"Here we go, this is my confessional
A lost cause, nobody can save my soul
Inside it's dark and cold
With every move, I die…"
~Dancing With Tears In My Eyes (Ke$ha)
o0o
Lauren Silver (18) District 3 Tribute
3:00 pm
There is no such thing as sunrise or sunset in this Arena. The sky remains dark as ever, and the only sources of light are those that are embedded into the Arena itself. The graceful, flowing lines have lost some of their previous glow though- perhaps that is how we determine the time of day in the outside world. The weather seems to work just fine, though. The downpour had forced Aveline, Danielle, Natalia, and I further under the trees. Aveline had made quick work of setting up the large piece of tarp that she'd apparently picked up on her way out of the Bloodbath. Natalia was the only other one with a pack, and it glowed red, unfaltering under the steady rain.
"We need to find someplace to set up camp for the night!" Aveline has to yell to be heard over the pounding of the rain. She dissolves into a coughing fit as soon as the words leave her mouth, doubling over. Danielle's eyes go wide as she rushes to her side, but Aveline waves her off with one hand, the other still clapped over her mouth. "Happens all the time," she gets out, barely audible over the rainstorm. "I worked in the mines of 12 for a while, inhaling all that coal dust hasn't done good things for me."
"Are you going to be alright in the cold?" Natalia is already fishing around in her pack, finding a windbreaker, and draping it over Aveline's shoulders. The jacket, now glowing the same color as Aveline's suit, isn't going to do much against our current situation, but it's the thought that counts and warms my heart.
"I've been in worse." Aveline points at Natalia's pack. "What's in there?"
"I don't know if I want to take it out during this storm!" Nat points out. "Even with the tarp." A nod to Aveline. "Thanks for grabbing that, by the way. These suits don't do anything to keep us warm."
"She has a point," Danielle agrees. "We should wait till this blows by, and then do a supply check."
"Who knows when that will be, though." Aveline has mostly recovered at this point and is only slightly bent over. "If there's anything we desperately need, it's better to know sooner rather than later."
Natalia glances up at the luminescent dark pink tarp above us. "How long will that thing hold against a storm like this."
Aveline's eyes glitter in the fading light from the trees around us. "It'll hold."
Natalia sighs, and swings the bag around her shoulder, undoing the straps and opening it. Danielle and I crouch down on the ground beside her, Aveline quickly joining us.
"There's not much here," Natalia says despondently. She reaches into the bag and pulls out a liter of water, a package of crackers, and a bottle of iodine pills. "Hardly anything to go on. We're going to need some way to find more supplies if we're going to live through this."
I stare down at the tiny pile. One liter of water. One package of peanut-butter crackers. A bottle of iodine pills, and a three-foot-long square tarp that was the only thing shielding us from what very well could be our deaths. I wouldn't put it past the Gamemakers to send down poison rain. It would be a quick, efficient way of eliminating wounded Tributes, that's for sure.
"There's not much opportunity to forage for supplies in this place." I look around. "This isn't like a regular forest." This whole place reeks of death. I don't know if the whole forest is like this, but it can't be good for any of us.
"Once the rain stops, we should try and find a place to sleep for the night," I decide. "We can risk moving out of here tomorrow morning. The Careers will be hunting tonight, especially since they presumably split eight kills between them."
"Seven." Aveline puts her chin in her hands. "Seven dead from the Careers and the other two killed by a mutt and Asher Foster." Her eyes are distant as she stares down at the latticework of lines on the ground, lost in memory. "He killed the little girl from 6, Lancia. The one who said all those wonderful things during the Capitol and gave voice to what we've all been thinking. He just slammed her head against the side of the Cornucopia over and over again before-" her voice catches. "Before he literally tore her throat out."
Silence follows her words, and the only sound for a long, long time is the sound of rain on leaves and tree foliage.
"I'll miss that girl." Danielle's voice is quiet, barely heard among the pitter-patter of the rain, which has slowed to a drizzle instead of a downpour. "She was always so determined to get everything right in training and always made everyone else in her alliance laugh. I heard them, over at their table. They all loved her. She was too young to die."
"Aren't we all," Natalia murmurs back. The rain has fully come to a halt now, and Aveline sticks a hand outside the tarp.
"Careful!" I warn, but she's already sliding out, standing up and stretching her arms above her head.
"It seems safe," she declares. "I haven't fallen over dead yet."
"Yet," Nat repeats but follows her anyway. Danielle and I do the same, sliding things back into the bag and me swinging it over my shoulder. There's not enough to ration out, not yet, although we all agreed that it's the best option once we do end up getting more supplies.
We're not going to have a place to sleep tonight except the patch of dry ground that the tarp has given us and each other's body heat. Nor do we have enough water to go around for long, and a single package of crackers won't feed four people. Aveline and Nat have gotten into a friendly sort of argument, playfully shoving each other and protesting against whatever the other person said. But Danielle stands beside me, her eyes dark as she watches them. "We're going to need to find somewhere else to stay," is all she says, as if she's read my mind. "The city place might have more stuff there. I doubt that the horn and Sponsor gifts are the only ways to get what we need, or else the Careers would slaughter us all. That doesn't seem like something the Gamemakers would let happen."
"We still need to keep the dog in mind," I answer, keeping my voice equally low. I don't know why it's just the two of us in this conversation and why we're not including the others, but I find that I kinda like the feeling. "We don't have any way to counter it, or to get away."
"It ripped that poor boy in half." Danielle twists her hands together. "It could easily have killed all 24 of us. Why didn't it?"
A stone drops into my belly, almost making me nauseous as I say, "It's because there's no entertainment value in something like that. These are Games, Danielle. The Capitol people want to watch us put up a fight before we die. They want to see us struggle and fret and draw this out as long as possible. Besides, it wasn't the dog who was responsible for the other eight deaths."
"We have no defense against it, though," Danielle insists. "It's much, much stronger and bigger than us. Faster than us, too."
I have to agree with her on that point. We're not going to be able to outrun that thing if it decides to chase us. I don't think anything in this Arena is going to allow us to do so. We'd have to rely on evasive tactics, and then, who knows how smart that thing is. It's not big enough for us to go under it, it's too tall to go over.
Speed is the only way we might be able to evade probably the biggest threat in the Arena, and we have no means of transportation besides our own two legs.
And then, as if my thoughts have triggered something in a control room somewhere in the Capitol, the first canister falls from the sky.
o0o
Thames Venturi (18) District 1 Tribute
5:00 pm
"Aegis, we need to talk."
"There's nothing to talk about," Aegis answers quietly. His inky eyes are fixed solidly on the sword lying in his lap. The red lights on his suit are vibrant in the fading light, and the strange disk on his back is emitting a steady, pulsing glow. "Really, Thames. We're warriors. Killing calm isn't something uncommon for people like us to experience."
Heaving out a long breath, I sit down on the lip of the horn beside him. There is no sun in this Arena, but there was apparently precipitation. A deluge of rain had forced the five of us into the Cornucopia. It had halted almost as soon as it started though- at the press of a button, somewhere in a white room back in the Capitol.
Halliday and Athena just returned from collecting firewood, from the strange forest that lies off towards the left of the Cornucopia, and Sash slips wordlessly down from his tree, ducking into the Cornucopia to find fire-starting materials.
"Aegis, we're eighteen. Be honest with yourself: is this really something people as young as us should know the effects of? We're not bred for bloodshed, Age," I repeat, recalling what I'd said to Tiberius… two days ago. Those words had only left my mouth two days ago, and yet it feels like a lifetime because there are nine children dead. Five at our hands.
"We're not bred for bloodshed, and I really don't think that the killing calm makes you go berserk and disembowel people. You killed someone with your necklace, Aegis. You're not fooling anyone."
"We're being aired live, you know." Aegis snaps back.
I blink. Yeah, but what does that have to do with anything?
"That means that I can't just pour my fucking soul out to you without displaying it to everyone out there, watching this right now."
"This is the Hunger Games." I point out. "One of us, very possibly both, will be dead in a week, tops. And if you win, you're going to be a Victor, and I highly doubt that anyone's going to give you shit about how you won the Games, because you won, and as long as you gave them a show, they won't give a shit. Start talking."
Sheathing the weapon across his lap, Aegis sets the scabbard down and slides off the Cornucopia, leaning back against it. I hop down to join him, and he pulls me close, resting my head against his shoulder as he leans down to whisper in my ear.
...
"I still don't understand," I say quietly, hands tucked under my arms, curled against Aegis' side for warmth. The fire Sash and Halliday have started flickers merrily between the five of us. "You're… you. You're brilliant and bold and brave, and you're trying to tell me that you're a monster?" I shake my head. "Monsters don't hold me and let me fall asleep to the beat of their heart. Monsters don't comfort me after I break down in one of the worst ways imaginable just because people look at me. You're not a monster, Age. Monsters aren't like you."
Aegis doesn't offer any answer for a span of what might be five minutes or five hours. He simply stares into the fire, the light flickering across his face and casting shadows in his eyes. The quiet murmur of Sash and Halliday's conversation, along with the crackling of the fire, fills my ears to replace the silence, along with Athena's light, airy laugh. Finally, Aegis throws another small stick into the fire. "When I cut myself I bleed, that's human, right? When I'm tired, I sleep, when I'm hungry I eat… and when someone gets under my skin, commits a wrong against me, I have to leash myself in order not to literally take their head off. That's what makes me a monster. I have a knack for violence, Thames." He bites his lip for a moment. Chucks another stick into the flames. "I have a real, true knack for it, and I'm not quite sure where that puts me." His dark eyes reflect the dancing light of the flames. "That's what makes me the monster."
"That's not true!" I protest, but before I can get any further, Sash stands up, immediately catching our attention.
"First night in the Arena," he announces. "I counted nine canons before the rainstorm. That means there are fifteen of us left."
A somber silence follows his words, as reality finally seems to set in. Nine dead. Eight by our hands. Athena doesn't blink as she gazes directly at the fire. Sash's bottom lip is caught between his teeth. Halliday is the only one who doesn't seem affected. That's right, I realize with a jolt. She's the only one of us who didn't get a kill at the Bloodbath.
"Are we hunting tonight?" Indeed, Halliday's voice is laced with iron, her voice cooler than her last name.
"We could." Athena looks up from the fire. "There are probably night vision goggles in one of the crates inside the Cornucopia. I didn't bother to open every one of them, though, so I'm not completely sure." My first thought when I'd really registered the fact that there was light everywhere was that would make for easier hunting when nightfall rolled around. But, despite there being no sun, the lights seem attuned to the day and night schedule and have slowly but surely begun to dim over the last few hours. "Besides," Athena adds. "Halliday took that Thorne guy out of the picture, he should be an easy target."
The other girl only nods, with a brooding sort of expression on her face, and it isn't hard to tell that she's kicking herself for whatever she thinks she did wrong.
"Look!" Aegis jolts against me, dislodging me from my place against his chest. I jerk upright, frowning, but Aegis is looking up. His exclamation and excitement turn our eyes skyward, and there, stark against the black sky of the Arena, is a glimmer of green, matching the color of Halliday's suit. The lit-up parachute gentles and slows the descent of a cylindrical canister, and it lands right in Halliday's outstretched hands.
"Sponsor Gift," Sash grins. "Nice job, Halliday!"
Halliday can't quite seem to stop the smile that spreads across her face as she twists open the lid and peers inside. Her lips quickly purse together, and an eyebrow wings up.
"What is it?"
"That's exactly what I want to know." She upends the container, gently shaking it until a bar, a little longer than her forearm, comes tumbling out, a thinner section in the center glowing the color of emeralds. A scrap of paper is wrapped around the bar. My District partner unfurls it, squinting to make out the words scratched onto the parchment. "Jump. Do not touch the walls," she reads aloud. Frowns. "What?"
"I dunno," Sash shrugs. "Jump? There aren't any walls around though."
She scowls at him, but gives a little hop. Nothing. Aegis and I exchange looks. We'd been sitting on the Cornucopia for the majority of the evening, and nothing seemed to be happening to us.
Athena's eyebrows are drawn together, furrowed in thought as she stands and starts pacing beside the fire, directly along a dim ray of light. "I wonder…" she points towards the strange, spiraling contraption that looms above us, positioned not far out from the Cornucopia, even with the line of trees that encircles half of the clearing. "Those look like ramps. It doesn't make much sense to not have any mode of transportation to use with them." She holds out her hand, presumably for the bar. "Can I see that?"
Halliday narrows her eyes, and Athena sighs out through her nose. "The only reason I'm asking is that this is going to look really stupid if it doesn't work."
"What if it does?"
Athena raises a shoulder. "Then it would look really, really cool. Your choice. I just didn't want to put your dignity on the line."
The emerald-suited girl scoffs. "Just tell me what I need to do."
A hint of a smile, the first I've seen on her face since we reached the Arena, crosses Athena's face. "Jump." She holds out her hands as if she herself is holding the baton. She takes a few steps forward at a light jog, and then pulls her hands apart, leaning forward and giving a short jump.
Halliday squints. "What? Why would I do that?"
"Just an idea." Athena scratches the back of her neck.
My District partner lets out a huff. Takes a few steps back.
"Wait!" Athena exclaims. "Make sure no one is behind you."
Halliday spares a glance over her shoulder, and Sash scoots away, hopping to his feet and joining the rest of us by the mouth of the horn.
"Here goes nothing," Halliday mutters. Starts into a light jog, before leaping, arms outstretched, and pulling at the two ends of the baton.
What happens next shouldn't be possible.
As her feet leave the ground, the shape of a sleek, dark vehicle begins to form beneath her. It takes less than a second to solidify, and Halliday lands on a long, two-wheeled thing, that roars to life beneath her and zooms off. It too, has seamless, flowing lines that tie it in with the rest of the Arena and our suits, and its green glow is visible even from this distance. As we watch, something seems to sputter to life behind her, and soon, a liquidus, wavering sort of light follows Halliday wherever she and the cycle go.
Athena's eyes are shining as Halliday makes a turn sharper than the blade of Aegis' sword and speeds towards us. "Don't touch the walls," she whispers.
Halliday slows to a stop as she reaches us. Her cheeks are red, hair knotted and tangly from the whiplash she must have been getting, but her eyes are fever-bright as she swings her other leg over the seat of the vehicle. As soon as both feet are on the ground, the cycle vanishes, shrinking back into the baton and landing a few inches behind her.
"What the fuck was that?" Sash demands. And then the canisters begin falling from the sky.
Athena throws her head back and lets out a joyous bark of laughter, reaching out to catch the shimmering grey cylinder that comes floating towards her. Aegis catches mine and hands it to me, and we slide our batons out of their casing together, the crimson of his bouncing off the gold light of mine.
"Well?" Halliday's voice is slightly muffled, due to the fact that she's put her visor down. "What are you guys waiting for?" She waves one gloved hand at the circuit of ramps and jumps that make up the massive training spiral. "Let's try these things out!"
o0o
Mikail Drakil (18) District 4 Tribute)
7:00 pm
The only thing I've found in this mess of a city are ramps, ramps, and more ramps. I don't think stairs even exist in this place. As soon as the gong had sounded, I'd lept off my plate, dove for the nearest pack, clubbed some boy over the head with it, and ran. The Wolfchild and the hulking brute from 9, along with the four girls and magician had seemed dead set on the forest on the other side of the Arena. I headed for the city spires. Someone else had come this way too, Phoenix, I think, the boy from 6, but I haven't seen him.
The downpour was annoying, soaked me in a matter of seconds, but I kept moving through the streets. Nothing jumped out at me though- it seems as if this place had been based off of the Capitol itself, and the avenue I'm currently walking down is the chariot path. This means that the massive mansion I'm heading towards is Seren's home base. Lovely. Photographic memory is great and all, and I'd usually be jumping at an opportunity like this, but these are the Hunger Games. I'm not going to be able to even think about doing anything unless I get out of here alive, and my odds are not good. I'm small, without a lot of muscle, and the only thing I really have going for me is my brain. At least Draco was strong and knew how to handle a weapon.
The pit brawls that the gangs on the streets of 4 had participated in have done nothing for me. I learned that I could pick people apart by the way they moved, the way they spoke, a long time ago, and that was all I needed. Here, however… here, I can guarantee that an in-depth scan of character will not keep the Careers from killing me.
Brains over brawn, though, isn't that what we always used to say? If I can outsmart the rest of the competition and keep them off-balance, maybe I can get lucky and make it out of this place with everything intact. Including my sanity.
The thing that makes the usual Victor so trippy is the fact that they've been exposed to so much death at such a young age. Granted, if I'm Victor, I'll have to watch a recap of the Games showing all the surely bloody and brutal and gruesome deaths, but I know I can handle that. I've seen death before. I've just never been the one holding the murder weapon.
I don't have to be though, do I.
I've been dealt a very specific hand of cards, and if I play them right, I may not have to do any killing at all. Snares, traps, pitfalls, and landmines… with the right supplies, if I can find the right things, then I can do anything.
A weapon sure would be nice though. I'd rather not go down swinging my fists at something.
I reach the mansion, push open the heavy black door, the President's crest- a star, with a dagger through its center- stenciled in blue. Stepping inside the huge hallway, lined with, you guessed it, blue light, I take a moment to take stock of my surroundings. The place is well-lit, and with as comically massive this place is, every step I take echoes around the room. Well, there's no chance of anyone sneaking up on me. That's a definite advantage.
A spiraling ramp sort of thing rings the room, leading up to what must be the second floor. If I remember right, based on how tall this building looked from the outside, there must be about three stories to it, but the balcony is on the second floor. A good lookout point, that. I head for the ramp. The ground is even and smooth under my feet, and, unlike when I climb a flight of stairs, there's no burn in my legs as I step onto the second-floor landing. Maybe ramps aren't so bad after all. This floor must be where the President does most of his work, unlike the ground floor, which was unabashedly designed for impressions and grandiose parties. There's nothing I'd like more than to study this place, the layout if this design really is the same as Seren's mansion, but there are other things that have to be done. If I can find food and water, I could just potentially hole up here and set a shit ton of snares and wait for everyone else to come to me. The thought of seeing the Careers and the Wolfchild thrashing about, hanging upside down from one foot brings a smile to my face.
No, I can't do that. The Capitol people want a show, and if I'm just being boring, sitting here and exploring houses, or even assembling snares, that's going to get boring after a while, and they'll drive me out. This isn't Seren's real mansion, after all, I'm sure they'd have no problem blowing it up. Whether I'm inside it or not. A Tribute trying desperately to escape from a falling building that's probably on fire would surely be entertaining to watch.
I need to keep moving. If there are no supplies here, loathe as I am to admit it, I need to move on. Now, where is the entrance to the balcony?
The cityscape is a jumble of shapes of all sorts, like a small child had cast their blocks down randomly before shoving them close together so they all touched. There are rectangles, domes and spires, arches, you name it. Between every building, every could-be dwelling and elaborate structure, the streets are lined with the same blue lines that cover the ground, flow through and over and around every building, tying everything together with a seemingly never-ending band of blue light. It's elegant, in its own way, and oddly peaceful. I can only imagine what Seren Dagger sees in the real world- a place of hustle and bustle and beauty. Of loud noises, of exotic and eccentric fashion… the Capitol. Color and noise and loud. So much different from the graceful lines of District 4, the constant roaring of the sea, and the crying of gulls providing background noise as everyone went about their day.
Sure, the Capitol can have its strange luxuries and fashions and clothes, and that's all well and good. But the nature of 4, the way homes are built into seaside cliffs and beach houses are rented out by the richer families of the District, and the beaches were never empty, even on the rainiest, windiest day… the Capitol has nothing on it.
The cannon blast jars me. It's loud enough to make me leap about a foot in the air and stumble back. Trip over something behind me that decidedly wasn't there before.
Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit. I scramble back on my hands, evasive maneuvers that I've never executed successfully racing through my head, until my vision focusses.
That's when I feel like a downright idiot. It's not a good feeling.
The thing that I had apparently thought was another Tribute, literally lying in wait, or a mutt is actually a pack. A pack, now glowing a familiar sea-green. The color of my own Tribute outfit. The Capitol must have had a good laugh at me just then. Color heats my cheeks, but I ignore the embarrassment in favor of dragging my newfound supplies closer.
A sword is strapped to the pack as well. A gift from whatever gods are looking down on me now, I suppose. A wry smile twists at my mouth. Or the Gamemakers, for that matter. Indeed, the entire contents of the bag seem to be geared towards a Tribute from 4- more specifically, me. A coil of wire, as well as rope. Perfect for setting snares. An odd-looking baton sort of thing- thin in the center and about the size of one of the rare half-dollar coins I'd occasionally pick up on the streets on the ends. The pieces bread, wrapped in some sort of paper and still warm, are the same loaves that are found in bakeries on our streets, flecked with seaweed, and the long, slender blade is almost exactly like the replicas found in weaponry stores. Except this one is a lot sharper than any model.
A slow smile spreads across my face, and I take the sword in my hand, admiring the weight and heft of it. It's balanced perfectly, and it feels almost like an extension of my hand as I swing it through the air. I am ready.
o0o
Thames Venturi (18) District 1 Tribute
8:00 pm
Aegis and Halliday were the first to master the cycles. Sash had discovered that the walls of light that the bikes trailed behind were lethal by launching an arrow into the emerald-green trail Halliday's cycle left behind. It dissolved on impact. Do not touch the walls. I silently thank whoever had written the note- Azer, most likely, judging by the elegant curls of the letters- for the warning. If it weren't for that, at one of us would probably be dead by now.
Soon after we'd all mounted our respective modes of transportation, the two of them had shot off, quicker than a rocket, and begun playing one of the most dangerous games of cat and mouse in history. After Athena had nearly yelled herself hoarse that the two of them would end up killing each other if they kept going, Halliday found the controls that manipulated the light wall. Aegis located a setting that made his trail go rainbow, which he refused to turn off for a good five minutes, insisting that he needed to drive all the way around the spiral, shooting death rainbows out of his bike. I find myself watching his antics with what must be the dopiest smile in all of Panem spread across my face. Athena elbows me in the ribs.
"You're in deep, Thames," she laughs. I frown at her, and she smirks. "Anyone with eyes can see the way you look at him. It's cute."
Cute?
I open my mouth, not quite sure what to say, but determined to defend myself, Athena grips my shoulder, squeezing tightly. "Hey," she says, and her gray eyes are soft as she looks at me straight on. "That's not a bad thing."
Then she's gone, jogging off and summoning her own bike to chase down Aegis and his death rainbows. Beside me, Halliday's face is unreadable as she watches the other girl go.
Taking a chance, I reach out and lightly touch her shoulder. She jolts at the contact, initially twisting away from it, going for the knives that she's sheathed across her back. "Woah!" I put my hands up. "Hey, Princess, it's just me."
While her fingers slip from the hilts of her weapons, Halliday doesn't move from her defensive stance. "What do you want."
"Just wanted to make sure you were okay. We are allies remember. I do care about other people, sometimes."
She shakes her head. She's deactivated her helmet, and the green of her eyes seems to flay into me. "I've noticed," is all she says, jerking her chin towards Aegis' dark red bike, speeding back towards us. His light wall is back to normal now, but it sputters out as he slows, swinging off his bike in one fluid motion. It shrinks back into baton form behind him, and he plucks it off the ground with one hand, deactivating his helmet with the other.
"Are we still going hunting?" He's breathless from exhilaration, carding a hand through his hair to get it to lie flat again.
"I don't see why not." Sash comes up behind us, and I nearly jump.
"Where did you come from?" I demand, and Sash rolls his eyes briefly.
"It's called subtly, Venturi, but I doubt you'd know anything about it."
"I'm plenty subtle-"
Athena's eyebrows hit her hairline. "Thames, the sexual tension between you and Aegis is driving us all mad."
Age smirks, and before I have time to react, sweeps over and plants a chase little kiss on my mouth, not holding the contact for long, but enough for my knees to threaten to go out from under me. Perhaps 'chaste' was the wrong word.
"Better?" He rumbles, and Athena peeks through her fingers.
"Are you two done yet?"
Aegis hums. "Possibly."
"Ugh," Athena grumbles. "So, hunting."
"Hunting," Sash agrees. "On foot or on the cycles?"
"On foot," Halliday decides. She hasn't said a word since Aegis arrived. "The light cycles are too loud. You could hear us coming from a mile away, and we don't want that, at least not yet. Besides," she casts a mischievous, sideways glance towards Aegis and I. "It's an exercise in stealth and subtly."
"Shut up." I reach out to swat her lightly on the arm. She doesn't seem to have any problem with the touch, this time. Huh.
"Do we need night vision goggles?" Athena jerks her chin towards the Cornucopia. "I can go root around and see if we've found anything."
"We shouldn't have left the horn alone for this long," Sash mutters. Louder, he says, "I don't think we will. If we know what color light we're looking for, we should be able to spot them out fairly quickly."
"What about us?" I tip my head to the side. We've all started to move back towards the Cornucopia, and Athena has somehow found a way to clip her baton to her quiver, within easy reach at all times. "We're different colors too, remember? And the others who're still alive would be stupid not to have taken note of at least one of our colors."
"That's why we have these." Athena emerges from the Cornucopia, a swath of black slung over an arm. She holds one out. Sash takes one, shaking it out.
"A cloak?" He raises an eyebrow. "Really? That's dramatic."
"I don't judge the Gamemaker's style." Athena slips on her own, before handing the rest of us ours. "Halliday, you got that Thorne guy pretty good, let's look for him. Anyone else we find along the way is fair game."
"I want to kill Thorne," Halliday announces. Her eyes are bright beneath the hood of her cloak. "You all got your own glory during the Bloodbath. It's my turn."
Aegis frowns, shifting from foot to foot beside me. I elbow him in the ribs. "You got three," I remind him in a harsh whisper. "That's enough for now. You'll get your chance again."
Halliday doesn't even glance at us as she slides her arms through her cloak and pulls the hood up over her head. With the only real light that comes from our suits and weapons are gone, it's dark now, and I can barely make out the shape of Sash, now perched atop the Cornucopia. I squint at him, even though he can't see my expression in the dim lighting. "Sash, what're you doing?" There's a soft, purple glint from his bow, gleaming in his hand, and with the band of violet light that's disconnected from the rest, he has an arrow drawn.
"Sash!" I step towards him. The silhouette of his head swivels towards me, but the rest of his body is still as a statue. "What're you doing up there?"
"We shouldn't have left the supplies alone when we went to test out the light cycles," he answers. "One of us needs to stay behind to watch the Cornucopia. It's better if it's me since I'm one of the archers. If anyone even gets close, I'll shoot them. Plus," he jerks his head towards Athena. "I doubt she'll want to sit this one out."
I follow his gaze. Indeed, Athena's bobbing up and down, bow in hand. She has a few knives strapped across her hips, the glow of their hilts nearly invisible beneath the black fabric of her mantle. "You're sure?"
A nod. "I'm sure. Now go. We don't have long before the death toll comes in. We should all be together when that comes on- in case something happened that we didn't catch."
I dip my head in return. Despite the fact that we'd previously decided that we didn't want to have a leader of the Pack, Sash fits into the role quite well. None of us seem to have anything against the guy, so there shouldn't be too much conflict.
Rejoining the group, I pull my own hood over my head. "Let's go. We should be back before the death report starts."
The four of us move off as a group, towards the forest. The trees are massive, and even though they do look a bit ridiculous, sort of like glow sticks, they're trees and they supply wood. Glowing wood, that turns the fire all sorts of strange colors. I didn't know fire could turn hot pink.
It's not that hard to find him. The trail of blood he's left behind, staining the ground, and darkening the already dim lights of the Arena floor is easy to follow. The forest thickens as we walk through it, and the lights from the trees seem to get harsher and colder.
Athena shivers beside me, but her grip on her bow doesn't loosen. My own, vice-like grasp on my spear doesn't waver.
The kill is easy, in the end. The trail of his blood leads us right to him. He's braced with his back against a tree, face contorted in pain as he struggles to his feet. Scratches already line his face, as if a branch was whipped across it. Multiple times. He must've tried to climb the tree, but couldn't, with his leg, and fallen.
Aegis steps into the small clearing first. Sword drawn, pulling his hood down. Halliday is quick to follow, drawing her knives with a metallic shink. I step around, positioning myself on Aegis' other side, and Athena brings up the rear, an arrow loaded into her bow.
The 12 boy's eyes flick from my spear to Aegis' sword to Halliday's knives, finally settling on the arrowhead of Athena's bow.
"Don't move." I level my spear at him. "Or this goes through your throat. before you can blink."
"You're going to kill me anyway." His voice is astonishingly level for someone with four weapons aimed at his heart, throat, stomach, and head. "There's not much use in running." His eyes haven't stopped roving over the four of us. Every muscle in my body tenses, ready for a fight.
Without warning, he explodes into movement. Shoving between Aegis and I, flinging an arm out as if to ward off Athena.
He makes it a grand total of five steps before Halliday leaps on him, taking him to the ground and kicking him viciously in the leg, eliciting a scream. "We told you not to run," she tuts. Thorne thrashes beneath her, but he's smaller, and she's stronger. "Goodbye, Thorne Raven," Halliday says coldly. She raises her dagger, the inlaid patterns on its handle glowing green, and it finds a new home buried hilt deep in his heart.
o0o
Lauren Silver (18) District 3 Tribute
9:00 pm
The Capitol anthem is still loud in my ears as its symbol fades above us. The sky remains dark for a moment, and I can only imagine what the people back home and in the rest of the Districts are seeing. My heart twists at the thought of Lancia, or the young boy from 7, brutally ripped in half by that mutt. Beside me, Danielle's face is also turned towards the sky. I only know it's her because of the brilliant forest green of her suit- we've all put our visors down in hopes that they'll provide some sort of protection from the unnatural white mist.
The first image- a simple headshot- to appear in the sky is my own District partner. I fight hard to blink back the tears that begin to build in my eyes. Even with my face hidden from the Capitol, it won't be hard to tell that I'm crying if I start. I can't afford to appear weak.
Harold is dead. His childlike amazement as he stared out the window, the eager light in his eyes when Jolt said he had something important to show us- all gone. He's dead. Gone. Six-feet under.
I know about death. I've seen it before, I've been to my share of funerals and graveyards to honor the dead, but here, it somehow feels so much more real. Real, because his death could have been prevented. There's not anything any of us could do about sickness or an infection from a wound none of our doctors had the medicine to treat.
Harold didn't have to die here.
Didn't have to die now.
I swallow past the heated wires that are digging into the inside of my throat and furiously blink away my tears. If Harold's image was first, that means both Tributes from 1 and 2 are both alive. Unsurprising, given what I've seen of the four of them.
After Harold comes the girl from 4. That startles me. I would have thought that the Careers would have come around at some point and invited her to join the Career Pack. She seemed nice and skilled enough when I happened to glance in her direction in the Training Center. She'd mostly been working at survival stations, and I'd assumed the leader of the Pack and decided that they'd need someone who actually knew something about the wilderness. Apparently not. With this exception, most of the Careers usually make it through the first day at least.
Then it's Lancia. I guess that the Wolfchild, who caused so much commotion in the lunchroom the first day of training made it out alive. Something hot twists in my stomach, and I have to agree with the feeling. Wrong as it is, I wish the Careers had killed him. After hearing about the way he ripped Lancia's throat out… he needs to go. I suppose it's a bit of a surprise that her District partner, Phoenix- he'd called himself Killian, though, during the interviews, hadn't he? Confusing- got out of there with his life, but what do I know?
Danielle's District partner flashes across the sky. She shows no visible reaction, and I wonder if any of my allies are thankful for the helmets that obscure their facial features. Next is the girl from 8, the rockstar's District partner. He'd allied with the Careers if I remember correctly, and it had come as quite a shock when he'd taken up sniper duty from his position against the Cornucopia during the Bloodbath. From 9… Scythe.
Danielle makes a small, surprised sound. "I wasn't expecting her to go down this early."
I hadn't either. She seemed like a fighter, that girl, and everyone knows she's the Head Gamemaker's daughter. Surely, Valkyrie could have done something to save her?
"These Hunger Games are nothing like anyone could have ever expected." Aveline leans back on her hands.
The pair from 10 is next to glimmer in the sky of a number of heartbeats before fading away. I didn't know either of them particularly well, but there's only one member of that massive alliance that seemed to have been formed.
Mic Klaus' image appears, and my heart sinks.
"Well," Nat says in a muffled voice, "There went that massive alliance that we had hoped would make it."
"I really had hoped they would. And not only for our benef-" Aveline trails off, letting out a soft, choked noise. "Oh. Oh, no…"
"Aveline?" Nat scrambles over to our ally. "Aveline? What's wrong?"
"Thorne," she says, and even as his name leaves her lips, his face appears across the sky. "He must have been the tenth cannon. The Careers-" her voice trembles, and she cuts herself off sharply, shaking her head. "I really thought he would make it."
Danielle wordlessly reaches across and starts to rub gentle circles on Aveline's back. The other girl tucks her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around her legs, and starts to rock back and forth. Thorne's face finally begins to fade from the sky, replaced by the Capitol seal and the anthem blares out one more time before everything goes dark again.
"I wanted him to make it," Aveline whispers. "He was kind to me, back in the Capitol. He showed me card tricks and had said that he thought I'd get out of this alive. He believed in me, and now he's dead."
"We believe in you, Ave-" Natalia starts, before stopping. It's not the same. We all know that. If anything had blossomed between them those few days we'd stayed together in the Capitol, it has wilted and died now, and even the smallest flowers can have deep roots.
"She needs time to heal," I murmur to her, and Natalia bobs her head in a small nod.
"Come on, Aveline." Danielle stands up but keeps her hand on Aveline's back. A tether. Something to ground her. "Let's get back under the tarp. We should sleep soon. We're going to need to be refreshed in the morning, so we can move out."
She offers her other hand, and Aveline gratefully takes it, standing on wobbly legs and following Nat and Danielle back under the tarp. "I didn't see the hovercraft," she breathes. "I didn't see them come and take his body away." Her head jerks up. "There was a body to take away, right? Right?"
"I'm sure there was," Danielle offers. "We were trying to figure out the baton motorcycle things, remember?"
The batons had been in the canisters that had fallen from the sky, along with a note from Jolt, explaining how they worked and how to activate them. We'd spent the next few hours zipping through the forest, the weird trails of light following us through the trees.
"I should've-" Aveline's voice cracks, and she sinks to her knees beneath the tarp. "I should've-"
"What would you have been able to do?" Danielle asks gently. "You're unarmed, Ave, and there are five armed Careers. You only would have gotten yourself killed as well, and from what you've said, Thorne wouldn't want that. Right?"
"R-right."
"You can honor him by staying alive as long as you can, and in order to do that, right now you need to sleep," Danielle says firmly. "We'll have to rely on body heat to keep each other warm, and hope the night isn't too cold. We don't have any easy way to start a fire anyways, and I don't think I have the energy to even rub two sticks together."
Aveline nods, curling onto her side. Natalia wraps an arm around her. Danielle looks at the two girls, then back to me.
"I'll take the first watch." I toss her the pack. "Use it as a pillow. If something happens to me, I'll scream."
o0o
Mikail Drakil (18) District 4 Tribute)
10:00 pm
The death recaps were to be as expected. That massive alliance of Tributes that I had pegged as Bloodbaths from the very beginning had indeed died, along with the boy from 12. His death had come out of the blue somewhat, but I have to thank whoever killed him, as his cannon was what made me stumble over this pack of supplies I now have.
Currently, I'm chewing my way through the second roll of ten- ten!- and intend to save and ration the rest for the next few days. I purified the water I'd found in the pack with some iodine that was in there as well, even though it probably wasn't poisoned. It never hurts to check.
It's been 30, 45 minutes since the recap, and I should be getting to bed soon. But there are a few things I need to do first. With a small groan, I force myself to my feet, ignoring the fatigue in my legs from the run here and the laps around the house as I'd explored every single room, not in as much detail as I'd have liked, but enough for me to be able to know where all the bedrooms, possible entrance routes and every single escape route lies.
Every single entrance point has to be rigged with some sort of trap. I don't have nearly enough supplies for that, but at the front doors, the balcony doors, a few of the main windows and the rooftop entrance need to be protected.
Within half an hour, I've placed snares and another one outside the door to the room where I'll be setting up for the night. The sword has no sheath, so I'm either going to continually carry it, or just have to strap it back to the pack, where anyone could seal it. I could possibly find a way to sheath it bare across my back alongside the disk, I'm sure it's possible. Reaching back with my right hand experimentally, I find the harness that keeps the disc connected to my suit. With my other hand, I guide the sword towards the harness, keeping my right hand on the flat of the blade. To my surprise and delight, the sword seems to instinctively find a slot in the harness and slips right through. Perfect.
Even with a weapon, which will add to my initial fear factor, actual practice with the sword will do me no small amount of good. Intellect can get me quite far, yes, but there's no way that I could beat a trained Career. They'd run me through before I'd have a chance to open my mouth.
I study the blade, tossing it lightly from hand to hand. Slash it delicately at the air with a novice-like apprehension that makes me cringe. As I do so, the reflection of cool blue light dances easily within the polished steel. The handle of this sword is bound with black leather, the hilt decorated yet understated, and the blade is long. I don't know anything about this sword- I don't know what it's called, or if I'm supposed to give it a name, or how to use it besides stabbing someone somewhere important.
I'm not practiced in swordplay, but if I show the Capitol that I'm willing to learn or teach myself, that might get me a Sponsor gift. Maybe the pack that's leaned up against the far wall was a Gift, but I highly doubt it. It looks exactly like a pack that you'd find by the Cornucopia, and I doubt someone would send me this much stuff so early in the Games.
Learning swordplay… I've watched the trainers in the great room in the basement of the Training Center. Seen the intricate footwork and dance of steel that sword fighting requires. I may be able to clumsily replicate some of the steps with a large amount of practice, but if someone like Aegis Harlow or Halliday Frost found me? They are easily the most dangerous melee members of the Career Pack, with Sash and Athena picking off easy targets from a long distance. Thames Venturi is their wildcard, with his strong, precise throws and ability with a sword in his hand. I need to stay clear of them unless absolutely necessary.
But others… the alliance of four girls is just as bad off as I am. Even though there are more of them, they're equally as inexperienced with weaponry, and they probably don't have everything I do. I'm smarter than them, that's for sure. Call me arrogant, but it's just facts.
For now, though, I need to sort through supplies. Sleep will be meaningless, at least for tonight, when I'm still running on the rush of not only escaping the Bloodbath, but also this new surprise that I stumbled upon. Quite literally.
I re-wrap the bread in its paper and store it alongside the little bit of rope and wire I have left. The sword comes with me, still strapped to my back. I stop at the baton and a slip of paper I hadn't noticed before. Written in Coral's distinctive handwriting. Instructions. How to jump, how this thing called a light cycle will supposedly form beneath me. How to drive it. A note is tacked into the bottom: Be careful with the trails it leaves behind, though. Don't vaporize anything you care too much about. Including yourself. Don't forget the visor.
I squint. Seems like it's worth a shot. If this works, I'll be impressed. The snares are disabled and back up again in a matter of minutes as I descend the ramps and head out the main doors.
The lit road stretches before me. Endless. Full of possibilities, if I'm only daring enough to explore them. I reach back, mindful of the disc and sword, and press that small button on the back of my neck.
Run, jump, pull. Doesn't seem too complicated.
Turns out, it isn't.
I can feel a rare smile splitting my face from ear to ear as wind rushes past me.
This.
This changes everything.
o0o
15th: Thorne Raven (17) District 12 Tribute (Submitted by ShippingGoddess56) Killed by a knife through the heart, courtesy of Halliday Frost. Well, Thorne, it was really fun writing you, and I got to learn how to do some magical card tricks while I was at it. Learn something new every day, huh? You were really, really fun to write, and I'm not sure I'm ever going to get another Tribute quite like you, a magician and street-smart sorta guy that you are. I was sorry to see you go, but well. These are the Hunger Games, and with that leg wound, you weren't going to make it far. Rest in peace, Thorne Raven. May you fear no evil. Feel no pain. [KDA: 0/1/0]
o0o
Alliances:
We're Wide Awake Now (Careers): Thames Venturi (D1M), Halliday Frost (D1F), Aegis Harlow (D2M), and Athena Sheir (D2F), and Sash Radcliffe (D8M)
Touching The Stars: Lauren Silver (D3F), Danielle Oakwood (D8F), Natalia Oakly (D11F), and Aveline Wren (D12F)
Among The Hidden (Loners, for now): Mikail Drakil (D4M), Asher Foster (D5M), Ambrose Volta (D5F), Phoenix/Killian Doppelmen (D6M), and Jordan Wheaton (D9M)
o0o
A/N: Well, there was the first night in the Arena, along with the death of Thorne Raven! Thanks to those who got their votes in on the poll! Double PoVs will be happening throughout every chapter now, for future reference, kind of like I did with both the Bloodbath and Parade. What did you guys think about the light cycles? And yeah, those were also taken directly from Tron. They were probably one of my favorite things about the Arena, maybe even more than FANG. I've watched the movie waaay too many times now, just to get some detail and all that so I can actually write some of this. Not that I'm complaining!
For reference on where everyone is: the Careers are with the Cornucopia, Killian/Phoenix is in the city part of the map, as is Mikail, but they're on opposite sides of the place, for now, Lauren and her alliance are in the forest along with an unseen Asher, and Ambrose. I'll see you all again next week with the next chapter, Arena day 2 with a decent death count. Keep a lookout for that, and stay safe in the meantime!
Now that the first day is done, I'd love to see predictions for the final 8! 10 points towards the Arena for those who do, and Sponsor prices have begun to rise! I cannot stress this enough, your Tribute needs stuff to survive, so help them out and don't make me write that scene that we all hate to read where someone starves to death or dies of dehydration.
Over, out, and may the odds be ever in your favor!
~SetFires (Vixen)