Day Four

After the escape of Diesel the day before, the Careers wanted to kill. They were all frustrated and angry that he got away, especially Jayson. His nose had stopped bleeding but it was tender and he was pissed off.

'I'm gonna kill that little punk,' he kept repeated, menacingly stroking the sharp blade of his sword.

'Yes, alright Jayson, we get it. But we need to sort out what we're doing today,' said Cleo impatiently.

'How about killing people?' asked Skye sarcastically. Cleo gave him her death glare.

'I say we do it somewhere completely different from yesterday,' she said.

'Why? I wanna find that District Seven punk,' growled Jayson. The others looked exasperated at his stupidity.

'Do you really think he'd stay in the same place?' asked Sparkle. 'He would run in the opposite direction to get away from us.'

'Let's go towards the woods,' said Niall. 'I can imagine loads of weak tributes using the woods to get plants and stuff. There'll be easy pickings over there.'

'Sounds good,' Skye got to his feet. 'Come on, I want to be home for tea.'

O

'Amore, we need to find some more food,' said Odio over breakfast. Amore looked up at him, surprised.

'Why?' He laid out their remaining food stock.

'We've only got enough for today, and that's if we tighten our belts somewhat. We need to go out and find some food, or we're gonna be going hungry. Really hungry.'

'Fine,' Amore looked out of the window to check the position of the sun. 'It's about six a.m. Let's head towards the north-west area – there's the woods, and we can probably nick stuff from other tributes around there as well.' Odio frowned at her for her lack of morals, but she just shrugged and handed him the backpack. 'You can carry.'

It was quite far to that edge of the woods. By the time they got there they were feeling tired and hungry again. 'Let's head straight in and find some food.' They found a small sheltered clearing, perfect for making camp. Odio dropped the backpack in the middle. 'You stay here, guard the backpack. I'll look for some berries or something.'

He turned and pushed his way through the undergrowth, looking for edible plants. He had learnt a few in training, and thought that he would be able to recognise them. He noticed some plants that they could stew, and started picking off the leaves, stuffing them in his pockets.

He heard some far-off sounds, like people moving through the woods, but decided that it was just another weak tribute or an animal. But then, as he stood up to find some more, he heard a terrible sound, one that seemed to wrench his heart half out.

Amore's scream. Not her angered scream, or how she had screamed when their parents had died. This was a scream of pure terror. He sprinted towards it, scratching his legs and tripping in his haste. He burst into the clearing, and found Amore tangled in a net. She was thrashing against it, but it was barbed, and the sharp points were cutting and scratching her.

'Odio! HELP ME!' she shrieked as a barb cut open her cheek. He sprung forward to pull the net off her, but someone grabbed him, a huge arm encircled his neck, nearly throttling him. He pushed and struggled against it, but he might as well have been struggling against iron.

'Isn't that sweet, the brother wants to help the sister,' growled the boy.

'Let her GO!' yelled Odio, still fighting. To his horror, the four other Careers stepped out of the trees holding weapons. 'PLEASE!'

'Yes, he's right – it's not nice, leaving her in that net,' said a blonde girl. 'Take it off her, Skye.' Skye stepped forward and quickly untangled Amore from the net. She was covered in cuts and scratches, all over her hands and face. Amore jumped to her feet, but the other girl, this one with dark hair, grabbed her ponytail before she could.

'On your knees,' she hissed, pulled a wicked looking knife from her jacket and pressing it into Amore's back. 'Come on!' Amore did so, her eyes wide and scared. 'Niall, you can do the honours.'

'NO!' shouted Odio. 'No please! You can kill me, YOU CAN KILL ME!' But Niall was stepping forward, dual swords out. 'PLEASE!' Amore was looking straight forward now, a quiet, brave look in her eyes. There was a flash of steel, and her decapitated body fell to the floor. Odio let out a wild, inhuman howl, thrashing harder than ever.

'Shall I kill him as well?' asked Niall.

'No. Leave him,' said the dark girl. Niall looked as if he was going to protest, but the girl shot him a look and he nodded, wiping the blood from his sword on the grass. 'Let's get going.' The huge boy threw him onto the ground where he lay next to Amore, shaking uncontrollably. As the left the clearing, the dark girl turned back with a cruel smile on her face. She reached into her jacket again and pulled out another small knife, throwing it at Odio. It landed near his head.

He stared at it for a few moments, before slowly pushing himself to his knees. Tears were falling thick and fast down his cheeks as he looked at Amore, his beautiful, beautiful twin, dead on the floor. He had sworn, promised himself that he would protect her. He had failed.

He reached out and picked up the knife with a shaking hand. He could not, would not live without her. He closed his eyes and slowly, deliberately, slit his own throat.

O

Tabytha heard the double cannon blast with a smile. It meant that the Careers must have killed two more people. Hopefully Niall and Skye would be too tired to go tribute hunting again that day, but the ever bloodthirsty other three would want to.

She had gathered a bundle of fresh green branches from the woods and carried them until she was a few blocks from Cornucopia Hill. She had learnt that the green wood smoked a lot when it burnt. Hopefully the Careers would see it and think it was some stupid tribute.

She made and lit the fire, made sure it was burning before running away from it. She hid at the base of Cornucopia Hill, behind a large boulder. The fire was burning, a thick trail of smoke rising up into the sky. She heard a few snatches of speech coming from the Cornucopia, and guessed that they were arguing.

Her plan was working perfectly. A moment later she saw the two girls and the big guy from Two running down the hill. She waited until they were out of sight before heading up to the Cornucopia. She guessed that she had about fifteen, twenty minutes to seduce the guys and get them on her side – the other Careers were bound to have a thorough search of the surrounding area, to try and find the fake tribute.

Niall and Skye were sitting by the fire, looking annoyed. As she stepped nearer she heard them muttering angrily about the other Careers.

'Did they piss you off?' she asked. They spun around, weapons out. 'Hey, I'm not here to attack you, I just want a chat, okay?' they looked at each other, and she could tell what they were thinking. She was a pretty girl and they could easily kill her if they wanted to. Without asking for and invitation she sat down between them. 'So, what's it like being in the gang?'

'It's alright,' said Niall, shrugging.

'I don't imagine the others are good company?' she said slyly. 'Or do you have regular snog-fests?' The boys laughed, shaking their heads. 'Aww, are you deprived?'

'I've kissed plenty of girls back in One,' said Niall confidently. 'And when I get out, I'll kiss plenty more.' Tabytha turned to Skye, who looked a bit uncomfortable and sheepish.

'I haven't kissed anyone,' he muttered, his cheeks turning red.

'Don't worry about that,' Tabytha said, moving closer to him. 'I can educate you in the art of kissing. But do you promise to look after me? My kisses don't come for free.'

'Definitely. We'll look after you – the others can go hang themselves,' said Niall. 'As long as I get a kiss too.'

'You can have as many kisses as you like,' said Tabytha. 'But I think I'll kiss Skye first, as he hasn't had the pleasure.' Skye grinned and she moved over sit facing him on his lap, her legs straddling him. Her lips had just touched his when there was a quiet but insistent cough. They broke apart and looked around to see the other Careers watching them.

'I see you two have made a friend,' said Sparkle.

'No matter. We can kill her anyway,' said Cleo, stepping forward with a knife in each hand. 'Did you light that fire as bait, District Eleven? Don't worry boys, we forgive you, we know you were too stupid to act differently!'

Niall and Skye both pulled out their swords and stepped in front of Tabytha. 'Stay away from her!' The girls suddenly looked angry.

'Step away!' hissed Cleo. 'We don't mind killing you as well!' But the boys did not move. Jayson appeared at the side and slammed a fist into Skye's stomach. He doubled over, winded, and Niall stepped away as Jayson raised a fist to hit him as well. Cleo grabbed the moment and threw a knife at Tabytha. She ducked and it missed by the width of a hair. Tabytha ran backwards as Cleo readied herself to throw again. She tripped over a backpack and fell against the net over the Cornucopia entrance.

Skye had used the most vicious net to cover the Cornucopia, with foot long spikes protruding out of the knots. Tabytha let out a choked, gurgling cry as she hit the net. The Careers all looked at her. A spike was protruding out of her stomach, and another through her chest just below the collarbone. Blood dribbled from her mouth and she collapsed onto her front, convulsing.

Niall and Skye moved as if to go and help, but Sparkle shrieked: 'Stay where you are!' There was nothing they could do anyway – Tabytha gave one last twitch, and lay still. Skye turned to the others, an accusatory look in his eyes.

'You killed her!' he snarled.

'Aw, you poor lovesick puppy,' replied Cleo in a sarcastic voice. 'You need to remember that you're in the Hunger Games. Now, throw the corpse onto the side of the hill so the Capitol can take it away.'

O

Jessalyn was bored. The Games seemed to be moving slowly, all she wanted to do was get out and try to forget about them. It was slightly cooler than it had been the day before, but that wasn't saying much – the day before it had been like a furnace.

She was sat on a roof, close to but slightly hidden from the Cornucopia Hill. She wanted to keep an eye on those Careers, but didn't want to go hunting other tributes – she didn't want the blood on her hands. So she was sat on the roof, watching the day go by.

She had heard the double cannon blast a while ago, and guessed that it was some allied tributes. She wasn't sure who, but she had seen the District Nine tributes together, and guessed that the twins from Five would be allies. She sighed and lay back on the roof, wishing she was far away from here, swimming in the cool, salty ocean.

O

Ember was doubled over in pain. His guts were filled with agonising cramps that seemed to come in waves, more painful each time. It was the dog, he realised that now. He was so stupid, thinking he could eat the thing after it had been carried around in his pocket for a day. He didn't even know what diseases it had in it when it was alive.

He tried to stand but collapsed onto all fours, gasping in pain. He felt something inside him contract and bent over the corner of the house, vomiting up what little he had in him. To his horror, he saw flecks of blood in the sick. There must have been a disease in the dog, food poisoning wasn't like this.

He fell back, sweat beading his forehead. He was in a bad situation, he knew it. If another tribute found him like this, there was no way he could defend himself. That was if the sickness didn't kill him first. He doubled over again, vomiting again. This time it was mostly bile and blood.

He lay down, eyes watering, wishing that he was dead already.

O

Dawn peered in through the house window. The District Twelve boy inside did not see her; he was too preoccupied with his sickness. She felt sorry for him, and wished that she could help. She knew plants that could help food sickness, but this looked like it was far worse than that.

From the amount of blood and bile and mucus in the vomit, she guessed that some meat that the boy had eaten was diseased. It looked like it was doing something horrible to his insides – burning them up, or making them stop working.

It was medicine that he needed, Capitol medicine. Nothing she could do would help. But she still decided to find a clay jar – they were everywhere – and fill it with water for him. She didn't want to stay near him, as she didn't know whether the sickness was contagious or not. Turning, she ran off down the street to find some water.

O

Diesel had stayed in the wardrobe all night. He knew he should move and get away from the Careers, but a state of lethargy had come over him, and he spent the night sitting in the wardrobe, legs stretched out. For some reason, his near-death experience had made him depressed.

His hand moved towards his pocket where he usually kept his vial of emergency morphling, before he remembered that this was the Hunger Games, and even if he did have a vial, he couldn't exactly knock it back in front of a million people, could he?

Finally he got to his feet and stretched, before slowly leaving the house. As he walked through the streets, his back to the Cornucopia Hill, he was on double alert. He was still berating himself for walking straight into a group of Careers. How much more stupid and absentminded could you be?

O

Kai decided to stay near the lake. He didn't have anything more than a bowl to store the water in, so he couldn't go too far away. It was incredibly annoying, as the visibility over the rest of the Arena was very poor. He stayed up on a roof for most of the day, a few sharp rocks ready for him to throw at passing tributes.

But no one passed by his house, and soon he was feeling frustrated and almost homesick for his watchtower, as stupid as it sounded. He felt blind without that view over the whole Arena. But he was tied to the lake as long as he had no means for storing water.

Sighing, he looked up at the sky, brushing his bangs away from his amber eyes. 'I'd like a canteen, please.' It was laughable how quickly a grey parachute appeared, floating down towards him. But as he reached up to grab it, he felt a hard shove in his lower back. He overbalanced and slid towards the edge of the roof, scrabbling desperately for a handhold to stop himself falling. As he reached the edge his fingers found a crack between two tiles and clung to it.

He scrambled to his feet and looked around. Violet Queens was standing on the roof, a smile on her face and the parachute in her hand. 'Too slow, Roof-Boy,' she jeered, before turning and jumping and running off across the roofs. But here she made her mistake, as Kai was so much more skilled at this kind of running.

He chased her down in a matter of seconds, and tackled her, both of them falling hard on the terracotta tiles. He snatched back the parachute and jumped to his feet, but Violet clung to his legs, tripping him up and making him drop the parachute, which slid towards the edge of the roof. They both jumped for it, but Kai's elbow made contact with Violet's face and she fell backwards, clutching her bloody nose. The parachute fell off the side of the house.

Kai half jumped, half fell after it, twisted his ankle on landing. He picked up the slightly torn and dirty parachute and ran off, ignoring the pain. He glanced down at it and saw, to his joy, that he had been given a metal canteen.

O

Scott was feeling annoyed. They hadn't killed any animals, and so had no meat, just a few plant leaves to eat. And plant leaves weren't known as stomach fillers. He had nearly killed a dog and a bird, but whenever he was near enough to throw a stone or knife, Sephiria let out a high pitched cry.

Afterwards she said that she couldn't bear to see an animal killed in front of her. But Scott just saw that she was weak, and a burden. But it was difficult to be angry at someone who looked so innocent and sweet. But he did sometimes wish that she would … buck up.

'I'll find some plants,' she said, looking up at him with wide eyes. 'And you can go and hunt.'

Scott sighed and stood up, struggling to swallow the last leaf, which seemed to get stuck in his throat. Finally it went down, and he shook his head. 'No. We have to stick together. I don't want one of us getting killed while the other is far away.'

'You're angry with me, aren't you?' she said.

'No. I'm not. I just can't believe that you're seventeen. I mean, I've seen tougher ten-year-olds! Can't you see that we're in the Hunger Games?'

'I just don't like death,' she said in a quiet voice.

'No one does, apart from maybe those psycho Careers. But we all deal with it, because that's the only way we can survive! Get it?'

Sephiria stood up and turned towards the door. 'Fine. I'll leave.' Scott grabbed her wrist.

'That's not what I meant. I just wish you would realise where we are, and what we need to do to deal with it.'

O

Lottie crouched over the remains of the bird. It had been a crow, fat and healthy. But it had strayed too close to her sharp fangs, and now it lay, a mass of blood and gore in the dust. She was eating like the wild animal that she was, her lips and teeth and hands stained by the blood.

She savoured the raw meat, but it was not enough. She wanted to taste human blood again, feel the life force of a fellow person die, feel the joy and satisfaction that comes from being the cause of their destruction.

She crawled out from her den, absentmindedly stripping a small bone of meat. The sun was low in the sky, and she knew that tributes would be hiding out in their secret dens at that moment. She would strike again tomorrow, and this time her prey would not be stolen from her.

O

There you go! Day Four has finally arrived. I'm afraid I had no computer access over the weekend, but now I have about a week of it, so a couple more days may come soon! Hope you enjoyed this chapter, sorry as ever about the deaths.

Anyway, here's the Dead List:

Hareld Wyre

Jenna Monroe

Nathaniel Merezald

Pau Furnely

Ginevra Helena di Cosimo

Patrick Volta

Amore Gemini

Odio Gemini

Tabytha laDawn Carmahel

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