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Recommended Listening: Point of Know Return by Kansas
Taberah Atalanta, District 4
It's almost dawn, but the pack is still hunting. But not as a pack anymore. What with the failure to find anyone the first two days, and some sneak coming around to rob our Cornucopia, we decided to take our chances and split up. Ania stayed behind to watch the supplies, so that leaves four—well, three, I guess, since it's impossible to separate Sve from Finni—units tiptoeing around the mountainside.
Crawling carefully down a path of large rocks, I keep a tight grip on my lance. I'm still not comfortable with all of this, and I don't just mean scraping my hands on rocks and having to eat a lot less. I killed a person, and I'm expecting I'll have to do it again. It's only human to regret it.
But I can't let myself be human. All of these people are obstacles to me, to my father. I just have to remember what I'm fighting for.
I continue down the rock face, keeping a sharp eye out for any other tributes. They could easily sneak up on me in this light—or lack of light—and could just as easily outnumber me. I'll have to be quick, whatever... I do...
I stop climbing, looking down at my new discovery silently. Just a few more metres down, a tribute is snoozing. Out in the open. Nothing on her. No allies anywhere near to warn her of anything.
Not smart.
But it works for me. Maybe it'll be easier to kill someone when I can't see her face, don't give her time to struggle.
I shuffle down the mountainside, continuing to muffle my footfalls by staying slow. It's a minute or so before I'm finally standing in front of the girl from 8.
Wow. To think my second... elimination is going to be so easy. It's almost laughable.
"It's not very smart to fall asleep in the open," I allow myself to say quietly as I pull my arm and lance back to strike.
And then there's suddenly something very sharp ripping through my abdomen.
"...I'm a pretty light sleeper, actually."
I stumble backward, putting a hand to my stomach, although all it does is get coated in blood. I'm so blown away by the pain—despite my days in the Tributes' Survival Knowledge Centre, I've never actually been stabbed, let alone ripped open—I don't realise I'm screaming for half a minute. But I still don't stop myself. I need to focus my efforts elsewhere.
Like in killing this tribute.
My grip on my lance has become painfully tight, to try and distract myself from the much worse pain in my abdomen. I struggle back to my feet—when did I fall down?—and try to locate my attacker.
She's standing right in front of me, but with one jab on my part, it's easy to tell how much the blood loss has affected my aim—I somehow miss entirely and fall back onto my rear.
The 8 takes a step forward, whatever odd weapon she has poised above me. I try to push myself up, but I'm too weak.
No. This is not happening. I can't die here. I have to get home! I have to win and bring Dad the money for his treatment!
The 8 brings her weapon down on me, and it takes all the strength I have just to move my lance to block it.
I can't go down like this. I can't—!
The blade is shoved into my neck. After one last surge of unbearable pain, everything goes black.
Greis Karpusi, District 8
I look around one last time for Careers before hurrying back to my shelter. I make sure the one backpack at the outside edge of the crater, the one with meltable supplies, is there—it is—and then climb up on the wall of rocks. I roll over carefully, landing on crumbly dirt.
And then the heat slams into me. Hard to believe the Capitol could cause such drastic temperature changes, but I guess anything's possible. And one would expect it to be hot on the surface of a volcano.
Under normal circumstances, you probably wouldn't find me sheltering here. But there's actually a pretty decent-sized ring of land around the lava in the center, and the ground here isn't nearly hot enough to burn me.
There's always the issue of the Gamemakers making it erupt, but... I'm pretty sure I just launched myself into the clear. The Capitol has another death to amuse it. There's no reason to cause mine now. I should be safe more than long enough to get a decent amount of sleep here.
There is the question of whether I'll really be able to sleep, but I don't think I'll have problems. It never matters what's happened to me; when I want to nod off, I do.
So it probably doesn't matter that I've just murdered a girl.
Yeah, murder. I'm not going to pretend it's right. I'm not going to pretend I had a good reason to do it. I just fought for myself, like the Capitol wants me to.
In the end, that's what everyone here is doing. Whether we care to admit it or not. We're all just humans. We all just want to get out of here alive. Maybe we want some other things, too. But, whatever it is, it's for ourselves.
That Taberah girl. She talked about throwing herself into this for her father. But she didn't. She did it so she wouldn't have to experience the agony of losing her father. She did it for herself.
She fought for herself. I fought for myself. I won. That's just how things work in this place.
I roll over a little, close my eyes, and drift off to sleep.
Natalya Larus, District 9
I wake up.
That means I fell asleep.
Asleep! How in the world can I sleep without my brother by my side? I must have been beyond exhaustion to actually allow sleep to consume me.
How long are the Gamemakers determined to keep us separated? It's the morning of the third day. Two entire days without Vahn! I don't know how much more of this I can take! I-I'll go mad without him! Mad!
My body's already gone mad. It refuses to work for me. I must get to Vahn, but apparently there's only so much mountain-climbing one can do without anything to eat.
Where are my sponsors? They've already sent me some water, which is long-gone now. Why can't they send me food as well? I'm in no condition to hunt; my mindset's been shattered by the lack of my brother.
That, and I can barely move. But I'm quite sure the former is more important.
I'm still slumped up against the side of the mountain, glaring down at nothing in particular. There aren't any craters directly beneath me, and I'm too sore to move my neck in another direction.
But I still manage to see the billowing parachute land.
The donation is a foot above me, and I can't wave my arm around and reach it. But I'm not entirely convinced I can move over to get it.
But if I can't get as far as that, how in the world am I going to get to Vahn?
Grinding my teeth together, I make an effort and pull myself up, albeit slowly. It's a full minute before I can finally grab the parachute and the contents it obscures. I pull the cloth away to find...
An apple. A single apple.
This is the best the mentors could manage? I need fuel to continue my search for my brother, and all I'm given is a little apple?
I bring the fruit to my mouth, and a chunk of it vanishes into my mouth with a loud crunching sound. Only a skinny core is left within a few minutes, and I toss it feebly to the side.
I guess I do feel a bit better.
And if it helps me in any way to hunt down Vahn, I'm grateful.