Sonya used her body weight to pin Dylan's hand to the ground beneath her foot. He yelled out in pain and pulled his hand from the weight of her bloody shoe.

Even through her injury, she managed to grab the knife before anyone could stop her. Before she could enact any nefarious plan with the blade, Spencer had dashed outside to envelope her in a bear hug, thwarting any potential harm.

He pinned her arms at her sides as she cried out for him to, "Let me go, asshole."

"Drop the knife!" he demanded, not letting up.

I urged Jade back into the corner of the room and away from the growing chaos. I quickly rushed to Spencer's side to help him handle Sonya as she thrashed about. He pinned her arms at her sides and allowed me to cautiously grab the knife from her grip.

"Careful, you guys," Jade called out.

Just as I pried the handle from her grip, the familiar booming stomps stopped us all in our tracks. We looked up to see the giant troll a few feet away but close enough to see the details of his cloudy green irises and the whites that surrounded them as they focused on us.

Once the Troll had a beat on us, triggered by all the commotion, he charged. Thumping, stomping, and quaking the ground with every hefty step. At over ten feet tall he had the weight to make him a force to be reckoned with.

Only feet away, the range of his reach made it easy for him to swipe at Spencer and barely miss as he and Sonya dodged out of the way of his massive arm. They quickly ducked inside the safe house before the Troll could double back.

"Mmm." he growled in frustration. "Play."

Spencer and Sonya crashed into each other inside the safety of the wooden shack, nearly knocking us down like bowling pins. The Troll crouched down to peer inside the open door and locked his gaze on me. I looked into its cloudy eyes and saw something more than just a monstrous creature wanting to toss us around like ragdolls.

Even so, I quickly slammed the door shut before he could blink.

Out of nowhere, the weight of my brass cuff suddenly lightened as someone swiped the blade. I didn't even bother to look to the ground to see if it had fallen. I pivoted, eyeing Sonya who was crouched as she got to her feet. Sure enough, she gripped the blade in her palm. The sharpened metal rested near her fingers as she used the grip in the center to comfortably fit it in her grasp.

Without hesitating, she heaved it back to throw at me. As audible gasps filled the room, I lifted my cuffed arm and twisted it, drawing the blade from her grip. She hollered out in pain as the metal hurled toward the magnetic cuff and back to its rightful place. A stream of red liquid oozed from her finger as the edge had sliced the tip in the process.

Before she could lurch at me, Millie tackled her back to the ground and straddled her to pin her in place. "Get off of me." She squirmed but couldn't push Millie off.

Millie anchored Sonya's down by pressing down on her shoulders using her body weight. Through clenched teeth she demanded, "Stop fighting and I'll let you go."

In frustration, Dylan smacked his lips so loud it grabbed all our attention. "What are you doing?" he cried out. "Kill her already." When we all paused, he moved close enough to eclipsed them both and angle the sharpened stone tip of his spear at Sonya's heart.

I rushed forward to pull the makeshift spear from its target and sabotage his aim. "Hey, what are you doing?" He turned to me so quick, I lifted my cuff to remind him I had my own defense.

"This is my chance to get ahead in the game. So, if you're not gonna kill her, I will." He glanced to his brother for approval and got it when Spencer refused to butt in. But seconds went by, and the way sweat trickled down his temples and his breaths tripled brought doubt to the forefront.

I called his bluff. "You know what?" I let go of the thorny stick and stepped back. "You're right. Have at it." I stood back.

He glanced around at each of us as we watched and waited for his next move. Something told me he wouldn't kill her in cold blood, especially with no one antagonizing him. Sonya was at his mercy, at all ours. From any other perspective, she would look like the helpless victim in a coordinated attack.

Was that assessment far off?

He took control of the spear, walking around Millie and Sonya as they both froze and watched in anticipation. As he stopped above Sonya's head and looked down at her, she finally screamed and tried fighting back by writhing beneath Millie's bodyweight.

Even if I didn't want it to, her terrified screams pierced my heart, and I couldn't bear to watch whatever was certain to happen next. "Alright," I said, hoping to put an end to the tense and uncomfortable situation.

"No!" Dylan said, without even looking up from Sonya's tear-filled stare. "I need this money. I need this win."

Spencer's slow-paced footsteps echoed all around us, one then the other until he paused inches from Dylan and rested his palm on Dylan's shoulder. "Bro?"

"We need this, right?" Dylan finally looked up and into his brother's eyes, revealing his wet and puffy eyelids. "I can't keep struggling. I gotta get out of this country. We gotta get mama out of this—"

"Brother." Spencer gently squeezed Dylan's shoulder.

A few uncomfortable seconds ticked by before Dylan lowered the spear and wiped the glistening tears from his cheeks with the back of his hand. "Fuck," he murmured in defeat.

Millie's eyes widened as she'd realized what she was about to participate in. "What am I doing?" She finally pushed herself to stand and backed away from Sonya as Sonya quickly sat and shuffled backward on her bottom until her back hit the nearest wall.

Jade eyed Sonya's knife in Spencer's hand. "I'll take that." She extended her reach until Spencer reluctantly placed the knife in her palm.

Without warning, Sonya stood and rushed Jade. Just as she was about to grab the knife, I tackled Sonya and we both hit the ground. She landed a swift blow to my ribs and a cried out in pain, returning the favor with a jab to her gut.

She curled into the fetal position and struggled for breath, reminding me of the helpless rat we managed to save. Spencer and Millie aided in helping Sonya to stand, holding her by her arms to keep her from attacking again.

She glared at me. "You fucked up my foot and finger. So now I'm gonna fuck you up."

"I'm just playing the game," I threw my words at her. "Taking a cue from you." I gripped my side, feeling the pain from my bruised and swollen abdomen return.

"You'll never be anything like me," she growled. "I can promise you, that jackpot is mine."

"You're right, I don't strive to be a killer," I clarified. "But I'm willing to do whatever I have to so I can protect the ones I love. You can't say the same."

"You come from the streets like a knight in shining armor and you haven't protected shit," she said through clenched teeth. "You can keep that savior complex for your girlfriend."

"Don't you care about anything?" I shook my head in confusion. "Don't you care that your brother has been missing? Don't you feel bad for killing his daughter?"

"Shut up about that!" She cried out so loud a few thumps of the Troll's footsteps quaked the ground nearby as if he was startled by the noise. "I didn't hurt my niece on purpose, and I don't have to explain that to you or anyone."

"Maybe to a judge and jury," Millie said.

"Shut the fuck up," Sonya went on.

"You had it out for me since we met." Millie sneered. "So, no. I won't do anything, especially shut up."

"You thought you could take me out first," she went on. "Thought I was slim pickings, huh?" A hysterical chuckle escaped her lips. "You thought 'Oh she's a skinny, stupid bitch. I can take her down easily.'"

"No," Millie whined, giving away the lie. "I was only testing your skill."

"You thought, 'She can't even see properly,' and were waiting for the perfect chance to strike."

"What are you talking about?" Millie shook her head. "You have bad eyesight?"

"Stop playing cute." She finally snatched her arms from Millie and Spencer's grip and slid back down the wall to show she could cooperate. She rested her elbows on her bent and raised knees. "I know what you're up to."

Millie stared, and after a few seconds an all-knowing smirk curled the corner of her lip. "Ah, I see what you're doing. You're trying to manipulate us into thinking you're not a threat so we can let our guard down. But you just gave away something important without even knowing it." When Sonya just stared, Millie went on, "Your vision sucks, huh?"

Suddenly it hit me. "That makes sense! That's why you couldn't aim accurately when you tried throwing that knife at Spencer's head. You need glasses, huh?"

"Wrong." She huffed and looked back and forth between Millie and I. "Glasses is the last thing you need when you're legally blind in one eye."

I sneered at her confession. "So why would you admit that to us, your competitors? Seems like something you'd want to keep to yourself in this game."

"Because the state is gonna try me for manslaughter for my niece's death and I'm tired of being labeled a murderer in the court of public opinion," she answered without hesitation or even blinking.

"You can blame the Games for that narrative." I mimicked her attitude and stared.

"So, what happened then?" Millie crossed her arms over her chest.

Sonya huffed and stared ahead as if readying herself to relive the horror. "I ran a daycare at home, sitting for the people in my area for a bit of change. Tobey had a gig lined up that had him trucking to the coast to deliver major appliances to big businesses. The job would have him on the road for days straight. So, he asked me to babysit Abigail."

"Yeah?" Millie encouraged.

Sonya must've taken offense to Millie prying and her eyebrows dipped. "And she choked on a toy. I had no idea anything was wrong. I never even knew she was playing with a toy so small until they found it in her throat."

"My goodness!" Jade pressed her palm to the center of her chest.

I shook my head. "You had no business babysitting anyone's child if you're ill equipped for the job."

"And yet you call yourself a social activist but signed up for the national competition you're trying to bring down." She shook her head and let it hang between her bent knees. "Don't preach to me."

"Preach?" I sneered.

"Look at what you did to my foot!" She pointed to the bloody hole in the top of her shoe with her sliced finger. "Trying to act all high and mighty, like you're above killing, but if given the chance you would've killed me in cold blood. The only thing stopping you is the millions of judging eyes watching." She met my angry stare with a similar one. "Your sister has more balls than you would ever have."

Millie uncrossed her arms. "Shut up, will you?"

I sensed the subtle flattery in Millie's tone even though she tried to hide it.

Sonya grinned. "Oh, trying to find another reason to squeeze me between your legs and put your hands all over me? If you want to touch it, just admit it. I'll let you." Her eyes narrowed in spite as she crooked her wounded finger. "I dare you to try that shit again."

Millie grabbed a handful of her hair, but I stepped in just in time to stop things from escalating. "Don't," I said. "This is a safe zone. Let's try to keep it that way."

Millie let go and instead of touching her, she used her words. "For the record, I'm not afraid to play this game and get my hands dirty if I have to."

Sonya gestured to me with a nudge. "Even when you're pitted against your sister?"

"Kam and I will win together."

"Sure." Sonya scoffed.

"You're not even concerned for your own brother," Millie went on. "Says a lot."

"My brother wants me dead just like the rest of you." She didn't even bat an eye. "It's best if we stay far away from each other."

"What if he's already dead?" I asked and retrieved the pieces of jet-black hair the rat had brought to our doorstep. "Does that ruffle your feathers?"

She frowned at the hair as I tossed it to the floor next to her. "He's gone, not dead."

"You seem so sure." I cocked my head waiting for an explanation.

"Tobey's a smart man," she said in a matter-of-fact tone. "There's no problem he can't find his way out of. He may have told you he was coerced into joining the Games, but he wants that jackpot as much as we all do. He's not going down without a fight. It's engrained in the Torres blood."

Her eyes didn't leave mine until the reverberations of the Troll's nearby footsteps shook the shack and stopped us all in our tracks.

Spencer gestured to the door. "That's another problem we have to figure out." He looked at Dylan as he spoke.

"He's pacing around just waiting for us to step out," Dylan said.

"Speaking of leaving," I mentioned. "Anyone else think it's weird a game hasn't started yet?"

"Maybe they're wrapping up for the day?" Jade suggested. "Maybe we'll get a night of rest until the next episode airs?"

"I wouldn't count on it." I paced back and forth, keeping Sonya in my periphery.

As I stepped toward the front of the room, a knock on the door stopped me in my tracks. The clear and calm thump of knuckle on wood caused a panic throughout the space and left me paralyzed as I stared in anticipation of who or what was on the other side awaiting us to answer.