Three days into the Game, Seulgi had ventured far away from her starting point.

She was still unharmed, walking around with her handmade rope, flimsy wooden spear and fishhook to gather what little food she could find during daylight. During night time, she strapped herself onto a tree and tried to sleep.

The temperature fell colder as the days passed. It was very likely that the Gamemakers decided to drop the temperature by several degrees every single day.

By the tenth day, it would probably be impossible to stay alive just because of frostbites.

Every night, Seulgi waited for the cannon blast and hoped that she wouldn’t find Kai or Yeri’s face glowing on the sky.

So far, there were 11 tributes left including Seulgi, Kai and Yeri.

The Careers pack still made the list too, of course.

Seulgi nearly fell asleep after the latest cannon blast when suddenly, something odd moving in the woods caught her attention.

There were mysterious fogs coming towards her from all directions and slowly engulfing the forest around her.

Confused, Seulgi reached an arm out to try assessing the fog.

She cursed out loud the second the thick fog touched her hand and burned it like acid. “!” Her skin bubbled with white blisters instantly.

Poisonous fog!

The Gamemakers must have noticed that she had been hiding too comfortably all this time.

Seulgi unstrapped herself and immediately slid down the tree.

She ran and ran, but it seemed like wherever she sprinted to, the fog had already caught up with her and blocked her way.

“! !” She cried out loud again when the toxic fog got to her neck, burning one side of her face until it all blistered gruesomely.

No longer watching where she was barging through down the mountain, Seulgi tripped on a root and plummeted to the ground with a loud, painful thud.

She rolled down the mountain helplessly and crashed into everything on her path.

Her left side slammed into a particularly jagged rock and made her scream when she landed.

She thought she was going to die.

She wished that she was just dead.

The fog stopped somewhere in the mountain, however, and didn’t reach all the way down as if to mock her.

Seulgi cried the remainder of the night away.

 

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“It’s her! It’s the girl from District 12! The girl on fire!” An ecstatic voice woke Seulgi from her blackout, her entire body screaming with pain.

Her surrounding was white and bright, signaling that the morning had arrived.

A splatter of red colored the snow around her stomach.

Blood, Seulgi noticed. She tried to sit up and nearly cried again, each movement pulling at the gaping wound on her stomach and making it bleed again.

Her blisters still burned with shearing pain too.

Seulgi was still struggling to sit up when she heard a male voice shout again from afar. “She is mine, Suho! Don’t you dare try to kill her!”

She looked around to find Suho, Chanyeol, Joy and Irene racing each other towards her.

Oh, hell.

Seulgi groaned and pushed herself to stand up despite the crippling pain, clutching at her bleeding stomach as she tried to run from the Careers pack with whatever strength she had left.

A silver javelin stabbed the tree just an inch beside her head from Suho.

Seulgi pushed herself faster into the woods.

Anytime now, an axe or a dagger could slash her head in half from behind if Chanyeol – or Irene – wanted to.

Seulgi grasped onto a tree and started climbing while crying out in pain. Her stomach bled profusely.

“Come down, coward!” Suho jumped and tried to catch her foot, missing it by just an inch.

Seulgi kept climbing up until she was high enough and then hid herself among the thick branches. Her body was at its end limit.

“Go up, Chanyeol! Climb up and get her down!” Joy shouted at her older brother, who immediately latched himself onto the tree and started climbing.

It was lucky that District 2 didn’t have as much wilderness as District 12 did, because Chanyeol, while being a formidable fighter, didn’t appear to be a very good climber.

He stepped on a weak branch and broke it, falling back onto the earth with Suho’s derisive laugh welcoming him.

Joy stared frustratedly at them and slipped her katanas back into their sheaths on her back. “Give me your dagger.” She put out her hand to Irene, who Seulgi hadn’t heard say a word since they chased after her earlier.

Irene stared back at Joy with a difficult expression to perceive. Her face mended back to its usual stoic front quickly, though. “No one touch my daggers. They are mine to use.”

“Well, use it then!” Joy motioned to Seulgi as if it was the most obvious thing to do.

Irene looked up at Seulgi and then looked back at Joy. If Seulgi hadn’t known better, she would have thought that Irene’s face looked troubled.

“It will be a waste. She’s too far up.”

“Are you kidding me?” Chanyeol got up from the ground and brushed the snow off himself. “You hit ten bullseyes on the targets 50 feet away from you in the training session to get that 11 score. Now you are saying this tree is too high up for you to throw at?”

“Well, it is too high up for you to climb, Chanyeol.” Irene hit him right back with sarcasm.

Chanyeol’s face reddened with embarrassment as he stalked towards her with a threatening glare. “Don’t try me, Bae. You may find your neck breaking before this alliance does.”

“That’s only possible if you don’t find your fragile male ego sliced up into pieces first.” Chanyeol looked down to find a sharp dagger already placed against his most treasured body part conveniently.

“Back. Off.” Irene said slowly to his face. Calm but deadly.

“Alright, chill out!” Suho pulled them apart, standing by Irene as Joy stood by Chanyeol’s side. “Geez, we can’t play nice every other day without trying to chop off someone’s head, can we? Irene, come on. What’s the problem here?”

“I will decide when I think using my daggers is necessary. In case you are not aware, my daggers can run out unlike your axe or swords. Don’t push me to do anything and you won’t find any of your body part pushed against my knives.”

She looked up at Seulgi and reasoned. “We will just wait here until she comes down on her own. She is badly injured and it’s impossible for her to stay up there for more than one night without water or food. She will fall off before you bother to make her.”

 

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The night was a hazy memory for Seulgi.

She phased between consciousness and unconsciousness throughout the night, feeling herself grow weaker as the sun slowly rose again.

was dry and her hands were turning bluish. Coldness and serious lack of blood had made her cyanotic.

It probably wouldn’t take her long before she – as Irene said – passed out and fell off the tree to die pitifully in their hands.

She blinked against the dim sunlight when a small whisper called after her.

“Psst! Seulgi unnie!”

Seulgi looked around to find the source of the voice and her gaze landed at Yeri who was unexpectedly nestled at a tree several feet away from her.

“Yeri?” Seulgi mouthed quietly in surprise. “What are you doing there?”

“Psst.” Yeri put a finger on her lips, pointing at something above Seulgi’s head.

Seulgi looked up to the branches above her and spotted a big nest of buzzing Tracker Jackers. Tracker Jackers were genetically engineered wasps created by the Capitol to attack people. Their stings were known to be overbearingly painful and were able to cause strong hallucinations.

More than five stings would actually kill someone due to its venom.

Yeri made a gesture of stomping on its branch and signaled Seulgi to do the same. “Drop it on them.” She whispered while pointing at the still sleeping Careers pack below.

Seulgi nodded and tried to stand up.

Each movement caused a colossal pain on her wound. It was miraculous that she didn’t let out a painful cry.

Biting her lip hard, Seulgi steeled herself and climbed up one last time.

Once she managed to stand above the said branch with labored breathing, Seulgi looked at Yeri and nodded.

Here goes nothing.

She stomped on that branch hard and snapped it in half, the further end with the nest of Tracker Jackers on it falling towards the Careers pack.

The second it hit the ground, the Tracker Jackers blasted out of their nest and swarmed at the Careers pack angrily.

Seulgi heard vague screams and chaos as the Careers pack ran away with the Tracker Jackers chasing after them.

Once it quietened down, her sight went darker and she collapsed from the tree.

Her back met the snow below with a loud thud and then everything went black.

 

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“Seulgi unnie. Seulgi unnie, can you hear me?”

A small hand tapped her cheek as Seulgi opened her eyes slowly.

She was greeted by the sight of tree branches and their layers of white snow dangling above her, looking rather peaceful and beautiful.

Then, she remembered that she was still in the Hunger Games and jolted up.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Calm down. Nobody is going to hurt you here.” Yeri put her hands up in surprise and then corrected herself. “I mean, well, this is the Hunger Games so people will always try to hurt you, but I mean here as in here at the moment no one is going to.” She explained comically.

Seulgi looked down at herself and slowly registered what was happening.

“I put some medicinal herbs on you.” Yeri pointed at the green leaves covering Seulgi’s wound and at the other mashed herbs covering her previous blisters. “Your wound is not bleeding anymore and your blisters are going away.”

“Thanks.” Seulgi said in wonder, touching her now dry wound like it was magic. “Wow, you are amazing. How do you do this?”

“I am smart.” Yeri grinned proudly, earning a playful shove from Seulgi and giggling. “I gave you some herbal drink to sip on too when you were half awake and I think they worked awesomely.”

“Thank you, really. I owe you my life. How long did I pass out?”

“Almost two days.” Yeri said, looking up at the white trees. “I think it will be impossible to live outdoor in four or five more days. Don’t you feel it too? The temperature is dropping constantly every day.”

“Yeah.” Seulgi said glumly, staring at the snow that was coming down thicker and thicker. “How many tributes are left?”

“Eight. And before you ask, don’t worry, your district mate Kai is still out there. We are in exact pairs right now. District 1, 2, 11 and 12 are all alive. Must be quite a show for those Capitol people sitting in their fancy houses.”

Seulgi smiled bitterly. “That means the Tracker Jackers didn’t manage to take out any of the Careers pack, huh? What a shame.”

Yeri giggled. “It did scare them out of their wits though. They were so scared, they actually left a lot of stuffs behind when they escaped. Here.” Yeri handed her a bow and a tube full of arrows.

Seulgi’s eyes widened with surprise.

“They killed so many people, they even gained weapons they didn’t use. I figure this will be more useful in your hands than in mine. I don’t even know how to shoot.” Yeri smiled.

Seulgi had no words or ways to repay her ever.

“I think I will have to hunt birds and catch fish for you now every single day.”

“Please do.” Yeri cackled. “But that won’t be necessary for now because those kids from 1 and 2 also dropped these when they ran away.” She held up several canned tuna and potatoes with a mischievous grin.

“Oh, feast.” Seulgi’s eyes glimmered with love as she stared at those world wonder. “I’m going to go start a fire right now.”

They roasted the food and stuffed themselves gratefully, burying their traces afterwards and moving on to another location. It was never good to stay in one place for too long.

“So, what I’m saying is, only pairs from same districts are left now because the Gamemakers really get you screwed up if you don’t kill anyone in 24 hours after you get notified of your district mate’s death. In a way, once your district mate dies, there’s a high chance that you will die too. They sent horrible mutts after the other tributes the other day.”

“Mutts?”

“Yeah, those engineered, animal-like creatures. Since we are in boreal forest, naturally, they sent wolf mutts. Nasty, beastly killers. I’m lucky that my mate Xiumin is still alive.”

Yeri stopped and bent down to tie her shoelaces, as Seulgi stood in front of her and waited for her to finish.

She corrected herself with a small, morbid laugh. “Or maybe I’m not so lucky, considering that I was drawn by the lottery to do this –” Her words stopped when she stood straight up again. Her eyes widened with horror.

Seulgi knew something was behind her before Yeri could scream about it.

She whipped around and snatched an arrow from her back with breakneck speed, shooting it at whoever it was standing behind her without thinking.

It turned out to be Suho, who had hurled his silver javelin at the same time as Seulgi’s arrow piercing his heart.

Seulgi’s senses were overwhelmed with a rush of adrenaline and her heart thundered in her chest.

Suho’s limp body hit the cold ground with his eyes wide open.

He was dead.

Heart still pounding, Seulgi turned around to find an even bigger horror.

“No, Yeri, no!” She cried out loud, rushing after Yeri who had collapsed onto the ground with bloody patches on her coat. Suho’s javelin had hit her right in the heart too.

Yeri stuttered as Seulgi cradled her in her arms. “Yeri, please. Please, don’t go, please. Please stay with me.” She cried and tried to stop the bleeding, but it was all futile effort.

“Unnie, it’s okay.” Yeri stammered weakly, her voice growing small as the color on her face slowly faded away. “It’s okay…I don’t stand a chance since the beginning anyway...”

A tear slid down from her eye as she looked up at Seulgi who was shaking her head adamantly in denial. The heartbreaking statement and reality both were too much to handle.

Yeri grasped her hand shakily. “It’s okay, unnie. I can finally go to sleep now. It’s been a really scary week venturing alone in this Game. I’m glad that it’s finally stopping now and that I have a friend by my side.”

Her grip at Seulgi’s hand weakened as her eyes glistened with thin layer of tears. “You have to win, unnie...” She murmured slowly, the light in her usually cheerful eyes going out. “You have to win…”

Her eyes stopped blinking, and then her hand fell off of Seulgi’s grip lifelessly.

Seulgi screamed out with tears for what felt like eternity.

 

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The notification of Suho’s death came to Irene in the form of a flying drone carrying a small box.

Inside the box was a digital watch, displaying nothing but a countdown from 24 hours to zero. Irene knew immediately what it meant.

Her district mate had died so she had exactly 24 hours to kill someone before she became food for the hungry wolf mutations.

She eyed Chanyeol and Joy for a second, considering.

“What happened?” Chanyeol asked warily, noticing the familiar digital watch.

“Suho is dead.” Irene replied callously, turning away and fastening the watch on her left wrist. “I have to kill someone in the next 24 hours.”

“Wow, you are really one heartless , aren’t you?” Joy mused at her completely unbothered behavior. “You don’t even feel sorry for your district mate, huh?”

Irene stared at her as if she was sputtering the biggest nonsense ever. “Are we…really talking about being heartless here?” She looked almost amused. “Besides, he was never my friend. I thought everyone in this group knew that this was just a business deal.”

“So, who is your friend, Bae? That girl from District 12?” Chanyeol sneered at her and stomped towards her. “It almost felt like you were buying her time when we wanted to kill her the other day. Technically speaking, it was your fault that she got away.”

Joy hummed with agreement beside him, the back of her sword dangerously. “Not to mention that you ruined one of our plans on the very first day. That guy has never come back to us ever since you attacked him.”

Irene paused for a while before shrugging like it was nothing. “He was a useless piece.”

“Yeah, right.” Chanyeol drawled, his tone disbelieving. “We have decided that we are not going with you until you kill that girl from 12 yourself.”

Eyes snapping up to look at them, Irene’s gaze narrowed. “Are you testing me?”

“Maybe.” Joy sheathed her katanas offhandedly, pretending like this entire conversation was nothing. “The Gamemakers are going to send mutts after you anyway if you fail. We won’t want to be caught up in the mess. After all, this is just a business deal, isn’t it?” She smiled unapologetically.

“Kill her.” Chanyeol repeated, a sinister smirk playing on his lips. “Then you will be able to save yourself from mutts and we will lose another competition at the same time. We will head for the guy and take him out while you take the girl out.” He pulled his axe from his back, grinning devilishly. “After all, you are the only one who rivals her score, aren’t you?”

 

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Seulgi received two items that she would rather not have despite their critical importance.

One was a rucksack containing special winter gears that were designed to be lightweight but much warmer, and the other one was a tube containing special ointment that was made to cure frostbites.

Luxurious items that were gained at the price of her friend being murdered and herself being a murderer.

Seulgi zipped her new coat all the way up to her neck, switching her boots with the better ones and putting on her warmer, black leather gloves.

She hauled the rucksack on her back and looked behind one more time at Yeri’s little burial that she had made.

She wiped her tears away and then in a deep breath before marching forward to find her only friend left.

Kai was in danger.

Since Suho and Yeri were out, Irene and Xiumin – the guy from District 11 – would have to find someone to kill before they were hunted down by the mutts.

It was very unlikely that any of them would go for Joy or Chanyeol.

Seulgi and Kai were the easier, softer targets.

Seulgi walked through the forest with her bow and arrow at the ready, prepared to shoot at anything – or anyone – who could be hiding to ambush her any time now.

She tracked each path carefully, watching for any sign of danger and listening for any suspicious noise. She hoped that before nightfall, she would actually find Kai already.

The shrubs several feet away from her moved so suddenly, making her whip around to aim at it with lightning fast reflex. “Who is there?” She barked, holding her arrow off just in case it turned out to be Kai.

A familiar dagger swooshed through the air and nearly hit her in the eye as answer.

Seulgi fired back at the attacker furiously. She knew perfectly well whose dagger it was.

“That’s a rather sloppy shot.” Irene appeared from the shadows of the trees, staring at her with unreadable looks. “That’s so unlike your shot. Maybe if you have meant it, you could have at least grazed my arm.”

“Shut up, Irene. Your dagger missed too, didn’t it?” Seulgi kept her bow and arrow steady, ready to shoot at the girl if she really had to. God, she wished she wouldn’t have to.

The memory of Irene preventing the rest of the Careers pack from murdering her was still fresh on her mind.

But then again, this was also the same girl who had killed multiple other tributes, tried to kill Kai, and now probably wanted to kill her.

“It didn’t.” Irene stopped walking, motioning with her hand so Seulgi could see the shrubs behind her.

Seulgi walked backwards towards the shrubs slowly and checked it carefully.

Xiumin’s dead body had a knife to his throat.

“I never missed.” Irene said matter-of-factly, her voice plain. “He has been following you for a while. Quite a stealthy one, he was. I wouldn’t blame you for missing out on him.”

Seulgi was absolutely baffled. “You have been following me all this time?”

“That I wouldn’t blame you for missing out too. I have had years of training.”

“I’m sorry but what is the meaning of all of this?” Seulgi lowered her bow, finally frustration getting the best of her. “Why are you following me? And why are you killing him for me?”

“First of all, I didn’t kill him for you, I killed him for myself. And secondly, I was following you because I was contemplating whether or not I should kill you.”

The blunt admission halted all of Seulgi’s movements including her breathing. Seconds seemed to tick away silently between them before Seulgi could finally voice out her confusion again. “Then why didn’t you just kill me? You could clearly do that for so many times already.”

Irene was the one who looked to be at loss for words now.

She seemed to think really hard, as if the real reason behind that never crossed her mind too.

“I don’t know.” She said honestly, looking back at Seulgi with a rather bothered expression but still, inexplicable. “I guess I find you fascinating.”

Seulgi balled her fists. “So, I’m some sort of amusement to you? A ‘watch what the naïve fool may do in the Games’ entertainment? Thank you for sparing my life because you think my struggles are fun, but I hope this is the last time we see each other.”

“That’s not what I meant.” Irene stopped her before she could storm away. “You know that’s not what I meant.”

“No, I don’t know, Irene!” Seulgi whipped around, facing her again with fire in her eyes. “What do you mean? What are you? If you can stop being so damned cryptic for one second, maybe I can start telling if you are an enemy or a friend!”

Irene’s answer seemed to crawl out much later with an unfamiliar, conflicted tone in it. “You should consider me none of those two.”

Seulgi ground her teeth. She had had enough. Trying to understand Irene was like trying to punch a hole on a concrete wall with only her bare hand. Futile, exhausting, and painful.

She turned away.

“You shouldn’t go find Kai.” Irene’s voice blared from distance, trying to make her steps falter one more time but Seulgi refused. “You are not going to like what you find. Joy and Chanyeol probably have him by now.”

Seulgi kept prancing away, increasing her speed because she refused to listen to Irene for any more second.

“He is betraying you for himself, Seulgi! He sold you out to us!”

That made Seulgi stop.

In fact, the weight of that accusation was so strong, Seulgi felt like a ton of boulder had just crashed her from behind.

She wheeled around to face Irene slowly. “What do you mean?”

“Kai. He sold you out to my pack before. He promised that he would bring you to us along the Game in exchange for us letting him stay alive.”

Seulgi didn’t seem to comprehend, as if the nature of that information was way too ridiculous for her to believe. “You’ve got to be kidding me.” She denied.

“I’m not.”

“Don’t lie to me, Irene.”

“I don’t.”

“Don’t lie!”

“You know damn well that I don’t lie, Seulgi!” Irene snapped back at her, grit in her voice towards Seulgi for the very first time. “I told you everything as it was! I told you everyone would choose to save themselves when it came down to it! I told you, on the very last night before the Games, that you shouldn’t put too much faith on people because you would end up disappointed! I told you to watch your back!” 

Seulgi stared at her with a whirlwind of emotions, anger, betrayal and sadness all mixing together. “Have you – have you been knowing this since that night? Has he promised to sell me out since before the Game started?”

Irene’s expression darkened. “Since the scores from the Gamemakers were announced. He sought us that night.”

Seulgi’s head dropped for a really long time.

Images of Kai, stricken and ashen that night when their mentor and stylist jumped up to congratulate her high score while he seemed to be breaking down over his low score, played again in her mind.

“Is that also why you tried to kill him once the Game started?”

“I didn’t try to kill him. I only wanted to separate him from you. I knew that if I killed him, you wouldn’t survive a day. Lord knows you would have let yourself be eaten by mutts before taking anyone’s life to save yours. And as I said, I never missed. That dagger would have been easily lodged in his throat and not in his arm if I wanted to.”

Seulgi looked up at her again with tiredness and confusion. “But why? All of these…since the beginning of the Game, why? Why do you bother?”

Irene’s jaw clicked. The muscles on her neck strained again as words seemed to flee from her one more time.

“You killed so many other tributes, so why don’t you kill me?”

“How many tributes do you think I killed?”

Seulgi quietened. She actually knew no answer to it.

“Three. One on the very first minutes of the Game, a 18 year old guy from District 9 who was attacking a 12 year old girl from District 5 who was half his size. He had no reason to be spared. Second one was a girl from District 6 who tried to attack me when I was asleep. I’m no saint, Seulgi. I’m very simple and practical. Those who try to hurt me, I kill. And well, as for the third one…” She motioned to Xiumin.

Seulgi swallowed at the sight of his dead body.

“I’m not some morally correct hero or even a generous person like you, Seulgi. But it doesn’t mean I go around slashing people’s heads off for fun.”

“You are friends with people who do that.”

“As I said before, I am not friends with them. Why is it so hard for everyone to comprehend?”

“Silence is complicity, Irene. You watched them kill innocent, helpless kids and you did nothing.”

“This is a Game designed to pit 24 kids together where only one is allowed to come out alive. What do you think I can do? What realistic alternative do you propose? Besides, If Chanyeol, Joy, and Suho didn’t kill everyone, everyone would have killed each other on their own. It’s in everyone’s nature to save themselves over others.”

Seulgi shook her head slowly. “No, it’s not.” She looked up at Irene firmly, eyes glistening with tears at the thought of Yeri saving her life. “Some people would have protected others even though it put their own lives at danger. To think that you are so closed off to this idea, I won’t even begin to explain.”

She brushed her tears away, steeling her heart and standing tall. “I’m going to find Kai. He is just scared and lost because he doesn’t know how to fight all his life. I’m going to save him before it’s too late.”

“You know that it will be a suicide. You can’t take out Chanyeol and Joy alone.”

“Maybe I can’t, maybe I can, I won’t know until I try.”

“That’s incredibly stupid!” Irene lashed out. “I won’t be able to save you this time around!”

“Then don’t.” Seulgi turned to face her, gaze resolute as she stared at Irene’s bewildered looks. “Just like how I can’t change your way of thinking, you shouldn’t try to change mine either.”

 

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When Seulgi thought about her death in past, she always imagined it to be caused by starvation or by a plague she was too poor to get treated for.

She never imagined it to be a brutal murder, probably involving lots and lots of blood.

Still, she walked towards her demise slowly, fully aware that this would probably be the last time she took in the world.

Chanyeol and Joy weren’t exactly hard to find. They were sitting leisurely on an open field down the mountain, no longer caring about taking cover because they knew that they had the upper hand in the Game now.

Irene and Seulgi were both long-ranged attackers who worked better in stealth. If they tried to attack the siblings frontally on an open surface with no place to hide, it would be disadvantageous to them.

Chanyeol and Joy’s bigger build and skills in melee combat would end them easily in a hand-to-hand battle.

Xiumin was gone, while Kai, who Seulgi had desperately searched for, was sitting right there with them in absolute fright.

Seulgi could see how pale and shaky he was even from distance.

“Well, well. Look who has decided to grace us with her presence finally.” Chanyeol jumped up and smiled widely at her, nearly bouncing on his feet with excitement. “District 12! The girl on fire! Have you finally decided to stop hiding like a frightened chicken and live up to your name?”

Joy followed him to stand up and dragged Kai up with her by his collar like he was just a piece of ragged doll.

Kai looked at Seulgi with fearful, teary eyes. Both of his wrists were tied up and he was completely battered from all the physical violence he had probably received from them.

Seulgi’s heart hurt.

He was just an ordinary boy.

“Leave him alone.” She shouted at them, still standing several feet away from them. “I’ll give you what you want if you let him go!”

Joy whistled in mock amusement and nudged her brother. “And what is it that we want, Kang? Do you really know? Can you really give it to us?”

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