Day 6:


I'll tip my hat to the new constitution

Take a bow for the new revolution

Smile and grin at the change all around

Pick up my guitar and play

Just like yesterday

Then I'll get on my knees and pray

We don't get fooled again


I chase down another medicine pill, then shake the vial. There's only about half of them left. Whoops.

"How do you feel?" Troy asks in that sad, somber voice of his.
"I don't know." It's really hard to process how I feel about anything lately. I've constantly had to push my feelings aside to survive. At least I've had a bit of sleep to think. But I still can't shake off how disappointed I really feel in myself.

"What should we do now?"
"I don't know." That seems to be my only answer nowadays. "But I guess we have to go look for tributes? Or something?"

Troy sighs. "I don't want to."
"You just don't want to face your district partner."
"Do you want face yours?"

Again, I don't know. It's been so long since I thought about Whyllis and the way they changed, just like that. Do we still have that pact between us? Maybe to them, I'm just another target. Another tribute to kill. District loyalty doesn't matter anymore.

We're starting to run out of food.

"Do we need to change your bandages again?" Troy asks me. "Or do you think you'll be fine."
"Um, I think I'm alright for now. We shouldn't waste them."

Beep.

"Holy shit," I mutter under my breath, watching the parachutes fall, yet again. More sponsors! I hope it's food.

Troy catches the gifts before they fall to the ground; yeah I know, he's so much taller than me. Before he can even open them up, I catch a really savory smell. Ugh, it's so good. Maybe my prayers have been answered after all? Troy hands me the smaller one. I tear it open to reveal a grilled cheese sandwich.

Have a treat, hun! You deserve it!

-Rhiannon

"What is that?" Troy asks. He's opened his gift up to reveal and bucket of...actually, I have no clue what those are. I do recognize the salad though.
"It's grilled cheese. It's really good."
"It looks...sickening..."

I break the sandwich in half. "You're just saying that because you don't know what it is. Try it."

I can't say I've ever eaten grilled cheese for breakfast, up until now. It's so buttery, warm, and melty, and just like the ones I used to make myself at home. Finally, something good has happened in this arena. Especially after all the shit the past few days have thrown at me.

Troy rubs his greasy fingers together. "That was not what I was expecting. So many you should you try some of my food instead."
"What is it?"
"You've never had shrimp tempura before."

"We don't get a lot of seafood in 10." I pick off one of the shrimps from the top of the bucket. It's really crunchy, and thankfully, not as messy as grilled cheese. If this is what seafood tastes like, then I wouldn't mind being sponsored it again.

Troy and I divide up the rest of the bucket between us. before we can dig in, he shoves one of the salad bowls in my hands. "Vegetables are good for you."
"Yes captain." I think the last time I had fresh vegetables to eat was dinner before my interview. Which was almost a week ago. That's not very healthy, but then again, I've been eating half a meat pack a day to keep me going. Anything fresh probably would've spoiled by now.

God, I can't remember the last time I've felt so full. I pour some of the water over my hands and Troy's, at his insistence. The silent agreement between the two of us is that we're good for food. We've had enough to keep us awake and moving today.

"What did your note say?"
"What note?" Troy asks almost immediately.
"Your gift didn't come with a note?"

Troy fishes the note from his pocket. "I already read it."
"Was it from your mentor?"
"Does it matter?"

I shrug. I don't have the right to pry into any personal conversations between Troy and Roman. And now I have to tell him that I already read one of his notes. But what if that does give Troy the idea to kill me right on the spot? Or he might choose to break off the alliance. Maybe that's a good thing, but I don't know if I want that. It's only been a few days, but I have grown a bit attached. And I'm not proud of that at all.

Stupid feelings!

"Mine came from my escort this time."
"Mine was from my mentor. He was just saying that he knows I like shrimp tempura."

There has to be more, but if Troy won't tell me anything, fine. I sling my bow and quiver onto my shoulders. Troy grabs his sword. He also has one of the knives and insists on keeping the bandage rolls in his pockets rather than packed away, should we need them. Fine by me. I just feel safer knowing each of us has a weapon at ready just in case.

Just in case.

I give Troy a nudge. "You lead the way."
"Why me?"
"If we run into tributes, I don't want you to blame me for leading us to them."

Troy lets out a soft laugh. I follow him as we traverse the rocks and lava pools. At this point, we've really gotten used to the constant heat. I hardly notice how sweaty I am anymore, because my clothes are covered in it. At this point, the jackets are buried at the bottom of my bag. I hate how visible the sweat stains in my clothes, thanks to the bright orange. But then, Troy's light red isn't much better either.

Fine, we're both complete hot messes. At least we can be dirty together.

"Troy, did you hear that?"
"Hear what?"
"Listen."

Troy just gives me a confused look, since they last time someone asked him to listen to a noise he couldn't hear, our ally died right in front of us. But then I see him glance up nervously. "It sounds like...somebody might be..."
"Don't mind that. What should we do? Run?"

"Perhaps we can help them?"

Troy peeks around a large boulder where we can see two girls nervously whispering to each other as a third one beings to pant heavily in front of them. It's Opal. She's doing that dirty trick again, where she's pretending to be harmless in order to gain their trust. Troy moves forward, but I grab him and pull him backwards.

My bow. She's got my bow. That she stole from me.

"VR, she's clearly injured! We can help her."
"No! Stay down!"

I load an arrow into my bow. I will not lower my guard this time.

"Sitka, it's okay," one of the girls whispers. I think she might be from 12. But I can't remember her name. "I don't mind."
Sitka, the other girl, wags a finger in Opal's face. "It's all very convenient. Too convenient. How do we know we can trust you?"
You can't, I think to myself.

Opal slowly crawls to her feet. "I'm very clearly injured. I'd never be a threat to you."
"There's nothing wrong with another ally..."
"No, Maryann. If I say she's not with us, she's not with us."

"That's a shame." I can see the shining blade of Opal's damned sword. "I could really use that first-aid kit you've got there."

Opal lunges forward and I jump out, Troy scrambling after me. My first arrow misses and skids into some lava as Opal slashes her sword across Maryann's chest, the younger girl sinking to her knees. Sitka screams in horror as I struggle to reload my bow.

"VR!" Troy grabs my shoulder. "What are you doing?"
Opal actually has the guts to look shocked when she turns to face me. "You!?"

"This is payback, bitch!"
Opal manages to jump out of the way, ruining the perfect stomach shot I had set up. But the arrows grazes into her hip as she trips over Maryann's body, the jagged rock cutting into her hands and face. I fire a third arrow. This time, I aim at her forehead.

And I don't miss.

Opal begins to twitch and cough, blood oozing from the arrow in her forehead. For a second, it actually looks like she's in a lot of pain. Then her body goes still and two cannons fire in the distance.

"Why..." Troy's voice is just above a whisper. "Why did you do that..."
I just shrug, suddenly feeling really tired. "Hold my bow for a sec?"

It feels way too good to loot Opal's corpse of the silver bow and all these arrows. I consider pulling the one from her head but...no, I don't think I can. I also feel really, really lightheaded. maybe because my adrenaline rush is wearing off, or because I might've stood up a bit too fast, or...

"There was another girl. Did you see her?"
"Which one..."
"Um...are you okay?"

I try to shake my head. I feel so...so...

My eyes flutter closed and I can feel myself slumping forward as Troy yells my name.


10th place: Maryann Corrine Loorker, District 12. Stomach slit open by Opal.

Alas, another unfortunate bean bites the dust! Maryann was such a cutie who did get the shorter end of the stick, since she wasn't shown an awful lot outside of her alliance. But she was fun to write because I always love writing younger or more innocent tributes; they're a fresh breath of air. Thanks for sending her in, James! She was a cinnamon roll who didn't deserve this!

9th place: Opal Lumen, District 1. Shot in the head by VR.

I don't think anyone is too sad about this lmao. As a character, Opal was great because she had that whole "appear weak and then attack" move, which was so much fun to write. She really helped push the plot forward and create a lot of fun tension in the Games, though I think VR would like to argue with me on that one. And in a spectacular act of revenge, she goes out with a bang. Thanks so much for her, NamelessPanda!


Alliances:

Careers: Cindra, Anthony, Quincy

Three Bs: Tyrone, Whyllis

Uh...: Troy, VR

Well, this sucks: Sitka


Kills:

Opal: 1 (Maryann)

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

Anthony: 2 (Gayle, Basil)

Quincy: 2 (Flynn, Teff)

Karen: 1 (Abril)

Tyrone: 1 (Delta)

Whyllis: 2 (Damask, Jane)

VR: 1 (Opal)

Other Causes: 1 (Ethan)


We're now down to Final 8! And with only four districts remaining! Do any of the remaining tributes surprise you? Who are you rooting for the most?

Also, I'd like to announce that I'm now cutting off sponsor gifts since there's only a third of the tributes remaining. This chapter is your last chance to sponsor any of the tributes left before I close sponsoring down and they're all left on their own. So choose wisely!

Hang onto your seats! We're getting closer to the end!

-Vr