Sintra landed an insane blow on Phillip, sending him staggering backwards while holding his nose as blood dripped from his nostrils.

"Follow me and wait for the signal!" She quickly said to her teammates, grabbing the pass from the soldier's hand before taking off in the direction of the death worm.

"Sintra, wait!"

"What the hell?"

"Catch her!"

These were just a few phrases Sintra heard being shouted at her but she couldn't tell who said what as she blazed across the desert once more, the death worm drawing closer as she charged at it.

She ignored the putrid smell that became more prominent with each sprint while imagining the 14 people all chasing after her, silently revising the insane plan that her mind had quickly fashioned.

The voice in her head revolted at the idea but she refused to fail this task and give up her pass—the pass she had almost lost her life for, the pass she had transcended reality to retrieve. They had to get rid of their opponents one way or the other and at the moment, team 5 was outnumbered, outgunned and out of time.

Sintra was close now, so much so that she could finally see the treacherous monster for what it was and regret lurched into her throat with intentions of choking her mid sprint.

Its bright red, ribbed skin appeared dimpled and greasy and its gaping wide mouth became more noticeable as Sintra shuddered slightly at the slime dripping from its razor sharp teeth while a fine, blue tongue wriggled its mouth.

The odor was far from rancid but more similar to that of a dead carcass that had been left in the sun for far too long and this made Sintra gag a few times while running.

It was the living embodiment of rotting decay.

As Sintra stared into the black hole called its mouth, a dash of color began to emerge from the dark depths of its throat and that is when Sintra signaled her teammates. She only prayed they could hear her.

"JUMP OUT OF THE WAY!" She shouted with all her might just before chucking herself to the left of the deathworm,  rolling into the sand as she tumbled on the impact of her sudden movement.

They desert turned into a circus of screams, cries and sizzles as Sintra coughed up the sand that had ventured into her mouth, groaning while she rose from the ground to see the chaos of her erratic trick—all while wildly searching for her teammates.

Thankfully, team 5 and Lena as well as 4 others from their opposition had all heeded her command, each as dusty as Sintra herself. They grimaced as they got to their feet, staring at the steaming pile of yellow acid and bones crackling as it melted into the sand of the path way they had just been running.

"Oh my God," Sintra gasped, clapping a hand to her mouth as she winced at the sizzling pile of remains.

She had used the little knowledge from Felix to lure a trap for the thieves. She charged the monster, watched for the acid she was sure it would spew since it's used for long distance attacks and then jumped out of the way, leaving those unaware of the death-worm's ability or with poor reflexes to suffer the consequences of its attack.

It was a nasty and despicable thing to do. Not to mention reckless since she could have also killed her teammates but Sintra had panicked. She hadn't faced her fears to fail and she didn't come this far to be killed.

"You bitch!" Sintra heard someone say, tackling her roughly to the ground.

Phillip's strong hands clasped around her neck, squeezing forcefully as he tried to strangled her. The sand from his black shirt filled her eyes that had already begun to water as she clawed at his hands while her breath left her, her vision blacking out from the lack of air.

"Get off her!" Sintra heard Vante say and Phillip fell to the ground beside her groaning from the impact of the attack.

Sintra coughed, clutching her neck as she felt Vante's strong arms lift her from the ground.

"Are you okay?" He asked, worry placating his expression.

Sintra could only manage a nod as she continued to cough, her eyes still watery from the force of assault. She hadn't even noticed Phillip heading towards her since her attention was directed at the remains of what was once a group of people.

"You bitch! You killed him! The soldier was my brother and he pushed me out of the way to save me and you killed him!" Phillip cried as he forced himself to stand.

He had a shoe mark across his face, telling Sintra that Vante had landed a heavy kick.

"Brother?" Sintra said lowly, dread sinking into the depths of her skin to mingle with the sweat and guilt of her crime.

A shout sounded from behind her and Sintra turned to see Jesse and Felix fighting the remaining 3 members.

Jesse specifically was doing a great job as she fended off two grown men by herself, skillfully dodging their simultaneous attacks while inflicting blows on both of them with her bare hands.

"Murderer! You're a murderer!" Phillip caught her attention once more and Sintra turned to see the tears staining his cheeks.

"Murderer? Me?" Sintra said lowly as she processed his words.

It took a while for her to digest it and though she had not brought the blade down herself, she might as well have since her thoughtless plan and reckless actions had brought misery to this man who now stared at her with absolute contempt for her existence and teardrops fall from Sintra's eyes as the reality of what she had done set in.

A shriek sounded from behind them as Jesse's voice could be heard shouting that the monster was returning but Sintra had little time to process this as the blue pass was yanked from her hand while Lena appeared behind her with a dagger.

"Lena, what are y—"

"Give me the map!" Lena commanded.

"What?" Sintra asked shakily.

"Give me the map now or I will kill you!" She threatened.

"What the hell are you doing kid? Have you lost your mind?" Vante asked, his attention never leaving Phillip.

"I'm not going to die here!" Lena told them.

"The kid seems to know more than you," Phillip laughed without humor.

"What are you talking about? Lena, what is he talking about?" Sintra questioned.

"The map is a game enhancer, weren't you listening?" Phillip chided. "It's your way out of this desert."

"W-what?" Sintra asked.

"They gave us each 1 bottle of water to walk across a scorching hot desert. Even if there were no hindering factors do you really think we could've made it back on our own? The map is how you and your team get back," Phillip explained.

Sintra felt like a fool. She did indeed see a button labeled "back" when she was searching for one to open the chest but she never thought that was what it meant.

"Why are you telling us this?" Vante asked.

"Because I'm not letting you 2 leave this desert. You'll die with us here," Phillip replied.

"Guys it's here!" Sintra heard Jesse say, as a shot of acid missed her and Felix by an inch.

Using the attack as a distraction, Lena lunged at Sintra, knocking her to the ground as she tried to steal the map from her bag.

Vante could be her heard wrestling with Phillip but Sintra had no time to look as Lena slapped her before slamming her head into the sand.

The death worm was barreling towards them, its mouth wide open in an attempt to swallow them whole.

The two girls heads' shot to the side at the sight of the monster, ceasing their fighting as they swiftly rolled out of its way leaving a dustball of sand behind them.

Sintra noticed that the death worm charged quickly but it took time to turn and redirect itself for another attack. She also noticed that Felix's intel was a little off as being close it to it didn't melt your skin but she would still be careful not to let it touch her.

Her thoughts were cut short by Lena who grabbed the map from her bag, quickly rising to her feet.

Sintra was faster still,  knocking the pass into the sand before tackling Lena again, slapping her roughly and grabbing the map from her palm.

Sintra tried to take off with both items but Lena grabbed her kinky ponytail then stabbed Sintra in the back with the dagger, prompting her to drop the pass in the sand as she screamed.

Spinning around, Sintra caught sight of the death worm returning, the green acid that could shoot several metres ahead slowly emerging from its throat. Its direction was off however, and that's when Sintra realized that it had no eyes.

It was probably using thermal detection to find them, aided by the heat from the desert and all fighting they engaged in.

Desperate to get away, Sintra punched Lena in the stomach, an action the prompted her to let her hair go as she clutched her belly, just before pushing her in the direction of the acid.

Sintra watched in both shock and horror as Lena's nerve-racking scream filled the desert while her skin melted in a gurgle of sizzling yellow, her skeleton falling into the sand moments after.

"Christ," Sintra whinced, just before narrowly jumping out of the death worm's way again.

"Sintra, are you okay?!"  She heard Vante ask next to her, glancing down at the knife still protruding from her back. She hadn't even noticed she had been so close to him as her horrified expression turned to a defeated Phillip laying on the ground.

She wondered if he was dead as well— if Vante too had just committed murder. What had this game turned them into? Were they now the villains he had spoken of?

"You're bleeding. Come on, we have to leave now," Vante said as he picked up the pass.

"Vante, wait!" Sintra shouted as she pushed him out the way just before a snake lunged at his extended arm, biting hers instead.

Sintra shrieked as the snake then bit her ankle, causing her to collapse to the ground before Vante stabbed it in the head.

"Oh shit, it's a mojave rattlesnake," she heard him say as coldsweat in addition to normal sweat washed her face, the pain from the bites coursing through her leg and arm.

"Why oh no?" Sintra asked breathlessly, trying to stand.

She almost tumbled over but Vante caught her and she leaned on him, trying not to stand on the affected leg.

"You need medical attention right now! We can't pull out the dagger or you might bleed out too. Where's the pass? We have to go," he told her.

Pointing to the blue pass half buried in the ground, Vante dipped a little as he held her up to grab it.

Lightheadedness almost overcame Sintra as her vision blurred slightly while she watched Felix and Jesse dodge the death worm's charge.

"Okay let's go," Vante said as he took the map from her.

"But Felix and Jesse," Sintra said woozily.

"Are not our friends, remember? That snake is the most venomous pit viper specie. You'll die if you don't get help. I can't let that happen,"

"I'm not leaving them!" Sintra shouted, mustering all her strength before grabbing the pass and map from Vante and taking off towards her other team members.

She had just killed several people including a child. She would not leave her other teammates to die out here as well. Even if Jesse was obnoxious, even if Felix was a stranger, they deserved to live just as much as anyone else and Sintra would see to that—even if it meant her death. She was their leader, afterall.

"Jesse, Felix! Come on, we found a way to the elevator!" Sintra screamed.

Her vision hazed as the desert morphed into nothing but a blur of ochre gold and she could only make out their silhouettes running towards her before she fell into the sand.

"Oh God, Sintra!" She heard Vante say, feeling him scoop her into his arms as she looked up at his bleary face.

"I got to save you guys but I also killed alot of people," she said breathlessly, reaching out to touch what might have been his face. She couldn't see him at all through her hazy vision as tears fell from her eyes.

"You were wrong, Mr. Kim. Villains die too,"She said, just before she faded into darkness.

Sintra's eyes fluttered open to the luminescence of bright lights that temporarily blinded her and she squinted as she tried to protect her eyes from their rays.

At first she imagined she was dead but the beeping sound of a machine brought her back to her senses as she turned her head to survey the surroundings of a hospital room, an IV needle lodged into her vein while a sleeping Vante held her hand as he laid his head on the side of her bed.

Her stirred a little before his eyes fluttered open to meet hers, neither of them breaking eye contact.

"You're awake," he said, raising his head but never letting her go of her hand.

"Am I dead?" Sintra asked anyways, her voice hoarse as she coughed.

"Hey, take it is easy. You did alot of shouting yesterday. And no you're not dead," he chuckled lightly.

His hair sat in messy black curls on his head, surprising Sintra since he always wore it slicked back. It gave him a boyish presence and his chuckle seemed to shave years of his appearance. Sintra imagined she had looked aged given what she had gone through and yet he had too but his skin was still as radiant as ever.

"Did we make it back? Back to the real world?" Sintra asked hopefully.

"Unfortunately, no. This is some sort of magical rest stop," Vante sighed. "Basically we've been going through strenuous tasks for while so this is kind of a retreat for the next games. That's what that robot woman said anyways."

"A hospital is the retreat?" Sintra asked.

"No, you're in a hospital because you had to get anti-venom for the snake bite and treat your stab wound. The real retreat is outside. It's actually amazing," Vante smiled a little.

As if triggered by his words, Sintra back, leg and arm started to ache but watching Vante's mouth curl up as he tried not to smile amused her enough to stop her from wincing.

"You're pretty," Sintra said absentmindedly, regretting it as soon as it left her lips.

Vante laughed however, wholesome and sweet, and a dimple Sintra had never noticed deepened in his left cheek as they flushed the color of roses.

"Pretty? It seems the venom has affected your cognitive thinking or are the hospital meds making you loopy?" He asked.

"Screw you," Sintra told him.

"Yeah," he beamed as he watched her, "that's the Ms.Magnus I know."

"I told you to call me Sintra," she scolded.

"But you still call me Mr. Kim?" He raised an eyebrow.

They held each other's gaze for what seemed like forever before Vante broke the silence.

"I'm not going to lie to you. I thought I would never get the chance to thank you for saving me," he told her, squeezing her hand a little tighter. "It should be me in this hospital bed, not you. I'm sorry I couldn't protect you."

"Don't be sorry. It's okay. What kind of person would I be if—"

Sintra stopped her performative speech as all the memories of the desert came rushing back to her in a whirlwind of horror. She had killed so many people back there and now she had gotten another chance of life when she should've died herself.

A murderer, the man named Phillip had called her. He was right. Being here now was no accomplishment. It was a curse. She would remember the sins she had committed for the rest of her life.

She was suppose to help children— to protect them from a life that may have led them into wanting to stab another person like Lena did her. Instead, she'd killed her in the most vicious and gruesome way possible. All Sintra could think about was how all her life's work had gone to naught by a single push.

"Hey," Vante pulled her from her thoughts. "We did what we needed to do to survive. Don't ever feel guilty for that. Those guys were prepared to kill us to be here."

"I-I'm a killer, Vante." Sintra cried, turning her head to the ceiling. "I'm not suppose to be like them. I'm suppose to help people. I'm suppose to prevent children from becoming adults like them. I failed."

"No you didn't, you persevered. You always do. That's who you are. Don't ever feel bad about that,"He reassured her.

"Hey, look at me." He instructed, cupping her cheek with his free hand.

"In your lifetime, you've saved more lives than you think you've taken. I know it's a flawed way to think but it's true, as ugly as it is. If it weren't for you, Jesse, Felix and me, we wouldn't be here. We didn't willingly leave our lives to commit murder. We did what we had to."

Sintra tried to find a response but failed, not knowing what to say. She didn't know if he was right but at that moment, the only thing she could do to not collapse under her guilt was believe him.

They didn't choose this so whatever way of thinking they had come up with to feel better was absolutely entitled.

She didn't blame Carter for stealing their camels, or the soldier for trying to take the pass. It wasn't Lena's fault for trying to survive even if she had betrayed them. Whoever was doing this was to be blamed and Vante's words had reminded her of that once again.

He was a different kind of man than she had initially thought. No he wasn't the sweet, caring man he had pretended to be infront of the public but he wasn't the heartless monster from the elevator that morning either. Maybe her sense of judgement in telling right from wrong had become askew, she was not entirely sure. She just knew that her stomach did somersaults as he stroked her cheek, staring at her like she had just saved the world.

"Vante, I—"

"What's all this?" She heard Jesse's voice say as she entered the hospital room, causing Vante to swiftly withdraw his hand.

Felix followed her, a bouquet of tulips in one hand and a platter of food in the other.

Sintra felt a little disappointed at Vante's action but quickly shook it off as she tried to sit up, accepting the flowers from Felix.

"What's going on?" Jesse said, poking her tongue to her cheek as she looked between them while holding in her smile.

"Leave them alone, Jess." Felix scolded. "I thought you might be hungry," he then said as he offered the platter of eggs, bacon, pancakes and toast as well as a cup of coffee to Sintra and one for Vante as well.

Placing the flowers on the table beside her, she took it and thanked him kindly for the gesture.

"How are you feeling?" Felix asked.

"Like someone stabbed me in the back and a snake bit my arm and leg," Sintra joked.

"Yikes," Jesse said. "Wouldn't wanna be you."

"Right back at ya," Sintra retorted.

"Will you two ever get along?" Vante sighed, leaning back in his chair.

Sintra broke her glare to eat as Felix thanked her for not leaving them behind. Apparently, Vante being the blunt bastard that he was had told them that he wanted to leave them and Sintra, despite being critically wounded decided against it.

"Here," Jesse said, handing her a chocolate bar. "It's good for stab wounds you know."

Sintra stared at it and then at her before breaking out into laughter. This was perhaps Jesse's way of thanking her despite her sour attitude but it was the kindest interaction they had ever had.

Felix joined in the laughter as well, followed by a smirking Vante and an embarrassed Jesse who tried to hide her amusement.

"Hurry up and get better. They have everything here! Food, liquor, pools, spas, gyms." Felix said excitedly.

"Don't forget drugs, gambling and bordellos. What the hell are they trying to do? Get us to die faster?" Jesse pitched in.

"I thought you'd be in to that stuff," Vante teased.

She flipped him off causing another fit of laughter to erupt inside the room.

"How long are we here for?" Sintra asked between giggles.

"The automated voice said 2 days. A day has gone by already," Jesse answered.

"I slept one whole day? Oh God," Sintra whined. "I could really use a spa visit."

"I mean it's not too late. You're the lucky one though. You'll be more energized than the rest of us for the remaining games. Especially Vante over there. He only left you to go shower—barely slept at all," Jesse revealed.

"What!?" Sintra exclaimed.

"Do you ever shut up, Lovett?" Vante admonished, causing Jesse to laugh.

"You need to rest before we leave!" Sintra told him.

"Yeah, yeah. I am rested. Worry about feeling better. It'll only get harder from here on out," Vante told her.

"That's true," Felix agreed.

"But atleast we'll have each other, right?" Sintra asked.

"Right," Felix agreed.

"Whatever," Jesse rolled her eyes.

Grabbing her hand again, Vante squeezed, nodding slowly as he agreed.

For a long time Sintra had been alone. She didn't even notice when her empty circle had started to fill up. Indescribable joy welled inside as she watched her friends laugh amongst each other. Just a day ago they were barely getting along and two days before that they didn't even know each other.

She was glad to have them all by her side. However annoying, obnoxious or confusing they were. She had been through plenty of hardships in her life. Each of which she had to endure alone. She was glad however, that this time, she wouldn't have to be. And suddenly, she was feeling better already.