The top of the concrete building was flat and covered in smooth gravel, though it seemed structurally sound. There was a two-foot tall lip around the roof that could provide cover from tributes on the ground. From his elevated position, Jonah could detect any tributes approaching far before they would notice that he was there, and he could also see that the electric fence stretched as far as he could see in both directions. There was a door on the roof that he supposed led down into the building, but when he tried it, he found that it was locked. The only other way onto the roof was by climbing the tree, and he laid several tripwires among the branches to alert him if anyone was trying to climb it. As far as Jonah could tell, the roof of the building was the perfect defensive position.
Then it started to rain.
As the rain began to fall, Violet had dedicated herself even more to finding a way to survive. Now that she had calmed down considerably, information from the training center began readily coming back to her. With a newfound confidence, she gathered supplies from the jungle nearby, then set about building a shelter. As the rain fell, she stacked several sturdy branches for supports, then wove palm leaves together along the outside to block out the worst of the rain. The dilapidated structure was not exactly what she had originally had in mind, but it kept her relatively dry, and she was proud of that. With every small victory, Violet began to believe more and more in herself.
Jonah, on the other hand, was starting to second-guess his decisions. As the storm rolled in, he began hastily making preparations for the inevitable rain. Crouched down, he was so focused on stuffing his supplies back into his pack to protect them from the weather that he didn't notice the tributes approaching him until they were literally on his doorstep.
He froze as he heard someone try to open the front door of the building, and was relieved when whoever it was discovered it to be locked. The downpour of rain obscured the sound, but now that he was listening for it, he could definitely hear the voices of tributes below him. He couldn't see them, but from the voices, he could hear two of them sitting on the porch right below his position. He cautiously peered over the side, but the awning over the porch obstructed his view.
He spread a weather-proof jacket that he had found in the pack over the rest of his supplies and decided to just wait them out. If they didn't know he was there, they likely wouldn't bother him. There was no reason to unnecessarily risk his life.
Thinking that he must have indeed outsmarted the gamemakers, he smiled at his own ingenuity. They had not planned on him getting up here, and now that they couldn't reach him, they would try to lure him down. Jonah chuckled at the thought, deciding to not give them the satisfaction. He silently moved across the roof until he found a spot where the wind blew in such a way that he could better hear the tributes below him.
When he heard the familiar beeping pattern of a sponsor gift, his spirits lifted momentarily, but they soon dropped again as the parachute floated well over his head, then landed on the porch below. From the scent that wafted up, he concluded that the sponsor gift must have been food of some sort, and quite delicious food by the smell of it.
They're trying to make me move, but it's not going to happen, Jonah smugly thought to himself. I won't let them control me.
As the day wore on, the storm grew in intensity, and the cool drops of rain that had been so refreshing earlier were now starting to feel like pellets from a BB gun as they flew in sideways and sank into his skin. Though staying out on the rooftop was becoming more painful every passing minute, Jonah stubbornly decided to sit on the roof and wait the storm out.
If this had been a regular summer storm, it would have rolled on by. However, this was a gamemaker storm; it had a purpose and was not going to stop until its purpose was fulfilled. Jonah, now lying face down on the roof, had pulled the jacket over his head to try to stymie the forceful rain.
On the exposed roof, there was no shelter from the onslaught of the storm. The clouds darkened and the wind picked up. With the gale force winds thrashing at him, Jonah was not even sure if he would be able to climb back down the tree if he had to. He was starting to entertain the idea of jumping off the roof and aiming for the swimming pool, when door on the roof slowly creaked open. Peering out of his protective layer through folds in the jacket, he saw that the electric keypad next to the door had gone dark and the now open doorway revealed the nice, dry interior, beckoning Jonah to enter.
Down below, on the porch of the concrete structure, Mikey, Stella, and Joule were enjoying a nice lunch provided by a combination of one or more of their sponsors. However, as the storm picked up and the wind began whipping sheets of rain at higher speeds, even the awning-covered porch didn't protect them. The summer shower was quickly evolving into somewhat of a tropical storm, and the sheets of rain, which had previously been lightly dancing around, were now so thick that they could no longer even see the treeline.
With nowhere safer to go, the three tributes huddled together on the porch as they were repeatedly hammered by swirling blasts of wind and water. Somewhere between the howling of the wind and the crackles of thunder, they heard a loud crash originating from somewhere startlingly close by. Looking up, they saw that the door on the porch had somehow unlocked and the force of the wind had caused the now unlatched door to fly open. The crash had come from the door slamming inward into an unseen wall.
The three suspiciously eyed the now open door, leading into the darkened interior of the structure. Though this serendipitous turn of events seemed ominous, given their situation, they decided that they would be safer with whatever lay inside than if they remained outside in the tropical storm.
Slowly and cautiously, the three tributes stepped into the building.
The career tributes crashed through the jungle, unfazed by the flashes of lightning or the powerful winds ripping apart the trees above them. They were too focused on tracking down the parachute to worry about anything else. Cassida led the way, hacking vines and shrubs out of her path as she galloped through the jungle.
Following Amagi and Cassida deeper into the jungle, Konstance was beginning to second guess his decision to leave the meadow. He didn't feel comfortable out here, and with every passing second, was more certain that Cassida was getting them all irreversibly lost.
However, his fears turned out insubstantial as the four careers all burst out of the dense jungle foliage one after the other onto a paved surface. Though the rain allowed very limited visibility, Cassida's course had been true and they had somehow emerged from the jungle only several meters away from a small structure, next to which lay the silver parachute they had been seen earlier.
The four career tributes approached the structure and peered inside.
The small structure, made up of branches and leaves, was swaying and cracking in the tumultuous winds, but it was holding up quite well considering the conditions. Though it threatened to collapse at any moment, its inhabitant was too preoccupied with trying to start a fire to notice.
Cassida couldn't help but burst out laughing at the sight.
Violet stopped what she was doing and looked up in surprise at the sound as Cassida's guffawing laughter. When she realized that the four careers were standing just outside her hut, she froze, completely forgetting about the match in her hand and the small pile of tinder on the ground.
There were four career tributes standing before her, which meant it would be useless to fight even if she did have any weapons. She certainly couldn't escape or distract them. There was nothing she could do.
She was now at their mercy.
Amagi began to draw her sword, but Cassida cut in first. "Hey, what it this?!" She addressed Violet, motioning toward the now splintering structure. "This is no way to build a shelter!"
Amagi turned toward Cassida and raised an eyebrow with intrigued suspicion. Ignoring Amagi, Casida ducked inside the small shelter and pulled out a roll of wire from the small pack she was carrying. There was barely room for both her and Violet inside the tiny structure, and the two were pressed up against each other.
"You have to secure it better. Like this!" With this, Cassida, deftly tied together several of the supporting structures, effectively securing them down. "Can I get behind you real quick?" She pushed Violet out of the way so she could reach the last support in the back. Violet, confused with the career tribute's behavior, had no other option but to play along, giving Cassida the room she needed.
"Okay, now we have to secure it to the outside. Come on!" Cassida pulled Violet up and led her out into the rain. Cassida secured the last bits of wire around the outside so that the structure, which had previously been inches away from collapsing, was now solidly secured, stubbornly resisting the forceful wind and rain. Cassida nodded at the structure, satisfied with her work. "Perfect!"
Violet, who had been awkwardly standing out in the rain next to the other careers, meekly asked "Thanks... um... so... what now?"
Cassida pulled her sword out, and Violet shuddered away from her, taking small steps backward. However, Cassida only used the sword to knock lightly on the base of the structure, double checking the stability. "What now? Nothing really, this thing should be good through just about anything! Unless a tornado rolls through or something, but if that happens, then you have bigger problems than whether or not your shelter is still standing, you know what I mean?"
Still slowly backing up, Violet suddenly jumped forward as she bumped into something. Turning, she found herself face to face with the large, intimidating figure of Konstance. She let out a small squeal as she jumped back into the center of the small circle the career tributes were now making.
Turning back toward Cassida, who was still scrutinizing the structure, Violet asked hesitantly, "So... are you letting me go?"
Cassida glanced up at Violet in surprise, as if she had forgotten that Violet was even there. "Huh? Oh, right. Hunger games and what not." Cassida scrutinized the girl for a second, then smiled viciously. "Tell you what. I like you. I'll give you a chance. I know you didn't know, but today is my birthday. Here's the deal: if you sing 'Happy Birthday' to me, I'll let you go. Oh, and you should know that we have this custom in District 4. You have to hold your nose and hop on one foot as you sing it. It shows respect to the guest of honor." She motioned lavishly to herself.
"What?" Violet's reaction was in disbelief more than anything else.
"Well it's either that or let Amagi here slice you up. Your choice."
Violet was trembling from fear and from the cold as she looked up from Cassida, who was tapping her foot impatiently, to Amagi, who was already reaching for a katana. Certainly not wanting to be sliced up, she mustered up what willpower she had left and held her nose and began to sing. The song sounded more like a funeral dirge than a celebratory song as she sang and dutifully hopped on one foot every five or six words.
Cassida watched with glee, trying to stifle her laughter, though the other careers weren't quite as interested in seeing this display. Amagi, who had become increasingly bored with Cassida's games, finally stepped in and ended Violet's embarrassment with a single sweep of her sword. Violet fell to the ground as a cannon sounded throughout the arena.
As if Amagi had just broken her favorite toy, Cassida began pouting. "What was that for? She was almost at the best part!"
"Were you really going to let her go?" Amagi asked incredulously.
"What? Oh, no, no. I just wanted to see if she'd do it." The vicious smile once again found its way onto Cassida's face.
"Then I don't see a problem", Amagi flatly stated, staring daggers at Cassida.
"Yea, whatever." Deciding that she never really liked that girl from District 7 anyway, Cassida now turned her attention to the sponsor gift, a bowl of beef stew. "Oh, look! Free food!"
Violet had not even had a chance to retrieve it before the careers had arrived, and it was still steaming as Cassida picked it up and broke the seal. She sniffed the bowl daintily, letting out a satisfied sigh, then held it up to the cameras. "Thanks District 7!"
Still smiling with sinister glee, she slowly tipped the contents of the sponsor gift out onto the muddy ground, the vegetables and broth diluting in the rainwater. After doing so, she dramatically gasped "Oops! I guess I spilled it!"
Looking down at the bits of stew now washing away in the torrential rain, she slowly shook her head. "All that District 7 money for nothing...Oh well."
She turned back to the other career tributes, suddenly excited again. "Well, that was fun! So what's next?"