Head Gamemaker: Teylin Ravine's POV:
Eight tributes dead in 24 hours. Not bad. Really good start. I'll show them first-time Gamemakers can be great. I did bring the Nixrope back, after all. It made quite a bang in the 68th, and for its debut in the 42nd.
I sweep into the room. The other Gamemakers look up briefly, see me, and look back to the hologram of the arena. I walk briskly over to Marja, one of my more trusted fellow Gamemakers.
"How's it coming?" I ask.
Marja looks up. "Great," she responds. "We got Patches, from Eight. I was thinking of putting another Nixrope patch by the shore. What do you think?"
I smile. "Great. Can we lure anyone down there?"
"We already have two," she says. "Girls from Three and Nine."
"Allies?" I guess.
"Yeah," she says. "They saw our other patch. Moved away."
"Too bad," I say. "Anything else we can stir up?"
Marja glances up at the screen, currently showing the Careers huddling around their acquired supplies.
The boy from One, both from Two, the boy from Four, and the boy from Nine. What, from Nine? Has Nine been training tributes recently? Oh, yes, we know all about the programs in One, Two, and Four. We just don't care. Got to have some system, right? So, the Careers. Did the girls really chicken out? There's only one girl in the alliance this year, and four boys. Usually there's two or three of both gender. Well, whatever.
Anyways, the five Careers seem to be trying to make a fire from a wooden spear. I smile. We gave them no matches, and there's very little wood in the arena. Only the few wooden weapons.
"It's not working," Luxtia says in exasperation. Or rather, as he mentioned in his interview, I remember, Luxe says. "Really, no matches?"
"Nope," Chayenne responds. From what I've seen, she's usually quite bubbly and kind, but now she's more glum than I've seen. Did we make the arena too cold?
Glint explodes with anger. "Why did the Gamemakers have to do this? No matches? No matches? We'll all freeze to death! Not very exciting!"
"Glint, calm down." It's Fabian, from Two. "I'll search right now. See if I can find something we can use. Wood, anything."
Jax speaks up. "Um, Fabian, maybe it should wait for tomorrow."
"Why? It's cold!"
"It's late afternoon, almost evening," Jax responds. "You'll have more time tomorrow."
Fabian, clearly not the best strategizer, considers this, then nods slowly. "Makes sense. Tomorrow, then."
Glint explodes again at this, and I turn my attention back to Marja. "I said, is there anything we can do?"
"Stir up, as you said?" Marja raises her eyebrows. "I think so." She nods to the screen. "Fabian's going off alone tomorrow."
District 2: Fabian Locke's POV:
I wake up, cold and shivering. It must be twenty degrees out, probably less. I slept with my arms tucked into my coat, and I'm not ready to take them out. It's way too cold.
"Wake up, Fabian," an irritated voice calls from somewhere above me. Blearily, I pry open an eye. It's Glint. "Time to go off and search for wood."
"Why me?" I complain, my usual good-natured attitude gone because of the cold. "It's too cold to be romping around in the snow."
"And that won't change unless you go get us some wood," Jax points out. Are they all already awake?
"We don't even know if there'll even be any wood," I say.
"We have to look."
I open my mouth to say something, but I'm interrupted by a yell from Luxe. I sit up, still drowsy. Are there other tributes here? I reach for my axe. But that isn't the situation.
"Sponsors," Luxe says. "It's for me, clearly. It landed on my lap." No one argues. Luxe opens the parachute. "It's a sword!"
"Don't you already have a sword?" Jax asks.
"Yeah, but this one is better. It's sharper, longer, deadlier." Luxe grins. "Time to get killing."
I know I'm not the only jealous one, even if I'm not naturally jealous. Glint is eyeing the sword with extreme envy. I wonder briefly if he's going to kill Luxe just to get to it. Jax doesn't look that envious, but he does look a bit unhappy. Even more than usual.
"Well, get going," Glint tells me grumpily. "We didn't wait last night so we could wait again today."
I feel a pang of annoyance. I pry my arms out of my coat, and wince as I'm struck by the dagger-sharp cold. I stand up, stretching my legs, and grab my axe. Chayenne hands me a bit of food. I begin to stumble away from the camp when I hear a pinging sound.
I perk up, along with everyone else. More sponsors? It seems so. A silver parachute descends from the sky. Maybe it's for me. I move toward it, but it veers away from me and drops into Jax's lap.
Not for me.
Glint can't resist glaring at Jax. Jax looks a bit surprised, but he picks up and opens the parachute. I wonder what he'll get.
Jax pulls out a pair of goggles.
Glint snickers. "Goggles. Super useful."
"No," Jax says. "It'll make it a lot easier to see. And it'll keep my...my face warmer."
Glint lets loose a short laugh. "Sure it will. Why? Is your face cold?"
"Yes," Jax admits.
Glint shakes his head. "It's not that cold."
"Glint, are you always grumpy in the cold?"
Glint cuts off his laughter and turns to face Jax. "Sorry?"
Jax sees the expression on his face, and makes a wise decision. "Nothing. Hey, Fabian, can you go off and start looking now?"
I resume my walk away from the camp. "Fine, but can someone get some water from the ocean down there? Icebergs?"
"I'll do that," Jax says. He gets out of his sleeping bag, and walks in the opposite direction, grasping three bottles in his hands.
I turn around, and walk away. Two sponsors, and of course I get neither. More importantly, Chayenne didn't get sponsors, either. Yes, more importantly. I volunteered so she could win. She will, I know she will. Would be nice of the sponsors to help, though.
I begin my search by the shore. I walk far away from the water, but an occasional large wave will hit me, and I'll gasp and retreat even farther. It's so cold. I really hope I find some wood.
I walk for an hour, or ten hours, maybe, I don't know. Time is lost in the cold. I find no wood, no plants at all. I search in vain. Eventually, I notice the sun going down. Still, I'm reluctant to return to the camp, however much my legs burn, however cold I am. My arrival empty-handed will not be taken kindly.
It's late afternoon, I think, when I first hear the voices.
"You do realize there's a patch of Nixrope just over there?"
"What? Seriously?"
I freeze. Tributes. I calm down, reminding myself that, possibly apart from the girl from Four, there are no strong tributes outside of the Career pack. Well, at least not that I've observed. I force myself to remain quiet, and I slowly approach the ice ledge in between the voices and myself.
"Yeah. It's right over there. See? Right behind you."
"Ahh! Dang it!" There is a thump, and a lot of rustling as someone hastily moves away.
"Um, you're right near another."
More moving. "Agh! Maia! Why didn't you tell me before?"
Maia. District 9, I think.
"Dunno. Didn't realize we were in an infested area. Sorry."
"Infested area?"
"I said, sorry!" Maia says. "I didn't see it! Not until then!"
"Mmph!" The other tribute grumbles something I can't make out. "Wait - Maia, you're sitting on some!"
Maia lets out a shriek, and I hear her scooting hastily away. She breathes heavily, but the sound is soon drowned out in the other tribute's laughter.
"Got you there, didn't I."
"Belle!" Maia exclaims. "That's mean! I really thought..." She didn't have to finish the thought.
Belle. Uh...District Five? No. Seven? No. Um...Three! Yeah, that's right.
"Well, I was actually near some," Belle says.
I stop listening to their conversation, and plan my next move. I decide to creep up on them. Yes, that's good.
I sneak around the icy wall, axe raised. Belle sees me. She shrieks a warning to Maia, who instantly turns around. Her eyes widen as she sees me, and she pulls something out from her coat. I think it's a knife, but that can't be right. How on Earth would she have gotten a knife? Surely she wouldn't have had the guts to go into the bloodbath.
Whatever. It's not important.
I ignore Maia and hurl my axe into Belle's body. She screams in agony. I leap over Maia, and go over to finish the job.
District 3: Belle Davidson's POV:
Forever. I had thought this word had meant that I would live forever, forever be remembered, that it meant I would win the Games. But as the axe enters my abdomen, I know this is not true.
Maia turns around as my stomach explodes in blood. I see a white blur going over to me, but I barely register it. My attention is all focused on my stomach, my bleeding body, any the agony this teenager has provoked.
I lie on the ground that is no longer white as Fabian comes over to me. Fabian. It seems cruel that I know his name, but he almost certainly doesn't know mine. Fabian wrenches the axe from my body, or at least someone does.
My blood streams out of me in an endless river. I feel light-headed, as well as feeling that I have been cut in two.
Forever. My blood will flow forever.
The axe lands again, hitting my shoulder. Another burst of pain. I hear a shriek, and I know it's Maia. Maia, get out! He'll kill you, too!
I'm kicked to the side, and I roll to easily. I manage to turn my head.
I have no arm.
Fabian cut off my arm. My arm! The arm with my ring on it! And indeed, I see the ring, glinting in the fading light. In my mind's eye, I see the inscription on it. Forever. Along with an image of Glade.
The axe lands several more times. The pain is unbearable. I scream. Tears mingle with the blood on the ice beneath me. I'm kicked again, and I roll until I'm facing up.
When I look up, I don't see Fabian. I tilt my head, despite the pain. I see two hazy figures. Maia and Fabian. Maia holds an axe. Fabian's axe. Fabian is slumped over, Maia's knife sticking from his back.
Maia must have stuck Fabian while he was working on killing me. Fabian must have dropped his axe, letting Maia grab it. And...now what?
Painfully, Fabian straightens. He reaches back to grab the knife, but Maia had stuck it in a place where he can't reach. He curses, but I can barely hear it over the sound of my blood thumping in my ears. My heart is pumping blood out of my body.
While Fabian is distracted, trying to take out the knife, Maia jumps at him. Very risky. She's small, and not too strong. Not the smartest move on her part. I wait for Fabian to throw her aside, to take the axe, to kill her, then to kill me. But that isn't what happens.
Fabian must have been dazed, or in too much pain, or just not ready for the attack. Maia knocks him to the ground. I can't see what happens next very well, but I hear Fabian yelp a few times.
Maia grunts a bit, and I can see her almost thrown off, but she stays at the task. Fabian tries to throw her off. Maia is almost unseated several times.
Then the knife comes out.
And Fabian grabs it.
Fabian lurches at Maia, knife in hand, but he's clearly not that great with knives. Or maybe it's just that he's injured and being sat on.
Maia rolls off of him, and Fabian gets up. Maia jabs at him with the axe, and hits him in the face. Fabian screams, hard and long. His face bursts with blood.
Maia swipes her axe again, and cuts Fabian in half at the waist.
BOOM!
Maia isn't done yet. She cuts his body open and rubs the insides against the ground. His blood mixes into the ice.
Finally, Maia comes over. She starts talking to me, something about a fertility cult, sacrificial offerings. I can't hear her. I hear another voice.
"Belle." It's Glade. "I'll remember you, Belle. I'll remember you forever."
A/N: Who do you think is going to win the Games?
Living tributes:
District 1: Demeter Arisana Marinos
Glint Harson
District 2: Chayenne Locke
District 4: Aquamarine Mer
Luxtia Emerald
District 5: Bellatrix Jessamine Kolkari
District 6: Damour Ledd
District 7: Kestra Deelin
Archer Lux
District 8: Luda Kein
District 9: Maia Thresher
Jax Samuel
District 11: Orange Skyla
District 12: Poppy Coalton