Peridot Estrella
At least she died hard. I'd have thought Pandora would run into a tree and knock her own brains out. Finding a vampire was a cool way to go. And he was going to get more of them, so indirectly, she actually did kill some people. Well done for a blind girl.
District One
Pandora died so long ago we had mostly healed. When she came back, we didn't get our hopes up. We were glad while it lasted, and we went back to life when it was over.
Torchy Conden
I done goofed. I had an in with the biggest threats in the Games and I threw it away for a girl. I wasn't even in love with her or anything. I just didn't want Beth to kill her. Now we were both going to die.
Some of the graves had stuff on them, which was nice. Some of it was stupid, like the string of pearls on one kid's grave, but lots of times it was food. Some of the stones had joke epitaphs on them, and I'd taken t reading them.
Played five aces, now I'm playing the harp, one read.
Here lies the body of poor old Fred. A great big rock fell on his head, said another.
The next one had the symbol for District Nine on it.
Farlon Harlon
25th Hunger Games
Inferno
"Hey, I killed that guy!" I said, pointing out the name to Merle. She wasn't impressed. She reacted a lot more violently when the dirt erupted under me and Farlon lurched forward from the ground trying to get his arms around me. I screamed like a girl and scooted back away from his rotted, peeling remains. Merle pulled me backwards and I got to my feet. As we both ran from it, I saw he still had my machete in his chest.
Austin Dallas
Someone screamed again. It didn't sound like the same guy this time. Another one joined it. This one was a girl. This time, it sounded like it was actually Tributes. I hoped it didn't mean Beth was nearby.
A bat flew overhead. I thought it was a bird at first, but its wings were going too fast. I heard them flapping like wisps in the dark. A plume of smoke rose from a grave in the distance. It spread through the air and make strange shapes.
I heard something like metal dragging across stone. I turned to Logan and DeMarcus, who were watching the camp with me while the others did reconnaissance. They'd heard it too.
"What's that?" I asked. The sound was coming closer, but I couldn't see anything. I could hear the metal clink on each gravestone as the sound got closer, but there was nothing there. The three of us lined up defensively by the entry to our shelter and looked out.
When the sound got close enough, I could see the grass shift as something invisible stepped on it. I recognized the clanking sound. It was chains sliding across each other and the ground. With each footstep, there was a jangle of metal. Then there was a groan, low and deep and pained. It reverberated around the shelter and in my chest.
"That ain't right. How we supposed to fight a ghost?" Logan said. I got ready to try. The noise kept coming until it was just feet away from us. The temperature plummeted and the hair on my arms stood up. It screamed, and the blast of air hit my face.
"Go away!" Logan said. "You're not welcome here!" he punched at the place where the sound came from. My heart flopped sideways, but nothing happened. The clanking chains started again and the ghost moved on. I heard it clinking away in the distance. Maybe it didn't like getting punched.
Electra Magneta
We found what we were looking for in an old broken-down mausoleum. It was big enough to shelter us all, but decrepit enough that most Tributes wouldn't want it. We could squeeze underneath the rubble and it would be hard for anyone to attack us. We started back to get Apollo and Pandora.
A cannon sounded. We all jumped, then waited silently for a moment. But it was just the one.
"It's not them, then," Des said. "There would be two."
She was right. If the first was Apollo, whoever it was would be strong enough to kill Pandora. If it was Pandora, Apollo would try to save or avenge her. It was someone else. Hopefully Beth.
We all ducked and scattered when something glittered in the sky. In this Arena, it was probably a rain of knives or something. But it was just a parachute. Des snatched it, since she was the tallest.
"It's for us," Emmeline said as she read the number off the side. She opened it. There was a slender rod inside. It didn't look like much, but Emmeline and I knew it was electric, like a cattle prod. It might even work against those flying mutts.
From Electra's friends, the note read. Acee was nothing if not blunt. Emmeline took the note.
"I'll figure out something, don't worry. We can use this as kindling," she said.
It was good to have a weapon. It felt like a barrier between me and the Arena. And one more obstacle was already out of the way with that cannon, and then there was our shelter. Things were looking up.
Hadley Kinneth
My camp was under a pair of graves that had fallen over, making a little arch. There was enough shadow that I was almost invisible. I had some soda and a can of peaches from a grave offering. My next plan was to get some rocks and sticks to disguise my shelter even more.
Even though I knew it wasn't the mutts, I still jumped whenever a shadow passed over the ground. It was just bats- I knew because the mutts had much louder wings. They minded their own business and kept to themselves. I was jealous of them. They thought the Arena was a cozy home. They must have been in bat heaven being able to fly around at all hours eating bugs. If I could make a bow, maybe I could shoot one and eat it, as mean as it felt. Another one swooped around and flew off behind me.
I stood up from bending over a candy skull on a grave and saw something in the corner of my eye. I looked over and saw a man maybe five feet away from me. I couldn't imagine how he got there. He came out of nowhere. He couldn't have possibly snuck up on anyone. He was so tall he was almost a giant, and he was wearing a blazingly eye-catching red cape.
I knew what he was. Some stories never die. Even before I saw the blood on his face and in his eyes, I knew. I'd never heard of a human-shaped mutt before. I wondered if it was intelligent or not and which was worse.
I was frozen as we looked at each other. Even if I wasn't, I couldn't have run. He was almost twice as tall as I was. And I was close enough to see the whites of his bloodshot eyes and his pointed fangs.
54th place: Hadley Kinneth- bit by vampire
Hadley was another loner and they're just not going to last long here. She might have been able to fight Beth, but not this guy. Hadley had a good personality and story, but she wasn't among the top as far as strength and stamina, so she was never going to win.
This chapter is so named because the vampire happens to look exactly like that most prolific of vampires, Christopher Lee (who wrote back to me when I sent him fan mail, but that's another story). He's also super hungry so all his victims die and don't turn into vampires.
This is probably all I'll be able to write before Africa, but I'll be thinking of ideas there and I'll be back in ten days.
