Day Fifteen:

Part One: Devour

District Five:

Admyer's POV:

I forced myself awake at the small sound of rustling. As my vision began to come back to me, I glanced around. All of the candles had burnt out except for one. In the flickering light, I saw a small flash of movement and scrambled to my feet. I gripped my hammer and skirted around the corner of the desk. The small scuffle met my ears again and I chased the sound to another corner of the room.

A rat.

I stared down at the small, defenseless rat as its beady eyes glared at me.

"You're not going to try to kill me, are you?" I mumbled, as if the creature might respond.

It swiftly scurried away and this time I let it disappear into the darkness. I ran a hand through my hair as I looked around the room. Hawk was long gone. In fact, it was almost as if he was a ghost. The place where he slept last night appeared to be untouched. There was no sign that the boy from District Nine was ever even here.

"Another thing someone has over me," I muttered as I began to collect my supplies.

True to his word, he hadn't snatched a single thing from me. Honor in the Hunger Games was hard to come by. If I had woken up first, I wasn't sure if I would have acted in the same way.

I slowly could feel any confidence in myself cracking and shattering. It felt like I didn't belong here. That there was no chance I was ever going to get out of this. I knew every tribute that was left alive. Cami was a clever leader. Charlotte seemed to be very resourceful and skilled with her rope. Hawk just showed how truly fast, sneaky, and dangerous he was. Then there was Ruth, who had this unstoppable perseverance and fierce mentality.

All of the tributes left had their own talents, skills, and mindsets that all outshined mine. These were the type of tributes that made it to the end. These were the type of people that the Capitol rooted for and expected to win. I wasn't supposed to make it this far.

I was that ordinary kid who died in the bloodbath or died first in an alliance. I was that kid who maybe hid and made it to the Final Eight, but was eventually flushed out by muttations and then slaughtered. I was that kid who nobody noticed and practically nobody cared about. My death was just one of many, except no one was disappointed. In fact, it wasn't a matter of 'if'. It was just a matter of 'when'.

I packed up the last of my supplies but just slumped on top of the desk. It was so hard to keep pushing and fighting. Every skill I had, someone had more of. Sure, I was kind of quiet and stealthy. Hawk was more so. Sure, I could be quick on my feet and clever. Cami could think circles around me. Sometimes I could used my surroundings to my benefit. Guess what, Charlotte would have used it first. I'm not even going to try to compare my attitude to Ruth's. That's like comparing a toy truck to a train.

The point was no matter what I had going for me everyone else had more of. It was like being a small fish in a pond full of piranhas. I was going to be devoured.

Before I could continue to beat myself down further, I paused. What would Winnie say? As I thought about it, it was as if she was speaking to me in this exact moment. She would say some optimistic bullshit about how everything would be ok. She'd go on and on about that for a while and then eventually say something insightful like 'You're just a jack of all trades.'

I paused in my dream scenario and thought about it. I wasn't a jack of all trades, but there was some truth to that. Everyone may have better skills than I do, but do they have more? Cami and Ruth were like bulls. You could hear them from a mile away usually. Charlotte, for lack of better words, wasn't conventionally clever and Hawk wasn't very physically strong. I may look like you can snap me in two, but I can sure pull a nasty punch.

Suddenly, my confidence was rebuilding itself. Perhaps being average benefited me. I was somewhat stealthy, strong, clever, and resourceful. I was determined enough that I wasn't going to just keel over and die… And that has to count for something! Maybe being okay at a lot of things was better than being amazing at just a few.

I pushed myself off the desk and left the room. I just had to stick to my strategy. Avoid tributes and let them kill each other. Sure, it was cheap… But if it kept me alive, it would be worth it. Just let all of the star players massacre each other, like I had been doing this entire game, and swoop in at the end. They'll all be injured and I'll be fighting ready. Fit to take on anyone of them.

It was slightly relieving to think through a game plan. To build myself up and tell myself that everyone would work itself out. However, the relief was quickly swallowed by the terror of knowing that this was the Hunger Games.

Things never worked out the way you planned them.


Mentor's POV:

Memory's POV:

I sat down next to Ophelia as we helplessly watched the games continue. At this point, there was no way anyone had enough money to use the sponsoring system. Most of the mentor's left at this point. They could easily watch from the comfort of a plush couch or drown themselves at a bar. The only advantage to being here was seeing what each individual tribute was doing all the time.

At this point in the games, though, if anything slightly exciting happened the Capitol would see it.

"Why do we always torture ourselves by staying here," I whispered to Ophelia as she watched Ruth.

"I don't know about you but this isn't torture. I'm just doing my job."

"Your job is done. There's nothing any of us can do for them."

"No, but I can learn. If I learn, then I can help the tributes next year," Ophelia recited.

"Valid point," I recognized as I peered around the room.

No one was here except for us and one other mentor. Rouge sat rigidly on the end of her seat as she almost robotically watched the screens. I felt like I was watching a marionette being played by its master.

"I suppose that's why she's still here," I mumbled, "She made it quite clear how she felt about her tribute, Camilla."

"Probably. She's a smart girl," Ophelia murmured.

"Not smart enough to join our cause."

"In the end, maybe that made her the smartest of us all."

As soon as the words left her mouth, it felt like a punch to the gut. Ophelia, the ring leader of all of this, was calling us stupid for attempting to change things? She was calling that Career smarter for being content to just sit here while everyone else was in misery?

"Oh really," I sneered, "Why exactly is that? Because you think we're all going to die now?"

"I don't want to argue with you anymore, Memory," she sighed in exhaustion.

It was true we had been arguing a lot. Our usually easy, breezy friendship had been decaying ever since we were caught. My paranoia was getting the better of me and I kept snapping at her. Usually she would keep her cool, but there had been a few times she had bit back.

"I just don't get why you would say that-"

"Because I'm worried too, all right? Not just about what is going here but what is going on in the arena. I'm worried about Ruth and I'm sitting here, trying to do something productive. Sorry I'm not constantly watching every word that leaves my mouth so I don't set off the ticking time bomb that is named Memory Summit."

I took a calming breath in and out, trying to not react. Ophelia was right. It wasn't her job to sit here and make me feel better. She had a lot of pressure on her. She was carrying so much weight on her back right now. I shouldn't add to that.

"Listen," Ophelia whispered, "I'm not trying to hurt you, I just need you to listen. If worse comes to worse, we need a backup plan. We already know that whatever Lavender is planning is going to blow everything out of the water. At the end of the day, we have to take advantage of that… No matter the cost. We need to get the Capitol on our side… You do know how, right?"

I shook my head and she sighed, "Rouge. No matter what happens, she hasn't been a part of this. She is one of the only people that we know for a fact won't be hurt or killed because of our plan. Once the dust has settled, we need her on our side."

"Why? What is so damn special about her? What about Lorie, the other Capitol pet?" I hissed almost jealously.

"Think of it like this," she whispered, "Everyone in our group right now is fire. Strong, raging, determined fire. We're all in this because of our emotions. In fact all of us, including me, are people who are fueled by their emotions. We're all very passionate people.

"Is there something wrong with that?" I asked.

"Fire is destructive. It's… explosive, unsafe, and uncertain… It isn't a comfort to the Capitol to not know where and how things are going. But Rouge is ice. Hard, cold ice. Ice is strong and, in large amounts, appears to be unmovable. It doesn't change. Do you understand this analogy?"

"Kind of," I muttered, "but what I don't get is the point."

"The point is… If I'm not around, what we've started has to fall on someone else. That person is you, Memory… And I'm telling you right now that if we want the Capitol on our side, we need to get Rouge there first. If she comes, she can convince some of them to follow."

This all felt like an information overload. For the first time, Ophelia sounded panicky and uncertain. She was feeding me plans and information that I didn't even know about.

"What do you mean if you're not around? That… that can't happen. We need you."

"I've talked to you and several others. If Lavender's plan takes me down, several of you know what to do. If it takes those people down too, it's up to you."

"If it takes me down?" I whispered.

For the first time in this conversation Ophelia looked at me. Her eyes were filled with grief and anguish. For the first time I could see how much of a toll this entire operation had taken on her. For the first time, I felt like I truly understood how strong she really was.

"Let's just hope it doesn't get to that point."


District Nine:

Hawk's POV:

I skulked through the hallways, trying to keep everything straight in my head. I had a vivid dream the night before. In my dream, I had woken up and the boy from District Five was sleeping there. Every time I would do something horrible. Sometimes I just stabbed him, while others I slowly gutted him. Once I beheaded him and began bashing his skull around the entire room. No matter what I did, I couldn't force myself to wake up from this nightmare. Every single time I thought I was finally awake, and then I would realize I had no control over my actions.

When I finally did wake up, I was swift to get up and get out. I knew I had to kill to get home. It was the name of the game… But I didn't want to be a monster. I didn't want to do sick things to my fellow tributes. I didn't want to play all the games that everyone expected you to participate in… I just wanted to get it over with. A simple knife to the spine or through the skull. Something relatively harmless… At least, something I believed was relatively harmless… I wasn't an expert on this subject.

As I continued down another hallway, my thoughts turned longingly to home. Never in my life was I so wishful for my life. Growing up in a family full of thieves and crooks… You either get with the picture or pretend you are. In all honesty, I always wished I had been born into something more normal. I even wished I was born into a dirt poor family and I had to get an honest job. Anything rather than stealing from people who already had next to nothing.

There wasn't ever any joy in that for me. Even though it made my family's life easier, I always knew they would go home and discover whatever I stole missing. Not knowing what happened was the worst part. Some, I knew, would be upset but just shrug it off. They didn't truly need it anyways. Then there were others that I knew meant they didn't get to eat. Maybe there spouse would beat them over it or a child could die from it.

The fact of that matter is you have to accept these consequences when you're a thief. You have to accept that you're hurting people that are hurting just as much as you are. My father and siblings always could… But not me. It was something that drove me to near depression at times… Knowing I was doing more bad in the world than good.

Oh Panem, did I wish I was there though. Anywhere but here.

I stopped in my tracks when a soft humming met my ears. It was so quiet that I thought I imagined it, but a few more notes drifted through the air. I slowly stepped towards the door nearest to me and edged it open with my foot. I peered through the crack and saw a girl. Her brown hair was hanging loosely down and her entire back was turned to me. She was obviously focused on something and seemed to be humming unknowingly.

Now was the time. Right here was the moment when I finally had to choose. Did I just continue to avoid everyone or did I take matters into my own hands? Did I decide that my life was more important than this girl's or let someone else do it down the road? Did I hurt someone who I knew was hurting just as much I was?

I drew out a knife and edged the door open further. At the end of the day, I chose myself over everyone else in this arena. Whether it was me or someone else who ended their life, it didn't matter. Everyone had to die in order for me to go home. I couldn't worry about my guilty conscious. I didn't get that luxury at this point.

I stepped into the room and raised my knife. I took a step forward, hoping to insure a clean throw. Before I could line it up properly, a loud growl met my ears. I jumped slightly and looked at the corner of the room. A small, black muttation was glaring at me and had its teeth bared. I turned my attention back to the girl, ready to throw, but froze when I saw she was looking straight at me.

I remembered her. She was the girl from District Ten. I specifically remembered her laugh. During training, it drifted across the room occasionally. Her laugh chimed like hundreds of tiny bells. She was always so happy and carefree.

The girl standing in front of me, however, was not her. Her brown eyes looked… dead. It wasn't the right word because there was still a spark in her eyes. Not a spark of happiness, but something else. A spark of madness. I couldn't tell if she was crazy or not, but I knew one thing. She wasn't happy. She was downright miserable.

"Were you going to throw that at me?" She asked with no inflection.

I nodded and she sighed, "It's nothing personal… But I'm going to have to kill you now."

Her nonchalant tone caught me off guard, but she quickly ordered, "Cami, get him."

I looked around in confusion, half expecting Cami to jump out of the shadows. However, the muttation began to charge towards me. I jumped back as it leapt at me and I realized it obeyed her for some reason. At this point, I couldn't fathom why but I immediately knew this was a problem. It turned around and opened its mouth slightly.

A small ray of light began to sizzle into existence, but the girl yelled, "No! No fire! Not unless I say so!"

The muttation stopped and seemed to send an almost sulky glare at the girl. I took this opportunity to throw my knife at the beast. It bounced off harmlessly. I was shocked at how strong and steely this mutt appeared. It was practically invincible. I grabbed another dagger, but now both of their attention was on me. I knew I couldn't take down both of them. I had to focus on one of them… The weaker of the two.

The beast gnashed its teeth at me as it began to charge. I dodged out of the way at the last second and sent a knife slicing through the air. With a yelp, the girl stumbled out of the way. She looked at it sticking out of the wall a few inches from her head. As I slid another one into my palm, I saw a flicker of fear in her eyes. A flicker she immediately stomped out of existence.

The beast charged at me again. This time it was my turn to feel fear. It seemed to be snowballing in speed and ferocity. The longer it was in battle, the more lethal and insistent it seemed to get. I used the same maneuver as I did before, but I felt the mutt's claws skim my thigh. I flicked my wrist and this time when my knife left my grasp, the girl ducked underneath it. She began to spin her rope slowly and cautiously. I grabbed three knives and charged straight at her. I could hear the mutt right behind me, but I refused to turn around. If I was going down, I sure as hell was taking her with me.

I sent one knife at her and she dodged it easily. However, I swiftly followed it up with two more knives. I expected at least one to sink into her chest, but she reacted sporadically. She tossed the rope at me and dove to her right. She shoved a wooden end table in front of her and both knives sunk into it. The rope flimsily hit my chest, but that wasn't what I was worried about. In pure panic, I tried to stop in my tracks but my momentum kept me going. The girl picked up the table and thrusted it into me. I was pushed backwards and tumbled over the charging mutt. I crashed to the ground, but quickly pulled a knife out of the end table. I threw it blindly as I scrambled to my feet.

I heard the girl hiss in pain and I knew it had hit her. I spotted the door I had entered and instantly ran towards it. Suddenly, I knew this was a mistake. I couldn't fight like this. I had to fight from the shadows and that was it. I couldn't confront someone head on like this. I wasn't even sure if I could confront anyone in anyway. Scarlett died because I didn't save him. I wasn't the one who took him down. Asita was the one who handled Apollo. Asita was the one who protected me from Valhalla. All I did was run and hide. It was something I was damn good at… Something I wouldn't forget in the future.

Suddenly, I was pulled backwards. The breath was knocked out of my body as I slammed into the floor. I was slowly dragged across the floor as I clutched my neck.

There was a rope wound tightly around it.

I looked up at the girl. She was just staring down at me with an unreadable expression. For a split second, I thought maybe she would let me go. Maybe I could convince her to align herself with me. Maybe… Maybe…

Then she whispered, "I'm so sorry."

All hope vanished with those three words. I knew I had made a mistake. One mistake had gotten me killed. After everything… After all the dreams, hopes, and promises… After all the laugher, tears, and fears… All it took was one mistake and I was gone.

"Devour him."


District Ten:

Charlotte's POV:

As the words left my mouth, a pit formed in my stomach. Cami happily trotted over to him. For a second, it appeared that she was just going to lick him or rub up alongside him. Then, she opened her jaw and began. The boy shrieked in agony as she tore into his chest. I dropped rope and backed away from the scene. I covered my ears and began to hum, attempting to drown out the sounds. It didn't work. I could hear every rise and fall of his yells. I could hear the slurping and squishing of his fragile body. It could hear the deep, guttural purr of Cami as she enjoyed her lunch.

Eventually, I was greeted by the sound of a cannon and I sighed in relief. Even though she continued to eat, I was suddenly not bothered. The boy was gone. Now he was just another body… Another corpse that Cami had to eat.

I just killed someone… A real person… I remembered that boy. He was always standing in the corners of the room. He avoided everyone… He always seemed so sad.

But I had to do it. He was willing to kill me. It would be stupid if I didn't return the favor. In fact, I had no choice. It was either me or him. Even if I let him go, he would just try again later. If he had escaped, he might have even succeeded. Then again, he might have killed someone else…

Suddenly, my head began to hurt. I couldn't think about 'what ifs' right now. It was too hard… too painful.

I crawled over to where I had been sitting previously. I picked up my project and sighed. It had gotten broken during the fight. I would have to replace the spring… I would hopefully be able to collect it from his body as long as Cami didn't break that bone.

I removed several small bones and continued to weave the base together. After all the feedings, I decided that I needed to do something useful with the aftermath. After much trial and error, I managed to figure out a way to make a basic trap with the bones. It was a very basic and crude version of the traps we would use in District Ten to keep the wolves out. I didn't even know if it would hurt anything… I glanced back at Cami and remembered the knives the boy used… Maybe I could attach…

I turned back to my trap and continued to weave the bones together. I stood up and walked over to the pile in the corner. I picked through the bones, looking for one to replace the spring. Maybe I could just use some rope or wire instead…

It wasn't wrong to use these bones for traps. I mean, they were all from mutts! Well… Now there was a select few from the boy… Maybe I shouldn't use those….

"But how are they any different from these?" I asked, "It's not like he's going to be using them."

What about his family. My stomach clenched at the thought. Oh God. Oh God his family just watched him get eaten by a mutt! And I was just thinking of…

"Cami!" I yelled.

She raised her head and peered at me. She began to sweep her tail back and forth and tramped over to me. Blood was smeared across her face, but she was almost grinning at me. She dropped a severed hand at my feet and I looked away.

"No… No we're not playing right now. He was… he was different from the others… Right?"

She used her snout to push it onto my feet and I just shook my head, "What part of no don't you understand!"

I walked over her and picked up one of my backpacks. I dumped out all of the severed body parts and kicked them.

"There's your food… Your food!"

Suddenly disgust filled me again and I walked over to another knapsack. I began to open it, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I couldn't deal with all this… this gore anymore. I sank to the floor and held my face in my hands. I tried so hard to not cry. I forced the tears back, but some still spilled over. Was it only yesterday that I resolved myself to being strong? To doing whatever it took to getting home?

Was I really crumbling so soon?

Suddenly, I felt a light pressure on my back. I looked and saw Cami's face seated on my shoulder. She was growling slightly, but was just resting her head there. Was this her… comforting me? I sobbed slightly and grabbed a piece of cloth from nearby. I wiped the blood away from her onyx scales and held her affectionately.

"It's nice not being alone… Even if you can't talk…"

As I sat there, I knew I had to stay strong. Now wasn't the time for a mental breakdown. Even though I just killed someone, I had to stand firm. I was in the final four. I was so close to home I could taste it. At this point, it was going to be over soon… One way or the other… I just had to be solid until then. I had to keep fighting and get out of here.

"We're going home soon," I cooed as she nuzzled me, "You and me… Whatever it takes, we're each other's tickets out of here."

I sighed as I dabbed the tears away. I picked up the knapsack and opened it. Inside was the cooked meat from the feast yesterday. I grasped a small piece of meat… It looked like it was glazed with some sort of honey coating. I glanced at Cami and saw she was eyeing it as well.

"No, you're food is over there."

She trotted away and I stared at the meat. It wasn't real… Even if it was… It had to be artificially made to look and feel human… It wasn't a real person. As I began to devour it, I had only one thought. I had to stay strong so I could fight. I couldn't be weak and underfed like the other tributes.

I had to stay strong.


Hey guys!

Eulogies:

Hawk- I adored you. You were a tribute I was actually planning on killing very, very early on, but I fell in love with you. Every time you interacted with a tribute: Scar, Lyric, Ace, Asita… I just loved you more and more. Sadly, it was your time to go. All it took was one misjudgment… One mistake and anyone can die in the Hunger Games.


I would like to thank you all so much for reading and, hopefully, dropping a little review! I'm so sorry for the month-ish hiatus. Honestly, all I can do is blame school. The last month has been killer and I had many, many projects, tests, and finals to complete. But now I'm done! I graduated and everything haha I mean, I will be graduating soon, but I'm done with the school part! So, once all that was behind me, I immediately began writing and out came this chapter! I had it planned for quite some time and it's nice to see it come to light.

Two more sections


Number one, I just wanted to address the… backlash I received last chapter over Valhalla's confirmed death. I'm going to say this only once. All the decisions I make are the ones I believe are the best for my story. 'My' being the keyword. If I did whatever I wanted to do, I would have had one victor this year and three tributes escape. Among those tributes would have been Asita, Winnifred, and Valhalla (all tributes I loved dearly). However, as I continued to write, I decided the escape plan wasn't what was best for the story. As I continued to write, I decided if, how, and when these characters died was what was best. You can sit and type and say what you believe is best. You can even say it in a purely negative/hateful way and attempt to tear me and this story to shreds. However, at the end of the day, it is my story not yours. You can call me selfish, but I write for myself. I'm thrilled people love what I write and enjoy it, but I will not change anything just for other's satisfaction that they 'got what they wanted'.

Anyways, the only reason I am addressing this at all (I would usually choose to ignore this) is because of something I had to change. I now have someone else moderating all of my anonymous reviews. If they read something inappropriate, hateful, sexist, racist, or anything other than positive reinforcement, criticism, and ideas; they will not let it be permitted to be published. I've taken this precaution because of all the anonymous hate I received over my decision in my story. If it continues, I will disable anonymous reviewing all together. Then they will have to make an account and face me as themselves, which I can then block from reviewing and reading my stories.

Again, this situation is extreme and only if the extreme happens. I'm just saying this to show that, in the end, any flamers and haters will not win you won't get anything changed and you won't get any respect or recognition. You'll only miss good things.


Number two (on a much lighter note)

I'll be putting up a new pole! Who do you think will be the victor of the 226th Hunger Games?

Cami: The Last Career?

Admyer: The Underdog?

Charlotte: The Survivor?

Ruth: The Avenger?

Don't forget to drop a review if you can I'll see you later guys!

Europa