Day 12: Afternoon
Assistant Gamemaker, Aphrodite McKennon
Ever since Rye...or should she say Farro...died, Aphrodite has got reports of District 9 being close to an uprising. To prevent said uprising, she has put in word with President Rector to place more Peacekeepers around the district. During the Games, President Rector visited District 9 himself and no one seemed to be up to the task of starting an uprising. Good news for the Capitol, but maybe another district could start an uprising. Aphrodite pushed those thoughts from her mind as her eyes watched the monitors in front of her of the final four tributes in the Games. The siblings from 2 have crafted weapons and are now heading to the forest. The boy from 4 is slowly moving west, and the girl from 7 is stationary in a tree in the northern part of the arena. Luckily for Aphrodite, the siblings from 2 and the boy from 4 are moving in the same direction. Hopefully, the siblings would take him down.
Aphrodite pushed her golden hair behind her and looked at the arena. Her eyes darted back and forth between the holographic arena and the video feed. Predator has torn his jacket and wrapped it around his wound. It has long since stopped bleeding because of his sponsor and he was lucky to make it this far. That bite could have led to an infection. On the map, the alliance of 2 is moving closer to Predator, and vise versa. Maybe she should just let them reach each other and maybe the audience could have a show. Hey, they used to be allies until the natural disaster happened and destroyed the Cornucopia and all of their weapons.
"Felix!" Aphrodite called to the Arena Manager. He looked to her, waiting for her command. "Make sure that Predator and the siblings meet each other. I think the audience deserves a show." Felix nodded, looking at the map in front of him. Predator was continuing to go straight and so were the siblings. Aphrodite smiled devilishly at the video feed of Predator and Kleo and Caden. Her plan was finally coming together, something that she longed for since Linden died. A terrible death of a strong tribute and a good show.
A door swung open behind her. She figured she knew who it was, but she was focused on the video feed and not looking behind her to confirm herself. Shoes echoed off the chrome walls and a man came up behind Aphrodite. He did not touch her to tell her that he has arrived, but he only said a few words. "You are doing a wonderful job, Miss McKennon. Chal has a reason to be worried about his job." Aphrodite turned her head slightly and saw the familiar sunken face of her leader.
"President Rector?" She asked, her voice squeaking and cracking. "What do you mean?" The president only touched her shoulder and nodded. He looked at the video feed of the alliance meeting Predator. He said nothing as he patted her shoulder and walked away.
Kleo Miller, D2
Kleo gripped the make-shift bow and arrow as she and her brother walked through the forest. The heat zapped their movements, making them slow and sluggish. Kleo walked in front of her brother, because she had the sturdier weapon. The knife Caden made from the dull knife blade and a few sticks wouldn't hold up in battle. With only two more tributes until they go home, Kleo would take over the killing until it came down to them. Her breathing became shallow and silent as she and Caden creeped through the woods. Who would be out here? Snap! A twig snap rang in Kleo's ears and she whipped her head at a sharp left. Snap! "Damn it!" A low, male voice said after the second twig snapped.
She looked to Caden and nodded her head to the direction of the voice. At this point in the Games, she and Caden learned to speak through body language, something they learned back home. For one whole week at the Academy, the trainers and all the Careers could only speak with body language. Some of the younger Careers took that chance to do vulgar stuff, which Kleo used to find funny when she was eleven. Looking back on it, she remembered some of those boys who were actually in the Games. Big surprise that only one came back as a victor. Caden took Kleo's hint and went in front of her.
Kleo tightened her grip and loaded up an arrow. The point Caden made was not the sharpest Kleo has ever seen, but they were low on sponsors and they haven't gotten a weapon since the Cornucopia was destroyed. With Caden in front of her, she felt a little more relaxed. With the sun high in the sky, slightly moving to its sunset position, Kleo could see anything within a two-mile radius in front of her. A flash of exposed skin caught her eye. Who was that? Kleo tapped Caden on the shoulder and pointed to where she saw the skin. Suddenly, bronze colored hair was in her view. She knew exactly who owned that hair. Predator from District 4!
An arrow is still in Kleo's bow, and she aimed it clearly to her old ally. Without thinking about it, the arrow flew from the bow and embedded itself into Predator's skin. He let out a yelp and Caden ran over to him, knocked him over, and sat on top of him. "We meet again." Caden tormented Predator. "Remember this? This knife blade is the one Kleo used to wound you. You are are nothing but a wounded tribute." Caden grabbed the arrow from Predator's shoulder and pushed it in deeper to cause more pain. Predator let out a cry of pain until Kleo stepped in.
"Let's not kill him right now." She said, stopping her brother in his tracks.
"What are you talking about?" Caden practically yelled in her face, still gripping the arrow in Predator's shoulder. "We need to kill him so we can go home. Do you want to die here?" Kleo's face twisted at the word die.
"What I mean is..." She paused, unsure of the words she wanted to use, "why don't we just hurt him really bad and leave him here? All of those open wounds would surely give him an infection sooner or later. Then, when his cannon sounds, we can look for that Seven girl. When she's out of the way, we can go home." Her words hung in the air as Caden looked to Predator. A sick, twisted smile appeared on his face as he warmed up to the idea.
"Get ready to die a slow, painful death, fish boy." Caden smirks, gripping the make shift arrow tighter and tigher. He slowly pulled the weapon out of his shoulder. Suddenly, both siblings jumped on Predator, giving him many open wounds and leaving him a bloody mess.
Sheila Carwell, D7
Three more. Three more tributes until she is able to go home and see her family again. The problem is, the last three tribute are Career Tributes who know how to kill someone in three different ways with a stick! At least Sheila has a one up on them; her sponsor sword. She hasn't used this weapon to kill anything but rabbits and chipmunks. Sheila walked away from the tree she spent most of the day in and wandered around in the forest. The sun in the sky gave her light to see where she was going. In a few hours, she'll have to settle down again for the night. She continued to walk in the direction where the water was, in an effort to refill her flask one last time. The Gamemakers might end this soon anyways.
Screams of pain and agony filled her ears and she hid behind a thick tree. The screams became louder and louder until she heard two people laugh and mock the screamer. It was a male and a female, probably the siblings from 2. The screams turned into whimpers, and the whimpers turned into nothing. Sheila waited for about ten minutes for a cannon to sound, but nothing sounded. Was he dead? Or was he fighting through the pain? Did he get a sponsor gift that fast? She came out from behind the tree and walked towards the area where the screaming came from. She gripped the handle so tightly, the seal left an imprint on her palm. The grass was thick green and she was trying to find why the screamer was... well... screaming.
As she walked closer, her foot slipped in a slippery substance. She looked down and saw fresh blood from a human. She followed the blood and she saw the bloody body of the volunteer Career from District 4, the boy who was dressed like a merman, the Career who got a 10 in training, the boy who was likely to win the Games. His fall from a trained Career to a bloody body was a terrible decent, but he had it coming like most Careers. Just looking at his mangled body made Sheila sick to her stomach. Predator didn't notice her at all; he sat himself up and moved towards a tree to stable himself. He whimpered as he looked at his open wounds with all the blood covering his skin. Suddenly, his green eyes landed on Sheila and he looked between her and the weapon in her hand.
"I'm glad your here." He says, looking directly at Sheila's weapon. How much money did that thing even cost? "I want to ask for a favor. Can you please, please put me out of my misery?" Sheila took a step back, as if Predator asked if he could kill her first. Her eyes widened at the realization of what he was asking. Put him out of his misery?
"I don't..." Sheila was cut off by Predator.
"Please! I don't have anything else to fight for! I mean, look at me." Predator used his hands to show her what he meant. "I can't win the Games like this. Caden and Kleo want me to die by infection. I don't to die that way. Can you please just kill me now?"
Sheila looked at Predator, then her weapon. How can she do it? She is still in shock because of how she killed that 8 girl over a week ago, and she knows she can't kill anyone else. She stood there, unmoving, looking at the slowly dieing boy as she thought about what to do.
Jacob Carwell, Sheila's Younger Brother
The work day was at its peak and Jacob was in the Wood Shed, chopping wood for firewood in the winter months and watching the Games with the other lumberjacks. His father was out chopping down more trees, but those logs would go straight to the Capitol. The sight of the bloodied District 4 boy made Jacob a little sick, but he didn't throw up his lunch all over the shed's wooden floors. Dusk Shine and Chal Sherwood were talking on the TV with the Games playing behind them. They just replayed the scene where Kleo and Caden left a lot of wounds on Predator's body and just left him there to die from infection. Pretty ruthless.
Suddenly, Sheila appeared next to Predator, looking between him and her sword. Predator just asked if she could mercy kill him. The sword caught rays of the sunlight and reflected it back. Sheila stood there, not moving a muscle or saying anything. Predator continued to ask if she could kill him because he had nothing else to fight for. Just by looking at his bloody body gave Jacob enough proof already, but he couldn't imagine what it would be like to be in his sister's shoes. Dusk Shine started off her commentary as Sheila just stood there.
"Will she do it?" She asked, as if it was a planned TV program they have at the Capitol. "I, personally, don't think she'll be able to pull through with it. She had such a hard time dealing with the fact she killed Flim on day four that I can't imagine her killing anyone else. What about you Chal?"
The Head Gamemaker looked to the video feed and to the cameras. "Maybe she will. Predator can only hold on for a day or two until the blood is drained from him or an infection gets to him. She could easily put him out of his misery right now and give us our final three."
Jacob looked away and continued to chop wood. If the Games weren't on twenty-four seven, maybe the districts could get their quotas done. His mother was having a hard time just looking at the TV before breaking into tears. While the Games were in the top six, they replayed the Games were Rivet died and everyone commented that Sheila will just end up in a wooden coffin like Rivet. He tried to ignore it, but everyone kept talking about it. People who knew the Carwells kept expecting Sheila to die just like their brother. As Jacob worked, he heard people yelling out in excitement and some people were just standing in the shed dumbstruck, not saying a word. Someone tapped on his shoulder to make him look at the screen. He turned around, and he realized why everyone was so surprised.
A/N: What happened? Too bad I won't tell until the next chapter! I hope you liked this chapter; I would love to hear your thoughts in the reviews. :) We are getting so close to the end of these Games. :D I'm so excited!