Okay, just to clear a few things up here. Desmond and Equila's alliance was temporary. It was only for the night and they both went their separate ways the next morning.
I know that some tributes haven't been featured in a while, but that's because I usually only choose groups of tributes who have an event related to the main action of the chapter. I'll still try to keep everything as even as possible. Today, we'll be back to visiting tributes we didn't see last time.
Bolte Seymour, 13
District 5 Male Tribute
I woke up much earlier than everyone else. It was dark, but the Sun had just started to come up. The girls were still snoozing away. Willow was supposed to be keeping watch at this time but I guess she fell asleep doing so.
I used the pair of crutches that had been given to me in the arena and hobbled over to a tree. It was further away from my alliance so I wouldn't wake them up. I leaned the crutches against the tree trunk and did my business. Once I was finished, I took the canteen I brought with me and poured a little water onto my hands. I dried them with a leaf and picked up my crutches again.
The leaves rustled. The ground squelched under somebody's boots. I heard him first but when I turned around to see him, he slashed his sword through midair, cutting at my good leg. I wasn't able to stand and fell over.
Tears formed in the corner of my eyes. What just happened? Was this it? Was I gonna die?
"What the...oh my goodness! I am so sorry!"
I recognized that voice, barely. If I recalled properly, it was Foxy. He was standing over me, his eyes full of genuine worry. "I thought...I thought you were a bear or something...oh no...what have I done..."
"If you..." I whimpered. "If you...can you make sure it won't hurt?"
Foxy stared me over, then nodded. I wasn't in any condition to get healed. The cut was too deep and blood was now gushing out. Hopefully, whatever he did to me, it wouldn't be too painful. I watched as Foxy knelt down and held up the sword. "Alright, I'll try to make it quick. Stay still, okay?"
I nodded. I felt the blade across my neck. Then I felt nothing.
BOOM!
Harper Winthrop, 15
District 8 Female Tribute
I opened my eyes to Thessaly shaking me awake. "Come on, get up. We need to get moving."
"Hello, good morning, how are you, did you sleep well," I muttered. "Could've said any of those. What's the big deal anyways?"
Thessaly grabbed our supplies. "There was another cannon this morning. I'm not taking any chances. Grab my spear and don't worry about food. We'll eat later."
I picked up the spear and followed Thessaly. 5 cannons on Day 1. One yesterday. And another one today. 7 tributes, dead and gone. 17 left. And we're only on Day 5. At least we were moving faster than it last year's Games.
As soon as I thought that, I instantly hated myself for doing so. The Games were not about getting them over with as fast as possible! It was death! And I wasn't in the mood to think about death.
I kicked at fallen twigs and leaves and clumps of mud. Some of it splattered on the back of Thessaly's boots, but she just ignored me. We eventually stopped and shared the pack of beef jerky. It tasted a lot better than I thought it would, despite the name.
Thessaly began reorganizing everything in the bag. "We're starting to run low on food. i don't know what's around here but we better find something."
"Actually, we still got potatoes left. And carrots."
"I am not touching those carrots. They're gonna be the death of me!"
A series of loud screams suddenly erupted through the arena, followed shortly by another cannon. After a while, everything went silent.
"Well," I said plainly. "You got some funny timing."
Demara "Dem" Filenfire, 15
District 3 Female Tribute
Something had been off ever since I woke up. We made ourselves a quick breakfast, then went on our way. But the alliance felt incomplete. And that probably was because I hadn't seen Bolte at all today.
"Where is he?" I complained. "He couldn't have just walked off. He can't walk!"
Beside me, Willow sighed. "Didn't you hear the cannon this morning? That must've been him. Sorry Dem, but I think he's dead." Everly, who was bringing up the rear, nodded as well.
I felt my heart droop in my chest. How could we lose our numbers so quickly? It hadn't even been a week and we were already half of what we started out as. I couldn't stop thinking about this as we trudged on in silence.
Willow noticed my sad expression. "Cheer up. You still got Everly and I. We're your friends, right?"
"Yeah, that's true. You've stuck with me for this long." I managed a small smile. "And don't worry guys, whatever this arena throws at us, we'll face together, right Everly? Um...Everly...?"
Willow stopped walking and turned around. All of a sudden, she let out a scream.
Everly's body lay still on the ground. Her upper torso was drenched in blood. Her axe had been painted red as well. Her eyes had rolled up in the back of her head, which had been chopped of the rest of her corpse and was being clutched by-
"Valkner!" I yelped. "Run!"
The cannon fired as Valkner picked up the axe he used to kill Everly and chased after us. My head began to pound as Willow and I dodged him and tried to speed up. Once we managed to get a good lead, I noticed a muddy ditch and knocked Willow into it before throwing myself on top of her. Valkner ran right by and didn't notice a thing.
For a while, I lay in silence, wondering if he would come back. Then the tears came.
Caxton Beel II, 17
District 12 Male Tribute
I had yet to see any tributes so far, which I was kinda disappointed about. Not that I wanted them to kill me or anything, but I was hoping I'd get the chance to best somebody in a fight. My skills would've been helpful here but now I wasn't getting a chance to use them.
The Sun was starting to set and I quickened my pace, looking for a good place to settle before it got too dark. I hadn't been in this part of the arena before and nothing looked familiar. I ended up stepping on what felt like a very thing and bendy circular twig. Or, a wire.
"Huh? Wait a sec...that is a wire-"
Something clicked and the wire tightened around my foot. I was yanked up into the air and was soon left hanging upside down.
"Dammit..." I groaned and pulled my knife out of my pocket. But the wire was thicker than I thought and despite how hard I tried to cut at it, nothing worked. Finally, the blade slipped from my hands and fell into the mud.
"Well, well, well. Look at what we have here."
A chill ran down my spine. Valkner was just a few feet in front of me, a bloodied axe swung over his shoulder. His lips curled into a sadistic smile. "Our first catch of the day. And such a fighter as well. My, this will be fun."
"H-hey, if you just let me go now, you'll make this easier on both of us! I don't have much, but I have a knife. You want a knife? If you let me go I-I'll give you the knife."
Valkner shook his head. "You drive a hard bargain, 12. But you fell into my trap; you're my prisoner now. And I do whatever I want to my prisoners."
He yanked the knife free from the ground and drove into my leg. Hard. As he pulled it free, I resisted the urge not to scream in pain.
This was gonna be one long night.
Alliances:
Makeshift Careers: Carina, Adonis, Urijah
What the Heck Happened: Demara, Willow
The Twins: Dany, Anya
District 9: Terran, Pellia
Insert Carrot Joke Here: Thessaly, Harper
#Save12: Valkner, Caxton
Loners: Foxy, Desmond, Equila
Kills:
Foxy: 1 (Bolte)
Carina: 1 (Tihi)
Valkner: 2 (Zander, Everly)
Terran: 1 (Florina)
Urijah: 1 (Fennel)
Arena-Based: 2 (Lena, Eywill)
18th place:Bolte Seymour, District 5. Throat slit by Foxy.
When I was still in the process of getting submissions, only two were Bloodbaths: Eywill and Bolte. When I reread Bolte's form, I thought it was unfair he would die first just because he couldn't walk properly. So I gave him crutches and let him survive the Bloodbath. He was nice kid who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and 18th is better than his predicted placement of 22nd. Thank you bookiworm04 for Bolte and you still have Urijah, so the Games aren't yet over for you.
17th place. Everly Afsaw-Pratt, District 7. Decapitated by Valkner.
Everly was such a sweet cinnamon roll of a girl who never deserved the fate I just gave her. She never stood out to much in her alliance, but never completely faded into the background either. But I thought that such a gruesome death would be a good way to show Valkner's true power and intentions and well...I happened to pick her. Thank you for Everly, MessyModgePodge and you still have Thessaly, so the Games aren't yet over for you.
This chapter was a bit tougher for me to write, but I hope you guys still liked it. Looks like Caxton's in trouble and Valkner's starting to become a little more vicious. Also, we don't have a happy family anymore, just a pair of sad allies :(
See you all on Day 6!