Judging from the gunshot that she had heard last night, she's gambled her way into the top ten.

.oOo.

Amal Issa, 17
Afrikkaan Female
0 Kills

She's up at the crack of dawn, looking around to see if she can see anyone else in this section of the maze. Thankfully, she hears nothing anywhere near her, and can continue walking around corners and trying in vain to climb up the sides of the maze without worrying about others coming to kill her.

Although, if they do try to attack her, she can always grab a rock and fight them. It would be more unorthodox than the weapons that they had provided everyone in the clearing, but it would be enough to make it an even fight.

Amal's stomach grumbles, and she looks down with dismay. In the first few minutes at the clearing, she hadn't thought of anything but escape. The centre of the clearing was nothing but a deathtrap, something to lure everyone in so they'd get killed right away and make it that much easier for whoever was left. She had taken the gamble of running without grabbing anything, but now she's paying the price for not fighting for something that she could have eaten.

It seems to be worth it, though. Judging from the gunshot that she had heard last night, she's gambled her way into the top ten.

At the sound of something in the distance, she jumps a little and looks around to see if it's another one of those gunshots that let everyone know that one more child has died. But it's softer than that, almost a sort of rumbling. But it doesn't sound like someone's footsteps, it sounds like… she doesn't know. She just can't seem to put her finger on it.

The sound remains in the distance, but Amal keeps walking through the maze. She's been keeping to the right of the maze for the most part, but the fact that she walked around last night in the dark has ruined any sense of direction that she had at the start. She hasn't found any sort of end of the maze, and it doesn't seem that she will.

Oh well. If she's as lost as she thinks she is, no one will be able to find her.

The sound keeps getting louder, but Amal still can't figure out what it is. She walks a little faster now, hoping that it isn't coming for her. But it just keeps getting louder, an enraged snort coming from the other side of the wall as the sounds of bodies slamming into the wall causes her to jump back. Who could be making such a racket? What could be so forceful to make that happen?

But when she hears the loud cry of a bull being stepped upon as it stampedes towards a non-existent finish line, she realizes what it is.

Amal sprints as fast as she can, but then the bulls that are somehow in the maze have found a way to round the corner and chase after her. She takes every turn she can, but they all seem to be dead-ends. She has no choice but to dart in the direction the bulls want her to, where she might find a place to hide from the stampede. Might.

Her legs are giving out when she rounds the last corner, and she stumbles around it with a pained expression. Then, it hits her - she's staring at the wall.

She's found herself another dead-end.

The bulls slam into the next wall, but instead of falling down dead like a few who are crushed by the weight of being the first to hit the wall, the rest run towards her.

She can't find any way out, even when she's under their hooves and feels like they're stepping on her ribs and all the way down to her heart.

And soon, she feels nothing at all.

.oOo.

Ha, he almost misses his desk job by this point.

.oOo.

Luka Novak, 18
Slavic Male
1 Kill

He gives another massive yawn, the sun starting to hit his face in this part of the morning. Milena is still sleeping to his right, bless her heart, so he gets up quietly and goes to the packs. Perhaps they'll have some food that's suitable for their breakfast this morning.

Luka's search is rewarded with some dried nuts and raisins that have been mixed together in two of the small paper bags, that he promptly snatches up and brings back to Milena. "Hey, I've got us our breakfast. How was your sleep?"

Milena rubs at her eyes, yawning as loudly as she possibly can. Luka internally curses, but there's no one around to hear and he lets himself breathe again. "It was alright. I dreamed of..."

"What did you dream of? I hope it didn't involve anything noisy - you're going to end up letting the rest of the maze know we're here if you keep up that racket," Luka asks, not caring very much about what haunts Milena's dreams. But it's something to talk about, and he's hungering to do something intellectual by this point.

Ha, he almost misses his desk job by this point.

Milena flushes a brilliant shade of scarlet, shaking her head. "It was nothing."

Luka flashes her a cheeky grin, knowing that his sister-in-law is embarrassed. "Are you sure it's nothing? Did you dream of Domen or something, Milena?"

Milena forces a laugh, not looking Luka in the eyes. "Yeah, something like that."

He hands her the pack of nuts and raisins, and they eat their breakfast in silence.

When they finish, Luka tosses away the packs and stands back up. "Are you ready to go? We'll keep moving now, just in case someone's searching the maze for us. That boy from Afrikka was bloodthirsty back at the beginning, after all, and I don't want you to slow u- I don't want us to be slowed down by breakfast."

"Maybe he's dead by this point," muses Milena as they continue to walk through these corridors that never end. "There were seventeen gunshots at the beginning, and then another last night - did you hear it? But he could have been one of them, you know. You can't kill so many people without some of them fighting back. I think that if we're lucky, one of the larger boys might have taken him out just in time for - look out!"

Luka shoots a look back, and then he sees it - the bulls that are stampeding between these walls and towards them, towards him.

He runs like the hounds of hell are behind him, just behind Milena.

She's the first to reach a right turn, sprinting around the wall. "Hurry up!"

Luka follows as quickly as he can, but a loose pebble trips him up. Now he's on the ground, trying to get back up as the bulls get closer and closer and oh God he's going to die in this maze for Erika to see, isn't he?

But then Milena grabs his arm and hauls him past the turn, just as a bull's leg comes crashing down onto his right leg. He lets out a cry of pain, but Milena gets him to his feet and points down the corridor that leads away from the bulls. "We need to move, Luka. We can't dwell on your leg, I'm sorry."

And then they're off again, Luka hobbling after Milena as she leads them through the maze and away from the bulls.

His leg hurts, but he's safe. And for now, that's all that matters.

That's all that matters.

Isn't it?

.oOo.

She's not going to make a stupid mistake like that.

.oOo.

Andrea Gamper, 12
Iberian Female
0 Kills

She's up early, but still feels nervous when she walks through the maze again. Something doesn't feel the same as yesterday, the air just feels that much tenser.

She doesn't feel welcome in this maze now that it's hit her that there are over a dozen who have died between these walls.

But time continues its endless march and she goes along with it, walking through the long corridors in search of… she doesn't know where she's going to end up going, but she wants to go somewhere. She wants to find a place where she'll be safe. She just doesn't know where it is.

The walk is long and the maze is heating up as the stones absorb the heat of the sun, and Andrea takes off the long shirt that she was wearing. Now she only has the second t-shirt that they gave to every competitor on, and she feels so much more comfortable. She'd rather be cold than drown in sweat from wearing that bigger shirt. What is it made up of, wool? It must be, or some other fabric that causes foolish girls like her to overheat in the sun.

But she keeps walking, always moving forwards throughout the maze. She takes out one of the cans that she had bashed open with a rock last night from the yellow pack and plops a piece of dried fruit into her mouth, letting it melt in her mouth before she takes a swig of water. She's trying to ration everything out, so that way she isn't caught out by not having enough food later on when she'll be starving for something to eat.

She's not going to make a stupid mistake like that.

Suddenly, she hears a strange noise, almost like a humming punctuated with the stamping of feet. She peers around the corner to see if she can identify what it is, but she can't see anything - and it doesn't sound human. Perhaps her mind is playing tricks on her now, taking all of the little fears of finding another competitor and magnifying it into an unnerving humming.

But it's getting louder, and it doesn't seem to be stopping.

And then she sees the bulls.

Andrea takes off at a mad sprint, trying to put as much distance as possible as she can between herself and the bulls. She doesn't think of turning a corner and finding a place to hide, just of running as fast as she possibly can. One foot in front of the other and then again, she keeps running quicker than the raging animals at her back.

And then she stumbles over a rock and comes smashing into the ground, tiny pebbles digging into her forearms and causing her to bleed. But she doesn't pay attention, only on getting back up again so she can keep running. All she can think of is running, of moving away from these horrible animals that will smash her to bits if they catch up to her.

And when she crashes into the wall, they do.

The first bull slams into her and stays her, and she feels a horrible pain in her insides as the bulls come stampeding towards the first. She's getting crushed, and she can't breathe from all of the pain. It's not just been the wind that was knocked out of her, it was everything.

The bulls seem to have stilled now that they've fallen into another wall and Andrea's life is ebbing away in front of her eyes, all struggling to get back up but failing to. They're dying as quickly as she is, just in a different way. They can't move anymore.

And then then, she can't either. She can't do anything.

She's gone.

.oOo.

And he doesn't have much of that, either.

.oOo.

Karol Karski, 15
Polish Male
0 Kills

He had seen the bulls that morning - he was just about to head into a path that seemed promising when he saw the black and brown and red bodies hurtling towards their demise and fled in the opposite direction. Now, he can't hear them anymore - perhaps they've ran until their hearts gave out and now have managed to kill themselves.

After all, they can't run forever.

He can't either.

The fact that the one pack he's held onto ever since he escaped from the clearing and ran away with Johannes - before deserting him out of fear of the boy from Afrikka, Karol remembers with a wave of disgust - has meant he's had a limited amount of food ever since the competition began. But now, it feels all the more apparent when he digs through the pack and finds that there's nothing left except for a few wrappers and one shiny can that he doesn't have an opener for. His grumbling stomach reminds him that he's still hungry, but he tries to push the craving for food away. People are supposed to be able to survive three weeks without food, right?

Then again, they can only survive three days without water. And he doesn't have much of that, either.

But Karol keeps walking, looking for a place to sleep during the day. He's more tired than he was yesterday - whatever gunshot that had went off last night had kept him on edge until the sun had risen and he finally fell asleep, more out of exhaustion than anything. Two others had gone off today, in close succession to one another, but he hadn't bothered to find out who had died.

He has to keep himself alive. He needs to learn to pick his battles, just like what everyone at home told him. He can't go chasing silly goals right now.

Instead, he's going to try to climb the wall again.

The first few handholds are within easy reach, and he maneuvers himself around the wall while reaching out for a grip. When he's at the spot where he had first been when he was with Johannes, he realizes that this might be a bad idea, but he keeps on moving. If he can get to the top of the wall, he'll be able to see everything in the arena. He'll be able to react to other's movements before they see him, and he can do whatever he wants up there.

After else, he doubts that anyone else here could find their way up the wall.

As he reaches out for a crack in the wall that looks just deep enough to fit his right hand inside, the crag of stone under his left hand crumbles away and he yells in surprise. And now he's falling for what seems like forever before his back hits the ground. Then his head hits something hard and strong, and he's out like a rock.

"Zdravo? Zdravo?" echoes through Karol's head as he comes to, and he opens his eyes slowly. He winces - his head aches horribly, and the light seems almost blinding after being out for so long.

Then his eyes widen - there's a girl, the one from Slavia, above him.

"How long was I out?" he asks the girl in Polish. When she looks confused, he tries German in the hope that she knows the language. "How long was I unconscious?"

"Oh, I speak German!" the girl says, obviously relieved. "I don't know when you first fell unconscious, but I do know that you've been with us for about two hours. You're lucky you didn't break your neck - you must have fallen quite a way down - that is, if you were climbing. The way you were sprawled on the ground looked like you had fallen down from something."

Us?

"Luka wanted to leave you," the girl continues, "but I told him that we should keep you. After all, you might give us some handy secrets about how to find a good hiding spot in this blasted maze. Have you found any?"

Oh, the girl's still with her friend from Slavia. "Oh, I know the way to the clearing, but nothing else. I'm sorry."

"Well, you can guide us there. Isn't that right, Luka?" the boy, now in Karol's view, nods in affirmation, and the girl helps Karol up. "Here, let me help you."

Karol tries to stretch his arms, but then realizes that they're bound behind his back - they must have done it in case he attacked them.

He's a prisoner.

"So, you'll keep me tied up?" he asks the girl, who he now remembers to be named Milena.

"Yeah, sorry about that. Right now, it's easier for all of us if you stay tied up. We won't hurt you, you won't hurt us, and we'll get some extra weapons on top of it. Sounds good?"

Karol nods, his mind furiously thinking of a way up. There's no more time for games. He has to be smart.

If he picks his battles, he might just escape after all.

.oOo.

Then she grabs her sword - it feels right in her hands by this point. It's an extension of herself, the part of herself that can keep her alive.

.oOo.

Magdalena Pichler, 18
Northern European Female
1 Kill

Magdalena needs to rest, to drink her bottle of water and forget that she still has bloodstains on her pants. She's looking for a place where she can be alone.

But the girl who she killed is still in her mind, refusing to go away.

She looks down at the red pack with her bottle of water and all of the food that's inside, some of which had been crushed to dust when she had fought the girl. There's not much that wasn't damaged, but it's still edible and has more than enough to keep her functioning for the next few days. She won't starve to death.

She takes out some of the crackers that had only been partially crushed in the struggle, shaking them out from the plastic package and into her mouth. She washes it down with a small swig of water, then grabs her sword. It's been lying on the ground while she rests, a reminder of what she's done, what she can do.

The worst part of it all is that she doesn't even feel that bad about it. Of course, she feels terribly guilty about killing someone - for being so high and mighty and then proving that she's just as desperate as the others here - but in her heart of hearts, she knows that she did it to survive and nothing more. There's nothing inherently wrong about that, but she hates that she's not hurting more.

Is she a monster? Or is she just human?

But in the end, she knows what matters is that she's still here.

Maybe she's stronger than she thought she is.

Magdalena packs the food back into her bag and slings it over her shoulder, in the position that she's found to be easiest on her back. Then she grabs her sword - it feels right in her hands by this point. It's an extension of herself, the part of herself that can keep her alive.

And even if she shouldn't kill again, she's not letting it out of her hands when she travels.

The maze is still being warmed by the afternoon sun as Magdalena walks through the maze, looking to see if she can find anything of interest. There should be some sort of hidden room or area in the maze that she can rest in, some sort of safe house where she can sleep for the night and not worry about being killed. She just has to find it.

She pauses when she turns a corner and sees dead bodies all over the ground - but they're not human, they're animals. They're large bulls, their eyes glazed over and still as they lie on the ground. Some have horns that are shorn off, and others look like they've been crushed under the weight of whatever rampage they had fallen into. They're all in this corridor, and if Magdalena looks closely, she sees a human body under one of the bulls at the far end of the maze.

She can't help but heave the contents of her stomach out onto the ground.

And then a laugh echoes through the walls, bouncing off of the stone and towards Magdalena. She sees a shadow coming closer and closer, and the laughs get louder until she sees the boy from Afrikka walking around the corner and through the bulls.

He's coming for her.

She runs as quickly as she can, trying not to scream. She's fast, she's known that ever since she was a little girl, and the pack isn't too heavy on her shoulders. But it's still slowing her down as it swings back and forth on her back, and she can hear the heavy breathing of the boy as he gains on her.

She's going to be caught.

Without thinking, Magdalena snatches the water bottle out of the pack and then throws the pack at the boy. It hits him square in the face, and she doesn't pause to hear him yell in pain as she runs through the maze. Taking as many turns as she can, she runs and runs until she finds, at last, a corner that's going in the opposite direction of where she had been running instead of being a dead end.

Then, she crouches and prays that she won't be found as the footsteps of the boy come closer. Magdalena presses her back against the wall, hoping against hope that she won't be found. The footsteps grow louder and stop at the corner, the boy looking to see if she might have gone this way.

And then the footsteps grow smaller, travelling further away from Magdalena, and she claps her hands over her mouth - hitting herself in the eye with her water bottle - to stop herself from screaming in delight.

She's still alive.

Yep, we're getting there :o

10th: Amal Issa, Afrikkaan Female; Killed by Bull Rampage. Created by Alice Kingsleighs.

Amal was fun to have around for sure :D She was just a strong person who knew what she was doing and could perform well - she didn't deserve to go so soon. I wish she could have made it a bit further, but she was in a bad position when Hana and Otto let the bulls out - something that proved to be a disaster for everyone. I'm going to miss Amal for being one of the most competent people here (no offence but there are a lot of hot messes in this labyrinth), while not being overly aggressive or arrogant. Thank you to Alice Kingsleighs for this great competitor!

9th: Andrea Gamper, Iberian Female; Killed by Bull Rampage. Created by AmericanPI.

Andrea was the bean who made it further than most people thought she would - only one away from the top eight! She was so close! But I really did like Andrea for her amazing backstory, as guaranteed with any PI tribute, as well as the fact that she was just pleasant to write and have around. She was a bundle of joy, and I'm glad that she was a strong younger tribute - she was the only twelve year old to survive the bloodbath, and made it all the way to the top eight because she avoided the insane people at the bloodbath and could survive in the arena. But the bulls came and she got trapped in the wrong place at the wrong time. That did her in. Thank you to Pi for Andrea, and I hope you enjoyed her run. She was a great person to have here.

Yes, the bulls are very unnecessary and not very realistic but they were a thing and made most of the tribute's lives hard and now we're into the top eight so WOOP

How was the chapter? Any surprises here? Is there anyone in the top eight that you didn't expect to get here - is there anyone who you thought would make it who didn't? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Tomorrow, we have another crazy chapter - fun all around! I'll see you then.

Enjoy. Until next time, TheAmazingJAJ