The cannon suddenly blows 4 times in a row. “12 people left.” I whisper to myself. We start to hear growling from a bush, and I turn to face that direction. I stand in front of everyone, spreading my arms out in front of them. I slowly grip my trident and point it towards the bush. I throw it and the growling stops for a second. I carefully walk to retrieve my trident and then mutts jump out. “Run!” I quickly yell, the mutts grabbing my foot, making me trip. I shake my leg and try to get it off. I try to reach for my trident, but it’s still pierced on something in the bush. The mutt opens its gaping mouth, pulling my foot inside. “Aghhhhh!” I scream out. I shake my leg harder than before. I hit its face a few times but that only angers it. I close my eyes and accept my fate. I knew I was never gonna survive anyway. That’s when its grip on my ankle loosens and then I feel nothing holding my ankle. I open my eyes and I see Nabil, a trident pierced in the mutt. Behind him is Grace, holding off the rest of the mutts. Nabil helps me up, and I wipe my hands on my coat. I roll my eyes, trying to act like I hate him. “I only saved you because we might need you,” Nabil whispers over my shoulder. “Not because I actually care about what happens to you.” I begin to chuckle. “Right,” I laugh. “That’s why you were gone for who knows how long and only appear when I’m in danger.” “What are you implying?” he asks, trying to fake his anger. I can tell when he’s being genuine or not. “Oh, and let’s not include the fact that when you didn’t find me at night you gave food to Grace who I know you instructed to give it to me.” I laugh. “And let’s not include the fact that you went up in the middle of the night and searched for me like a maniac.” he snaps back. I stay silent for a while, staring at him. “Yeah, you think I didn’t see you?” he says, looking me up and down. “I wanted food! I was starving!” I lie. I look behind us, where Grace is fighting off the last few mutts, with Jazel and Monur helping. Verben, like always, hides behind a tree and watches. Then I look back at Nabil and sarcastically smile. I aggressively snatch the trident out of his hand and glare at him as I walk away and help fight. I kill a few mutts and then I take the last one. “I’ll take care of it,” I say. Then I point to Nabil. “Get some food from him.” They all run to him, but Grace hesitates before doing so. “Go.” I whisper to her. I can tell she’s worried that I might die. “I’ll be fine.” She nods, then she looks at me and walks to Nabil, turning around a few times. I sigh and grip my trident, staring at the mutt, waiting for its next move. It suddenly jumps up, and I throw my trident at it, but it quickly dodges and falls to the ground. I run to get my trident, jumping over the mutt and pointing the trident at it. It stands up and spreads its arms out, then swings it to hit me but I duck and stab its arm quickly. It stumbles back and holds its arm. This angered it, so it roars and comes up to me at full speed. I slide to the side and it gets its nail stuck on a tree branch. I take this moment to cut its leg off and weaken its other arm by stabbing it. It then gets unstuck, but its nail is bleeding and its arm is gushing blood. It roars again and limps weakly to me, and I dodge every move it throws at me. Then, it stays still for a second. I look at it, confused. I start to slowly approach it, thinking it gave up. Right when I’m about to touch its head, it roars and slaps my trident out of my hand. I reach for my trident but then the mutt uses its claws to scratch my upper arm, causing me to stumble back and grunt in pain. It slowly walks up to me and I walk back, then my back hits against a tree and the mutt takes me to the ground, scratching my leg. I shake my body to get it off, making its balance unsteady so it’s unable to harm me anymore. The pain in my arm and leg are slowing me down. That’s when the mutt swings its hand and it pulls my hair, then it scratches my other arm and goes for my neck. I stop resisting and suddenly everything is in slow motion. I close my eyes. Pitch black.
