Chapter 34:

Night of Day Seven

Stormy Gilmore, 18, District 4

Stormy is left staring in wide eyes at her District partner, already starting to see the signs of the poison effecting him. How much did he ingest? She glances over at the shattered bottle, the liquid spilled out on the ground, and feels her anger building inside her. "That fucking bitch," she mutters, can't believing that she didn't even think about Decima doing this to them. She never should have expected that they would be able to leave the alliance without her planting something to harm them.

Stormy isn't sure if she's angrier that Decima did this or that she didn't think of doing it first.

"Stormy," Velmour chokes out barely reaching out to grab on to her shirt and pulling her closer to his face. He stares at her with out of focus eyes filled with panic. "I don't- I don't want to die. Save me. You-you know poison."

"I do," Stormy says quietly and pries Velmour's fingers off of her shirt. She shakes her head at him, not even knowing where to start with an antidote. "I don't know what she used or if it will even be in the arena."

"Stormy!" Velmour shouts at her, his voice so filled with fear and pain that it makes Stormy stare at him in shock. "Please save me."

Stormy has to look away from him, hating the pity in his eyes as he begs for her to save his life. She should just leave him, let him die and bring her one step closer to her victory. But…she knows he wouldn't have abandoned her and as much as she shouldn't, she feels a little guilty that she isn't sure she would do the same. And what if she faces Decima? Wouldn't it be better to face her with Velmour?

"Stormy," Velmour says again, groaning in pain as he starts grabbing his stomach. She needs to decide soon or it might be too late for her to find an antidote for him.

"Damn it!" She yells before grabbing his arm and dragging him up from the ground. She groans as she puts his arm over her shoulders and starts struggling to carry him with her. She knows this is a stupid decision. If she was playing smart, she would let him die. But she just can't abandon him. Not after all the times he told her they would stick to the end. "We're finding you that antidote."

"Thank you," he mutters, his words starting to slur as his feet stumble, making it even harder for her to drag him along. She doesn't even know where to start looking. She's seen several options of poisonous plants that Decima could have used – she grabbed a few for herself. "He-hey, hey Stormy," Velmour starts to giggle before he continues, all the while Stormy is struggling to pull him along as she mentally searches for what could have been the poison used. "I feel pretty happy…I-I wanna, hey Stormy… I-I wanna dance."

"What is wrong with you?" Stormy mutters in frustration, feeling pressure build inside of her that she can't figure out what poison Decima used. And that pressure is just making it harder for her to figure out a decision.

"We-we should dance," Velmour starts giggling and makes Stormy stop when he takes his arm away. She glances back at him to find him starting to kick his feet around in a poor attempt at a dance. "It's the Highland Fling!" He starts laughing loudly, bending over as he clutches his side. "Ohhhh, I don't feel great…but I'm not dead yet!"

Velmour is laughing right up until the point where he vomits all over his shoes. Even when he stops vomiting and straightens up – making vomit drip down his chin and onto his chest, he's still giggling at her. "I'm not dead yet!"

Stormy stares at him for a minute, giggling as he dances and covered in vomit, before it suddenly clicks. "Morning glories!" She grabs on to Velmour's arm, trying not to cover herself in vomit, as she starts dragging Velmour along with her. "Of course. Damn it, I'm an idiot! I saw her picking those flowers on the first day!" Stormy shakes her head at herself, in disbelief that she wasn't better prepared for this. "Velmour, hang on, okay? I know what it is but you're going to be in for a wild time now."

Velmour stumbles behind her as she drags him through the forest, back in the direction she thinks is the cornucopia. It's a long shot but…she thinks she knows where an antidote might be around there. She very well could be leading him to his death by heading there, if Decima is still there. But…he'll be dead if she doesn't do anything.

"Damn it, Velmour," Stormy mutters to him as she pulls him along, having to tug on his arm when he almost walks right into a tree. "Why did you have to take that bottle in the first place? Who's dumb enough to drink alcohol in the middle of the games?"

Velmour laughs loudly at this, only making Stormy shake her head. "The rain girl is mad." But after saying this, she can hear him starting to sniffle and when she glances back, he's actually almost crying. If he wasn't on the verge of dying, it would have been a comical sight…A fully trained and lethal career, nearly crying because he thinks Stormy is mad.

"I'm not mad," Stormy says and lets out a sigh when Velmour instantly starts grinning at her. But when he attempts to hug her, she quickly but gently pushes him away. "Why did Decima have to pick a poison that makes people hallucinate? Why not something quick and easy?"

Stormy shakes her head as she turns back to watch where she walks, picking up her pace. She doesn't know how long Velmour has. Maybe a few hours? A day? Hard to say without knowing just how much Decima put in his drink… It was a smart move, but probably the least honorable way for Velmour to die. And Stormy has learned enough about him these few days to know that he would hate knowing he's dying while talking about going to a ball and dancing all night.

One thing Stormy is certain about is that Decima is getting destroyed. She will not let her take away both of District Four's chances at victory.

Day Eight

Skye Miller, 16, District 9

Skye leans up against another tree, weakly holding on to the branches to keep herself standing. She just can't keep up walking at this pace, not when every step brings on a new wave of dizziness. Each time she lifts up her feet to take another angonizing step, her feet feel like someone has attached stones to them. And her head has been throbbing for hours now, to the point where she can almost block out the pain. Almost.

She doesn't know how much longer she can keep going without finding any food or water. It's been days now since she lost the small remainder of her water bottle with Bristol and even longer since she had some of the loaf of bread they received from the sponsors. She's gone days with smaller meals before and has felt the stabbing pains of hunger before. But never to this level, where just the thought of taking another step is agonizing.

But Skye forces herself to remember home. Remember the people rooting for her and have rooted for her her entire life. But mostly…she remembers her three allies, all of which are gone now. Two of them died for her to live. How could she not keep fighting?

"Please help me," Skye whispers, not knowing how she can keep going if she doesn't find food or water soon. She wants to keep fighting. She really is willing to fight to make it out of here. But without being able to see, how is she to know where there's bushes with berries – or if they're even safe to eat – or fresh water?

But a minute passes with no answer. Not that Skye really expect the Gamemakers to respond. Seraphim had made it very clear from the 2 he gave her that he doesn't believe she can win. Well screw him, she'll find the water on her own. With a heavy sigh, Skye slowly pushes herself off the tree and starts taking sluggish steps forward, picking up the branch she grabbed and slowly swinging it in front of her to act as a guide stick. Her other hand tightly grips her knife that she desperately hopes she doesn't have to use anymore.

Skye stops when she hears a loud groaning noise and she tilts her head to the side as her heart starts racing in fear, trying to figure out if it's something terrifying coming to attack her. The noise seems to travel farther away from her until finally stopping, bringing a large gust of wind from in front of her that makes Skye stumble back a step. But carried on that wind…it couldn't be…

She hesitantly swings her branch side to side, finding the trees off to her left and right, nothing in front of her. She takes a tentative step forward and is met with another gust of wind, not enough to knock her back this time, but enough for her to confirm the sound.

Water.

Skye can't help the small happy laugh that escapes her as she picks up her pace, a sudden rush of energy filling her. They haven't given up on her. Hell, they're even helping her out. Seraphim is guiding her towards water and salvation, because surely there is plant life growing near the water.

She swings her branch quickly to map out her path, yet finds that the trees have already been pushed aside for her, making their own path through the trees. The sound of the stream intensifies and she starts running towards it. When her feet step into the water, she drops to her knees, dropping her branch and knife on her lap so she can take a big handful of water.

The water is so cold and sweet tasting on her parched tongue that Skye finds herself splashing it over her face before turning up to face the warm sun shining down on her. "Thank you, Seraphim," she whispers up at the sky, no longer feeling quite so hopeless about her odds. "I'll show you that I'm not giving up…"

Prove it… She swears she hears on a breeze, the voice sending a chill down her spine and making her reach for the knife on her lap. Her heart starts racing as she twists her head around, trying to hear if there is a tribute approaching her. She might have imagined the words but…no, there's no doubting it. That was Seraphim speaking to her. She doesn't know why he would choose to talk to her, of all people, but he did…

Skye hears the small sound of a stone getting kicked and whips her head to stare in front of her, standing up as she grips her knife tightly. "Who's there?" Skye calls out, trying so hard to keep her voice strong and steady, but a bit of her fear finds its way into it. She has no clue who is still alive at this point. With how long they were in the caves, Bristol couldn't see the faces at night. All Skye knows is that there are seven other tributes remaining in the arena.

And one of them is standing just a few feet away from her.

"Who's there?" Skye calls out again, her heart racing as she holds her knife up in front of her. "Answer me!" She yells, her fear finally creeping into her voice. Is it a career in front of her? She only knew of one of them dying. Is it a younger tribute, afraid of killing, and that's why they haven't attacked yet?

Is Skye afraid of killing?

"I'm the last person you're ever going to see," the girl answers, voice dripping with anger. Anger that Skye doesn't deserve.

"Well," Skye starts, trying to delay the girl attacking so that she can figure out just who she's about to fight – because running away isn't going to get her far. "I've never seen anyone so you're not going to be the last one I see."

The girl lets out a screech at her and starts yelling at Skye, "You're dead! I'm gonna gut you like a darned pig and there's nothing you can do to stop me!"

Skye can hear the girl start running towards her and start splashing through the stream as she finally figures out who she's about to fight and have to kill. There's no other option, she has to kill. Not if she wants to live.

Skye ducks to the side and starts swinging her knife in the general area she thinks the girl is. She feels her knife sink into flesh and hears Nyra let out an angry yell at her, just before her feet get kicked out from her and she slams hard against the ground, the air getting knocked out of her.

Nyra throws her weight on Skye but the older girl kicks her off, using the opportunity to scramble to her feet and get braced for Nyra's next attack. There's no fucking way she's going down without a fight – but Nyra seems to be thinking the same thing as Skye can hear her also scrambling to her feet.

As Skye gets ready to fight for her life, she can feel her heart racing from fear and adrenaline. She might be at a disadvantage compared to Nyra. But Skye has always had that disadvantage and has never let it stop her before. She's certainly not going to stop now when her life depends on it.

Nyra Caballero, 15, District 10

Nyra sits at the edge of the stream, absentmindedly washing her hands in the stream and staring as the water takes away the blood. But no matter how much she keeps scrubbing at her hands, a steady, slow stream of crimson blood keeps floating away from her. "Why can't I get rid of this one spot of blood?"

Nyra yanks her hands out of the water, watching as the droplets that fall back into the stream are crystal clear, despite the blood still on her hands. Dried blood from Vida. Fresh blood from the girl next to her. Nyra turns her gaze over to the body, mangled and barely recognizeable as the former girl from Nine. Skye's wide, milky blue eyes still stare over at Nyra, accusing her from the dead for killing her. Her face is torn up, covered in crimson blood except for the few clear tracks where her tears had fallen. Tears she shed as she begged for Nyra to stop. Begged her to stop butchering her like a pig.

No…

Nyra stares at the girl with wide eyes as she starts scraping at her hands, desperate to get the blood off of them and to stop reminding her of what she did. She didn't butcher Skye like a pig. The pigs always had short, almost painless deaths. Nyra had dragged on Skye and Vida's deaths, laughed as they screamed out in pain and cursed her, not caring when their knives cut into her.

Nyra had murdered them. She had absolutely, brutally murdered a blind girl.

Nyra falls back into the stream as she scrambles to get away from Skye. Trying to get away from the body that she had mutilated. What had Skye ever done to her? Absolutely nothing. She wasn't a threat. She was a blind girl who somehow made it to the final eight of the Hunger Games. No one expected her to win. Nyra could have just given her a quick death and moved on to find someone else.

Nyra throws her body into the water, frantically scratching at her hands and arms to get the blood off of them. Over and over and over, she scratches, but the blood stays there as the water around her grows bright red. She starts to smell the bitter iron of blood and starts retching, despite having grown up around the smell. She has always had the blood of innocents on her hands. Except now she can't get rid of it.

"You murdered us."

Nyra whips her head up, searching with wide eyes full of fear for the person who said it. "Who's there?"

"You murdered us," the voice says again and Nyra stands up, spinning around and trying to find where Vida is. "You murdered me in cold blood. I might have deserved it," Vida whispers in Nyra's ear but when Nyra turns around, no one is there. Of course no one is there, Vida is dead. Nyra still has the blood on her hands to prove it. "But Skye didn't deserve what you did to her."

"You murdered me," Skye whispers on the other side of Nyra.

"Stop it!" Nyra shouts as she covers her ears, trying to block out the sound of the two dead girls whispering to her. She falls back down, hunching over as she starts to rock back and forth. "I had to kill you so I can win!"

"But did you have to destroy our bodies?" Skye whispers, reaching Nyra without any trouble, despite the girl covering her ears. "Our parents had to watch as you stabbed us, over and over and over again."

"Noooo…"

"We have siblings," Vida continues on the other side of Nyra and the girl from Ten starts clawing at her ears, desperate to have this stop. "Would you want your brothers to watch you be murdered like you did to us?"

"Stop!" Nyra shouts at them, tears pouring down her cheeks as violent sobs rip out of her. "Sto-o-op, p-please, stop!"

"You monster," Skye whispers in her ear as Nyra feels blood dripping down her cheeks as she keeps scratching at her ears, desperate to get them to stop.

"Monster," Vida echoes and they both start chanting the word in her ears.

Nyra throws her head back, searching for the two girls. Searching for the two girls that she killed. "Stop! I know, I'm a monster!"

And with that, the two dead girls stop whispering in her ears, leaving her in silence as she stares down at the stream in front of her, slowly moving past as blood drips down from her face, staining the water red. "I'm a monster," Nyra whispers to herself, just barely able to see her reflection in the water. The girl – no, monster – staring back at her is unrecognizable to Nyra. The person staring back at her doesn't deserve to make it out of here.

"You!" Another voice yells at her and Nyra slowly picks up her head to stare at the two young boys standing across the stream from her. Boys that she swore she would hunt down and murder.

How could she ever have thought about murdering these two boys? Boys barely older than her younger brother?

"Me," she hopelessly whispers back to Clark, just rubbing the same bloody spot on her hand and making no attempt to grab one of her knives.

Oakland stands partially behind Clark, watching her over his shoulder and tears streaming down his face. "You killed Jarvis."

"I did," Nyra answers, having no energy to convince them that it wasn't her, but Vida. But it was her fault. She was the one who started the attack on their alliance. Nyra slowly stands up, making Clark hold his sword out defensively in front of him. Nyra holds out her bloody hands, showing them that she doesn't have any weapons. "I'm a monster. I don't deserve to win."

"Well you're not going to win," Clark stubbornly responds, shrugging off Oakland's hand on his arm as the youngest tribute tries to hold him back. "You killed Jarvis and- and- look at what you just did to Skye!"

Nyra forces herself to look back down at the girl next to her, afraid that she's going to start hearing her accusations once more. But the voices stay quiet, leaving Nyra to just feel ashamed at the way she murdered and destroyed her.

"I know I'm a monster," Nyra tells them as she turns back to look at Clark and Oakland, their faces showing fear at what she has done. "Do it."

"What?" Clark asks in confusion, raising his sword up as he carefully watches her. "What did you say?"

"Do it," Nyra says again and when they stay put, she yells at them, "Do it! Just kill me already!" Nyra falls back down to the ground, feeling tears streaming down her face. "I don't deserve to win this. You two do…Maybe one of you will win…"

Clark finally starts running towards her, letting out an angry scream as he holds his sword up, ready to run it straight through Nyra's chest. She shuts her eyes, knowing this is exactly what she deserves.

Seraphim Lukianas, Head Gamemaker

Seraphim tries not to let himself feel guilty as he watches the scene on the screens, knowing that this is his job. He's supposed to make sure that the tributes are killing each other, playing along the games. But that doesn't make it any easier to watch Stormy as she races back to the spot where she left Velmour, desperately clutching the roots of the plant that will save his life, found growing only next to the morning glories.

But he knows what Stormy doesn't know as she reaches Velmour, the District Four boy resting against a tree with his eyes shut. He can see Velmour's heart flatlining on the screens as Stormy drops to the ground, violently shaking him to wake up. She starts shoving the plant into his mouth as she yells at him, "Come on, Velmour, don't give up on me now!"

Seraphim leans back in his chair as he watches her, absentmindedly rubbing the stubble on his chin that Ophelia has begged him to shave off for days now. He hadn't expected today to turn out the way it did, despite him instructing Gregorio to make the paths for the four tributes to meet. They could have not taken it. But they did and the Capitol response was wild.

Which is exactly what Seraphim was hoping for. He couldn't let these games get overlooked. Not when it would mean losing out on the Quell. And so he made sure there was always something happen, always action to keep the crowd excited.

But Seraphim lets out a sigh as he stares at Stormy desperately shaking Velmour. He's so exhausted from this. It hurt to see some of the crowd favorites meet their demise today. "Fire the cannon," he says to his Gamemakers.

Boom.

"Three deaths in one day," Seraphim shakes his head at this as Ophelia comfortingly puts a hand on his shoulder. He turns up to look at his assistant, getting a smile from her that helps lighten up his mood. "What's the Capitol saying about today?"

Ophelia glances away from Seraphim to look down at her always present tablet. "Well…they're not happy about Skye, mostly because of the way Nyra killed her," Ophelia takes her gaze away from her screen to stare at Seraphim and he notices the dark circles under her eyes. "But after her…meltdown…and Clark killing her, there's been an extremely positive response."

"And Velmour's death?"

Ophelia turns to the tablet again, searching through the new information as it arrives. "Some outrage, but mostly from him being a crowd favorite. They loved seeing Stormy show District unity though and her ratings have skyrocketed."

"We'll have to wait and see what she does next," Seraphim says quietly, tapping his fingers on the arm of his chair as he turns his attention back to Stormy's screen. The District Four girl looks crushed as she sits there, catching her breath and realizing that she was just a little too late to save Velmour. But Seraphim can see the anger burning in her eyes. "She'll fight…But Ophelia, one question. How are the ratings compared to last year?"

He turns back to her just in time to see the smug smile on her face. "Last year had a positive response of 52%. This year? 77%."

Seraphim lets out a huge sigh of relief at this. As long as he can keep the momentum going, there's no way the President can accuse him of letting these games be uneventful. Even with all the small things going wrong against him.

Someone clears her throat next to Seraphim and he looks over, giving a polite smile to the young Gamemaker standing there, looking nervous as her hands are tucked into the pockets of her oversize windbreaker. "Mr. Seraphim? I have a question."

"Well I might have an answer for you, Khaya," he responds with a chuckle, hoping it will make her less nervous about talking to him. It's only her second year here, after all, and he was just as nervous still at that point. "What is it?"

"Why didn't you make the antidote for the poison more readily available for Velmour?"

Seraphim is a little taken aback by the question, just not expecting anyone to ask him about it. He carefully thinks over his response, knowing there's a message on his phone from the President advised not showing any favoritism towards Velmour. He didn't question it and just let Stormy try and find the antidote already in place.

But he can't tell Khaya that. "Well," he starts, still thinking over his response. "I like to see how tributes will react under pressure. I give them choices and see what they take. I didn't give the antidote to Coeus, so why should I have given it to Velmour?"

Khaya's face hardens at this and in a flash, she pulls her hand out of her pocket, pointing a small silver gun at him. When she pulls back the slide and the click resonates throught the center, everything falls silent. Seraphim stares up at her with wide eyes, heart racing in fear as she points the gun right at his chest. "Wrong answer."

Ahhhh this chapter had so much going on! I started writing and everything just came very easily. But of course, time for some eulogies:

Skye Miller, Ranked 8th, Killed by Nyra [10]:

This death hurt me so much to write. I honestly procrastinated this chapter for a bit because I didn't want to say goodbye to Skye. Skye was absolutely one of my favorites in this story and I know she was a lot of your favorites as well. Each POV of her's was so effortless to write. She never let anyone tell her she couldn't do something and used that as motivation. At one point in time, I really thought about Skye being victor...but, she was a blind tribute in the Hunger Games. I knew it was certainly possible, but with the other tributes...I felt it wasn't realistic. So RIP Skye and make sure to keep sassing all of your allies in heaven. Huntress, thank you so much for sending Skye to me. She has been an absolute delight for me to write!

Nyra Caballero, Ranked 7th, Killed by Clark [8]:

Nyra has had probably one of my favorite arcs this story. To go from a fun, loving girl to absolute monster who realizes her mistake... It was quite the arc. From the start, I knew Nyra was going to cause trouble in that 'darned' arena, with the arc I had planned for her and her alliance with Vida and Hazel. And who doesn't love having a good villain? Every story needs one, especially the type who realizes just what they did was wrong. Pi - thank you so very much for letting me bring Nyra to life! She's been a blast to write through everything and added a lot to the story, but especially in this last section. I hope you're happy with the arc she had! And I know you'll be sticking around for the sequel!

Velmour Christian, Ranked 6th, Killed by Decima's poison [2]:

Oh Velmour. Velmour was so much fun for me to write all the time! Anyone who knows me knows that I love my career boys, especially those that are some lighthearted and try to find ways to keep the energy there. The dynamic between the District Four pair was so great and they really had a solid chance of getting a victory together - if Decima hadn't been smarter than them with the poison. But, this isn't the last we're seeing of Velmour, because his backstory is super spicy and has added significantly to the subplot. Birkaran, thank you so much for sending in Velmour! He's been a delight to write and I sure hope you'll stick around to see how his death fuels Stormy to fight for District Four!

So...still with me after all of those feels? We got some answers this chapter about if the games are getting overlooked (heh) but also a lot more questions! What is happening with Seraphim? You'll have to wait for next chapter to find out ;)

Now, normally this is where I would put sponsor points. However, given where we are in the games and how I have the remainder of the story planned out, I'm no longer going to be sending sponsor gifts. So happy Hunger Games and we'll see how the odds end up for our remaining five tributes!

See you soon with the next chapter!