Wow, I can't believe I've gotten so much good feedback! Thank you SO MUCH! Y'all are the best!
This chapter is by far longer than the others so far... That was entirely coincidence, 'cause this chapter only has three POVs.
So, someone asked in the reviews why I said that Tyler was dead, even though he didn't die in the bloodbath. He actually did, but no one whose point-of-views I was writing from saw it. It will be mentioned in this chapter. Also, someone asked about the PIGFARTS Club... I am more than happy to explain! The PIGFARTS Club (which is short for The Please Initiate Good Feedback And Review To Satisfy Club) is something I created a few months ago because I saw a really nasty hate review on a good story (the story was Ancient Secrets With Jim by CLJR- you should read it!) and decided that that's not what this website is about, so I formed the club. As of now I have 5 members (including myself...) and please tell me in the reviews if you want to join! Or PM me! I'll send you a (figurative) cupcake. So now that we've got that out of the way... enjoy the chapter! (If that's possible.)
Disclaimer: I don't own StarKid or the Hunger Games.
JAIME LYN BEATTY, D8, 13
I've been in the Games for five days. Somehow, I'm still alive.
Sometime in the afternoon, two cannons fire at around the same time. I'm at the top of a tree, so I saw the avalanche. I don't know who it got, though. That night, I find out that Nick from 5 and the boy from 7 died in the avalanche. I wonder if they had any allies.
I was supposed to have an ally. Tyler and I decided beforehand that we were going to ally, and then in the hovercraft he told me he wouldn't leave me. But he didn't survive the bloodbath.
Oh, well. I have a small backpack containing a water bottle, a small amount of grain, and a rope. I find the water bottle to be pretty pointless, as I'm surrounded by snow. But at least I have SOMETHING.
But the grain is nearly gone, and it doesn't taste very good, anyway. I've limited myself to a handful a day, and a rather small handful at that, but I've run out. I'm sure that if I don't find something to eat, my stomach's growling will attract the attention of the Careers.
On the seventh day in the Arena, I've been without food for two days and am munching on some snow when I spot it. I tiny silver parachute heading my way. My eyes widen... I have sponsors?
It finally reaches me and I eagerly open it. Inside, I pull out a couple of cans of cold soup and fruit, with a note reading, "Would you believe it? You have sponsors, honey. -M"
"Thank you," I whisper to the sky, hoping that Martin and my so-called sponsors hear it. Opening a can of soup, I find a spoon inside and drain the can of its contents. It tastes amazing right now, even though it has mushrooms in it and I've never been one to like them.
Before I go to sleep that night, I eat half of a can of fruit and save the other half for later. I'm about to drift off to sleep when I hear a soft, low hooting noise.
I open my eyes and see a snowy owl sitting on a branch, about six feet below me. I suppress a smile. I love owls. I always have. We have them in District 8, but I've never seen one so white. It's blinding, almost. It's as if it were Capitol manufactured...
I shift a little bit to get a better view of it, but my movement causes it to look up. I see it's eyes... they're bright red.
Oh god. It IS Capitol manufactured.
Before I know it, several more appear, red eyes all fixed on me. I don't move— maybe if I stay really, really still, they'll go away. But I can't fall asleep with those red eyes glaring at me.
And then, the branch below me on which my foot had been resting cracks.
The effect is instantaneous. They all screech incredibly loudly as they fly up to where I am. Their razor-sharp beaks begin pecking at me— my face, my neck, my hands... anywhere that skin is visible. I'm screaming and swatting at them, but to no avail. Finally, with cuts and bruises all over me, I grab the parachute, shove it in my backpack, sling it around my arm, and try climbing down the tree. I make my way down a few branches, but the owls follow. They're biting and pecking solely at my hands now, as I'm using them to climb.
I grit my teeth and try to ignore the severe pain that they're inflicting on me, but it isn't working. With one particularly sharp bite to my left hand, I slip and fall, landing directly on my back. The force of the landing knocks the wind out of me, and I struggle to catch my breath as the owls bite at my face again, and my throat as well, making it that much harder to breath. I try to stand up, but I can't.
Finally, one of them just ends it with a forceful pierce to my throat.
JOEY RICHTER, D11, 16
A cannon jolts me awake. I immediately check to make sure that Julia is okay— she's sound asleep. She was keeping watch, but oh well. She needs the rest.
I vaguely wonder who the cannon was as I force myself awake. In my head, I try to remember who's left. The boy from 1, both from 2, Julia, both from 4, both from 5... no, the girl from 5... Jaime from 8, Meredith from 9, and me. That adds up to ten, minus whoever's cannon that was.
It makes me genuinely sad that Lily is gone. I saw her die at the bloodbath— we were running towards each other when the monster from 1 tackled her down and impaled her with his sword. I literally just stood there, shocked, but finally grabbed a backpack and ran. About halfway down the mountain, I stopped and turned around. And that's when Julia crashed into me. She was small and nervous and looked a reminded me of Lily, so without really thinking, I said, "Allies?" She nodded and we took off.
We finally stopped running when we reached a thick patch of bushes. Crawling underneath them, we realized that there was a small clearing in the middle. It was a perfect hideout. So now, on the seventh night in the Arena, we're still here, eating the food in my backpack and staying put. Surprisingly, my backpack also carried two knives, which will most likely come in handy. I haven't heard anyone pass our patch of bushes yet. Or maybe they did when we were sleeping. Anyhow, I hope that cannon was a Career— particularly the boy from 1. He's huge and he's a threat. I just want him gone.
The next morning, I wake Julia. "Sorry, Joey," she says.
"For what?" I ask.
"Falling asleep," she replies sleepily.
"It's fine, I kept watch."
"Okay." She picks up her knife. "Did you work on knife throwing at all?"
"Only a little. I mostly focused on survival skills, like building fires and identifying plants."
"Oh, okay. Well... here, I'll show you. It's best if you know how to throw a knife, just in case..."
She spends the morning teaching me, and I feel like I'm getting quite good at it. We even venture out into the forest a little bit, trying to get an animal. We don't catch one, but it's good practice. Finally, we crawl back into our little clearing hideout.
Pulling a strip of dried beef out of the backpack, Julia says, "Joey, what will we do if it comes down to the two of us?"
"I don't know," I say, shrugging. "We could just, I don't know, exist, until the Gamemakers kill one of us."
"Yeah," she says. "That's true, except—" She stops suddenly, turning pale. I furrow my eyebrows, and she puts a finger to her lips, mouthing, "Did you hear that?"
I shake my head, but listen carefully. I eventually hear the crunching of boots on snow, and feel myself go pale as well. We're both deadly silent and don't move a muscle. It feels like forever. We still aren't speaking or moving in the slightest, but it seems to make no difference— the bushes around us start to shake as if someone is crawling inside them, into our clearing. Julia looks me in the eye; she's ghostly white and has a look of pure terror on her face. I try to cover up my fear, but it doesn't work.
And then, a head appears. A head with long, auburn hair spots us and a wicked grin ignites. The girl from 4 crawls the rest of the way in, knife in hand. "Hmm, which ones are you? Three? And eleven? Well, I'm pretty sure we've already disposed of your district partners..." Anger boils up inside me.
"Leave Julia alone. You can fight me if you want, but not her." I feel the need to protect Julia because she reminds me so much of Lily— I feel like she's the little sister I never had.
"Oh, protecting your little girlfriend, are you?" she says in mock surprise.
"Shut UP, Devin," Julia says.
Without warning, Devin slashes the knife in Julia's direction, causing her to duck out of the way. Before any of us know it, we're all-out fighting. Knives are shooting all over the place. Each of us has one— and only one— and we're taking advantage of them. After Devin makes one vicious swipe, I shove Julia out of the way, causing Devin to focus on me instead. I already have cuts on my face and hands, but I keep fighting, and I notice Julia crawl around behind Devin. I realize what she's doing— she's going to get her from the back. But after a minute or so, Julia hasn't attacked yet, and I'm losing steam. I screw up my face and jab my knife right at Devin's heart. But in her horribly perfect timing, she ducks out of the way and my knife hits what's right behind her— Julia.
My ally drops her knife and falls to the ground.
"Julia... Oh my god..."
I kneel down next to her as a cannon goes off. Just like that, she's gone.
"Oh my god... Oh my god... Julia, I'm so sorry, I—"
I knife in my back cuts off my sentence.
BRIAN HOLDEN, D4, 15
The eighth night in the Arena, three faces are shown in the sky. The girls from 3 and 8, and the boy from 11. Meredith gasps at the second picture. "Jaime..." she whispers, tears in her eyes. I wrap her up in a hug. She and Jaime had gotten rather close during training, both being from poorer districts and around the same age.
I tell Meredith to go to sleep, that I'll keep watch. She reluctantly agrees. We're at the very edge of the Arena, just feet from the force field, so hopefully no one will find us here. The boy from 3 taught me about force fields the first day of training, and now I'm glad I listened.
I honestly can't believe I've made it this far in the Games. I originally thought that since I abandoned the Careers, I would be dead within a day. That's pretty much what happened to Denise from 1. But I'm still alive, with Meredith, we have a spear, and we're nearly well fed... apparently we have sponsors! I think they realize how much I like her. Or maybe she likes me? I didn't really think about it... I mean, she admitted that she had a crush, and I thought (well, hoped) it was me, but if it was, she hasn't shown it.
Anyway, I keep watch for several hours, just watching her sleep. Not in a creeper kind of way, I just don't have anything else to look at... and I think she's gorgeous. Eventually, I can't stay awake any longer, so I wake her up. She sleepily tells me she'll watch for the rest of the night.
When I wake the next morning, Meredith is up and about, stretching and eating a bit of snow. "Good morning," she says quietly.
"Good morning to you, too," I reply. Just then, a parachute floats down to me.
As I'm opening it, Meredith gives a sigh. "I almost feel kind of bad, getting a parachute everyday. I mean, there are starving tributes, but we're well fed..."
"Hey, just be thankful for it," I say in reply. She nods. I pull out the packet of raisins and hand it to her.
I notice that a note came with it. It says, "Make a move, Brian. Everyone can see it. -K" I scrunch my nose up. Am I that obvious? I glance over at Meredith, who's portioning out the raisins, saving some and eating some. How exactly do I go about this? The question presses on my brain all day.
Finally, as we settle down for the night, I say, "Mere, remember the interviews?"
"Mmm hmm." She gives me a skeptical look.
"And you said you had a crush?"
"Mmm hmmmmmm," she answers, grinning.
"Were you talking about Darren?"
"No," she chokes, being reminded that Darren is dead.
"Uh..." I say slowly, not wanting to seem insensitive, "Who WERE you talking about?"
"Why are you wondering?" She gives me a sly grin.
"I... uh... I just... um, well..."
"Spit it out, Bri."
"Well... I kind of maybe have a crush on you? And I kind of maybe was wondering if maybe you feel the same way?"
"Kind of maybe?" she asks, raising an eyebrow.
"Uh... yeah...?"
"So, that's boy-talk for... you have a crush on me." She cocks her head, looking at me.
"Kind of... maybe..." She just giggles.
"What?" I ask defensively.
"It's just cute that you're all flustered, that's all," she says, smiling contently.
We sit in silence for a little while longer, and I finally speak up. "So, you never answered my question."
"What question?"
"When I asked you who you were talking about during your interview."
Now it's her turn to be flustered. "I was... kind of... maybe... talking about you."
She turns bright red, and I smile. "G'night, Mere."
"G'night, Bri."
The next morning, I wake up to find Meredith asleep, so I shake her awake.
"Meeeerrre, you were keeping watch," I groan sleepily.
"Sorry, Bri, I was really tired... I didn't mean to fall asleep."
I glance at her and can see that she means it, so I say, "It's okay. Come on, I think we should move today."
We pick up our leftover food and set off, Meredith holding the spear. We keep watch of the force field; not wanting to bump into it, but wanting to stay near it. We walk for the whole day, and in a stroke of confidence, I reach out and take her hand.
It's nighttime when we finally stop. We're about five feet from the force field and eat some more of the fruit that was sent to us this morning. There were no cannons— no tributes died today. Meredith tells me she's feeling awake enough to keep watch, but lies down anyway. I lie down next to her.
"Hey, Mere?" I ask.
"Yeah?" she replies.
Instead of answering with words, I kiss her on the lips. Not for a long time, just a peck.
"That's all." And I fall right asleep.
ALL THE BREREDITH FEELS OMG
AND I EVEN WROTE THIS
Died in this chapter:
District 3: Julia Albain
District 8: Jaime Lyn Beatty
District 11: Joey Richter
Still Alive:
District 1: Jim Povolo
District 2: Dylan Saunders, Britney Coleman
District 4: Brian Holden, Devin Lytle
District 5: Lauren Lopez
District 9: Meredith Stepien
Wow, they're dying quickly! That's a very small amount of still alive people. :( Oh well, I'll try to update tomorrow... Remember to review!
Lurve, Livvy
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