"They are going to kill you," one mouse who sat on Venus' knee sighed. "We have looked all around, there is not exit." Venus though about the golden mouse's words as she looked at her arguing group, Nero becoming agitated that they had no made a move in two hours. The only person close to her was Veyron but the boy was leaning against the hedges, sleeping.

She turned back to the horn rodents and grunted. "They will come after me if I leave."

The lead mouse, who introduced himself as Apollo, cocked his small head to the side. "But they will be too busy trying to find the exit, has anybody gone after Grover?" Venus gave an understanding nod, allowing Apollo to let out a small squeak before continuing. "If you leave now, by the time they realise they won't get out, you could be at the other end of the Arena." With those final words, the mouse jumped from Venus' lap and towards the hedge. Just before entering he turned around to face the dark haired girl. "Just do something before time runs out, you are the only competitor I have left, now."

The words rung in Venus head as she tried to figure out what the mouse meant by competitor, was he a representative of District Twelve? She thought about the project as she quietly collected her bags. However, as she shuffled towards the exit, a voice broke the silence.

"Where do you think you are going?" Nero asked, picking up his shield. Venus froze up, she knew Nero could not kill her just yet but that would not stop him from breaking both of her legs if needs be.

Before she could answer, Veyron walked over to her, his own bag slung over his shoulder. "We are just going to get some firewood, we need to cook that rabbit me and Coutille caught...I saw some olive trees not too far from here."

Nero narrowed his eyes at the pair before his expression softened. "Okay, just back here quickly and don't get lost," he said with a dismissive smile. The pair gave a quick nod before vanishing around one of the hedges. The pair walked for a few minutes until Venus turned Veyron.

"What are you doing-"

"The mice, they told you to leave, didn't they?" Venus' eyes widened.

"You can hear them too?" she whispered. Veyron shook his head.

"No, but the stork does-"

"The stork?"

"Ah, so you can't hear him either," Veyron sighed. "There is a stork in the hedge that speaks to me, tells me to leave...I just thought I was going nuts but-"

"What is his name?" Venus asked.

"Hermes."

"That is a strange name-"

"He is a stork that speaks, his name has no effect on me," Veyron laughed but when he noticed Venus' series expression, his face dropped.

"Look, Veyron," Venus sighed, slipping her hand into her pack and curling it around an arrow. "I don't want to ally...I…I need to go alone."

Veyron looked down at the ground with sadness. He never truly knew Venus but he did not want to be either. "Then what am I supposed to do?"

Damon watched Nathalie from out the corner of his eyes, still sobbing as she held her arm. It wasn't broken but severely dislocated. However, when the blonde boy looked at his ally, he just saw a weak link. It felt cruel to think such a thing but Nathalie was never a nice person and that was the way of The Hunger Games. However, he knew Evelyn would never agree to it.

The girl had been out of character for the past few hours, her mindset of finding a way out of the Labyrinth. Damon figured to her, it was a way for Nero to live as well as her. She would never die for the boy but he was worth playing leader if it meant they could both live. With Annabella out of the way, it was the perfect chance for her to make a move. With Nero being such a caring person, he might be touched by Evelyn finding the exit.

Whatever her reason was for the fixation on saving everyone, it was starting to get on Damon's nerves. The Arena was working against them yet Evelyn forced the group to press on, seeing even an hours rest as too much time wasted. There was always something better around the next corner for the dark haired girl but even she must have been able to see that there was no way more than one person was ever making it out of the deadly Arena.

Damon's train of thought was broken when a growl broke out from one of the hedges. Damon looked up, expecting someone else to have heard it but the group moved on without a worry. The blonde boy paused, his eyes drifting own the hedge until they fell on a rotten hand, clenching at the sandy earth. This hand was quickly joined by another one and then a mauled, rotten face that growled as it pulled itself free from the hedge.

"Guys!" Damon yelped as he jumped away from the mutt. The group, who by now was a few feet away pulled their weapons free at the site.

"Kill it then!" Evelyn snarled at Damon. The boy quickly pulled free his sickled and swung it at the mutt, cutting the head clean off. However, by Nathalie's feet, the body-less head continued to snarl at the group, even after the girl kicked it back into the hedge.

Damon looked up at the group, only for his skin to go cold. Behind them, emerging from the hedges was at least twenty snarling, rotting humans. "Look-"

"Damon!" Belinda bellowed, causing the boy to whip around, only to see at least fifteen more mutt's shuffling towards him. They all looked like they had been dead the same amount of time but some didn't have a single wound on their body while some had axe's lodged in their head.

The boy turned to run back towards his group but the girls were already overwhelmed, their bodies hidden behind the large crowd. Damon held his sickled ready, swinging it at the first mutt that approached him. However, the blonde mutt grabbed the weapon midair and pulled the boy closer.

Damon watched as the other mutts moved past him without giving him a second glance. Expect this one. He looked into it's cloudy, blood-filled eyes and felt for the first time like he was going to be sick. It was Berik.

Sure, he was nothing more than a rotting flesh, his chest caved in and dried blood was splattered over his clothes but Damon couldn't mistake the boy he grew up with.

"Berik-"

"Your Godly sponsor, Hades favors you." I raised an eyebrow at the Berik. I was not sure if Hades was the name of a Capitolite that sponsored me but I was going to have a hard time believing they were a God.

"And why is that?" I asked, my voice cracking.

Berik used his free hand to point towards Nathalie who held her broken arm. Like me, the mutts pushed passed her, their focus on the rest of our alliance. I still had a thousand questions on the matter but I felt frozen as I allow Berik to push past me, dragging his right leg behind me.

He told me I was safe but for some reason I couldn't help but swing my sickle, slicing his head off at an odd angle. He looked up at me, he body still but face still very much alive. "I am trying to help you," he growled. He sounded like Berik and looked like him too. But it wasn't him. Berik died along with Vulcan when he was eliminated. Vulcan was the only one who could save me and by the looks of it, he was no longer here.

I moved past Berik's head and towards the group that had slaughtered most of the mutts. I didn't recognize most of them aside from one more. Loretta. Her torso was separate from her body but she still moved towards Evelyn with her arms, a determined look on her face.

I should have said something to warn Evelyn but when I opened my mouth, nothing broke free. Only the image of my childhood friend cutting me down. I would be nothing but something that stood in the way of her victory, she wouldn't give me a second thought. So I stayed silent as I watched Loretta, even with her lopsided head, quickly grabbed onto her ankle and sunk her broken teeth into the girl's legs.

I only realized what I had done when Evelyn gave out a terrified scream.

As quick as thunder, Belinda reacted, slamming her golden staff into Loretta's head. It took two hits to dislodge the mutt than a further three more to kill her. When her body became stiff, Evelyn limped away.

She moved near me, the leather of her sandals protecting her Achilles tendon but Loretta had broken skin. She looked up at me at me and for the first time since the start of the Games, I saw fear. "I'll be fine," she quickly declared and slowly rising to her feet.

The group and I shared a look among each other and I knew we were all thinking the same thing. We had seen zombie movies, we knew how this ended.

Tore inhaled deeply when he saw Marzio exit the cells adjacent to his own. The boy's shaggy black hair had been crudely styled into a short undercut and the boy walked over to him with an odd sense of confidence.

He stopped a few feet in front of the nervous Tore and sighed, clearly trying to hold back the tears in his brown eyes.

"You know, back in the Tribute housing, I used to keep fighter fish, the ones with the large tails?" Marzio asked as he started to walk around Tore, the boy also moving so his back was never turned. The two quickly started to circle each other. Tore knew of the fish Marzio talked about, the Warriors used to purchase them, twenty-four and wait for the fish to kill each other, the winner got all of their paychecks for that week.

"I do, you always had the winning fish," Tore said with a nod.

Marzio gave a sad smile, his body relaxing slightly. "Do you know why I liked that fish?" he asked Tore. The boy didn't answer. "Because it was the smartest fish. It used to wait until the other fish had fought themselves to exhaustion, then it would attack...that is why mine always won."

Tore raised his eyebrow at the boy. "Why bring this up?"

"Because the same applies here, most victors from these battles will be too worn out by the final few, which means in the final round, they won't make us kill each other, we would all be too weak." He stiffened up, stopping in his place as Tore edged forward. "I suggest we make this fight quick, give the victor a better chance at victory-"

"That would mean one of us wanted to die," Tore pointed out as he looked Marzio in the eye.

"It was worth a shot-" Marzio caught Tore's fist when it was just inches from his face before swiftly twisting it until it popped. The dark head boy let out a shriek as he cradled his dislocated arm.

Marzio circled him, an empty look in his eyes like he had become numb to the situation. "I wasn't lying about the final round, y'know." Tore looked up at him through tears as Marzio yanked his other arm away from the boy's body, dislocating it like the other.

Tore's arms dropped dead by his side as he allowed a blood-curdling scream to escape him. "Please-"

"I got the short end of the deal being sorted into Electrical Engineering, of course, the District Three boy would get that. Nero uses his skill to throw a spear through someone, you use yours to clambering through the trees like a monkey, no one gives a shit. Second I use my skill to survive, well, I get thrown in this place-"

The boy fell silent as Tore jumped to his feet and charged at him. Sadly, despite being a warrior, Tore was better at defensive moves rather than aggressive. So, Marzio quickly grabbed his right leg that Tore went to kick him with a twisted it until that too dislocated.

"Just kill me already!" Tore screamed in anger as he used his only working leg to pushed away from Marzio.

Marzio closed his eyes tightly and took a deep breath before looking back at Tore, cracking his neck. Tore felt nothing but fear as he looked into Marzio's eyes. It was like the boy he had grown up with was gone, replaced with a robot who only answered to what he was told.

"Okay, I thought I'd just disarm you first," and with that Marzio look a step forward, right onto Tore's bent left leg.

The leg shattered underneath the boy's weight but Tore had little time to scream as, within seconds, Marzio had his large but skinny hands around his necks. Unable to move his limbs, Tore resorted to pushing his chest forward but Marzio did not budge.

He looked up into Marzio's teary eyes as the boy took the life out of him. "I never wanted to kill you," he said through gritted teeth to Tore. "That is how the Games are played and I am sick of being the smart kid who doesn't stand a chance. Like that fighter fish, I will play their stupid Game but I will play to win."

Marzio might have whispered more to Tore but the boy wouldn't have heard as not long after these words, his vision began to blue and he faded to black. A few seconds later, his canon sounded and Marzio realized his grip.

Win Coutille. These were the final words that flashed into his brain. The last thought he would ever have.

The strike form Janae's foot in her face sent Annabella flying backward into the ground, winded. Janae watched as the girl rolled over, a splatter of blood spurting from her mouth, along with a few teeth. The girl had put up a good fight but she was never the strongest and Janae hadn't trained all of her life to be killed by the weakest link.

With a scream, Janae slammed her food into the girl's thigh, making Annabella whimper as she turned on her back. Just as the blue-haired girl started to struggle to her feet, Janae kicked her down again, this time breaking her nose.

Annabella lay on the ground, crying softly to herself as he vision warped in and out. She felt helpless, utterly defeated. She was the weakest link and even she knew there was no way she would make it back to Nero. Maybe it was for the best, she was not sure he wanted to see her anymore. It was not like they could win either, she would just hold him back. And Berik. He was a kind guy, Nero's friend but she watched him beaten down like he was nothing. She was almost sure the crowd had forgotten about him just like they would her. Maybe not in a year but by the time the victor celebrated their twenty-first birthday, she would be nothing more than a dead girl.

Maybe that is why she did not move when Janae's foot slammed into her face once more, the pain and cracking of her skull causing the girl to scream out in pain. Janae did it again, her own tears messing up her view of Annabella. This time, the older girl didn't scream, she just whimpered. The third time, she fell silent.

Overall, it took three more stomps for Annabella's head to cave in and for her cannon to sound.

Annabella's final wish was that Nero would find happiness. What she did leave was a broken, sobbing Janae, full of regret and disgust at the blood that was splattered over her body.

22nd Place- Tore Dante- Strangled by Marzio Omiros (D3)

Tore was a bit strange. He was a pinning guy who was in love with a rebel. Going to lengths to impress the girl. This girl turned out to be Coutille and his attempts to impress her are what got him thrown into the elimination. Snow did notice him behind the dumpster and knew he had knowledge about Snow poisoning his opponents. Tore was a sweet guy who was out of place among the Warriors. R.I.P Tore.

21st Place-Annabella Giada-Head kicked in by Janae Rayon (D9)

As these fights go on, they will become harsher as the Warriors come to terms with killing their friends. They only have themselves as a weapon so they use it in any way they can. Sadly, this was not Annabella's strong point. Annabella was always written to be the weak link. She was never popular among the Capitol and she was one of the few that was voted in just for being unpopular. Even in a normal Arena, she would not have lasted long. She was a sweet girl who Nero will miss more than anyone and I can assure you that Nero never stopped loving her and would have stuck by her side until the end. Even with the lie about her and Berik. R.I.P Annabella.

So, we are down to the final twenty. We have Vulcan Vs Ares and Romilda Vs Maurice next chapter. That will be the end of our first round. We then have the six victors fighting it out, one on one and then, the grand final. After that, we have our victor and will be in the final thirteen.

I think this story has about 12 chapters left until we get out the victor? I am not sure. I have only a small number of people it could be at the moment.

What did you think of the chapter and who do you think the victor is going to be? I am interested to hear your answers.

Until next time!