Shapiro Havilliard-15(D3F)
I really wish Embry would talk to me, I mean I know there's not a lot I can do to make him feel better but if he'd at least talk I'd know what he's thinking. I hate not being able to help people, I mean he was there as a sympathetic shoulder for me after Erier died so it's only fair that I do the same for him, the only problem is getting him to let me help. So far the only real conversation we've had since last night involved him blaming me for Audrey's death and while he seems to have cooled down a bit since then, I'm still not sure he's stopped blaming me for what happened.
"Hey, Shapiro….Can we talk for a second?"
Hearing his voice for the first time in hours causes me to jump a little and for a moment I'm worried about what he's going to say. However my response elicits a small chuckle and a rather comforting smile and for the first time all day I let myself relax, at least, he's not planning on killing me….I hope.
"Sure Embry, what's on your mind?"
"Look I know I haven't been a great ally today, or at all really. I've been withdrawn, cold, and selfish while you've never been anything less than supportive and caring."
"You really haven't…."
"Please let me finish."
"Sorry, please continue."
"This has just been a real gut check for me. I mean I'm here because of me, I can't blame it on luck whether good or bad, I volunteered to be here and the whole reason was to….To protect Audrey. I don't know if I'll ever really get over not being there when she died, but I do know her death wasn't your fault and me blaming it on you was just an irrational reaction to seeing her face."
"Embry, I know nothing I say can ever take away the pain you have to be feeling right now, but from the bottom of my heart, I'm truly sorry. I never really got to know Audrey but she was still your family, and no one should have to lose someone they care about like this."
"Thank you, Shapiro, it means a lot to me that you understand why I'm feeling the way I am, but that doesn't excuse how I've acted. In the end, I can't change what happened to Audrey….What I can do is help you survive. I can help you get home and enjoy what little of your life the Games don't destroy."
"What about you Embry? Don't you want to go home and see your family again?"
"I….I don't think I could face them, not after what happened. I made a huge stink at my goodbyes about doing this for the family, that somehow my volunteering would ensure Audrey's winning. I convinced myself of the righteousness of my cause to the point that I blinded myself to just what Audrey and everyone else was going through. I put my entire family in the unenviable position of knowing for certain that someone they loved was going to die, and I did it for selfish reasons."
"That doesn't mean they still aren't hoping you'll win and come home. I'm sure each of them is praying for your safety every second, just like I'm sure Audrey is up in heaven."
"Audrey….You know what the last thing I said To her was?"
"Embry you don't have to talk about this, we can just remember the good time the two of you had…."
"No, this is….Something I have to say, please."
"Like I told you earlier Embry, I'm your ally so anything you need to say I'll listen. Just understand that I'm going to tell you what you NEED to hear about it and not what you want to."
"When we were waiting for the peacekeepers with our mentor Nikolai I said something I shouldn't have. I told her I regretted volunteering, I told her that if I died it would be her fault, I….I told her I hated her. The last thing I said to my cousin before she died was that I HATED HER!"
This is why he's been like this, it's not just Audrey dying but what he said and did before it happened. Part of him must blame her death on what he said, add in that the whole reason he's here was to protect her and he's got to be killing himself over what happened. I always assumed his anger was at himself for letting her push him away and at her for not wanting his help, but it's so much more. For the first time, I'm getting an inside look at just how complex a man Embry really is, and I think I'm starting to understand just what he's going through.
"Embry you know nothing you said or did resulted in her death, nothing you could have done differently would have changed what happened to Audrey."
"That doesn't make what I said, or what I did any better, though. If anything, it makes it that much worse, I mean my cousin died thinking that I….That I hated her. What kind of monster lets someone they love to die thinking that?"
"You're not a monster Embry, but you are a person. Sometimes people say things in the heat of the moment they don't mean, things they wish they could take back later but they can't. That's all this is Embry, you regret what you said and how you acted and you want to change it, but the past is something that's set in stone, but you can still change the present and the future too. All you have to do is stop blaming yourself for being human, let go of things that are outside of your control and accept what's already happened."
"You know that's pretty insightful for someone as young as you are Shapiro."
"Well growing up I've made my share of irrational decisions so I learned early on not to dwell on it. As far as I can tell my choices and actions made me who I am today, the good and the bad both."
"Well, it's a nice change, most girls I know don't have themselves half as well put together as you do so I'm impressed."
"Well thank you, Embry….Please tell me you're not about to propose marriage?"
I offer him a cocky sideways grin at my lame joke and before I know if the two of us a rolling with laughter. We both let our frustrations escape through our shared laugh and for the first time since the games started I feel the tension between the two of us truly ease. For better or worse the two of us are committed to this alliance and each other, I just hope I can convince him not to throw his life away in some vain attempt to atone for his past mistakes. That however is a discussion for another time as the Capital anthem blares out from every corner of the arena and the national seal drowns out the pale moonlight.
Quartz Blaze-17(D1F)
"Where the hell are they, didn't they say they'd be back before the Fallen Tribute?"
"Are you worried about them Quartz?"
"What's there to be worried about? I'm just saying it's bad manners to keep two lovely ladies like us waiting is all."
"Well considering two of them are guys and totally clueless about how to treat a real woman it's not all that surprising that they'd keep us waiting. I mean there's only so much Aurelia can do to keep those two in line after all."
"True, but still you'd think the boys would, at least, be smart enough to be back before nightfall. I mean they left their night vision goggles behind. How do they plan on hunting in the dark?"
"Maybe Cristian will offer himself up as a human torch?"
"That's not funny Meghan, it's creative but not funny."
"Didn't stop you from laughing did it? Admit it, lighting his pompous ass up would be a sight worth seeing."
She's got a point, the last two days have made me question the wisdom of keeping Cristian in the alliance. I mean sure he's got a couple kills but were they worth the animosity his inclusion has created among the rest of us? Between Meghan's barely controlled rage and Marlowe's insistence at putting himself between the two of them to keep the peace our alliance has quickly devolved into a very volatile place, and I'm not sure how we get back to a good place with all of us still included.
"Ok Meghan real talk time, what exactly is it about Cristian that you hate so much?"
"You want this alphabetically or in order of most to least annoying?"
"Dealers choice my dear."
"Well for starters I can't stand the way he looks at me, like some animal baying at the chance to tear into a bone. Then there's the way he talks to me, like just because I'm a girl and I'm good looking I can't understand what he's saying unless he talks slow and uses small words."
"Ok that would get on my nerves too, but he's never acted like that around me or Aurelia, as far as I know anyway. So why would he do it with you and no one else?"
"It didn't start out that way, in the beginning he was pompous but controlled, he was almost afraid to step out of line around any of us. After he got popped by the boy from Eight though I started asking around about what led to it, that's how I found out about his rather 'physical' romance attempt with the girl from Eleven."
"Ok, I assume you confronted him about it. Is that what led to his attitude with you?"
"Initially, I didn't confront him, I went to Marlowe and he brought it to you and Aurelia and we had our vote."
"I think I understand now. You voted to kick him but lost, then Marlowe insisted that we drop the issue completely, but that's not something you'd do. Not with this issue at least."
"All I did was ask him what the hell he was thinking accosting someone like that. I mean he was a career at that point and his actions reflected badly on us all so I told him to watch how he acted."
"Knowing Cristian he probably didn't take that too well."
"No he decided to take the opportunity to offer me the same deal he offered Vera. A day of passion, the chance to know true bliss before I died."
"He didn't?!"
"He sure as hell did. When I told him I wasn't interested in what he had to offer he accused me of being a….Well, let's just say he called my sexuality into question. When I told him he was right but out of line, he took it to mean he was free to talk down to me."
"Hold on a second there was a shit ton of information in there. Are you saying you're into girls?"
"I….Yes but that hardly gives him the freedom to treat me differently just because he knows he has no chance of getting into my pants."
"No it doesn't, and I'm sorry you had to put up with that. Why didn't you tell us about it?"
"It….It doesn't matter now, the important thing is you know why I can't work with him, why I won't work with him."
"Meghan, did you….Did you say something before that someone ignored?"
"I mentioned it to Marlowe at the end of training. He asked how the subject came up in the first place then proceeded to scold me for bringing up the 'incident' between Cristian and the others. He all but said I deserved it for not dropping the subject like he told me too."
"He what?!"
"I mean I got over it with regards to him. I mean I understand it's hard to control the conflicting styles and emotions of an alliance like ours, and I don't blame him for trying to play peacekeeper between the rest of us. I just expected him to put a stop to things like that, isn't that what a leader is supposed to do?"
"I….Yes it is, and I'm sorry he didn't do what he should have. Sometimes I think he gets himself caught up in the appearance factor of the alliance rather than the performance or trust aspects of it."
The two of us sit in silence for a few minutes until the anthem jolts both of us out of our stupor. We turn our attention to the sky as the smiling face of Meghan's district partner Bruinen replaces the seal. A few seconds later he fades away and the unsure face of the boy from Eleven replaces him before the seal returns and fades into the twilight leaving the suddenly quiet arena in a state of shock.
"Both of Willocks allies?! What are the odds of that, especially without Willock dying too?"
"That's a good question Meghan, I didn't miss a cannon today did I?"
"No those would have been the ones from the early part of today, the ones we heard near dawn."
"Then I don't know what could have happened. You don't think Willock killed them do you?"
"That or he left them exposed in the night and a mutt or something got them, it's the only way I can see something getting the drop on Bruinen so early. We may not have seen eye to eye but he was far too cautious and prepared to let his guard down."
"Maybe Aurelia can shed some light on this, provided she and the others ever come back that is."
"Come on Quartz I'm sure they're ok, I mean Aurelia is a boss and while Cristian and Marlowe are asses they're talented asses at the very least."
I hope she's right, I'd hate for them to be in serious trouble while the two of us sit here and 'bond'.
"I'm going to go 'relieve' myself Quartz."
"You want me to come watch your back?"
"I'm not going far so I'll be fine, but thanks for caring."
I offer her a nod and she quickly jogs off to the relative seclusion of a bank of shrubs maybe seventy yards away from the cornucopia. I move into the back of the cornucopia and start to rummage through the supplies for the night vision goggles when I hear a shrill shriek outside. I scoop up my kunai from the ground beside me and tear one free from its binding as I dart outside.
"MEGHAN! MEGHAN WHERE ARE YOU?!"
I take off toward the bushes she was headed toward but the only things left are her spear, her pants and an indent in the ground from where she or her attacker dropped to their knees. I follow the drag marks left in the relatively wet soil into the tangle of underbrush where I find a wide-eyed Willock leaning over her prone and pantless forum.
"GET THE HELL AWAY FROM HER!"
I rear back and send a kunai sailing toward him but in my anger I overcompensated for the distance and it nicks his face as it goes sailing past his ear and embeds itself in a nearby tree. I tear a second one from my supply and send it flying into his shoulder as he rears back and sends a rock sailing toward my head. I duck down and grab another kunai as he scoops up his stuff and dashes off into the relative protection of the overgrowth surrounding the outskirts of the impression holding the cornucopia.
I momentarily consider going after him but a low moan from Meghan puts those thoughts on ice and within seconds I've got her slung over my shoulders and am running for all I'm worth for the safety of the cornucopia. I don't think Willock is stupid enough to make another attempt tonight but I'm not taking any chances, I just wish the others were here to help. I don't know if I can take someone Willocks size in a straight up fight but I'll damn sure try, Meghan's been through enough already.
Fox Jameson-16(D7M)
Susan and I have been running for what seems like forever, hell I'm at the point of exhaustion but I won't stop until I'm sure that mutt isn't following us. I've lived too damn long to burn to death, I'm not going out like that. I've seen what dying like that does whether it's from controlled brush burns gone awry or in the games themselves, and that's not something I'm keen to try anytime soon.
"FOX, I THINK WE'RE GOOD TO STOP."
I pull up and circle back to where Susan's leaning against a tree panting and wheezing for air. This is the first time I've gotten a good look at her face since the mutt attack and sure as shit her nose is charred to a crisp and her right arm is covered in burn blisters from the tips of her fingers to just below her elbow. I drop to my knees and fish out the one bottle of water we have left and take a quick swig before passing it to Susan while diving back into my pack to search for the first aid kit. Unfortunately it's not in mine which means Susan has it.
"Let me see your bag, I'm pretty sure you've got the first aid kit."
"I….I don't have it."
"What do you mean you 'don't have it'?"
"I….I dropped it when the mutt burned my hand and I didn't think to scoop it up in my hurry to get away."
"Meghan our first aid kit was in there, not to mention the iodine and most of the food! What the hell were you thinking?"
"I was trying not to die, Fox, I'm sorry but the bag wasn't exactly the most pressing thing on my mind at the time."
"Perfect so now we have two makeshift tomahawks, some rope, a thermal space blanket, a third of a liter of water, and four crab apples between us."
"I'm sorry Fox like I said the supply pack was the farthest thing from my mind when we left."
"It's….It's fine don't worry about it. Let's see what we can do about your nose and arm without the kit. Now please keep in mind my speciality is with flesh wounds and not burns but I'll see what I can do all the same."
There's nothing I can do for her nose at this point, I'm not sure I could have done much with the first aid kit but I know there's nothing I can do without it. Her arm on the other hand is in decent shape and most of the blisters haven't broken, however there are a few that have. These most likely happened while we were running so I know I'll need to wrap them to prevent infection, the problem is we don't have anything to do it with.
"Ok I need to wrap your arm up to stop it from getting infected, so I'm going to have to improvise a little. Arm or leg?"
"What?"
"Which one would you rather lose an arm or a leg?"
"Neither preferably, and why would I need to lose one? You said it's not that bad didn't you?"
"Ok let me rephrase that, pant leg or sleeve?"
"Um sleeve I guess."
"Ok now don't jerk away. If I don't do this right I'm like to tear your tunic open and neither of us wants you to run around shirtless for the rest of the games."
"What?!"
I ignore her question and quickly move to her left side and in a clean quick motion, I tear her sleeve free of the tunic proper leaving a jagged tear line extending in an erratic pattern from her shoulder.
"What the hell Fox?!"
"You said sleeve remember?"
"Yes, but why did you use the good one?"
"I can't use the right one it's singed and covered in puss. Granted this sleeve isn't the cleanest but it's better than the other one."
"Why did you have to use mine?"
"Did you expect me to use mine or something?"
"Well, kind of yes."
"Susan you're a good ally but I'm not the idiot the tried to touch a mutt that literally rose out of a boiling lake seconds before. I'm also not the one who lost our first aid kit and the gauze."
"I said I was sorry!"
"And I forgave you, that doesn't mean I'm letting it go Susan. Now try to get some sleep and I'll take first watch."
"You want to sleep at a time like this?"
"No, I'd much rather look for more water and something edible. However that's not an option seeing as how we're both exhausted. So get some rest and I'll wake you up in a little while so I can sleep too. We'll worry about the rest in the morning when we have light."
I can tell by her scowl she's not convinced but she relents all the same and curls up beneath a bank of low hanging branches and pulls the space blanket up around her head and burrows down inside. Within a few minutes I can hear the gentle rhythm of her soft snores as I stare out into the murky darkness, my weapon clutched tightly in my hands.
Kimma Reece-16(D9F)
The second day was easier than the first but the night was just as bad if not worse. During the day I can almost forget where I am and what I've already done, but at night I'm forced to relive every painful second. His breath hot on my face as he goaded me, the sickening crack of my rock on his head, the wet slurping sound the wooden knife made when I drove it into him again, and again, and again.
"Stop it Kimma, just stop it right now."
Why tough, I mean I was always taught not to kill and I shattered that simple rule within less than an hour of being in the games. Maybe I should have to live with the guilt of what I've done after all guilt is something you only have if what you did was wrong.
"So I should have let him kill me? Should I have laid down and accepted death rather than fighting for my life? How would that have been better?"
It would have been better because I'd have died with my morals and ideals intact. I could have given my family to financial release they deserve with my passing and have died a person, instead, I'll simply die later and do so as a monster.
"Stop it! I'm not a monster and I didn't enjoy killing him, but I had to do it to survive. I mean I could still win the games and give my family the life they deserve to live."
Come on Kimma do you really believe that? I mean killing one overconfident idiot is a far cry from taking down seasoned and trained killers like the careers. None of them are going to slip up like Carson did, so how in the hell are you going to win the games? Hope that everyone else gets eaten by a mutt and you win by default?
"It….It could happen. I mean tributes have won before with only one kill after all."
That one kill tends to come as the last one, though, and you'd have to survive until the end and with half a gallon of water and a package of crackers you're not exactly in the best position to pull off that little feat.
"Half a gallon is more than enough to last me a little while, and I've gone hungry more days than not so the food isn't a big concern either."
Fine lie to yourself and think you have a chance but you're just setting yourself up for a bigger fall later. I mean by now your whole family has probably given up on you and written you off for dead, you might as well get with the program yourself.
"NO NO NO! Rook told me I had to come home and I'm not going to let him down, I'm the only real constant he's got in this world and I won't abandon him."
Let him down, what the hell do you think volunteering to die in the Hunger Games was doing? I mean are you really dumb enough to think he seriously thinks you're coming home? I mean not even he's stupid enough to think someone as pathetic as you has a real chance of winning, you're the only person in the world dumb enough to think that.
I try to think of a retort to quiet my mind but nothing seems to be coming to me, luckily the first rays of sunlight crest the top of the outermost peak of the arena and mercifully another night is about to come to an end.
"Well look at that the sun's coming up. Looks like it's time for your negative ass to go back to that dark hole in my mind where you belong."
I'll go but your reprieve is only temporary and you know that. Sooner or later I'm going to crush that wall you raise between daytime Kimma and nighttime Kimma and once I do I'm going to play you like a fiddle. So enjoy this while you can because the darkness in your soul always wins in the end Kimma, and I'm coming for you.
Aurelia Saunders-17(D2F)
I'm not sure how long I've been out, I mean from the look of the sky it could have been quite a while or it could have been rather short. I guess the only way to find out is to trudge back to the cornucopia and ask the others how long we were gone. I drag myself to my feet despite a rather insistent throbbing in my head and the protracted pleas from my back to lay back down and relax.
"Marlowe, Cristian are you guys ok?!"
A series of low groans is the only response my question gets and I catch sight of the writhing forum of Cristian a few feet to my left slumped against a rather large looking rock that he more than likely crashed into when the egg exploded in light.
I turn my attention toward the nest and to my horror the a massive feathered mutt sits with its wings wrapped around its head. A few feet in front of it is Marlowe who looks to be stirring slightly. I quickly make my way over to him and pull him upright clasping my hand over his mouth as I do to muffle his protested shouts at my rather rough act.
"Shut up or you'll wake the fucking mutt dumbass."
His eyes immediately shot open as he turns to look at the gently stirring beast sitting mere feet away from him. He lets out a low moan of fear as his eyes dart between the mutt and me and then from me to the edge of the clearing as if pleading with me to get the hell out of the area. I offer him a silent nod and the two of us carefully retrace my steps back to where my weapon lies carefully concealed in the long flowing grass.
"Go check on Cristian while I try to find the rest of our gear, and for the love of god Marlowe try to keep him quiet."
He offers me a nod and gingerly makes his way toward Cristian while I drop to my knees and try to salvage anything of use I might have dropped or might have been blown toward me when the mutt hatched. Unfortunately all I can seem to find are my knives and one of them had the blade snapped off just a few inches above the hilt by the force of the explosion. Other than that I can't seem to find anything but I guess something is better than nothing.
"Get the hell off me Marlowe my back is killing me enough without your added weight on it!"
Cristian's shout is enough to stir the air and send a flock of birds roosting on the branches to his left scurrying into the air with a squawking screech. I glare in their general direction and Marlowe quickly clasps his hand over Cristian's mouth but the damage has already been done.
A low groan starts to emanate from the previously slumbering mutt as I quickly scoop up both of my knives and dart over toward my allies.
"You colossal idiot! Is it possible for you to not make an insufferable amount of noise at every turn?!"
I quickly pass my broken knife to Marlowe and jerk Cristian to his feet as the low moan starts to grow into an unbearable screech. The three of us quickly cover our ears as the winged monstrosity rises to its feet and unfurl its impressive wings with a flourish.
The gust forces us to avert our gaze monetarily but once it passes I'm greeted by a purely angelic sight. Standing in the center of the nest is an almost human looking form with silver armour glistening in the sun. A pair of pure whitish silver wings jetting out of its back with a perfectly tanned face framed by short hair the same color as the wings, the only real blemish to the mutt is a brutal looking white-hot ruin burned into its forehead.
"What the hell is that thing?!"
"Marlowe for the love of god keep him quiet."
Marlowe clasps his hand back over Cristian's mouth as the three of us stare at the mutt in awe. For the briefest moment, I lock eyes with it and I'm all but certain it's about to attack. I adjust the grip on my knife in anticipation but it seems to decide we're not worth its time as it simply turns its back to us and a moment later it shoots up into the air and disappears over the horizon.
The three of us sit there dumbstruck for a few minutes before I finally regain my senses and quickly scamper back to my feet.
"Come on we need to get back to the others and I don't want to be here if another tribute or a mutt decides to see what all the commotion was about."
Neither of them offers any resistance and within a few seconds we've scavenged everything we can find in the area and are traipsing back through the marginally recognizable hole we made to get here in the first place. It takes more work to get out then I remember it taking to get in but eventually we break through onto the other side and quickly start to retrace our steps back to the cornucopia.
I don't know what that thing was but I'm glad it decided to leave us alone this time, but it won't get the option next time because I'm not going to give it one. If i see that thing or anything like it again I'm taking it down, after all killing a mutt that majestic would be quite the feather in my future victor's crown, and I'm damn sure going to be a victor to remember….Plus I owe it for getting the drop on me the first time and I ALWAYS pay my debts, always.
A/N: Well that was an interesting end to day 2/start to day 3 don't you think? Again I'd like to apologise for the delay between chapters but life seems to think I enjoy trying to handle a year's worth of problems in a one week span before the New Year, but enough of my problems you're all waiting for the questions right? ;)
1. What did you think of the Ventus mutt?
2. Which of the three remaining alliances do you think is the best off?
3. Which solo tribute do you think is the best off?
4. After two days who do you think is going to win the games?
5. How was the chapter overall?
Also just a little side note I upped the rating of the story to M after the little scene between Willock, Meghan and Quartz. I'm not sure if it really matters to anyone but I feel like I should let all of you know incase you'd rather not read anymore because of that fact. Other then that I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and that it was worth the wait. As always please review and let me know what you think and I hope to see all of you back here for the next update :D