Alex Brown
When I see the faces of my kills from the day, the girl from 8, the boy from 7, and the boy from 12, I smirk. I killed three of the 7 that died today. Jessi, Hon, and Mar each got a kill - Hon two. Dazzle hadn't killed any because, as she put it, she was hoping tributes (all male) that she "saved," would trust her in the future and therefore give her many easy kills. I don't know why Worthing didn't kill any - probably just lacking the skill. I wonder idly what Roweena and Isabella think of me for killing their district partners. Will they plan revenge on me to kill my own partner? They can have him - he's useless as a fly. I ought to just kill him now and be done with it, but something tells me the mentors and our district wouldn't think kindly of that.
After the crazy show of lightning and thunder dies out, Hon grabs a pair of the dark glasses from our pile. He and Jessi had admitted earlier to having trained with them, and that they were night glasses that would enable us to see in the dark. "Time to try them out," he says, placing them on his head. He lets out a loud whoop, and cries, "They work! We were right!" and I cannot help but being amused as I scold him, "Be careful, or all the tributes will be scared out of their minds." He smirks, "Let them be!"
"So..." Dazzle says slowly. "What do you say to going hunting?" I grin savagely at the thought. The night glasses will give us a clear advantage - giving us the ability to see in between the many flashes of lightning alluminating the churning sky. Plus, this will give Dazzle a chance to test her theroy. "I'm in," I say, jumping up and grabbing a handful of knives, daring them to contradict me. None of them do.
"Me, too," Hon grins and grabs a sword, "good chance to try out this, eh?"
"Agreed," Mar straps on his own belt and extends a hand to Jessi, helping her up. She goes and fetches a dagger and a wickedly curved shortsword. Without speaking, we have all agreed that Worthing will be staying behind. Worthing, however, isn't on the same page, as they say in District 1. "Wait. I'm going too, aren't I?"
I sigh and place a pair of night glasses upon my head. "No, Worthing, you're going to guard the supplies. It's the simpliest, easiest, and most important job." Worthing doesn't look convinced, but doesn't object, either. He knows as well as I do from our days in training that my words are correct. If we didn't have a guard for the supplies, the tributes would come and take what they wanted at their leisure. And that can't be allowed.
I put my hands on my hips and stare around the deadwoods surrounding the Cornucopia. We Careers are yet to venture into them, mainly because we've been busy with the supplies and the bodies, and all that fun stuff. "Which way?" Hon asks. I point to a point in the deadwoods where I noticed several tributes disappearing. "That way." The others mutter agreements, and we set off quickly. I am glad to see that the others have had the same training in stealth that I have, and we are silent shadows in the already dark forest.
We haven't been going for longer than fourty minutes when Jessi hisses for us to stop. It's only a breath of a sound, but it's still abnormally loud in the arena. I can't help but feel a shiver of displeasure. The arena is working against us at the moment. Jessi jerks her arm towards a shadow up ahead, and I squint to see a tribute's, a boy, I think, outline in the darkness. Dazzle's eyes light up. She looks at us, and I understand that this is one of the tributes that she has already managed to mess with. I nod to her to continue, and she hands me her night glasses. She proceeds to running clumsily forward, purposefully making noise, stumbling over roots, panting, and glancing over her shoulder. When she is near the boy, she trips and falls onto her hands and knees. She remains there, and I think I hear a sob.
"Hulloa?" the boy calls. I nearly groan aloud. His accent is similar to the Capitol's, a trait that immediately annoys me. "Is anyone there?" he stands, his cloak wrapped tightly around him. "Don't come any closer! I - I'm not afraid to hurt you!" I meet Jessi's eye, and we both grin. The boy has no idea what he's dealing with. Dazzle lets out another sob, and, with the aid of my night glasses, I can see real tears streaming down her cheeks. She does not call back to the boy, but he has heard the sobbing and is interested. "Who is there?" he is squinting, and after a bright flash of lightning, calls, "Dazzle, is that you?" At the sound of her name, Dazzle's head lifts and she squints in the direction of the boy. Her voice is hoarse, as though she has been crying awhile. "Percy? Is that you?"
The boy, Percy, calls out, "Yes," and makes his way over to Dazzle slowly. "Are ... are you okay?" Dazzle nods and wipes her face, though tears keep spilling out. "I ... I ran off," she admits. "From the other Careers, that is." Percy is obviously taken aback, and asks her reasons for such a drastic action. Then, more hesitantly, he asks if she killed any tributes today.
I expect Dazzle to be honest, but she bursts into thicker tears, sobbing, "That's just the thing, Percy. They saw me let you get away, and I had to - had to kill to try and make them not suspect me." Percy's face is confused. "Who?" he asks. Dazzle sobs out, "District 5." I see Mar stiffen as Dazzle takes credit for his kill. She'd better apologize for this later, I reflect.
Percy crouches down beside Dazzle. "But," Dazzle sobs, "it didn't work. They cornered me and tried to - tried to kill me." she hiccuped. "and I ran, and I ran, and ..." she reaches out a touches his cheek gently, and for a moment I genuinely believe she has feelings for this boy. "and I found you." Percy's gaze softens with surprise, disbelief, and tenderness. I nearly snort. Can he actually believe that Dazzle would fall for him? Surely he must know that she has been trained to kill.
"Oh, Dazzle," he sighs, touching her hand. She mumbles his name and the tears stop streaming down her cheeks. "Are you all right?" Percy wants to know. Dazzle replies that she's going to be fine, so long as he doesn't leave her. She sits up and draws him in for a long kiss. When she draws back, Percy leans forward a bit and I'm sure my snicker shows on my expression. Dazzle's innocent look has changed to devious. "Did you like that, Percy?" He seems a bit dazed. "Yes. Mmmmm." He leans in, making the move, but the kiss is quicker. When Dazzle pulls away again, he smooths her hair, trying to figure out why she did.
"Percy," she whispers. "Do you love me?" She kisses his cheek, his jaw, and his hair, repeating the question. "Do you love me?" Percy tucks a lock of Dazzle's hair behind her ear. "Yes. Do you love me?" Dazzle wraps her arms around his neck and meets his lips again. This time, she really overdoes it. I feel a bit sickened by the display, and that's from me. Hon and Jessi look disgusted as well, but Mar is studying the exchange with interest. Suddenly, I am filled with dislike for Marvelous.
When Dazzle finally moves about an inch away from Percy, he doesn't follow again. Perhaps he's expecting an answer, but Dazzle still doesn't give it. Pretending to let her hands wander, I see her fetch a knife. Good. I was getting tired of watching this exchange. "Do you love me, too, Dazzle?" Still not replying, she leads him in another kiss, this time letting the hand without the knife wander his chest, as though wondering where the knife should enter. His hand goes to hers as well, but with entirely different intentions. "Dazzle," he says into the kiss. "Do you -" he breaks off as Dazzle whips away from him, her knife on his chest, pressed lightly over his heart. Blood is making a slow stain. She waits for Percy, shocked, to see it before pinning him to the ground. "Yes, Percy, I love you very much." and then the knife in in his heart. As the light slowly drains from his eyes, Dazzle makes a show of carefully caressing and kissing his facial features. "Bye-bye, Percy," she croons as his cannon goes off. "bye-bye."
After a few more moments of Dazzle loving on Percy's dead body, I call out, "Okay, Dazzle, that's enough. We all get the point."
With a humph, she pulled herself up and tossed her hair. "All right then, Brown, but I'll bet you didn't give the Capitol a show like that when you killed your three tributes." I snarl viciously at her, "I did it quickly, which is why I have three kills and you just have one." We glared at each other a moment, and I suddenly realized that I had just decided that both of the District 1 tributes were my enemies, making myself a target when the Career pack split. So I hiss out, "Let's get going again," and when we do, I fall in step between Hon and Jessi, my only real friends in the arena at that moment.
Too soon to believe, we come across a pair of tributes, sleeping side by side. Neither are on watch, and I chuckle quietly. Idiot tributes are practically begging to be killed. I glance around at the pack, and see Hon gesturing to him and Jessi. Their kills. Mar and Dazzle don't look too happy about this, but I motion agreement. Might as well be on good terms with these two.
We move in as a pack, weopons in hands. I expect the tributes to have some sense and to wake, but they don't. After a few moments of silent deliberation, Dazzle kisses the boy (the other is a girl) awake. It takes several long smooches for his eyes to slide open. His eyes grew wide immediately at the sight of Dazzle, in all her beauty before him. Dazzle cannot refrain from another kiss before smoothing his hair and saying, "Sorry, but you're not mine," and climbing off of him. The boy gets his first look at us, and backs up into the tree, pulling his cape over him and obviously feeling that Dazzle violated his privacy.
I point my knife at him. "What district are you from?"
"D-district 6," he stammers out. I move my knife to the girl. "her too," he tells me.
"Wake her up," Jessi's eyes have a savage gleam to them and she turns to Hon. "You have the boy, but the girl's mine." Hon indicates that this is fine by him. He then points his sword at the District 6 boy and he quickly wakes his partner, whose eyes snap open wide at the sight of the Careers before them. Jessi and Hon, grinning, take places in front of the tributes and raise their weopons.
The ends of the tributes of District 6 are slow. I don't turn away from a moment of it like I see Dazzle do. I want to see the light drain from their eyes, want to see their bodies go slack. I want to audience to know that I'm strong, even if I haven't given them a show yet. Before the girl dies shortly after the boy, she meets my eyes, a silent cry for help. I smirk as she dies, as her cannon goes off. Hon spits on the bodies. "Go back where you came from, District 6 scum." and I laugh for the show, despite the anger it will cause in District 6.
Mar seems in a mood since he hasn't gotten to kill a tribute yet. "Let's go on," he huffs, and Hon and Jessi wipe their blades on the tough black grass, leaving bloodstains that make the red thread in their cloaks stand out nicely. Then we leave so that they can collect the marred bodies for the families back home.
Eventually, we spot smoke drifting above the treetops. "Someone's started a fire!" I hiss gleefully, all anger at Mar and Dazzle momentarily forgotton. We hurry in the direction of the fire, but I soon stop at the smell. "Wait..." I say slowly. Jessi stops in front of me, smelling deeply like I am. The others keep waiting. I glance to the sky nervously. This isn't the smell of a controlled fire. It's...
A lightning bolt streaks down towards where I stand. I don't think - I just dive away from it, streaking past Jessi, who appears to be frozen in shock, and to where the others have stopped in shock. The light from the bolt is so bright, I have to close my eyes. Jessi lets out a bloodcurdling scream, and when I can see again, there is just a pile of ash and fire racing towards me, a cannon ringing in my ears... Then I'm up and running, dashing through trees and away from the fire. I'm vaguely aware of Hon, Dazzle, and Mar around me, running as well, but I'm too concentrated on running to aknowledge them in any way.
Just when I think we're getting away from the fire(s), another crack makes me jump away. Then I'm up and running from another fire... I notice that the trees and other brush are not burning - rather, the trees appear to be in full, autumn bloom with their ghostly flames, silent as ever. There is nothing more foreboding that I've ever seen and ever care to see again.
I'm not sure how long I run like this, unaware of my surroundings, until I finally fall down from exhaustion. I have several burns from close encounters, but nothing is too serious. I sit there, gasping for a moment, expecting another bolt from the sky to strike me down, but none comes. When I sit up, I realize the Capitol must've gotton their show. Their done for the moment. I glance around. Dazzle, Hon, and Mar are laying, panting beside me. They all seem to be suffering similar burns to mine, but their manageable. It's Hon I'm worried about. He's sitting up, staring into the trees, now dark and silent as before, his mouth open. "Jessi...Jessica..." he keeps whispering. I walk over and slap him to bring him back to his senses, but he just falls to the ground, unconcious. I sigh. Well, an unconcious Hon is better then an insane, awake Hon.
I glance at the District 1 tributes. Both are looking around themselves as though dazed. I notice that Dazzle's eyes are wide and unseeing. She has lost her glasses. I glance to the sky, expecting to see the lightning flashing around in the clouds like before, but there is none. I take off my glasses and see - nothing. It is completely dark. I put my glasses back on, unnerved by the darkness. Tributes without these glasses will be easy prey, I think. But Dazzle won't be able to see, either. I glance at Hon and see his are snapped. I pick them up and decide that they are mendable. When I shift my weight, me leg burns. The worst burn is on my shoulder, which is unfortunate. I sit down and carefully examine them. They'll heal pretty quickly - I've suffered worse in training.
"Hello?" Dazzle calls into what is, to her, darkness. "Is anyone there?" I reply that I am neaby, and that Hon is too. Mar reassures her that he is there, and moves closer to her. There is a pause, and then Dazzle asks, "You saw what happened to Jessi, too, right? I didn't just ... imagine it?" I shudder at the thought of the pile of ashes that Jessi's family will recieve to bury. Silently, I swear I will not allow my own family to meet the same remains of me.
"I saw it, too," Mar said. "I don't think I could've imagined anything that ... horrible." Dazzle laughs - actually laughs - and nudges him playfully. "You have no imagination, that much is true." My heart lightens at seeing them like this, and I breathe again. If they can joke like this, then they are not as messed up as Hon is. Quickly, I give them the run down on Hon's condition. They sigh at this. "Poor guy," Dazzle said. "Imagine going through that." I personally think I wouldn't be too bothered if Worthing was burnt to a pile of ashes, but then again...
"Worthing!" I gasp. "Where's Worthing?" The others look concerned, and I gasp, "and the supplies! What if they're burning now?" Mar stands immediately. "We have to go see," he says, helping as-good-as-blind Dazzle up. I toss them Hon's broken glasses, which Mar catches and helps Dazzle fashion onto her face. She'll have to hold them on, but she can manage. Mar picks Hon up with ease and we stare around for a bit. "Which way?" Dazzle whispers. Mar mutters that he doesn't know. They've lost their sense of direction. Smirking, I think for a moment and point in a general direction. "The Cornucopia's that way." They don't question me, and we begin our fast pace through the woods again.
We see the Cornucopia after only a short time, like a becon of gold in the darkness. It seems to give off its own life, but that might just be my mind working visions into my head. It had, after all, been a long night. We burst into the clearing around the Cornucopia and find ... ashes. "No!" I scream, panting in anger. "No!" Dazzle and Hon are acting likewise, and Hon even begins to beat the ground with his fists. I rush forward and search through the rubble. I hear someone calling Worthing's name, and I realize after a time that it is me. I find no sign of him until I see the bones, blackened by fire, but not reduced to ash like Jessi. "No, Worthing..." my voice is quieter now, and I stare at the bones for a long time. I hadn't known how much Worthing meant of home to me until that moment. Silently, I plot my revenge on the Gamemakers for killing him.
I stand up shakily and begin to sort through the ash for supplies that are still useable, as Dazzle and Mar have already begun to do. We find nothing but we what we had taken with us. After staring around for a moment, I decide, "We have to get away from here." Mar and Dazzle gaze at me sharply, looking a bit startled. "It's a weak place," I explain. "Every tribute knows of it, and now that the supplies are gone, we might as well get away from it." They nod silently in agreement, glancing at each other. Perhaps they are thinking of how they are the only district partners left in the Career pack, or maybe they're wondering how soon we'll have to break, with so many of us gone. I ignore them and pick up my pack. It doesn't have much, but it does have my knives and some basic medic supplies. Just as we're about to move out, a parachute floats from the sky. I grab it and open it. The smell is easy for me to identify - burn medicine. I grin and show Dazzle and Mar. So we still have sponsers - and wealthy ones, too.
Suddenly remotivated, I lead the other Careers into the deadwoods, the burn medicine clutched in my hands like the life saver it is.