M7: AXIT SENID
I kick the dust angrily, still brooding over Rose's departure. I mean, I can understand trying to simply survive- now that almost half of the tributes have died and it's the fifth day of the Games- but breaking your promise just after you get what you're looking for? After I tried to talk her back into life? It made me sort of upset. I shake my shaggy dark hair out of my eyes and lean against the evergreen tree. My goal today, since I found a tiny stream in a deep crevice yesterday and the water still fills my belly- although hunger and desperation still gnaw there too- is to get to the outer mountains. This is definitely the biggest arena I've ever seen. Ten mountains, half in the inner circle and half surrounding that. Five with trees on them- a different kind for each- and five with sparse brush and barren rock. None of the other tributes have been found or killed on the outer mountains. I think I have a better chance of living out there, even though there's not any easily visible shelter. There are plenty of hidden crevices here in the inner mountains; there should be many out there too.
I push off from the tree and carefully step over a large loose stone. Wouldn't want to break an ankle in this game, now would I? I've seen the debilitating effects of falls in the forests at home- when Pine took a tumble from a low branch and snapped his elbow- and I know they would easily put a tribute out of the Games. Or if the mutt fell, the tribute could die that way too. Stupid way to go, but if it happens we can't really avoid it.
My mutt is smarter than that, if she has any of Aloe's traits besides her looks. I am still shaken by that. How does my blood end up looking like my best friend? I'll just focus on finding her- it- for now and find out if she's Aloe later. Several tributes have died from mutt deaths and I know it can really happen. Maybe the best way to live is to find my other way to die.
I walk a little faster when I hear a crack in the trees not too far away. A small shower of rocks slides from above me, crushing a few small plants. I jump to the nearest tree, poising my hands to climb. Nothing appears and I cautiously step back into the open grounds. I take no chances. The trees above me remain silent and I continue my walk crouched lower to the ground in order to conceal myself in the thick shrubbery. My magnolia fragment is as of now my only weapon and I clench it tightly in my fist. If I found a fire, I would harden the tip of the stick in the coals, but I only saw two fires so far in the Games: the Careers' campfire and one surrounded by traps. I would not even try to invade either of those, not a chance.
I walk a little further and take a sip of water from the water tight pouch I formed from the jacket they gave us. It offers little protection in way of wind, but it's waterproof and holds liquid like a charm. It looks and feels like leather, but it's not. I used another piece of wood to hold the pouch together in satchel-fashion. I feel clever, but if there's danger and I need to run the water will be lost.
The scrub mountains rustle in the wind. I step out of the forest's safety and dive into the bushes. The prickly branches of the scrub scrape my face and arms and I wince. I wasn't expecting that. Soon I jump up and dash farther up the mountain, trying to find a place protected from murderous eyes. Dense though the brushwood may be, it's all low to the ground. I have to pull my feet over the bushes on each step, like I would if I were walking through thick mud.
A miniscule cave is invisible from the trees, and only clear if you stand right over it. "Whoa!" My voice is rusty from disuse. I windmill my arms, trying not to fall in. It doesn't work the way I planned it. I tumble headlong straight into the hole, and I knock my head on the way down. It doesn't hurt much, but my temples feel a bit funny when I sit up. I wonder if it's just nervousness. I remember the feeling when the mutts arrived at the Cornucopia.
Something growls low and ferocious in the dark. I prop myself up on my elbows in panic and try to locate it; my eyes aren't accustomed to the dark. I grab the edge of the hole and pull myself out as fast as I can, snatching up my water pouch from where it fell when I fell. A fair amount of the water has splashed out, but some sloshes in the container. I stumble away from the cave in a blind terror, only looking back when I am at least twenty feet away in the tan scrub. A golden-brown head, shaped like an elegant woman's, emerges from the hole. It bares its teeth and I almost fall back; the teeth are serrated like the sharks' teeth from District Four. The rest of the body slides out, and I see clawed forepaws and powerful eagle's wings; the animal is golden all over. A sphinx.
It's definitely one of the mutts. A sphinx isn't found in mountains, and they're mythical anyway. I stare at the creature until it turns its head to me and hisses, flicking a snake's tongue. It's angrier than most animals are, too; perhaps it's one of the Career's mutts. It begins to come after me, howling.
I don't care whose mutt it is. I run.
F1: FALA HARRIS
My face is pressed into the gravelly dirt on the ground of our camp. I sit up, sore as anything; stretch; and brush the pebbles off my face. There are still a few embers glowing in the pit of the fire's dying heart. The lizard bones lie in a tiny heap next to the coals. After a day of hunger- only a day, twenty-four hours- the reptile was delicious. I normally wouldn't eat anything so… scaly. I draw my knees up to my chest and glance at Vulkin. He still sleeps curled up between two tree roots. He looks so young when he's sleeping.
I shiver as a cold breeze blows through the once-still early morning air and I try to pull my jacket tighter around my body. The wind blows straight through it. My teeth start chattering. This is no place for a girl from luxurious, urbanized District One. I shake off my fears and pick up our knife and some other twigs. I set the twigs over the glowing embers and nudge them with the knife. The fire sputters back to life and I run and get more wood before the twigs burn to nothing. The flame grows to a small campfire and the gentle crackling warms my heart as much as the heat warms my hands and cheeks. It reminds me of when Vulkin and I once built a fire and figured out how to put it in a metal container and carry it around. We scared a lot of people with that trick!
I rub my palms together, finally feeling my fingers again. I sit cross-legged in front of the fire and gaze into the flickering oranges, yellows, and at the very bottom whites and blues. I imagine pictures in the flames: my brother's infamous smirk, my token- the pearl that used to be my mother's, the trashed room in the Justice Building where I spent my last few minutes in One. I'll go back to One, I'm sure of it. Vulkin and I will sure show Corey. He'll be stuck with us forever. I grin at the thought. His plan will have backfired. Vulkin and I will be rich and alive. Won't that be a nightmare? For everyone- for Corey and our victims, we'll be back; for us, we'll be watched every second of every day and we'll have absolutely nothing to do but lounge around. Ugh!
Vulkin still sleeps and I stand. I'm going to wake him up, but a rustle in the trees near our camp makes me stop. I clasp the knife more protectively and tiptoe to the spikes. They're the weakest part of our defenses. I mean, they should still stop anyone, but I refuse to risk it by my own folly. I crouch behind the sharpened sticks and raise the knife.
A cheetah and a wolf step from the trees and into the outer edge of the clearing. A strange sense begins to tingle in the back of my mind and I hunker lower in the camp. These are mutts.
I watch the cheetah intensely. I remember learning about the animals in school one day and being totally fascinated with their speed. I'm swift too and the similarities captivated me.
The sleek gold and black markings smoothly roll over rippling muscles and the black circles around the molten eyes seem to accentuate the deep feline eyes. The cheetah cocks its head and chirps. I gaze back. When our eyes meet, a jolt of strange electricity runs down my spine. This is my muttation. I smirk.
The wolf with it steps forward and paws the ground, leaving deep gashes in the ground. It seems to have some sort of bird talons that extend at will. Its eyes are a lime-green, full of intelligence and wile. Its silver coat is mottled on the top with patches of forest-green and underneath with a tan color. It licks the cheetah and whines. The cat chirps again and bats the wolf with its golden paw. I smile; it's not my usual smirk, but a genuine grin. It's not just my mutt, it's mine and Vulkin's muttations. I laugh.
"Fala?" Vulkin sits up on the other side of the camp. My cheetah snarls and I can hear my brother gasp.
"Shh, Vulkin!" It's too late. The cheetah lunges at him, trying to leap over the spikes to get at a human that's not its own. I scream and the wolf howls in some sort of lupine consternation, but it's much too late. The cheetah lands on one of the sharp spikes. The pike impales its stomach and I suddenly find it very hard to breath. Vulkin stands up fully now, reaching out towards me. I see his wolf dash into the trees. My mutt lies among the sticks with several piercing its neck, forelegs, and belly. Its black-tipped tail swishes back and forth in miniscule movements.
"Fala! What happened?" I gasp and drop to my knees, a dull pain thumping in my neck and side.
"It's my mutt… it got startled.."
"Fala! No! We promised each other- we have to go home." The cheetah mewls pitifully and the wolf howls mournfully in the distance.
"Vulkin, do you not see the blood on that mutt? Tell me how much blood loss can kill you."
"Like, one-third of your blood, I think."
"Well, this thing is losing way more than that. We did a good job on those sticks, brother." I feel like I've been stabbed but there are no marks on me.
"Fala, don't die!" I hold out my pinky finger to my twin.
"Promise you'll win, Vulkin. For both of us- the Dream Team Twins." He nods. "Pinky promise?!" We wrap our fingers around each other's.
"Fala…"
"Listen- you're the smartest one out there. I know what you can do. Now, go do it!" Vulkin nods again. From the corner of my eye I see the cheetah start convulsing. The world starts to get fuzzy around the edges.
M1: VULKIN HARRIS
BOOM. I feel Fala's last breath leave her body and her head flops back.
"Fala. Fala, please, wake up! C'mon, sis, we have to get home. We promised each other- we promised." I know what's happened, and I irrationally wish that she's alive, that some other tribute died in the arena far away from us and that was the cannon I heard. I kneel next to my sister and gently pick her up off the ground. Her brown hair falls away from her face and I see her ice-blue eyes, glassy and wide open.
"Fala... Fala… You can't be dead now." She has no pulse. I brush my hand over her eyes to close them and I lay her still-warm body back on the earth. The cheetah is dead too, its body sagging around the spikes that impale it. Was my mutt the one that ran away, the giant wolf? I think so.
I look at Fala again and something inside of me snaps. This isn't right. "We were the winners here, Fala, we knew it!" We were supposed to go home together. I dig through her jacket pockets and pull out her token, our mother's pearl. It falls into my pocket alongside the ring that used to belong to my father. I sit on the ground and bury my face in my hands. This wasn't supposed to happen. We are- were smart enough and strong enough to go home together. We were the dream team.
"FALA! Please… please… come back, sis, come back…"
We weren't the only things we had to keep safe. Two ways to die this year.
"You're not dead, Fala, only the animal… it's not you… you're alive… the mutts are fake… come back to me, Fala!" I can't stop denying the truth. "Please, sis…"
I hold my sister's hand. "Please… you've gotta come home with me… we're the Dream Team Twins… the whole world knows it…" The gleaming silver hovercraft comes, but it can't take her away unless I'm not here. I hug Fala's body tighter. This can't be happening.
"SHE'S NOT- SHE'S NOT GOING BACK IN A BOX!" I scream at the hovercraft, "SHE'S MY SISTER AND SHE ISN'T DEAD YET!" There's a moment of awkward tension as the bottom of the machine opens up and a claw drops down. I hold my twin's hand tighter. I'm not ready for it to take her away, not yet. She's not ready. However, it snatches up the golden cheetah instead. The hovercraft stays in the air awaiting my departure. I wonder what this scenario looks like to anyone who may be watching and I allow my smirk to spread across my face. This isn't how the Games are supposed to work. Tributes aren't supposed to hold up the progression of death. I remember the cannibal tributes we've seen before and I roll my eyes. I'd never eat another person. That's worse than death- that's losing your humanity.
It's a struggle, but I manage to pull up some of the sticks where the cheetah died, enough to create a path through the defenses. There's no point staying here anymore. We needed two to keep a watch and look for food. I can't defend the clearing by myself.
I kiss Fala goodbye on her forehead and lay her hands over her chest. She looks peaceful now. You hear about people looking like they're asleep when they're dead, but my sister doesn't look asleep. She looks dead. Peaceful, but waxy and unmoving. There's no sense of life; it's like looking at a wax statue. I storm past the body and snatch up our knife- Fala broke the other one the first day hunting- and our remaining supplies. There was enough food to last two people eating a tiny meal a day for two more days, but most of it has gone bad. I throw away the food that smells rank and examine the rest. One more day's worth, if I decide to eat like I would at home. Two if I eat like we were eating before the mutts found us. The water is the same- enough for one more day, maybe two if I'm careful with my rations. We allowed ourselves two swallows each day and didn't talk unless absolutely necessary. The Cornucopia was so well stocked- the Capitol wants people to die of wounds and torture, not thirst and disease. We used our rope when we were making snares, so the pack is mostly empty. The tinder kit is still intact, but it's not like I plan to eat flint and steel. I swing the pack over my shoulder and maneuver through the shattered pikes.
"Goodbye, Fala," I whisper hoarsely. I don't watch the hovercraft extend its claw again. This mountain is no longer my haven.
It hits when I trip over one of the many protruding roots. I wasn't watching for it. When my face it's the dirt, the breath deserts me and the truth slams into me like a mace. My sister is dead. I'm the only one left. I don't bother getting back up; I curl into the fetal position and sob, great heaving cries ripping from my chest. I didn't know I could make such loud noises. Usually I'm controlled and quiet. If anyone else is out there, they could finish me off without a fight. I could be dead within the hour; I could be with Fala again.
She'd hate me for that. We promised each other that we would get out of the arena alive, and now I have to survive for both of us. I push myself onto my knees and wipe the tears from my eyes. I have to live for both of us. Fala will be proud when I don't see her for a long, long time, however miserable I might get without her.
I know what my first goal will be. I fouled when I told Fala that we needed to keep ourselves safe first. I'm going after my muttation.
M2: REETAN ALTIS
I awake to the cannon. I can't think of a better way, either. This is the sort of thing I've been training my whole life for. I jump out of the tent, sword unsheathed. Ebony, on watch, looks at me irritatedly from her perch atop the Cornucopia.
"Calm down, man! Nobody's around here but us. The hovercraft went on the other side of the pine mountain." I let the point of my sword drop towards the ground and I stride to the bottom of the golden horn.
"Well, since that cannon probably woke everybody up, you can come down now," I bark. The girl slides down and relaxes her grip on a deadly crossbow. Her knuckles are white and her fingers are swelling up from grasping the weapon for hours on end. The sun is just starting to come up in the pale blue, mist-frosted sky. The other Careers emerge from their tents, blearily looking for the cause of the cannon. Marius tucks-and-rolls out of our tent, harpoon in hand.
"You can stop showing off, fish face," I sneer. He stands, dusts off his tunic, and glares at me.
"Hey, at least I was prepared for an attack," he glowers.
"So was I." I wave my sword in Marius's face. He shakes his dirty blond hair out of his face. He stumbles and tries to regain his damaged dignity.
"I... I wasn't talking about you, Reetan." He motions to Alex and Linley, both of whom have come into the open unarmed and barely awake.
"Sure, Marius." Linley comes up to me and crosses her arms.
"Lay off him, District Two!" she says. I've seen Marius acting extra- nice to her lately. It's all an act, but she doesn't seem to realize that. Fierce for the youngest Career, isn't she though? I brandish my sword.
"What was that? Oh, you want to be the next cannon?" Ebony smacks me over the head and pulls Linley away from me. I pull the crossbow from her hands and knock away Marius's harpoon and Stavren's slingshot. I toss my sword into the pile.
"So, what's the plan today, guys?" Stavren says. She's a real Career girl, tough and prepared. If she weren't soon-to-be dead, she'd make a great Peacekeeper. I see Alex scoot closer to her and, true to form, Stavren punches him.
"Hunting," I say immediately. Linley bites her lips, but the rest of them seem pretty excited. Marius looks at me crossly.
"You said we weren't planning to hunt again until the tribute pool was down to twelve!" he says, "So when did we decide this?"
"Did Mister Fishy decide he's not a real Career anymore?" I coo. Marius takes a step towards me angrily; I advance in the same manner towards him. I'm stopped, though, by a tight grip on my wrist. "Come on!" I shout at Stavren, who has grabbed our arms and shoved us away from each other.
"Well, the tribute pool's not down to twelve yet, now is it, district partner?" she says venomously. "It would be illogical to kill each other now, wouldn't it, district partner. What was it you said to Marius the other day- breaking the Careers so early is a 'rookie move'?" I wrench away from her.
"How did you hear about that?"
"Um, maybe when you told the story when we were eating that night?" I look at the dusty ground. I feel like an idiot. "Anyway, what's the deal with the hunting? Go talk it out." Marius and I glare at each other. "WITHOUT killing each other," she adds.
We retreat to the early-morning shadow of the Cornucopia. "So, what now?" I snarl.
"Hunting's definitely the preferred option," Marius says, digging the dirt out from underneath his fingernails with the tip of a knife, "but YOU said we wouldn't hunt until half of the tributes are dead. And there are still thirteen kids in this arena. That's counting that cannon we just heard."
"So let's hunt."
"I'm all for it, but have you seen the rest of them? Alex, Linley and Ebony hate going out to fight. They may hide it, but Linley grew up with Annie Cresta and her pacifist crap, Ebony is super-protective of Linley, and Alex is just here for his sponsors and all he wants is women." I nod. He basically summed up our pack. Three strong, three weak.
"So, if we take out those three, we'll be practically indestructible. Let's do it." Marius catches my wrist and smirks at me.
"Don't you think it's a bit early?" I roll my eyes. This is why I should be sole Career leader.
"Not that get rid of them, Aquaman. The three REAL Careers go hunting and the three hangers-on can stay behind.
"Solo hunting?"
"Yeah, sure, whatever."
"And what about Alex?" We both know what Marius is saying immediately.
"Forget pacifism, the two girls will murder him in a second if he tries anything. He knows it, too." I chuckle.
"Are we decided, co-leader?" Marius says cordially.
"Yeah," I charge around the Cornucopia, "Let's hunt!" Stavren tosses us our weapons. Linley and Ebony share a look. Alex simply sulks, but Marius shoves him, sending him sprawling on his back. I snort.
"Not all of us. You're lucky, pretty boy." Alex sits up, rubbing the back of his head. He looks at Marius and frowns.
"Will you guys stop calling me that?" I'm trying to think of a really good comeback when Ebony speaks up.
"No." We burst out laughing.
"You're stuck with her for the whole day, man," I say. He looks at me with a horrified expression plastered on his face.
"What?"
"Half of us will be hunting, the other half staying here. Linley, Ebony, and Alex will remain, while Stavren, Marius, and I will-"
"Yeah, we get the gist. Let's go!" shouts Stavren, grabbing her slingshot again. Marius and I run after her.
F4: LINLEY CRESTA
I scrape at the base of the Cornucopia, cleaning the dirt and dried blood from the bloodbath away from the shining metal. Ebony sits cross-legged inside the golden horn and Alex sulks in the boys' tent. Reetan, Marius, and Stavren- the classic Careers in our alliance- have been off hunting for a few hours now. We have not heard any cannons other than the one early in the morning.
"So, what now?" I call to my friend. Ebony stretches lazily and clambers out of the mouth of the Cornucopia.
"We hang around all day while the others are breaking their backs trying to kill a person, that's what." I make a face.
"They never show the boring parts of the Games in the recaps," I say.
"Well, why would they? The Capitol citizens wouldn't want to see that. The cameras probably aren't focused on us anyway- they'll be following someone… anyone else." I groan.
"Ugh, they're probably waiting for us to attack Alex or something."
"Or each other," I mutter darkly, "which we would never do." Ebony nods emphatically.
"What was that? Did I hear my name?" Alex says from the boys' tent. He pushes aside the flap and steps out into the bright noontime lights.
"Oh, we were just talking about how the Capitol is probably waiting for us to kill you," Ebony say nonchalantly, casually picking up a crossbow bolt. I giggle at Alex's horrified face.
"Don't worry, pretty boy." Alex glares at her but Ebony doesn't take notice. "We won't kill you yet. The hunters' job is to kill people, not us- not here, not now."
"I've asked multiple times- WILL YOU STOP CALLING ME THAT?"
"And as I already answered, NO." Alex roars in anger and picks up a spear. I scream as he throws is at Ebony, but it's a wobbly, weak throw and she simply remains still and lets the shaft pass by her.
"Is that the best you can do, pretty boy?" Ebony taunts. Alex's face contorts with fury and he picks up one of our katanas. He swings it dangerously and Ebony loads her bow.
"Guys…" I say warningly; my fellow Careers pay no attention. Ebony sticks her tongue out and Alex is pushed over the edge at this act of unafraid defiance. He slashes at my friend.
"STOP!" I shout, pounding my fists on Alex's side. He turns to me, his eyes still full of bloodlust, and raises his sword. I freeze in fear for a moment, but I recover fast enough to punch the boy in the nose. He howls and drops the katana, reaching instead for my neck. I snatch up the weapon and run over to Ebony, who lowers her crossbow.
The three of us look at each other, each breathing heavily. It feels like ages until we hear a noise in the trees, but I guess it's really only been a minute or so.
"What was all that?" Reetan hollers, bursting from the trees into the lush Cornucopia valley.
"Alex attacked Ebony," I explain. Marius emerges just in time to hear my words and he glares at Alex.
"What?" the boy from Ten protests, "She started it!"
"I don't care about that at all," growls Stavren," we were in the middle of tracking one of the mutts- the lemur-thing, before you ask- and then it tore off into the trees when we heard you guys shouting! You ruined our kill, you idiots!"
"Yeah," Reetan cracks his knuckles, "If she started it, and you attacked, I'll finish YOU."
"B-but… but…" Alex sputters. Ebony smirks behind him.
"That's what you get, pretty boy."
"Well, the hunt's ruined now," Marius sighs, "We might as well just stay here for the rest of the day. I run over to the food pile and grab a can of pears in syrup for my district partner. He's nicer than Reetan or Stavren- I respect Marius. He is kind to me and he protects me whenever the need arises. He's a true killer, but he made sure Reetan doesn't come after me. He smile when I hand him the pears, and gives me the first one when he pries the can open.
-LATER THAT DAY-
"Are we ready to get the watches set up?" Ebony asks. I nod, immediately volunteering for the first. Marius scratches my name down in the dirt, adding his right after mine and Stavren after his. Reetan glowers at him and Marius gets the point, scratching out his name and replacing it with the eighteen-year-old's. He puts his name fourth, directly before Ebony. Alex is last.
"Gotta get your beauty sleep, pretty boy, right?" he jokes. Alex doesn't even reply to the jest this time, just disappears into his tent.
The sun begins to descend, creating a vivid painting of reds, purples, yellows, and oranges. The sky blues and then blackens, and stars appear in the sky.
There's one face in the sky. The girl from One, the thirteen year old with the twin boy. I wonder where that boy is right now- if Reetan saw the sister's face he'll want to hunt the kid tomorrow. How fun.
IN DISTRICT ONE: COREY HARRIS
I sit in my girlfriend's living room, the plasma-screen television softly glowing in front of us. I put my arm around her as the Capitol seal appears in the arena's sky. Yvette breathes a little faster as the anthem plays.
There's only one face, and it has the words District One plastered beneath us. I hear whoops as Fala's victims celebrate in the streets. Yvette wants to cry at the loss of our tribute, but I pat her shoulder comfortingly.
"Don't worry, babe. She got what she deserved and she won't be hurt anymore." Yvette looks at me like I've grown a tail.
"She was your sister!"
"Not that I ever got along with her. Do you see that mark on her forehead in the picture?"
"Yeah?"
"I tried to shoot her when she was seven and I was training for the Peacekeeper squads. That's how well I get along with the twins."
One down, one to go.
14th: D1F Fala Harris