A/N The moment when you realize that you've been writing a character's name wrong the whole time… It's actually Alder Blackthorn, not Blackwood. I'll try to correct old stuff when I have time.
I'm leaving in three days. O-O. I'll miss y'all so much. If I don't review a chapter, don't hate me.
Also, I notice that a lot of you use the term "Career" in your reviews. I understand why and I don't care if you use it, but keep in mind that the Inner District Alliance is not the same thing as the Career pack. Careers dominate the arena and hunt down everyone else. The Inner District Alliance can't afford to hunt, and they're really just a group of skilled tributes that band together to try to survive.
Sonic Wheel, 15, District Six Female
The judge's accusatory glare almost shoots a hole in my chest, and then it's Magnolia standing up there.
Guilty.
I open my eyes and sit up. Another nightmare. I deserve it; I killed someone. I killed someone. I destroyed a family. I stand up and shake my head to clear it. No, Sonic, you're in the Hunger Games. Any killing I do is out of self-defense.
But she didn't attack you.
But everyone I don't kill comes back around to bite me.
You didn't have to-
Shut up! I can't focus.
You can't make m-
I pick up a stone and hurl it back into the water. Why can't I just move on?
Because you ki-
I told you, shut up! What to do… What to do… Yes, that's it. I have to get busy. Keep my mind active. I march to my fallen log and take out two bottles of kerosene. I'll start with the Outer District Alliance. Wading in the water, I creep up to the fringes of their camp. Hiding behind shrubbery, I peer out at the pile of supplies.
There's no one here. Of course, there's no one. Arden usually guards at this time, and she must've seen something and got distracted. Or maybe no one's on watch at this time. Both ways, it's time to make my move. I quickly sneak up to their pile of backpacks and pour the entire bottle of kerosene on it. Hmm, is it enough? I'll add another bottle. I twist the cap open, and a cracking noise echoes through the arena. Shoot. I hear several people, splashing through the water as they come this way. I drop the bottle on the supplies and reach into my pocket, my fingers grabbing for the matchbox. I fish it out, grab a match, and light it. Here goes nothing. I drop it onto the first backpack and only have time to watch it light before I run. They're coming back and I can't be found here.
I barrel between the trees, praying that I won't be caught. I hear a shout from one of the boys. They've figured it out. My foot catches on something, and I tumble into the water, my face hitting the stagnant water with a splash. No time to lose. I scramble back to my feet, the front part of my body covered in mud, and continue to run.
As soon as I don't hear them anymore, I slow down to a walk. This didn't go ideally, but at least their supplies are gone. Now it's time for the Inner District Alliance.
Once again, as I did the previous time, I sneak up into my vantage point. This one won't be as easy. All five of them are sitting around, doing absolutely nothing. If only I could create a distraction… Nope, that's out of the question. I can't be in two places at once. Well, I guess I have to wait. I get as comfortable as I can and watch them.
"We should be doing something with our day," Imperial says, "I bet everyone loves watching us do nothing."
"Do we go hunt?" Androcles asks, "And leave a guard or two?"
"No," Aria says, "Remember? We can't split because the Outer Alliance will always have the number advantage on one group."
"Speaking of hunting," Creek says, "Is anyone else hungry for meat? We've been eating fish salad pretty much every day."
"Hey, don't complain," Aemelia says, "Besides, we had dried fruit yesterday morning, I think."
"See, you don't even remember it."
There's silence for a while.
"But really," Aria says, "Considering what we have, we're not too bad off. Meat would be nice, though. I can't believe nobody thought of taking the wire from the Cornucopia with us."
"We could go back," Imperial says, a little too eagerly. I wonder what he's up to.
"Wouldn't it have been looted?" Creek says.
"Probably not. Even if it was, we hid most of the stuff we left behind in the water. It should be okay."
Creek shrugs. "Do we have anything better to do?"
Aemelia gets up. "Sure. Sounds like more fun than sitting around. But what do we do with this stuff here? It's a little much to carry."
"We leave it," Imperial says. Huh? I didn't know they were that stupid. Something's off; I can feel it. Somehow, he gets everyone to agree, and they set off, Imperial holding a backpack. Oh well, it's my turn now.
I step up to the pile, and just like the other one, I douse it in kerosene and drop a lit match. I've barely turned around when there's an explosion and a burning sensation is my right arm. A burning piece of plastic from the explosion must've hit me. Grunting, I drop myself into the water. I had forgotten that any pressurized cans inside would explode. Another explosion occurs. I have to get away quickly before something else explodes and kills me. I hear running and splashing behind me.
"Over there!"
I don't have time to process the voice before I'm up and running, clutching my arm in my other hand. I bolt through the swamp, trying to get away. They saw me. They know who I am.
Slowly, their sounds disappear. I got away. It's safe now, so I circle back to my camp and get out my first-aid kit.
I did it. The realization fully dawns on me. I made it! I've successfully destroyed the lifelines of the two major alliances in the arena.
At this rate, I might be able to win.
Alder Blackthorn, 16, District Seven Male
Arden and I pick from a blueberry bush. We have wild ones at home, so this works for us.
"Don't you think we should have left someone back to guard?" I ask, an uneasy feeling settling in my chest.
"We probably should've," she replies, "But-"
I take another sniff of the air. "Wait. Do you smell smoke?"
She straightens up and sniffs. "I think it is…"
It dawns on us at the same time. The supplies. I immediately turn heel and run back to camp, swinging my ax at my side. The smell of smoke gets stronger as we get closer, and when we arrive, we see the pile burning in flames. I let out a shout as the Tens arrive.
"Hurry! Put out the fire!" Angus shouts. Should've thought of it. I begin to splash water on it, as the others are doing. Angus takes off his waterproof jacket and uses it to carry larger amounts of water at a time.
The smell of smoke is thick, but I keep splashing. The fire seems to be going out. Angus dumps one last jacket-full of water, and the orange flame goes out.
"Seriously?" Arden says, obviously frustrated. "What is this?"
Angus is picking through the smoldering remains. "All gone," he says, "Even the food that's left is soaked in kerosene or gasoline or something. We aren't getting anything out of that."
Arden lets out a disgruntled sigh.
"Well," Star says, piping up. "It's not that bad. We have food around us, and we had our weapons with us, right?"
"Yeah," I say. Good point.
"Well," Angus says, his voice telling us that he means business. Though he's in no way the loudest one here, it's undeniable that he's in charge. "We need food, fast. They'll try to force into another group now that we've got nothing. I mean another group as in the Inner District Alliance. It makes for a good show."
Star nods. It makes sense; tragedy and unfortunate events are easy to play with.
"So we can't waste our time," he says. "First priority is food. We'll figure out the rest depending on what or who we run into."
I look at Arden, and I realize that she doesn't have an opinion to share. Angus is brilliant. He's bringing us all together to work for a common goal instead of letting this event destroy the alliance. Without a guy like him, I don't know what might've happened.
However, I don't know how long this will last. He looks annoyed.
Aemelia Melanite, 18, District Two Female
We haven't gone far from our supplies when I hear an explosion back where the camp is. Androcles curses, and we immediately turn and run back, splashing through the water. It's followed by another explosion. The smell of smoke hits me before the camp comes into sight, and my heart drops when I realize what it implies.
Aria cries out in surprise when she, being the fastest, reaches camp first. I'm not far behind her, and my jaw drops when I see the fire that rages in the middle of our camp. Pieces of metal and bits of backpacks are scattered, floating on water and stuck in the above-ground tree roots.
"Over there!" Imperial shouts, pointing at a figure in the distance. We'll never catch up; she's too far ahead. Imperial watches her disappear; he's making notes.
Creek grabs a bowl that had been thrown by the explosions and pours water on the fire.
It clicks in my head, and I try to help put out the fire. The water sizzles as it hits the flame, and the heat is in my face. We slowly put it out.
Androcles, his sleeves rolled up, looks at Imperial. "You suggested that we leave, didn't you? It was your idea. You knew this would happen."
"Yes," Imperial replies, unflinching, "I did. I needed to pull some of our competition out."
"What's that supposed to mean," Androcles says, walking up to the older boy, "and what does that have to do with purposely losing all we have?"
"We need to lure out the hiders," Imperial says, his eyebrow twitching. He's getting mad under that calm composure.
"Well you," Androcles says, jabbing a finger at the other, "Just lost everything. What do you expect to do, huh? Survive off the sponsors? Everything is destroyed!"
Imperial grunts and unleashes. "Try using your brain for once!" he says, "Maybe it'll get through that thick skull of yours that-"
"You're telling me to use my brain?" Androcles says, his voice rising. If I know him at all, this isn't good. "You're the one that thought that giving up all our supplies was a good idea. We caught no one out of this."
"It's not completely useless," Imperial says, shoving Androcles back. Androcles' hands ball into fists. I have to do something or else the whole thing falls apart.
I leap to my feet. "Stop it," I say, interposing myself between the two. "Stop it! We can't afford for our alliance to crack. One we break, the Outer Alliance can pick us off. We need to come up with a plan."
Androcles folds his arms and huffs. "Yeah, easy to say. It's not like we have basic life necessities right now."
"Fish," Creek says, "and Plants. We have food covered."
"All right. Fine," Androcles agrees, obviously reluctantly, "But now we're on the defensive. We've lost our advantage."
"But then again," Aria says, her voice pensive and thoughtful, "That's normal. Just like a game."
Digit Fuse, 18, District Three Male
The sun has just gone down, and Naia and I sit on a makeshift platform we've made between trees. The Panemian anthem plays, but we both know that no one died today.
I give a mock salute. Naia smiles. The sensible part of me says that it'll only make things worse, but things are already bad enough. First of all, I can't run. The knife wound from the Inner Alliance is about an inch deep, so it could be worse, but running is painful and torturous. Next, we can't light a fire, so we're left groping in the dark until Naia can dig out her flashlight.
"Have you found it yet?" I ask.
"No," she says, "No luck. Are you sure we didn't drop it?"
"I don't know. Toss it here; I'll look."
I try my best to dig around in the backpack, but it's too dark. In the bottom of the backpack, I find a hole in the inner lining.
"I think I…" I say. I reach my hand in and pull out something metal and cylindrical. "Got it."
I push the button, and a yellow beam radiates from it.
"Here's your bag back," I say, tossing it to her.
"Thanks," she says, "We need to get out of here."
"Why?"
"The Inner Alliance wouldn't follow us in. I didn't get it at first, but then it hit me. This is the most dangerous part of the arena."
"You still haven't answered my question," I say.
"I'm getting there. The water's deeper here. It's probably teeming with alligators."
Alligators? I've only heard about them in books. District Three isn't great if you want to get to know nature. But I don't need to know what it is to know to stay away from mutts.
"So don't we need to go? Right now?" I ask.
"No," she says, "We can't go running around in the dark — I think. Real alligators sometimes mistake splashing for prey. Since these are mutts, we'll definitely die if we go off running in the dark."
"So…"
"We leave as soon as it's bright enough to see," she says, "I'll take the first watch."
"Thanks."
I lean my head back against the tree. At first, this was uncomfortable, but I'm getting used to it. Soon, my eyes are closed and everything fades into bliss.
"Psst, Digit. Wake up."
I open my eyes and sit up. "What? What time is it?"
"About midnight. Listen," she whispers. For the first time so far, her voice is laced with fear. I pay close attention to the noises around us. I hear a soft swishing as if someone—or something—was wading in the water.
"What is it?"
"I don't know."
"Should I use the flashlight?" I ask.
"S- Sure. Go ahead."
I turn it on.
I stare into the face of an alligator.
Questions (Yes, I did leave you with a cliffhanger):
1. What did Sonic really accomplish? Was it worth the injury?
2. How did the Inner Alliance and the Outer Alliance differ in their reactions? Which will have better long-term effects?
3. What do you think will happen to Naia and Digit?
4. Predictions? Who will die next? Who will not be dying anytime soon?
5. Will you miss me while I'm gone? :)
My goal is to get one more chapter out before I leave Monday morning. I won't be able to pull two because the next one is long and has 5 POVs planned. Now… I'll get back to packing…
See y'all soon!
~Joseph
