Until the Dawn Arrives

10:00 P.M.

A/N: Oh look! Another chapter! It only took almost six months! Anyways, I'm really sorry that the update took so long. The issue I have with writing this story is that in each chapter, I attempt to outdo the last one. Now, I feel like in the first chapter of the Arena, I set a pretty high standard for myself, and the last thing I want to do is disappoint all of you with a crappy chapter. So, I really hope the wait was worth it for you. Thank you all so much for sticking around to this story, it means a lot. Enjoy!
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Maya drew Ginger's arm closer to herself, holding it at the elbow.

"We're going to need a knife," Maya mumbled. Ginger whimpered at the worried faces Maya and Jasmine wore. Maya moved to take the damaged flesh in her other hand, "Alright, Ginger, I'm just going to-"

She firmly grasped the forearm, and the blackened limb crumbled into nothing more than ashes in Maya's hand.

Ginger opened her mouth to scream, but Jasmine quickly clamped her hand over the orifice.

"THEY, could find us, remember?" Jasmine reprimanded.

Ding.

Ding.

Ding.

"It's ten o' clock," Jasmine stated, quite needlessly.

"It feels like it's been nine for a whole summer, and then some," Maya added in wonder.

"Come on, we need to go. We- especially Ginger- aren't safe anywhere," Jasmine reminded them.

She shuffled out of the woods, Ginger close on her tail, still mourning the loss of her arm. Jasmine's eyes darted around watchfully. They couldn't trust anything they looked upon. The woods and their thoughts had turned against them already. Anything could be next. Jasmine would not have been surprised if the very stars in the sky rained down upon the unsuspecting contestants.

The silence was too thick for Jasmine's liking. She had never been this put off in her life. The wall had been built centuries before she was born, so she had known nothing of fear, known nothing of danger, known nothing of death. Safety was the only thing that she had ever known before now.

Jasmine felt the sudden need to tear the blanket of quiet surrounding them, and it was all she could to hold that impulse back. Sound could be their enemy in this round. Their voices could be the device of their murder. Any unnecessary risk, including a simple uttering of, "How are you holding up," was not to be taken.

The deafening quiet continued, pounding on Jasmine's ears. Each beat was louder than the last, like a bass drum in her head. It became the background noise to her actions.

Ba-dum. Step.

Ba-dum. Step.

Ba-dum. Step.

Ba-dum.

A screech pierced through her. Jasmine turned, "Did you hear that?"

Another horrible screech, not coming from the outside, but rather within her, reverberating between her ears. The two other girls looked at her strangely.

"Please tell me you're hearing that too," she practically begged of them. A cold dread sunk into her heart.

Maya and Ginger smiled hungrily at Jasmine, approaching her with threatening steps. Jasmine slowly backed up as the two prowled up to her. There was only one explanation that she could think of to explain this, and she shouted it out to see fit she was right.

"It's not you! THEY are controlling you! Don't give in, I'm your friend!" she cried out.

Maya and Ginger cared not for her words and continued to move forward upon Jasmine.