visceral [LN@WB day 6]

My mother, she told me
"Don't get in trouble"
My father, he told me
He knew I would

-----

As another cannon sounded, the count of tributes left alive in the arena dropped to eight. We were so close to the end, but I knew that now wasn't the time to keep fighting. Wiz was badly burned. Abel was getting a little too feisty with Maddox. Sinead was starting to help him out. I didn't want this fight to keep going. We needed to save it for tomorrow.

Tomorrow. That was the day we'd probably have to all part ways. With our alliance making up half of the remaining tributes, it'd come down to us all fighting each other soon, anyway. We might as well get some distance between ourselves while we could so that maybe, just maybe, we wouldn't have to kill each other in the end.

For now, though, I decided to get my allies the hell out of there. I'd stabbed Cedric in the chest and he ran off, meaning that I had enough distance between me and the other remaining tributes to potentially get everyone I cared about out of here alive.

I shouted to Abel and Sinead.

"Let's go, you two! We need to get out of here! I'll help Whiskey!" I told them hurriedly.

I rushed over to where Wiz was. His face was really badly burned. He'd definitely have a hard time navigating out of here on his own.

"It's Nixie. I've gotcha, Wiz," I told him as I came up behind him, hoping he wouldn't strike when he knew it was me. "We're gonna get you out of here. Let's go." I supported his body weight and basically carried him onto the jeep. Luckily I still had enough strength to do so. I drove out of there as quickly as I could.

-----

When we all got away from the chaos of the fight, I let Whiskey down from my hold in a way that hopefully would be gentle enough.

"You alright?" I asked him. It looked like someone had tried to start a barbecue on his face. Obviously he wasn't okay. At least, not entirely.

"Sorry to rush out of there, it just seemed like the right timing," I explained.

I took a seat on the ground, exhausted.

"Looks like there's eight tributes left, judging by the cannons earlier. That means there's the four of us and four others."

I sighed.

"So, what's the plan from here?" I asked. I assumed we'd end up separating. We'd probably all go in different directions and encounter other tributes. Some of us would die, and some might live to the next day. If it came down to it, we might even have to fight each other, but I think we were all realizing that by now.

Then I noticed something: Sinead was gone. I stood up quickly.

"Sinead?" I said, my voice slightly above a normal volume. No response. "Sinead??" I said again. She was nowhere to be found. She must've gotten lost in the mess. How stupid could I be to leave her behind?

I was a two-time killer now. I was also the last career tribute standing now that Bastian Fray was dead. None of that mattered, though, right then, because Sinead was missing.

"Did you guys see Sinead anywhere? I think we lost her... I can't believe I wasn't paying attention... I'm such an idiot!"

I was beyond frustrated with myself. This was all my fault, and I hadn't even realized it right away.