Day One: Morning

[Celipa]

"Hunting Seventeen do - ow, - down would be a bad idea," Celipa struggled through her cracked jaw, which sent shooting pains through her mouth with every movement. "He would - shit, ow, - kill us in a heartbeat."

"I don't care," Aero seethed. "He's left us for dead, what more do we have to lose? We can't survive without supplies. All we've got are our assigned weapons."

Zangya, looking rather sickly, leaned back in a chair and sighed painstakingly. "We'll be fine," she murmured. Her hand was resting on her stomach, probably trying to soothe the child. "Let's not do anything rash."

Cel's brow furrowed further with every motion she watched Zangya make. The Ader-jin had no place in the competition with a bun in the oven. What had she been thinking? But as long as they were here, she knew she was going to have to protect her friend, with her life as necessary. The Abyss wouldn't swallow a baby if she had anything to say about it.

"Zangya, maybe you should go lie down," Celipa offered, gritting her teeth through her own pain. "You took a pretty serious blow to the head."

It was true. Zangya's skull was cracked open pretty badly. A cracked jaw wasn't as bad as a split-open head.

The petite woman groaned, but didn't make any attempt to get up. "I'm fine."

Celipa turned her back on the other two, and stared out the window. It was amazing how quickly things had shifted from peaceful to utterly out of hand. Not only did Cel have no control of the situation, but now she had two people with her that she was accountable for. Three, if the baby was taken into account. She sighed and drummed her fingers on the windowsill in frustration.

And her weapon was a fork.

Luck was not on her side this year as it had been last year. Plus, there was another factor on her side last year; her best friend was with her. At this point, it was anyone's guess as to whether or not Bujin had even joined the competition this year.

"We need to get out of here soon, though," Celipa addressed the others, and then winced with the conclusion of the sentence as her jaw sent another violent dose of shock through her system. She had meant to say more, but found herself unwilling to, now. That was a first for her.

...and she was still surprised that Seventeen had launched such a sudden attack on them. But, it was anyone's game, and the cyborg was probably out for himself just as much as anyone else.

In the end, only one person could win.

So why was she wasting her time making allies?

Her brain put an instant stop to the questioning of her motives. All she had to do right now was stay alive until the competition narrowed itself down a bit. Treachery would not cross her thoughts again.