Chapter 27

Blake felt weak to her knees the next morning, she couldn't accept the fact that he was gone, her only true friend in this game. She shivers in the cave, scared to death what could appear next. She was starving, she needed food. Blake digs through her bags, nothing.

"Shit," Blake swears under her breath. Blake grabs her kunais and taps; she heads to the dead woods. As she was walking, she could hear footsteps. She grips a dead tree, hoping it's food. It is a rabbit, perfect. Blake sets up her trap farther away from the rabbit, hoping it doesn't hear her. She then hides in a dead tree, waiting for it to approach the trap.

"Come on, rabbit" Blake whispers for encouragement. The rabbit falls for the trap, and Blake jumps from her hiding spot. She takes her kunai and stabs it, putting it out of its misery.

"Can I join?" Blake flinches. She quickly turns around holding her kunai to the human's throat with defense.

"Whoa! Listen, I just need some food. I'm willing to make a trade, I haven't ate in days, please." The boy was Conroy, district three. This made Blake suspicious of Conroy's request.

"Are you with Serpen?" Blake asks, Conroy shakes his head.

"No, never. She's too competitive for me. She honestly scares me." Blake believed him. He seems innocent enough.

"If I cook this for you, what are you willing to give me?" she asks.

"These," he pulls out two grenades and a smoke bomb, untouched and in great condition.

"Where did you get those?" Blake examines the items with delight.

"My mentor gave them to me, I am too chicken to use them though. Might be better for you to use them." he sets the items in my hand.

"Do we have a deal?" he asks. Blake nods approvingly.

Conroy agrees to find berries for the two of them while Blake tries to cook without making the smoke visible. Finally, the rabbit was finished.

"Okay, it should be ready" Blake hands Conroy one of the rabbit's legs.

"Mmm, thanks. Gosh I'm starving." he quickly grabs another limb of the rabbit. A few minutes later, the rabbit was gone.

"Hey thanks by the way, if you need a buddy in the end, let me know. I am willing to align with you." Conroy grabs his backpack and smiles at Blake.

"Yeah, same. See you around then" Blake picks up her stuff too, she runs back to her cave. Something stops her, it grabs the hood of her sweatshirt. Blake collapses to the ground, hitting her head on a rock. Her vision immediately goes black.

Blake slowly comes back to consciousness, she could hear commotion from around her. A blindfold covered her eyes, while her hands were tied to a tree. She could smell the smoke of a campfire, meaning they didn't care if they were spotted.

"She's awake!" a young girl exclaims. Blake knew exactly whose voice that was, Ottilie's.

"Hush!" The blindfold is removed from Blake's face. Eloi is staring back into her eyes, his brown eyes contrasting with hers.

"Hello there, princess. Thought we were gone and never find you? Well, you were wrong." Eloi smirks. Blake spits in his face, he makes a disgusted face. He wipes the spit off his face.

"What a snob," He mopes off. This allows Lalo to step up. "Quit messing around, Eloi. Let's not play with our food." This makes Ottilie giggle. Blake could hear someone tied up next to her, the person's brunette hair was all in their face, Serpen. Blake felt herself growl and hiss deep in her throat, wanting revenge. Thankfully, the three careers didn't notice this. The sky was getting darker, she could sense someone was going to die.

"Hmm, Ottilie, have you killed anyone in here?" Eloi asks curiously with a smirk.

"Uh, no..." she nervously replies. Eloi's smirk gets wider. He stands up,

"Well, let's let you decide who dies." Eloi hands Ottilie the knife, she grips it tightly, terrified.

"Why-why me? What if I miss? I think you should do it, Eloi" Ottilie tries to hand back the knife. Ottilie wasn't a killer, she wouldn't hurt a fly. The blonde's hands become sweaty, she never wanted to kill someone, especially on camera.

"No, Ottilie. It's your turn, we've protected you this far. I think it's time to return the favor." Eloi refuses the knife. Ottilie turns to Lalo, in worry.

"Lalo, please don't make me kill one of them" she begs. Lalo shakes his head, not wanting to agree with Eloi, but needed to so he could survive.

"You will choose who to kill by the end of the night, if not, we are leaving you with them." Lalo responds in a deep sorrow voice. The blonde tears up, she hated to see Lalo side with Eloi, she just wanted to go home.

"Lalo, let's go hunt for some food. By the time we get back, Ottilie, one must be dead" Eloi grabs his bow and arrow while Lalo grabs a spear. They disappear a few moments later. It was just Blake, Ottilie and Serpen. Ottilie needed to be persuaded, she is a very emotional and empathetic person, Blake had an idea.

"Why did you do it?" Blake asks Serpen.

"Do what?" Serpen responds, knowing what Blake was going to ask.

"Kill him, how many others did you kill to get what you want?" she asks.

"Honey, I killed a lot of people. This is just a part of the game, you'd be surprised at how well I'm doing. I have killed people right under your nose" Serpen smirks.

"Who else have you killed?" Ottilie interrupts.

"Well, let's start out easily, then I'll break your heart" Serpen stares right into Blake's eyes viciously

"You remember the boy from district 10, Ike? Well, I chased him down and killed him. He was doing a pretty good job at hiding if I do say so myself, but not good enough. Remember Vera? I killed her too; infection, don't take from strangers. Oh, Wintell, I'm sure you would love a recap. I took my knife and stabbed him. The best part was, I loved every second of it."

Blake started to tear up, Blake didn't try to hold them back. "Who else?"

"Oh, remember your good friend Adele? I killed her in her sleep, pretty easy, didn't flinch at all. Oh, I gotta tell you about my favorite kill. Remember Koland? Your good pal Koland?" Serpen knows this would trigger Blake.

"No, no! You didn't, you couldn't have. Please tell me you didn't!" Blake's vision was drenched in her tears. She couldn't bear to listen to Serpen.

"Oh, but I did. I killed him, I told him that I was too in love to suffer the pain of him dying. I said we should jump together before the game starts. I didn't think he'd actually do it, but he did. It was one of the most fun deaths ever!" Serpen giggles menacingly.

"How dare you!" Blake tries to get free, she wanted to stab Serpen in the abdomen, blow her up, poison her, and shove the kunai down her throat. Ottilie could see Blake trying to get free, Ottilie didn't want Blake to escape. She ran over to Blake and holds the knife up to her throat.

"Don't move, I know you're angry but violence is not the answer." Ottilie walks over to Serpen.

"How could you? How can you be so cruel?" the blonde asks.

"I'm just playing the game sweetheart" Serpen smirks. Suddenly, Serpen jumps on top of Ottilie, trying to escape. Instead, Serpen's abdomen is met with Ottilie's knife. They both lay on the ground, dead. The blonde pushes the devious brunette off of her. Ottilie sits up, tears are streaming down her eyes.

"I-I killed her..." the blonde breaks down into a cry.

"She killed herself, it's not your fault." Blake revenge leaves her face, the satisfaction of Serpen dead feels good, so good. Blake finally realizes that Serpen admitted to killing Koland, his parents were going to be disappointed in his actions. He chose a girl over his life, it wasn't worth it, his death was unnecessary.

Suddenly, Lalo and Eloi return, "wow, I didn't think you had it in you, Ottilie."