Jason Lenn- District One male
Before the Games started, I asked Valerie if she actually regretted being a Career. She said what she really regretted was leading me to do the same thing. She couldn't explain why it was worse for me than for her, but that's big sisters for you.
In the Arena, we both had to pretend we were just as eager as the first time. Valerie couldn't betray the fact that she regretted every second of this, and I couldn't betray the fact that I was terrified I would die again. We even had to shout taunts and add in flourishes when we killed people we had nothing against. We didn't care about the Capitol or honor anymore. We wanted to get home, even if that meant killing people. We may not have wanted to play the game anymore, but we were Careers. Killing was part of life.
"What do we do if one of the packs finds us?" I asked.
"Run," Valerie said. "Better keep up."
"What about at the end?" I asked.
She was quiet for a minute. "We're not both going to be there."
"No, we're not," I said. I took her hand. I didn't care if it made me look like a baby. I didn't know how many chances I had left.
Alinta Fintan- District Twelve female
"Cinderella dressed in yella went upstairs to kiss her fella. Made a mistake and kissed a snake. How much medicine did it take?"
Zinnia, Smudge and I sat in a triangle on crossed legs, smacking our hands together and then on our knees with every other beat. We went through again twice, trying to hit each others' hands and not miss. Smudge, in particular, had some trouble.
"In Ten, we do it like this," Zinnia said. We got back into position and clapped along. "Birdie, birdie in the sky, why'd you do that in my eye?-"
"Ew!" I broke in, and we lost our rhythm. Zinnia broke out laughing. Smudge joined in, even though she obviously didn't know what the line meant.
"Anyway. Birdie, birdie in the sky," Zinnia started again, and we went back to clapping. "Why'd you do that in my eye? Birdie, birdie in the sky, gee I'm glad that cows can't fly."
Smudge laughed first that time. "Cows don't fly!" she said.
"You must do the same ones as Smudge, since you're both from Twelve," Zinnia said.
Smudge shook her head. "In Seam, like this." We'd been clapping and smacking our knees alternately. Smudge did two beats on her knees and then held her arms out crossed.
"Down down baby, I can do karate," she started when we joined in, and she did a chopping motion at the end. "Down down baby, I can call my mommy." She held her thumb and finger out and put her hand to her ear. "Down down baby, I can move my body." She wiggled all over. We followed along as best we could.
"What's karate?" Zinnia asked.
"I don't know," Smudge said.
Zibby Spooley- District Nine female
It wasn't really necessary for me to make anything yet. We had a ton of supplies, mostly from Jasmine, Akari, Des, and Sammy. I hardly grabbed anything at the Bloodbath, but I didn't have to. We had enough food for at least a week, and that was just the prepared stuff. There were fruit trees all around. I was just tinkering because it was my nature.
"Almost done," Tatsuya said. He was Jayla were sitting with a tangle of cords across their knees. They'd been nice enough to help me out by twisting together a net. I was almost done with the mechanical part, so everything lined up perfectly.
"Thanks," I said. "Let's see what we got." I unwound some of the wire from the coil Akari grabbed and wove it through the net in a giant X pattern. I carefully tied the switch into place with another bit of cord, right onto the net. The 'switch' wasn't as complicated as the term made it sound. It was just a battery from the Bloodbath held inside one of the smallest food leftover food containers I could find. Des rammed a stick through the thin plastic for me, and on top of that I balanced a wadded-up ball of wire. I poked the wire into the container through a tiny hole I drilled in the plastic with a pocketknife and wound it around the battery. The wire ran through the net and the other side poked into the other side of the plastic container, above the stick. If I pulled the stick out, the wad of wire would spring out into an uncoiled position, since it was no longer held down by the stick. When it sprang out, it would touch both the battery and the other side of the wire at once, completing the circuit and electrifying the net.
"Whoever throws this, just be really sure to jump when you pull the stick, so you're not grounded," I said. It wasn't necessary for me to make anything yet. When it was necessary, I'd already be done.
Xegon Samuel- District Nine male
I got the willies being in this Arena. I'd snuck off into the temple during the Bloodbath, hoping I could find somewhere to hide and remain under the radar. I felt somehow guilty taking shelter in what was definitely a religious building. I didn't know what all the weird statues and icons meant, but I knew they were religious.
When I was little, my father was always paranoid about demons. Play with a ouija board? That's how you get demons. Say 'I'd give anything for' whatever, and he'd look at me all serious and say 'you wouldn't sell your soul to the devil'. Reading palms? That's how you get demons. That thing where you drop an egg into a glass and tell your fortune with the shape it makes? Witchcraft. The one time I snuck a childrens' book of scary stories into my bed and read it in the dead of the night, I spent a month thinking I'd gotten my room haunted.
I also felt a little guilty because the statues were super cool. As I moved through the rooms, one was a long hall with rows of statues on either side of the aisle. One was an elephant with a human body and four arms. He looked really welcoming, like he'd be like 'Hey. What's up? Want some rice or something?". One was a big fat dude with curling horns. One had three heads, eight arms, and was carrying a fireball in each hand.
One statue lurked in the corner, where I almost wouldn't have noticed it. It was obvious why they didn't want that one in the middle. The ten-foot statue was made of rich blue metal. It depicted a woman with unbelievably thick, waist-long black hair. In one hand, she held an upraised, bloodstained sword. Another hand was reaching toward me, stained red. Another hand held a man's head. The final hand held a bowl underneath the head, filling with blood. Her skirt was made of severed arms, and she wore a necklace of skulls. Her eyes were wide with ferocity and glee, and her shrieking mouth bared gleaming fangs. Under her foot was a statue of another victim. All around her on the floor, there were words written in an archaic script.
Greatly golden in all limbs. The Terrifying Sound. Drunk with Desire. With the Necklace of Men's Heads. Laughing Loudly. Fond of Sacrifice. Wearing Tiger's Skin. She Who is Black. She Who is Death. KALI
I didn't want to be in that room anymore.
Viola Pierre- District Two female
There was no need to go out looking for trouble. I wasn't here by choice, and I just wanted to get home. Just lay low, stay out of trouble, eat, sleep, and live.
Sometimes trouble finds you. I snuck around an outside corner of the temple and smacked right into Calvin. I jumped back, whipping my mace out before my protectively. Calvin struck at me with a chakram and I moved the mace up to protect my chest and head.
I wasn't expected him to stab down into my leg. I screamed when the blade spiked into my flesh, but even as he pulled the knife out I was swinging back at him. My mace smashed into his left arm, shattering the bone in multiple places. Calvin pushed the half-buried blade back in and leaned down on it with all his weight, scraping my bone and pushing me backwards and off-balance. I shoved the mace into his chest and pushed him back. He bent over and rammed his shoulder into my chest, bending me backward. He slashed the point of the chakram across my stomach, ripping it open.
I stumbled backwards and almost fell. Blood was pouring out of my stomach and leg. Either wound could have been fatal, and I knew I wasn't leaving the fight. I drew my mace up for a huge strike at Calvin's head. When he stepped back on one foot to get out of range, I smashed the mace down on his closer foot. The motion toppled me forward, and Calvin stabbed me in the back when I landed. I knew I was going to die before that. I just wanted to pulverize his foot before I went.
Surprise! Only one death. I thought I'd do this now because no one would expect it and people would have heart attacks seeing their Tribute appear after multiple non-death POVs. That, and the votes were spread so evenly that hardly anyone had enough votes to die unless I killed people with only 2 death votes, and that felt mean.
87th place: Viola Pierre- Stabbed by Calvin
People wanted fewer Careers and lots picked Viola because they didn't know her as well. I'm sorry I didn't get to know her better. She seemed cool. She got Reaped, too, so she wasn't just another reluctant Career. She really WAS reluctant.
My one Hindu reader said I was safe as long as I avoided the Big Three of Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva, plus their wives. She meant actual appearances and not statues, but all the same, I used mostly minor gods (they were literally listed as 'minor gods' on Wikipedia). The exceptions are Ganesh and Kali. I knew Ganesh was a pretty welcoming god and lots of people have statues of him so I thought it was okay. Kali herself is not appearing (or any of the other gods), but I thought it was okay if it was just a statue. It's not going to come to life or do anything. It's just a normal statue. A super cool badass statue, but just a representation and not the real Kali. The words around her are real names for her. If any Hindus say anything, I'll take it all out.
