Night 3:


Come as you are

As you were

As I want you to be

As a friend, as a friend

As an known enemy


I feel...light.

Everything's spinning and my head hurts. I squeeze my eyes shut, before I'm aware of a dulling pain in my gut and it all comes flooding back to me. The sky above me is orange and red, there's the smell of something burning, it's much too hot to be home and...

"Hey you, you're finally awake."

I grab my bag, which is lying open nearby for some reason, and reach inside for my machete. Once I feel the handle, I whip it out and point it straight at...Ethan. What's he doing here? How long has he been here? What has he done to me...

Am I dead?

More pain explodes and I grab at my stomach. Or, more accurately, the mess of bandages wrapped around my stomach. Ethan sucks in his breath and sighs. "I'm not good at patch jobs."
"Did you take this from my bag? And my jacket! Where's my jacket!?"

"I cleaned it for you!" Ethan gestures vaguely at my jacket, which is sitting nearby on some rocks. "It had some blood on it, so I figured you'd like it cleaned."
It's taking me way too damn long to process everything. I wake up here, sitting next to a boy who could've killed me by now, who wrapped a bunch of bandages around my stomach, cleaned off my clothes for me, but didn't take any of my supplies?

Though it seems Ethan has a few things of his own. I see a bottle of wine poking out of his bag, some hoodie and...a teddy bear?

Ethan fishes the bear out of his bag. "This is Walter. He's my new best friend. Say hi to him or he'll end you." Walter "waves" a knife around as if making a point.
"Uhhhh...hi, Walter. How are you?"

Walter says nothing. Of course he'd say nothing. He's a teddy bear. Teddy bears don't speak.

Ethan casually stuffs Walter back into his bag. "Walter thinks you're cool. Anyways, what's new with you?"
"Aside from me almost bleeding out to my death?"
"Yeah, aside from that. Before I saved you. Duh!"

I quickly recount everything thus far. Ethan just sits cross-legged across from my, resting his elbows on his ankles and his chin on his hands. "Yeeeesh. That's pretty fucking rough. I guess you should be happy that Opal chick didn't try and yeet you in some lava, huh?"
"Yeah...guess I got that going for me?" I rub some ash off my forehead. "Ethan, I'm not in the mood for jokes right now."

"I have some fancy-ass red wine if you need to drown your sorrows with a drink."
"No no, it's fine." I don't even care for wine anyways. "I just...I'm so stupid! How could I let her take the bow away from me!?"

Ethan opens his mouth to speak, but is cut off by a beep signaling yet another sponsor gift. It slowly drifts down, before Ethan catches it and hands it to me. "I think this is yours."

I can barely hold the gift in my lap, let alone open it up, so Ethan does it for me. It's a roll of bandages, plus some painkillers. I study the little vial of pills, then pick up the note that came with it. It's from Cheyenne this time. Can't wait to hear her prophetic words of wisdom.

Please take care of yourself. Also, this shit is expensive. Use it wisely.

Right. Like my biggest priority at the moment is nursing a painkiller addiction. I pop one of the pills anyways (Ethan has to pry open the vial for me), chasing it down with some cool water. Oh yeah, water. The other canteen is full, but this one's down to about half. Then again, Ethan did pour a bunch of it on my jacket.

Speaking of Ethan, he's clearly famished. I sigh a hand the canteen over. He gulps the entirety of it down, careful to avoid the spot where I put my lips. Not like it matters that much anyways. But now we're down to a single canteen of water between two of us.

"So...what about you? Sorry about your allies."
"It's okay. I mean, I'm kinda over it now, y'know? Sometimes, it be like that. But I got this cool kangaroo onesie to make me feel better."
"Yeah, sure. Whatever."

I shove all my stuff back into my bag. "At least the sponsors seem to like us. Or, at least they like you. They're probably pissed off with me right now."
"Are you sure about that?"

"Positive," I say, even though I don't feel very positive right now. That medicine and and the bandages are probably the last thing I'll get. If we really need to use an entire roll each time, then I've got maybe four days before I can't keep from bleeding out. At least the painkillers will make it hurt a little less.

"Who's that?"
"Who's what?" I ask, before Ethan points it out to me. I can see someone running to us, wearing a bright red version of our arena uniform. He looks familiar, and I feel like I should know who he is, but he quickly collapses and proceeds to vomit all over the place, nearing covering Ethan's shoes.

"Ugh!" Ethan jumps back in disgust. "Dude, what the fuck!?"
"It's her...she...she-"
"Who are you talking about?"

The newcomer doesn't answer us, just rolls onto his side, clutching a satchel tightly. Troy. I remember his name now. "Cindra...she...he's...dead..."
Oh fuck. "Someone killed Cindra?"

"No...she was mad...Quincy told her...Bartleby...so she..."

Troy begins to wheeze, grabbing at his chest. "Saw her shove...poked right through his...grabbed a bag and...ran..."

A cannon fires out. Troy just points weakly to the sky. "That."
I still don't get what he's trying to say, but if we just wait a little longer, the faces of the dead will show up, hopefully confirming his story. I just glance up at Ethan, whose face is really hard to read. But he eventually looks over at me and I give him a shake of the head which says what do we do about this guy?

Ethan shrugs. Great. Now it's up to me to figure things out.
"Troy, if you want, you can stay with us. You don't have to go back...to your allies, if you don't want to."
Troy finally calms down. "Yeah, I'd...I'd like that...thanks."

It's getting darker, I think. Still very hard to tell. But then I see the holograms pop up. There's a single face, that of Bartleby, the boy from 1. Troy lets out a small sigh and I feel pretty disappointed as well. Bartleby has really been a saving grace, allowing me to escape his alliance unharmed. He could've killed me twice, but he didn't.

"Is this bad?" Ethan asks.
"I don't know," I mutter under my breath. There's one less person between me and home, but at the same time, who'd dare to harm Bartleby of all people? And if Troy's story makes sense, Cindra did so in a fit of anger. Over what?

Troy shakes his head. "He's been letting people go, rather than going after them."
I flip over a small rock lying next to me. "I should know. He let me go twice."

Troy blinks in surprise, but doesn't comment. Maybe he's too exhausted. I know I am. It's been a hell of a day.

I could be dead, but I'm not. I've got two supposed awkward allies, a good amount of supplies, a clotting wound, and only ten tributes left to face. Not favourable conditions, but things could be worse. They certainly could be worse.


12th place: Bartleby Richmond, District 1. Run through by Cindra.

Bartleby was a very interesting Career. He was very mysterious; while his allies were all cutthroat and bloodthirsty (with the obvious exception of Troy), he was very stoic, letting people escape with seemingly no reason and no desire to kill. Unfortunately, this made him very frustrating to deal with among his allies and Cindra decided to take matters into her own hands. Thanks for Bartleby, Pi! He was such a fun character!


Alliances:

Careers: Cindra, Anthony, Quincy

The Beans: Sitka, Maryann

Three Bs: Tyrone, Whyllis

Awkward Trio: Troy, Ethan, VR

All By Herself: Opal


Kills:

Cindra: 4 (Bartleby, Ellie, Magaz, Leo)

Anthony: 2 (Gayle, Basil)

Quincy: 2 (Flynn, Teff)

Karen: 1 (Abril)

Tyrone: 1 (Delta)

Magaz: 1 (Karen)

Whyllis: 2 (Damask, Jane)


After what happened last chapter, we needed a bit of a calmer one. Though I guess this one was not very calm. But hey, at least VR's got some allies now! Oh yes, and another one bites the dust. RIP Bartleby T_T

Did the changes in alliances surprise you? Do you think Vr should stick with Ethan and Troy, or she's better off on her own? We'll have to find next chapter then!

-Vr