AN: I'm guessing you're all anxious to hear from the Careers?
Fiorella Gage, D1
The Career alliance has been in shambles for the past few days. All that remains of our group is Romilda, Rudyard, Liam and I. Romilda is on a fiery path of rage, desperately determined to find every last one of those stinking outer district rats and put them through hell and back before murdering them mercilessly. Liam continually tests her temper, trying to convince her that we need to hunt down the other runts that aren't a threat first. Rudyard and I find peace by falling under the radar and ultimately following Romilda's orders. We wouldn't cross her; we value our lives too much.
Apparently, Liam does not. Just now, he is in a heated debate with our leader about which path to take. Of course, when Romilda says right, Liam will say left.
"We need to take the others out before we take on the alliance!" he shouts at her, his hands shaking. "That's our best bet!"
Romilda's eyes glare red hot and angry. She grinds her teeth together and shoves Liam into the nearest standing wall. "Just do as you're told, 1," she spits out between her teeth.
Liam, arrogant as ever, brushes himself off and sticks his chin in the air. I wish he would start using his brain instead of his dumb, thick-skulled head. He might as well ask Romilda straight out if she would kill him, right here and now, by the way he talks to her.
I hate all of them so much. Down to the deepest pit of my black heart, I want them all to die a bloody death. Or better yet, let it be my hand that takes their lives, one by one. I am so fed up with each and every one of my so-called allies that I would honestly kill them all right now if it weren't for the fact that for the most part, they do protect me when the time comes. We fight as one unit and an effective one at that.
Carrying all our remaining supplies, we trudge through the ruins of the fallen walls. The maze is broken now, but the arena stays intact. More paths have opened up, but others have been closed off by rubble. It's not in our power to move thousand ton titanium walls, so we leave them be. We move along, following Romilda in her wake of fury.
She's so mad that we lost and fled from some outer district rats that if steam could come out of her ears, I think it would. I wish I could see that happen once before I kill her.
As we walk, a murder plot begins to formulate within my mind. If I attack on my watch while the others are sleeping, I can cover their mouths to prevent their screams from being heard. Romilda will be the first to go, and then Rudyard. The reason being is that Romilda is the more adept fighter here, and I will need her to be one hundred percent knocked out when I attack. Next will be Rudyard, because he is stronger than me and if I can catch him not alert and off his guard, I can kill him with no problem. Liam will be easy to take on even though he could well be fully awake by the time it comes to his turn to die. I know his fighting style to well. I'll just hide his sword and he'll be worthless.
With my hidden gun tucked away, I feel even more protected. Even though I have yet to have found bullets, I know they wouldn't juke me out and not leave bullets somewhere in this damned arena. They have to be somewhere, and I won't rest until I find them.
"Hey!" Romilda calls to me from ahead. "You! Don't fall behind, girl, or I'll dispose of you."
Ha. We will see who disposes who.
Hurrying along, we make good time. Romilda leads us through the maze, using a piece of chalk to draw arrows on the standing walls. They all point to the direction of the Cornucopia, our camp. I'm hoping the Gamemakers drop off some more supplies soon, because the golden horn is running low and I'm getting hungry. This Quell has dragged on for longer than I had previously imagined. It seems that the Gamemakers haven't killed any tributes personally, like they have in years past. They want blood split by the tributes. That's fine by me. I like it better that way.
Romilda turns the next corner and jumps so far back that she knocks into Liam and I. Rudyard back up, drawing his knife while Liam opens his mouth to bicker. Romilda shushes him and unsheathes her newly acquired axes. I pluck my knives from my belt and hold it above my head. Liam looks at all of us dumbfounded until he realizes that others are near. He pulls out his sword and we eavesdrop carefully on the tributes around the corner.
Low voices discuss something about a canon, or lack thereof.
"We should have heard it by now," a tiny voice croaks out.
"I'm positive it didn't go off. I was listening for it."
"Maybe he's alive."
"We should go back."
"No! We'll be killed by those wolves!"
"He fended them off! He's probably wounded back there and needs us!"
"I don't think this is a good idea."
"What about the Careers? What if they find us?"
"We can't worry about those cowards. They are foolish, and jump into any fight they can. We are stronger than them."
"Agreed."
"So should we risk going back?"
The voices babble on, three to be exact. At certain points, they speak of our alliance, dissing us and calling us cowards and idiots. Chuckling inwardly to myself, I realize that most of their points are more than valid. We do jump into any battle, heedless of danger and as arrogant as ever. I don't dare say this aloud, for it would be my head. Romilda appears relatively calm as she takes it all in. All the insults directed at the Careers as a whole reflect her leadership, and even though she very well knows this, she remains creepily calm and collected. She takes it all in stride, as if she doesn't take any offense to it. Deep down inside, I know she wants to tear those kids' limbs apart.
Eventually, the tributes on the other side of the wall come to a decision. They will go back for their friend. I scoff at their weakness. If this was a decision that came across the Careers, we would leave our wounded ally behind for the wolves, as ironic as that may sound. We don't take mercy on anyone, not even ourselves.
Romilda raises her axes, and we mirror her. She turns the corner and I watch as she hurls her axe with all the force she can muster. A great crashing sound rings out and Romilda curses angrily. She must have missed her target. She readies her next axe as the rest of us Careers jump out of our hiding spot and attack the tributes.
It's that alliance again. I suspected as much when I heard more than one or two voices. They have become a force to be reckoned with in this Quell, and I don't take enemies for granted. These kids are some serious fighters and that needs to be recognized, if someone in my alliance ever grows a brain.
Backing off a bit, I lay back and watch my allies fight. Romilda immediately takes on her old sparring partner, the leader of the group, Saul. I remember him from training because he stood out so much more than the others. He is ready for her and defends her aggressive attacks like she's hitting him with a banana. She makes the fatal mistake of heaving her axe at him and the weapon slips out of her greedy hands. Saul dodges this attack and Romilda ducks as he swings his sword at her. Romilda is forced to fight unarmed. Seeing this as unfair, Saul flings his sword to the ground and Romilda grins. They fight hand-to-hand and I turn my attention back to the others.
Rudyard takes on the girl from 11, while Liam the imbecile fights with the girl from 12. I have to hand it to the girls; they are extremely brave for facing these two competitors and surviving this long. They don't even seem to be breaking a sweat. They just continue to dodge my allies' attacks and ducking out of the way of their swinging weapons. I can see each battle is pretty evenly matched, so I just sit back and watch. Interestingly enough, no one notices. I hang back and watch the showdown go down.
Romilda and Saul's fight heats up. Both have cast aside their weapons, even though their weapons are within arm's reach. Saul seems to have the upper hand now, and Romilda appears to be exhausted. I almost jump in to help her, but then I remember that I hate her and want Saul to kill her. I nearly cheer when he shoves her into the titanium walls and blood from her cracked skull splatters everywhere.
A shrill scream rings out in the air and all motion stops for a split second. The other fights pick right back up again, but one slows down. Someone is losing. I turn and my heart sinks. Liam has pinned the 12 girl to the ground, and her blood is caked into her blonde hair and face. He has her in a chokehold with no possible way of escape.
Thinking quickly, I race across the small expanse and crash into Liam, switching our positions. Now I hold the girl from 12's neck, pretending to squeeze the air out of her lungs. In reality, I barely touch her. Liam can't tell though. He thinks I'm just being a jerk.
"What the heck, Fiorella?" he shouts at me.
I spit out the best response I can think of. "She's my kill!"
The girl from 12 who I saved looks up incredulously at me with the biggest blue eyes I have ever seen. She knows I saved her life and she doesn't have any idea why. I want to let her go somehow but I have Liam standing over me, waiting for me to finish the kill and move on. But all of a sudden, a force slams into me and knocks me off the girl.
I look up and see Liam standing over me. He kicks me in the side and I cower in to that side where his boot met my ribcage. His expression is one of pure rage as he spits in my face.
"This is my kill. Back off!" he shouts, eyes wild with fury. He stoops over to the 12 girl but I am quicker. From my lying down position, I shove his ankles with my feet. His weak knees buckle and he falls to the floor. I nudge the girl from 12 and our eyes meet.
"Run," I mouth silently. She nods and boosts herself up. Just before running away, she turns around, picks up Liam's head, and slams it into the titanium walls. I almost cheer again. Instead, I pick myself up and look around.
The outer district alliance fled, leaving us Careers in the bloody dust. Romilda cradles a serious head wound and a heavy vendetta. Rudyard appears to be fine except for a gash on his left forearm and fingernail slash marks on his cheek. Liam, of course, is knocked out cold, and I'm fervently hoping he has no memory of our little scuffle when he awakens again. I am the only one outwardly unscathed, although my stomach is still churning fiercely from Liam kicking me.
Pulling out bandages, I help wrap up Romilda's cracked skull. It looks like it needs stitches, but when I tell her this, she waves me away.
"I don't need stitches," she mumbles, barely audible. "I'm from District 2. I've been dropped on stone masonry numerous times before and never needed any stitches."
I shrug and move on to Rudyard, who happily takes the stitches. I admit that I'm not very efficient with a needle and string, but at least his gash stopped bleeding. Once Rudyard is patched up, he murmurs a small thanks and wraps up his own arm with bandages. Romilda is on her feet again, pacing and mumbling something to herself. I think she's lost her mind, but I won't be the one to say it aloud. She can still handle her precious axe.
"What about him?" I ask, gesturing toward our unconscious ally. Blood drips from his mouth and an open gash in his head, pooling on the floor around him. He won't make it very far with his injuries. It would be best to kill him now while he's blacked out so he won't feel any unnecessary pain. I hate him, but I still have some mercy tucked far back away in my cold heart.
"Leave him," says Rudyard. "He'll be of no use to us."
"Should we end it?" I ask, raising my knife.
Rudyard hesitates, but nods his head in the end. Romilda doesn't even notice our conversation. She won't mind us killing Liam. She hated him more than she hates the rest of us.
Raising my knife, I force myself to look away as I throw it at my own district partner and ally. Rudyard stops me with a hand on my shoulder.
"I'll do it," he replies gruffly. I nod thankfully. If I won this Quell and went back home, everyone would look down at me as a traitor, even though they know the circumstances. They would ignore that Liam was on his deathbed. They would only see what they want to see, and that is me as a traitor to District 1.
I turn away. All I hear is a sickening snap and a canon boom in the distance. We move along before the hovercraft comes to pick up the dead body. Romilda continues to mumble to herself, but Rudyard and I ignore her. We lead on the decimated Career pack with a vengeance. No one will escape our clutches now. We are angry now. And there isn't anyone and anything that will stop us.