Day 2 (third ruling period- 6:00 AM- 6:00 PM)
Adam Cufole, 17 years old, District 6 Male
5:58 A.M-6:20 A.M.
The sunlight is barely starting to break over the horizon when I begin to stretch. I have a foreboding feeling that mornings are not going to be as easy as planned. I'm not a history buff, but Garry is, and he always says that mornings that are too peaceful are bound to be interrupted. I don't know much but it seems true to me, heh. I haven't slept a wink for several hours but i'm still strong enough to get up from my reclining position
My hand is on Jakob's shoulder when a loud announcement blares through the early morning air. "LET'S GET TO IT FOLKS!" the stupid bear mutt says. "Today giving off the announcements is a girl who wants to be a part of this world, go ahead Ariel."
"Ahem," she says in a melodious voice. "None shall wear more than 2 sets of items, that means only one sock, one shoe, and or one glove. Today no one shall be permitted to eat shellfish. You may only use your non-dominant hand to wield a weapon longer than your forearm and for this 12 hour period Motonui and Atlantis shall be out of acces. Thank you," she sings.
The voices tun off in the arena and I have a feeling that this is how the day will go. Jakob wakes up and gently brushes my hand off of him. He glances over at Atticus, who is still sleeping, and gives him a little kick to his thigh. Atticus gets up with a yawn that spreads around the three of us. "I guess that I'll prepare something to cook?" he offers.
"If you want to go ahead," Jakob says. "No shellfish."
"We aren't anywhere near water," I say absentmindedly.
"Actually there are a couple of castles over yonder. One of them is surrounded by a moat. So maybe we can get shellfish from there?"
"Fine, you saw it when the lighting was better so I'll concede," I say. "Atticus let's try not to make a fire. I think others are...near by," I say with a yawn.
"Get some rest," Jakob tells me, his voice uncharacteristically growing gruff. "We'll wake you up in two hours, how about that?"
I nod my head tiredly, lying down again in front the small fire we've set up. I just close my eyes. "Hey Adam?" Atticus asks me. I tilt my head, not trying to open my eyes at all. "What were the rules?"
"You can't eat shellfish, take off any pairs you have so that you only wear one article...and grab long weapons with your non-dominant hand."
"Like a spear?" he asks quietly.
"No, like my cock," I say tiredly and sarcastically. I can hear Jakob snort before something soft is thrown at my head. The conversation dissipates into silence
Atticus Landry, 16 years old, District 10 Male
6:15 A.M.- 7:45 A.M
I'm still an outsider but they're trusting me to cook their food. I can do this. I look through a small bag that I've gotten. I have a metal sheet that I decide to lay out a small supply of raw meat that just comes down from the sky. "Can I go for a moment?" I ask Jakob quietly.
"What for?" he asks kind of stiffly.
"I saw some wild animals. If I catch one then I can cook it."
"Leave everything but the weapons you're going to use to hunt," he says after a moment of deliberation. "Try anything funny and Adam and I will track you down." I gulp nervously and pick up a small dagger. It's going to have to do.
I try my best to not wander too far from our campsite. Dad's always told me that if I have to stay out for a night then I best not wander more than a hundred paces. A hundred paces out and I turn back around, having not found anything. It's then that I see a bird, several of them resting in a cluster. I grab a fallen branch and use it to create some kind of cover.
Breathing heavily I walk close to it, trembling as I throw the branch over three of the birds. They're trapped. All three of them could fit in both of my hands. Thinking quickly I take off my jacket and wrap the birds in them. I run to the direction of the camp. I finally open my jacket and the birds fall out, injured. "Are you gonna kill them?" Jakob asks, considerably more awake.
"We're at the top of the food chain for a reason." With those words I make my way to my backpack and find a pair of sewing scissors. The birds go out without a fight. They're meaty, which is good. "How...how do you want to divide it? One and a...half for each of the two of you and...none for me?"
He raises his eyebrow, confused before shaking his head. "How about the three of us split up one bird? We can't be indulgent. I think these birds can last for...either two or three days. I just need some wrap for them."
On cue, a little but of cellophane falls from the sky into my waiting hands. I decide to portion out the birds so that roughly an eight of the birds is what we will eat.
Nikos Marbello, 18 years old, District 1 Male
8:45 A.M-9:55 A.M
We've been moving a lot in this. It hurts when you only have one shoe and one sock. I decided to wear one shoe on one foot and one sock on the other. It hurts but I'm working with it. And well, the others are too. This building is big but there are only two working floors. The lobby and the 45th or so floor. Every time we take an elevator an annoying jingle comes from everywhere.
"Did you hear that?" Desmond says, jolting me out of my deep thought.
I turn to him and immediately go silent, the girls in our group doing the same. It takes a second but finally… "Doofenshmirtz Evil In-corporated!" rings out through the floor. The curiosity in me grows as I split off momentarily, heading into a small room. The Jingle rings again as I enter the room. A giant robot thing is sitting the middle. It whirs to life and says, "Hi, I'm Norm! I run on Squirrel Power!"
I back away awkwardly and slowly shut the door. Suddenly I hear a loud banging and dive to the side. Norm the robot walks out the room. I hear the robot whir as it spouts one phrase "The enemy of the platypus is man," I guess he says. Layla and Antoinette round the corner and see the robot, recoiling before walking up to me.
"Is...it friendly?" Antoinette asks.
"Fuck if I know," I say quietly. I grab my spear with my left hand cautiously approach it. I give the robot a tiny poke and it turns. Then he looks at a different direction and walks off. "That weird," I note cautiously. Not five minutes later the robot returns, holding a package in his hands. He gives it to me. I open it to find a packet of dry meat, sleeping syrup, and body armor. I mumble a quick thanks to the robot and then join the others.
"Looks like you have the first sponsor present of the games," Layla notes, a hint of jealousy in her voice. I unroll the body armor and strap it on. It's kind of stiffening but I can make it work. I try my best to hide the sleeping syrup. That shit is valuable.
I remember that one…
That one what? Jasper's voice drifts off. I can't hear it again. I follow the girls into a separate room, where other weird machines are. Just to be safe I keep the sleeping syrup tucked at the bottom of my bag.
Kaney Mayes, 13 years old, District 11 Male
10:00 A.M-11:25 A.M.
"Let's face it Kaney, that computer sure as heck isn't giving us any other information," Valonia speaks up. She pulls out a map from her backpack and puts it down with a scream. I run over to her and find that there are some things on her map that are moving animatedly. It almost seems alive. I prod her map gently with a small wire but it doesn't do anything.
"I think it's fine," Lenora says quietly. "I think we need to move though. There's something about this building that scares me." The three of us look behind us, hear a creak, and begin to rush out.
We get about ten feet from the entry way when a giant spark grazes Valonia's back. She falls down. I pick her up and come face to face with a monster. It's think, lanky, and flexible as it dances in the air. I make a move to a small dagger but find myself recoiling. I grab Valonia and run. Lenora lags behind but she picks up everythign that we wind up dropping.
The monster recoils with a hiss and retreats into a small surfing hut...at least I think it's a surfing hut. There are a couple of buildings right next to the skyscraper we skedaddled out of. "Are you okay?" i ask Valonia.
"What was that thing?" She asks. "I'm fine by the way. You guys should have just left me. I don't think I can last longer."
"Let's try to stay together for one more rule period," Lenora offers. I look at her, impressed, and hold out a small piece of a dark apple. Lenora takes it.
"I think I saw that monster before. It was in one of my comics. But I don't know what it is doing here. And why is it in that grass roof house?"
The three of us shrug. We continue walking without a hitch. For fifteen minutes we are all bored but we want to see if there's something useful in the woods or if we can find something that can help us. Eventually I get tired and ask to take a break. "Sure," Lenora says.
"I'm going to swap shoes...THAT IS ALLOWED RIGHT YOU MANGY STUPID BEAR?!" I shout.
"You called?" the bear appears behind us with a smirk. "ANd yeah, go ahead, but if you put both on at the same time then you'll be executed!"
I take great care and take off my first shoe and sock. Then I put on my first sock, then my other shoe, and it fits. "Dang pity," the bear says, and wanders off.
The three of us sit in silence. "I think we need to get going," Lenora speaks up.
Valonia and I agree readily. I stretch out my feet and get with her, out of the woods.
Kimberly McAuckswatch, 16 years old, District 4 Male
11:20 A.M-12:30 P.M.
"Did you hear that?" I tell my allies. The guys turn around and look at me intently. "Something electric and a scream?"
"Come to think of it, I did hear something," Aster says monotonously. "Is it the arena?"
"No those screams were a tribute," Regan says. "Hey, maybe they're injured. I think that's one of our… one of our cues to move forward isn't it?" He brushes past me and calls Samuel forward, who begins to recoil slightly. "It'll be alright, just keep the rules in your mind."
Samuel turns to me and Aster with a look of confusion on his face. I glance at Aster, who nods reluctantly and grabs his axe in his left. Before he moves it to his right he measures the blade along his forearm and moves forward, with the axe in his other hand.
It doesn't take long to find a small camp of three tributes. They all look so young, but it's a necessary evil. I begin to recall that my dad was somewhat against me joining the academy since I'd be taking lives when I'm so much better at saving them. I have to push that thought behind as I charge forward, ignoring Regan's warning.
"We have to go!" the small, dark skinned boy says to two other girls. He grabs hold of the smaller of the two and catapults her in front of him. The older of the girls struggles to keep up but when the other three of us break into the clearing she bolts off quickly.
"Scatter!" Regan says in a deep voice. Me and Aster, Regan, and Samuel all take three paths, chasing after one of the three poor tributes. With Samuel hot on my heels we learn that the others themselves have split up. I catch glimpses of the dark skinned boy going between the trees. Samuel tries to flank him with a tackle but he jumps over him.
The diversion is enough for me to throw a small spear into his direction. He gets pinned to the ground and chokes terribly. I grab the spear with my other hand and force down bile as I try my best to stab him in the head. My aim is true and the boy's cannon fires.
I walk over to SAmuel and help him up. Out of breath, I'm about to say something when a ridiculous cackle interrupts. "TO THINK IT'S ONE OF OUR FAVORITE CAREERS TO BREAK A RULE! HAHA!"
"What?" I say, in and out of breaths. Samuel passes me a confused glance as well as we turn to the cackler.
"YOU TOOK THE SPEAR WITH YOUR RIGHT HAND, WHICH ACCORDING TO THE DISTRICT ACADEMY, IS YOUR MOST DOMINANT HAND! AMBIDEXTRY MY MONOCHROMATIC ASS! IT'S PUNISHMENT TIME!"
"I-I-I dont' belive you," I try my best to fight back.
"Let's see what the audience at home has to say..,oh wait, that would be breaking the rules, and unlike you," the bear says. "I AIN'T A FUCKING RULE BREAKER HAHAHHAHA!"
It hits me that I'm screwed. I try to reach out to SAmuel as he holds out his hand, but the stupid bear mutt calls on the trees or something and I feel myself getting dragged on the foorest floor, getting all kinds of scraped up. Samuel calls out for help but by the time I see REgan and Aster some eternity away, I'm too far gone for them to help.
Nymphia Lightsea, District 4 Female Mentor and Victor of the 146th Hunger Games,20 years old
12:15 P.M-12:30 P.M.
I refused to become a screaming woman in my hunger games. I refused to become a screaming woman when I saw a distant relative get hung by the gallows. I refused to become a screaming woman many, many, many times over. This is the first time that this is happening and I am trying my best to not become a screaming woman as my first tribute is made into a plaything of the gamemakers.
"Josh?" I cry out nervously. The head of District 7's training academy comes over and holds out his blistered hand for me. I take it tightly as he wraps his other hand around that necklace he keeps around him.
"Father of Mercy," he begins to whisper as I tighten my grip on him. "The secrets of all hearts are known to you alone. You know who is just and you forgive the unjust. You alone are the Almighty Judge. We are not worthy of judging anyone. Your mercy is enough for sinners."
I look away from my personal screen to the big screen where the other victors are watching. Some of them are clutching each other in fears, at least one or two of the middle districts are having a seizure. For the love of the Caspian they're playing music during her death scene! It's too loud, too loud, too loud.
"Hear our prayers," Joshua concludes for the first time. He begins repeating the mantra as I remain glued to the screen.
"LET'S GIVE IT EVERYTHING WE'VE GOT! IT'S PUNISHMENT TIME!" the accursed bear says loudly. Finally he stops dragging Kimberly around and puts her on a raft. She tries to get up but he runs around and ties her to the side of the raft. With help from a giant whale thing Kimberly is dragged over to a distant island.
It's already established that she can breathe under the water due to the composition of the water. The music changes. I've been, staring, at the edge of the water, long as, I can remember, never really knowing why. It goes on for several minutes for too long before a humanoid mutt, with a trusty pig, both embark on the makeshift raft of logs.
They go out in the ocean, Kimberly is lapped with water, and she flinches every time. She shivers as she heads in and out of the water. Finally, the song ends, and a giant wave overtakes the boat. The human mutt and the pig are sent to the bottom of the sea. The camera pans over to see the waves slamming Kimberly against a heap of coral. She dies, making the water red. 'Thankfully' the pig and his human mutt master are safe from the storm.
I release my grip on Joshua and walk down to the main screen. I collapse in front of the screen, curled up in a ball. I refuse to become another screaming woman from District 4 but that doesn't mean I'm at all sane. She was only my second tribute and I really thought I had a hero's journey plot with her.
Janine Midnight, 14 years old, District 6 female
12:35 P.M-1:15 P.M
Neve and I turn around with a jump at the sound of the cannon firing. That's the second one today. That means there are 18 of us alive in the arena. I look at Neve as she shrugs quietly. She's been kind of stoic since we got together. I wonder if she's thinking of...Jakob, the tall boy from her District. I know I'm still worried about Adam.
This forest is huge but we move from a thick jungle with hot floors and cold trees and wild rivers to a more moderate place. I pull out my map and see that we're still stuck in the hungered acre woods. Back to the basics I suppose. We've just been wandering aimlessly and it looks like we've made a circle. I look up and see a very small tree house. "Did you see that before?" I ask Neve curiously.
"No I haven't," she replies quietly.
"No harm in checking it out?"
"No harm in checking it out," she echoes.
Inside the tree house, which is only about ten feet off the ground that seems to be fit for the size of 10 stuffed animals, we see approximately 10 animals having a council. I recoil, seeing a bear in one of them, but Neve pushes me back. "It's not the bear mutt we're scared of. It just looks cute and yellow and cuddly," she explains. I look again and true enough, it is a yellow bear mutt, that seems to notice the two of us.
"Oh excuse me," the bear says, waddling to the lot of us. "Can you help me with a particular conundrum?"
He drags me and Neve into the house and we have to listen to an owl mutt give a lecture for the waiting group of animals. The yellow bear drags me over, so I tell Neve to stay with the owl as I have to help the bear grab a…. Hunny pot? He gets on my head and is just about to touch it when the owl bumps into me, yanking a blackboard from in front of me. "Sorry about that eh wot, but I do need to demonstrate this," the owl explains. The Hunny pot falls on the bear's head and shatters. He rubs his head and sigh.
With the sounds of a screech the owl begins to draw on the board. It's a giant creature with a tail, Here I'll draw piglet in for scale, Its hide is like a shaggy mug. Its face a surely ugly mug, With two sharp horns atop his head, in between a mop of hair that's red. And in his nose a ring of gold it smells of mokey's feet and mold its toes are black its fur is blue I swear that all I tell you is not made up the BACKSON!
THE BACKSON! The animals echo.
The Backson! I find myself echoing for some reason.
THE BACKSON! Neve chimes in, somewhat seriously.
It is to my horror that we're all singing. I've never been a good singer but why am I singing now?! Singing about some hideous monster who spoils the milk, stops all the clocks, use their horns to put holes in our socks-wait what? This isn't a dangerous monster...Why are they singing about it?
We'll search by the sun and the light of the moon, the animals sing as they drag me and Neve out of the house.
And we'll be BACK SOON! Neve and I sing. We escape the madhouse but are stuck in a line of singing animals. It's better to stay I suppose. These animals are gonna kill themselves and us before we die from another tribute's hand.
Zippina Cayen, 16 years old, District 3 Female
1:45 P.M - 2:30 P.M.
Me and Nidawi have been wandering around this place for so long. I cast glances down at my map to see that we're heading northward, I presume. Why does reading a map have to be so complicated? There are no landmarks on this flimsy piece of paper. "I'll tell you right now, that according to this map, we went this way and that way and whichever way but we have not found a single home to rest. For a map this thing is broken," I try to say in a joking manner.
I glance at Nidawi who passes a small smile. Since last night we haven't been talking or laughing as much. "Do we even have a plan to get somewhere?"
We left the 'Ah-muh-ree-can Mix' some hours ago and are heading through the Hungered acre woods. I look around and realize that the music has stopped. "Huh, the music stopped," I voice.
"What kind of arena is this? There's music and mutts and trees and electricity….They really went all out for this quell I'd say. I have to say, I actually admire how much work went into this arena in all honesty."
"I'll give them that, but I do have to say that maybe they can use all the money they use making the arena on expanding the districts," I chortle before slamming my hand over my mouth, half expecting a bolt of lightning to take me out.
What hits me instead is an annoying little bear. "I know what you're gonna ask. No I won't get off of ya until my speech is all said and done," the bear jokes. "And you didn't break the rules hun."
Just as quickly as it came, it left. I turn to Nidawi and shudder. "I uhh, ignoring that as we normally do, I think we should just go over to this one place with a lot of people...it's called the Tri-State Area?"
"Can I see the map?" I hand Nidawi the map and she looks it over. "It's quite a ways away. We'll uh, stop over in this one place. They say it's called Zootopia? I know Zoo is like animals."
"Were we there already?" I ask, confused just a smidgen.
"Beats me." She puts her map away and continues walking at a quicker pace. "Let's just get going. I think that...I think….we just have to keep going. Jon really liked exploring you know?"
"Did he?"
"Yeah, there were so many ruins in District 5 that he just dragged all of us to go to," she says glumly with hint of tears in her eye. "I don't mean to make you glum though. Do you want to head off to Zootopia?"
"It seems civilized so maybe we can check it out. Why the Zoo?"
"Let's….let's just go then. I guess we'll find out one way or another."
Antoinette Vermur, 18 years old, District 2 Female
2:40 P.M - 4:10P.M
The giant robot man takes the elevator downstairs with his ever plastered smile on his face. I turn to layla, who shivers uncomfortably and offers to take me back to the group. "Do you really think that he's gonna be the one to get us body armor?" I ask her.
"I don't trust those kinds of suits. Of all things why that shade of blue? Are they trying to conceal something?"
I shut up, confused, and open the door to our little base camp, which is described as the wide open studio apartment of a maniacal pharmacist. It's a bit of a weird place in spite of all the familiarity. Desmond looks up from sharpening his blade with is left hand and stretches out his fingers. "Did you guys find anything?"
"The robot," I begin to explain. "Norm I think, he's gonna try to get us all body armor or something."
"Not sure if I trust him but it's a benefit for all of us," Layla interjects.
"D-Did we have to give him something?" Nikos asks. "Because we have a lot of goods to barter."
"I gave him another pair of gloves that I had, he said that could get us something," i say.
The conversation thins out as I move to the fridge. Immediately my mouth grows agape at the sight of a wide array of lobster set on top of a ton of butter and nourished with a mouthwatering sauce, a blooming flower of mussels and clams radiating from a center sauce, and an elegantly presented squid surrounded by layers upon layers of prawns. I shut the fridge immediately and move to another fridge. In the other fridge there's a giant turkey.
"I foudn food," I tell my allies. They all rush forward and help me wheel out the turkey. "Well since we're the capitol favorites we have to have the best food, right?"
A chorus of cheers comes from the other three just as the elevator comes back up. Several thunderous footsteps precede Norm's arrival. "Here's the change," the robot says. His mouth opens and a flood of coins begins to spew out. I grab a plate from the refrigerator and use it as a bit of a shield but my forearms get bruised.
With the end of the fountain I turn to the others and see that they're all a bit woozy. "You're a weird robot Norm," I tell the robot in brutal honesty.
"Let's just eat," Desmond proposes quietly.
Neve Seren Orion, 16 years old, District 13 Female
4:05 P.M -4:55 P.M
"Tell me again Janine, why did we agree to help these animals?" I ask my ally in a low voice.
"I can't say no, can I?" she explains. I'm a bit frustated at her response and lean against the wall of this very small abode. The Winnie-The-Pooh bear gives me another bucket of hunny on top of another bucket of hunny on top of another bucket of hunny.
"I do say that I think we need more stuffy stuff," Winnie the pooh says.
Reluctantly the two of us have to follow the yellow plush bear through a little more of the forest. Janine is strugling to carry the toys and trinkets that she found from the various houses that we've raided. "Hey Winnie the Pooh?" she asks after a while. "Can we eat some of this?"
"Oh I would love that. Can I have some hunny first? It would make for such a great picnic! But we must have enough for the dear bakson!"
The bear stumbles off in the forest and trips just a little bit before running again. "Tell me again Janine," I ask my ally. "Do they not know that the Backson is a misspoken mutilation of the words back-soon?"
"No they don't. I thought we explained this over and over and over," Janine says, a bit frustrated.
"I don't see any long term benefits from this, so I don't know how long we're still gonna help them. Are we not still going to find our allies?"
"I think we should," Janine says quietly. "But we can't just leave these animals-"
"They're mutts! They can turn on us on any given interval!"
"But if we lose rust then they may lose sight of us, maybe...maybe we can make a deal with them?"
"The arena is a two faced world, I thought that was established. You and I can only trust each other," I say frustrated, tearing open my backpack and pulling out a bottle of water. "Janine, let's see if we can get a place to sleep with these mutts but I fet waken up by something weird I'm seeing you later."
The bear returns, chased by a horde of bees. "WE NEED TO RUN OH BOTHER!"
With Janine at my side and the bear just in front of us, I glance back at the horde of bees and take a gasp. Once we break free I notice a stupid smile on Janine's face. "Hey Pooh? Is there anywhere we can get a place to sleep?"
"Oh you can't sleep in a place where there is no belt! I do have to ask my dear Rabbit friend about the arrangement but I am 100% sure that he'd stay with you!"
I turn to Janine, absolutely bewildered. "Okay, besides the bees they aren't that bad...right?"
I roll my eyes and begin to open a bag of dried fruit. This better be worth it.
Hey Guys, Hopps Here
This chapter was a long time in a making and for that I apologize. For the longest time I knew that two tributes were going to die and I was able to write their death scenes very quickly. The other perspectives were able to establish more about the arena and the characters themselves I hope. This won't be the last execution that we see, just the first for now.
Anyways I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, if there are any criticisms feel free to leave them as respectfully as possible.
Sponsor Questions:
1) Where is Atticus kicked? (1 point)
2) How does Atticus decide to divide the birds initially? (1 point)
3) What two floors are available of the building? (1 point)
4) How is Valonia attacked by the monster? (1 point)
5) What rule does Kimberly break? (1 point)
6) Who sings throughout the execution? (1 point)
7) How high is the tree house? (1 point)
8) To where are Zippina and Nidawi heading? (1 point)
9) What does Antoinette use as a shield against Norm's fountain? (1 point)
10) What chases Neve, Janine, and Winnie the Pooh? (1 point)
So I think that's all that's said and done. I hope you all enjoyed the chapter.
Hopping out
Hopps