A.N.: This chapter is, well, a little creepy. Arachnophobes, beware!
XXX
BROADCASTING LIVE FROM THE ARENA
[Night. The wilderness surrounding the mountain.]
[Sara Strickham (14,6) reaches a small grove of the skinny trees surrounding a large black rock and collapses to her knees. The torn side of her shirt is soaked through with blood. She bites her tongue to keep from crying out in pain—she's too much in the open. No need to alert anyone to her presence, especially in her wounded state. She looks up at the trees and sees that there are cobwebs hanging from them. She grabs a handful and presses it to her side.]
[A block of text appears on-screen, explaining the use of spider's webs to stop bleeding.]
[Sara leans against the rock and grabs more cobwebs. There are quite a lot hanging from the trees, which she seems to pass of as a pleasant convenience.]
[Suddenly, the rock moves.]
[Sara falls to the ground with a soft yelp of surprise from the movement and pain from her wound. She rolls onto her back and stares up at the rock, which has opened many round, shiny black eyes—eight of them. Sara scrambles backwards as the rock stands up on eight long, skinny legs and snaps its jaw pincers at her.]
[It's not a rock. It's a giant, black spider, with pincers that have purple poison dripping from them.]
[Sara manages to get her feet beneath her and starts to run as quickly as she can back towards the mountain, the spider following quickly in pursuit. She doesn't manage to get very far before the enormous arachnid knocks her to the ground with a long, skinny leg. Sara flails and kicks at the spider, managing to strike one of its eyes. It rears up with an angry hissing noise and then holds her limbs down with four of its own, using its other legs to begin to wrap her in a white, shiny string. Sara struggles and shouts at the spider, but it only hisses again and continues to ensnare her in the thick, silky strand—first her legs, then her torso and arms, and then it wraps around her shoulders and neck, leaving her head free.]
[The spider leans down and bites her. Sara screams in agony, and the camera zooms in to get a good view of her face as the pain from the poison spreads throughout her body. She screams for almost a minute before she stops and lies limp.]
[A cannon fires. The spider suddenly gets up and flees, running towards the mountain as the hovercraft arrives to pick up the body.]
XXX
Kayla Rakkor, 15, District 9
The cannon shot jolts me awake, and I whack my head on the roof of the cave.
"Ow…!"
I hold my head, wondering through the pain who that cannon was for. Was it Bergamot?
No…
Not the hunter, not today.
He shall fight another day.
Then who? Briar? Anise? Dally or Ashley?
It's still the night of Day One. I won't know who is left until tomorrow night, and who knows what will happen between now and then.
Maybe Shimmer's pack is on the prowl. Will they find me? I don't think anyone noticed my escape route, not with the Cornucopia to focus on, but still…
I crawl out of the tunnel and into my little forest alcove, my head only vaguely aching now, and start to gather fallen branches and loose rocks from the ground. Once my arms are full, I duck back through the tunnel and get to work disguising the outer entrance. The odds of someone climbing down after me, or even being in a position where they could see that there was a tunnel, are very low, but I'm nervous and need to feel like I'm doing something productive.
Satisfied, I head back through the tunnel and check my snares. I've caught a squirrel and a plump little rabbit! Not bad for the first day.
I reset the snares and put my catches into my backpack, planning to prepare them in the morning. Handling the backpack makes me think of Bergamot again.
He gave this to me. He delayed his own actions to give this to me, because he knew that I couldn't get one myself quick enough without using both of my legs.
I hope he got that bow that he'd been eyeing before the bloodbath.
I hope he's still alive.
Now I'll never get back to sleep.
I break a stick and use the pointed edge to skin the rabbit and squirrel. It takes a long time, longer than it would with a knife, but the necessary time and effort keeps me occupied. By the time I'm done, and beginning to puzzle out when the safest time to make a fire to cook them would be (At night when others may be asleep, but the light is visible? During the day, when the light may go unnoticed but the smoke will be visible? How visible am I, anyway?), the sun is rising. This must be the eastern side of the mountain. Good to know, in case I ever have to leave and find my way back. Hopefully, I won't. Then again, how long will the Gamemakers be willing to just let me sit here?
The sun is rising.
Arise, my lord, and wipe away the blood!
Come forth, O Sun, and chase away the night!
Make golden light, to dry away the flood,
And comfort those who crouch in lonely fright!
Day Two has officially begun. The world is moving on. I curl up again in the cave and close my eyes, hoping that I, too, will move on.
XXX
Carn Hurdy, 18, District 2
My backpack's so heavy, its straps feel like they're cutting into my shoulders. Usually in the Hunger Games, at least in the ones that I've seen in my lifetime, the Careers store all of the food and other useful supplies somewhere and uses that place as their camp. That was what Thera wanted to do, but Shimmer put her foot down. Yesterday, we destroyed what we couldn't carry with us, keeping only our weapons of choice, the food (although there wasn't an enormous amount of it), and a few other small supplies, like matches and water bottles. Since I'm the strongest, Shimmer delegated the heaviest load to me. My backpack was filled by most of the food and two tents which, while their thick material made them waterproof and resistant to other wear and tear, were heavy for the same reason. The weight makes it difficult for me to move quickly, so I'm at the back of our pack as we trek through the woods, and I won't be able to do much if we run into anyone despite the sword in my hands.
But…
I'm glad to have the excuse, truthfully. I can still feel that Six boy's head and body in my hands. It was so easy, too easy to jerk him in just the wrong direction, to hear the soft snap, to see his face go blank and his body go limp…
This isn't the schoolyard. I can't say "You give?" and let him go, and be declared the winner.
To win, everyone else has to die. No, I'll have to kill everyone else.
I'd known that when I volunteered, hadn't I?
Hadn't I?
I nearly walk right into Phenom, who was walking right in front of me and had suddenly stopped.
"Watch it!" he snaps.
"Shh!" Shimmer hisses, one hand raised in warning. She's standing stock-still, except for her head, which is slowly turning to scan the surrounding area.
None of us moves or makes a sound for several moments.
Is someone there? I wonder. But I'm not stupid enough to try asking.
Suddenly, Shimmer lunges sideways. There's a thud as the arrow misses her and sticks in a tree trunk. She's upright again and there's a knife in her hand, which she throws back in the direction that the arrow came from. A second arrow meets it in midair, causing it to fall to the ground harmlessly.
All this happened in the time that it took Thera and Phenom to draw their swords.
"Don't move!" Shimmer snaps as she approaches the occupied tree.
"Bergamot Palentia," she says. Her voice oozes venom. "You've been lucky to last this long. That's all it was, you know. Luck. And your luck just ran out."
Another arrow came from the tree, but Shimmer easily knocked it away with another dagger.
"Are you going to waste all of your arrows, Bergamot?" she challenged. "I can wait. I'm not patient, but how many arrows could you possibly have? There was only one quiver."
There was no response from the tree, but now I could see a form crouched on a thick branch, shielded by leaves.
"I'm getting closer, Bergamot…" Shimmer says, taking another step towards the tree. "And so are my blades… You are about to die."
He can't leave the tree, because one of us will get him. But if he stays, eventually she'll kill him…
And Shimmer's enjoying this. It's scary.
But then, something even scarier came charging up the mountain through the trees, right towards us. Something huge and black, with way too many legs…
I think that we all yelped at the same time. I stumbled backwards, my only thought being to get away from it. Thera and Phenom ran towards it instead, swords raised. There was a loud rustling in the trees, and then the sound of someone crashing through the undergrowth, accompanied by a shout of rage from Shimmer.
The spider hissed loudly, and purple blood seeped from the slices that my allies' swords put into its face and torso. It reared up on the hind pairs of its legs, making it seem even bigger. I held up my sword, hoping that it wouldn't come this way.
Three knives stuck firmly into the spider's chest. It hissed again, this time sounding more like a shriek, as it fell back onto all eights. Two more knives struck its eyes, and Thera's sword sliced through its neck. The head fell to the ground, and, after an eerie hesitation, the body followed.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, except for Shimmer, who strode up to the spider's corpse and rolled it over onto its back to retrieve her knives. They came out covered in purple liquid. Shimmer wiped them off on the grass, but when she held the blades up to the light afterwards they had a purplish shine.
"They're probably poisoned now," she says, calmly placing the knives back into her belt before turning back to the rest of us.
"So now what?" says Phenom. "Bergamot got away."
"Thank you, Phenom, for stating the blatantly obvious," Shimmer snarls. Phenom glares at her.
"He can't have gotten far," says Thera. "We can catch him."
"He'll hear us coming from a mile away," says Shimmer.
"Do you think there are more of those around here?" I ask, pointing at the spider.
"Perhaps," Shimmer says. "But this one went down like nothing. If there are more, they'll get the weaker tributes for us. I'd bet that that cannon last night was someone getting snatched by this one's pincers."
I shudder at that imagery. The pincers are large enough to snatch up me.
"Do we stay in the woods, then?" Lucas asks, calmly leaning on his trident.
Shimmer shakes her head. "We've been nearly all the way around the mountain, and no one's passed us on their way up or down. Assuming that the woods are the spiders' grounds, either everyone will be killed by them or the Sevens. They're up here, somewhere. I say we go down to the base and pick off the few who're down there, and then come up once nature's done some of its job for us."
No one disagrees, not with the maybe-poisoned additions to Shimmer's arsenal. We begin to hike again, this time downwards.
What if she's wrong, and the spiders live at the mountain's base?
I hope she's not wrong.
XXX
Ashley Coralis, 14, District 4
I'm just about to take a bite of my fish when I see the shadowy form outside. I can't make out any details, and all sounds are drowned out by the waterfall, but there's definitely someone approaching the stream. I set down the fish and place a hand on my spear, watching the figure as best as I can through the wall of water.
Is it Lucas? …No, he wouldn't be without the pack…
Whoever it was, he or she knelt at the stream's edge and began to scoop handfuls of water up to his or her mouth. I keep quiet and stay still. Hopefully, he or she won't find me…
Suddenly, I hear a shout, muffled by the waterfall. The figure leaps to its feet and turns to run away, but several more figures rush into my line of vision.
The pack has arrived.
They grab the figure, and I hear high-pitched pleading and dark laughter.
For a few moments, I'm scared. Then, I find myself getting angry. Very angry.
That girl out there—I think it's a girl—she hasn't done anything wrong! She was just trying to survive. We all are. Why should they be able to just jump her? Why should any of them get to win? We're all just trying to survive here. It isn't fair!
Someone's standing with their back to the waterfall, someone tall and slender. He's leaning on what looks like a trident, and he's just watching the others torture the girl.
Lucas.
My hands tighten on my spear.
XXX
Shimmer Argent, 18, District 1
"D-Don't watch," the District Five girl gasps, her tears mixing with the blood on her face. "Mom, Dad… I love you… Please don't watch…"
"Pathetic," I sneer, kicking her side as I sheathe the first knife and draw one of the purple-stained ones. She lets out a short yelp through gritted teeth.
"Take your death like a Victor," I say. "Oh, wait, you can't. Because you're not a Victor. Because…you're dead."
With that, I stab her in the stomach with the purple knife. I could just as easily puncture her heart, but this is for experimental purposes. That spider had seemed venomous. Was its poison in its blood and, therefore, in the knife?
Sure enough, the girl's body goes rigid and her green eyes widen as she screams in agony, more agony than a simple belly wound ought to have given her. The screaming goes on for nearly a minute before her jaw slackens and her eyes go blank as a cannon fires.
I pull the dagger out of her belly and wipe it off on her shirt before putting it back on my belt.
Suddenly, I hear the unmistakable sound of a blade sticking through flesh, and Lucas cries out. I straighten, knife back in my hand as I take in the pointed tip of a spear sticking out of the Four boy's chest. Lucas stares down at it for a moment, and then he falls to the ground with a cannon as accompaniment.
I trace the trajectory of the attack. His back had been facing—
"—the waterfall!" I shout. Thera and Phenom immediately race for the thundering falls, wading through the stream. Carn just stands there dumbly. Nothing new there.
I hear a scream and yet another cannon, and I put my knife away, although my eyes are still scanning the surrounding area. I'd let my guard down during the kill. That kind of lapse was not good. No one else is down here, and there's nowhere else for them to hide, no other cover.
It was unfortunate to lose Lucas so quickly. He was a bit smarter than the others, but perhaps then it was better that he die now. It saves me the trouble of having to hunt him down later. Now, I'm over the halfway mark. Thirteen down. Ten to go.
I look upward. The waterfall looks like it starts all the way at the top of the mountain. There's a dark shape at the top. Someone is watching us.
The person turns and goes out of sight.
No matter, I think. I'll get you, too, soon enough.
XXX
Briar Tussen, 12, District 11
I climb higher into the tree, until I'm maybe fifty feet off the ground. The branches up here are slimmer, but I'm light enough to not break them. I find a nice place to lie down and I set up the sleeping bag there. The sky is getting pretty dark.
I reach into my backpack again and pull out a packet of dried fruit. It's half empty; I ate some of it earlier. Now I lie back and munch on the fruit while I wait for the anthem to play. From up here, I have a good view of the sky.
There were so many cannons today. Too many. Was Anise one of them? Was it Dally, or Moira, or Ashley? I have to know…
I've been running around all day, on the ground and through the trees, constantly looking over my shoulder. Thankfully, I haven't run into anyone.
The Capitol seal appears in the sky, and the anthem begins to play. I take another mouthful of fruit and chew while I wait, swallowing just as the first picture appears. It's the boy from District Four.
The pack's down a member… I wonder what happened?
Maybe I don't want to know, especially because the next face to appear is Ashley's. Then comes Moira, and then Sara, the quiet girl from Six who refused to come to the party when I invited her at the interviews. The seal flashes by again, and then all is quiet and dark.
Only four? It felt like more than that…
Ashley… Moira…
I put away the fruit and curl up inside the sleeping bag. It was pretty chilly last night.
They're dead, they're really gone. At least Anise is out there somewhere, and Dally…but I liked Moira. She was nice. And Ashley always looked so sad and scared, but she was really kind, too…
Who killed the Four boy? He was a member of the Career pack… Did Shimmer get tired of him? Or was it… Was it Jude and Robin?
I haven't seen those two since the bloodbath. They're in these woods, somewhere, with a battleaxe, and I'm in a tree…
"And do you know what we do to little monkeys who fall out of the trees that we chop down?"
The ground seems much more appealing now than the tree does. But anyone could find me on the ground…
I wish Anise were here.
I wish I was home…
XXX
Remaining Tributes:
Tribute-Name-Age
1B Phenom Spectral 18
1G Shimmer Argent 18
2B Carn Hurdy 18
2G Thera Adrastea 17
7B Jude Paraux 17
7G Robin Sarabia 16
9B Bergamot Palentia 17
9G Kayla Rakkor 15
11B Briar Tussen 12
11G Anise Leenan 15
12G Dalinder Fernswith 17
A.N.: I completely forgot to do a Carn section last time! Oops… I could go back and fix it, but I'm not sure what I'd write…