A/N: First things first, I would like to state that I will be continuing with this story. I took a break due to a sudden surge of homework and some problem with the computer meaning I couldn't log on and access my files. I just want to say that you musn't worry about me abandoning my own Games. I'm not going to, I update once a week as often as I can, and I think that's as much as I can do. So please, if you're just going to review to tell me to update, don't. It's nice that you're taking an interest but, really, I don't need it!
Well anyway, I'm postponing my Dead Tributes Society for the week, so that we can get down to some much needed admin, just so everyone knows who's good at what and who's in the final eight!
Tonight on...
The Ninety-Fourth Hunger Games
Day 4/5
They'd been given a day. Thank God they'd been given a day.
The Games Makers hadn't anticipated that it would be so hard to regulate and repair all the Mutts in the Arena, so the tributes had been given a day of peaceful, and forced, sleep, while the Games Makers moved things around and fiddled with finishing touches. It got viewers in too, eager to watch a day of interviews and highlights, which was always a bonus!
Stones click under high, metal strapped boots as the diminutive figure of Thebes Horrors steps into the now abandoned tributes tower and makes his way into the main hall. OK, abandoned probably wasn't quite the right word. Not when the place is literally crawling with reporters, dignitaries and drink carrying Avoxes, all of them chattering excitedly about who they'd sponsored and how long they'd lasted, or commiserating with others about wasted sponsorships and dead tributes. The air is abuzz with talk of the final eight and, as Thebes pushes his way through the crowd, he recoils at the sight of the party's centerpiece, the bodies of the last eight tributes to have died, dressed in Capitol robes and fully restored to their original appearance, hanging alongside the body of Katniss Everdeen.
Thebes had never been a particularly 'Capitol-like' citizen. He'd always been disgusted by this sort of showboating. The kids had suffered for your enjoyment after all, let them rest! It didn't really matter now, though. The kids are dead and, wherever they are, they probably don't care too much about some stupid last minute showboating now. The man gave a slight smile as he remembered the living. The tributes who were dragging on, and who had been given an extra day, while the Games prepared its next stage. It was a pathetic compensation, since the tributes wouldn't know, as their lungs were being filled with sleep gas every hour to stop them from waking. The smile sags as he realises that, at the end of the day, the action is simply prolonging the deaths of seven of them.
Thebes forces his face back into a smile, coming back his hair and nodding curtly to the Games Makers as he enters the room. One nods back. Thebes sighs inwardly as he recognises the face of the lightening bolt haired Felix Fortissimus, newly appointed Games Maker and previous Escort of District Three. He looks around him, and immediately notices the other Escorts, spread out along the long table, fiddling idly with their hair.
"Good morning Mister Horrors," Zitheneals Denair begins, trying to make small talk as the older man takes his seat, "Sponsored anyone yet?" Thebes shakes his head. It was true, sponsoring wasn't something he did, even if he wanted someone to win, which he had. Denair had known this, of course, otherwise he wouldn't have asked, and his smile grows at Thebes response.
"Yes. Good." He nods, and Thebes sits down opposite him, "Any favorites?" Thebes winces and the man gives a small, rather harsh sounding giggle. There is a brief pause, and then Denair continues. "Do you know why you're here? Anyone?" Thebes shakes his head again and Denair gives another giggle, before leaning forwards and clicking a button. A large screen opens behind him and, without even so much as indicating her, one of the female Games Makers, a woman by the name of Donna is on her feet, a pointer clutched in her hand, bells jangling excitedly in her hair.
"These," The woman begins, tapping the screen as the eight faces, two smiling, six glaring, appear on the screen behind her, "Are our surviving tributes." Thebes sighs, a recap. Yet another pointless exercise to pull in viewers who want to vote on the Games. Donna gives a low chuckle, before continuing "So, lets start with the Careers shall we? We can work our way to the others later." She flicks another switch and, with a rhythmic clicking noise, the machine begins to whir, as the voice of Claudius Templesmith pours out of the speakers, almost calming in its over the top obnoxiousness.
"Ah yes," Claudius drawls as the grinning visage of Irre Massenhaft bursts onto the screens, his ringed brown eyes staring out at the occupants of the room, as though planning their death with very second, "Who can forget Irre Massenhaft? On the plus side, this competitors shown his ruthlessness, efficient and is at least tough enough to hold his own in the multiple fights he's been in! On the negative though, he does seem to be a tad unstable. He's got a good chance of winning, but I don't think he'd be the nicest Victor ever!" The screens flash and, in an instant, the screen no longer contains Massenhaft's face, but rather the self confident snarl of blond haired, blue eyed Blake Kaitz. "Originally seen as the weak link of the Careers alliance, Kaitz proved his worth by removing all who stood in his rise to power. Good looks and brains combined, Kaitz is a current favorite to win!" The photo flashes again, to be quickly replaced by the beautiful, ginger haired girl from District Three who Thebes had never learnt the name of.
"And talking of brains and good looks!" Claudius babbles, "Let's have a look at Kate Ryal, shall we?" Ah, so Kate was her name! "We haven't seen much of young Kate recently, since she's been trekking along with Jakob Hart, her District partner, for most of the Games. But now he's dead, and she's determined to win, I have a feeling we'll be seeing a lot more of her." The screens flash again, and this time a tall albino girl appears, her doe eyes staring out at Thebes, as though accusing him of being responsible for her current predicement. "Georia is some what of a famous figure in the haunted lands of District Eight but, then again, that's probably to be expected. She does look kind of like a ghost!" He pauses, snickering to himself before continuing, "Georia's been quite distracted recently, as if she's scared of everything she sees. While she doesn't seem like a strong competitor, who knows? Scared people can be very... err... scary!" The screens flash into a sullen teen, staring out at the viewers, his hair blocking one of his eyes from view and obscuring the other. Trent Flee. Thebes knows the name even before Claudius says it, that guy is creepy! "Trent seems to have taken a leading role in his alliance, which, amazingly,has lasted to the final eight. Although it is unknown whether or not this is due to his command, or out of mutual respect for Hype Tarick. Seeing as none of those ideas seem very likely, I guess it won't be long before everyone is killing everyone else!" Trent's face flashes away as soon as it appears, to be replaced with a tall dark skinned girl, her hair twisted into uncomfortable looking ringlets and a dark eyed teen, his hair cut short against his head. "Zus Ryaov and Lenox Carter, the latest tributes to experience death! Of course she's still reeling from her accidental murder of her partner and our relentless sniper, ready to strike at any moment! Zus has proved his worth by killing his last opponent with a gas lamp, which shouldn't technically be possible but hey, the world's crazy like that! Both desperate to get back to their family, how long can these two last?"
Claudius says a little more, cracks a few jokes and recaps the deaths, most of them Mutt caused. The tributes seemed particularly unwilling, or possibly unable, to kill one another this year. Maybe it was because of all the flashy effects and Mutts that had been thrown in. Some how, the idea that these children weren't monsters made the whole thing worse for Thebes.
"It's good isn't it?" Donna asks, leaning forwards towards the Escorts, bells jangling in her hair. "We have a fine variety of tributes." The attending Games Makers and Escorts nod in agreement, making passing comments and gestures about the situation. Something doesn't seem right to him. It's like that time he left one of his sons in the grocery store. Amidst all the hustle and bustle and excited voices, he knew that something was wrong. That someone was missing.
"You only showed seven tributes," he mutters and immediately all eyes are on him, boring into him as though he has said some unknown taboo. He starts to sweat and stutter, but continues none the less, "What about the little one?" There's a brief pause and, for a minute all is silent. No one speaks. No one moves. No one even breaths. And then Zitheneals gets up, walking over to Thebes with a cackling cough and a spring in his step.
"Do you know how much trouble that one girl has caused to District Seven?" He asks, kneeling by Thebes and placing a hand on his shoulder in an almost paternal gesture, even though he is several years younger, "She's tearing their leadership system apart, what with bot the Mayor and his wife struggling for," He stops, coughing into his sleeve, "For power." Thebes nods, remembering all those news reports he had half watched where they talked of anarchy in District Seven, "Besides, she's thirteen! How is she going to win? Who would ever sponsor her?" He turns away, waving his hand and dismissing the meeting, "Poor little Kayton Roys."
Kayton Roys groans. She stretches, surprised at how stiff she feels and by how hungry she is all of a sudden. She rubs her back with one hand, wiping her eyes with the other and picking herself off the floor, her head a blur. Taking a deep breath, she lets her eyes droop, then forces them open again and looks around. Trent is standing against the wall, snoring gently, obviously asleep for the first time ever. Georia has rolled away from her, having pulled her knees up to her chest, and is whimpering softly to herself in her sleep. The box lies next to her in the water, half submerged, hugged to Georia's chest. Kayton smiles, for a moment she can almost imagine they're a family, a nice, happy family with nothing to worse to worry about than bullying and money issues, not imminent death! The tall boy in the corner could almost be her brother, Laken, and the girl? Well, she could be her step sister if she squinted enough and tilted her head to one side. Kayton gives a frowns as she looks down at them. It's a crying shame that they both have to die. If it were any other time, any other place, then she would have just snuck away. But she'd seen how that had worked out for Georia. Somehow, Trent had found her again, and Kayton couldn't let happen because, next time they met could well be the last. Besides, she tells herself as she scoops her large axe up from the ground and pulls the small one off of her belt, she doesn't need allies. She could do this by herself. She always had, always would. She yawns as she approaches them, stumbling slightly as she is hit by another sudden wave of stiffness. Her frown deepens as she stares down at the sleeping boy. Even with him sitting against the wall, sleeping gently, his head is still only a couple of centimeters shorter than her. She lifts her axes, blinks and shakes her head, imagining his eyes boring into her. A shiver runs down her spine, despite the heat of the shining caves and she looks away.
OK, maybe she isn't ready to kill just yet. Not face to face anyway, not while the victim can stare her straight in the eye. Well maybe stare isn't the best word, more like peer from under their hair. She clamps her eyes tightly shut, raising both axes above her head and keeping her neck slightly tilted, just in case she should open her eyes. One of the axes will hit, she convinces herself, even if the other misses it will still be enough to kill him. And that'll make everything easier. It will all be better once he's dead. Killing the girl will just be the same. She might even be able to watch this time. Even though she couldn't with Hype. She couldn't watch as he died. She couldn't help him. And he had been the linchpin of the alliance, everyone had known it. It had only been a matter of who snapped first. Good thing that person was her.
"TRIBUTES! WAKEY WAKEY!" Kayton jumps as the voice shakes the caves, the small axe toppling out of her grip and tumbling through the air, slashing Trent's arm on the way down. For a second everything is still and then, suddenly, the whole world jumps as something warm clamps against her neck, slamming her against the wall. Her eyes creak open, only to be filled by white hair. The small axe pressed against her neck. She winces, lifting her own axe and knocking away the smaller one before bringing her leg up into the stomach of her attacker and kicking them backwards. Georia Hanel stares at her, wide eyed.
"What are you doing?" Kayton roars, but Georia simply shrugs, spinning the axe in her hands before pitching herself back into combat. Up in the studio, Claudius smirks, before continuing, "Welcome to day five!" There is a clatter of metal as the weapons fall to the ground and both tributes spin around, staring up at where they imagine the cameras to be in a startled silence. "That's right, day five! Sorry for the wait!" He laughs heartily, "Don't think you'll be needing those coats anymore huh guys? Seriously, head outside and take a look, you'll just love what we've done with the place!" Neither girl believes him, each of them circling each other, more comfortable with fighting their erstwhile ally than they are with fighting whatever's outside.
"You were trying to kill us." Georia mutters darkly, Kayton nods. There's no point in denying it.
"It's the point of the Games." She replies, voice bereft of emotion. It's been weathered out of her, she supposes, by all of that killing. She still has emotions, just not in her voice, or her eyes, or her body. As far as she can tell.
"I was planning to do that you know." Georia laughs humorlessly, "Two days ago. Guess I got unlucky, huh? Meeting that creep from one." There's no time for Kayton to be surprised, as the other girl launches off the ground, slashing furiously and, unfortunately, inaccurately, at the tiny target. She stumbles, tripping into the water and rolling into her box, which lies just below the waterline. Kayton stares at her as she picks herself up and, despite the heat of the moment, both girls stop. The box is too low. And the water is rising. Forgetting their plight, the two back away, instinctively pressing towards each other, pulling away from the box itself. An almighty crack sounds above the two girls and a little bit of debris tumbles from it, landing on Kayton's head with an unrealistically loud crack. Wind rushes past them as they take their eyes off the ground, staring up at the ceiling. A myriad of cracks run through the cave, shaking off dust and splitting apart like some kind of dog shaking off water. The sound of dripping liquid mingles with the crunch and crash of stone. From outside, something drifts down. A harsh, rhythmic tapping, like a drumbeat, getting steadily closer. The two spin on their feet, staring up out of the cave as the sound grows closer, accompanied by an odd buzz, like bees, ready to fight off an intruder. As they listen, the cracks grow louder, the drumming and buzzing grows closer closer, the water begins to bubble and rise and Claudius' voice pours back through the speakers, as quick and deadly as the roiling, boiling waves themselves.
"No one wants to move huh? Fine. The waters rising though. This whole cave should be flooded in, oh I don't know, couple a minutes! See you outside!" The ceiling bursts and water crashes down. Kayton gapes, turning and fleeing, the older girl limping behind her, eyes wide, as though the devil herself is after her. Trent doesn't make a sound and, as Kayton's eyes set on where he was, she sees why. He's already running, the strange box clamped under his arm, running like the wind.
"Alliance is over... Good luck girls..."
The Dead:
24: Alew Ferove (D8)- Killed by Demis, skull shattered
23: Quentin Rapido (D5)- Killed by Zus, shot
22: Essence Craymaker (D1)- Killed by Alylla, beheaded
21: Arixo Varsity (D12)- Tortured and Killed by Irre, stabbed
20: April Conolly (D10)- Killed by Mutts, eaten
19: Hype Tarick (D12)- Killed by Mutts, crushed
District 12 OUT :(
18: Phillip Sutton (D6)- Killed by Jules, stabbed
17: Jules Radcliffe (D4)- Killed by Phillip, poisoned
16: Teagan Cooper (D5)- Tortured by Verain, Killed by Mutts, shot
District 5 OUT :(
15: Demis (D2)- Killed by Alylla, stabbed
14: Emery Lox (D6)- Killed by boiling water
District 6 OUT :(
13: Scratch Standards (D11)- Tortured and Killed by Verain, stabbed
12: Verain Longcast (D2)- Killed by Scratch, strangled
District 2 OUT :(
11: Alylla Stone (D9)- Killed by Zus, skull smashed
10: Jakob Hart (D3)- Killed by Kate, poisoned
9: Ash Vernon (D7)- Killed by Lenox, burnt
Left: 8 tributes
Arcticmist: 20
A type of Wallflower: 35
SilverDagger: 10
Freedom of Thought: 70
Haley: 10
dudleyson: 10
akatrixie: 75
Ereader64: 25
Son of X: 30
Fuzzybubny: 10
booksarecool: 10
Meiveva Sirenice: 105
Ginny Weasley23: 160
Narcissa Weasly: 85
HelloPoppet123: 40
MySoulToReap: 40
Beware of the Nargles: 120
seagreenbeauty: 20
skgirl4ever: 40
wildone97: 150
pianoette: 30
MyRedPheonix: 70
CoolOw: 10
J.F x Serioki: 80
kuhse: 80
JayceeSue44227: 10
J C Kali: 50
sugercoated: 10
sfdgoz: 10
That Annoying Person: 10
The Other Packman: 10
The Tributes:
Irre Massenhaft (Kills 1): Kama, dagger, cool eye patch
Jakob Hart (Kills 0): Medium pack (food eaten), 3 bandages, blowtube and 8 darts, thick coat and boots, tape recorder
Kate Ryal (Kills 0): Small knife, bow, 9 arrows, thick coat and boots
Blake Kaitz (Kills 0): Small pack (food eaten), sword, dagger
Kayton Roys (Kills 0): Small ax, large food basket (food for 2 more meals), large axe, capitol tent
Georia Hanel (Kills 0): Large pack (food eaten), slingshot, Weird Box
Zus Ryaov (Kills 2): Longbow and 6 arrows, lamp, thick coat and boots
Trent Flee (Kills 0): Dino Mutt pelt, Improvised knife
Lenox Carter (Kills 1): 5 fever pills, makeshift poncho, rope, sword
RESERVE: Bow and 10 arrows (kuhse) Banquet (Narcissa Weasley) Small basket of food (akatrixie) Capitol medicine (cut sealant), slingshot (Arcticmist)
Next week/ month/ year (But it will happen): The Dead Tribute Society