I guess inspiration hits out of nowhere sometimes. Oh, and Happy 2020!
Cassie Gammon
District 5 Female
15 Years Old
From my window roughly halfway up the lighthouse, I have a perfect view of the fight on the beach below me. On one side is Poco, the guy whose sister I killed in self-defense, and on the other is my very own district partner, Amell. He and I never got along, sure, but he's still from Five and it pains me to see him facing a Career all by himself.
That being said, he fights with surprising ferocity, holding off Poco with his knife. But before long, Poco gets an opening and swings at his throat, producing a spray of blood that I can see from up here, followed immediately by a cannon shot.
I feel a wave of sadness wash over me after watching that and turn away from the window. Then I think about why Poco was even there by himself, something Careers pretty much never do.
He's hunting me, I realize. And he probably thinks that Amell is with me.
I look out the window again, and my heart freezes when I see Poco walking straight toward the lighthouse, bloody ax in hand.
I sprint down the stairs and grab my pack off the back of a chair, right as I hear him trying to open the locked door. I can't think straight at all as I head down into the basement, chased by the sound of an ax being slammed into the wooden door.
To my utter dismay, there's no exit from the basement other than the way I came. To make things worse, I'd left that shitty kitchen knife on the counter upstairs. Is this it then? This is how I'm going out – chopped up by a Career who's furious that I defended myself during the Bloodbath?
I must've stepped on something because next thing I know, one of the walls begins to shift and pull apart, revealing modern-looking silver doors behind it. These slide open as well, and I run inside, not even caring about what I might find.
There's a narrow but well-lit set of descending stairs, and a sign above me that reads, "Project BEOWULF Facility – Clifton Point Lighthouse Entrance."
Cherrie "Cher" Axlyn
District 7 Female
16 Years Old
Well, Ebony didn't try anything the first night with us, so that's that. I sat up with her, staring uselessly out the front windows of the cabin as if we could see anything outside before it reaches our doorstep.
She's always wearing this face of determination, full of drive. And like Alexei, she isn't very chatty. Looks like she's hell-bent on bringing down those responsible for her boyfriend's death. I just hope we don't all get killed in the process.
"We should talk about our plan for the Careers," I say the next morning as the four of us are gathered around the cabin's small dining table.
"Unsurprisingly, they were at the Cornucopia as of yesterday. Each night, two of them go hunting while the other two stay and watch over things," Ebony explains.
"You want us to attack them while they're split up," says Alexei.
"Exactly. Divide and conquer. Only we don't even need to do any dividing."
"If this works, we can also grab some supplies and weapons from the Cornucopia," Lynn points out.
Alexei turns to me, "How many arrows do you have?"
"Three. Enough for both of 'em with one to spare."
"I doubt it'll be that straightforward," says Lynn. "What's our backup plan in case, you know, Cher misses them?"
"We should have one person stay with Cher in case they go for her, and the other two can approach from the opposite side," Ebony suggests.
"And when are we doing this?" Lynn inquires.
"Why not tonight? They usually start hunting before it's totally dark, so we can get into position early and just hide in the woods."
Alexei agrees with Ebony. "I don't see any point in waiting longer. I'll go with Cher."
Along with a few nods, a moment of silence at the table signals that the plan is set: we're attacking the Careers tonight.
Emberly Layden
District 12 Female
13 Years Old
I'm high up in my perch, difficult to spot through the leaves. It was a conveniently easy tree to climb, and climbing is one of the few things I'm not terrible at.
Yesterday, I ran into the girl from Eight. She barely reacted to seeing me and just said, "My fight isn't with you." Then she was on her way.
It's hard to describe how I felt afterward. First the girl from Ten, and now her. I know I'm grateful they didn't attack me, but it also felt… frustrating? What happens when nobody wants to kill you in a deathmatch? I'm not going to win this thing anyway – the 13-year-old girl from Twelve with a training score of Two is so harmless that two tributes walked right by her.
Late in the afternoon, I see the pair from Nine below me, apparently looking for food. The two are gradually separated from each other before the boy suddenly falls in some grass. I was startled because I heard nothing, and there was no cannon afterward. After the sun sets, the girl begins calling out his name, but not very loudly. With no response, she eventually takes off.
When everything is quiet, I jump down from the tree and carefully make my way towards him. I see him sound asleep with his backpack still on. Come to think of it, I think I remember hearing about a tribute with a sleep disorder this year. And so, I gather some leaves, grass, and other debris and begin to cover his body, only enough so that a passerby wouldn't notice him lying there on the ground.
Maybe it was my last two encounters that made me do it. Or maybe this is just my way of playing the game. Either way, I realize that the worst thing about the Hunger Games is that so many of us don't want to kill, even when we're thrown into the arena. That's why the Careers exist, I guess.
As I'm back up in the trees, I begin thinking about everything, such as my life back home as our family barely gets by, or how the Capitol reaps two kids from Twelve every year (which is almost always someone you know given how small our district is), or when Cardiff died minutes into the game from a Career's spear.
So, why should I play this game the way they want me to?
Whitney Mendoza
District 9 Female
16 Years Old
He must've fallen asleep. That pill he told me about could've worn off by now.
There's no use trying to find him now, though. It's getting dark and yelling his name is dangerous and almost certainly won't work anyway.
As I return to our camp, I see Veranda standing around by herself.
"Where's Daley?" I ask.
"I think the Careers got him," she replies. "I was out gathering food and heard shouting, but they were gone by the time I got back."
"Shit. One of those cannons earlier must've been his," I say, recalling earlier today when Audric and I heard two of them ring out.
"Where's Audric?"
"Most likely fell asleep somewhere in the woods. He didn't respond and it was getting too dark to find him."
"So it's just the two of us now."
"Looks like it."
"How'd you do on food?"
"No game, but I found some berries. Pretty sure they're edible."
"Hmm. I hope you're right about that," Veranda replies before turning away.
Abuelita always said to trust my gut, and right now it's telling me that something's off.
I can't put my finger on it until I see it: in the dying light, the metallic shine of Daley's crossbow, lying on the ground with the rest of Veranda's stuff. He always brought it with him, and no one with half a brain would leave it on a dead tribute.
Veranda turns around and immediately knows what I'm looking at.
"You fucking snake," I spit out.
She sprints for the crossbow as I chase after her. As soon as she turns around to fire, I drop straight to the ground, vaguely hearing the whizz of an arrow over my head. She must not be quick enough with that thing because she's running away by the time I'm on my feet again, backpack on one shoulder and the crossbow in one hand.
Without delay, and completely without a plan, I run after her into the night.
AN: So, I've been doing some planning and managed to crank this one out rather quickly. I hope you enjoyed it. Keep in mind that the POVs are roughly in chronological order (but not always).
Here are the placements so far:
15th: Amell Maeda (D5M), killed by Poco Olas (D4M)
16th: Daley Keen (D3M), killed by Veranda Quinton (D3F)
17th: Aneira Lenny (D10F), killed by Poco Olas (D5M)
18th: Halcyon "Hal" Eldwin (D11M), killed by Veranda Quinton (D3F)
19th: Dexter Normande (D10M), killed by Sycorax "Cora" Adherra (D2F)
20th: Jaguar Wallace (D6M), killed by Miracle Emerson (D1F)
21st: Bean Olas (D4F), killed by Cassie Gammon (D5F)
22nd: Cardiff Hriver (D12M), killed by Dominic "Dom" Axton (D2M)
23rd: Klein Yamamoto (D8M), killed by Dominic "Dom" Axton (D2M)
24th: Amanda Arc (D11F), killed by Bliss Emerson (D1M)
It's almost been two years since I started this story, so if you're an original submitter, I'd like to know if you're still around. I hope you'll consider leaving a review if you haven't in a while.
Anyway, things are heating up. Where will Veranda end up as Whitney chases her? Is the Six-Seven-Eight alliance's plan going to succeed? What is Project BEOWULF? Stay tuned.