Three tributes arrive at the entrance of a marble tower and meet a fair-skinned guy with short spiky white hair.
"Welcome to Topland Tower," greets Titan with a cape flip. "How can I help you?"
Dorian doesn't change his facial expression, and he wouldn't admit that he doesn't know what to say. As long as he keeps the straight face, he knows this twist will unfold by itself. Corinna and Filly are in for a shock. Their faces easily read as they don't know how to answer this weird guy welcoming them.
"I must've been too formal. Ehem." Titan uses his right hand to brush his fingers over his hair. "I'm Titan, air guardian of Elymantyl. Nice to meet you all!" He lets out his right hand as he prepares to shake hands with each one of them.
"Dorian." He returns the handshake.
"Corinna. Nice to meet you too!" She shakes her hand after shaking it with Titan, as his grip was too strong and firm.
"Fil." He shakes with both hands out of nervousness.
"Please come in." Titan grabs a shiny platinum scepter as he floats inward to the first level of the tower. On top of the scepter is a translucent marble orb with a moving tornado inside it. Dorian doesn't notice that small detail yet, but he notices Titan using the scepter to point at various objects around the level, after telling more about himself and his role in the arena.
On the first level of Topland Tower is the living area and a part of the kitchen. Dividing both areas is a counter that looks like a bar, as it is high and there are two bar stools on the living area side of the room. Varying objects are floating due to the lack of gravity on the sector. There are many decorations from different eras. They are all made of marble and are scattered around the living area, including a bust of Titan himself. A few Corinthian pillars made of marble are present around the first level. The whole room is cylindrical in shape. The walls inside and out are made of marble. The marble floor is checkered between marble gray and marble white. The ceiling is marble white on the perimeter and gets darker towards the center, like there's a black hole on the ceiling's center. A soap opera is playing on the television. Three avoxes are watching it, but they move away from the sofa as they pay attention to the three tributes who just arrived.
"Liam, Kaya, Jame, please lead our guests to their respective bedrooms."
At the mention of bedrooms, Corinna is pleasantly surprised.
"If you need anything to eat, we have biscuits, potato chips, jerky, instant noodles, nuts, and whatever you can think of as long as it's packed food and not freshly cooked. We don't have perishables. We also have soda if you need a drink."
They all want to eat, but only Corinna and Filly are showing excited faces at the sound of food.
"Just let our avoxes know what you need. Also, we have a movie and game room if you're interested, but all of you look exhausted, and I think you can't wait to see the avoxes introducing you to your beds!"
"Yes!" agrees Corinna.
From there, the avoxes each lead a tribute upstairs. As Filly's avox waits for him, Filly hugs Titan and thanks him before following them to the bedrooms.
"Sleep tight!" Titan tells everyone.
On the spiral staircase, nobody steps on the stairs anymore. They just hold on the handles on the walls to move forward faster. They pass through a door while on the staircase. They see a second one, and Dorian's avox leads him there. The next door they pass is Corinna's. Finally, Filly's room is on the fifth level of the tower.
Dorian occupies one level of the tower. Actually, everyone does, except for the avoxes whose room is on the second level. The fancy and cozy marble bedroom has its own comfort room, walk-in closet, shower, and queen-sized bed. He notices that everything in the room is strapped onto something. The avox leads him to the provided sleepwear in the walk-in closet. It's a choice between white and light green, with belt loops around them. The avox then shows him the bed, with straps and strings attached to its sides. The avox points at the bedside table, where there's a platform with three buttons, each representing an alarm to summon a specific avox. There's also a menu on the bedside table. Once the avox is done touring Dorian around, he is left alone in the room. He can't believe that he is going to be pampered like this. He can't help but smirk and chuckle at this kind of luxury. He's in the Hunger Games! This is too much comfort, but it's part of the twist, and he's glad to have it, but he's gonna have to stay alert. This twist is just too good to be true. For now, he's gonna get a good night's rest. Tomorrow, he'll probably come up with a plan.
Corinna's avox brings her a bowl of potato chips and two cans of soda. She hasn't eaten the whole day! After all, they don't call it the Hunger Games for nothing. If she's gonna die soon, at least she's not dying of hunger. Plus, she gets to sleep on a queen-sized bed tonight! She doesn't even have to share it with her allies. She already has herself strapped in a sitting position as she eats. She can't believe this Titan dude is accommodating them for the night. Is she even in the Hunger Games? It doesn't feel like it anymore, and she refuses to believe that she's here to die as she rapidly shoves potato chips into her mouth. She's gonna need more of them, so she presses the button to summon her avox. As for her sodas, she needs straws to drink them, so she gets them from a drawer on her bedside table. For the next moments, it's a cycle of her ordering what she wants to eat and drink from the avox and giving her empty bowls to the avox when she's done. By the time she's full, her eyes droop and she adjusts herself to a lying position. There's a toothbrush provided for her, but she's too sleepy to care about hygiene. She closes her eyes and relax, for the first time in the arena.
Filly is smiling at the thought of enjoying this luxurious bed. It's soft and comfy. He can't think of a person who would not want to try this bed. Everybody he knew back home would probably want something like this. His bed at home is soft, and so are the beds of the rest of his family, but this one is much softer! He thinks of home and imagines returning home to them. He imagines himself winning the Hunger Games somehow, and they can all move to the Victor's Village, and he can order all these comfy beds for Dad, Papa, Ansel, Bay, Azalea, and Zetta. Gosh! He misses everyone back home. It's been a week. He wants to go home and give his family a big group hug. He wants to meet his friends too! Doyle, Rune, Rhianna, Mace, and everyone else back home. The thought brings him to tears once again. He wants to go home, and he wants to go home alive, not in a coffin. He hopes that he can still see everyone back home. He reaches for his jacket, the one that is part of the arena uniform. He left it floating above his bed. He reaches for the jacket's pocket and plucks out a piece of paper. It's a drawing of a meadow and flowers. He remembers a teary Mace giving it to him as his token, and the thought sends him to more tears. He wipes them away with the sleeves of his sleepwear. He takes a good look at the drawing, and he thinks, Wow, Mace is a pretty good artist. He puts it back to his jacket pocket afterwards, and continues to cry, eventually crying himself to sleep.
Rufus wakes up for his shift. It's his time to watch. He may not have eight hours of sleep yet, but he chose to be the next to watch after Annaleigh and Horden. He notices that Brenna has also chosen this time to watch. They make eye contact, before looking away from each other.
Rufus sits a few meters away from Brenna, but he holds his sword and is closer to the entrance. It doesn't take a minute for him to think that keeping watch of their headquarters is not only boring but also stupid. Who the fuck is gonna rob trained tributes early in the morning at a dead end like this this early in the Hunger Games? He then considers the possibility of someone successfully sneaking in. Hmmm... maybe not a completely bad idea then, but it doesn't change the fact that keeping watch when no one is gonna rob them is boring.
He can't just sit here and wait for an intruder! He goes around to check the bags' contents, which made Brenna observe his actions, and he can see it from his peripheral vision. He remembers the mysterious object he didn't take out of the messenger bag while sorting the items they have. He holds on to the bag and notices Brenna looking elsewhere by now, so he takes out the object from the bag, a square glass panel with a button. He presses it and the panel lights up. He can see Brenna looking at his direction once again, so he brings the hologram to her. He plays with it for a while, looking for its function and features. From that, he learned that this mysterious object is a holographic map. It can even tell him where tributes are in the arena. A smile creeps into his face. Brenna can see that it is a holographic map, but she doesn't know what those dots mean, or at least not yet.
Rufus looks at those dots and tries to think of who they are. He analyzes the other locations of the map too. A few moments later, he formulates a plan. It's a risk, but he knows it's worth it.
"I'm gonna go out and play," he tells Brenna softly with a smirk while facing his back on her. "Cover for me."
Brenna doesn't care if Rufus gets lost. He's twelve, and he's a worthy sacrifice for this alliance. Although they have some kind of connection with each other, she doesn't really care if Rufus dies out there. Besides, this is an individual game. Brenna nods as Rufus takes one last look at her after picking up his sword and bringing the holo map with him.
Tira is playing with Macy in a bouncy castle. Tira pushes her friend lightly, but then Macy pushes her with some force.
"Wow, you're stronger than I thought!" She then pushes Macy to another side of the castle with force, but she falls to the hard ground, screaming in pain. Tira is horrified of what she had just done, so she panics.
As Tira wakes up from a nightmare about something going wrong while playing with Macy, she can still hear the scream. She looks to Macy's direction, and the girl covered in mud is screaming as a sword is plunged into her stomach. She screams even louder, as more blood flows out of her body. Tira panics at the sight of her friend bleeding to death just when she was dreaming about having fun with her.
"MACY!" the horrified Tira calls out in grief and panic.
Chip also wakes up from the scream. His sight is covered by trees, so he moves closer to see Macy bleeding. Oh no. He doesn't know what to do yet, so he runs the algorithm in his brain. Should he help her? Should he stay here hiding? Should he just pull Tira and run away? He goes through all possible scenarios he can think of, to know which decision is the best to make.
Macy can feel fear and panic run through her bones. She sees blood and she sees herself losing them quickly. She's screaming like there's no tomorrow. Ironically, there might not be a tomorrow for her at all. The boy from Two kept stabbing her in different parts of the stomach, and she doesn't hold her tears of pain while screaming in agony. She screams and screams, and it gets softer when she starts to lose energy, thinking about her family, especially her big brother whom she looks up to very much. She also thinks about that last kiss with Skylar at the goodbye room before her world turns dark, forever.
Rufus cackles upon hearing the cannon's BOOM. That was easy! He sees another girl, the one from Three, staring at him tearily in utter shock, screaming "MACYYY!" once more. He smiles at her and proceeds to lunge his sword to her direction, which she dodges by backing off quickly.
"Please, I don't want to fight," Tira says as she backs off with speed while wiping off tears.
It's too late for Chip to pull his ally and district partner from a scenario like this. If he does, he can get himself killed, and according to his algorithm, it's not the most efficient way to survive. He took too long to run the algorithm, but the boy from Two is also a fast one. He has to act quick or he's next, but he thinks the boy from Two hasn't seen him yet. He thinks of a plan as fast as he can, but can he beat this career tribute's quick offense?
"We can come in peaceful terms, please!" Tira pleads but Rufus keeps swinging his sword towards her. It scares Tira even more that Rufus is smiling in excitement with this act of his.
Rufus jabs his sword forward once more, but it misses Tira again. Rufus is getting a bit frustrated that he can't hit his target as easily as the formerly sleeping girl from Nine, but he keeps his cold smile on his face and tries again, and again, and again.
"We c-c-can be allies," Tira spits out in panic. Rufus responds by swinging his sword low. It cuts the surface of her leg, and a second hit sends her stumbling down the muddy terrain. Tira yells, "OUCH!"
"Gotcha," mutters Rufus as he smiles with his teeth and his burnt side of the face shining in the moonlight.
"PLEASE!" Tira begs in panic. She realizes that her stuff are on the greener side of the arena. She can't just reach for them to defend herself. Dammit! Stupid! Now, she's gonna die from her own mistakes of not having her bag with her, by playing with Macy then falling asleep in the mud right after. Maybe Chip will come and save the day! She looks back and Chip is nowhere to be seen. Maybe it's not in her point of view. Maybe Chip's asleep. Or worse. Maybe Chip ran for the hills by now.
Doesn't matter where Chip is anymore, because Rufus is stabbing Tira on the stomach repeatedly, just like what he did to Macy minutes ago. The pain forces a wailing Tira to scream in agony while in a curled position, but it doesn't stop Rufus from diving his sword towards her insides.
All Tira hopes is for Chip to be safe. She hopes he won't be she and Macy's killer's next victim. She feels all the pain. She wants this pain to end now. Screaming won't change the fact that she failed. Sirey loses a best friend. Her parents lose their only child. She let down everyone who cared for her. She doesn't want to be a failure, but she is, and it's a very hard pill to swallow. Her vision blurs as her clouded thoughts are nothing more than sorrowful.
"Fire the second cannon."
BOOM!
Alistair was woken up just in time to witness unexpected action. Who in their right mind would hunt tributes early in the morning for his sleep to be interrupted? Well, it's not his first time to be woken up like this. It's just annoying that he needs to be woken up for every tribute death, but this is what his job requires. These two deaths were two he did not anticipate before sleeping on his desk. Ugghhh... He thinks he shouldn't have slept then. To be fair, Rufus got himself two kills despite being twelve and it's actually a smart yet selfish move to his allies. He now sees this boy in a new ray of light, without intending the pun as he sees Rufus's smiling teeth shining on his screen. Rufus's pants are splattered with the blood of his victims, and now he's on his way back to the mountain.
Alistair takes a look on other screens. Filly, Dorian, and Corinna are sleeping peacefully and comfortably in Topland Tower. None of them seem to have heard the screams and cannons of both dead tributes. Titan hears it but ignores it. He just pauses his handheld console game after each cannon.
Chip ran off north with both bags on his back. He left his sleeping bag on the scene of murder. He left around the time Tira was cornered down. He settles somewhere near the forcefield.
At the summit, Annaleigh, Horden, and Argentum were not disturbed by the cannons, still sleeping soundly after all the action they missed. Jeanne woke up on the second cannon, but ignored it and went back to sleep. Brenna is just sitting there like nothing happened.
The solo tributes are the ones who woke up from the cannons. Lainey heard the first cannon and looked panicked. She heard the second cannon too, and now she can't seem to go back to sleep.
Dante heard both cannons too. It doesn't seem to bother him, as long as it's not him or anywhere near him.
Kobe is asleep and undisturbed, but Orion woke up on the first cannon. He didn't sleep immediately, and a second cannon made him shake. He's having a hard time going back to sleep too, but eventually he does.
Ingeo is sleeping, and he's snotty too. Ewww. A bot comes to deliver him another raw egg. Alistair thinks, What the hell.
Ciara and Arlenna are sleeping well in Mudland Mansion and were unshaken from the pair of cannon booms. Halizeia is also asleep and unaffected.
Eltha stares into the night sky from her balcony. It seems like she can't sleep. She's been observing her surroundings and waiting for guests all day since yesterday. She heard both cannons and shook her head after the second one.
Lucius? Lucius...
Alistair shakes his head with what he sees on his monitor for Lucius. Two gamemakers are with Alistair all this time, and they finally react to something.
Toria says, "Jeez. Jizz."
"Can someone tell Lucius to stop humping!?" Ethyl freaks out. "He's like always naked and almost never in the costume the stylists provided him. We can't allow this on national TV!"
"Yeah, like we're not forced to show people that children are being murdered on national television. Right," Alistair responds sarcastically. "But seriously, this is too disturbing. It doesn't end at all."
"What, the games are ending?" Ethyl reacts with an eyeroll.
Alistair pauses, then responds with, "I am waiting for hope."
Toria says, "Well, we need to do something with this behavior of his."
"I know. I'll have Jom or Genji address it to him when they're working."
Toria rolls her eyes and says. "Why not now?"
"Because I'm going back to sleep. You can draft the message if you'd like and just leave it on Jom's table." Alistair leaves the room full of monitors and proceeds to an empty couch to go back to sleep, hopefully comfortably.
There may have been two deaths just now, but the games are far from over.
Rufus is finding his way back to the summit with the help of the holo map. Since it's his first time leaving the summit, he's surprised to find out that this mountain is a maze, considering that it's not the whole arena. It's not easy to just pick a sector to visit and end up there. Regardless, he's returning satisfied. He hit two birds with one stone, and it was a piece of cake.
He's tempted to continue his kill streak. He's stopping himself though. He does not want to be gone for too long that his allies will find out that he left to hunt without them. His district partner is easy. He wasn't worried about her. Annaleigh from One has a brain. For her to wake up and find out that he went to hunt alone would be a nightmare he'd have to face reluctantly.
That is why he's keeping the holo map a secret from her. When she finds out about it, these games will be in her hands, and he does not want that to happen. He's the only other person in the alliance to have a brain. Keeping this advantage to himself is good for his chances of victory. He can choose to be confident now by saying that his holo map will help him eliminate everyone else left in the arena, but the Hunger Games doesn't work that way. He's expecting surprises to screw over a plan like that. He has to wait for the right moments to kill the right tributes. He considers himself lucky that he ran into the girl from Nine. Lucky girl. Well, not anymore.
He didn't expect to kill the girl from Three, but he was tempted. He's already there, and letting her go would've been dumb. Except, he's not dumb, so now they're both dead and he's alive. Rufus wonders where any of their other allies are. He could've killed more of them.
His thought flips and he thinks he could've been killed too. He's not afraid of the boy from Nine, but he knows that big guy can break him like a toothpick, so he's glad not to see anyone else other than those two girls. Yes, he's lucky this time. The thought of it makes his smile return. He does not want to be hundred percent confident just yet, but he hit two birds with one stone, and he can't help but feel very satisfied for himself.
Rufus is getting a bit frustrated with the stairs. The staircases in the mountain are so long and tiring. He's losing energy quickly by taking the stairs, but there's no better way to go up. He takes his time to climb the stairs, not rushing in order to save energy. It's a calculated risk for him to be caught going rogue.
When he reaches the summit, he puts his sword and the holo map on their proper places. He can see Brenna's cold eyes looking at him with envy. He brushes off any thought of guilt or anxiety, as he knows Brenna won't even mutter a word to any of their allies. Rufus smiles at her casually but evilly. He has minutes to spare before they switch shifts with the lovebirds.
He can't help but smile in satisfaction. Oh how easy it is to sleep comfortably at a night like this!
Why is it so hard to go back to sleep after the cannon? Lainey knows that it's giving her anxiety. She can be next. Knowing the answer to that question won't change the fact that she can't fall back to sleep. She may be tired, but she's afraid to fall asleep right now. She volunteered for this. Why did she choose to do this?
I'm such an idiot, thinks Lainey. She volunteered in place for someone she doesn't even know, and now that twelve-year-old stranger is safe at the comforts of her home, while she's here sacrificing herself with a high risk of dying and never ever returning home. This is dumb, isn't it?
Lainey also thinks of being a heroine. What she has done may have gotten herself to calling herself an idiot, but she's returning a heroine. It's not about the fame and fortune, but the act of kindness itself makes her happy. She's still an idiot, but she's a heroine too. She will think of herself as a heroine if her attitude lets her. Therefore, she is a heroine. An idiot heroine, but a heroine nonetheless.
For her to be a heroine, she has to make a move though. She can't just sit here nervously and hide forever. She has to do something. Maybe she can excite the audience to have them send her something. Maybe she can find food elsewhere, somewhere more natural. Maybe she can just leave her comfort zone now and not force the gamemakers to send an obstacle her way. She will make a move before the gamemakers, and she's gonna do it now.
On the back of her mind is the urge to find a new hiding spot. No daring moves. Just move somewhere else and continue to hide. She then remembers that the careers are still on the cornucopia. Once they start hunting, she's gonna be the next one to go, and she doesn't want that at all. She has to get herself as far away from the cornucopia as possible, so the only way to go is not up but down.
Lainey gets up to her feet and wanders for a nearby staircase taking her down. She needs to put distance between herself and a group of trained killers.
Ingeo woke up wet. His face is covered with snot, dried and wet. He would have wiped it with his bag, but he's gonna have to carry it, and either way, the snot will still be with him. He needs something for his icky face and hands.
Definitely not the eggs. His ten eggs can't help him wipe his hands and face. They're only going to make them ickier. Oh how he wishes he can eat the eggs now, but he doesn't wanna run into literally shitty problems. He'll probably try to make fire someday and cook these eggs. For now, he's keeping them for later use. Maybe they'll be useful to him in the short-run.
Ingeo has accepted the fact that his allies are gone, after he cried himself to sleep. He still doesn't know how they died, but at least he's alive. He'd prefer not being alone, but this is the card he's dealt with. He's just gonna suck it up and try to move on. It's hard. Life is hard. The Hunger Games are hard. He's gonna find his way out though. How? By winning. How will he win? He hasn't planned on that yet, but he knows he has a chance, and that's all that matters for now. It's still pretty early in the games.
He doesn't think anybody died during his sleep. It makes him wonder how the dead tributes' loved ones are feeling when they see their children, friend, sibling, or anyone they know die on national television. Well, aside from grief.
He knows it would hurt his family and friends if he dies in the arena. He thinks of his friend Lux. Ingeo misses his friend's jokes. He thinks of his family. He wants to help them with income. He takes out his token. It's a coin drilled in the middle and made into a necklace given by his brother. His brother. He remembers his brother being jealous of him. Lyocell never harmed Ingeo out of jealousy in any way, but he wishes that they were in better terms. He wishes they were closer as brothers.
He snaps out from these thoughts after a while. He's in the Hunger Games! He's gonna find a way to win, but first, he needs to improve his chances. He stares at the eggs. Hmmm... He can't get an idea out of them. He can carefully put them in his bag though, so he does that instead with his icky hands.
It takes him a long time, and he still doesn't have a plan, other than to move. He should find another place to stay. Where? He doesn't really know. All he knows is that there's nothing here, so staying here could make him die faster, or rely solely on sponsor goodies. Not a good strategy.
He puts his backpack on his back, and starts making his move out of his spot. He waited for his allies here. He cried here. He slept here. He made a mess here with the raw eggs. He would've called it a comfort zone had he not been gross himself. Now, it's time for him to leave this spot for good and find a new one, a better one too hopefully.
Ciara goes down to the kitchen to see Halizeia and the avox slicing vegetables.
"Yes dear?" Halizeia attends.
Ciara says, "Where is the shower?"
"Oh, we don't have a shower."
"I thought you said you have one?"
"I said if you want to clean yourself, you can do so in the bathroom." Halizeia brings Ciara to a bathroom on the fourth floor. Arlenna is then tailing a few meters behind them. Halizeia turns on the lights of the bathroom.
Ciara points to the shower head. "You said there's no shower!"
Halizeia responds, "It doesn't work."
Ciara doesn't believe this, so she goes to where the shower is and tries to twist open all the knobs there.
"There's no pipe that connects to the shower head. It's just decoration by the gamemakers."
"What!?" Ciara reacts.
"You can still clean yourself." Halizeia enters the bathroom and points at the green bucket with half-filled water. "Use the dipper."
Ciara holds up the brown plastic dipper from the bucket.
"Yes, that one. Just pour it over yourself, and when you run out of water, at least the faucet is connected to the piping system."
Ciara opens the faucet and water splashes wildly to the water on the bucket.
Halizeia turns around to see the other girl. "Arlenna, if you wanna wash yourself, just use the plastic dipper and the bucket." She points at both objects for Arlenna to see.
Arlenna nods to that.
"I'll tell the avox to prepare the towels and some new clothes for you two."
"Okay," they both respond.
"Breakfast is on the dining area if you're hungry. We have salad, cereal, and fruits. If you need drinks, we have juice and milk on the fridge. Just let us know if you need anything else."
"Okay," Ciara says.
"Thank you," they say in unison.
"You're welcome," she replies with a smile. Halizeia then leaves and returns to the kitchen, telling the avox to do what she just told Ciara and Arlenna about preparing towels and new clothes.
Upstairs, they both proceed to their room, with Ciara waiting for the towel and new clothes and Arlenna waiting for Ciara to finish.
"How long do you think we should stay here?" Ciara asks softly. "I don't think this feels right. There might be a twist."
"I... don't know," replies Arlenna. She doesn't have anymore input, although she wishes she can suggest something good.
"I'm thinking we should leave this afternoon or tomorrow morning. I think there's a trap in here somewhere."
"Okay," says Arlenna with a nod.
At the summit, the six trained tributes are all awake. They consumed two packs of cookies for breakfast. They also shared water and apple juice for breakfast. Jeanne and Argentum drank orange and mango juices respectively during their watching shift. Annaleigh finished breakfast early enough to pick certain items to put into her backpack. She then stuffs other items randomly to other bags. Rufus joins her in a bit to help. He's also keeping an eye on Annaleigh and the messenger bag which he plans to take with him later.
"Okay guys, time to get the fuck outta here," Jeanne says.
Annaleigh and Rufus pass backpacks to the rest of their alliance. Surprisingly for them, nobody checks the contents of the bags they received. It's like they all trust Rufus and Annaleigh.
"I'll take this," announces Argentum as he grabs the ukulele from the pile of unwanted items. There are groans and eyerolls across the alliance.
"Please tell me we're leaving the seagull," says Annaleigh.
"Well, I am," Jeanne says with a glare at the seagull.
"AAAAA"
"I'll take Birdy with me too," volunteers Argentum.
Annaleigh shakes her head with a disapproving frown. Jeanne rolls her eyes once more. Horden massages his forehead, feeling a little stress from the seagull.
After packing the stuff and carrying their belongings, they have decided to leave behind the helmet. They just don't see the use of it, even though some of them considered its possible usefulness later on. They're also ditching the extra bow. They only need one. They're then giving up the blowgun, the mace, the mallet, and the regular axe. Each person can only carry enough items. Everything else is with them. Each of them carry either a sleeping bag or a tent. That's along with at least one bag and one weapon each.
Jeanne leads the way, feeling like a leader as usual. If anybody is leading this pack, it's her and not the smartass from One. She realizes immediately that the mountain is like a maze, and it's much darker than the summit. She looks back, and she can barely see her allies, but all of them are following her. Her current problem is that she does not know where to go. She can just tell someone else to lead, but what kind of leader does that? That's why she's called the leader. Duh? She's the one to lead the way even though she does not know the way around here. She doesn't have to admit it at least.
Argentum is next in line. The ukulele is on his right hand while the seagull is on his head.
"AAAAA"
"I'll feed you when we get there, Birdy." He thinks of what he wants to do with the ukulele. "I can even sing you a song later."
"Stop," reacts Annaleigh immediately. She's allergic to Argentum's horrible singing, and she's heard enough before entering the arena.
Argentum is very excited with what he can do with Birdy later. So far, he may not have a kill yet, but he doesn't have to worry. He can let his allies do all the work for now. He'll just betray them when he has to later on. For now, Argentum thinks he should be in chill mode, and he is actually. He feels all comfort and absolutely no pressure right now.
Brenna can feel that she has too many bags on her, but she thinks they'll need them later on, so she can't just dispose any of them. She is aware that they're all moving their camp to somewhere more accessible, but she wants to get to the hunting part soon. All her life, she is being trained as a killing machine, and she's only killed two tributes so far, and that was yesterday. She needs to kill some more, preferably not her allies just yet, but she needs to kill again. Her district partner killed two, and it's sinking to her just now that what Rufus did was sneaky but smart, and she wasn't able to catch it earlier. Brenna thinks, Ugh, I want to hunt!
Rufus prefers being at the back, so he can just sneak out anytime. He can't get lost since he's carrying the messenger bag, where the holo map is. He can also see everyone in front of him if he's at the back, but the cave is too dark for that. Okay, so maybe not. Still, he thinks being at the back would be to his advantage. He's in the middle right now. Hmmm... maybe he can also use it to his advantage?
Horden and Annaleigh are a few meters behind the pack.
"I don't know how and where we can find a new campsite inside this mountain," says Horden.
"The trick is to find an exit," shares Annaleigh. "We know this arena has four different biomes. I don't know which one we'll end up with, but all I'm hoping is that it's not the lava one."
"Okay."
"This arena is much bigger than we thought. We probably can't explore every corner of it."
"Mmhm."
"I think leaving the summit is our best choice right now."
"I agree."
Dante hears sounds. He can't see who they are clearly, but it's definitely a group of tributes. It's probably the careers, and when he gets a good look of them, it is indeed the careers. It's too dim to see any of them clearly, but they're not going to his direction, so he doesn't have to worry. He keeps watch of them in the meantime by relying on the dim lights on the cave's floor, while remaining silent and hidden in his hiding spot.
He sees a girl leading in front. Shortly behind her is a boy who has something big and weird on his head. Another girl is following behind her two allies, and she seems to be trying to catch up to their excited speed. A short boy, the one from Two, is a bit farther behind, but he doesn't even try to walk fast. He turns his head back once in a while, where his other two allies are. A boy and a girl are at the back of the pack, but they don't seem to be in a hurry to catch up to the ones leading the way. It's like they know where they're going.
"AAAAA" Dante hears the sound, but doesn't know where it's coming from. He panics a bit that maybe a mutt is nearby, but it sounds like it's a bit too far. Maybe it won't find him anyway. He will continue to be alert though. Anything dangerous can be around him at anytime.
Dante thinks he should stay in his hiding spot. Nobody is gonna come after him here. Also, it's not a dead end. He can run or sneak out on the other side. After all, he wants to be forgotten anyway. He doesn't have to make his move. All he has to do is hide from everyone. If he's lucky, he'll win, but he knows he doesn't deserve it. At least this is a safe spot for him.
If he only has the supplies, we would make traps and snares. The problem is that he barely has anything. He sure thinks he's lucky to have left the bloodbath alive and uninjured even though he was trapped there for a good half an hour, but he left with nothing. Someone sponsored him something, but he doesn't have anything to make traps. Guess he'll have to be resourceful and find other tools to make traps. He's telling himself that he's not gonna rely on sponsor gifts.
The longer Dante stays here, the more he feels like he's in his comfort zone. The term "comfort zone" doesn't mesh well with him. He knows that there's a negative implication that comes with the term. When there's a comfort zone, then there's also a zone outside of it. The thought of it doesn't make him comfortable, but he stays in his comfort zone anyway. It's what's best for him, he thinks.
Kobe and Orion left their slumber spot and decided to bravely explore the area. It seems like no one is or was here. The whole place looks broken, like an apocalypse ran over this world. There may be a pagoda and a prison, but that's about it. They can also see a burning ship in the distance, but it's burning, and thus inaccessible.
"I wonder how long that ship has been burning there," says Orion.
"Does it matter?" Kobe responds sassily.
"Just wondering."
They continue to walk to the other side of the hotlands, and Orion tries to come up with a prank along the way, but he can't come up with anything. They're walking, and it's too hard to prank anyone like this. He then remembers that he's in the Hunger Games. Maybe he shouldn't try to prank Orion? Maybe they should work together, but they're already working together, and now they're about to find out what's in one of those buildings.
Kobe doesn't wanna be here. In fact, he doubts anybody wants to be here except for the careers. All he has to do is survive. He didn't even want to leave the cave, but Orion convinced him too, that maybe they can find something good out here. This place looks wrecked! There's nothing good out here, unless there's abandoned loot they can use, but there's obviously none.
"Why do you think there's loot in one of those?" Kobe asks.
"Because the gamemakers might hide something useful from somewhere that is so distant from the cornucopia. I'm just guessing. You know, you'll never know." Orion chuckles at what he just said.
"Psssh," responds Kobe.
The pair walks some more, and while it looks like they're getting closer and closer to their destination, it's taking much longer for them to get there than what they expected.
Kobe groans in frustration as he wipes sweat away from his forehead. "Why did we decide to walk around noontime!?"
"I didn't think of this when we left," replies Orion.
At the pantry are five gamemakers discussing over the current events of the Hunger Games while having a very late lunch. During this time, Alistair is still sleeping on a couch somewhere else in the headquarters.
Vint lets out an evil laugh. "I can't believe someone would do that."
"It's bizarre!" reacts Deck. "Someone really requested to have a dozen eggs sent in one-hour intervals. It's extra work, but now that I see it, it actually looks funny from the audience's perspective."
"See!?" Sedna claps in amusement. "By the way, I wasn't expecting Tira to go this early, and also while I was asleep."
"I didn't see it coming either," Lirlina adds.
Sedna says passionately, "I thought she was gonna go further! I was rooting for her to go far."
"Well, anything can happen in the Hunger Games."
"You're not wrong, Vint," Sedna responds.
Nova says, "What do you think is gonna happen next?"
Sedna says, "I think the kids in the mansion and the kids in the tower will stay where they are right now."
Lirlina shares, "Agree. Also, I think the careers might split. Do you see the divide between them?"
"That's too easy to catch," reacts Deck. "It's been like that since training."
"I'm interested to see where both Eight tributes are heading. They're nearing exits," Nova shares.
"I wish the boy from Twelve would move," says Lirlina.
"Oh we'll let him," Vint states before he puts a slice of cheese in his mouth. "Just give him an extra day or two, and we'll officially label him as boring enough to kill."
Sedna says, "I wonder what's happening to Chip after Rufus attacked his allies."
Nova reports, "He's doing fine last I checked, but he hasn't done anything super impressive just yet, besides leaving his allies to die."
"Who do you think will be the next to die?" Vint asks.
"I have no idea to be honest," shares Sedna.
"Me neither," Lirlina seconds.
"I'm gonna say either of the Eight tributes. They could run into the six-pack." Nova stands up from her seat to refill her water.
Deck says, "I think sponsorship can change who can die next. So far, I haven't received anything today."
Vint chuckles and nods as he feeds himself another slice of cheese. "Well, let's see how things play out."
AN:
First things first!
19th Place: Macy Roe, D9, submitted by CelticGames4. Stabbed on the stomach repeatedly with a sword by Rufus Cornelii of D2. Honestly, we all knew this was coming. She could've been a bloodbath, but the unconventional bloodbath I had plus her bubbling friendliness got her allies and spared her as a bloodbath death. She would've absolutely died had the bloodbath been different, due to her crippling fear of blood. Despite being designed as a bloodbath, she still has layers to her. I enjoyed writing her childish and annoying character. I know Celtic wasn't exactly happy to have Macy alive past the bloodbath, and I intentionally messed with her without changing plans on the whim, but she's finally dead. Yay. :( Thanks for the awesome gal, Celtic! :D
18th Place: Tira Hyde, D3, submitted by DaughterOfTigris. Stabbed on the stomach repeatedly with a sword by Rufus Cornelii of D2. Now this is the early boot I feel really bad about. It's like those reality show eliminations that don't get past episode 4. Oof. I didn't want to kill her this early, but someone had to go. I picked her since she's too nice, and being nice won't really get her far in the Hunger Games. :/ She also has bad luck for sticking with Macy when I didn't fully intend her to, because I planned Macy to be the first death after the bloodbath. Tl;dr, someone had to go, and it became Tira. I had fun writing her too. After killing her, I thought of possible scenarios of how she could shine had she gotten further, but well, too late. D: Thanks for sending her, Tigress, and I hope you're doing well out there! :)
Now that that's out of the way, yay me for updating an arena chapter for the fifth month in a row! Sounds like a good thing, but I'm not really happy with updating only once each month. I mean come on, I'm supposed to have a lot of time because I'm already out of school, but I divided my time with other hobbies and distractions and responsibilities. Ideally, I should be looking for real work already, but that's another topic. I'm hoping to finish the story before 2020 ends. I've been dragging this story for waaaaay too long, and it's about time I put the cap this year. We'll get there. At least I haven't given up on this story, and I'm proud of that despite dragging the story this long.
While I'm on topic, if I ever write another THG story in the near future, I'm gonna be doing side projects instead of a full story like this. We all know I introduced too many characters here. Oops. XD I can't guarantee another update in January, but oh I wish. The faster I get updates out, the sooner I can finish the story. I won't be summarizing the story though. I've gone this far and have plans from 3 years ago that I still want to write in full. We'll get there. We really will!
Hope you enjoyed the chapter! :)