Day Nine

Logan Van Diamanten, District One Reaped (16)

Logan had been tired since a long time.

He just threw himself there, under the rain. He didn´t think it would stop anytime, but maybe it would.

Maybe it would all stop. Maybe all the other tributes will kill each other or die by mutts and he wouldn´t have to worry about them not one more second.

He is tired. He is so goddman tired and he misses Aisha. He remembers with like and love when they had sex, after he gave her the flower of love, or that´s what he called it in his mind since it led to sex.

He misses Athos, but he deserved to die due to what he did to Aisha. He doesn´t what he did, but he knows it is probably something bad, since he ended up seeing her in the sky that night.

He misses Aias. He didn´t kill him so it wasn´t his fault, and even though he doesn´t have an inch of regret on his body for making that plan, since it is almost leading him to win the games, as he is the only career left, he misses his friendliness he usually had during training, and the chariots. And well everywhere. He remembers his sweet, sweet smile. It made him seem like a little kid, and he probably was if he died.

And he did, he was a little child. A little, small, skinny, with no ways to protect himself child, who died because he was useless and a coward and he couldn´t do things right.

Yeah, that was what Aias was.

You will end up the same, Some weird part of his brain tells him that he won´t be able to do things right. That he will die like his alliances mates and that he was person.

You must atone for your crimes, his brain tells him.

"You know, brain" Logan says out loud. "I think you can suck my dick"

His brain shuts up the minute he tells him that.

Fortunately for him, the appears to be stopping raining, so Logan is slowly putting himself to work around here.

But then, he hears it. Someone disrespecting Aisha´s name. Saying bad things about her.

And he won´t let that happen.

Xaran Lilth, District Three Reaped (16)

History was spilling out of Maurie. The story of a life of a human being who was more than a face the Capitol watched to see when it would die. Maurie had a life and a family and a past. He didn't spring into being when a Capitolite read his name from a paper.

"You know how it is," Maurie was saying. "Micah was... you know, I was my hero. A kid needs someone to look up to other than his dad. Even if you have a great dad, there are things you can't talk about with him. That was me for Micah."

"I didn't understand it when I started pulling away. I thought I was doing something wrong. I used to stay up at night wondering what I did to make him mad. Then the night before the Games he finally told me."

"What did he say?" I asked.

Maurie smiled sadly. "It wasn't me at all. It was my dad. My dad had a stroke and I was busy caring for him. Boy, that made him feel even worse. Here he was wondering why I didn't pay attention to himand it was because my dad was dying." Maurie's voice went harsh and he fell quiet. I didn't want to make myself the center of attention, but it was the kind of silence a guy wanted filled for him, so I added my story.

"My family always got along pretty well. This one time we all went to a planetarium. That's about the only place people can go for fun in Three. I was being a real good kid, even though I must have been about seven and when you're that young it's hard to stay quiet. Funny thing is that it was Xylia and Dad that started making a scene. I don't even remember what they were fighting about. Something stupid, like Xylia asking if Dad would be mad if she got a nose ring. And I remember she pointed at a model and screamed 'I should just move to Pluto and you won't have to see it!' and he said 'It would take you ninety years, will you still want a nose ring when you're ninety?'" I started to laugh, and then my nose went drippy and I was crying. "I miss him," I said thinly.

Even though it had gotten better over the decades, lots of boys still thought sadness was "weak". Anger, though, was "strong". Socialization took over and I shifted my tears into shouts. I shouted unrepeatable words at no one and eveyone. Maurie's hand was on my arm as he tried to calm me down. I shook him off and screamed louder.

"Fuck you!" I screamed to Aisha. To my dad. To the Gamemakers and President Myriad and the Capitolites and everyone involved in this abortion of a spectacle. Over and over again I screamed it. In that moment, I didn't care the attention it would attract from the Capitol. And I didn't care what attention it would attract in the Arena. I didn't care until I saw the spear headed our way- headed Maurie's way. Then I got my head out of my self-pity and acted. It was my last act.

Maurie Stafford, District Ten Chosen (22)

I didn't see the spear until Xaran was dead on the ground. Xaran, my friend, who took a spear for me like it was nothing. And there was no time to mourn him, because Logan was still coming for me.

"Don't you talk about her!" he yelled. At first I didn't know who he was talking about. It took me a moment to connect his anger with Xaran's hardly-meant tirade against half a dozen people, Aisha among them. I wouldn't have pegged Logan for a misguided Arena romance. But nothing should surprise me anymore.

I had a knife in my hand, but I still ran from Logan. A knife didn't make up for what he had. Paper-sharp leaves whipped against my face as we ran through the forest and into a clearing. I heard the waterfall before I saw it. When I did see it, I ran into the pool at its base. The water slowed me down, but I knew if I could get far enough in before Logan caught me, he would lose me in the churning foam and thundering noise.

Logan ruined that plan. He sprinted in after me. I knew the chaos of waist-deep water would play right into the hands of a Career trained in quick decision-making, so I got back out to at least face him like a man. He charged out of the shallows and stabbed his spear at me. It ripped a slice out of my shirt and scored a furrow in my skin before I could slip sideways. Half a dozen more attacks followed. It was all I could do to squirm out of the way.

At my wits' end, I did something crazy. I grabbed his spear and instead of trying to yank it away, I pushed. He'd been expecting me to try to disarm him, so when I shoved the spear instead, it slammed into his stomach and he gasped. He took a step back, allowing me to get a better position. I pressed my advantage and slashed at his hand. I could feel the flesh resisting the blade as it scored his fingers.

Do something else crazy! I screamed at myself. I lifted a knee and stomped Logan's foot. While my foot was still pinning his, I shoved him back. An unexpected snapping noise echoed in the air as he fell. I didn't realize until he was down that I'd broken his ankle.

He wasn't done, though. He grabbed my leg and yanked. I twisted as I fell so I landed on top of him and my elbow hit his face. His nose imploded and blood flooded his face. I flung myself up and off of him and kicked him in the side. I followed it up with more and more kicks all across his body. I aimed a final one at his head. It snapped back and he lay dazed on the ground.

I sat on him, one leg on either side of his chest, and put both my hands on the knife for stability. He was still stunned, though that would only last a couple of seconds. I was going to make the most of that time.

"This is for everything the Careers have ever done to us," I hissed, and I brought my hands down.

A shrieking noise of agony split the air. My hands, still in midair, stopped in shock. Then Logan's hands were on my wrists and my knife was penetrating my chest. I fell to my side and Logan shoved me as he got up. Whoever screamed was nowhere in sight.

"Oh," Logan said, blood still dripping down his chin as he regarded me with a gory smile. "You thought you could kill me?"

He didn't stay around to watch me die. He left me to watch him limping away. And he was limping, something I could carry with me to the other side. I thought about that for a while. Then my thoughts changed to more important things. Xaran. Parter, briefly. And finally Micah and my father. They were something worth spending last thoughts on.

Caprium Fael, District Seven Reaped (13)

I curled wedged in a tiny cave in a rock wall. I was a little below ground level in a hollow, and the grass that grew around the rocks hid the cave from view. If I'd found this earlier I might never have left it. But then, earlier, I had allies. Now it was just me and the monster deer I was hiding from.

Hours went by as I cowered. I was hungry and thirsty, but it didn't make a difference if going out meant I would get killed. But when rain started pattering on the ground outside my shelter, I couldn't hold back. I crawled to the edge of the cave and peeked out through the grass. I didn't see the deer. I poked out hand out, then the other, then cautiously crawled out.

I wish I had a cup, I thought as I stood getting damp under the rain. I guess I don't really need one. I tilted my head back and opened my mouth like a little kid. Water droplets plopped in. They tasted sweet and delicious. It would take forever to get full, but I didn't mind. Water dribbled down my hair and I stood wet in the rain like Grandpa always told me not to do. For those moments, I felt like a kid again. And as many moments as it took, I did eventually feel full.

It couldn't last. Of course it couldn't last. It wasn't a Career that broke the moment. It was the horrible deer that had just left my thoughts, the one I couldn't convince myself wasn't something the Capitol made out of a dead girl's soul. It came, and I ran.

The Capitol made a monster. They made it fast, but not as fast as a real deer. They made it so it could chase me and they could watch as I started to hope I might be able to get away. It would have caught me eventually, but then I remembered something Grandpa told me. It was about bears, but it would work here too. He said that bears are fast, but the big ones can't climb. If it's a little bear you're just out of luck, funny enough, but a big bear is too heavy to climb. And deer can't climb at all.

I threw myself on the tree like I was trying to jump over a gate. My hands and feet found holds and I climbed like a squirrel. The deer hit the tree as I was five feet off the ground. It was too far below to reach me, but it kept trying, butting the trunk again and again and shaking it as I climbed. I didn't stop until I was at the top.

At the top, I tucked in and hunkered down, waiting for the deer to leave. After a few minutes it stopped ramming the tree. It didn't leave, though. It lurked at the foot of the tree, circling and pawing at the ground. It tossed its head angrily up at me. And finally, after long minutes of anxious waiting, it left.

It's gone. I relaxed. And my hands slipped, and I fell.

I screamed as I fell. It was a high reedy wail.

It stopped when I hit the ground. I hit, and it didn't hurt. The instant my body hit the ground, my body crumpled. It was like the air went out of me. I was empty. Nothing hurt. I felt like I was nothing at all. Just a soul hanging weightless just above the ground.

I told my legs to move. They didn't. I told my arms to move, and they didn't. I lay like I was trying to rest, my arms out slightly and my legs flat. Slowly it came to me. I wasn't in pain, but it wasn't because I wasn't broken. I was broken in the worst way. Somewhere along my back I was shattered so bad the nerves couldn't connect anymore. Not to my legs, not to my arms, not anywhere in my body but my head and neck.

I didn't know I was bleeding until I saw it. I'd just been laying there feeling peaceful. When I saw the blood, it brought back all the terror and panic. I started to whimper and then to mindlessly call for help. I didn't know who I was calling. There was no one coming to help me.

But someone did come. A figure appeared in the distance and I strained my head to see who it was. When I saw, I didn't know whether to cry harder or just close my eyes. It was Hans.

Hans Miner, District Twelve Reaped (18)

Hans doesn´t know what to do. He sees himself, and he is lingered by what he has to do now.

He has to kill an innocent person.

Sure, the boy is handicapped and has his back broken, but he has to die for him to come home and do what Xander couldn´t do.

Keep his baby safe.

He has to do it, not only for him, but also for Akira. God knows what his sister might be going through right now, the pain she must be suffering at the loss of her husband is this horrible games.

But, alas, something gotta give. And he has to die

You could play a little with him. His brain tells him, Do whatever you want with-

"NO!" he yells at nowhere. It doesn´t matter that he has to die, cause he will even if does nothing and lets him bleed to death. He has to do it, he has-

Come on, toy with him, do what you want with him. You know you want to.

He has to force a thought into shutting down the main thought.

Hans doesn´t want to hurt anyone. He wants to live a happy, normal life, you got it, dumbass brain?!

But-

NO! You hear me. Hans is going to be a good person and die this guy´s life before he suffers more pain, not toy with him, got it?

But-

I freaking told you, SHUT THE FUCK UP. I don´t like you brain. You give me all these weird thoughts I don´t want to have, and that if i followed them, I will end up in jail, dead, or making people feel pain. I don´t want that, you hear? I DON´T FUCKING WANT THAT, SO YOU BETTER SHUT UP BEFORE I KILL MYSELF AND YOU CEASE TO EXIST TOO, got it?!"

For some reason, this calms Hans´ brain and he kneels over Cap´s body. The poor little semi-unconscious from the pain he had been given from the fall, and surely on his way to Heaven.

"I am sorry you had to die this way, little man" He tells him as he knells over him and closes his knife to his throat. "I am sure you are in a lot of pain due to your relatives and allies´ deaths, so I can assure you will go to Heaven now."

He introduces the knife into the throat, and Cap´s eyes close almost instantly. It´s isn´t peaceful, death never is, but he tried the best he could, Hans thinks.

So that´s what counts in the end, he guesses.