thearena | Love bites.

"Hello?"

"K -Kaaaarrls" Eponine's voice, even more choked than usual, sounded out from between the statues, but there was no movement to be seen. She didn't get up to see Orc, she didn't dance forward as she often had to greet him. She didn't stick her head out from between the rows and beckon him in. No, it'd be up to Orc to find her.

When he did happen upon her, it was not a pretty sight. Eponine was sprawled inches away from her nest, face down in a growing pool of vomit. Her clothes were torn and tattered, and drenched in blood. Her skin had turned from it's usual olive to a greyish green, and fresh sores were even now ripping her skin. Every now and again, she half sat, and vomited again. And softly, softly, she cried to herself.

"Oh no..." He moaned and stumbled forward, crashing into a wax doll and shoving it over, tripping on a spare dress before he tumbled into her nest, knee landing firmly in some disgusting fluid.

"Eponine! What happened!?" He'd failed her again! He was failing everyone around him! Why couldn't he make anyone happy and safe?

"Rrrr..." she slurred. She pushed herself up so that she balanced on her knees and her hands, and she turned her head away so that she could vomit again, hopefully not all over Orc. She shivered, and sobbed again.

"Rrrr... bit... me... dying..." It was taking so long to say the words, so long to search through the mush that her brain was becoming so that she could understand what Orc was asking and reply to him.

"Ple...ase... do.... no... leave me." She reached out to touch Orc with her clammy hand. She felt so, so cold, and he radiated heat... smelled so delicious.

R. Of course it was R. Who else could make her look this sick? He felt a twisting in his gut and the stench alone made him want to throw up himself. But he hadn't eaten anything in a day and a half.

He knew he shouldn't get closer. He knew that if she was becoming like R then his soft fleshy parts wouldn't be safe...

...but he couldn't abandon her. Even knowing how upset Howard was.

"I won't leave you." He promised and took her cold clammy hand in his own pudgy warm paw. He put his broken hand over hers so it was sandwiched between warmth.

"It's gonna be OK. You're gonna wake up in the Capitol and you can have a drink and forget about this."

"I'm... sorry... so... sorry... K-Karrrls." She heaved again, and turned once more as she coughed up acid. But she turned back to him.

"You smell so... so... dee...gooo...d." Eponine half moved towards Orc, an expression caught somewhere between a smile and a grimace on her face. "He... helped... me... asked..."

Waking up in the Capitol, drinking away her memories... no, she didn't want to do that. She just - oh, she just wanted to be left alone. To die for good, and for it all to be over. That was all she wanted. Just to sleep peacefully for once, and go somewhere lovely, where she wouldn't be hurt again.

"Die... with... me"

"W-what?"

He knew she wanted to die, and truth be told he still considered it now and again. But the combination of her words and asking him to do so was enough to chill his blood to ice. He didn't draw away though. He wasn't afraid of her...just what he might do.

"Do...n't... leave... me... alone... wake... up... alone..."

She shivered again, her body convulsing as another sore opened on her already scarred face. All around her eyes, the hooks from the mask had shredded the skin as she tugged it away. And now, another sore, showing blackened and dull rust coloured flesh, opened up on her forehead.

"Please..." She moved towards Charles again, almost collapsing back into her vomit as she did.

"I'm... sca...ared."

Instinct guided him. There was nothing as distressing to a teenage boy as a crying girl. Even a crying, dying, zombiefing girl.

He put his arms around her and drew her close. "You're only alone if you let yourself be." He quoted someone who had been trying to cheer him up when he was drunk, was it Howard? Probably not. His heart sank when he thought of Howard. He still had to make things right with Howard somehow!

First thing was first though. This delicate, broken, mess of a girl getting puke on his PJs needed comfort in her last few moments. At least he could do that right.

She cuddled into him, revelling in his soft flesh, in his warmth. It was like hugging a giant hot water bottle. And - oh, oh, he was so, so warm and lovely, And he smelled so good. So... she could hear his heart beating somewhere below her ear, beating with a steady pulse as it drove his blood through his body. And she could smell salt all over his skin from his stale sweat. Tentatively, she pulled herself up from him so that she could reach his face, and even more tentatively, she ran her tongue over his neck. It was disgusting, but... oh she needed it. So easy, so easy just to... bite.

But no. She wanted him to want it. She NEEDED him to want it as well. She would not kill again.

He couldn't help it. Guilt washed over him as she licked his neck and though her tongue lacked the warmth it once had it still sent shivers through him the woke up his confused teenage libido. A stiffness in his stained and ruined PJ pants.

He hoped she wouldn't notice and he held her close, bracing himself for what he suspected would be like a scene from any number of zombie movies he and Howard had snuck into back home.

But Eponine was crying again, or at least trying to. The truth was that there were no tears left for her to cry, no liquid left, really, in her body at all.

"Do... want... to..?" She rasped out, leaning back a little so that she could look Charles in the eye. She needed him to volunteer for it, to love her so much that he would give up his life to stay with her, to love her so much that he would give his everything to her.

While Orc maybe didn't think of it nearly to that level, he could see how important this was to him.

But he was scared. For the first time in a long time he was scared of dying and he couldn't figure out why.

Orc knew thinking wasn't his strong suit. Acting rash, doing things impulsively. That was how he did things.

But how did Charles do things?

He wanted Charles to be different from Orc. To be a better man then Orc.

A compassionate man.

He nodded gently "Alright. Let's die." He mumbled softly sheepish and still ashamed that she had turned him on in this state.

This was all his fault after all. He should have protected her.

"For...give... me... Karrrls." She brushed her cold, dead lips over his cheeks, littering empty kisses there. And she kissed his lips too, shuddering through the deep cold stealing over her body even as she did it.

"Better... for...get... alll..." She muttered hoarsely, before she sank her teeth into his chubby cheek.

He winced, every muscle in his body tightening as he felt the pinch turn into somethign so much worse. Blood gushed around her teeth as she pierced the skin and he howled like a wounded dog. He had to curl his fingers in her dress till it tore to keep from lashing out as his bodies instinct to pain took over.

She didn't let go. She flung her arms about his neck, and laced her fingers together, pulling tight so that he would not easliy shake her off. And she clung on with her teeth as well, digging in harder so that he would not dislodge her grip. How would she know when to stop? When he vomited? Or did that come later? She couldn't remember it at all.

She heard the rip of her dress, but she didn't care, and she moved with him. Let him hurt her. Let the pain he inflicted on her make her forget about everything she had ever done to him and everybody else.

As his cheek ripped clean from his head blood spattered against Eponine's face and down her front and he could not help but scream in pain. Tears ran down his face and he found himself gripping her even with his broken hand causing even more pain.

Darkly he wondered if he tasted good.

Was that all she needed? Would she stop? His breathing was heavy now, his mind racing as adrenaline surged through him now.

His flesh was in her mouth and without even thinking, she chewed hungrily on it. Blood oozed from between her teeth and down over her slowly darkening lips. She ate with her mouth open, so he could see his flesh being ground into mush. She hadn't even registered what she was doing. All she knew was that it tasted good, that she needed more.

More.

She blinked slowly, and focused back on Orc. She was barely aware of his blood on her face, mingling with Homura's and her own. She didn't realise how tight he held her. All she knew was that she needed more.

She tried to bite down again, on his other cheek.

It didn't hurt as badly the second time.

Perhaps it was because he was witnessing the horror of his girlfriend eating what had formerly been his cheek. This time he could not take it anymore and as the cheek separated from his face he howled and cursed and pushed back to put at least six inches between them.

But he still couldn't bring himself to let go.

"I-isn't that enough?" He shuddered and sobbed as involuntary tears mixed with his open wounds and stung him. He sounded hopeful but also hurting. "Will I die now?"

"Don't... know..." She rasped out around the flesh in her mouth. It made her tongue sound thick, doubly thick than it really was. "So...sorry."

Eponine had no idea what would happen now at all. Her speech was becoming slower, more and more slurred as the minutes passed. She was finally in the last stages of zombification. Finally, finally, some of her past was fading into nothingness and she didn't bother to fight to remember names and faces. Instead, she just clung onto Orc.

"Don't...leave...me...Kaaaa-" What was his name again?

He felt her grip like claws digging into his arm. More blood, she could probably smell it all over him now. He felt terrible but he knew what she wanted, a promise that she was worth loving.

Something he'd wanted for the last year.

Bracing himself for the worst, he brought his lips to hers, feeling the slimy disgusting coat of bodily fluids that was thick on them. One last kiss for her before she died.

He knew what would come next.

And she did. She died even as they kissed. Her grip on his arms slackened and her nails tore down his poor arms as she sagged down. Her cold, black lips trailed down from his lips as she slumped to the ground. For now, she was dead, but she'd wake again soon.

But in that moment when she was still vaguely aware enough to remember, she knew that she loved this man who would sacrifice his life to make her happy. She knew that she would give her loyalty, unquestioningly, to him. That she'd give herself, as little as that was to offer, to him.

But the thought was gone in the blink of an eye, as she collapsed, a corpse, against him.

He held her close and shuddered with revulsion and sorrow as he realized what was coming.

Had Howard ever held her like this?

Had Aunamee?

The thought filled him with rage.

Already he was starting to feel sick and cold. How long would it take? Would he have enough time to see her come back?

Howard.

Aunamee.

Their faces continued to float through his mind. He had unfinished business with both of them. How could he have been so stupid to think he could leave without them?

Laying her down in the dresses she loved so much he brushed her greasy dirty hair back with his pudgy fingers.

"See you soon." He promised before shambling to his feet and limping for the far wall.

There hung a mask, a hockey mask specifically. It had belong to some long forgotten tribute but it was there now. He had heard about what the masks could do and he was hesitant to try.

But the stones had saved him once...and he had unfinished business to attend to.

With a trembling hand it took it off the wall. His stomach knotted and twisted in on itself. It felt like his insides were cooking. Was this the virus or was he that afraid of what he was about to do?

With one last sad look at his soft flesh hand that was now covered in blood, he brought the mask to his face.

The change was instant. He felt the open stinging wounds in his cheeks stiffen up like someone was pinching at his face. Soon the familiar tightness was spreading over his nose and forehead, along his scalp and down his neck.

He groaned and doubled over as a layer of stone spread over him like water running down his back in the shower. After so long in real skin it felt heavy and unnatural again. He shuddered as it passed into his hand and he felt the bones being reset and tightened together, like the breaks were melting back into place. The pain was gone.

But inside he was dieing.

With an anguished cry he slammed two stone fists into the wall shaking it and sending decorations scattering. He had once again become the monster he had been so happy to leave behind.

Rising to his thick stone feet, Orc began his hunt.

Either he would apologize to Howard, or he would murder Aunamee before the virus took him.

And may god have mercy on him if he failed.

His heavy footsteps could be heard long before he actually arrived.

Shuffling and stumbling through the halls he felt hot, like he had a fever. Starving too. His stomach snarled at him and it fed into the anger he felt.

Anger at himself. At Howard, Eponine, Diana, The Capitol. Just about everyone.

Orc the monster was back in the arena, and his time was running out.

Fueled by emotional pain and driven by the physical pain he was ready to share the pain with anyone stupid enough to get in his way.

It had been a long and tiring day.

She was sweaty, dirty, and right now she didn't care. She had to go to the bathroom to fucking cry, because she couldn't even fucking be there to see Ellie go, and it might as well have been karma laughing at her. Once, JUST once, she broke her oath. She had to kill dirty, and she had to live with it, but that wasn't enough. Her friend (BEST friend) killed and left for her and Joel to see, and she couldn't even be there, because Joel shoved her away.

And she let him, because...she couldn't do that again, even knowing she would come back. For Guy, for Hawkeye, for even fucking Sandy, but Ellie? Christ.

She was not so into herself, though, that she could ignore stumbling rock guy. He was pretty loud.

"The fuck..."

He was starting to get delirious, and in his delirium her roared out the first name that brought anger to his mind.

"AUNAMEE!" His booming roar rattled the glass on the display cases.

"AUNAMEE GET OUT HERE AND FACE ME!" He slammed a fist into the nearest wall blowing a hole clean through it so you could see into the display on the other side. If the dummies in period clothing could they should have turned in shock at the new window they had.

Where Mindy could not ignore him, Orc practically tripped over her before he noticed her.

"Hey, hey, The Thing, take a pill," she said, putting her hands up. It was hard, HARD, not to smile though: sharing her hate with someone was a lot better than stewing in her own shit.

"What's your beef with that fucker?"

A voice? Oh the girl! He'd thought she was a mannequin at first.

"He's a monster." Orc snarled. "He hurts and scares my best friend. Everyone he meets..." He fumbled his explanation. "Howard...he took Howard from me and when I had the chance to kill him he still wouldn't die!"

It was too much. He seized a nearby drinking fountain and ripped it out of the ground. Blood and black slime was starting to leak from between the cracks in the stone around his mouth and chin. As water leaked and pooled around where the fountain had been, Orc hurled the machine itself over Mindy's head where it crashed into a stack of wax figures, scattering them to pieces.

Mindy was quick, and she ducked quickly to avoid getting her head taken off.

"Howard? I met the guy. Good kid, like hoe he lets heavy shit roll off his shoulder. From what I hear though, lotta drama. If he killed Howard, now I have another reason to fuck him up. Took out a friend of mine, Ellie. Know her/"

She wiped her face, where a small piece of shrapnel had glanced off her cheek.

If it was possible for rocks to go pale, Orc looked a shade more white.

"No..."

A shudder passed through him.

"What...how did he...what happened!?" He moved like he was going to grab at Mindy but stopped short and punched a fist into the ground in frustration.

"He gutted her," Mindy said, reliving it, flexing her fists. "Just took her out and ran like a fucking coward. Just came and went. If it was anyone...no man. This fuck is scum. I find him, I do him slow like back home. He''l feel everything."

Her face was hardened in resolve there.

"You all right?"

Hot white blinding fury filled his vision. It was all he could do not to trample Mindy right now. Maybe it was because he felt sticky wetness leaking out of his stones as more of the blackish blood trickled down his chest.

"Dying." He rasped and punched the ground hard enough to put a deep dent in the floor. He forced himself to his feet with a trembling arm.

"Got bit by my girlfriend...turning into a zombie." It sounded so stupid now that he said it out loud.

"I've gotta kill him..." He shuddered and the world spun for a moment so he leaned against the wall he hadn't yet punched.

"I tried in the Capitol, it didn't stick."

"Shit, no kidding? Am I going to have to worry about you biting me now? I kinda have to keep going in this Arena. It's sort of the only option I got. Is there nothing anyone can do for, uh, a zombie bite?"

Since when did a zombie bite turn you into a rock guy anyway? Just what kinda girlfriend did this guy have?

God she talked alot. She was asking so many questions he didn't know which one to answer first. Eventually he settled on the question of biting.

"I dunno...probably." He groaned and struggled to his feet. "I gotta find Aunamee. Find him before I die. Not much time left." He tried to shuffle past Mindy as if he had any idea where Aunamee was actually hiding.

"I thought the mask...I thought my powers would save me. But it's no use."

"I kept hearing about masks," Mindy said. "I can't say I felt like wearing any, but it sounds like they make you do some pretty fucked up stuff. How far gone are you, do you think?"

He shook his head not sure.

"Don't feel good. Not hungry but...might throw up." He grumbled "Like the worst hangover ever."

And he'd had some pretty bad ones.

He brought some craggy fingers to his chin and wiped the blackness from it.

"This isn't normal." He added.

So he could still drink, although he was starting to feel sick. Mindy was definitely going to have to be careful around this guy.

"Is anything about our situation normal? Who did this to you anyway?"

"My girlfrrriend." He growled the last word and shook his head with a groan of frustration before he slammed his forehead into a wall putting another hole in it.

"She's sick." And only now was Orc ready to admit she was sick in more then one way.

"I should have protected her. I should have protected someone." He sobbed though his words still sounded bitter and full of rage.

"All I do is break things!"

Someone dated a rock guy? That was not something that she thought she would hear anytime soon. It made her wonder if there was more to the story than she was hearing.

"Sick how? That she's all a zombie now? Yeah, that would follow. How do you get turned into a zombie in the first place though? Seems pretty out of the ordinary. Anyway, relax. You're a guy made of rocks, you're bound to break some shit. Just don't lose it when you do, ok?"

He couldn't. Explaining was getting too hard and he was angry and hungry and she was right there.

"Jussssssst grrrrroo." He begged as he shuddered and threw up bile and blood at her feet. He tumbled forward almost falling on her but catching himself at the last minute.

Ok, he just threw up blood and shit and almost fell on her.

"Since I'm not a dumb white girl, this is my time to go," she said. "Good luck with...whatever the fuck that is."

He waved a hand to try and make her go faster, but unfortunately lack of co-ordination made it more into a crushing backhand. He'd have to apologize for that later.

His head was throbbing. Desperately he hoped that it would go away soon.

He wanted it all to go away.

"Ow, the fuck?!" Mindy reeled, bleeding. Goddamn, ROCK HAND hurt!

In anger, maybe she shouldn't try kicking him though.

"J-just go." He groaned half begging her. When he brought up his head his eyes were full of fear for what he was becoming.

"Please." He didn't want to kill again, especially not a kid younger then him.

"Don't have to tell me twice. I may be a killer, but I'm not betting against rock fucker turning into a zombie. My chances sound pretty shit there."

Plus, she could see he didn't want this and honestly? She felt sorta sorry for him. She'd try to look him up later when he wasn't fucked by the Arena. For now, she was OUT.

"Try not to bite anyone!"

Love bites.

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