All-Stars: Non-Careers

Chapter 43

Sarla Mondins

I'd have to do everything right if I wanted to live. Most importantly, I had to stay hidden. It wasn't hard in such a dark Arena. I didn't even need to hide in one of the tombs. I just found an angel statue with its wings resting against the ground and squeezed into the hollow underneath them.

Water wasn't going to be a problem. Some of the gravestones had grooves in them or they were broken, and water collected in the puddles. When I scooped one out, it refilled slowly. It wasn't natural, but it was clearly from the Gamemakers, and they wouldn't want everyone to drink poison water and die. I didn't know where I was going to get food, but that wasn't a problem just yet.

The first time Daniel died, I thought I was lost. The next time, I died first. This time, I wanted things to be different. I felt older, and I was older, sort of. I knew that no matter how many times we cycled around, Daniel would never win. I wanted to do it for both of us. If he came around again and saw I was a Victor, he wouldn't have to be so worried. He could finally be happy.

Apollo Wilson

Des was quite the looker. There were two problems, though. First, my heart belonged to Avariella Hanson. Second... I was too much man for Des.

I thought it would be a lot more difficult to take care of Pandora, but she was getting along great. She couldn't see worth beans in normal life, and the Arena made it even worse, but she was keeping up. All the stones made it easy for her to feel her way along, and she could smell most of what was around us. I was surprised she got out of the Bloodbath and worried that she'd get killed the first time we got into a real fight, but she was staying positive.

Pepper hadn't sent us anything. We didn't really need anything, since lots of the graves had water and I grabbed a bag of stuff in the Bloodbath, but it was the principle of the thing. If she wanted to be a big butthead, two could play at that. I wasn't speaking to her until she spoke to me. Or sent me a letter or whatever. We reached another creepy statue and stopped to plan.

"What do you say we pair up and do a little looking around? We can see if there's anyone around or anything we can use," Des said.

"Which of you lovely ladies wants to go with me?" I asked, looking back and forth between Pandora and Emmeline. Electra and Des seemed to be "close".

"Can I just stay here? I don't want to slow anyone down. Just stash me somewhere and come get me when you find a permanent camp," Pandora said.

"Are you sure? We don't want to leave you alone," Electra said.

"You can cover more ground without me. I'll stay safe," Pandora said. It didn't sit right with me. Pandora didn't want to be a burden, but she wasn't. She was an ally.

"Let me stay with you and the girls can find a place for us," I said. Pandora assured us she didn't mind, but I stood firm. Three lovely ladies went out into the Arena without me and I stayed behind with the one girl in the Arena who couldn't see how terribly handsome I was.

Delilah Clementine

I stood watch while Gabriel did his prayers. We couldn't tell what time it was or where east was, but he said Allah was understanding if you tried your best. I never begrudged Gabriel his deafness, but in this Arena, I was glad for it. He didn't have to hear the nasty sounds that emanated from the air.

I, however, heard all of them, and when I heard someone coming, I pulled Gabriel out of his ritual. He stood up and I pushed him behind a gravestone, pointing around it. He looked and we both saw Beth and Jack prowling among the stones. They were poking around and looking for someone to have fun with. I squeezed up against the stone and Gabriel tugged my hand. He pointed to an open grave two stones down. Before Beth and Jack got closer, we crawled over and pitched ourselves in.

It was so dark in the shadowy grave I could barely see Gabriel lying next to me. I heard the footsteps as Jack and Beth got closer and took his hand. He was cold and horribly clammy. I squeezed his hand and it crumbled into dust.

I knew what I was going to see before I looked over my shoulder. I only wondered why I didn't smell it. I turned and saw the body behind me was so dried-up and mummified it was almost a skeleton with papery brown skin. Its two empty eyes looked back into mine. It was smiling at me with its skinless mouth.

I only stopped myself from screaming by sucking in air and clamping my throat shut. I scooted back and squished Gabriel against the wall of the grave. He twisted around in surprise and saw the body. He dry-heaved and pushed the nasty thing across the grave with one foot. We sat there frozenly staring at it as I listened to the footsteps above us. They paused, then grew quieter in the distance.

The second they were quiet, I launched myself out of the grave and screamed a muffled scream into my shirt. Gabriel pulled himself up after me and we crouched on the other side of the row of stones.

That is definitely unclean, he said.

Tariq Bluegrass

Olivier was planning to kill me. I could see it in everything he did. I saw the way he looked at the graves, wondering which one was deep enough to push me into. He offered me the first drink when we found water, so he could see if it was poisoned. He was acting so normal, like I couldn't tell what he was up to. It was sickening.

"It would be pretty surreal if one of us won, wouldn't it?" I asked as we stumbled across a row of stones so decrepit they were falling apart.

"It doesn't even seem possible. It would be a miracle if I won," he said.

"If you won? What about me?" I asked. There he went again, making it all about himself.

"What are you mad about? You just asked," Olivier said.

"I thought you'd think about me too and not just yourself," I said. "I deserve this. Don't you remember what happened last time? You can't imagine what it's like to feel something inside you, bursting to come out."

"What are you even talking about? I just said it would be a miracle if I won!" Olivier said. He was pretending to be all hurt and confused.

"Maybe you're not the only one who needs a miracle," I said.

"Okay, I'm sorry, all right? I hope there's a miracle and we both win. Happy?" he asked. He was trying so hard to look selfless. If he really cared, he would say he hoped I won.

He wasn't the Olivier I allied with the first time around. This time he was calculating and selfish. He was waiting for a chance to double-cross me. Me, the best friend he ever had. And he was the best friend I ever had. Why did he have to become like this? We should have been friends forever