Trint Nevlin, District 3
Not every day you get attacked by a panda.
Not every day you're in the Mutant Games.
The sun had set a little while ago. Sitting up, I stretched out my muscles. The sky above was alight with color. Fireworks whistled into the air, exploding in an array of colors that formed instruments playing the Capitol anthem.
It ended, and the faces lit up the sky.
I'm sort of surprised by the first picture, the boy from One. Huh, District One is losing its edge. A second missile shot up, and the clear photo of Lea glittered across the sky. Can't say I'm surprised. Following her came the girl from Five, and I realized above the pictures, sets of words burst to life. Ms. Invisible.
Her face sizzled out, and another firework shot through the air. Dia-Man. The Voice.
Finally, a large swarm of fireworks twirled up and the anthem pounded out on fast forward. As the combusting packets of powder finally boomed out in a confetti of color, a final, loud note played.
Five deaths in one day. Hm, not exactly a record. I can start cutting the numbers down.
Most tributes are probably curling up and sleeping for the night. Ah, and they believe the tendrils of sleep will keep them safe from death. They probably won't even tell their heart stopped.
Grabbing stuff from the Cornucopia had been easy. No one had the balls to come near me. Sad, really.
Locking in an arrow to the crossbow I snatched, I peered at the tip curiously. I wonder...
Worst case scenario; I lose some blood. The pointed end cut into my finger easily, the razor edge sawing greedily at the nerves. I sucked on my thumb. The irony taste of blood swashed through my mouth but I shook off the sting easily. Like a papercut.
The red stain glistened on the arrow. Time to hunt.
I kept to the shadows naturally. The bend of tents to the subtle breeze and drooping of fabrics just helped my cover. It wasn't me traveling through a still world; a moving, unsilencing environment bending around my shadows.
Suddenly, I heard it; hushed at first, but growing in volume as the moments ticked by.
And to think, they're so distracted by such a petty argument, they don't discern their closeness to death. With just a literal wave of my hand.
Mira Fox, District 9
Perched atop one of the buildings, I focused upon the sky. Five deaths already. And so many more to go. Which one will be me?
Nico's alive. Good for him. He'll be okay, just as long as he stays out of the action.
A figure traveled through the air and I ducked slightly. Thankfully, I went by unnoticed. I saw it was teh girl from Six, carrying another girl. I forget which one she was. Six's wings retracted back into the slits in her shirt and the other girl wobbled a few steps.
"Can we not do that any more? I freaking hate heights."
Six cracked her knuckles, staring off down the road. Somehow, I knew she'd see me. She gave me the impression of being more observant and calm. "Once you get over the idea of plummeting fifty feet and shattering your spine, it's a wonderful feeling." The other girl snorted with laughter.
"Gee, that's comforting. You're a few squirrels short of a nut tree, you know that?"
Six's voice spoke calmly and smoothly, a whisper compared to the other's loud and boastful bearing. "I thought you were from Seven. And you always land on your feet." Seven, that was it.
Seven smoothed down her thick dark hair. "Trees are different. It's sort of hard to look down and see the ground below you. And you have something firm beneath you."
"You still always land on your feet."
"Whatever. Where are we going? There's probably not one tribute within one hundred feet of this place."
Six spread her wings wide again. "There are. Let's start with killing that girl spying on us from over there." Her green eyes flickered to me. Crap.
Before I could stand, Seven cartwheeled (making a spectacle of herself, no doubt) forward, leaping with a stylish flip onto the building. I spun about, but Six was already fluttering in the air.
My stomach twisted and the abilities acted on their own accord. The girl with wings screeched in pain and she spiraled down to the ground. Seven hissed. Powerful longs legs carried her forward and she brought her sharp nails along the length of my cheek.
The warm feeling off blood and the sting on my flesh traveled down along the side of my face. Glancing around, I flicked my wrist and the girl shrieked at the strange bruise forming on her wrist. No other option, I hopped to the ground.
My ankle flared with pain upon impact. Six stumbled around, and the sheen of indifference vanished from her face. Her left wing wrapped about her, but the right bent oddly at an abnormal angle. I tried to put weight on my ankle and the pain caused me to land on my ass.
Seven jopped down, slamming a lithe foot onto my stomach. I couldn't grab on to any certain feeling, just my own pain, and I couldn't tap into my powers. If I could just sit up to fix my leg...
Six scowled at me. "She broke my wing."
Her ally flicked a piece of hair easily over he shoulder. "How should we kill her?" But she was already shaking her head.
"You can heal too, right?" She leaned in, close to my face. Her voice vibrated with a tense tone. "If you fix my wing, I'll let you go."
I blinked lightly. "Uh, s-"
"Excuse me, don't I get a say?" Seven hissed. Her foot pressed harder into my stomach. Triggering became harder, it's like she found a sweet spot.
"I need my wing fixed," Six stated. "And she'll do it, if it means her life."
Seven rolled her slitted black cat eyes. "Whatever they'll heal on their own. Just kill her and be done with it, Angel." I'm pretty sure her real name wasn't Angel, but it stuck.
"No. I need my wings." As she tried to pull it into her, Angel cringed, only to flick the wing back out. "I can't fly, I can't do anything."
"Plenty of kids in here are going off of dopey powers, just suck it up." My eyes flickered between the two. And suddenly off behind the two.
I could feel my pupils dilate even more than they were. "Uh, guys..."
"Shut it, this doesn't involve you," Seven jeered. Wow, really? This is why I'm happy I'm no longer fourteen.
My eyes swished back to the figure emerging from the background of darkness. His bald head glistened slightly in the light of the moon and my heart clenched. The boy from Three. The one with the deadly touch. What do I do?
My hands felt around and wrapped around a random rock. Decent chunk of cement, it seemed. Lifting it ever so slowly up and casually, I finally swung around, digging it into Seven's ankle.
She screeched in pain, hobbling back a few steps. I rolled away as her weight lightened. "Skylar, you idiot!"
I glanced once as my body skidded around a corner. With every step, I mumbled another curse under my breath. When I'm in safe enough distance, I could somehow fix it.
In the glimpse I saw, Angel had shoved her ally to the ground. Their voices carried on and that habit of rolling my eyes came in. They were so centered on each other, they didn't sense their own demise right behind them.
"You ruined this. I don't even like you. I never liked you!" Great foundation for an alliance. "Your such a-" but she didn't finish the statement. All I could hear was the blare of her screams only to be cut off by the boom of a cannon.
"Hey, you don't want to kill me, I can help you, I can-" but Seven's pleads went unheard. Another scream shattered trhough the silent world of the arena and dyed away to the echo of a cannon.
I centered in on my ankle as I crouched to my bottom. A twisted ankle, damn, I could sense it. The swelling would have to go down on its own. I still managed to set the bones back into place.
And ignoring the pain, I sprinted, running my ass away from certain death.
Erone Thorn, District 12
I looked up to the sky and found the daredevils flipping through before free falling down again.
More deaths.
My hands shook and it was difficult to swallow. I had killed someone. Just killed him.
It's hard to explain. My heart race speads up and I could feel the heart of my victim. Their heart is speading up too. It's beating harder and harder, it hurts. For a moment, it expands and the pain is unbearable.
A calm follows. And the pain is gone. Darkness blurs my vision and everything feels cold. But I focus in on the warmth, the atmosphere around me and I'm back. I'm alive. And the other person isn't.
I can control life. Funny, how we're all chosen through "Reapings." Even more interesting was the stage name the Capitol gave to me.
The Career standing watch for the Cornucopia as the other's hunted lay snoring in fitful sleep. I glanced at my platform, the title still glittering with light.
The Grim Reaper. Quite spot on, don't you think?
Devmani Crew, District One ~(Hunter, Ron, Felicity, Rodney)
Kazu Hokoshi, District One (killed by Erone)
Hunter Faye, District Two ~(Devmani, Ron, Felicity, Rodney)
Ronneir "Ron" Tammel, District Two ~(Devmani, Hunter, Felicity, Rodney)
Leanara Gee, District Three (neck snapped by Ron)
Trint Nevlin, District Three
Felicity Lissette Lebedev, District Four ~(Devmani, Hunter, Ron, Rodney)
Rodney Calder, District Four ~(Devmani, Hunter, Ron, Felicity)
Cynthia O'Meara, District Five (speared in the stomach with a trident by Rodney)
Aries Prospero, District Five ~(Lissa)
Lysemet Sprintyarrow, District Six (killed by Trint's death touch)
Kalel Lepios, District Six ~(Harmony)
Skylar Hawkins, District Seven (killed by Trint's death touch)
Derrick Young, District Seven ~(Fiona, Ip)
Harmony Curr, District Eight ~(Kalel)
Erik "Nugget" Traub, District Eight (crushed by priate ship ride)
Mira Fox, District Nine
Nico Lenho, District Nine
Melissa "Lissa" Arno, District Ten ~(Aries)
Till Yarrow, District Ten (killed by Hunter)
Mimosa Thistle, District Eleven
Jasper "Jaz" Martinez, District Eleven
Olive Quaker, District Twelve
Erone Thorn, District Twelve
Fiona C. Flycactus, District Thirteen ~(Derrick, Ip)
Ippetra "Ip" Z. Flycactus, District Thirteen ~(Derrick, Fiona)