Chapter 30:

Night One

Ciana Devereaux, 18, District Five

It's been so long since Ciana had to be the strong one that she doesn't even know how to do it anymore. A long time since she lost her innocence and started to close in on herself, trying to protect the little girl whose world was shattered.

Six years since the day she walked into that house and saw the blood on the floor, her father's body lying in the middle of the puddle of red. Five years since she started getting involved with gang members, taking risks just to feel a bit alive. Two years since she first met Lucian and thought he loved her, gave him her world… And six months since she confessed to a crime she didn't do, signing away the last of her freedom that had been gone since the day she walked in on her father's dead body.

And now she's here, in the Hunger Games…somehow responsible for Rhiannon. She's not a brave person, she knows this. It took every ounce of bravery she could scrap together to tell the truth about Lucian – and even then, it was only with Letha's urging and the truth serum they gave in the private session. Yet she has to be brave now.

But all she can do for now is hug Rhiannon close as they hunker down in an abandoned factory, hiding behind a large rack that used to hold fabric. It's all she can do to get her to take small sips of the water they were gifted, trying to balance out the tears she's shed. But how is she supposed to make Rhiannon feel better after witnessing her District partner explode right next to her? It wasn't easy for Ciana to watch Morris's death, so she can only imagine how Rhiannon is feeling about Kazu…

She knows it's foolish to care so much about someone in the arena, but she can't stop this feeling now. Not when Rhiannon is so similar to her – and who she could have become in prison. She just…she has to try and keep her safe. And it's just…been so long since she had a friend.

"Do you want to try and eat something?" Ciana asks softly as the sun is getting low. She can feel the ache in her own stomach, but she can't give in to that hunger just yet. But Rhiannon…she needs it.

Rhiannon shakes her head and brings her knees up to hug them, burying her face from view. "No," she says quietly, her voice cracking from the many sobs she's let out today. But, it's the first Ciana has heard from her since they got into this hellish place, which is all the motivation she needs to keep trying with her. "I'm not hungry."

"What about a little more water?" Ciana asks, rubbing her back soothingly. Rhiannon just shakes her head and Ciana lets out a small sigh, but doesn't try to fight it. She has been in her shoes before. "I'm sorry this had to happen to you…"

"The gunshot," Rhiannon whispers and Ciana tenses for a moment, before continuing to rub her back, hoping it can give her a little bit of calm. "It just…it reminded me of…" she whimpers and Ciana hugs her again, pressing her head to her chest as she starts crying again.

"Shh, you're not there," Ciana tells her, looking up at the sky and trying to hold back her own tears. They don't have enough water for both of them to be crying like this. But God, did she know how Rhiannon is feeling right now. "He killed her with a gun," she says quietly, hearing Rhiannon whimper at that. "And I just sat there and couldn't do anything to stop him… I just let him get away with it and took the blame for it."

Rhiannon shakes her head and moves away from her a little so she can wipe at the tears on her cheeks and snot dripping out her nose. "He killed Teo," she says with a whimper and Ciana frowns as fresh tears fall down Rhiannon's cheek. This…is the first she's actually hearing about what happened to Rhiannon to end up in jail. "He was supposed to protect us, he was our foster parent…"

"I'm so sorry, Ri," Ciana says, not sure what to say to her that could possibly make her feel better. Because there is nothing she could do to change the past. But oh, how many nights has she spent wishing she could? So many nights wishing she was brave enough to stand up to Lucian…

"I couldn't let him hurt my little brothers," Rhiannon continues, whimpering as she hugs herself. "He was going to my baby brother and I-" She let out a loud sob and put her head in her hands, letting Ciana hold her tight. "I attacked him, over and over, like a monster. Guilty. Guilty, guilty, guilty… I hear it echo in my head every night."

Ciana shuts her eyes at that, hearing that in the darkest hours of the night too when she can't sleep. "We're not guilty anymore," she whispers, needing to believe it for herself. That was why they volunteered, for the chance to earn their freedom, to not be prisoners anymore… "It wasn't our faults."

"I'm still a monster," Rhiannon whispers and Ciana wants to not believe that, but she can't really believe that about herself… If she isn't a monster…why did she sit by and let Lucian kill the only person who cared about her?

The anthem starts playing and Ciana sighs, but looks up through the broken ceiling. "Come on, let's see who is still alive," she says, rubbing Rhiannon's shoulder and just hoping Shams is still among the living. If she is…then they could make a plan to try and find her. But if not…

She just doesn't want to see Rhiannon be broken even further by losing their ally.

They watch anxiously as first Mercy is shown, followed by Ryam and Valletta. Ciana frowns at Morris's face and hugs Rhiannon closer, knowing that could have been her instead… But their face soon turns to Baylor, then Kazu's, which makes Rhiannon cry out. She holds her breath at Inutil's face, only letting it out when the Capitol seal is back.

"She's still alive," Ciana says quietly as the anthem stops and they're brought back to silence in the arena – eerie silence – as a blood red moon starts to rise. But she needs that small bit of hope – as much as it's dangerous to hope. "We have to try and find her."

"Do you really think we can?" Rhiannon asks quietly and Ciana can hear the hope in her voice.

"We have to give it a shot," Ciana says and brushes back some hair from Rhiannon's face. "We'll set out in the morning and-"

Ciana cuts off quickly at the shuffling and groaning sound she hears and puts her hand over Rhiannon's mouth to keep her quiet. Something falls on the other end of the building and both of them jump at it, the sound making Rhiannon let out a muffled scream. The shuffling gets closer to them and another object is knocked over, making Ciana grab her knife and hold it in front of her, her hand shaking with fear. Whatever was there…she does not want to find out what it is.

Whatever is coming towards them steps into a beam of red moonlight coming through the broken ceiling and Ciana feels Rhiannon freeze up next to her. "What the fuck?!" Ciana asks, shaking her head at the slowly moving…zombie coming towards her, the face almost recognizable. Two more step through the patch of light behind it, and a shiver of fear goes down her back when she realizes who the zombies are.

After all…they're in District Eight. And seeing the faces of Clark and Kazu there, she finally recognizes the young red head as Astrid from when she won her Games.

"Run!" Ciana says, grabbing their bags and swinging them on her shoulder, before trying to pull Rhiannon's arm up. But she stays still and Ciana stumbles back a few steps, watching as the mutts focus on her and shuffle towards her. "Rhiannon, we gotta move!"

Ciana finally gets her up and moving and starts dragging her out of the building, glancing back to watch the mutts pick up their pace to follow after them. Fucking hell… The arena was already a nightmare, did they have to add in mutts with the faces of the victors and those that had died already?! But maybe they deserve it, just another bit of punishment for what they did. But she is not going to let them catch them.

She drags Rhiannon to a fire ladder and starts climbing it, the metal groaning under her and making her worried it wouldn't support them. "Let's go!" she calls down to her, glancing back at the mutts getting closer. But they're still just watching her, not Rhiannon as she starts climbing behind her. Once on the first level, Ciana hugs Rhiannon to her side as she holds out her knife, watching the mutts to see if they are going to start climbing up the fire escape. The Kazu mutt tries to but stumbles on the first step, making all of them start letting out groans and cries as they reach up to them.

"They can't get us," Ciana says, but she's not entirely convinced that will stay that way. "Come on, let's get up a few more levels and hide inside. Then we can try to get some rest…"

But there is no way Ciana is going to be able to sleep knowing those mutts are just outside.


Adonis Sylvester, 18, Capitol

"How long do I have to stay here?" Adonis whines as he tries to shift his shoulders and arms a bit, but can't maneuver them too well being tied to a fucking palm tree. "My shoulders hurt!"

"Shut up!" Chantelle snaps from the hide they made of palm leaves and seaweed. "You stay there until a tribute finds you!"

"But that could take days!" Adonis cries out and groans loudly. This was not how he anticipated the Games going at all. But he just has to keep talking, because he does not want to be alone with his thoughts right now. "Shouldn't I be talking though to draw attention of tributes though?"

"Yeah but your voice makes me want to claw my ears off at this point," Vulcan says and Adonis pouts as Chantelle says, "Ditto."

"I'll have you know that people in the Capitol love hearing me talk," Adonis says, smiling smugly at that thought, but it doesn't quite reach his eyes. Not…after the big mess he made with Drazen. But he really doesn't want to think about that, so he keeps going, "I bet people would pay to hear my voice, you know. It's real good for dirty talk, but when your fathers are both former porn stars, well come on, clearly it's genetic! So you should be thanking me for- OW! The fuck?!"

The side of Adonis's head really fucking hurts from one of them throwing a rock at him, and he can feel blood dripping down it. "Shut the fuck up already," Vulcan tells him, no doubt the one who threw the rock at him.

"You're not as fun as my Vulcan in the Capitol," Adonis grumbles and tries to wipe at the blood dripping down the side of his head, but is quickly reminded that his hands are tied – supposedly in a way he can quickly undo, but he isn't too sure about that. "If this gets infected, I'm gonna kill you."

"You would try and fail," Chantelle says calmly and Adonis sneers in their direction. "Now shut up already before I gag you."

"Oh how'd you know that was one of my kinks?" Adonis asks with a grin. "Although I prefer them being gagged, just ask Dra- okay, okay, I'll stop!" he says quickly when he sees Chantelle climbing out of their hide, terrifying look on her face. He knows she will do exactly what she says she will and his stomach is already bruised and toes still ache from earlier. "I'd pretend to zip my lips, but I kinda can't."

Chantelle glares at him for a few seconds, silently daring him to speak again, and Adonis raises his eyebrows right back at her. But he really doesn't want to get gagged, so he actually stays quiet for once. She finally stops glaring at him and returns to their hide, unfortunately leaving Adonis to his thoughts.

Ugh, he hates being alone with his thoughts.

Adonis starts whistling a little bit, trying to fill the dead silence of the arena, before kicking his foot a little bit in the water. He's damn happy they gave them waterproof shoes because if he had to stand here with wet socks all night… Ugh, no fucking way would he have agreed to this plan. Not that he really had much choice… He's the dumbass that conned his way into the career alliance and now he has to deal with those consequences.

He just really thought it would be more praising him for blessing them with sponsor gifts and less being tied up as bait.

He just…has no fucking clue what this pit in his stomach is. He's never felt this way over a fling before. Hell, he normally forgets about them by the next day and moves on to the next person. So why can't he stop thinking about what he did to Drazen?! He's done that at least a dozen times before and didn't lose sleep over them.

Maybe…just maybe…things really were different with Drazen… But if they were, that ship has long since sailed. Drazen said it himself, after all. But damn it…he didn't want to end things with Drazen. Which…he swallows hard at that and shuts his eyes, not knowing how to handle that realization. He's the man known for his flings, never settling down with anyone for long and usually just with them for sex. But this feeling is…

Unknown. And real scary. He's supposed to be a tough man who doesn't get hurt! Not…standing here regretting things and getting upset that he might have truly fucked up this time.

Maybe Drazen was just hurt in that moment and didn't really mean the things he said. Surely he knows that Adonis was just doing what he had to do to get the Capitol talking about him for sponsors! But…where are those sponsor gifts? He hasn't gotten a single thing, while Bez is probably getting lots because they were the one who actually kept the cornucopia…

Did he really make up that rumor just for it to only ruin things with Drazen and not even get him anything in the arena? …Fuck.

No, that isn't the case. Surely Odyssey is trying his hardest to get him sponsor gifts and they're coming soon… Or Odyssey hates him for spreading a rumor about him and Misha. But come on, a little publicity doesn't hurt anyone! They know it wasn't true and really, they should embrace it to get him out of here. But Adonis knows he's probably going to face three angry victors from Two when he gets out of here…

And from only one day in this arena with Chantelle and Vulcan, he's starting to be a little scared of facing actual victors from Two.

He sighs and kicks his toes into the ground a little, splashing some water. He hates wallowing in self-pity – ugh, it's so not masculine… And he needs to stop this. These are things he won't have to deal with for a while now, after all, it's only the first night and there's still seventeen tributes left. He's a long way from facing Drazen again – hopefully enough time to figure out what the fuck he is going to even say to him when this is all over. He just…doesn't know how to even start to apologize…

Ugh, when has he ever apologized to a fling? Sounds…disgusting. But no…if he wants Drazen back…he might have to… But does he want Drazen back? He shouldn't, not after he told him to not to crawl back to him if he got out. But he wouldn't be crawling back to him, pfft, Adonis would do no such thing. No, he'd just be… Oh who is he kidding, he would be crawling back to him. Ugh. What the fuck has happened to him in the pre-Games to turn him into this person? Usually people are crawling back to him, not the other way around!

His wallowing in self-pity is thankfully interrupted when he sees a tribute in the distance, heading his way. "I see someone!" he whispers to the other two, squinting to see who it is in the red moonlight – talk about creepy.

"Who is it?" Chantelle whispers back as Adonis fidgets with the rope around his wrists, trying to grab the loop that will pull it apart.

"I think it's…" Adonis trails off as he keeps squinting at the figure hobbling towards them, before blinking a few times. There is no fucking way he's seeing things right, it can't possibly be who he thinks it is walking their way. "Okay, there has to be something in the air making me hallucinate," he says, tugging on the rope to get loose, but he just makes it tighter. "Shit, get me out of here!"

"Shut up!" Vulcan snaps at him and Adonis panics more as the figure gets closer and there's no way he can deny it anymore. That height and long hair…

How the fuck did Valletta come back from the dead?!

"It's not a tribute, it's a fucking mutt or something!" Adonis screams at them, squirming around as he pulls on the rope, just making it tighter and tighter around his wrists. "I'm not fucking bullshitting, it's a fucking mutt that looks like Valletta!"

The mutt is close enough to hear a groan from it as it limps towards him, picking up the pace as it watches Adonis with glowing red eyes. That noise is enough to get Vulcan to come out from the hiding spot and they let out a small shriek of surprise before quickly covering their mouth, scowling at doing that.

Chantelle follows them out and grips her spear tightly in front of her, but can't hide how it shakes. "What the fuck?!"

"Let me out already!" Adonis screams at them as he tugs and tugs on the rope, starting to rub his wrists raw. He whimpers as he pisses himself a little at the mutt reaching out it's hand towards him, less than twenty feet away. If they run and leave him here…he's dead fucking meat.

Vulcan snaps out of their mood and walks over to the mutt, holding up their axe defensively. They dodge it swiping towards them and swing their axe, cleaning taking its head off. They all stare at the head as it bounces a few feet away while the body collapses, and thankfully it stops moving. They're all silent for a few seconds as Vulcan goes over to the head and gives it a kick before jumping back. But its dead now.

"Can some please get me out of these ropes now?" Adonis pleads with them, crossing his legs to try and hide the fact that he just pissed himself in fear. This is…fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck. He doesn't know how to fucking handle these mutts.

Chantelle thankfully cuts him loose and Adonis quickly steps away from the tree, rubbing his raw wrists. "Do you think there's more of them?" she asks quietly as they all stand there in shock.

"I fucking hope not," Adonis says, wincing at a few spots on his wrist bleeding. He wipes some of the dried blood off the side of his head and shakes it at them. "Fucking hell, man! How fucking twisted do you have to be to make zombie mutts of the dead tributes?!"

"Very twisted," Vulcan says as they hear more groaning and turn to see two more zombies coming towards them, unmistakably Iona and Muir. They raise their axe as Adonis whimpers and moves to stand behind them, getting an eye roll from Chantelle. "At least we know we can stop them."

"Yeah, but…" Adonis says, his lip quivering in fear. God, he's so fucking pathetic right now – but he'd like to see anyone deal with this! "If we're in District Four…do they have mutts of all of their victors?"

Chantelle looks over at him and grimaces a bit. "If that's the case…we're never going to the District Two sector."

"Agreed," Vulcan says and Adonis quickly nods his head in agreement.

He really would prefer to not get attacked by a Drazen mutt. Getting yelled at by him was enough torment for him.


Ardent Sterling, 18, District One

This was supposed to be his freedom… The whole reason he volunteered was to get out of that jail and either have a shot at living as a free man again, or let death take him. Either way, he would have found freedom in some way. Yet Ardent just feels imprisoned once more. They may have taken the shackles off of him, but he just went right back to being the person he was before being sentenced – no. This person he's become is…even worse. At least before all of this, he was confident in himself, albeit too cocky. Self-assured. Didn't hesitate.

But this current version of himself doesn't even have a backbone to stand up for himself and what he should be doing…

And what the fuck is he doing in this alliance?! He knew it was wrong from the start and he had his chance to get out of it. He knew what Bez was like when they left District One. That should have been the first red flag to stay out of this alliance.

And what the hell was that at the bloodbath? Shit…he hates knowing how quickly he snapped back into that role of trained killer… And he just can't tell if it feels like the first time he killed someone or not… He looks down at his hands, the blood long since washed away, yet he can still see it. From both Inutil and his ex… Yet no matter how much thought he puts into it, he just can't tell if it was the first time he took a life or not, and that thought haunts him.

And now…if he wants to get out of here…it certainly won't be the only time he takes a life… But does he really deserve to be the one to get out of here alive? Surely death would be better for him at this point. Let someone more deserving of life make it out of here. Someone who is earning freedom from a crime they shouldn't have been convicted of…

Fuck. He should have gone with Rhiannon in the first place. By trying not to hurt her by being close to him…he might have guaranteed she will get hurt without him. He should have gone with people he actually liked being around… People who are now out there in this arena on their own, without anyone who knows how to protect them…

Is it too late now to find them and protect her? It's only the first night and her face wasn't in the sky, nor were there any cannons since… He could find her still… No, not could, he has to. If he is going to die in this arena…he wants it to have been worth something. Dying to protect someone he cares about seems like a much better outcome than living on as a monster…

Yet does he even have enough of a backbone to stand up to Bez and leave them? He hasn't had a backbone yet to stand up to them…did exactly what they told him to do in the bloodbath… If he tries to leave when Bez is awake, he'll never get away from them. They'll just hook him around their little finger again and he'll keep doing whatever they say, caught up in their web.

Just thinking about that makes his stomach twist and feel like he's going to be sick.

He has to get out of here… His hands shake as he starts gathering up his bag, careful to not wake anyone up. He looks around his alliance slowly, trying to figure out who is awake right now – and without drawing attention to himself. He just couldn't sleep like them, not with the guilt hanging over his head… Kasada leans against Farren, the first to have fallen asleep with her injuries. Despite Farren's best efforts to stay awake to protect his sister, the boy has finally fallen asleep, his head on top of Kasada's. Bez was the first to sleep, curled up in Juno's lap, clearly having no doubts or concerns for their own safety. Or a ton of misplaced trust in their allies.

Ardent jumps a little when he makes eye contact with Juno, who just silently raises an eyebrow in question at him. He…thought they would have fallen asleep by this point after Ardent took over on watch… Shit, this isn't good. How is he supposed to leave now? If he makes a move, surely Juno will wake up the others and alert them to what he's up to, and he'll have to fight his way out of here. Because there's no way Bez is going to just let him walk away. He doesn't know what happened to them between the time he was put in jail and them volunteering, but they truly have snapped. And he's scared to be on the other side of their rage.

Ardent and Juno stare at each other for a few seconds in silence, until Juno…just…turns away from him. Ardent holds his breath for a few seconds, doubting that this could be as easy as this… Why would Juno just…let him go? They have to know what is going on. So what the fuck are they up to?!

Ardent picks up his sword and slowly stands up, just waiting for Juno to sound the alarm and wake up the others. Their hand continues to smooth over Bez's hair as they sleep, all while they watch him out of the corner of their eye. He doesn't miss the tightening of their hand on the sword next to them, but as Ardent starts taking a few slow steps away from them, they start to relax. He's not dumb, he knows picking a fight with the four of them is a death sentence. One he thought he might want, but…if there's a chance he can save Rhiannon and her allies with his death…isn't that much more worthwhile?

Both of their attention is taken away by a noise in the distance and Ardent raises his sword as he watches the few figures hobbling towards them. At first, his heart races in fear that it's the other three careers – or worse, Rhiannon and her allies for some reason. But it doesn't take long for him to recognize the decaying faces of the Gamemakers.

He would rather fight the other careers than zombie mutts.

"Go," Juno whispers to him as they gently move Bez off of their lap. They stand up lithely and stretch out their arms, before grabbing their bow and giving Ardent a cocky smile. With a lazy look on their face, they easily snipe one of the mutts coming towards them in the head, before aiming at another. In a matter of seconds, Juno's taken them all down and without even really trying. They notch another arrow on their bow and look at Ardent, silently raising an eyebrow at him. The silent threat is quite clear to Ardent.

If Juno really wants to, they could easily kill him as he runs away.

Ardent lowers his sword as he takes a few tentative steps backwards from them, all while carefully watching them. Once he gets a decent distance away – a distance he can only hope is too far for Juno to shoot them – he turns and starts jogging away from the cornucopia in a zigzag pattern, just to be safe. The blood red moonlight gives just enough light for him to dodge the large stones and debris in his path as he heads towards one of the sectors.

He slows at the edge of it, tightening his grip on his sword as he glances back at the cornucopia. From the glow of their dying fire, he can see Juno still up and turned in his direction, while the others are still sleeping where he left them. This is his last chance to turn back around and rejoin them without them ever knowing he almost left…

No. He cannot go back there and keep being that…that monster. The person who blindly listened to Bez to kill is not the person he wants to be. He…wants to be someone good, someone that Rhiannon actually wants in her life…

Ardent is going to prove to Rhiannon that he is worth her time. Starting with finding her ally that was separated from her and keeping her safe… He takes one more deep breath before setting off into the District Ten sector.

It's what he must do.


Frederick 'Ricky' Baldwin, 15, District 11

"I still don't think this is a good idea," Ricky complains yet again around a yawn as he drags his feet along as he follows Sonya. "The sun isn't even up yet! Like come on, I never get up this early."

"That's the point, Ricky," Sonya says, glancing back at him for a moment before looking at where she's going and shaking her head. He sneers at the back of her head and grumbles to himself about being awake at this ungodly hour of the morning, but she just keeps ignoring him. "This is the time of day the careers are least likely to be looking for tributes. Either they're finishing up for the night or haven't gotten up yet. So perfect time to go look for Riley."

"Still don't think she is worth leaving the good hiding spot we had," Ricky tells her as he glances back. He can still see the weird ass Pinova zombie mutt wandering aimlessly in the distance – and thankfully the thing stayed in the distance and ignored them. "Man, this place is creepy as fuck! And I thought Eleven was a shithole." He scoffs at that and shakes his head as he kicks a loose stone that has fallen into their area from the looming collapsed buildings ahead. "But this…this is actually a shithole."

"It's not bad, just…" Sonya trails off as she reaches the clear boundary between sections where the dead grass is replaced with concrete. Ricky raises an eyebrow at her as he waits for her to finish that, just silently daring her to answer with something other than a shithole. "Boring. But I would take boring over this insanity any day."

"Says the one that volunteered for this," Ricky mutters under his breath and she turns back to give him a look, making him chuckle as he raises his hands in the air. "I know, I know, trying to fix your janky lungs."

"Better reason than volunteering for your psychotic brother," Sonya retorts and Ricky sneers at her until it gets interrupted by a huge loud yawn. Sonya slaps her hand over his mouth and he scrunches his face and licks her hand to get her to move it. She makes a disgusted face as she wipes her hand on his sleeve and he laughs at her reaction. "You're gross. Can't you keep your yawns quiet? We don't want to announce to everyone that we're here!"

"Well maybe you shouldn't have woken me up so early then!" Ricky retorts, putting his fists on his hips as he gives her a small glare. Sonya quickly mirrors his stance and stands in front of him, both of them clearly trying not to blink first. Sonya is the first to blink and curses as she looks away, and Ricky points at her. "Ha! I win!"

"Oh shush," Sonya says, giving him a light shove that barely moves him. She crosses her arms at the smug look he gives her and turns to stare at the next section. "So…this is District Three, huh?"

"Something tells me actual District Three isn't decrepit and falling apart like this," Ricky says, getting serious as he stands next to her and tries to look into the darkness of the broken building closest to them. "I don't like this, it just screams a trap."

"Yeah well it's where Riley is, alone," Sonya looks over at him with a very pointed look. "She wouldn't have been alone if you hadn't attacked Ryam."

"He got to close and I was in fight or flight. And technically, Mercy killed him, not me," Ricky responds with a small shrug. He can't really say he feels too bad about what he did. It's not like he knew Ryam at all. Sure, he seemed like a nice guy, but nice guys don't win the Hunger Games. So yeah, he could have just ignored him and he might have gotten away. But the way he looks at it, he showed the Gamemakers he is willing to fight if it comes down to it.

Just not against careers.

"Well we'll be lucky if she even wants to take our help now," Sonya tells him, frowning as she stares ahead, staying firmly rooted in her spot. "Assuming we can find her…"

"We better or I'm gonna be real pissed you woke me up at the ass crack of dawn for nothing," Ricky crosses his arms at her and raises his eyebrows expectantly, waiting for her to make the first move. Just because this was her idea, obviously! Not because he'd rather stay in the Eleven section that's creepy but familiar over the intimidating broken skyscrapers just filled with places for tributes to hide and jump out at them. Or much worse things than tributes. "Well? This was your grand idea, let's go already."

"Fine," Sonya snaps at him and rolls back her shoulders before setting off into the sector with her head held high. But he can see her hands shaking by her sides as she looks left and right.

Ricky quickly follows after her, not about to let her show him up by going head first into the area. As they walk in silence, their footsteps echo against the buildings, making a creepy atmosphere that has Ricky on edge. Pfft, he's not scared though, of course not! Tough guys like him don't get scared! "I don't see the big deal about this," he says, trying to fill the silence and make it less unsettling. "This section isn't scary at- ow! Why'd the fuck you do that?!"

He rubs the spot on his arm where she punched him as she gives him a look of disbelief. "You dumbass! Are you just trying to get the Gamemakers to send something after us?!" she asks him in a hushed whisper as she looks around the eerily quiet buildings.

"Oh," Ricky says dumbly and looks around too, but he shrugs when he doesn't see anything. But he does at least have the brain cells to keep his mouth shut as they continuing walking along the road in silence. She…does have a good point. But thinking before he speaks is not really a specialty of his.

They walk in silence for a few minutes, with Ricky really trying his hardest to not speak and let dumb come out of his mouth. He bumps into her when she suddenly stops to point ahead. "That's got to be where she is," Sonya says, pointing ahead at the red brick buildings that stand out against all the gray and broken glass.

Ricky squints at the buildings, having no clue what makes them different from the rest of them except for being a different color. "How the fuck do you know that?"

Sonya gives him side eye and rolls her eyes at him. "Because that's the university," she tells him.

"Oooh," Ricky says, able to see it now. But he still squints at it, unclear why Riley would be there. "I still don't get it."

"Her goal is to go there so of course that's where she'd hide out," Sonya says as she takes his arm and starts dragging him along. He quickly pulls his arm away from her, not needing her to lead him there, but stays by her side. "At least, that's what I would do if I were her."

"Eh, I suppose," Ricky says as they reach an intersection. He slows as he glances up and down the other road and is about to keep moving, when he whips his head back around to look at a building. He pulls Sonya's arm to get her to stop as he slowly points over at a dark empty doorway. "Sonya…"

"What is it?" Sonya asks quietly, standing close to him as she stares at where he's pointing.

Ricky so badly doesn't want to ask this question. "Please tell me you don't see glowing red eyes in there?"

"Oh fucking hell," Sonya mutters as she grabs his arm tighter and takes a step back when a metal figure crawls out from the doorway and into the street. It slowly gets to its feet, standing well over both of their heights, and so humanoid yet not. It takes a few slow steps towards them, metal feet clanking on the concrete, as a few more robots start to exit some of the other buildings down the street.

Ricky is absolutely wide awake now.

"Oh fuck this!" Ricky yells before he takes off running down the road in the direction they were heading in already. He can hear Sonya behind him – along with a lot of robotic feet running after them. He glances back and starts sprinting even faster to get to the university, not about to get killed by damn killer robots today. "We should have stayed in Eleven!"

"I know!" Sonya shouts back at him and he glances back again, finding her getting further back from him and the robots gaining on her. She puts one hand on her chest and Ricky curses as something snaps in him, pushing him to turn back to get her. He quickly throws her on his back before running again.

"Tell your lungs that now is not the fucking time!" Ricky yells at her as he gets a block away from the university gates and screams as he jumps to avoid a robot lunging at him from a side street. Damn it, he better not fucking die because Sonya had to be nice to him!

"I'm – trying!" Sonya says around some wheezes and Ricky knows she wouldn't have outrun the robots on her own. He picks up the pace, the gates so damn close, and as soon as he's in, he drops Sonya hard to slam the doors shut just before the robots slam into the gates. A few reach through the iron bars and rip at his shirt, and he cries out when one manages to actually cut his arm.

Ricky slams his fist down on the arm grabbing the front of his shirt and when it lets go, he quickly takes a few steps away from the gate, tripping over Sonya's legs and falling to the ground. "What the actual fuck?!"

Sonya is wheezing next to him on the ground but when she finally catches her breath enough to look at him, she gives him a confused look. "You…" she stops to cough a few times and holds up her hand. "Why'd you save me?"

Ricky stares at her for a few seconds before quickly turning away and shrugging. He watches the robots continue to push against the gate for a few seconds before finally answering her. "I have no fucking clue."

But he does know. This damn girl was the only one in the Capitol to see through his tough exterior and still put up with him. And when given the choice of her dying or sticking around to still be useful…

"It's whatever, don't overthink it," Ricky says, pushing himself to his feet and brushing himself off. He ignores her slowly getting to her feet as he looks around the destroyed courtyard in front of them. He starts walking through it, knowing she'll follow him, just desperate to focus on something else other than his rash decision that could have just fucked over both of them. "Come on, let's get to exploring this university," he tells her as he shoves open a big heavy door, having to hold it open for her to slip inside. When she does, he steps aside and it slams shut, along with a click of a lock into place.

Sonya gives him a wide-eyed look at that and he grimaces a little bit. "That can't be good."

"No shit," Ricky responds and holds up his hand to stop her as he hears a groaning sound in the distance and a shuffling sound. He looks down the hallway and when the figure shuffles into the moonlight coming through a broken window, he quickly steps back and shakes his head. No fucking way is Ryam still alive, he saw his face in the sky!

"You had to go and run your stupid mouth about the arena!" Sonya snaps at him in a hushed whisper as they start backing away from the mutt as two more start shuffling down the other side of the hallway, trapping the two of them between them.

"How the fuck do we get out of this?!"


Oops did I do that cliffhanger? Sorry not sorry lol, those who know me know I love a good cliffhanger like that. That's why I've waited a little to update this chapter so I can get some progress on the next chapter. So you won't have to wait too long lol, at the time of posting this I have three out of five POVs done for the next chapter so I expect that should be done within the next week or two. And don't worry, we'll pick up where this left off right away.

Anyways, we love some good night time mutts! The zombies were always going to be a thing, even with Seraphim, but Julian was the psycho who decided to add ones of the dead tributes lol. Really, he's just adding in lots of mutts that are making this arena Extra Hellish for the tributes.

RQ: Hmm, what mutts would you add in to a District sector of your choice?

See you all soon with Day Two!