A/N: Hi guys :D Thanks for the positive reviews :D I appreciate it, I really do. Right so the games have dragged on for quite a bit, I'm not saying I'm going to rush the story, but I'm thinking of having a victor on the 12th or 13th day. I don't want to prolong it too much.
The Alliances (or what's left of them)
The "New" Duo:
Elle (District 6 Female)
Alexander (District 4 Male)
The rest are alone:
Tiffany (District 1 Female)
Mariana (District 2 Female)
Melanie (District 4 Female)
Hannah (District 7 Female)
Joshua (District 7 Male)
Mara (District 8 Female)
Ruben (District 9 Female)
Who will make it through this chapter?
Day 8
(Melanie's POV District 4 Female)
The 8th day and I'm still alive. I'm not surprised. My daddy always said I was superior to the other kids. I haven't trained for the games, but clearly I'm a natural. I've survived 8 days. All the tributes that are still alive have trained for the games, except for Hannah and Mara. They'll both die soon. Mara is weak and helpless, and Hannah can't use her little "act" to her advantage anymore.
Now that I think about it, maybe I should've trained back in 4. I would be amazing, people all over Panem would recognize me as the fighter from District 4. I probably would've won the games already. Back then I thought training was stupid. My parents never wanted me to train either, so it never crossed my mind. My family doesn't need fame and fortune anyways, we're already the most known family in 4 because of our fishing company. We're one of the richest too. Life in District 4 was very easy for me, I've never had to sign up for tesserae and we've never been in an economic struggle. I was too busy thinking about other things like boys, swimming, friends, makeup, dresses things that most girls in District 4 think about. I know a few trainees, not many, I don't like them too much, they are all so obsessed about the Hunger Games it annoys me. I never really payed any attention to the games either. The games never scared me, I always thought that if I'd ever get reaped someone would take my place. My odds of getting reaped were very low too, so the games never worried me. Guess where I'm now? In The freaking Hunger Games.
Arriving to the games was a huge change from my life back in 4. I have to fight for my life every single day. I have it easier than other tributes though. My dad has connections with some people from the Capitol and he's asked them to send me food and water, so far I have not had to hunt for anything. I wouldn't know how to do it anyways. People from the Districts usually never send tributes gifts. It's only happened once or twice in the history of the games. It's not because the supplies cost a lot of money, but shipping and handling from the Districts is very expensive. Most can't afford it. For the first few days my dad sent me supplies, it go too expensive for him and he started contacting his friends from the Capitol to help him.
I'm so lost in my thoughts that it takes me a while to realize that there's a tribute up ahead of me. She doesn't see me, she has her back faced to me. There's cliff right in front of her, she's sitting down on the edge eating berries. She has three backpacks, which is impressive, but no weapon. It would've been good if she'd have a weapon since I lost my spear during the wave attack and I haven't managed to get one since. She's about 10 meters away from where I am. I get a bit closer and recognize who it is. It's the girl from 8. I could easily push her off the cliff. I quietly walk towards her. There's 6 meters of distance between us when I step on a branch. Shit! She quickly turns around to face me. I can't let this opportunity go, I'm still stronger and better than her, I can kill her. I sprint towards her.
(Mara's POV District 8 Female)
I'm sitting on the edge of the huge cliff, lost in my thoughts. Thinking about home. All I want right now is home. District 8 isn't the richest or the best District, but it's home, and that's all I want. I promised Minho and Odyss I would win, and I feel that it is my duty to do so. They died trying to protect me, therefore I should do their deaths justice. It would also be good for my family back in 8, and also for Minho's. The food would help my family a lot, we're very poor and me and my brother have to sign up for tesserae every year. This year I had my name entered in the reaping bowl 25 times. I guess the odds weren't exactly in my favor.
I hear a branch snap from behind me. I rapidly turn around and realize that Melanie, the girl from District 4, is sprinting towards me. A flashback of the night with Odyss comes to my mind, the night were I told him I wouldn't kill. But was I really saying the truth? Will I actually kill if it comes down to it? I'm going to have to make a decision soon because Melanie is literally 2 meters away from me now. She jumps towards me, instead of dodging her attack I jump towards her as well. We crash. We roll around in the ground for a while. She kicks violently and throws punches everywhere. Is it killing if it's self defense? I punch her face and knee her in the stomach. I grab a rock and smash it down on her face. She yells in agony. Is this self defense or am I just lying to myself to justify my actions? In the meanwhile Melanie grabs the rock out of my hand and smashes it into my face. I kick and yell. She pins me to the ground but I kick her off my body. She grabs me once again and pulls me to the ground. I grab her as well and we start to turn. Turning turns into rolling and before I can realize whats happening, we're headed for the cliff. She doesn't know. She's too focused on trying to punch me and kick me that she doesn't realize the cliff in front of us. I try to get her off me but in between the rolling and her punching I don't have the strength to get her off me.
The ground beneath me disappears. Melanie's eyes widen, she knows now. We fall. I see Minho's face. I can see him mouth his last words while he was drowning underwater "I'm sorry." he said. I see Odyss, telling me to win, no, begging me to win. They put there hopes on me. They died for me. My family, watching at home, seeing me die. The ground below me gets closer rapidly. I close my eyes. I see my family, sitting in the living room, watching me. I see my mother cry and my brother comforting her. I see Minho and Odyss dying, and their families weeping. I prepare myself for the agonizing pain that I'm about to feel. It greets me, like pain always greets someone, coldly. The pain soon starts to fade away, I must be dying. I hear a canon just before things slip away. Not my canon, Melanie's. I feel like my life just flew by me in a second. It all ends here. I'm sorry, Minho, Odyss, I'm sorry.
(Alexander's POV District 4 Male)
2 canons sound consecutively. That's strange. Usually two consecutive deaths only happen during events like the bloodbath or feasts. I doubt it's a coincidence, so I'm guessing that two tributes killed each other. That's probably what happened, the only question is who were the two unlucky tributes? I guess we'll find out tonight.
I remember the 2nd day of our stay at the Capitol. It was our first training session with the other tributes and I remember standing there in the middle of the them while the lead instructor told us about the rules. I was looking at the my competition, searching for tributes that looked like contenders. I remember seeing Elle standing beside her District partner. Her blonde hair fell back perfectly, I remember seeing her and thinking, she's a contender. Well guess who I'm allied with?
"I'm going to go hunting, you should go fishing in a nearby pond, we're running low on food." she instructs
"Sure." I smile and head off towards another direction.
I wonder how our ex allies are handling things. I'm guessing Tiffany is alive, she isn't going to die very easily. I'm pretty sure Mariana is also still alive. She's smart and cautious, I'm scared of her myself. I'm not so scared of Tiffany because I know that she's blinded with her own pride and self confidence. I'd be confident to say that Ruben is also still alive, she's prudent and unless she encountered Joshua or Mariana, I'd say that she's still alive. As for the others, I have no idea.
I finally find a pond. Not many fish are in it but it's enough fish for today and tomorrow. In 10 minutes I've caught all the fish in the pond and I'm headed back the way I came from, I'm sure Elle also got something. When I arrive I se her skinning a squirrel. That answers that question. We decide to cook the animals tomorrow, it's getting dark and if we'd light a fire now, we'd be asking to get killed. The anthem is going to come on soon.
Elle finishes the job and shortly after, the anthem starts to sound. I'm really curious as to who's died today. The first face to illuminate the jungle is Melanie's. So my District partner is dead. I can't say I feel bad, the girl had it coming. She was annoying and arrogant, just like a career, except she wasn't skilled in any way. I guess the news aren't as good for my District, but they still have 1 tribute left, me. Melanie's face fades away and Mara's face is displayed now. I never knew the girl, never really paid any attention to her at all. She's one of those tributes that don't stick out. I thought she was going to die in the bloodbath, but she made it a long way. What did she get in training? a 6? a 7? That's pretty good considering her level of survival skills. Her face leaves the sky and the anthem ends. 7 tributes remain. The interviews will be going on tomorrow, so all the tribute's family's will get interviewed. They usually do them during the final 8 but since there were two consecutive deaths that won't be possible.
I get into my sleeping back and Elle takes first watch, we don't say much. We usually only talk small talk, but we understand each others feelings and emotions, we get each other. I let sleep consume me and I throw all of my worries away, relying on Elle to make sure we're safe.
A/N: I think that I have improved my writing skill a lot since the start of the story, I'm kinda happy about that :D That makes 12 chapters already and 8 days of the Hunger Games. Since there wasn't a final 8, because there were two consecutive deaths, the interviews will be on the final 7. I'm thinking of taking the Capitol's perspective for the next chapter and doing the interviews through the Capitol's interviewer's POV. I'll try something like that and see if it works out, you'll just have to find out next chapter. I'm estimating that my next chapter will be up sometime tomorrow in the afternoon. I will be traveling back to Switzerland in the morning. I'll have better internet in Switzerland so the chapters will get uploaded quicker! :)
These tributes remain:
District 1:
Tiffany (female) Training Score: 9
District 2:
Mariana (female) Training Score: 9
District 3:
District 4:
Alexander (male) Training Score: 10
District 5:
District 6:
Elle (female) Training Score: 9
District 7:
Hannah (female) Training Score: 4
Joshua (male) Training Score: 10
District 8:
District 9:
Ruben (female) Training Score: 9
District 10:
District 11:
District 12:
That's a wrap :) Quite a bit of sponsor gifts will be coming in next chapter because of the interviews. Please review if you want to improve the story. ~DivineArrow
