Hello and welcome back! This is Day 2 of the 67th Hunger Games. Please leave a review telling me who you want to win, who should get sponsors, if I could be doing anything better- you know the drill. Remember, you've got to stick around to know who's going to win! Anyways, enjoy!
Ella Hiddoll, D2 (12)
This year's group of Careers aren't fantastic. Sure, we've got the fun Brianna and Henry and the rational Niamh, but we also have Brad with the anger issues, Sammy the nice enough but very small and probably useless and Mike the arrogant. Brad, of course, has taken charge of the group- he smashed up the base when we suggested Niamh as a leader so we decided an easy life (or what's left of it) is best. I don't think Mike ever forgave me for what I said on the train- and I haven't forgiven him either- but I couldn't help it. When someone makes me mad, all the things that I've been too shy to say come tumbling out of my mouth.
"Alright guys, move it, move it! I want you all to brush up on your signature weapon skills- that means all of you, Sammy- while I find some tributes!" barks Brad. This makes me angry. Sure, he's leader, but he's no better than the rest of us! I see everyone else's fists clench, and I can feel it rising and rising, until...
"Why don't you practice your skills too, Brad? Are you just afraid of getting beaten up again?" I say. Immediately I regret it.
OK. So now we're definitely minus a base. Who knew that the Cornucopia was capable of being smashed so easily? We definitely can't fix it into anything remotely useful now. Suddenly, everyone is silent and turns to me. My heartbeat quickens as they pick up their weapons. I pick up my backpack with my share of stuff in it and scarper. My legs ache and my chest begins to tighten. Suddenly, I spot a willow tree. I take a knife and throw it randomly. It hits Niamh, not fatally, but enough to injure her. As she's so valuable to them, all the Careers stop to help her. Even though the pain in my chest is unbearable and I can hardly breathe, I use this time to run out of sight. Suddenly, I spot a willow tree- big with the branches hanging down to the ground. Perfect. I use the last of my strength to burst in there, only to find Meghan Bromine.
"Please...hide...me...Careers...after...me...yeah..." I manage. I thought she was going to kill me right there and then, but she's compassionate. She tells me to climb as high as it seems safe and she'd take care of the Careers. So, desperate as I was, I began to climb. As I'm so small, most of the branches can hold my weight, so I can go pretty high up. As I predicted, one of them bursts in- Henry- and begins to advance on Meghan.
"Where is she?" he demands. Meghan tries the play-dumb trick, but it's not working. He is just about to kill her when I take a knife from my belt and aim it at his head.
Meghan doesn't fully register what I did until the cannon fires. I am surprised at myself, but I was told I was to volunteer at eighteen anyway so I guess a kill was inevitable. We drag the body out until it is suitably far away enough from the tree so the Career's don't guess Meghan's location. Then, when we're safe in the tree base, she confronts me.
"Did you do that?" she asks.
"Yuh-huh," I tell her.
"Thank you for saving my life," we say simultaneously. We both laugh.
"Well, I suppose I should get going now. You would've asked someone before the Games if you wanted an alliance, and I don't want to take up your supplies. But I still won't think of you as an enemy," I say. Just as I turn around to leave, Meghan puts a hand on my shoulder.
"Kid, you can stay if you want. I mean, I can hunt pretty well, so there won't be a food shortage or anything, and you did save my life back there. Besides, I like you. So?"
A small smile spreads across my face. "Accepted," I gratefully sigh.
Ricky Mason, D3 (14)
OK, I'm minus my district partner, plus an enemy and also panicking. I've got food, water, a bow and some arrows but no camp. I just need to avoid the Cornucopia because that's where the Careers are. Suddenly I hear voices. I might not have camp but at least I should be interesting for the Capitol so they don't burn me alive or whatever. I pull back the string of my bow, and I see Brianna, as in Careers Brianna, threatening poor little Cecily from Five with a sword. Now this really gets to me. Cecily is barely twelve. She's been twelve for a week or so, which is almost eleven. Therefore she is a small child compared to me, and I feel obligated to protect her. I jump out in front of Brianna and surprise her. Shoot! Shoot! Shoot! Dammit, Kierra was the one with the bow skills. Now I'm out of arrows. As I realise this, I give up. I give up on the Games. I have nothing to use. Nowhere to hide. So I spread my arms out and say "Go on then. Do it."
She has every chance to kill me. Every chance. But she falters and pauses. I can see the fear in her eyes and I realise she can't kill. Dummies and people are different. Dummies are plastic. People have families and friends and hopes and dreams. She's never killed anyone. I begin to laugh. I take her sword from her and stab her through the stomach. "Brianna Robinson shouldn't have been the face in the sky. But it was. And it was your fault," I say. The cannon fires, and Brianna is well and truly dead. Cecily looks scared when I turn to her, but I surprise her by saying "You have an ally?"
"Yes," she replies.
"Go back to them. I won't hurt you. Promise."
She looks stunned and suspicious but what choice does she have? I nod at her and she scurries off. I keep looking for camp and eventually find a cave. I am pleasantly surprised by the fact that it has a moat around it and and some stepping stones. I can use my iodine water drops to purify the water and hey! Instant source of life. Oh yeah, things are looking up. The sky darkens as the anthem begins to play.
Henry Madderson from One is first. Then Brianna, and that's two deaths today. Hang on a minute. I used to study psychology and if school taught me anything it's that the Careers hunt in packs. The only time they split up is when they're looking for someone. If one dies, they all usually die if they're together because they stop to pick up the valuable ones- and Henry was valuable. And the only time they split up to look for someone is if they want to kill a traitor to the alliance. Assuming that that traitor wasn't Brianna, that means that somebody has run away from the Careers. Since their face wasn't in the sky, that means that the escapee is still out there. And that means that the Careers are still hunting him or her down. Which means that they're occupied with searching, which also means that their base would be left unguarded for a while... so I can steal their stuff. They're also, if my calculations that I just listed are correct, three down, with both from District One and this probable traitor gone. Four people in their alliance left and an unguarded base. I'll be feasting on their food tomorrow night.
