* * *

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The camera fades in to the clearing. Charlton is still twitching as he forces himself to his knees. His usually-perfect hair is mussed, dirt in the grey streaks turning them almost brown, and his mouth is set in a scowl, goatee giving him a demonic air as he glares across at his enemy. For her part, Adrienne is not looking any better. The former protester is still dragging herself across the ground, her own blood dripping down her legs from the tight wire of the bolas that hold her ankles painfully together. Her breasts are dragging along the ground as she crawls, leaving two small furrows in the dirt, and her eyes are fixated on the knife lying in front of her. “And… we’re back! Adrienne and Charlton are picking up speed. Only one of them is walking away from this – they’ve got murder on the mind. Who will it be?”

Charlton rises to his feet unsteadly, and leaps across the path at Adrienne as her fingers grasp out at the knife. She twists, snapping her legs up and across as he tries to close his hang around her own. Her legs knock him off balance, and he sprawls across Adrienne as she clenches the knife’s handle, pinning her down. Her arm slashes out wildly, and Charlton lets out a roar of pain as the knife slashes through his jacket and into his side. His fist snaps out, catching Adrienne in the mouth, and she falls back, losing her grip on the knife. A moment later, she slams her knee into Charlton’s crotch, with little effect. “Whew! Looks like Charlton’s wearing protection, and damned good idea. That would have taken him out of the fight.” Even through the hard cup, Charlton clearly felt the blow – he winces, twisting, as Adrienne struggles to pull the knife out of him. Another slam knocks one of her teeth loose, and her hand flops down. Charlton hits her once more for good measure, then takes a step off her, trying not to wince in pain. There is blood flowing down his side, and he collapses against a tree as he reaches for his pack. “Ooh, bad luck for Adrienne – and for Charlton, but he came out ahead. While he decides how to punish the little beauty for trying to take apart our game, let’s see how the other five girls are doing.”

The camera zooms in on Ling. The Chinese girl is now leaving the city arena, crossing into the Tidal Pool cautiously. A minute later, Sierra ghosts out of the rubble and follows her. “Huh. This is an interesting decision by our little Hispanic refugee. She’s clearly hoping that, if Shen does find the two, Ling will prove to be a successful distraction. Might even work – as long as Shen doesn’t spot Sierra first, of course. That would end badly for her.”

Meanwhile, also in the tidal pools, Sam has come to a decision. The young Canadian girl has been sizing up a small cave entrance near the tides, and as the water rises momentarily, she leaves her perch and dives towards it. Seeing the flicker of movement, Shen Lee leaps from his outcropping, landing in the water with barely a ripple and scissoring towards her. “Interesting decision! Until recently, that cave was completely submerged, and Sam doesn’t know for certain where it goes. But I suppose that’s better than getting caught for sure!” Sam swims into the hole, with Shen in hot pursuit. “Those two are good swimmers. This should be a fun chase…”

“Back in the city, Amy is having better luck – she’s finally found what she was looking for.” Amy has skirted the edge of the blood-stained trash compactor, not daring to look inside after seeing the long red streaks along its top, and entered the building next door. Now, she is standing at the pylon, looking around nervously. “Not much chance of anything happening to her right now, though. On the other hand… she now only needs to survive the Forest in order to have all four pylons. The end is approaching…”

“And speaking of approaching endings, Miko’s also got three pylons, as she tries to escape from the Carnival without attracting the attention of Saul DeLasse. Luckily for her, he’s on his rounds.” Saul has reached the pylon area, and is staring in confusion at the corpse of Sonja. He opens his mouth, looks around, and then shuts it with a frown. He pokes Sonja in the breast, seeming to almost expect her to react. Then, with a shake of his head, he continues walking.

“Fucking maniacs this year.” He mutters under his breath.

Back in the forest, Charlton kneels next to Adrienne and injects her with adrenaline, smiling nastily as she wakes with a soft cry. The woman has been tied to the ground, spread-eagle, to four metal stakes that have been driven deep into the earth. Another pair of stakes hold a rope tight against her belly, forcing her breathing to be shallow as she tries to look up at him – a leather strap under her jaw and another over her forehead keep her head completely still, staring upwards. A metal gag is in her mouth, pulling back her lips and forcing her jaws wide open, and she lets out a cry of anger as she looks up into Charlton’s eyes.

The hunter’s side is bandaged, with blood spots already showing through the padding and gauze, and he grits his teeth as he looks down at her, taking a long draw on his cigarette before dropping it into her open mouth. Adrienne screams with pain, managing after a second to force the cigarette out with her tongue, but that only succeeds in leaving it lying against her cheek, burning her as she tries uselessly to pull away. “Thought you were tough, huh?” Charlton says harshly. “Did for Janet. Not bad. Not good enough.”

He dribbles something sweet into her mouth, and she blinks in surprise at the taste of honey. The trail travels down her neck towards her breasts, and she yells a mangled insult at him. In response, Charlton slams a fist into her gut, and finishes smearing her vagina, belly, and breasts while she dry heaves, head down against the dirt. “You like bugs?” He says softly, walking backwards.

Adrienne goes still. The camera pans up, showing the honey trail that Charlton is dripping as he walks towards a large anthill. As he gets close, he reaches out with a stick and stirs the edge of the hill. Ants begin to boil out of it, at first expanding randomly, and then finding the trail of honey and following it. Charlton reaches down with a gloved hand, taking one, and brings it to Adrienne’s face, holding it out. “Fire ants. Nasty little buggers. Not deadly alone, or in small groups, but they like meat.” He smiles nastily, dropping the ant on Adrienne’s face. She shrieks and tries to shake her head to dislodge the insect, which responds by biting her on the lip. Charlton steps back, lights a cigarette, and watches.

It takes five minutes for the first ants to find Adrienne. She spends the time shuddering, eyes firmly shut, trying to be resolute. When the first tiny legs begin to crawl on her, she breathes in sharply, but says nothing. When they determine that she is edible and start to sting her, however, she whimpers, twitching and trying to throw them off. This draws more attention, and more ants. Soon they are swarming over her body, biting and stinging – especially the areas that were sugared. Her breasts are two mounds of ants, and she is screaming wordlessly as she tries to shake them off. She tries to beg for mercy, but more ants are crawling up her throat and across her lips, attracted by motion, falling into her mouth and stinging wildly at her tongue. Adrienne’s screams build in pitch as more and more ants swarm her. Charlton, sitting and watching, simply smiles.

The ants continue biting and stinging, and every struggle and wrenching screams only brings more of them. Even so, the stings are painful, but not deadly. It takes over half an hour of agony before Adrienne starts to pass out in fits and sputs, recovering with another scream at fresh rounds of stings punching into her. By the time she finishes moving, more than an hour after that, she is barely recognizable – tiny bits of flesh are being carted back to the hive, and blood stains the ground under her from the sheer mass of stings that coat her. Charlton, having lost interest once Adrienne is no longer screaming, has already moved on to find his next victim.