Once the Careers approached the falls, Stark shouted over the roar, "Three inside the cave and two look around out here!" It was then that he noticed how small his group was. Two were dead already (Stark assumed Theeta was dead), not including the two tributes who were supposed to guard their supplies. Putting it out of his mind, Stark put his hatchet into his mouth and hugged the rock wall beside the waterfall, carefully edging himself on the slippery cliff that lead to the cave. Giving a brief look around, Stark flipped on a flashlight and immediately began advancing into the cave as Coren and another Career, Yannick, just got off the ledge.<br/><br/>When the stream of light fell upon a large black object, Stark jumped back and raised his hatchet on instinct. As they were sprinting toward him, Coren and Yannick halted as he did, staring at what his flashlight found.<br/><br/>"Is that a<span style="font-style: italic">spider</span>?" asked Coren with a disgusted look. It certainly was, but it was upside down with its legs curled inward. Taking a few steps toward it, Stark jabbed it with his hatchet and, receiving no response, gave it a chop. Examining his blade, he said, "It's dead, but we can expect there to be more around here."<br/><br/>"Then we should get out of here," said Yannick, disguising his fear with assurance, "before they attack us." Stark looked back at the boy with a sneer and said, "If one of those bastards can kill it, then it should be no problem for us." He pointed to the falls with a smirk. "But there's the exit if you wanna take it." He turned back around and ran deeper into the cave as the other two followed.<br/><br/>***<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">Why can't I just stay here?</span><br/><br/>Eden looked over at Day Z and saw that she came out of her unconsciousness. He saw that Rye picked her up and began walking away. He smiled, glad to see Rye break his promise not to hold her anymore. They were expecting him to get up. to follow them to a safer place. to keep holding onto life. He turned away from their shrinking images and stared up at the sky, trying to think of reasons to fufill their expectations.<br/><br/>"<span style="font-style: italic">Eeee</span>deen." That was all Eden needed to get up and pursue his allies. He wanted to move more quickly, but his legs had gone numb; all the running he could manage was a fast pace for staggering. His eyes began to tingle and he noticed blurs around the edges of his vision. He blinked rapidly, but the effects only got worse. He stared at the back of Rye's shirt, seeing it expand as the colors shifted like it was breathing. When he looked around at the trees, the boughs twitched frivolously while the bark dragged itself over it. He realized that the branches were shaking to get the bark off of them. He heard Rye and Day Z speaking, but it sounded distant and muffled, like it was spoken through cotton. Everything was vague and dreamy, as if he was only partially conscious.<br/><br/>The only thing that reminded him that he was awake was his tangible sense. All over Eden's skin was tingling. He felt a thousand spiders crawling all over him, but they were too small to see. He tried to brush them away, but none of the tingling would yield. When he tried to raise his head, it took all the strength in his neck to lift it. His head seemed so heavy that it dipped forward if he didn't use his whole effort keep it up. The back of his throat burned and tasted sour. His stomach was tied in tight knots; every step he took made him feel sicker.<br/><br/>Eden heard Rye's question about shooting a gun and tried to respond in the negative, but all that came out was a shuddering groan. When they stopped, he made a sudden gasp and hugged a tree to keep himself from collapsing. He swung his fifty pound head in the direction of Rye and Day Z, seeing the hidden room within the tree. Without giving a moment to question it, Eden threw himself in and fell against the concrete wall. Slowly, he trembled as he lowered himself to the floor and began breathing deeply as he sat against the wall. He felt the intense urge to vomit, but suppressed it.<br/><br/>Eden tried to speak, but had to cough and breathe for a minute more before he gasped, "I... f-feel like... I'm dying." Tears glimmered at the edges of his eyes as he closed them.