Day Fourteen: Sanity

Part Two:

District One:

Cami's POV:

A second cannon fire met my ears and I found myself jumping in surprise as I scurried down the hallway. After the screams had died out, I fully expected the first cannon. It took much longer than I anticipated, but it finally came. However, this second one was unnerving. Even I didn't like the idea that the tributes were dying this quickly. It meant that the end was coming and I wasn't sure I was prepared for it.

A deep gasp met my ears and I shuffled underneath a nearby end table. I maneuvered my splinted leg under me and ignored the spike of pain. I gripped my sword steadily and huddled in the shadows. Every encounter I could avoid would be a blessing for my ankle. I wasn't up for a fight right now.

God, I never thought I would be the one to think that.

As the footsteps rapidly approached, I tried to push myself farther into the recesses of the dank wall. It was as if I was willing myself to become the mold that was pressed against my face. It squelched under the pressure and my stomach began to flip unsteadily.

Suddenly, the footsteps were practically on top of me. I observed the legs that came into my view. They were cut, bruised, and covered in blood. I watched as they stumbled into the table. Everything began to shake and I cursed internally. The muttation leaned heavily against the table and began to pant even harder. For half a second, I thought I could make out a small sob. Then it pushed off of the end table and it rattled above me. I gripped the legs on either side of me to keep it from toppling over.

As the figure shuffled away, I began to pull myself out from underneath the table. A caught a flash of caramel hair turn the corner before the mutt was gone. I pulled myself to my feet and now noticed the mutt had left a small blood trail. I stooped back to the ground and lightly touched it.

Fresh blood.

So far, the mutt's had spewed out a thick, almost slimy blood. It reminded me of the sludge I had seen in some alleys or fresh tar being spread on the roads of District One. This wasn't the same. It was dark, sticky, and slippery in texture. This was real.

I stood up and began to follow it. For some reason, I had to see. I knew that wherever this was taking me that there were no survivors. It wasn't leading me to a tribute. It was taking me to a grave.

As I followed the trail, it began to thicken. The blood began to be more consistent and just more in general. Soon, I began to notice it on the walls. The mutt must have staggered into the walls as it left the scene. As I neared the main hall, a question popped into my mind.

How did I know that it was a mutt?

I found myself standing next to a grand staircase as I turned the corner. This time, there were two different trails of blood. One was older and dryer. It led into the room and was streaked across the door. Then a newer, fresher one led back out and traveled in between my legs.

I pushed the door open and cautiously stepped into the room. This place appeared to be a ballroom of some kind. It reminded me of a grand hall back in District One where dances were sometimes held. I was never invited to attend one, of course, but there were some nights I could see the beauty through the large windows. People would be dressed in beautiful gowns and suits. Lights would dance off of the floor and everything looked almost ethereal. It was the glamour that I never got to experience.

Another thing I was jealous and hateful of.

As I stepped further in, I spotted the origin of the copious amount of blood. A crimson puddle was pooled near a column. I could barely make out where the corpse had been. I followed the tendrils of blood and watched as if flowed to the center of the room where it connected with another pool. In this puddle of red I could easily see where the body had been. It was large, obviously a male's.

So both tributes died in here.

As I stepped over the blood, I couldn't help but think if this was what I really wanted. Every year I watched as tributes went through this. I watched them fight, scream, and die in horrible ways. Suddenly, everything was becoming so real. Two people had died here. Two people had bled out and stopped breathing. Hundreds upon hundreds of people have died in these gruesome ways… And I was a part of it. I had murdered someone in the same ghastly fashion under the reasoning that this was a game.

But this, right here, wasn't a game. This was a massacre.

"You're the one who ruined my tea party."

I spun around and looked up towards the source of the voice. Standing on top of a small balcony was a beautiful woman. Her skin was alabaster pale and her hair looked like fire itself. She was young, probably my age, and was dressed in a gorgeous gown. Standing on either side of her were two people.

Alexie and the female runt from District Five.

"It's been many years. I had always wondered where all of you had wandered off to."

I tried to open my mouth to speak, but suddenly my voice was gone. This obviously was just an illusion. I was only asleep for one day. The Gamemakers obviously replaced the little girl with a different mutt made to look like her. This was all just a trick… This was all just part of the game…

Flashes of crimson appeared wherever I looked. Even this girl's hair was the color of crimson; the color of blood.

"Don't cry. It's not becoming of you."

My hand shot towards my face and I felt the wetness of tears. I erased them from existence before I stumbled backwards. All three of them were staring right at me. All of their eyes were hollow. They were dead… Everyone was dead…

"It's a shame about the others," she gestured to the ground around me, "Still, I'm glad that all of you are back. It's been so lonely since I had to put Father away. Were you around when that happened…? I can't remember."

She placed her palm to her forehead and a pained look crossed her face. Suddenly, blood began to spiral upwards. I yelped in surprise as it began to float around me. I felt panic begin to rise in me as red filled my entire vision. I felt as if the blood was entering my lungs and suffocating me. Then, as quickly as it started, the blood fell to the floor.

"He tried to hurt me," she whispered, "He tried to turn me into one of his dolls… Keep me perfect forever. I couldn't have that, now could I?"

I looked at my body and saw that I was now coated in droplets of blood. It was drying against my skin and beginning to crackle. I began to scrape away at it frantically.

"You bore me," Ruby sighed. Without another glance, she spun around. She marched out of the room and her two dolls followed behind her obediently.

As I fell to the floor and continued to scrape away at the blood, I chanted to myself a mantra.

This is just a game… This is just a game… This is just a game…

Forcing myself to believe this was the only way I could keep my sanity.


District Ten:

Charlotte's POV:

"What is that smell?" I asked as I tromped down the hallway.

Cami followed close behind me, practically frothing at the mouth. The aroma was a mixture of something sickeningly sweet and rot. It smelled horrible, yet intoxicating at the same time. The smell had wafted all the way down to the other end of the house. When Cami had first smelled it, she practically leapt out the door. It took quite a long time to calm her down enough so that she would follow me instead of charging towards it.

I already knew this was a bad idea. I could feel that as I was marching towards my potential death. But what else could I do? Just let Cami go and hope for the best? No, my mutt was my only edge on the other tributes. Without it, I wasn't going to make it through these games alive.

Finally, we found the source of the scent. Cami began to rake her claws against the door and I looked at it uneasily. They were two, large doors.

"How ominous can we get?" I muttered as I pushed against it.

Suddenly, Cami bolted in. I slipped through the door and stopped dead in my tracks.

We were in some sort of cathedral. Columns and archways filled the room, as well as multi-colored light drifting in from the stain glass windows. However, what made me stop so suddenly was the large table that ran down the large span of the room. It was laden with food. I could see stew, meat pies, and sandwiches.

I could also see trays laden with cooked body parts.

Arms casually roasted and broiled. Fingers sliced and used as garnish. Several other things that didn't look human, although I knew they were. Even the stews and meat pies were probably ridden with different organs and tid bits of people. The horrifying thing was that this was only the food I could see at my end of the long table.

My stomach began to shake violently inside of me and I forced myself to hold down my food. I felt as if the odor was choking me. As if only the bile would cleanse my throat and allow me to breathe properly. My nausea increased as watched Cami jump on top of the table and begin to savagely devour the meat.

"Welcome, welcome." A voice croaked.

I wiped my watery eyes and saw there was a figure sitting faraway. The person was politely cutting into a hunk of meat and biting at it gingerly. Their long robe was covering almost every part of their body, apart from their hands and chin. The hood even seemed to droop so low as to hide their face from the world.

"Please, come sit and enjoy this offering."

I shook my head firmly, unable to speak.

As if this old figure could see me, they responded, "Come now… This is an offering to the heavens. It would be very rude of you to come into this sanctuary and not partake in this."

"I'm not hungry," I replied shakily.

"But you haven't seen everything we have to offer."

The figure stood up and began to edge closer as it lifted up different pieces of cloth. My eyes skimmed over the pieces of meat he showed me. I tried to block it from my mind. I was frozen in place. I had no idea what to do. I couldn't leave here without my mutt… But I couldn't stay here a second longer. I began to slowly inch backwards, grappling for the door handle. My finger found it and I wrapped them around it slowly. As I began to open it, the figure lifted up one, final piece of fabric.

I gasped and felt all my strength leave me. I dropped to my knees as the figure lifted up the platter. Seated on top of it was a cooked, human head. A head that looked extremely similar to Adam. Suddenly, the vomit came bursting forth and it spewed from my mouth.

"You must be hungry now, child," The figure croaked as it approached.

This wasn't a coincidence. No way could this be just horrible timing. The Gamemakers were trying to drive me… all of us crazy. They were doing anything they could to push us past the breaking point. That was what they had been doing this entire game. Pushing us to run and escape. Pushing us to fight. Pushing us to insanity.

They weren't leaving these games up to us. They were trying to make an example. Trying to show everyone they could destroy us… Turn us into monsters.

The figure was now next to me and I could feel its hot breath on my neck. It was slowly coming down to my level and I looked helplessly to Cami. She just continued to chomp on her feast, oblivious to the world.

He lowered the plate into my vision and the head was right in front of me. Its expression was one of horror. This person died in pure and utter terror.

No, this person was created… Just like everything else in this arena. They were messing with our reality. Making it feel like time was accelerating rapidly in here. Another trick.

This wasn't Adam.

"Come now, just one bite."

"Fine."

Without a second thought, I bit down as hard as I could on the figure's bony hand. The mutt screeched in pain as it attempted to back away. The plate clattered to the floor and the head rolled through my vomit. I just bit down harder and grabbed its arm with bare hands. I pulled the figure towards me and surprisingly overpowered it.

I slammed it into the ground and spit its disgusting hand out of my mouth. I situated myself on top of it and pulled back its hood.

The figure was ancient. I believed it to be a male, but it easily could have been intended to be female. It didn't matter, it wasn't real. None of this was real… None of it except the other tributes and me.

"How dare you come into my sanctuary and attack me! How-"

"You would have killed me if I didn't eat your 'offering'," I spat, "You would have killed me because that's what you're programmed to do."

"Crazy! You're crazy!" The figure howled.

"Maybe," I whispered, "But that's what you want, right? You want all of us to lose it."

Suddenly, my eyes began to sting as tears welled up in them. They began to trickle down as I moved my mind away from Adam and more towards me. Grief overcame me as the weight of everything I had lost came crashing down. I had lost my home… my life. My joy was destroyed and I was left with nothing but this crushing sadness. I couldn't help but grieve over the loss of me. Charlotte was gone… She was destroyed and no matter what I did… No matter how much I acted happy or optimistic, she was dead…

I was dead.

"You bring us in here, knowing we're all going to die," I hissed as my tears splashed against the mutt's face, "You know we're never coming out of here. Even though one of us survives, everyone and everything that comes in here dies. You change us and turn us into monsters! You're pure evil!"

I grasped the knife attached to my leg and brought it up. Without an ounce of hesitation, I drove the knife straight into the mutt's heart and watched as he cried out in pain. He spasmed underneath me, but I didn't move. I let myself experience every part of it. This was just a mutt. This was just practice for what I was going to have to do to drag my half dead carcass out of here.

This was preparing myself for when I had to kill a real person.

Slowly, the mutt stopped fighting until it ceased moving all together. Once I knew it was dead, I stood up and wiped away the sludge-like blood.

"I bet you didn't expect that, did you?" I screamed to the Gamemakers.

"Cami!" I screeched, "Come! We're leaving now!"

Cami continued to eat the human flesh, still oblivious that I had just killed something. I stomped over to her and grabbed the rope that was lying on the ground.

I pulled on it harshly as I yelled, "We're leaving! You're just a stupid mutt. You obey me! Now come."

I pulled on it as hard as I could and heard her yelp slightly. I yanked once more before she began to follow. She waddled slowly, almost shamefully.

"You should feel bad. I could have died and you wouldn't have even noticed."

I led her out of the room and into the hallway. As the door closed, I let my heart close with it. I wasn't going to let them drive me crazy. I wasn't going to sit around and grieve over everything I had lost. I was going to fight and I was going to kill. No more 'nice, good girl Charlotte'.

Now it was just whoever the hell I am now.


District Nine:

Hawk's POV:

I sat in the shadows as the mutts past by me. They had been chasing me for quite some time, driving me into the basement. This was honestly one of the last places I wanted to be. As much as I liked the cover it would give me, this place just screamed death trap. There were so many things that could go wrong down here… So many corners I could get trapped in.

I tried to avoid the thought of a cave in. In fact, I tried to avoid thinking of Asita in general. It wasn't that it was devastating for me. It wasn't life ruining or soul crushing… it was just painful. Any pain that I didn't have to deal with right now was beneficial for me. Right now, it was easier to just think of her snarky laugh or her sarcastic tone than her body crushed to death. It was almost helpful to pretend to hear her voice in my head, giving me commentary every step of the way.

Once I was sure the mutts had left, I slipped out of the darkness and began to retreat. I wasn't sure where I had entered and I had a feeling it would take me some time to find my way out of here. This basement was almost worse than the underground laboratory that we had spent days in. Although this had an easier layout and distinguishable rooms, it was horribly lit. It was like trying to find your way around a room in the pitch black. Even if you could remember what hallway went to where, you still couldn't see it properly enough to spot any differences.

I felt my way along another path and tried to ignore the stench. It was a mixture of mold and… Panem, I didn't know what else. Whatever that smell was, it was putrid.

As I delved further into the hallway, I could immediately tell something was wrong. The air was stiller here… As if there was no outside air seeping into this place. The already dark corridor was easily becoming dimmer. The walls… They seemed to be becoming narrower.

I reached the end of the hallway and noticed light seeping through door. I opened it shyly and stepped in.

It appeared to be some sort of study. Leather-bound books lined the shelves and candles flickered around the room. Papers were tossed around aimlessly and everything was in a bit of disarray. It looked all but abandoned besides the lit candles.

Suddenly, I heard a noise and turned to my right. I dropped into a stance as I noticed a figure step in through another door. The boy from District Five saw me as well and brought out a hammer. He was extremely pale and looked almost near death. I was skin and bones and it looked like I could snap him like a twig easily. Before either of us could make a move, both doors slammed shut behind us.

I turned around and tried to open it. The door was locked tightly. Suddenly, I realized why the mutts had chased me down here. The Gamemakers brought us both to this room. They wanted us to kill each other.

I grabbed a knife and whirled around. I sent it flying and the boy yelped. He ducked and scrambled behind the desk. I cautiously began to approach, wary of that hammer. It wasn't too formidable, but if he caught me in the right spot with it I would be dead meat.

As I rounded the corner, I heard a small shuffle behind me. Before I could react, he was suddenly behind me and shoving me into the bookcase. My face was slammed hard into the wooden shelving and it collapsed under me. I attempted to turn, but he was surprisingly strong as he dragged me across the wall. As I mangled myself out of his grip, I crashed into another shelf. It began to tip and I dove to my right. I stood up and intertwined my fingers through another knife. Right as I was about to throw it, he froze.

I followed his gaze and froze as well. Behind the fallen shelf was a metal door… A metal door that was now slowly swinging open.

"They didn't want us to kill each other," I muttered, "They wanted us to find this."

"Truce?" the boy asked in a surprisingly high voice.

"Temporarily," I huffed as I inched near the door.

As I peeked my head into the doorway, I stumbled back in disgust.

"What?"

"That smell," I coughed, "It's coming from there."

"You mean the smell rotting meat?"

I gave him a wary look as I asked, "How the hell do you know what that smells like."

"Work in a butcher shop," he commented as he stepped in front of me guardedly, "but you grew up in the meat packing district. I'm surprised you didn't recognize it."

"We don't pack rotten meat," I snapped, "Plus, not all of us do that kind of work. Aren't you supposed to be a scientist or something?"

"Valid point," he responded as he walked into the black doorway without flinching.

I followed him into the darkness as I clenched my nose. This door too shut ominously behind us, but neither of us turned around to check to see if it was locked. At this point, it didn't matter. Doors lined the hallway to our left and right. The boy opened the first door and his eyes went wide. I peered inside the well lit room and gasped. Inside was a person who was strapped into a chair and missing both legs.

Their flesh was rotting away.

Their expression was one of pure agony and I followed the massive blood trail with my own eyes. It led back into the hallway we were in and continued forward. As we progressed we checked every room. Inside each was a confined corpse. Each person was missing a series of limbs and had lost copious amounts of blood.

As we reached the end, there was only one more door before the last. The boy opened it and gulped. I observed it as we passed by and chills went up and down my spine. Inside were two chairs.

They were both empty.

The message was clear. We weren't supposed to leave here alive.


District Five:

Admyer's POV:

As I opened the door, I couldn't stop myself from shaking. This was too disturbing… Too dark. How could the Capitol enjoy watching this? How could they like watching how every single thing tore us to shreds? How could-

My entire train of thought stopped as I witnessed the horror in this room. It was quite large and spacious. Wooden tables were spread out across the room. Across every single one was a corpse of some sort. Blankets covered each body, but one. At the far end of the room was an uncovered body and a man was standing over it with his back to us. He was humming some sort of tune as he merrily did whatever he was doing. I also immediately spotted a bed in the far corner as well as a bucket. Several mugs of, what I hoped, was water filled the room, but no food in sight. When you added in the locking doors, this didn't seem to be this man's work station. It was his prison.

The door slammed behind us loudly and the man spun around. He had on a surgical mask and an apron. Both were drenched in blood and I saw that he was holding a bloody saw in his hands. Droplets of blood on his glasses were illuminated by the overhanging light. His eyes had a crazed look to them.

"Ah, more subjects. I haven't new subjects in so long…"

I gagged as I saw the corpse he was hacking away at was also rotting away. Although the smell hadn't gotten to me, I knew that this image would never leave my mind.

The man began to approach us as he whispered, "If you would just lie down for a minute… I would appreciate it that so much."

"No way, you freak," Hawk yelled as he threw his knife.

The man dodged it swiftly and sighed, "Fine, if you want to play the hard way we can. But don't say I didn't give you a choice."

He turned around and made his way to another table. He pulled the cloth off and the light danced off of the numerous amounts of tools.

"We're still working together, right?" Hawk asked.

"Yep," I replied.

Slowly, the man lifted a giant saw from the table and began to pull on something. Suddenly, it whirled to life and the blades began to dance furiously.

"Hide," we both said in unison.

Hawk darted to the right and I ran left. I made it near the middle of the room when the man… mutt began to slowly turn around. Without thinking of the consequences, I hid in the only place I could think of. I lifted up a sheet and placed myself on top of the corpse. I held my breath as I felt the spoiled flesh squish underneath me. I avoided looking at the carcass all together and shut my eyes.

"You both really are making this hard for me," the man sighed, "More fun for me."

Suddenly, I heard the buzzing saw connect with something. With a sinking feeling I realized he was bringing right down the center of a table. The man methodically began to saw his way down rows of tables. He slowly began to inch nearer and nearer to me until I thought I would wet myself with fright.

Then, right before he reached my table, the mutt yelled in pain. I used this time to roll out from underneath the blanket and I hit the floor. I scurried underneath the table adjacent to me and looked over. The mutt pulled a knife from his shoulder blade and threw it on the ground.

"Found you!" he cackled in delight as he charged away from me.

I grabbed the knife and stood up. The mutt was charging towards Hawk who was tucked away in a dark corner. Hawk threw another knife but the mutt dodged it flawlessly. As he neared Hawk, I ran forward and chucked the knife. It wobbled through the air and the hilt barely hit the mutt's calf. However, this stopped the mutt for a second and Hawk took that time to go straight between his legs. Hawk rushed towards me and the mutt turned around, not in fury, but glee.

He was enjoying this. Being stuck down here had made him go absolutely mental. A horrible pit developed in my stomach as I realized he was just like us. He was trapped in an unimaginable hell, surrounded by death. This, right here, was what the Gamemakers were trying to turn us into.

They were trying to make us go insane.

As he dashed after Hawk, I dove to my left and got around him. I swiftly flanked him as he blindly chased after Hawk. Hawk pushed a table down and the mutt stumbled over it. As he stumbled, I drove my hammer down onto his skull and a loud crack resonated throughout the room. The mutt fell and yelled in agony as he impaled himself on his own device.

I gasped in horror as I saw for a split second the whirling blades tear through him. I swiftly turned away and used a nearby table to steady myself. Suddenly, his screams turned to laughter. He maniacally laughed through the pain and I couldn't imagine how he was still alive.

Suddenly, the door we entered swung open and I bolted towards it. I stumbled down the hallway, avoiding all the corpses in the open doorways. Each one now almost appeared to be mocking me as the mutt's laughter died out. I slammed through the last door into the study and stumbled to the ground. I breathed in and out, gasping for air.

After a few minutes, Hawk appeared behind me and asked, "You okay?"

I nodded as I wiped away a few straggling tears. I turned towards him and saw he was now carrying a few new things. Not only had he collected his knives, but he had also snagged several of the mutt's tools.

"The chainsaw was unusable. Too much gunk in it."

"Chainsaw?"

"Never mind," Hawk huffed.

Before I could reply, the anthem rang out and I jumped in surprise. It was nighttime already?

A projector descended and the first face shocked me thoroughly. Valhalla's pale, emotionless face was splayed across the wall. In the beginning, I saw this picture and saw her as weak. Now I looked at it and could see the mastermind in it. Still, I had outlived her. Even through her calculations and tactics, I managed to survive over her.

"Thank Panem," Hawk hissed, "There is justice in this world."

Her face shimmered away and Leith's appeared next. Another Career was dead. It was always a relief, but at the same time scary. If he was dead, that meant someone or something took him down. Something I would have to deal with.

The anthem ended and we just sat there in silence. Exhaustion from the day's events washed over me and the idea of even moving sounded impossible. I looked over at Hawk and observed that he seemed to be the same way.

"Maybe we-" I began.

"We both sleep here," he interrupted, "Whoever wakes up first leaves. No questions, no stealing, no killing. Just leaves. Does that sound good to you?"

"Yes," I sighed as I began to make a space for myself in the corner, "My name is-"

"It doesn't matter. I really…. I really don't care," Hawk whispered sadly.

I nodded, not wanting to bother him further. As I began to drift, Hawk blew out several of the candles.

Right before he blew out the last candle he whispered, "Next time we run into each other I will kill you. Just wanted to give you fair warning."

I shuddered slightly at the thought of fighting anything at this point. All I wanted to do was sleep… Sleep and never wake up. I had seen so many things… Things that would break so many people. Things that did break Winnie. Yet, I wouldn't let myself crack. If I was going to leave here, it had to be sane.

Otherwise, it would be like not leaving at all.


Hi guys.

First off, I want to apologize for the lack of update for… gosh I think it's been almost a month now. At least 3 weeks.

Life update: After the last update, I was going to Idaho for a senior prom. Super fun, by the way but literally the day before I left my grandmother died. It was not unexpected, she has been sick for almost my entire life. However, it was still sad and my grandpa did outlive her. That meant when I got back there was a lot of things for my parents (my mother is the eldest child) and myself to deal with. While they dealt with taking care of my grandpa and, well you know, I dealt with my little sister and took care of her and such. Anyways, long story short, I had very little time to write until about last weekish. And the time I did have well, let's just say I didn't really want to write about people dying and fighting for their lives haha so thank you guys for being so patient! Everything is good now and, hopefully, we'll be back to regular weekly updates!


Also, I want to give a special… shoutout?... to the people who have so wholeheartedly supported the Vahalla living theory. Y'all know that would totally be something I would do ;D you know I love my twists and I totally contemplated doing that even before I wrote that chapter. However, let's be realistic (because I know some of you are still and will be disappointed now that her death is confirmed) it's not the cutting out her tongue alone that killed her. She had a spear in her leg, a deep knife wound in her back, and she had already cut her arms up twice. That, my readers, is a lot of blood loss. So whether she truly did die from drowning in her own blood or simply from losing too much, you can decide. I have what I think killed her, but it's always up to interpretation.


Anyways, thank you so much for reading and dropping a review (if you did/are going to). I'll talk to you guys later!

Europa