Darcy Hanning, 18
McKenna's #1 Female Pick
Darcy sat sorting through the supplies with Cupid as Cortana and Delaine built a shelter. The good thing about this arena was there were plenty of leaves, and if they played their hand right, they could probably get enough branches to form some sort of floor, so they aren't sleeping on the floor.
"You know you got your ass handed to you," said Cupid as she sorted food by perishable and nonperishable.
"She tackled me from behind, Cupid," Darcy said, annoyed. "I was taken off guard."
Cupid chuckled as she popped a berry in her mouth. Darcy had a lot on her mind. Remembering that you died, but not only that you died but that you were in one of the original Hunger Games, it's a lot to take in. She had had unshakable confidence for a long time, but now that she remembers where she's from, what she's done, it's been hard to get herself together.
She wasn't like these. She wasn't from a career District. She was from District 10. If Darcy had been in a normal Hunger Games, sure she would have still done okay, but she would have never made it as far as she did the first go around.
For the first time, Darcy was questioning herself, and that was detrimental.
Darcy nearly won her games from being ruthless. Not only is she ruthless now, but she's trained. You're a badass, Dace. She thought to herself. Don't be too hard on yourself. But she couldn't help feel the residual doubt that she was going to mess up and die again.
"I'm just saying," Cupid said to her with a chuckle. "You gotta be more careful. Kitana is going to come at you full force,"
Darcy looked at the two girls building the shelter and frowned. Cortana was a smart girl, manipulative even, but Delaine seemed weak. Delaine seemed like the kind of girl that would go along with anything her best friend said to do. Darcy and Cupid were free agents for these. Whenever they felt the need to turn on one of them, all they had to do was slither their hooks into Darcy or Cupid and boom. They had a three on one fight.
And Darcy knew that she was going to be the one in that three on one fight.
"Cupid," said Darcy. "I know you, and I were never the closest, but I think we need to talk about something," Darcy put the weapons in a neat little pile. She had two tomahawk knives, a bottle of poison, and two knife belts that she managed to sneak from the bloodbath. She still had two more packs to look through.
"What's that?" asked Cupid.
"Cortana and Delaine are an automatic pair," said Darcy. "There is never going to be a situation where they come between them." Darcy looked over to make sure that Cortana and Delaine weren't listening in on their conversation. "I don't want to sound like a spazz-"
"But you're worried that you're going to end up on the receiving end of a knife from a three on one battle," said Cupid. "Am I right?"
"Sort of the idea," said Darcy. "Also, just wanted to subtly point out that you'll never be one of them. Just in case you did decide to turn on me."
"You know before I was here, I was just a girl from District 9?" asked Cupid. Darcy gave her an encouraging nod to keep going, and she sighed. "I was considered 'the love doctor' when I was there too. The only thing was? I would never find that love for myself."
"How come?" asked Darcy as she grabbed the vial of poison from the pile and secretly slipped it into her pocket. Cupid continued to talk, not noticing her taking it.
"I'm asexual. I don't find sexual pleasure with anyone," said Cupid. "I was so terrified to admit that in this life, and right up until right before I died the first time, I was terrified to admit it then. I didn't see a lot of value in myself or what I had to offer until I met a boy named Kai," Cupid shifted to sit criss-cross on the ground and smiled as she remembered the boy. "He told me that I was a gem in a field of garbage. Cheesy stuff, but it made me see value in myself. And then Jupiter killed me," said Cupid with a smirk.
"Woah!" said Darcy, shocked. "Jupiter?!"
"Don't worry, I got his ass back in the bloodbath," said Cupid. "And I did it a lot quicker than he did for me as well," she looked at Darcy and smiled. "But my point is this: I didn't give myself much credit either. Who I saw out there almost getting killed today was not the Darcy that I've grown up in awe of during training. You're strong and powerful, and you need to remember that before you royally fuck up your chance at life."
Darcy smiled at Cupid. "Thank you," she said. "I needed that."
"I know," said Cupid as she put the last of the food into a backpack and zipped it closed. "If you're still offering a secret sub alliance to this one, I'm down. I have your back, Darcy. However, I think we're good for the time being."
Darcy looked over at Delaine and Cortana as they built the shelter. Delaine looked over and smiled at them as they continued to build. "Yeah," said Darcy nodding her head. "I think that we are good for a bit."
Ruben Ashven, 18
Hazel's #1 Male Pick
"Rudi is dead," said Hadrian for the fifteenth time in five minutes. "I cannot believe that Rudi is dead,"
Ruben watched as his friend mourned the loss of his brother with his head between his knees. Ruben felt terrible that his brother was dead, but something inside of him prevented him from feeling overly sad. Maybe it was the fact that this whole life he had was orchestrated from computers. Or perhaps it was the fact that he had already died before, so he didn't feel sympathy for those who already died.
Ruben thought back to District 10 and his life there. He had so many things he missed out on. Ninety-one years is a long time to be gone from the world. His family would have gone on and had children, and their children would have had children. He thought about Rover, his twin brother, his actual brother, and what he got himself into after he left.
Did they miss him? Were they happy?
Ruben felt lost. He had no control over his life anymore, and he was angry about it.
The only thing that Ruben felt he had complete control over in this life was his relationship with Darcy. Even that was something he couldn't claim as his own. They broke up. He felt manipulated by the system.
What was the point in all of this? In the games going this way? Didn't they suffer enough the first time they came around and died? Doing this to the tributes was cruel, and Ruben felt as if he was going to explode.
"Rudi is dead," repeated Hadrian.
Something about his voice sounded like razors jumping into Ruben's ears. Hadrian didn't normally upset him, and Ruben was one hundred percent sure that he was so angry due to the emotional toll of the day, but he couldn't stop himself.
"Dude, I swear, if you don't shut the fuck up, I might kill you myself."
"Dude, Rudi is dead!" said Hadrian getting upset. "He was our friend! Our brother! And we watched him die at the hands of, of fucking Valerian?!"
"RUDI HAD IT COMING!" screamed Ruben as he shoved Hadrian to the ground. "He was a bad friend, a bad brother, and an even worse boyfriend! He was the scum of the earth and was rude to everyone who didn't fall in line with his vision of how he wanted things!" screamed Ruben.
Ruben couldn't help the tears welling up in his eyes as he fell to the ground and sobbed. It was as if a thousand issues were piling on top of Ruben's back, and when he finally straightened his back up, everything fell around him. As the weight of the world was on his shoulders and he had no choice but to see it crumble around him.
"Bro, you need to CHILL!" screamed Hadrian as he pushed him back to the ground. His back hit the ground Ruben felt destroyed.
"Everything was simulated, Hadrian," said Ruben sadly.
"Yeah," said Hadrian. "It sucks, I agree, but this is the hand we were dealt, Ruben. It doesn't have to be the end of the world. We can get out of here together now, Ruby," said Hadrian. "We can get out of here, and we can have the life we were robbed of for eighteen years, Ruby. We just can't turn on each other. Not now."
He held out his hand to his brother, and Ruben shook it. They laid down on the jungle floor and let out a groan. "We can have a pity party for exactly three more minutes," said Hadrian. "After those three minutes, we get our ass up. We look over our supplies, and then we avoid Kitana's group like the plague that they are."
"Agreed," said Ruben.
He began to twiddle his thumbs and wondered about what Darcy was doing. He hated to admit this, but he still missed her. And the worst of which is when the announcement of two victors came, it wasn't Hadrian that Ruben had wished would get out of the arena with.
It was Darcy.
It couldn't be anyone else that wins this with him. Darcy was the only real thing Ruben had. She was the only thing that kept him sane with the countless hours of training, and now, they were given a chance at their happily ever after.
"No," said Ruben as he got up from the ground. "I can't do this, Hadrian," said Ruby. "I'm sorry, dude, you're my bro, but...I gotta find her."
Ruben ran away from his friend, who was still sitting on the ground, confused. He would find his girl, and they would run this game to the ground. There was no other choice. He would leave this game with his love.
They would be co-victors.
Arturo Ambrosio, 18
Hazel's #2 Male Pick
Arturo was a mess. Not just because his life was on the line, but because he was supposed to meet Elizabeth right after the bloodbath. They had had a secret alliance for years, and now Arturo didn't even know if she was alive. Carter was great, but Arturo still felt a responsibility to his sister.
When he had initially said yes to Carter's supposed alliance, he had thought that he would meet her after the bloodbath, and Carter and her would just click, but now he had to find her, and he wasn't sure when that was going to be possible.
So here they were, sitting in the treehouse in the middle of the arena and waiting for something to happen. The cannons still haven't sounded from the bloodbath. Arturo and Carter dashed away, only being able to grab a backpack each before escaping the mess that happened on the field.
The treehouse was massive, and there was a net all around the bottom of the tree on the outside. On the inside, they had numerous boxes and three hammock beds hanging from the ceiling. There was a ladder in the center of the room that led either to the outside net portion of the tree or up into an attic area where there were four small rowboats.
"Something is bothering you," said Carter as he opened up his backpack, digging around in it. "I can tell your thinking about a lot. Need to talk?"
"You're going to be mad," said Arturo as his heartbeat started to pick up. "I need you to listen and know that I didn't mean for this to turn into a big thing, but you have to just know that this was something that happened before we were in an alliance and-"
"Arturo, breathe," said Carter with a chuckle. "Remember what Tiffany-"
"Your issues are not as big as they seem most of the time," said Arturo repeating the line of his therapist. "Elizabeth and I were in an alliance since we were younger," said Arturo. "We were supposed to meet after the bloodbath, but when I tried to find her when we were running, she wasn't where I thought she'd be. I feel awful like I abandoned her. I don't even know if she's alive-"
"Arturo," said Carter, mocking breathing in and out. "Breathe. It's okay. Do you think we need to look for her? We can go try and find her."
"What if we run into the big alliance of psychopaths?" asked Arturo. 'I don't think we could beat out six people."
"That's if all six are alive," Carter countered. "Look, that's your sister. If you had an agreement with her, who am I to get in the way, Arturo? Let's go find her," said Carter.
He packed up the contents of his backpack and threw it on his back. The mini-sword that he managed to get from his bag is strapped to his hip, and as he creeps to the center of the massive treehouse to get to the door, he pauses. "I hear something," said Carter as he backed away from the hole and moved to the side of the room. Arturo ran over to the boxes on the side and ducked down beside it as footsteps grew closer and closer to them.
"Hello?" called a female voice.
Arturo didn't dare speak, but as he closed his eyes, he heard footsteps moving around the first floor of the treehouse. He slowly glanced to his right and saw Carter sitting behind a crate not too far from him. He has his sword ready to fight whoever it is in the treehouse. He looked at Arturo wide-eyed. I can't see it. He mouthed to Arturo from his spot in the treehouse. He tilted his head to the left to tell Arturo to look around his crate and see who it is.
"I thought he would have been there," said the female voice.
Arturo picked his head slowly from around the crate and saw Elizabeth walking around the room. Upon seeing her, he jumped up from his spot and ran to her, throwing his arms around her neck. "I thought you died!"
Elizabeth laughed as she hugged her brother back, and Carter emerged from the boxes that he was hiding behind. "I didn't die, but I also didn't get a ton of supplies," she said, letting go of her brother and pointing to the single backpack on her back. "Just a few packs of beef jerky and a hunting knife."
"Well, I'm glad we stayed put," said Carter laughing. "I feel better knowing there's three of us now. I think what we need to do is establish a plan on how to proceed. We obviously can't just sit here the whole games just waiting for someone to come and find us."
"I vote a walk then," said Elizabeth. "Let's explore the jungle."
Vritra Galloway, 18
Shelby's #2 Female Pick
Vritra hated her alliance.
Well, Vritra hated Kitana. Kitana was the epitome of everyone that Vritra would hate. She was vigorous, nasty, and kind of a bitch. And while Vritra was a bitch, she sure didn't go around and flaunt it all the time in the same manner that Kitana did.
Their alliance decided to stake out the treehouse in the middle of the arena. The only issue? They had no idea where they were going, and because they listened to Kitana and Caio, they were utterly lost.
"How did we end up in this alliance?" whispered Synth as they walked together in the jungle. "I genuinely feel like God is punishing us, or maybe this is a cosmic joke."
Vritra didn't answer. Instead, she kicked at the roots on the jungle ground as she maneuvered. Kitana has been talking to Caio non-stop since she caught back up with the group after the bloodbath. Hasn't even shed a tear for her supposed best friend and sister.
"You need to be better at hiding your facial expressions," said Synth ignoring the fact that Vritra didn't respond at first. "You wear everything you're thinking on your face, and you're going to get killed because of it."
"Who the fuck are you to tell me what's going to get me killed, brother," she said, emphasizing the word as if it tasted bad in her mouth. "You worry about you. Let me do what the fuck I need to do. If Kitana has an issue with me, I wish she would fucking try me."
"You want to know your issue?" asked Synth as he stopped and grabbed his sister by the arm. She raised her eyebrows at him as she threw his hand off of her.
"Do not fucking touch me-"
"Your issue is that you sit here mad at the world, and for what? What is it going to do for you, Vi? It got in the way of your training. It got in the way of your score, and it's going to get in your way in this arena."
"Then why don't you just run along and go talk to the others," Vritra said as she continued along the pathway following her alliance. They were a decent way ahead of them now, and Vritra hoped they didn't think a coup was being planned.
"Because, sister," said Synth. "You're my one ally in this game. I might be apart of the group, but that group won't keep us for long," he hissed at his sister. "Eventually, it's going to be House Shelby against House McKenna, and from my understanding, it's three against two."
Vritra's heart sank to her feet upon this realization. Synth and her could probably take on any combination of the two House McKenna tributes, but add the third, and it's nearly impossible for even one of them to come out alive.
I can't believe I let myself get into this situation.
"There's the lightbulb I was looking for," said Synth as pushed a long tree branch out of the way. Kitana turned around and looked at them, annoyed from farther up the path. "I had to tie my shoe," he called out to her.
He's smart. Thought Vritra looking at her brother. More intelligent than I gave him credit for.
"Well, hurry up," said Kitana clapping her hands. "You're making me annoyed walking like slow little turtle creatures."
"Fucking Janet just had to stab her in the throat," said Vritra. "She talked all this fucking mess, and for what? To just go and die in the first thirty minutes of the game?"
"It's okay to feel things, you know," said Synth speeding up his pace. "I am a little upset with Janet for dying. I know she didn't want to, but I'm still upset nonetheless," Vritra was impressed with Synth as he talked. There was something about him that radiated calmness and thoughtfulness. He had a lot of the traits that Vritra never had.
Even in her old life before these new games.
"I feel things, Synth," Vritra whispered, trying not to sound insulted. "I have a heart, I just also have a mindset that twenty-two of the people that I spent my whole fucking life with is going to end up dead in a box shipped back to our parents. I can't let the ones that are dead impact me until later."
This was a moment of vulnerability that Vritra hated showing. She wouldn't do this regularly, but she felt for Synth to trust her she had to give him something, and if she had to play the game a bit to get ahead then so be it for now.
"So what do you think the plan for now is?" she asked Synth.
"When the time is right, and we'll both know when that is, we take one of them out."
"Let's kill Kit-"
"That's the one that we cannot kill right off the bat," Synth interrupted. "Kill Kitana and chaos ensues. Accidentally kill Caio or Napoleon? We have a game on our hands."
"Well, who's the unlucky bastard we're killing then?"
Here we go! Next chapter, I'm excited for! I set up some things to look forward to, some alliance updates, and best of all, NO DEATHS. Ugh, love growth for me.
Alliance Update:
Dysfunctional: Kitana/Vritra/Caio/Napoleon/Synth
Forced but cool: Synth/Vritra
Bad Bitches: Darcy/Cortana/Delaine/Cupid
Insurance Policy: Darcy/Cupid
I stan this alliance lowkey: Carter/Arturo/Elizabeth
House Princeton: Sagar/Lily/Axton/Valerian
Where the hell is Darcy?: Ruben
"Bro, Rudi is DEAD!": Hadrian
Keep it classy,
Caleb