I was covered in blood.

Again.

This time my own blood mingled, oozing out of various cuts and slashes. The pain was tolerable for now. So I waded out of the water with a purpose.

My fellow contestants were staring at me, their weapons lax in their hands. Lukas was clearly assessing me to see what kind of threat I was, and that husky gigolo was giving me a look that made me shiver.

Thankfully, I didn't have to address either of them since a short blond girl approached me.

"You're hurt."

I looked at her curiously. Maybe twenty or twenty-one, her voice was soft and concerned as she reached out fearlessly. She grabbed my arm and starting tended to my wounds even as her own palms were stained red.

"Clive is gone. So are Hector, Ruby, and Dave... Remmy, too."

She was thin, and her arms probably couldn't support more than the simplest of weapons, but her mind was sharp.

"Alice, get away from him."

"He's hurt."

"We're all hurt. I'm hurt!"

Alice didn't look up. She used alcohol and gauze scavenged from the dead dwarves to wrap my forearm.

"Did you not see what he did!? He's not right in the head."

Lukas looked to the others for support and started to brandish his weapon. Before things devolved further and I lost the remnants of my adrenaline, I asked a question that was still on my mind.

"Did a woman with brown hair come through here?"

Lukas seemed shocked that I was capable of civilized speech.

"No. Why do you care?"

"So she did come through here."

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"I didn't say that."

"Which way?"

Lukas' face was too handsome to snarl, but he did so anyway. I ignored him and looked to the others in turn. Several of them flinched or gave me disapproving looks despite having saved them from heavier losses. Maybe getting the last hit on their companion was a step too far.

Points are precious. And Remmy didn't feel excess pain. Exploding was a quicker way to go than disembowelment. Admittedly not by much, but it was the best move given the situation.

The Canadian girl in particular was glaring at me with her arms crossed. One young man was busy gazing at me with admiration in his eyes and another who's thoughts were hidden behind a pair of glasses. I spotted a teenager in a blue unicorn onesie staring off into the distance, chewing on a lollipop stick.

This group was barely formed and already heavily divided. It was only a matter of time before they self-destructed.

I returned my gaze to the petite girl wrapping my arm. I stopped her.

"Which way?"

"I didn't see."

A new voice spoke up; a woman of Chinese descent. Her voice was firm. It lacked the disgust of the Canadian, but also Alice's bedside manner.

"Why are you looking for her?"

"She stole something from me."

"I bet she did."

"He's probably going to kill her like the dwarves."

"I can still see Remmy exploding."

"Isn't that his arm over there?"

"Everyone take a breath."

The woman retook control of the conversation. She appeared used to managing children.

"Tell us what you intend to do, or else no one will help you."

She appeared sincere enough, but I'd already delayed too long.

I gently separated from Alice and stepped forward. I looked past the gathered humans and counted the tunnels leading away from the oasis.

There was the one I used. The passageway on the other side was splattered with dwarven debris, which likely led to more dwarves. It is unlikely this group of humans would have spawned inside a dwarven hotspot, so they must have come from one of the two remaining directions.

I followed the gaze of the teenager in the blue unicorn onesie.

Of the last two, one was large, and the other was barely wide enough for a normal human.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"You're still hurt."

I ignored Alice and Lucas equally. Water still dripped down my legs and I could feel my socks squelching with each step. Regardless, I set my sights on the smallest passageway.

I passed by the asian woman. She disected me with her eyes as if she trying to read my thoughts. I gave her something else to think about.

"Blood attracts scavengers."

That was enough of a reason for her to place me lower among her priorities. She addressed the others with impressive authority.

"Get what you can from the bodies and fish them out of the water. Gather them together so we can burn them. More of those cat creatures are coming. Do you want to get caught out like this? Move!"

"You heard the lady."

"Alice, can you look at my leg?"

"Mm. Let's wash it off."

"Zoey, those shoes won't fit you, help me move the body."

"How would you know what my shoe size is, perv? Move it yourself."

"Ew, the water's all bloody."

The rest melded into white noise as I squeezed my way through the small gap in the wall.