A/N: New chapter, sorry for the delay! Anyway, enjoy this blood-filled chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. Read, enjoy and review!
Linea had been struggling in the water for a few minutes now, and Terkast could tell she was getting tired. She was gasping, and kept dipping below the waterline.
The District Six girl swam forward a few paces and gave Joss a fearful look. She didn't want to drown, but she also didn't want to face the Career. Joss still sat in the sand, and he didn't seem to care much. He was waiting for her, for either way she would die.
Linea found her footing on the sand and stepped forward a few more paces. Joss sat up and watched her approach slowly. The ground beneath her rose steadily, and soon Linea was in water up to her ankles.
Joss cautiously got to his feet and approached her. He smiled joylessly at her, and Linea's face paled. She returned a shaky smile, steeling herself for her death. "I'm not afraid of you, you know," she said. The statement started out as a whisper but quickly grew strong.
"That's good," Joss replied. His voice was pleasant, and his defensive stance dropped to a more casual one. Linea took advantage of this and edged a few steps to the right and closer to Joss.
He raised his hand in a gentlemanlike manner and Linea flinched. "Sorry," she giggled. She took another step forward and Joss' eyes narrowed. "Do… do you know what happened to the District Eight girl?" Linea asked, knowing Joss had relations with her.
His smile immediately dropped into a scowl. "Yeah," he growled. "She's a whore, just like I thought. Left me, and then died. I would've protected her."
Linea laughed quietly. "How about protecting me?" she asked. She took another step forward and was almost touching Joss. Her defensive position didn't drop, but it seemed more relaxed than before.
"What are you?" Joss asked, trying to conceal his laughter, "Twelve?" Linea's face dropped into a scowl and her fists bunched up.
"I am not," she replied indignantly. "I am a very mature fourteen year old, thank you very much." This time, Joss laughed out loud.
With a war cry, Linea launched herself at Joss' ankles. He gasped in pain as she thudded against his leg and brought him to the ground. They grappled for a few seconds, making sand fly up around them.
"You bitch," he panted as he overpowered Linea and pinned her to the ground. His knees dug into her arms, and they fluttered weakly in the sand under their captors. Joss sat up and wiped spit from his face. "You're going to pay for that," he panted, and started to punch her.
Blood spattered from her nose, and Joss landed upwards of ten punches. However, Linea caught his hands in her mouth one lucky hit. Joss screamed as she bit down and broke skin.
He got up off of her and shook his hand from his mouth, sprouting profanities. Linea stood up shakily, blood coursing down her front and a black eye beginning to form. She laughed dazedly, and took another step forward.
"I was willing to spare you," Joss spat. Linea laughed again, and launched herself at him again. This time, the bone in his shin snapped. Joss screamed and fell on top of Linea.
He was soon on top of her again, and he broke several of her bones. Joss grabbed her arm angrily and snapped it in an act of inhuman strength. The fight seemed to drain out of Linea and she lay limply in the sand.
Joss stood up, balancing steadily on his unbroken leg. "That's what you get," he growled. He kneeled down again, and Linea grasped for his face again, but missed. With a grunt, Joss pushed Linea further into the surf.
He pushed backwards in the sand and watched as the tide slowly pulled Linea out. Eventually the water couldn't pull her anymore and she lay a few inches or so into the water. The waves crashed over his mouth and nose, and Linea spat the first few out. Soon, however, the water began to come in quicker and quicker (Cera's doing) and drowned the poor girl.
Joss sighed in relief as her cannon went off and massaged his broken shin. With a grunt he lay down in the sand and fell unconscious.
Terkast sat back in his chair. This death wasn't exactly as he planned, for he planned the girl to die as she floundered out in the middle of the fake ocean. Terkast hadn't counted on Linea being brave and facing her attacker.
She did well in injuring him before she died. His shin bone was definitely broken and messed up his hand. In his weakened state, Joss would be easy prey for other tributes.
The Head Gamemaker looked around the screens again. There wasn't much variety anymore, since they were only down to five tributes.
Cree was currently in District Eight, rooting through the sand at a fast pace. Blood coursed freely down her front, staining the already grimy outfit she wore. A large hole was in place on her face, where her nose once resided. Terkast fully expected a sum of money to come through at any moment for a gift that would help staunch the flow of blood.
In District Seven, Tristan was sitting in the shade of an intimidating oak tree. The boomerang was out at his side, and he kept throwing it. The weapon returned faithfully each time, like a loyal lapdog.
Terkast hoped that he would go hunting. There were only five of them, so surely he would be involved in their deaths. He was slowly going insane, the Head Gamemaker decided. Slowly but surely. He would hopefully take out some more tributes by the end.
Terkast turned his head, seeking out some other screens to watch. Oddly enough, Wolf was out and pacing around the arena. He was still whistling happily, although he was in the burned-out wasteland of District Five. Wolf was looking around him, but couldn't find anything to his liking. Terkast wondered what he was doing, but quickly dismissed it.
Corson was exactly where Terkast expected him to be, in District One. The boy had felt secure within the bastion of training supplies and had no motivation to leave. His motive was probably 'let the others kill themselves off.' That way, Corson would be stronger when he was to face the tributes.
However, Wolf was walking steadily through the Districts. Terkast hoped against hope that the two would meet and have an epic showdown.
Oddly enough, the last three cameras were focused steadily on the rubble from the Mountain. Terkast stared at it for a while, perplexed. Eventually, a small hand broke the surface, and Terkast's heart jumped in his chest.
Arrett was alive? The Head Gamemaker wracked his mind and came up blank. The Head Gamemaker cursed himself for allowing himself to think that the boy's cannon had gone off when it clearly hadn't.
The young District Ten boy's arm created a hole in the surface, and another arm popped out. Slowly, Arrett dug himself out of the landslide and sat by the hole. He was panting heavily and gulping the air as quickly as his lungs would allow it.
When he had gotten his breath back from being cooped up underground for long enough, Arrett reached back inside the hole. Terkast couldn't find it in himself to look away. The boy had survived a mudslide created by mutts, which was pretty impressive. But what was more impressive was that he managed to come out unscathed!
Arrett fiddled around inside the hole for a few seconds before pulling out his bow. A smile graced his dirty features as he presumably went back in for his quiver. The boy was coated in dirt and mud, and not a clean space on his body could be seen.
The boy crowed happily as he found the quiver, but his happiness dissipated when he looked inside. The majority of the arrows were missing, and the few that Arrett pulled out were snapped in half. He let these fall miserably to the ground as he pulled out a whole one.
"Gotta be careful with you," Arrett muttered, tucking the arrow carefully back into the quiver. He looked forlornly at the broken heads before shoving them in a bit more haphazardly. With a sigh, Arrett shuffled down from the pile of debris and settled in the familiar grasses of District Ten.
Terkast tensed excitedly as the boy almost triggered Wolf's trap, but he passed harmlessly next to it. In a dip of land Arrett seemed to recognize he laid down, and within a few minutes he was asleep.
There were six tributes wandering around the arena now, Terkast thought. It would be better that Arrett was alive, so that he could kill or be killed as he pleased. There would hopefully be more confrontation, and the boy wouldn't be killed by something so trivial like a landslide.
Terkast turned around in his chair, and jumped at the sight of the small Avox boy. He smiled in relief, which made Terkast believe that he had been waiting for a while. The Head Gamemaker apologized in a low voice and quickly took the parcel from him.
Like he had thought previously, it was for Cree. A hefty pile of bills flopped out onto the table. Terkast grabbed them and quickly leafed through them, but was disappointed. The large amount of bills would indicate that it would be an overzealous amount of money. But it was only two thousand dollars, a common occurrence this late in the Games.
A note also fluttered out, and the Head Gamemaker read it quickly. "A well-stocked first aid kit that specializes in what Cree needs," Terkast read quietly to himself. He shrugged, figured out the numbers in his head, and decided it was a suitable gift.
"Hulton?" Terkast called. The younger Gamemaker looked at him excitedly, the novelty of being a Gamemaker still fresh on him. "Cree needs a first aid kit to help her… lack of nose. Two thousand dollars."
Hulton nodded and began flicking through the images on screen again. Terkast watched him for a few seconds before something came to his mind. "And will someone please get my Avox? I think she's had enough fun with my brothers," he said in a light, joking manner.
The Avox boy from before scuttled across the room and opened the door. Someone probably told him where Maylin was, and he was eager to get the job done quickly. Maylin would be back with him in minutes.
To quell his boredom, Terkast once again watched the screens. Cree looked up happily as the package came floating down to her. She knew exactly what was inside, and fell upon it the second it was in reaching distance.
The only girl tribute left grabbed greedily at the cloth on the ground. She wiped the blood from her face and growled when the dried blood didn't come off. Since there was no water, Cree spat on the cleaning cloth and resumed wiping her face.
Trails of clean skin were now visible beneath her chin, and Cree repeated the action on two more cloths. She held a fourth to her nose as she discarded the other cloths and grappled for some cream.
Cree hissed when she applied the cream to her raw face, but continued to apply it. The blood flow slowed down, but it still was oozing out at an unsafe pace. Cree took another cloth and held it tightly to her lack of nose while she took some medical tape out. She ripped a few strands off the tape and secured the cloth to her face.
Slowly the District One tribute packed up her supplies and took special care with the bandages and cloth. She looked around for a moment, before settling her gaze on an outcropping of rock. She sluggishly pulled herself towards it, and once under its protective shade, Cree fell asleep.
Terkast frowned. One half of the tributes were currently sleeping. Although, sleeping wasn't the right definition. Joss was probably unconscious due to the shock because of his broken leg. Arrett was unconscious due to exhaustion, and Cree was unconscious because of blood loss.
That left Tristan, Wolf and Corson. Happily, Terkast noticed that Wolf was much closer to District One than he was before. Soon he would be in Corson's line of sight, and hopefully a battle would begin.
The Control Room's door opened and closed with a small 'snick,' and the Avox boy rushed past to the other side. The chair by the door scraped a little against the floor as Maylin sat down. Immediately, Terkast felt pent up frustration he didn't remember having leave his body.
He turned around and gave Maylin a thumbs up. She returned it with a smile, and nodded towards the screen. Terkast also nodded, and called forth another Avox.
The boy came forth again, and Terkast gave him an order. "Down to the kitchens. There's some filet mignon waiting. And get a turtle pie, too." The boy nodded and drew away again. He glanced at Maylin's casual sitting place with envy as he left the room again.
Terkast watched with baited breath as Wolf wandered closer to Corson. He was still whistling a happy tune, seemingly wanting to draw as much attention to himself as possible. The District Five boy looked up with suspicion as Wolf waltzed by, and tried to make as little noise as possible.
However, Wolf noticed something and stopped. His whistling died off, but not before he finished the last notes of his tune. "I know you're there, coward," Wolf cried out to Corson. The boy didn't move though, and only hid himself further.
"Oh, come on," Wolf teased, trying to make his prey enraged. "My older sisters have more guts than you, and they just stay in the house all day."
Still, nothing came out of Corson's mouth. "I don't have a weapon," Wolf wheedled. "But I doubt you could beat me with a weapon, anyhow."
Corson shifted in his hiding place, and Wolf turned towards it aggressively. "Your parents wouldn't be too proud of you, you know," Wolf called, walking closer to Corson. "You won't win if you don't do something ballsy.
"Your parents would be mighty ashamed. 'My kid's the one who died without killing someone. I doubted he could the entire time,' they'd say!"
Corson stood up, his face coloring in anger. "My parents would be proud of me, anyway," he growled. The District Five boy shrank backwards as Wolf laughed.
"Highly doubt that," Wolf countered. "Why not show them you're worth something? Fight me!"
Corson was taken aback by the request, but stepped forward willingly enough. "I will," he replied shakily. "Don't doubt me. My parents would be proud of me either way. So will Blue."
"Blue?" Wolf laughed. "Who named their kid after a color? He's probably retarded." Corson snarled and leapt at Wolf, but the younger child nimbly dodged it. "You need to catch me, first!"
Wolf sprinted ahead, carefully following his path back to District Ten. Terkast laughed jovially, because he realized what Wolf had been up to the entire time. He had been trying to attract attention so that he could lure a pursuing tribute to his trap.
Although neither of the tributes could run well, adrenaline and anger fueled them. The made quick progress across District Eight, passing close to the unconscious form of Cree.
Still, Corson wouldn't let up. Terkast knew from the Family interviews how Blue felt about Corson and vice versa. They were close, so Corson would take an insult about his younger brother personally.
In District Ten, they dashed past Arrett. Wolf looked at the boy's form with surprise, because he didn't know there was anybody else in District Ten. He probably made up his mind to kill him afterwards.
By this time, both boys were panting heavily. However, neither of them were close to giving up. If Wolf could keep running, he could check Corson off the list of surviving tributes. But if Corson could outrun Wolf, he would surely throttle him to death.
Wolf's eyes gleamed as he spotted the small wires in the distant grass. He feigned injury, which prompted Corson to run faster. The large distance between the two was rapidly closing, but so was the distance to Wolf's deadly trap.
When Corson could have reached out and grabbed Wolf, the younger boy suddenly darted to the right. Since Corson hadn't been expecting that, he propelled himself a few more paces forward before trying to turn himself.
Wolf watched Corson, his hands on his hips as he panted heavily. Corson's trajectory continued towards the trap, even though he was trying to turn away from it. To Wolf's luck, Corson activated the trap right before he gained his bearing.
The snap of wires alerted Corson to its presence and he turned around slowly. Something was whishing through the air, and it caught Corson upside the head.
The older boy fell with a thump to his knees, and then fell backwards so that he was resting in an awkward position. A cannon boomed almost immediately, and Wolf surveyed his handiwork.
Terkast was impressed. The trap had worked amazingly well, and a blade was now embedded into Corson's head. The dagger was buried into its hilt, and Terkast admired Wolf's work. The younger boy had clearly outsmarted the older, and Corson had paid the price of his life.
Wolf laughed quietly to himself, still panting. He took a few steps to the right, intending to kill Arrett while the District Ten boy was weak, when he collapsed to the ground. Wolf closed his eyes for a second, and was asleep in minutes due to exhaustion.
Terkast was still happy. Now there were five tributes in the arena. This was his most successful Games yet. Surely a lot of people loved them! However, now four out of his five tributes were sleeping. Terkast sighed, and put his head in his hands. He guessed that he would have to wait. He would have to wait for the tributes to awaken, and he would have to wait for his food.
A/N: Another chapter done! I think this fic is almost completed. I still have the poll, by the way. I want to know which tributes are your favorite! Please vote? And review!