It's quiet at first.
The competitors all stand as still as they can, waiting for their chains to be broken so they can run and find out who will be the one that will stand over the bodies of the rest. One is crying, and another reaches out in vain to the other person from their country. All around them is stone, grey slabs of rock that have been meticulously ordered to create this large maze.
There are a few places in this large clearing of dirt and patches of dying grass that look like they could be opening, hinted by their paler shade of stone - and the fact that there are soldiers waiting for their compatriots at those lighter parts of the wall.
Otherwise, they're trapped - alone in this clearing with no discernable way out. No one says a word, but they're all nervous. No one likes the idea of being trapped in here for the entire competition. It doesn't feel right to have any place to run, no place to hide except for the huge pile of metal weapons and fabric bags in the centre of the clearing. It's smaller than it looks - the span of the clearing could probably be crossed in a few hundred steps.
Still, they stay quiet. After all, they're still trapped on the huge pedestals with their ankles chained, told that if they try to break out before their chains are broken they'll be shot on sight. They're not supposed to run after the soldiers, either, or risk the same consequence. So they wait, knowing that for now they will have peace.
But when the chains are broken?
That's when the screams begin.
.oOo.
Surprisingly, little Deniz is the first one to make a move. He leaps off his own pedestal, the loose chain around his ankle flapping as he runs before falling off entirely, and sprints towards the soldiers. He stops when one of them turns around and points a gun, barking something at him in a strange language.
He knows that he's gone too far, and turns back around. But that's when the others begin to run.
Gabriella is the first to the pile, rooting through the weapons for something that she can grab and run away with. But Bosede takes a large sword, gives an experimental swing in the air, then swings the weapon into Gabriella's back.
The screams are deafening.
After Bosede slices the sword across Gabriella's neck to stop her from screaming, another boy is upon him, eyes glowing madly.
"You coward!" Marius screams as he swings an axe at Bosede. He's seething with rage, yet he can't manage to hit the bigger boy. "She was just a girl! A girl! Why would you do such a stupid, stupid thing?"
Bosede laughs at the incomprehensible boy from France. "I'll kill you too. This is war, you know."
On the other side of the pile, Pyotr and Maria are fighting over a large bag. They don't know what's inside, but Pyotr screams at Maria to get away as he gives a particularly vicious yank. "Leave me alone!"
Maria responds in turn by letting go of the bag, sending Pyotr sprawling into the dirt. She turns back to the pile, frantic to find something to stop him from chasing her and taking her bag. A spear is good enough for her, and she stabs it into his chest with both arms.
It's when Pyotr's eyes roll up into his head and the blood really begins to pour that she feels sick. She turns, and dry-heaves into the dirt. Nothing comes up - Maria had been too nervous to eat that morning.
Deniz is Bosede's next target. He kicks the small boy to the ground when Deniz tries to run to the pile and grab something to protect himself with, his eyes darting around the clearing for something to grab.
This time, Bosede stabs the sword into Deniz's neck - it lets him die more quickly.
Luka's grabbed himself a sword as well, and runs back to where Milena is waiting. "Do you have the packs?"
"They're both right here." Milena holds them up to show her friend, then yells in surprise when the boy from Switzerland tries to grab one and dart away. Her grip is too strong for Nino to tear it away, and the boy turns back to scratch at the woman. "Hey!"
"I need one!" Nino looks like an animal freed from its cage, and he leaves a long scratch mark on Milena's face before grabbing at the pack again. Then he lets out a long, thin sigh, his eyes slowly closing as his head tilts down, down towards the sword that's now poking out of this child's stomach.
Luka is standing behind Nino, his face as pale as a sheet. "I-I-I-I don't know what… what?"
"Luka, you can't obsess over it. Run!"
And Milena darts away, Luka following in her footsteps.
Other competitors are trying to run away from the chaos at the centre, where the boy from Iberia has just managed to stab the boy from France, injured from a swipe of the sword from Bosede, to death. But despite hammering at the places where the soldiers disappeared into the stone, no one can find a way out. Keenan and Beckett are running with each other when a little girl runs after them, screaming in Polish about something that they can't understand. Keenan looks back and gasps when she's cut down by the large boy from Africa, putting a hand over his mouth. "He just… he just killed her. Beckett, that little girl just died."
"What?" Beckett looks back as well and freezes, staring at the little girl. He can't take his eyes off of her.
"Beckett, we need to run! You can't obsess over it, you need to move now! Beckett! Beckett!" Keenan screams at his lover with all of his might, but yanking at his shirtsleeves won't move the boy from America. "Beckett!"
And then the boy from Africa is on Beckett and stabbing him right through the gut with that monstrously huge sword that cuts through flesh all too easily, and Keenan screams even louder.
Petra and Elaine are working together at the pile to gather weapons, both looking for valuable supplies in their unspoken bond. They work quickly and efficiently, choosing a few knives and choice packs to take away from the pile. And then Petra gasps, small enough that Elaine doesn't look up until it's too late.
The girl from Switzerland is standing over Elaine's fallen ally, a knife slick with blood in her hand and a cruel smile on her lips. Petra murmurs something that sounds like a name, and Elaine screams as loud as she can. She should take a knife and fight the girl, but she's frozen to the spot. She can't move.
And then the girl falls onto Elaine, Elaine screaming all the while. It's not until she pushes the girl away that she realizes that the Swiss girl isn't moving - that she's dead as well. And then she looks up, and then there's the boy from Britain who's standing above them both.
"I won't hurt you," he murmurs, and Elaine finds the courage to slash at his calf with a knife before running as fast as she can.
Johannes is running as fast as he can as well, away to find if he'll see some way out of this tiny clearing before he sees the girl from Turkey being chopped apart by the Italian boy. He has a cruel, hateful smile on his face, and there's another body at his feet - is that the boy from Northern Europe?
A hot, familiar rage comes over Johannes, anger at Germany and everyone here and especially the boy who's too cowardly to fight someone his own size, and before he knows it the dagger in his hand has found itself in the back of the Italian's neck. The boy looks up, confused, then yells out in pain while trying to pull the dagger out of his neck. His clumsy hands manage to wrench the blade out of his neck: a mistake. He only bleeds out faster.
Johannes runs away again, but stumbles into another runner. He looks up into the eyes of the boy from Poland, but Marius doesn't see malice or anger in his eyes. He sees fear.
Through some connection that transcends their language barrier, the two run away together.
Keenan's now wrestling with the boy from Africa, trying to kick the sword out of his hands. A lucky strike manages to send the boy sprawling down, and Keenan takes the knife he had scavenged from the pile in the centre of the clearing. Gulping back a wave of nausea, he aims for the boy's heart. But he rolls away, the knife instead landing in his right arm.
Then the boy grabs his sword, and gives a short laugh. "I'm almost sorry I won't give you much longer to live. You were strong."
And he pushes the sword down into Keenan's side, and Keenan screams before discovering he can't feel any pain. He can't feel anything at all, actually, just a feeling of being as light as he could be as his eyes slowly close.
He stops breathing soon after.
Bosede gives a harsh laugh, looking around to see if there's anyone else to take care of. A girl, who seems to be the one from Britain, is running towards him, and he lazily swings the sword through her small frame. She collapses in a heap.
And then comes a strange sound from the edge of the clearing - the stones move on their own, large sections of the wall opening and disappearing into the stone to let the remaining competitors see that there's a way out. Almost everyone runs towards the exits, each person disappearing into a section of what seems to be a giant stone maze to find a place that they can hide.
Bosede smiles, then walks into the maze.
It's time to hunt.
Magdalena is running as well, but then she shrieks as she's grabbed by the roots of her hair and is dragged backwards. Pablo looks down at her, mouthing something that looks like the word sorry.
And then he stabs her with the spear that he carries in his hand, and everything turns to black.
Pablo looks up from the body of the girl, looking to see if there's anyone left in the clearing. Almost everyone has ran away and into the maze, but there's a little girl in the centre of the pile who's looking for supplies. Pablo grins - finally, there's someone else to get rid of. He's one step closer to going home.
He takes one step forward, then another, and then runs towards the girl. She screams something that sounds a bit like English, then ducks as he throws the spear that he's taken a liking to.
It misses her at first, and Pablo curses before grabbing it from where it's lodged into a large crate. Quick, quick, she'll run if he doesn't hurry! One good pull and -
The arrow arcs through the air and into his neck, and Pablo tastes blood before he realizes something's wrong. He reaches back to see what's lodged in the back of his neck, but that's when another arrow hits him in the head this time, going under his skull and deep into his head.
After he stops screaming and finally, finally, finally falls to the ground, a wide-eyed Juliet looks up at the girl who just saved her from death.
Abigail looks back, tears streaming down her face.
She falls to her knees, sobbing all the while, and Juliet screams.
Yes I did just kill your fav along with fifteen others and you can do nothing about it… NOTHING
Honestly, the bloodbath kept surprising me! I had about sixteen tributes who I figured would end up dying in the grand first few minutes, but about eight decided they wanted to switch places at the last minute and I switched a loooooot of placements which I originally had written down. Not surprisingly, those that I plan to make it to the top five - you will have no idea who they are until we get there - managed to keep their placements, but actually writing the competition may have proven them to fall earlier. I'm excited to keep going, but first, our eulogies.
If you're weirded out by what may seem to be continuity issues, don't stress about it. All of the battles happened around the same time, so fights involving different tributes that occurred a few sentences apart may have happened just a little bit before the one ahead of it and such.
28th: Gabriella Meier, French Female; Killed by Bosede Okafor. Created by Mewkitcat.
Gabriella was a bean who simply was too sweet, too small for the bloodbath. I did enjoy her personality: she was well-crafted and was a pleasure to write. She was one of the first tributes I wrote in this story, close to two years ago now, and had a nice, happy ending there. Not here. I felt like Gabriella was definitely just not strong enough to survive the bloodbath. She had potential, yes, but the truth of the matter was that she was going into a place where being slightly head-strong would kill her instantly, and running into Bosede made sure of that. Thank you to Mewkitcat to Gabriella.
27th: Pyotr Petrovsky, Russian Male; Killed by Maria Bellini. Created by AmericanPI.
Pyotr, Pyotr, Pyotr. Yet another bean who didn't deserve this AT ALL, Pyotr had some squandered potential that I think I should have used throughout the story. He didn't get much of a break, either from Germany, his home life, or his talents. If anything, he died knowing that he's done something: I made sure that he got to help with the orchestra so that he would have at least a bit of an uplifting story. But in the end, he came up against someone who proved too fierce for him to handle, and panic got the best of him. PI, I hope you're not too upset about Pyotr's death - and I hope that you continue to enjoy watching Andrea make her way through the competition.
26th: Deniz Aslan, Turkish Male; Killed by Bosede Okafor. Created by Mewkitcat.
Deniz Aslan was the second tribute created by Mewkitcat, and designed in the same vein as well. Deniz was definitely more brave, but a bit more level-headed as well - he knew to back off from the soldiers, he tried to keep out of the way of other tributes for the first minute or so. But Bosede is one of the strongest tributes out there, and the fact that Deniz hadn't seen him made it easy for Deniz to die. I did like Deniz, but knew that he would never make it far - unfortunately, exactly that happened. Thank you to Mewkitcat for this boy.
25th: Nino Altherr, Swiss Male; Killed by Luka Novak. Created by BulletproofReed.
Looking back at it, Nino is probably one of the deaths that I regret most from this bloodbath. He had a quiet, kind personality that thrived on routine, yet he was able to explore unknowns through the lens of his camera. If he lived, he likely would have been able to learn how to detach himself from the competition itself and try to kill, but it wasn't in the cards for him. Luka and Milena are the power duo of the competition thus far, and fighting for the bag did him in. I'll miss writing him, because he was just a kind guy who deserved better than what he got. Thanks to BulletproofReed for this great competitor.
24th: Marius Alain, French Male; Killed by Pablo Silva. Created by rising-balloons.
Marius, first of the rebels: both in introductions and death. He was always quite hot-headed, especially in his intro, where he barely escaped getting shot by a few German soldiers. Poor guy, he never got much of a chance to shine and the fact that Hana had his eyes on him as someone to watch out for only made it worse. Marius was a good, good guy who I had pegged to go much further: in my original plans, back in 2018, he was supposed to make the final ten through his wit and strength. But Pablo was too big, too strong for him to handle, and Marius went down fighting. Thank you to rising-balloons for Marius.
23rd: Dahlia Kachlicka, Polish Female; Killed by Bosede Okafor. Created by Awesomewriter177.
Dahlia actually came to me without a last name: after consulting the author, they decided to name her Dahlia Kachlicka. I did like her, but she was always one of the more quiet presences in the story. I never expected her to go far, and the fact that she ran into Bosede proved to be her downfall. Dahlia made her mark in being the young, cunning tribute of this year's competition, but she was just too small to put up a fight in the bloodbath. The fact that she wasn't able to run fast enough to escape Bosede ultimately caused her downfall, and Dahlia died in arm's reach from Keenan and Beckett, causing one of the more surprising collapses in the bloodbath. Thank you to Awesomewriter177 for Dahlia.
22nd: Petra Johansson, Baltic Female; Killed by Yvonne Müller. Created by IVolunteerAsAuthor.
Petra was one of the competitors who could have made it far if it wasn't for the bloodbath, a story that repeated itself all too often in this chapter. She was an anti-hero at best, being antagonistic and hard to work with despite being strong enough to stand up to German soldiers and prove that she's her own person in her introduction chapter. However, I never really saw her going far: she was slightly too friendly, slightly too trusting to react quickly to someone else who was ready to fight to the death. Yvonne managed to best her in the bloodbath, and Petra bled out as a result. I'll miss writing her. Thank you to Caleb for this strong girl.
21st: Yvonne Müller, Swiss Female; Killed by Norman Bennet. Created by willemsbakedgoods.
Yvonne was surprisingly hard to write - she was one of the antagonists who knew how to manipulate people and make things go her way, being arrogant enough to be fun but not so much that she was totally dislikeable. If it wasn't for Norman, I think she could have gone further, but the truth is that I wasn't satisfied with the way I was writing and portraying her. I found it hard to capture the tone I wanted for Yvonne, and the complexity of her character - or the fact that I find it hard to write villains (?) - led to her death. In the end, however, she was too absorbed in her own kill to realize that Norman was coming to save Elaine, saving the American for a few minutes before. Thanks to willemsbakedgoods for Yvonne.
20th: Beckett Walker, American Male; Killed by Bosede Okafor. Created by TheEngineeringGames.
:laurencry: Beckett didn't deserve this. We all know that. He was a good, smol boi who was the first of the couple to die, mainly because he was the most likely of the two to freeze when he saw someone being killed right in front of him. Seeing Dahlia really shook him up, and Bosede was able to get after him as a result. Beckett was a good guy, someone who had a hard life in general. He was able to find peace with Keenan, and I do wonder what would have happened if they both survived the bloodbath. Would Beckett be able to overcome his fears? Would they become the power couple of the arena, fending off any competitors? But no, in the end it was fear and shock that did Beckett in. He was simply too good. Thank you, Lauren, for this lovely guy.
19th: Antoine Deslauriers, Northern European Male; Killed by Ignacio Russo. Created by Amy's Bones.
Antoine was one of the competitors who could have and should have gone a bit further than how he did here. He was always supposed to die in the bloodbath: being slightly rebellious and too outspoken for his own good were factors that ensured that he would die here. But in reality, Antoine died here because he wasn't able to escape Ignacio. Ignacio was one of the stronger competitors out there, and armed with a weapon that he knew how to use, meant that Antoine wasn't going to escape the Italian. Antoine could have made it far, but it's here where his story ends. Thank you to Amy's Bones for this dude.
18th: Elif Kaya, Turkish Female; Killed by Ignacio Russo. Created by finn15.
Elif was one of the smol beans who made it a little further than I thought she would, mainly because she was overlooked by the rest of the competitors. She was one of the nicer competitors, being sweet and shy. But she had dreams: if she had the chance, she'd be more adventurous in the arena than she could have ever imagined. But the truth was that she was inexperienced in something like this, being protected all her life, and she couldn't get away without being killed by Ignacio. I'm glad I got someone like Elif, someone to remind everyone that no one deserves to die like this. No one. Thank you to finn15 for Elif.
17th: Ignacio Russo, Italian Male; Killed by Johannes Stølan. Created by Fire and Starlight.
Ignacio, yet another antagonist that I decided to off in the bloodbath because I wanted to streamline this story *just a bit more* and I couldn't find a place for him in the arcs that I had planned. He was cunning, rude, and strong, all things that made him formidable, but a bit too clumsy and arrogant to survive much longer than he did. Johannes was angry and strong enough to stop Ignacio at this point, and pulling out the knife would have only made him die more quickly. Ignacio wasn't a guy to think much about, but he was definitely fun in his own way: who doesn't like to see a villain get his comeuppance? Thank you to Fire and Starlight for someone who could get rid of a few competitors early on.
16th: Keenan Atherton, Canadian Male; Killed by Bosede Okafor. Created by TheEngineeringGames.
Keenan might have been able to escape the bloodbath if he just ran when Beckett died, but that wasn't :laurencry: enough and I knew that if he saw his soulmate die in a way like this, he wasn't going to let it down easily. Bosede got the best of him a bit too easily because Bosede gets the best of everyone and I don't know if I'll survive watching him plow through everyone (or die next, you never do know), but Keenan was a good guy. He was strong and smart, and could have made it much further. But I kept with my original plan for him here: die to Bosede after seeing Beckett die. He didn't deserve it, but at least he died fighting in honour of Beckett. Thank you, Lauren. I will miss these two competitors, who I received the full forms for... uh, long long long story but they DID get in because Lauren is blessed. Thank you.
15th: Caiomhe Bryne, British Female; Killed by Bosede Okafor. Created by EllaRoseEverdeen.
Caiomhe is one of the most surprising deaths, or at least to me. I had planned for her to make it to the top eight or even further: she was strong, smart, and just bitter enough to actually fight against other tributes if they fought her. But, in the end I decided to let her to fall to Bosede because I couldn't see her going far far in the arena. She wasn't going to be someone who had the willpower to push on, after a day or so she would have eventually crumpled and fell - something that didn't have a chance to happen. The fact that she died was because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and Bosede got yet another victim. Thank you to EllaRoseEverdeen for the first competitor I wrote in this SYOT. I'll miss her.
14th: Elaine LaBelle, American Female; Killed by Pablo Silva. Created by IVolunteerAsAuthor.
Elaine was another person I was surprised to see die: she was originally supposed to survive the bloodbath and make it close to the top ten. Like so many other people here, she was in the wrong place at the wrong time: running away from Norman after giving him a good stab caused her to be too far away from an exit to get there quickly, and Pablo picked her off quickly. She was a strong, independent girl who should have done better than she did here, and I'm going to regret not letting her go even a bit further. She definitely deserved it, I just didn't give her a chance. Thanks to Caleb for this great competitor.
13th: Pablo Silva, Iberian Male; Killed by Abigail Kuepfer. Created by StephenSwiss.
The last and most exciting death in the bloodbath for me (because I actually finished it after an intense writing session), Pablo was a strong tribute who could have been quite the nuisance in the arena if it wasn't for Abigail and Juliet connecting the night before. He had quite the intense backstory, something that I toned down a LOT because I didn't want to go into that much detail. Let's just say that it was quite... *interesting* to read. Pablo himself was a strong guy who was likeable, and could get things done. He might go down being more antagonistic due to killing two of our victims in the bloodbath (which, surprisingly, is only 1/8 of the total deaths here because I am horrid), but his death will have a lot of impact in the arena. Thanks to StephenSwiss for this tribute.
Uh so the eulogies are like longer than the chapter itself because I had a lot to say and a ton of deaths oops
Anyways, the bloodbath is over and our competitors are into the arena! I hope you're excited, because I have some fun arcs I'm excited to share with you in here. We're getting closer to officially finishing EVM!
So: what do y'all think? Are you mad? Surprised? Just in shock that I killed so many? Yeah, I saw an opportunity to set a large bloodbath number and TOOK IT, with 16 deaths now being my biggest bloodbath. It'll be worth it, I promise.
Enjoy. Until Day I, TheAmazingJAJ