The minute that the gong rang out, Ella turned around and sprinted for the exit. Clarisse felt bad for the little girl, but she wasn't going to let anything as stupid as pity stop her from winning. With a few long strides, she was behind the little girl.

It was all over with a twist of her hands.

Clarisse turned around, placing her own body between the exit and any tributes who might try to run away. She needed a weapon to do damage against the stronger tributes, but she didn't want to abandon her post. In the end, all that she needed to do was make sure that the most tributes died in the Bloodbath by any means possible. It didn't matter if she was the one that killed them or not. She could get her weapon after it was over.

She noticed the boy from 10 sprinting across the tail end of the Cornucopia. Still, he didn't make a move towards the exit, so she didn't chase him. It was weak, Clarisse knew, but she didn't want to kill anyone again. As stupid as this was. This was how Silena had died.

Frank sprinted as fast as he could across the metal ground, cursing his shoes for not gaining much traction and cursing himself for not being more in shape. Still, all of his doubts flew out of the window as soon as he spotted Hazel. She was running towards him, but as she spotted him, stopped and scooped up a backpack. They didn't go for the back exit, which was guarded by the girl from 4. Instead they sprinted out of one of the side exits, near where Hazel's plate had been.

They didn't stop for a long time.

Grover literally smashed into Calypso. She had a backpack with her, and looked relieved to see him. She grabbed his hand. "Come on!"

Clarisse was blocking their path out, and she looked angry. With a roar, she charged at them.

Calypso screamed. Grover started sprinting in the opposite direction, dragging Calypso with him. They made it to one of the exits, still running. Grover gradually became aware that Clarisse wasn't following them anymore. Calypso dragged him down a bend.

"Duck!"

Grover hit the ground. An axe swung over his head. Grover automatically turned, kicking upwards at his assailiant, before realizing that there was no one there. But the voice hadn't been Calypso's—

Rachel Dare was standing there, hands over her mouth. Slowly, she backed away.

Rachel wasn't sure why she had warned the pair from 7 to duck. She had alerted them to her presence, and they could kill her! It was two against one! What chance did she have? Rachel took small steps backward, increasing the distance between herself and the alliance. Breaking stride, she turned and ran.

"It's a Gamemaker trap," Calypso said to Grover after Rachel had disappeared from sight. She was glad that the redhead had run away form them. Calypso knew that she would have been expected to kill or ally with the girl, and neither of the options seemed very good.

"Are there more?"

"Yes…"

Calypso stared forward at the minefield of axes in front of them. Pure luck had allowed them to miss the first one, and Calypso didn't want to chance going through there. "We have to turn back."

"Which way is back?"

Calypso turned, internally swearing. They were at a crossroads. One of three other choices would take them back to the Cornucopia—probably. The other two…who knew where they would lead? Rachel had taken one of them, but with everything looking so identical, Calypso could easily forget which one it was. The path with the axes looked similar to the other paths, small blades, barely visible, sticking out of the walls being the only indication of a trap. There could have been any number of weapons around that Calypso couldn't see.

"I don't know."

Grover and Calypso stayed in place, looking around them, marveling at the sheer height of the metal walls surrounding them, of the high vaulted ceilings that glimmered with bright white lights.

There was no way out.

XXXXX

Castor picked up a sword from the pile of weapons in the Cornucopia and turned around, looking for a tribute. Behind him was the boy from 5, Jason. He had seemed nice, and Castor didn't want to kill him. Still, rules were rules, right? Castor had made a mistake, yes, but that didn't change the fact that he still wanted to win.

"I'm sorry," he said as he took a swing. Jason dodged, and Castor thrusted again. But suddenly, something hit him from behind.

Ethan was there, glaring at him. He was right to have this vendetta against Castor. He was a killer, a cold-blooded killer who threw away his life to get money! A set of throwing knives were between Ethan's fingers. Ethan took a punch at Castor, going for the throat.

Shit! Castor thought. Ethan had had a grudge against him from the first day. Castor swung his sword at Ethan's throat, but Ethan dodged, letting a knife fly. Castor blocked it with the edge of his sword, forced to go on the defensive as Ethan madly swiped at him. He was aware of Reyna somewhere behind him, but she seemed to be fighting the girl from 8 and Jason at the same time. Castor stabbed at Ethan's stomach. Ethan twisted out of the way, throwing another knife that Castor dodged. Castor tried slashing at Ethan's blind side, but apparently Ethan was used to fighting with one eye, because he dodged, tackling Castor to the ground. Abandoning his sword, Castor tried to wrestle with Ethan and pin him. While Ethan was weaker than he was, he was slippery, sliding out of Castor's grasp and stabbing him in the arm. Castor's arm erupted in agony, but he refused to give up, swinging wildly. Still, his attempts seemed futile even to him, and Ethan got his hands around Castor's throat.

"This is how you die, Career," Ethan hissed. Castor kicked upwards, but Ethan slammed his knee into Castor's leg, then stepped on Castor's hand. Castor felt something snap. I'm sorry, Pollux, he thought. You were right. You were always right—

Ethan slashed his knife across Castor's throat, ending the Career. He got up and sprinted away with his knives, cursing himself for not taking any supplies. Still, he ached, and it was painful to run. Ethan hoped that the Bloodbath would go on for enough time for him to get away. He took a right down one passageway and a left down another.

Nancy grabbed her sword, realizing that Clovis was on the ground. Was he asleep? That kid had always been pretty weird. Nancy knew it wasn't fair or whatever to kick someone while they were down, but she wasn't going to give up a free kill, not when her status in the sponsors' eyes was still in flux.

It was almost too easy to kill him.

Lou Ellen ran for the backpack, scooping it up easily and heading for Will. He was picking up something on the ground. Lou caught up to him, dragging him up. The pair began running for the exit that the friends from 10 had recently escaped through.

Suddenly, the ground came up to meet Lou. Lou thrashed, turning around to see Octavian raise his knife. He stabbed down, puncturing all the way through the edge of her arm. Lou screamed.

Suddenly, Octavian was bowled off of her. It was Will! He had two small rocks in his hand, and was blindly stabbing at Octavian. Crying, Lou took the knife out of her arm and staggered over to help. But Will howled, falling over, shoulder bleeding heavily.

"NO!" Lou screamed, her voice feeling ragged.

Octavian got off of the ground, his knife bloody, standing over Will. Lou slammed into him. Her tackle wouldn't have even unseated another Career, but Octavian was so much of a stick that she knocked him into the ground. "You won't hurt Will!" Lou shouted.

"No!" yelled Octavian, thrusting his knife into the girl's chest. His eyes seemed bloodshot, but his only other injuries were small bruises from where the District 9 serf had struck him. He slammed his arms and legs into the District 9 girl. He was tired of Nancy and the other Careers making fun of him, looking down on him! He was better than all of them! He was a true competitor, and no one could tell him otherwise!

"I! Am! A! Career!" Octavian shrieked, stabbing into Lou Ellen Lerner with every word. The girl went still, four wounds in her abdomen. Octavian wasn't sure if she was dead, but there was another tribute to turn to. District 9 would be out of the Games at the end of the day, and no one would ever be able to call him weak again!

But when he turned around, Will was gone, leaving through the opening in the wall.

Will had been on the ground, but was pulled up by Nico. "What the—"

"Come on," Nico groused.

"No! Lou!"

"She's dead by now!" Nico said, pushing the pace. He had no idea whether that was actually true, but he had nothing and a crazed-seeming Octavian had a knife, and there was no way that he could get Lou Ellen out of there before Octavian would kill her, not with Will, not even on his own! He had no idea why he had let himself rescue the boy from 9, but even his overworked sense of charity couldn't make him help Lou Ellen. There was no time.

"No," Will said. His arm burned up and down with white hot pains like he had stuck his shoulder into a fire. He could heal this, all he needed was some string and a needle and his district partner, laughing and telling him that it would be okay. Lou wasn't dead. She couldn't be!

"She's dead," Nico repeated.

"Stop it."

Nico did shut up, to his benefit. He was practically dragging Will by now. The blonde boy was fighting him, trying to get back to his dead friend. Nico spared a glance behind him. Her body was on the ground. Blood roared in his ears. Octavian was walking away as if he wasn't affect at all by what he had done! Nico hadn't known Lou Ellen, but her district partner and her district had obviously cared for her. How could someone kill a person like that? How could anyone kill a twelve-year-old like Bianca? Where was Ella now? She was probably dead, just like Will would be soon.

"Lou," Will whispered.

"I know." Nico made it to the first fork in the path. The noises of the Bloodbath seemed distant. There were two choices, left and right. Down the metal trail, the path forked off again.

They were in a maze, Nico realized.

A maze.

The Bloodbath had barely started, and Jason had already run for the Cornucopia. Swearing, Piper charged in after him. She had wanted them to get out as fast as possible, not run into the thick of the danger! Leo, seeing her, followed. "Get out of here!" Piper roared.

"Hell no!" Leo yelled back. He was carrying something—a hammer? He quickly caught up with her and got ahead of her, picking up a bag.

Jason was fighting Castor, but Castor was ripped off of him by Ethan. Now he was fighting Reyna with a gold sword, and it didn't seem to be going well. Reyna was obviously a better fighter than him. She was a demon with her twin knives. The weapons flashed so quickly that Piper wasn't sure how Jason was still alive. Grabbing a knife from the ground, Piper leapt onto Reyna's back.

Jason wasn't sure how he was still alive. He had survived Castor, and now Reyna had suddenly stopped trying to kill him. But quickly, Jason realized that Piper had pulled Reyna off of him. She stabbed Reyna in the shoulder, but Reyna still managed to shake her off, stabbing at her. Piper caught the blow on the blade of her knife, and wincing, pushed back up.

Leo tossed a backpack to Jason before slamming Reyna in the side with his hammer. This girl was not going to hurt Beauty Queen. He barely knew Piper, but he knew that she was his friend.

Reyna turned, stabbing at him instead, but Piper made another stab at her. Still, Reyna fought on, slashing and turning in an incredibly dangerous whirlwind.

I'm crazy! Katie thought as she snuck into the battle by the entrance of the Cornucopia. So far, it was just Reyna fighting Piper, Jason, and Leo, but a dead body was behind them and Connor was inside of the Cornucopia. More people were entering the battle zone: Nancy, Zoe. Katie grabbed a bag and a knife, sprinting away.

A knife whizzed over her head. Katie couldn't help it. She let out a scream, pulling into the metal passageway, sprinting down a corridor, left, right, straight, right…within minutes, she had gotten herself horribly lost.

But she was safe, at least for now. That made it all worth it…right?

Zoe surveyed the contents of the Cornucopia, going over it again and again. The battle raged on outside of her, and she had to get out. But still, there was no bow! Zoe needed a bow if she was going to live! Was this the Gamemakers' way of punishing her? She acted out of line, and they gave her a high score, but removed her primary weapon. If so, they were more devious than she had originally anticipated.

Groaning, Zoe slung a backpack onto her back and picked up two knives. Slowly, carefully, she made her way back out. Reyna was focused on the alliance of three, but the rest of the Careers would be there soon. Noticing a fallen form, Zoe focused on the body. It was male—Castor, a Career. It appeared that one of the dreaded wolf pack had already fallen.

Metal clanked behind her, and Zoe whirled around to find a dark figure holding a knife. Zoe did not think, just attacked with her knife the way that she had been taught. Within seconds, the figure had a knife buried in his gut. Zoe scooped up another two knives and ran, contemplating the face she had just seen. The happy one from 11…Connor Stoll.

Zoe would have gladly killed the men who had hurt her all those years ago and would have unhappily killed again to escape this Arena, but the knowledge that she had taken a life weighed heavily with her. She had killed someone.

She had killed.

Percy had quickly grabbed his bronze sword moments after the gong had rang, and had ran back to his post at the exit, suppressing the hope that a lucky tribute had already escaped through it, Annabeth maybe.

Unfortunately, the blonde tribute made it to the exit at the same time he did, holding a small knife. To her credit, she didn't shake in her shoes or beg for her life. Instead, she stood straight and tall, looking him in the eye.

Percy couldn't kill her. He just couldn't. He couldn't kill her or anyone else in this stupid Arena. He had been a fool to let himself get taken in by the tradition of the Games, and now he had to make that up to the world.

"Come on," Percy said.

"Excuse me?"

"Let's go."

Annabeth looked at Percy, considering his words. She didn't trust him at all. How could she? He had been trained for this, acclimatized to death. He could easily kill her.

Still, something made Annabeth nod at him and follow as they turned down a passageway.

He was strong. He could get her to the end and then she could kill him and win. There were a lot of tactical reasons for her to keep Percy around.

At least, that's what Annabeth told herself.

It became obvious that they were in a maze with the first fork of the road. Annabeth made a mental note to always go right. She could come up with a more complicated system later on, when she was thinking more clearly. Who knew? The Cornucopia might have been the only source of food in the entire Arena. She had to keep her bearings. She was smart enough to do it.

Still, running off with this Career wasn't a very smart thing to do at all.

What was happening to her?

Piper, Jason, and Leo had formed a kind of triangle. Reyna's attacks weren't stopping, and Nancy had joined the fight. Piper thought it was miraculous that they were still alive.

A shape came hurtling out of the Cornucopia, slamming into Piper. It was Zoe. She ran through the exit. Neither Nancy or Reyna bothered chasing her. Envy bubbled up in Piper. The end seemed like it was approaching. They needed to get away, now!

I need to get away, now, Connor thought woozily. His hands seemed wet from something…blood, maybe? Blood because blood was bleeding from his stomach because someone had stabbed him there? Blood because that was what happened when you were stabbed?

Connor pressed his hand against the wall of the Cornucopia, trying to push himself up, before slipping and falling back down. Heh. I could have stabbed myself on something like that. Connor didn't bother trying again. His stomach hurt too much. He was tired…he wanted to go to sleep. Sleep would make the pain go away.

Sleep.

Shit! Aw, no! This lady did not just hit Mr. Amazing!

Leo swung his hammer again, happy to see that he had clipped Nancy on the shoulder. She leered at him. Her teeth were kind of uneven. Then again, Nyssa said that his teeth were uneven because he didn't brush them enough…focus! He had to focus! Nancy had already grazed his elbow. He couldn't lose his focus.

It was really amazing that none of the other Careers had come to help their allies, but Leo had a feeling that their luck would run out soon. Octavian, Percy, and Clarisse were probably occupied killing other unfortunate little tributes, but it wouldn't be long until Leo's alliance of three was horribly outnumbered. The body of Castor was lying on the ground not too far away, but Leo had a feeling that whoever had killed the District 1 Career was much stronger than him.

"We have to get out!" Leo said. He had meant for it to be a whisper to Jason, who was fighting Reyna with Piper next to him, but it came out loud.

"Damn straight," Nancy snickered. She barely looked winded, just thrilled at the opportunity to kill him. Leo ignored her statement. His wit had abandoned him. This would have been so much easier with a snarky comment at hand! He didn't want Nancy's stupid sentence beat him.

Jason was breathing hard. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Octavian running over to help his allies. He couldn't let himself die! He couldn't let his friends die! Leo was right, they had to run! He tried to prepare himself, but he couldn't just start sprinting without Piper and Leo!

Piper twisted around Reyna's blow, moving out of the way. She maneuvered around the dark-haired Career, trying to land a blow. Piper had tried this before, though, and Reyna had always managed to force her back towards Jason and the Cornucopia. Piper felt fury at first, but then it melted away as her exhaustion began to take over. She couldn't do this for much longer.

She made eye contact with Jason. Run, she willed him. Run as fast as you can and don't turn back!

Jason didn't seem to get the message. He kept stabbing at Reyna. She blocked his blow.

"GO!" Piper screamed at him.

Jason didn't make a move towards the exit, but Leo grabbed his arm and yanked him away. Reyna and Nancy were immediately on their heels. Piper had to fix that. Launching herself on the ground, she slammed herself into Reyna and Nancy. "RUN, JASON! RUN, LEO!"

Nancy slammed her elbow into Piper's gut, effectively cutting off her airstream. This annoying little district rat had let her kills escape! Nancy lifted her sword, but Reyna stopped her. "They aren't gone yet."

"Let them go! I say we kill this brat and hunt them later!" Nancy removed a knife from her belt and slammed it into Piper's leg. Piper screamed. Someone else screamed, too, one of Piper's allies. Nancy laughed. Your time is almost up, rats! She would kill Piper, and then hunt down the boys from 3 and 5. "Let's give the audience a good show, okay?" Nancy grinned down at Piper, dragging her knife down Piper's arm. The younger girl gritted her teeth, not wanting to scream.

But then there was a knife in her skull. Nancy looked up at Reyna accusingly. "That was my kill!"

"We don't torture people, Nancy."

"What gives you the right to say that? The Capitol likes it?"

"No. We at least let our victims die with a little dignity."

Nancy scoffed. "You think that that makes it any better? We're killing them, honey. Get your head in the game."

"Oh, it is."

Reyna and Nancy glared at each other for a few moments before six cannons rang out, signaling the end of the Bloodbath.

"That's too small of a number," Octavian said. Nancy realized that he had been standing behind her the whole time, polishing a knife.

"Yeah, and I doubt that you did anything to help us along!" Nancy accused.

The boy smiled. "Hardly. I have a kill."

"Oh yeah? Who?"

"District Nine."

So Octavian was a killer after all? Reyna surveyed her district partner. Maybe he wasn't the worst ally to have. Reyna couldn't trust him, but at the same time, he wasn't that much of a threat as long as she kept her eyes open. Something that hopefully none of her other 'allies' would have the foresight to do.

"Too small of a number," Reyna agreed. "Especially since one of them was us."

"Really? Who?" Nancy asked.

"Your district partner," Reyna said, tilting her head towards Castor's body.

Nancy shrugged. "Well, he was pretty useless anyway."

"Jackson's gone too," Clarisse said, joining the conversation.

"What?!" Nancy demanded.

"Is he dead?"

Clarisse glared at Reyna. "I don't see his body. He must have run off!"

"Interesting. I suppose that people from District Four don't have that much loyalty to the alliance…"

Clarisse turned to Octavian. "You wanna die, punk?"

"Stop."

The other three Careers turned to look at Reyna. "We can all agree that the Bloodbath was too small. And so?"

Nancy answered her. "We hunt."

Tributes:

D1: Castor Bordeax; Nancy Bobofit
D2: Octavian Hill; Reyna Ramirez-Arellano
D3: Leo Valdez; Annabeth Chase
D4: Percy Jackson; Clarisse La Rue
D5: Jason Grace; Ella Harrison
D6: Clovis Sonan; Rachel Dare
D7: Grover Underwood; Calypso Aterra
D8: Ethan Nakamura; Piper Mclean
D9: Will Solace; Lou Ellen Lerner
D10: Frank Zhang; Hazel Levesque
D11: Connor Stoll; Katie Gardner
D12: Nico di Angelo; Zoe Nightshade

Any suggestions? Please give them to me through PM or review.