Hewitt was mildly annoyed. While he'd been out hunting, some asshole had come into his camp and taken everything he or she could find, and now his berries and mushrooms were all gone. Throwing down a trio of squirrel corpses, he used his anger as fuel to grind his kindling and felt that stress melt away to relief when the first sparks flew, and the fire began to start up nicely.

He had just left to throw in some bigger sticks when he heard the pounding of frantic footsteps, and he rolled his eyes. "I swear, if this guy ruins my fire," He muttered, reaching back and unsheathing his sais from the back of his pants. "I'm gonna blacklist him from my next forum game."

Drone stumbled into view, briefly noticed Hewitt and his weapons, and began sprinting towards him. "Shit, I need your help! They're hot on my heels!" An instant later, Kazumi and Squidd burst into the clearing themselves. There was a moment where they looked around, searching for their prey, and Hewitt had less than a second to make his move.

He looked back to his fire. It would die soon if he didn't add any more fuel to it.

"God dammit, Drone." He said, slinking back into the bushes around his camp. "Lure them in. You're gonna help me get that fire going later."

Before he could reply, Squidd had spotted Drone and she let out a shout, sprinting once more towards him with Kazumi in tow behind her. "Nowhere to run now!" She panted. "You're going down!" They reached the clearing in three seconds flat while Drone stood waiting, and he jerked out of the way as Squidd tried to tackle him. He didn't, however, avoid Kazumi's followup. She smacked into his side with an oof, and the two of them were sent rolling along the ground. Squidd was veering around to come back for the kill, and their attentions were both entirely fixed upon Drone as Kazumi struggled to hold him down.

"And the jungler comes in for the counter-gank!" Hewitt chose that moment to make his move, running from his hiding spot and booting Kazumi in the side with a vicious kick, and she let go of Drone with a pained squeak. Squidd, seeing the new threat, changed targets and ran towards Hewitt instead. She used her running momentum to slide into a powerful standing kick, which Hewitt sidestepped easily before slamming the hilt of his sai down upon her leg. Stepping forward, he raked his weapon across the woman's torso, leaving bloody scratches, but Squidd only cried out in fury and twisted around, catching Hewitt off guard with a backhand to his face.

Kazumi had regained her feet and watched what was going on, her eyes wide with fear, before Squidd screamed, "Come and help me you fucking coward!" She shook her head, but complied, running against her will as Hewitt fought off Squidd's fists, still reeling. He managed to knock one of Squidd's arms away, slashing at it with the other hand and splitting open the arm's muscles, and then Kazumi tackled him against his side, holding tight for her life and with her eyes squeezed shut, expecting to be stabbed at any moment.

"God dammit." Hewitt cursed. He didn't want to kill her. Not yet, at least. He instead fought to keep his balance as Squidd came in again, roaring and bloodied, her eyes wild with the thrill of violence. As she aimed a flying kick at the man's chest, Hewitt slammed down a sai into the meat of her thigh even as the blow knocked him off of his feet, and the two of them were sent tumbling. Squidd's hands locked around his remaining weapon at once as they wrestled upon the ground, and out of sheer ferocity she yanked it from his grasp. There was no hesitation before she reared back and stabbed down at Hewitt's face... but her strike was blocked by two desperate arms, and Hewitt struggled against her strength and leverage and gravity itself as Squidd leaned onto her arms, forcing the weapon's point closer and closer towards his throat.

And then Drone ran up and kicked her head like it was a football. It snapped painfully to the side and she became limp at once, and Squidd fell unconscious over Hewitt's form, ironically almost pushing the blade into Hewitt with the added weight.

Kazumi was still holding tight, whimpering.

Hewitt panted hard, rolling from underneath Squidd's corpse before calmly forcing Kazumi's fingers apart from his side. Drone asked, "What are we gonna do about her?"

"Squidd was probably forcing her to go along." He gasped. "She's not going to hurt anyone, now. Are you, Kazumi?"

"What?" The girl asked, looking to Drone and Hewitt before quickly averting her eyes back to the ground. "No... Squidd almost killed me earlier, but I told her I'd help her if she spared me. I didn't want to hurt anyone. I still don't. I just don't want to die..."

This damned game. Hewitt thought. It's making killers out of us all. "Listen," he said. "I have a fire going back at my camp. Three squirrels, too. How about you help Drone and I start it back up? We don't have to kill anyone." Not tonight, at least.

"I would love that." Kazumi said, and she meant it. At his gesture, she and Drone headed back to the fire to get it started back up, and Hewitt stood over Squidd's still-breathing form.

He made sure Kazumi wasn't looking when he drove his sai through her eye and into her brain.
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"We found it! There's where he sleeps!" Lamitrov was delighted, despite Zero shushing him. "Scatter has a sword. What do you say we deal with him like we dealt with Cyber?" She asked, a wicked look in her eyes.

"What do you mean? There's no cliffs anywhere near here." Zero replied, dubious.

"No, I mean through guerilla warfare! We're gonna destroy his camp. And all his food and equipment. We won't have to fight his sword if he dies from starvation."

Zero grinned, loving the plan already. "Alright, let's not waste any time. It doesn't look like he's around."

After looking to make sure Scatter wasn't hiding, Zero and Lamitrov entered his camp and quickly proceeded to toss all of his food into the dwindling fire, along with his pillow, his bags, his rope, and anything else they could find while Lamitrov cackled evilly. "Who needs a sword? That's not any good against our teamwork!"

Zero opened his mouth to make a reply, but it snapped shut with an audible clack as his eyes fell upon Scatter; his arms full of wood for his fire, jaw dropped wide open as he looked at the ruins of his camp, and the blazing of the fire that burned with all his stuff.

And then they locked onto Zero and Lamitrov with burning hatred. "I'm going to fucking kill you!" He screamed in his rage. He drew his sword at once and began sprinting towards them, his eyes full of the desire to spill their blood.

"That's our cue to leave. If he sprains an ankle chasing us, all the better" Lami said, before sticking out her tongue and blowing raspberries at the furious swordsman. "Catch us if you can, asswipe! We'll see you tomorrow night!" And then she sprinted off.

Zero briefly wondered if he was going to be able to keep up with Lamitrov's tricks, before he followed hot on her heels.
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The night was dark, and outside the heat of Root's fire was only danger, cold, and an unforgiving land. He curled close around the small flames that still flickered, staring sleepily into them as he drifted closer and closer to an uneasy sleep.

He hadn't seen anyone since the games began, and maybe that was a good thing. But man, it really was lonely to try and survive like this. The loneliness felt like a sickness inside of him, hollowing him out and leaving nothing behind but emptiness, and something else that shouldn't belong in a thinking, loving person. A primal urge to survive, simply because instinct willed it.

There was no one else around to hear him as he tried to sing himself to sleep.
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