Chapter Twenty One: Dead to Me

A monster, a monster,
I've turned into a monster,
A monster, a monster,
And it keeps getting stronger

-Monster, Imagine Dragons.

Darya Nelson (17).
District Four Female.

"Alexander definitely did a number on this place," Qarza mumbled as the two of them made their way through the charred section of forest, their heads pounding and chests burning from the amount of smoke they'd inhaled. It had been a near-miss for both of them; wading through a thick bog to try and escape the flames that were roaring closer and closer, though they'd somehow made it. Darya couldn't say that she'd enjoyed the torrential downpour the gamemakers must have triggered, but it saved their lives, so she had to appreciate it a little.

The gash on her arm wasn't bleeding anymore, only hurting like hell. But Darya couldn't imagine that Briar was having too much fun with the sword to the side she'd taken, which was a small comfort. If it hadn't been for Alexander, though, the bitch would have been dead by now. In fact, if it wasn't for him, Darya was sure that she'd already be out of this arena and on her way to the Capitol. She'd have turned on him next, then she and Qarza could've hunted down whatever tributes were left. The three cannon shots earlier suggested that somebody had already done that, or maybe Alexander had done some real damage with his fire. It was only making Darya more and more impatient. Four cannons left, that's all she had to stick out.

A beeping sound above them caught the pair's attention, the two of them stopping and craning up at the sky. The parachute landed on the floor between them, and Darya let Qarza open it, the boy seeming excited. He pulled out some food and a medkit, murmuring to himself excitedly. Straightening up, he gestured to her arm and the medkit.

"I guess it's my turn to play doctor," he said. "Wanna clean it out right now?"

"Sure." Darya shrugged. It was better to do it now than let it get infected, after all, though she couldn't imagine that these Hunger Games could drag on long enough that it would be too much of a problem. Another day, max, she would say. Maybe two since it was already starting to get dark. She didn't know who the cannons belonged to, but she was assuming it was to the outsiders, the ones lurking in the forests, rather than either Alexander or Briar. And, if it had been for them, well, maybe she'd be out of this arena by sunrise.

She made small talk with Qarza, wincing as the boy swabbed the wound with an antiseptic that more than stung. He wrapped it up and there was a brief silence, the two of them staring at each other with nothing to say. It had been an eventful week and a bit since they'd both been thrown together on the train, and it had been somewhat fun, but both of them knew that it couldn't last for too much longer.

"I, uh..." Qarza shifted from foot to foot nervously, Darya observing him from the tree stump she was perched on. The boy reached into his back pocket. "The paints you gave me? I, uh, made you something." He handed her a folded piece of paper. A painting of the two of them, back on the beaches of Four.

"It's lovely."

"I just thought... I mean, we're going up against the others and if one of us is going to be going home it's probably..." He trailed off with a shrug. "You know Briar and Alexander are way better than I am, so..."

Darya looked down at the painting, then back at her ally. Her district partner. Her friend. "You're better than you think you are, Qarza. You know that your worth isn't based on how well you can swing a sword, right?"

"Thanks, Darya," he grinned, turning around to grab something from his backpack.

A cannon boomed not even a minute later, the tip of Darya's sword finding the small of the boy's back as he turned away. The painting gripped tightly in her hand, she pulled her sword from the body with a lump in her throat and tears burning in her eyes. She watched as Qarza fell lifelessly into the mud, his eyes wide open and full of betrayal.

"I had to, Qarzie," she choked out, looking back up to the sky. "I'm sorry."

After all, better that he went how he did than to Alexander or Briar. Darya was quick; he didn't know until it was happening. Or... that was what she had to tell herself because she couldn't fall apart now. Not whilst Briar and Alexander were still out there, probably plotting her demise as she stared down at Qarza.

Letting out a quiet dob, she stepped over him, retrieving his backpack. She didn't know what he was going to retrieve, but it didn't matter now. She had one task, and one task only as she started to walk away, bloody sword in her grip.

She was going to be crowned Victor tonight.

Briar Caswell (18).
District One Female

The cannon shot startled both Briar and Alexander, the two of them having been sat in the cornucopia for the past few hours mostly in silence. Briar wasn't too sure what had gone down before she'd manage to get there, slowed down by the cut on her side that was aggravatingly inconvenient, though not fatal, but he'd murmured something about his district partner once they'd made sure Briar wasn't going to bleed to death, and she was able to mostly piece two and two together. The cannon shot only a few minutes later had sent him silent. This one, made him sit up straight.

"Could've been Darya," he said, looking over to Briar. She leaned against the metal of the cornucopia, letting her head lol back as she shifted on the supply crate. "Would make it a hell of a lot easier."

"Could've." Briar nodded. "Or it could have been whoever else is in this arena that we have no idea about. The shots that happened before I got here could have easily been her and Qarza."

"Yeah..." he murmured. "Well, whoever it is, there's one of them and two of us. If the cannon wasn't his then we know the boy from Eleven is alone now, so..."

"She lunged at you first, Alexander," Briar said. "I know what I told Darya earlier, but it's not— what happened with Sylas and I was completely different. Sylas fell out of a tree. Lotte was trying to kill you. You did what you had to do."

Alexander shrugged. "Doesn't make it any less taboo, Briar."

The two of them settled into further silence. Alexander fiddling with a small black earring, his token Briar presumed, and she closed her eyes and tried to clear her mind. It was going to be a long night, she could already feel it. The two of them only move when the anthem starts to play, peeking out of the horn and up to the cloudy sky to see who their last competitors were.

The girl from Three is the first face to be shown, Briar having no particularly strong feelings towards her. Qarza's face next took her off guard, though, and she shares a bewildered glance with Alexander at that. The relief is dashed away when Darya's face doesn't appear next, however, meaning that she's still out there. Qarza's face is replaced with that of Alexander's district partner, Briar reaching out to try and rest a hand on Alexander's shoulder, though he jerks away. With the last face in the sky being that of the District Ten girl, she and Alexander are able to figure out who they're up against.

Darya and the District Eleven boy.

Briar let her mind drift back to her brother.

"The Eleven boy is mine," she told Alexander. He nodded.

"Feel free to claim both of them," he murmured. "Do you mind taking first watch?"

"No. Get some sleep."

"Don't even think about stabbing me while I'm sleeping." He said with a small smile. "I'll be sleeping with one eye open."

Briar snorted. "Damn. Just thwarted all of my plans." Then. "I'm not going to, Alexander. I've got bigger things to worry about."

And it's tempting to do the opposite of what he said; it's a foolproof method of getting rid of an ally, tried by tributes almost every year. But Briar wasn't foolish enough to go through with it. After all, Darya was still out there and Briar couldn't denounce the girl as a threat. Even if she was injured, she was easily the biggest threat that Briar was facing. Alexander could stick around until she was gone, and then they'd have to turn on each other. Once Alexander was dealt with, which would be relatively easy, she could hunt down the Eleven boy. Would it be revenge for Bastian to kill him, she wondered? Especially if she wasn't doing it specifically to get back at the tribute who had killed her brother.

No. If she killed him it proved, once and for all that she was better than her brother.

That she could do what he didn't.

Constantine McKnight (18).
District Eleven.

It's him versus three Careers.

Constantine couldn't even think about going to sleep. He was so much further into these Hunger Games than he could have ever expected, propelled by Lotte, the two of them defying the expectations probably everyone in Panem. Lotte had placed sixth, a lot higher than whatever bloodbath spot she'd almost certainly been predicted. But sixth was just as dead as twenty fourth, and if Constantine didn't want her death to be in vain then there were three people who needed to die so that he could get out.

The only problem was that the three people he needed to die were Careers. Even if one of them was an outer district tribute just like him, it had already been proven what he was capable of.

But, Constantine had the mutt. And if an entire Career Pack hadn't been able to take it down, then how would the shambles of one be able to? Constantine got up, shouldering his backpack. If he wanted any sense of having the upper hand—because he knew the mutt wasn't the full answer to his problems—then he had to strike now whilst the Careers were, hopefully, sleeping.

He hoped that they were all together and that they'd stayed put. He headed towards the cornucopia, trying to swallow down the bile that rose in his throat as he tried to push the memories of earlier from his mind; from running the opposite way to what he was doing now, Lotte cradled to his chest. Right now he was failing her but, hopefully, he could make it up to her once he was finally out of this godforsaken place.

With the cornucopia finally coming into view, Constantine took a moment to observe it. A brunette girl, the injured one that he'd seen earlier, was sitting in the mouth of the cornucopia, gazing out at the forest through half open eyes. Constantine couldn't see anyone else, but they had to be there. And even if they weren't, then one Career dead was better than none.

Constantine rolled the ball between his fingers, taking a deep breath as he launched it towards the girl on guard. He hid in the bushes, the shriek from the Career girl making him happier than he'd care to admit. The Eight boy, the one who'd killed Lotte, appeared next to her, scrambling for a weapon as the mutt advanced on the two of them.

The mollusk, with its long tentacles, seemed to devour the arm of the One girl, her arm and weapon disappearing as she thrust blindly towards it.

But Constantine's relief was short-lived. Instead of the One girl staggering backward and bleeding out, the tip of her sword pierced through the front section of the mutt's shell, and she did stagger backwards, but with her arm intact and weapon in hand.

Constantine cried out as the mutt fell on its side. The One girl's gaze snapped his way, the Eight boy stepping up and sending his sword piercing through the hole the One girl had made until the mutt went still. As the One girl charged in his direction, similar to the way she had come running out of the forest earlier, Constantine knew that he'd fucked up.

It was apparent by the way the girl followed him, running after him until he was no longer able to keep upright. Constantine fell onto his knees, legs burning and chest heaving.

The girl caught up to him seconds later, standing in front of him with a smirk on her face. Constantine, still trying to catch his breath, raised his gaze to meet hers, unflinching as she swung her sword into the side of his neck.

Eulogies:

5th place: Qarza Bolton, D4M. Killed by Darya, D4F.

Qarzaaaa :(( you were such fun to write. I know I say that about every character but, hey, this cast is stellar and there's genuinely not one tribute I don't like. He added a wholesomeness to the Careers, to Darya, that was definitely appreciated, but I think everybody knew that he wasn't going to be Victor. This death was genuinely one of the hardest to write, because I just didn't want it to happen. I've had this planned out for a long time, though, and even if I toyed with changing his death a lot writing this chapter, it was just something that had to happen. Sorry, Manny, and also sorry Times for killing off tribute you.

4th place: Constantine McKnight, D11M. Killed by Briar, D1F.

Times if you no longer speak to me after this chapter, I totally understand lmao. This one is a double whammy. This death was one that I've had planned out for the majority of this story. It was an idea I had as soon as both of the tributes were in, but for a while, it was never going to come to fruition because... Connie was my Victor. But, in the end, realistically, he was in an arena with three trained killers and with the mutt always dying here, I knew that it would take some serious luck for Connie to get out alive. Luck that he just didn't have. But he and Lotte were an amazing duo and added so much to this story. So thank you for submitting him, Times.

This is a surprise double update. Read the next chapter for your Victor.