This is it, guys: the preantepenultimate chapter of Labyrinth. That means fourth to last, for those who do not like big, fancy words. Sorry, but I am a word connoisseur.
This chapter is going to be EPIC. It's pretty long, and three of the five remaining tributes are going to lose their lives. That is going to be awesome. And then, we'll be set up for the final battle! At the end of this chapter, the deaths are not listed, because I do not want to ruin the moment.
One last thing: WritingReviews99, I notice that you said I'd seen How To Survive The Hunger Games. I would PM you, but, unfortunately, you're a guest, so you either need to log in, create an account, or just accept that I can't answer that. It still makes my day when guests review, though.
With that out of the way, let's get going!
Horatio figured he was invincible. He was in the final five, and, because he had slaughtered two of the other Careers, he commandeered everything that they had had, which included food and weapons. He would stay well-fed and hydrated for a lot longer than any of his competition. This really put him in a good spot. Also, there was only Margaret left of the former Career alliance, and Horatio had absolutely no doubt that he could take her in a fight, considering she had less than he did.
What could go wrong?
As it turned out, more than he had thought. But we'll get into that later.
As he strode proudly down the tunnels of the deeper levels of the Labyrinth, Horatio was constantly flicking his golden hair back and forth. Despite this, he was very proud of the way he must have looked to the Capitol audience. He was covered in grime from five days underground, and he doubted that the people would care. They'd still be falling all over themselves in order to be his girlfriend. Unlike Hades, he was still single, and he couldn't imagine why.
Of course, had he been more self-aware, he would have realized that the reason for this was because he thought he would make a good boyfriend. In other words, he was arrogant, stupid, and stupidly arrogant. But Horatio did not realize this. And, the longer he survived in these Games, the more arrogant he became. He was born for this.
It had been a very long time since the anthem, and Horatio was guessing that it might have been as late as five in the morning. Despite this, he wasn't too tired. He was hyped up on adrenaline, and his bloodlust, and excitement, would keep him going better than any coffee, or other type of stimulant, possibly could. Which was a good thing, since the anthem had betrayed that it had been a deadly day in the arena. Five tributes had died, half of who had been left at the start of Day 5.
Horatio ended up in a tunnel that was painted white. As he kicked down doors and jumped over ones in his path, he reflected on the other four tributes left.
Margaret from District 2 was definitely his biggest threat, but that wasn't really saying that much. Even though she had beaten him in training, Horatio knew that that was only because she had a better weapon, and had simply just had better luck. He had no doubt that right now, he was in a better position than her to win these Games. And now was the only time that mattered.
Vixen from District 6. Surely, she was resilient, and she'd had a surprising amount of staying power considering her small size. Even so, if it came down to a full-out brawl, Horatio had no doubt that he would win. He was just that awesome, and Vixen was, like Margaret, most likely starving and dehydrated.
As for District 8's Vair, how the fuck was he even still alive? He'd only gotten a two in training, and, based on the feast, he did not seem to be an instigator, instead hanging off to the side and munching on muffins. Seriously, Horatio thought he was not a threat at all.
That left Aurora of District 9. She was the one who Horatio was the least not-worried about. She wasn't a Career by any means, but she'd still earned an impressive eight in training. Even with that, though, Horatio knew that she was unlikely to have as much sustenance as he, and he would beat that farm girl into a plowshare.
Based on those calculations, Horatio had reason to be optimistic. There was one thing that he hadn't taken into account. But, again, we'll get into that later.
The District 1 boy kicked down more doors until he reached a new tunnel, whooping out loud at the change in scenery.
Now, he was in what appeared to be a mining tunnel, with what looked similar to tracks that a mine cart would be on. Based on that, he wondered if a mine cart would be nearby. He was getting a little tired having to go on foot all this way. He just wished that this arena was logical, but no. He had to wander like a mole rat through this massive underground maze until he found another tribute to kill. It was extremely frustrating to someone like Horatio Jewel, who felt that the Gamemakers owed him everything.
It wasn't long until Horatio found what he had been looking for. A mine cart with a large W on the side was locked in place, and Horatio immediately set about trying to dislodge it from its fixed position. His sweaty hands made it a little more difficult to do anything with too much precision, but the boy was strong.
Before long, he had unfastened the mine cart from where it was at, but had to use all of its strength to stop it from rolling downhill. As he did that, he climbed into the cart. He was ready to go for a ride!
He inched the cart forward by scooting as if he was...let's not get into that. Then, it reached the crest of the hill, and he was off.
The wind was in his face, something he hadn't felt for nearly a week. He'd been on roller coasters before, but this was something different entirely. The weightless feeling in your stomach was only heightened, something Horatio liked, when there was nothing to hold you back except the tracks, and nothing, not even Horatio himself, was fastened down. In any other situation, this would be exceptionally dangerous. However, he felt that he and the arena had come to a mutual understanding: that Horatio Jewel deserved to win the 63rd Hunger Games, and anything and anyone that would get in his way had to be eliminated.
The mine cart rolled down the track, reaching speeds of up to fifty miles an hour. Horatio held onto the sides for dear life, but he had never had so much fun in his whole life. Things were really looking up for him. Not that he had ever been pessimistic about his chances of winning. But he was feeling better than ever about his prospects, already daydreaming about his outfit that he would wear sitting next to Caesar Flickerman. Something crimson would go well with the golden victor's crown, he thought. Yes, that sounded good.
He tried not to dwell on it for too long. For now, he just tried to enjoy the mine cart ride. He didn't know how much farther he had until the end of the line, but he was determined to make the most of every millisecond.
It must have been ten minutes by the time the car came to an abrupt stop, and Horatio was thrown forwards, making a complete somersault in midair before landing spread-eagled on the ground. Thankfully, nothing was broken, and he didn't have many aches or bruises. After quickly taking inventory, he continued down the tracks, going deeper and deeper into the mine. The mine was filled with gold, and he felt that this was a very fitting place for him to win the Games. Should he just stay here, until someone else came by?
Why not? He had all of the food he would need, for several days at least. And the Gamemakers would surely lead tributes to him, this bright golden beacon. Yes, that was him. Horatio Jewel. The Golden Boy. And, soon, he would be the Capitol's golden boy. That was what had kept him going all night, this as well as the adrenaline he had gotten from killing Anna and Hades.
He didn't feel bad about killing. After all, that was what he was born to do. And, after all, the other Careers killed as well, and, if you wanted to have a chance in these Games, you had to be willing to murder innocent teenagers. Otherwise, there was no way you could win. Except for that District 10 guy from nineteen years ago, Buck, and maybe a few others farther back, all of the other victors had killed, directly or indirectly, the other tribute with them in the final two. That was just the way it worked.
So Horatio decided to wait out the others. They would be wandering into a trap if they got within ten yards of him. And he figured he was cleverly concealed.
Unbeknownst to Horatio, something else was watching him. It wasn't another tribute. Its large eyes peered at him from through a window that overlooked the tunnel he was currently in, with the mine cart and the tracks. And it had its eyes on its target. It was ready to pounce on the unsuspecting District 1 boy.
What must have been two or three hours later, Horatio was enjoying a breakfast of bagels, apples, and toast when he heard something big behind him. He dismissed it at first, thinking that his normally perfect ears must have been hallucinating. That could possibly happen sometimes. Maybe once in a millennium. There was no possibility that anything that could possibly kill him was anywhere near him. He was perfectly safe.
And then, he looked behind him, and realized that he hadn't been imagining the sound. What it was made Horatio literally wet his pants.
A giant bull-man at least ten feet tall was standing over him, about ready to tear Horatio's intestines out. At least, that was what it looked like based on his expression. Horatio went from completely confident that he was going to win to only 50% confident that he could get out of this situation alive. The bull-man looked tough.
Horatio was aware of this beast's proper name: Minotaur. It was half-man, half-bull, and had been imprisoned in the Labyrinth in order to kill the children of Athens, according to Greek mythology. It was also in the Percy Jackson books, which Horatio had read while he was younger. He had always pictured Apollo as looking like a slightly less handsome version of himself.
Anyway, that didn't matter right now. Horatio drew his mace, warm yellow urine running down his legs. He swung at the Minotaur, trying to reach its heart, or at least its brain. He didn't know which would be more effective at killing it. His attacks, however, were only seeming to make the monster angrier.
The Minotaur swung his claws at Horatio. It ripped slightly through his purple shirt, and left some marks on his chest. It stung a little bit, but that was the least of Horatio's worries. After all, the Capitol could heal it right up if he won. So Horatio put all of his energy into fighting the monster right now.
Horatio swung his morning star once again, but the Minotaur was ready. It rolled out of the way as if it had been a quarter of its size. Then, it jerked out its beefy arm and snagged Horatio, lifting him off his feet.
Horatio tried to fight against the monster's grip, but it was becoming more and more difficult. The more he wriggled, the tighter the Minotaur's grip seemed to become. Even Horatio's awesome, lean body couldn't manage to find its way out of the Minotaur's fist. And it was bringing him up, up, and further upward.
Suddenly, everything around Horatio went dark. That is, darker than it had been before. And the walls around him seemed to have changed into a purplish-red color. It took a few seconds for him to realize what had just happened.
"Hey, Minotaur! Don't eat me! I taste terrible!" Horatio yelled, hoping against hope that something he could say would be able to convince the Minotaur to spit him out.
"You'll get e coli! And norovirus! And meningitis! And pretty much every other disease under the sun! JUST DON'T FUCKING EAT ME!" Horatio was pleading with the monster, trying to get him to realize just how bad an idea it was to eat him.
Eventually, finding himself in what might have been the Minotaur's stomach, Horatio realized he was not getting out of this alive. And, most likely, his body wasn't either. Instead, they'd find him covered in blood, and probably in several pieces. He shivered at the thought.
Even though he knew it was worthless, he would show the Capitol that their golden boy, Horatio Jewel, would continue fighting even when all was lost. He pounded against the walls of the Minotaur's stomach...
A minute later, the Minotaur exploded, and so did everything else inside of him.
Horatio's remains would have looked absolutely disgusting. Except that there was nothing left of Horatio. The only thing left that could possibly be traced back to him was a soggy, bloody pair of boxer shorts.
Seconds later, the cannon fired. And that was it for Horatio Jewel. His sky-high ego had finally been brought down to earth, deep inside the Earth.
And then four remained...
When Aurora heard the cannon, she wanted to jump for joy. She was in the final four! But she stopped herself. Reluctantly, she stood up straight and tried to continue down the tunnel she currently found herself in.
The walls were brown, and what looked like tiny streams of lava ran through them. Aurora had no idea whether or not it was real lava, if it could actually pose a threat to her, but she was pretty sure that this tunnel was not completely safe. Then again, nothing ever was in the Hunger Games. If you thought that the arena might be relatively safe, then you had learned nothing from all your years of watching past seasons of the Hunger Games.
She thought back to the cannon. As of last night, Vair had still been alive, as well as Horatio, Vixen, Margaret, and herself, obviously. That meant that the cannon could have been for any of those four.
She hoped it was Vair's cannon. Ever since he had killed Leo the previous day, Aurora had never hated anyone more. He'd betrayed their alliance at the final seven! Granted, she had been planning to leave soon anyways. No alliance could last that long so close to the end of the Games. Even so, he had just decided to kill Leo Nale, when they could have separated peacefully!
One thing was for certain: The goody-two-shoes Aurora was gone now. In her place was a girl who radiated anger, and would not let anything get in her way of killing Vair Armani.
The walls of the lava tunnel she was in seemed to be reacting to her feelings. She could tell that they were pulsating heat, and Aurora was starting to sweat from the high temperatures here. She wanted to get out of the tunnel as soon as possible.
She was looking around for a door, any door, any way to get out of this nightmare...and then she found one. It was blue and circular. It looked like it would lead her into some laboratory.
She didn't trust the door. But neither did she trust the lava tunnel, and she decided that the latter was much more dangerous for her at the moment. So, she decided to take a chance and open the door.
Aurora found herself in a long, rectangular room with beige walls and what looked like water tanks on both sides. There were tables upon tables of wheat plants, corn plants, and many other things that were grown in District 9.
On top of a table in the very middle of it all, between the two rows of tables with plants, there was a note written on a light blue Post-it note. A large one, the size of a normal sheet of computer paper. Aurora had no idea what it said from here, and she didn't want to find out. It could be the very last thing she wanted to read. But, also, it might give her a clue on how to get to Vair. Or win these Games. Maybe those two things were interconnected.
Now that she thought about it, it might have been a mistake to talk out loud about plans to kill Vair. That was probably a very big factor in his decision to betray the alliance. But poor, poor Leo...
Aurora walked on over to the blue piece of paper. It said the following:
Aurora Baylor, congrationals. You are in the final four of Labyrinth: The 63rd Hunger Games. This room has been created by SnowLucario, a sixteen-year-old computer hacker from the suburbs of the Capitol, who is working with the Gamemakers. It is an addition, as well as the Riddle Tower that killed Bryson Holstein.
Wait, so Bryson wasn't killed by another tribute? Some kind of tower? Aurora thought.
There was still more to the note.
She read on.
This room is meant to be a reflection of what could have been, had you not been reaped into the Hunger Games. You could have been a biological engineer and grown more food for your district (which really would have all been hogged by the Peacekeepers). Instead, you have been selected for the Hunger Games, and are going to come in fourth place. You will not be Aurora Baylor, the person who saves District 9 from their starvation. Instead, you'll just be Aurora, one of many girls from the Wheatlands to die in the Hunger Games
These words froze Aurora right to her core. But, after all, they were just words, right? They shouldn't have had any power over her, because the author of the note had nothing to substantiate that claim. Aurora was still doing fairly well for herself. Better than Vair, anyway, and most likely Vixen.
Tears in her eyes, she forced herself to read onwards.
This room is a trash compactor. The walls will move closer and closer together until they crush you. And then, there will be nothing left of you. You'll go back to the earth, much like the plants you have harvested for the living. It all gets recycled. This is the end.
Fuck you, Aurora Baylor.
Love, SnowLucario.
Aurora wailed. But then, she knew that there might still be a small possibility that she might be able to get out of this. It all depended on her thinking rationally, which might not happen if she was too emotional. And she still wasn't a hundred percent certain that that SnowLucario person was actually planning on killing her this way. It might just be some massive bluff, but why would it be in that person's best interest to lie about killing Aurora?
To unhinge me?
And then, the walls came, almost imperceptibly at first, towards each other. The room was over a hundred feet wide, and they were moving perhaps an inch every ten seconds. If Aurora didn't do something about it, she would be crushed in a little under two hours.
Man, this is cruel!
It was one thing to just pound her into pieces immediately. It was quite another to have them slowly coming in towards each other, with absolutely no way out. But that didn't mean Aurora wasn't going to try.
The District 9 girl ran for the door through which she had entered the laboratory. As expected, she found it mysteriously sealed, no doubt by the Gamemakers or that SnowLucario person. She knew now that they had programmed it so that this room was impossible to escape. And, looking up, she noticed that the walls went all up to the ceiling. She could scale the walls all day long, but there would be nothing to climb up on to. Meaning that she had almost certainly lost, unless the other three tributes all perished without her being involved. And she doubted that would happen.
Based on her calculations, the walls were now eighty feet apart, after she had had her time to say goodbye to her family and friends.
She said good-bye to her parents. Hopefully, they would be able to manage on the farm without her.
She bade farewell to Dax, her oldest brother, but still younger than her. She thanked him for all of those days that he had worked an extra hour or two in the fields so that Aurora could have some extra time with her books. Which would now amount to absolutely nothing.
She bade farewell to Sable and Trac, her two youngest siblings. When she was done, she looked up, and knew just how cruel this method of death was.
Even though there was nothing of use she could do, she still had to wait for these walls to come and crush her, becoming increasingly claustrophobic. With eighty feet to go, the walls moving at a foot every two minutes, she had eighty minutes left of this torture. She grew more and more hopeless every ten seconds, seeing the walls inch ever closer.
She once again looked up and saw absolutely nothing to climb onto, in order to escape. Not only that, but the tables and everything else in the room, except for that light blue Post-it note, had disappeared. She was alone with only the walls to keep her company.
And then, Aurora had a thought. It was so stupid and cliche, but she was willing to try anything at this point. She didn't care how stupid she might look to the audience in the Capitol, and, if this didn't work, she wouldn't have too long to live to regret it.
Aurora folded up the piece of paper to make a paper airplane, using one of her knives to write the letters, HELP ME. She was hoping that perhaps another tribute would see what it was about. Horatio or Margaret would definitely try to kill her, and Vair probably would as well, considering how quick he had been to kill Leo. But if it was Vixen who answered it, there was a chance that she might be able to be negotiated with. Maybe, just maybe, she could form an alliance with her.
And then, she dismissed that silly notion. She wasn't going to be able to get into an alliance with Vixen this late in the Games. At the final four, if she decided to form an alliance with Vixen after taking out Margaret or Horatio, whoever was nearest to them, and decided to hunt down Vair, she knew that that would never work out. They'd be forced to turn on each other, and Aurora didn't want to do that. Besides, Vixen was unlikely to trust her either, being a District 6 street kid.
Just because she wanted to feel like she was doing something, she threw the airplane. Predictably, it didn't make it very far, not like it could have reached another tribute anyways. But she decided to ignore that. Instead, she focused on the walls. She tried to get a grip on them. Maybe she was wrong about there not being a gap at the top...
After an hour of fruitlessly trying to climb the walls, Aurora was exhausted and had still gotten nowhere. The walls were now ten feet apart from each other, and it was making Aurora more and more claustrophobic, just like the Gamemakers had intended.
I guess this is how it ends, huh?
It was frustrating not having a way to end her life sooner. She could have committed suicide with her knife, but she wanted to go out bravely. She didn't want to show her family that. She wanted to show them that she would fight tooth and nail in order to get back to them. And, in the end, that was the impression she wanted to send out to the people of the Capitol; that of a fighter, not of a coward.
Once the walls were four feet apart, Aurora realized that now was as good a time as any to try to climb. She could wall jump like Mario. But she'd have to be quick about it, because she only had two minutes until she was finally crushed to death. At this point, the door had been covered, or at least part of it, so even if the door had not been magically sealed, she wouldn't have been able to get through it anyway. And she couldn't climb the walls, either.
She really, truly was hopeless.
Aurora accepted her fate and waited for the walls to crush her to death.
Five minutes later, the walls pushed back apart, as Aurora's bloodied corpse fell to the ground, intestines, internal organs, and all. The cannon fired, but no hovercraft would come in to pick up her remains. That was the clever part of this arena; there was no need to dig graves to bury the tributes, because they were essentially already in them, this deep underground.
Two more cannons, within a few hours of each other.
First, there had been one at perhaps nine or so in the morning, and then a second one around midday. This meant that they were in the final three.
Vixen was starting to actually feel as though she might be able to win this. There were only two other tributes left, and with luck, they would confront each other before the winner came to fight against Vixen. And she knew that this would end quickly. The Gamemakers were no doubt going to become impatient with how things were going, not to mention the Capitol audience.
No, these would not be a long Hunger Games.
Vixen was out of food, however, so she had reason not to be optimistic about her odds. She was in very deep trouble without nutrition or hydration, and would die within days. But this wouldn't last for days. Dying of starvation was no longer a big worry, truth be told. Now, the main problem was keeping up your strength for the final battle. And Vixen was ready. At least, she sure as hell hoped she was.
She drew her knife, wondering who would come near her. She thought that she had footsteps. For ten minutes, she had stood on tenterhooks, waiting to see if there was indeed another tribute following her. She knew that Aurora was most likely far stronger than her, and Horatio or Margaret would positively wipe the floor with her, if what had gone on in the Training Center and the Bloodbath was any indication. She now thought that her odds of winning were slimmer than they had seemed just ten minutes ago.
But still, she wasn't going to give up hope. Jack Rover back at home was counting on her.
Of course, she was not yet aware that Jack had been killed by the Peacekeepers. She might have died of despair if she had known. But, thankfully, she didn't know yet, and that gave her the strength to push onwards.
Margaret had been expecting a showdown with Horatio at any moment.
Instead, she was shocked to see his face come first in the death recap. Who had killed him? She knew that she certainly hadn't. And she didn't think that any of the other remaining tributes would have been capable of taking him on. Which meant that it must have been the Gamemakers.
It wasn't hard for her to overestimate the people who controlled everything that went on inside the arena. After all, she had seen just how confusing this maze could get. And she was more than ready for it to end.
Horatio was followed by Aurora from District 9. Again, Margaret didn't know how she had died, but she could assume that it was either at the hands of Horatio or the Gamemakers. She thought the latter more likely, considering that they were nearing the end. Or maybe they had been led towards each other by some hazard...
Whatever. There was no point of such speculation anymore. The only thing that mattered was right here and right now, and that was the mindset Margaret needed to have if she wanted to win the Hunger Games. And she wanted to, very badly.
And, suddenly, she saw a figure running. If he hadn't been the only boy left in the arena, Margaret would not have known that it was Vair. Even so, she had to check to make sure that it really was the District 8 boy. He was running as though he had just seen a ghost.
Margaret wasn't scared of whatever it might have been that Vair was running from. All she wanted to do was to get into that tunnel so that she could kill Vair and bring things down from three to two.
She ran into the blue tunnel. Soon, she was sprinting alongside Vair, barely managing to keep up with the younger boy. She took out her katana, and Vair gasped, "So that's how you want to do things, do you? Well, I guess anything goes, considering we're at the final three".
And suddenly, Margaret realized why he was gasping. Looking behind her, she noticed a cascade of rocks chasing them downhill.
The katana had managed to make a neat gash on Vair's leg, and that was making it a little more difficult for him to keep up with the Career. Even so, he wasn't going to give up that easily. He was probably just as determined as Margaret was to get back home to his family, which she could definitely relate to.
Vair saw a door up ahead of him that led into another tunnel. He tried to keep up with Margaret, and avoid getting run over by the avalanche, but it was difficult due to the wound that she had inflicted. He knew that he'd have to do this, though, otherwise he'd get swallowed.
He tripped over a stone that had been lying in the path, just five yards from the doorway. He felt a weight rest on his legs.
At the same time, Margaret leaped through the door and didn't look back. Vair wanted to scream at her to help him, but that would be ridiculous. No alliances were formed at the final three. That was just a ludicrous idea.
Instead, Vair just lay there as the rocks continued piling onto his body. He wanted to scream again, but this time, there would be no way that he could. The combined weight of all the rocks above him made it impossible.
Dimly, he heard his own cannon.
Margaret looked through the room. Her eyes alighted on the only other remaining living person left in the Labyrinth.
A scrawny, long-haired girl with brown eyes was staring straight into Margaret's soul. With that much intensity, at least. They burned with hatred. The girl brandished her knife. She was ready for anything and everything.
"It's time to party" Vixen said.
She aimed her knife right at Margaret's heart.