Totsuki Sugihara (D2Mentor)
Edric and Bridgette were weak. I thought that to myself. I pretended it was the truth. Though I was smart enough to mourn their deaths, I was a Career. If they lost, they were weak. It was their fault. Edric died wonderfully, and I commended his bravery, but that was all I could do. He had bravery and he used it stupidly.
District Two
Mr. Lyons woke up from his coma while Edric was in the Games and was able to see Edric grow. He disowned his brother while mourning his son, losing two family members within one day. The Strikers mourned their child as was expected, exercising dignity in the streets but crying quietly in their rooms. Two mourned along with them, hoping that Four and One would lose. They couldn't fall behind.
Cassia Rose (D7Mentor)
I found it hard to miss Sylvia. She was never there when I talked to her, but her boyfriend always was. She left a bigger mark than he did, though. It was funny how the world worked. I closed my eyes and steeled myself, then went back into my mentoring. It was clear I had to do better. We hadn't won in years. I was going to have to fix that.
District Seven
Mr. Blanc mourned his daughter in silence, as he did so many things in his life. He kept quiet to hide from the Capitol, just like his daughter couldn't. The Wonderlands mourned their son as if they were his real parents, and Seven went out of their way to help them, missing the bright boy and noticing his absence. Nobody noticed the one Avox that cried each night, but she noticed her son.
Edric Lyons (Swift Counter)
I can never thank you enough. I can never thank you at all. I couldn't thank Edric for surrendering his life for me, at least not to his face, but I thanked him internally every moment of the day. I had stared death in the face, and he had pulled me away from it. He lost and gained his humanity in the Games, and he gave up his life for me.
Rialta Vernell (Havanna Gomez)
I liked the Four girl. I couldn't tell why she didn't ally with us, but she seemed neat. She never attacked us or taunted us. I hoped that her death was painless, but I knew it probably wasn't. She didn't deserve a painful death. Whoever kept smashing our houses did, but not her.
Sylvia Blanc (Lorenk Pritchett)
She was such a nice girl. You're in the final six. The two thoughts hit me in quick succession, and I knew what I had to do. I had to win the Games. It was almost time for them to be over. I had to give up my humanity, just like every Victor did, and risk never forgiving myself for my actions. Otherwise I would never live to make them.
Orrick Jasso (14) D12M
Lorenk and I slept together for a long while, trying to preserve heat and energy. Moving seemed like a waste when our only supplies were refrigerated stuff that had definitely gone bad before the blizzard. We also had snow, but that would take melting, which wasn't good to do. I had heard somewhere that melting snow with your body was bad for you, and I wasn't going to take the risk. We had water, if we were willing to venture to the rock pond. We had food, if we were willing to eat grass. We didn't have supplies.
The ding of a sponsor gift made us hope that maybe we would have something other than water from the dingy toilet we had to drink. While we were grateful for any water, the grimy, dirty bathroom was definitely going to give us dysentery, just like the rest of the camper was bound to kill us. The boards were breaking, snow slipped in through holes, and everything was dirty. We were only there for shelter, which it provided. Hopefully the sponsor gift would fix that. Hopefully.
I opened the door, since the sponsor gift landed outside. It was large, and there was both a 12 and a 9 on it, implying a shared gift. I tried to pick it up and carry it inside, but that proved impossible, since it seemed to weigh more than I did. I opened it and found that it was far from disappointing. In it there was a beautiful shield, engraved to Lorenk, and a huge sword, engraved to me. It was definitely too heavy for me, but I still liked it. More importantly though, there was a horse.
In front of me there loomed a huge horse, mottled between brown and white. She looked young and new, her hair bright and her muscles rippling under her coat. She had a horn on her head, and I realized that she was a unicorn. Our sponsors cared about us enough to send a fairtytale. It was the thing of dreams, and I would never get over it.
Hauling the shield and sword behind me, I showed Lorenk our gifts. The unicorn politely followed me into the camper and laid down. I laid down on top of it, happy to bask in the warmth it seemed to emit. Lorenk went to touch it, and it moved away. I went to Lorenk and it followed me. Lorenk was holding the sword. Lorenk was approaching me. Lorenk seemed to be a threat, I noticed, remembering that unicorns were very pure. He definitely wasn't threatening me, but he looked like it.
Lorenk dropped his sword. Lorenk had a horn in his chest. Lorenk was bleeding out. I screamed at the top of my lungs, unable to handle this. Unicorns were good, pure creatures. Unicorns were supposed to protect the innocent. This unicorn had taken my innocence.
A note came from the sky. You were too innocent, it said, and I knew it was right. Lorenk would have killed me. He was just waiting, and he waited too long.
Nyra Pickering (17) D10F
I ached all over. I kept my hands tucked in my armpits, making sure they stayed as warm as I could keep them. Though I hated to admit it, I was counting cannons. We hit the final five when the last one fired. We were almost done; I only had to outlast four more people. My hands and fingers burned with the cold, and I knew it was a problem. I had to end the Games quick, but that meant risks. I didn't want to kill anyone face-to-face. I felt bad enough killing people via tractor.
You have to move. Moving meant I could get more supplies. The dinky shed I had been staying in was full of nonsense, ping-pong paddles; baseball bats, two of which I took; baseballs, which I also took; chairs; and many things I couldn't see a use for. I left those behind, bringing along the flamethrower I had been sent in a sponsor gift. I kept the coat I had also been sponsored on, held tight around myself, the white hood up. I blended in, but so did my flesh. I was turning even whiter.
Corncrib. Shelter, I thought vaguely, and I went into the corncrib. There were two floors, and I went into the bottom one first. It stank of poop, and there were almost no walls, so I didn't stay long. I saw the next level, and I made a move to go to it. I found another door and went through it, noticing the trapdoor and easily climbable walls that were just wires.
I put my hands on the wire and stuck my feet into the holes, only to find that I couldn't keep going. I wanted to. My hands were stuck to the metal. I wanted to scream, but that was a death sentence. I ripped my hands off, wincing as flesh was left behind, wrapped my hands in my coat, and kept climbing. I needed shelter even more now.
Once I reached the trapdoor, I found a problem. It wouldn't open. I kept one hand in the wires and banged on the door, happy to hear shuffling noises. The trapdoor swung open and I saw a tribute holding a gun. He stared at me and I at him, but he didn't make a move to fire. I climbed into his fort, keeping my movements slow. I had weapons tucked into my coat, but I didn't want to be seen as a threat.
"I'm Nyra. I'm looking for shelter and allies. I won't hurt you. Can I stay here?" I asked the tribute. He nodded excitedly, noticed the gun in his hand, and set it down. I assumed he had been examining it, since he showed no ill intent. He showed me the way to his bed and let me get under it, using it as a cover. I took the parachute from his gun, with his permission, and wrapped my fingers. Just like that, I was doing well again.
Swift Counter (18) D4M
"Another cat came in the mail," I said, almost casually. We were getting used to this. I also got a lovely toque, white and red, with a red maple leaf in the white section. The snow sloughed off it, and I appreciated it. It kept my ears from getting any more frostbitten than they already had. "His name is Purrgatory. Morbid, isn't it?" It was morbid, but I was just joking. It was what I did best.
"Look at the size of that one! Maybe this will be useful," Havanna yelled as another parachute floated down. I knew she really wanted sponsor gifts. Her foot was cold, we didn't have a shelter, and we were practically weaponless. All we had was our bodies. We needed something good. "YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!"
I looked over at Havanna to see a giant chicken. It was the size of a chair, big enough to be intimidating but not big enough to kill us. I shrugged it off. "It's better than nothing." Its neck feathers were ruffled and many were missing, and it had a nametag: Helena Lives. I went over to it and kicked it, then tackled it down and broke its neck. I didn't want to butcher it so cruelly, but I had to do something. "Lunch!"
We ate the chicken after roasting it over the still-burning barn. It was easy and it was quick. Then Havanna and I walked off. We were on the hunt. Even though we didn't have weapons, two Careers could take most tributes. It was time for the Games to be over. I noticed that Havanna was walking with a slight limp, but I didn't question it. She would let me know if she needed help. Until then, we were on the hunt.
There was no sign of humanity for a long time. Any footprints that had been made had been hidden by the snow or by Sylvia. Havanna made prolonged footprints, and I looked at her face. It was turned up in pain, but she wasn't mentioning it. I knew she wouldn't. I looked at her foot between steps, and it didn't look good.
"Frostbite can get infected," I said quietly. Havanna glared at me.
"It won't. We're not mentioning that," she replied, and I saw a fire burning in her eyes. She was scared, and she wouldn't admit it.
"Let me see your foot," I commanded, kneeling in the snow. My knees quickly got cold, but I could handle it. Havanna glared again and showed it to me.
Havanna's sock was frozen over her foot, sticky with wetness from snow she had melted. I peeled it off and flesh followed with it. The foot was colorless except tendrils of color leading up her leg. It was bad. I could see that, and I wasn't a professional. "We need to do something about that."
We couldn't fix Havanna's foot. We didn't have medical supplies. I brought her to the garage with me. "Close your eyes," I commanded again. She had to do it. She closed her eyes. I searched through the rubble until I found the hatchet we had seen earlier. I took it to her foot.
Havanna screamed, which was understandable. I was doing an amputation, and she didn't have any sedatives. I took off my coat and used it as a tourniquet to stop the bleeding. I would be cold, but Havanna wouldn't bleed out. She would have a limp forever, but one of our forevers wasn't going to be much longer anyways.
6.5th Place: Orrick's innocence
Haha unicorn death
6th Place: Lorenk Pritchett - Stabbed through by unicorn
Lorenk was interesting. He had very little personality, but still stood a shot for development. I tried to force something out of him, but like Rialta, I couldn't see him making a real Victor. I also thought it would be cool to kill someone via unicorn, so this happened. Thank you to Manny61945 for Lorenk, who has made Orrick a new person.
5.5th Place: Havanna's foot
RIP girl frostbite's a thing
Final five! We're so close I can taste it :D
