Like it or not, my most popular YouTube video is now my reaction to Jeff Varner outing Zeke Smith as transgender, having garnered four thousand views. It was big news, and I got plenty of mean comments, which I'm okay with. Also, happy Easter. As a former Christian, I can't believe I used to believe it. It seems so ridiculous on the outside, but you didn't come here for that.
Here it is: a chapter I think you guys are going to enjoy! It's a decent length (well over 4,000 words) and emotional, which is what I always like to strive for. Not that there's ever a non-emotional chapter in the Hunger Games, but this is up there. It's one of my favorites. The title comes from a Billy Talent song inspired by a book I'm reading now. I downloaded the PDF onto my laptop I write this stuff on. It's called "Veronika Decides To Die", and it's about a young Slovenian woman during the 1990s who attempts suicide because her life is too dull. She's not depressed, she just hasn't gotten the chance to BE depressed, or joyful, in her life. Just read it. It's pretty freaking good.
Don't worry, this is NOT turning into a songfic.
Answer: My family has done a lot of traveling, and I have been to quite a few European countries: England, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Italy. I've visited 20 or so states, including my own.
Question: What fanfiction are you currently reading?
Panna and Kidra whirled around, looking for the source of the voice. Of course, it turned out that it was Rey.
"You again?" he said.
"I might ask the same thing of you" Kidra said severely.
"What do you mean?" the District 11 boy asked.
"She means", said Panna, "that's it's very curious that we keep running into each other. Is this some kind of trick from the Gamemakers? Do they want us to align?"
The two girls stared Rey down for several minutes. Neither of them wanted to align with him, he was too unpredictable for that. Was there some trick involved here? Surely the Gamemakers could not have expected them to join up like this.
Finally, Rey put his hands in the air. "Hey, if you don't want to join with me, that's fine. Personally, I'd rather stay solo as well, but to each his own".
"That's exactly what we'd like" said Kidra coolly.
"I'm not even staying here" the District 11 boy said. "I'm going down to the summer island. After the night of winter, I want warmer climates, you know?"
The two girls could relate. They hadn't been to the winter island, but they had been thinking of going there. Maybe they'd be less likely to encounter Careers there. But, now that Rey was talking about it, it sure sounded like one brutal place to be.
"So...what's your plan?" he asked the girls.
"Like we'd tell you" Panna said.
"Fair enough" Rey said, crossing his arms. "If you don't mind, I'm going to be on my way now".
Kidra and Panna watched as Rey turned towards the island covered in palm trees and began walking through the brutally hot desert sand. If too many tributes stayed here for too long, the Games might end due to tributes dying of heat stroke before it ended with tributes actually killing each other, the kind of death the Capitol found the most satisfying. The Capitol wouldn't want to let that happen.
"What now?" Panna asked, once Rey was well out of earshot.
Kidra sat down behind a large saguaro cactus. "We wait".
As the pair of girls sat behind the cacti and bided their time, the Muscle Alliance had finally reached the summer island. For most people, it would have sounded like a very idyllic vacation spot, a place to go to in the summer when it was far too hot in the Capitol, a nice little forest retreat.
The forest, however, was extremely thick, to the point where many of the dark green spruce trees were brushing up against each other. Had trees been conscious of this, they would most likely be very uncomfortable.
That's a weird thought, Juliana said to herself. I can't dwell on such things, not if I hope to win the Hunger Games.
Still, though, it was an interesting philosophical dilemma that she continued pondering as Bretson said, "All right! Let's carry this thing onto the beach!"
Juliana hopped out of the kayak. She was arrested by the cold temperature of the water, about fifteen degrees Celsius, or fifty-nine Fahrenheit. She recalled the equation, but didn't see why it mattered right then.
Carrying the kayak onto the beach, she noticed just how rocky it was. This didn't seem like a place anyone she knew would want to vacation. The beaches near District 11 were all sandy, not rocky like this.
"I'm not sure I like this place" Neo said. "I'm not used to all of these mosquitoes".
Indeed, Juliana could see clouds of the bugs floating in the air. It didn't seem likely that they were here by chance, the Gamemakers must be specifically targeting them.
"Should we explore?" the District 11 girl asked nonchalantly.
"I don't see why not" Bobbin replied.
"I'm cool with that" Bretson said.
The District 8 girl led the way out of the ocean and into the woods. Soon, it no longer reminded Bobbin, or anyone else, of summer.
Within twenty yards, they had practically lost sight of the ocean. They felt like they were constantly getting hemmed in by prickly spruce trees, not a comfortable feeling. Some of the trees were only four or five feet tall, while others were six or seven stories in height. It was highly variable and unpredictable.
Bobbin was used to swelteringly hot summers back in her district, which was a large, disgusting city stinking of refineries. This wasn't something that she looked back on fondly, but she didn't particularly like this place either. It felt like the trees were suffocating her. Why would the Gamemakers had thought of this for the summer island?
"Do you hear anything?" Juliana asked the group.
The other three all trained their ears on the surrounded greenery. Eventually, Bretson felt that he had detected something.
"Maybe there's someone in there" the District 6 boy said.
There was the sound of a sword being unsheathed, then a boy came running at them. It was Lance, the guy from District 2.
"What are you losers doing here?" someone said, although Lance's lips never moved. That's when the group realized that Lance wasn't the only Career present on the summer island.
"Let's get out of here!" Bretson yelled.
There were a few very confusing minutes, during which tributes from both the Muscle Alliance and the Career pack were sprinting through the thickets. Neo, who was at the very back of the Muscle Alliance, was able to see that it was Sei who had accompanied Lance to this island.
Really, he didn't care. The District 10 boy hated both of them, and he tried to draw his machete, but Sei was excellent at the art of dodging.
Finally, the District 1 boy stopped the District 2 boy. "I don't think that they're going to let us catch them" he said. "It's really no big deal. There will be plenty more chances".
"We keep squandering them, though" Lance replied. "How long until we admit that we suck as Careers?"
"We don't suck at being Careers!" Sei retorted. "With that attitude, we'll never get anything done! Let's stay on this island and look for some more accessible targets".
Lance couldn't argue with that. The two Career boys turned around, swatting at the mosquitoes. They were just so annoying.
Bretson and his alliance didn't relax until they had gotten the kayak a hundred yards out to sea. He figured that it was now safe enough to talk to the others.
The island really looked pretty from this far out. It was only once you had actually seen it up close that you realized that it was an illusion, that it was so great. In reality, this was not someplace you wanted to stay for too long. Not only because it was the Hunger Games, but also because of all of the bugs the Gamemakers had put there, and also how sharp the spruce needles were. Neo had had to pick some out of his hand, and one of them was even bleeding slightly.
Juliana had apologized, saying that she didn't have any leaves on hand, but Bretson got the feeling that the District 10 boy would not have wanted the leaves to be used on him anyways. He found it pretty gross, and it was clear that he didn't approve of her nature healing.
Now, they were paddling quickly around the island, debating where they should go next.
"Should we do the spring island?" Juliana asked. Spring was her favorite time of year, living in District 11.
"I get the feeling that might be too predictable" Neo replied.
"What do you mean?" Bobbin asked.
"We should go to the winter island" Bretson said. "They'll never guess we're there. Besides, we're going in the right direction".
The group was heading back towards the fall island now, but there was still one major obstacle they would need to make their way through before they reached it, and that was the mangrove forest. Yesterday, it had been the site of an intense battle between District 2 and the Muscle Alliance. Now, they had no idea what they would be facing.
The Muscle Alliance, once they had paddled halfway around the autumn island, fell silent for a few moments. Out of nowhere, Bobbin asked the group, "Do you believe in God, guys?"
She hadn't expected the question to be taken too seriously. After all, they were in the Hunger Games right now. Surely the most important existential question of all time could wait; they needed to survive!
"I do" Bretson said. "My family's Catholic, as is my girlfriend. We used to watch the pope speak on TV when, you know..." he trailed off.
It was clear that he was going to say, When the Capitol wasn't making us watch stuff like the Hunger Games.
"Me too" said Juliana. "A lot of people in District 11 are religious, including my family. We didn't practice as much as some people, just because of...everything. On Sunday mornings, they'd always make us work in the orchards. Especially come harvest time".
"That's fair" said Neo. "And, to answer your question, Bobbin, I'm an atheist. I gave it a lot of thought and realized that, if there is a God, he's not worthy of my worship".
"What makes you say that?" Bobbin asked.
"Well, there's the mafia boss analogy. Just like a mafia boss, God can break my legs unless I give him what he wants, which is my devotion to Him. And yet, even when I couldn't bring myself to believe, He's still going to make me serve Him. Sorry, but I just can't worship that God".
"That's sad" the District 11 girl said. "Can I pray for you?"
"I appreciate it, but I don't think it'll do anything" Neo replied. "Besides, at a certain point, I'm just focused on taking care of my brother at home to care about some magic man in the sky".
"You have a brother?" Bobbin asked.
"I do" the District 10 boy replied. "His name is Tyler, and..." he trailed off.
How could Neo explain just how devoted he was to his younger brother? He didn't want to show any vulnerability in front of the others, didn't want to be seen as weak. Really, things weren't going to work in this alliance if he spilled everything.
"Let's just go, guys" Bretson said. "We can't count on God to get us out of this situation, we've got to use our arms, not just get down on our knees. If you'd like to survive the day, let's just keep on going. Winter island?"
"North we go" said Juliana. She could already feel herself starting to shiver at the thought of entering that snowy forest, but she wanted to go along with the rest of her alliance. She didn't see how they were going to last otherwise; they weren't going to be able to have a central base like the Careers did.
Scar had been dreading the job she had set out to do from the very beginning. However, she knew that she was going to have to do it. She hoped to find some tributes hiding in the swamp, and only that way would she be able to get closer to coming back home.
She supposed that the trees were pretty enough. The trunks were very thick, and they rose about twenty feet in the air into thickets of leaves that were shaped kind of like an egg, or that bean statue they had near District 6. The sun, however, was beating down, and sweat dripped down her face.
To make matters worse, she wasn't seeing anyone. She kept her short sword with her, wishing to be able to pick someone off. Of course, there probably wouldn't be anyone in here. Scar didn't care too much, now that she thought of it.
Reason being, this wasn't where she aimed to spend most of the day hunting. This was only a waystation on the way to the winter island. The woods reminded her of District 2 in the winter, and they got a lot of snow there, so she felt the most confident among any of them, except maybe Fennal, in going to the snowy forest. Plus, she was fairly fast and light on her feet. She knew she'd leave tracks, but how many?
Scar didn't want to wade in this dark, disgusting water any more. Using all of her arm strength, she managed to pull herself out of there and climb into the branches of one of the trees. She'd cross through the boughs in order to reach the proper ocean, and then she'd jump in and swim to the winter island.
Yes, there was nothing wrong with that plan. And, even though she wracked her brain trying to come up with it, she couldn't remember what exactly was wrong with the Careers' plan, either.
"We're entering the mangrove forest now" Bretson said.
It was unnecessary. The mangrove forest was one of the most recognizable parts of the arena for the Muscle Alliance, having already been there. Bretson's wound was pretty much all better by now, thanks to Juliana's healing. And this arena, as much as any of them might have wanted to deny it, was one of the most beautiful places any of them had ever been.
Neo and Bretson were once again manning the paddles, using swift, even strokes, pushing the water behind them as if they had been doing this their whole lives. The girls were sitting back, but they were unable to relax. That just went with the territory when you were in the Hunger Games.
The water was still the same color it had been yesterday, as the sun had risen to high noon now. How much longer would the day last? None of the Muscle Alliance knew, but it was clear that the Gamemakers were likely to keep making it hotter during the day and colder during the night, in order to test the tributes to the maximum. This happened a lot in past editions of the Hunger Games that the tributes had been forced to watch.
"So...winter island?" Bobbin whispered.
"That was the plan" Bretson replied. "Hold on, Neo. We've got to steer a little to the right. You're correcting a little too much to the left".
The District 10 boy gave a great sigh before turning his oar in a different direction, careful not to upset the precarious balance that was already present.
Just then, they heard the sound of more paddling.
"What was that?" Juliana blurted out. "The Careers?"
"Probably" Neo said. "Let's get the fuck out of here!"
Bretson turned around. There was another kayak perhaps three hundred yards behind them. Three figures were inside of it, and it seemed that the only explanation was that there was an alliance of three there...or three of the Careers.
The District 6 boy sighed. He was sick of dealing with Careers. They'd already encountered Lance and Sei on the summer island, and that had been more than enough for him. He wished that they wouldn't have to do this again; he didn't want to just keep running away whenever they found a place that they liked.
Nine hundred feet away, Jenny and Ebony were paddling the kayak, while Sam was eating a lunch of veggie bacon on bread, which they had found in the Cornucopia. The girls were fine with that, and they would share the food amongst themselves later, back at the Cornucopia. But the District 4 boy was always hungry, it seemed, so he'd brought a sandwich for the ride.
"There's a group of four up ahead! That's...who is it again?" Jenny asked.
Sam dropped his sandwich into the water, where it was quickly devoured by a pair of very hungry koi fish. He readied his sword, even though they were still over 800 feet away from the other kayak.
"The boy from 6, who's running the whole thing, the boy from 10, the girl from 8, and the girl from 11" said Ebony. She was also getting a few knives from her vest, preparing to begin throwing them at the other alliance.
"That's a lot of targets" Sam pointed out. "My spear's pretty much useless".
"We'll spear or knife them" his district partner said. "We're going to get at least one of them taken down, no excuses. Lance, Fennal, Sam, and Scar really aren't going to be too happy if we come back empty-handed".
The Careers were gaining on the Muscle Alliance, and all seven tributes present knew it. Bretson and Neo began paddling faster, but they soon got tangled in a series of trees.
"We've got to get out of here!" Bobbin cried.
"Relax" Neo said. "I got this".
The District 10 boy tried to push them out of the mangrove entanglement. "Duck!" he called.
The group ducked underneath the branches, and it took the boys the best part of two minutes to get them completely out of this mess. The whole time, they could see and hear that the Careers were closing in. In not too much longer, they would be sucked into another battle, much like the one yesterday.
"Duck!" Neo yelled again, but this time it was for a different reason.
Ebony had thrown one of her knives from their kayak, still fifty feet away. It nearly hit Juliana in the head, but they ducked quickly enough so that it scraped Neo in the shoulder, cutting open his tribute outfit. The material was torn, but it still stayed on his body.
"Are you okay, Neo?" Bobbin asked.
"I'll be fine" he said, gasping in pain. "Let's just get away!"
Handing his oar away to Juliana, Neo sat back, rubbing his injured shoulder. He knew that they'd need to get a sponsor, because the wound looked bad. Hopefully, that would happen as soon as they got out of here, preferably without any of them dying.
Bretson swung his hammer, but all he managed to do was nearly hit Bobbin in the head. It was difficult to swing a hammer while still paddling with the other arm, and he nearly tipped the balance of the kayak. Careful not to fall into the water, he put his hammer back in the canoe's cockpit.
"Should we continue chasing them?" Jenny asked. "They're going to get away. Plus, I don't see how much longer they can survive on the winter island".
"That's fair" said Sam. "Ebony? What do you think?"
"Let's go down to the summer island" she said. "I'm sure we're going to find some other tributes there".
"Okay" Jenny replied. "Let's go".
The Careers left, leaving the Muscle Alliance to breathe a collective sigh of relief. They were safe, at least for now.
"We've got to get something to treat that wound, Neo" Juliana said, once Sei, Ebony, and Jenny were out of earshot.
"Just use those leaves" the District 10 boy said weakly. Already, it seemed, it seemed that he was coming around to her way of seeing things, in terms of being more in favor of the nature healing.
"I can't" the District 11 girl replied. "It's too big. We'll need something from sponsors".
"Well, let's head to the winter island first" Bretson said. "Then, we'll do everything we can to get someone in the Capitol to notice us. I'm sure we're getting a lot of airtime right now, given that we seem to keep escaping from the Careers".
The others, including Neo, laughed a little at that.
Rey put his latest encounter with the girls out of his mind. He couldn't afford to let it distract him. Still, there was no denying that this had been a very eventful day. He'd had so many encounters with other tributes that he just wanted to get it out of his head and lose himself in the woods of the summer island.
It wasn't that it had been all bad, though. For one, he had been able to figure out who seemed to be aligned with whom in the arena.
The Career pack this year, Rey reflected as he swam through the chilly waves, seemed to consist of seven tributes. He'd been aware that the pairs from 1, 2, and 4 were, as usual, in the alliance, as was Fennal, the boy from District 7. Evidently he'd been arrogant enough, and so confident in his abilities, that he had decided to go the route of the Careers. Maybe one of his parents was a victor or something.
There was also the alliance of four, which was Bobbin, Bretson, Juliana, and Neo. Very often there was an alliance formed in order to try and counteract the Careers, and there was no telling just yet whether or not it was going to work. Right here and now, however, he couldn't help but get the feeling that he didn't want to be in an alliance like that. That would only bring more danger, something he wasn't keen on.
And then there were the two girls he seemed to continue running into, Panna and Kidra. Counting on his fingers, he realized that there were 14 tributes left, as 10 had died. He'd already counted off thirteen, meaning that he was the only tribute who was on his own.
Surely, the Gamemakers wouldn't find this setup, 7-4-2-1, exciting for too much longer. Rey feared that, as the only tribute left outside of an alliance, the Gamemakers would decide to turn on him eventually. The privileged men and women inside of the Capitol held so much of the power in the Hunger Games that it almost didn't matter what the tributes did sometimes.
Saint Veronika...wait, what? Why was Rey suddenly thinking of a Billy Talent song right now? He couldn't get that song out of his head, and yet he hadn't heard it in so long.
That wasn't true. It had been played at the ball, but that had been two days ago. This Hunger Games, even though it was only day 2, was starting to feel interminable to Rey. He just wanted it to be over, without him dying. Meaning that he had to win.
And then he realized why Saint Veronika was getting stuck in his head.
The song is based on a novel in which a young woman named Veronika tries to commit suicide, and Rey realized that, without realizing it, he'd done exactly that when he had volunteered for the Games. He'd gone the route of Veronika.
Just like his encounters with Kidra and Panna, however, he tried to put this realization out of his mind. Looking up at the island he was swimming to, he saw that it was covered in spruce trees, so thick that it looked as though they were cuddling with each other. They were that close together.
As Rey got out of the water, he looked behind him and was relieved to see that the Careers were not right on his tail. For this he was very grateful.
Scar had made it to the winter island. Looking at her surroundings, it was indeed similar to how District 2 was in the winter, except that the sky back home was not always purple. She knew that she had no time to waste if she wanted to hunt for tributes.
Thankful for her sword, she surveyed the nearby area, but didn't see any tributes. The only thing she did see were a few tracks left in the snow, but they didn't look like the tracks of another tribute. Instead, there might be a deer nearby.
Scar wasn't a fan of deer. She'd heard that they could transmit several diseases, including Lyme disease. And there were no antibiotics in the arena unless you got sponsored. And there were no sponsors unless you could make the crowd like you.
Turning to the invisible cameras she was sure were around her, she said, "Blakely, I'm still doing this for you".
Hopefully, her little sister was watching her say that. She was doing what she needed to so that she and her sister could have a better life back at home. That was all.
"Okay" Kidra said. "I think that now is as good a time as any".
"Why?" Panna asked back.
"There's nobody next to the Cornucopia" the District 5 girl pointed out. "We're not going to get attacked if we head in right now. I'm fairly certain of that".
The two girls stepped out from behind the cactus, which they had been careful not to touch. That would have been pretty painful. As it was, they were kneeling in hot desert sand, and Kidra could feel her knees start to burn. Not in terms of being on fire, they were just really hot. She wasn't enjoying herself by any means.
Panna was a little nervous. Although she and her ally had gotten better at swimming during the twenty-six hours or so that they had been in the arena, they still were not that confident in the water. And she knew that they'd have to learn fast if they hoped to reach the Cornucopia in time to grab some supplies before the Careers came back from hunting.
"At least they're not being successful at hunting" Panna said. "No cannons yet".
Indeed, there had been no cannons fired since the end of the Bloodbath yesterday. How long could this go on until the Capitol audience got bored of the lack of bloodshed? How long until the Gamemakers decided to break this alliance apart?
The District 3 girl tried to focus on other things. Right now, she and her ally were going to swim to the Cornucopia at the shortest point, which was roughly three hundred yards. As neither of them were that great at swimming, they wanted to get that part over with as quickly as possible. Once they had reached the other side, they would search through all of the backpacks of the Cornucopia for something they thought they could use.
"You ready?" Kidra asked Panna.
"I'm ready" the younger girl replied.
Both girls waded into the water and began swimming towards the Cornucopia. Just coming out of the desert, the water was tough to get used to. However, the two girls were able to get their act together as they swam to the island in the center of the arena.
"Let's do this" Panna said.