them.

A/N: This is probably the most drained I've ever been after writing a chapter, so I'll keep it brief. Next chapter is part 3 (of 4) of The College Chapter as we move onto Day 3 of the Games. See you all then.

19th: Julian Clement. Killed by Stalkers. You were a non-pov character but you were still a sweetheart and way too pure for this awful arena. RIP

18th: Denver Lyon. Killed by Stalkers. I loved Denver. He was made when I was in my peak cinnamon roll creation time, and it kinda shows. He's lovable and his story from unmotivated, insecure loner to self-confident life of the party was so fun to write, and is a big part of what gave me motivation to come back and write this. Sadly, his character was never going to go far, just because of who he was. Going out saving an ally is the most he could've hoped for. I'm sorry I gave you such a terrible death, buddy. RIP

17th Earhart Roberston. Shot in head by Talon Olympus. I'm so sorry Goldie. I love Earhart, and really, I hate that this is the story they got submitted to because they deserve so much better than this arena could ever give them. They were way too pure to ever win, and having their end be quiet, painless, and peaceful was the best I could do for them. Goldie, I'm sorry for the collective heart attack this chapter probably gave you, and thank you so much for your constant support and love for me and this story. I appreciate you and this lovable bean you sent to me. RIP

Trivia(1 point): But it do.

Trivia(1 point): Where were you when David was kill?