"In the moment that you're frightened, life is real."
-Andrew Lippa, "The Addams Family"
Dustin Zigmund (18) POV
District 4 male
Today is going to be a shitshow. We collectively decided first thing in the morning that I've spent enough time with Terry that we're confident enough in her to let her go hunting, so today it's going to be Terry, myself, and Penny. I didn't want to take Penny, but she and Julius definitely need to be separated, and Julius didn't express any interest in leaving camp today, so Penny it is, I guess.
We begin our trek towards the tree line, Penny and I with spears, and Terry with a few throwing knives. We each have a bag with some food and water in case we're gone for a long time, and blankets in case the night gets cold before we can make it back to camp and light a fire.
After about an hour of walking in uncomfortable silence, Penny begins venting yet again about her argument with Julius.
"I just don't understand why he has to be so defensive all the time," she says, rolling her eyes. "It's not like I was insulting him! I said he wasn't weak. It was a compliment."
"Uh-huh," I say, only half listening. We're all on Julius's side on this one, but I know that arguing with Penny will only make her angry all over again, and I don't trust her to not act rashly when she's upset.
"And then since he wanted to be stupid, we got attacked by those dumb mutts," she continues. "If he hadn't said anything, they never would have interrupted our conversation to agree with him."
"That's crazy," Terry says.
"Isn't it?" Penny asks, not picking up on the sarcasm in Terry's voice.
Suddenly, we hear the sound of a rustle and a twig snap, and we all raise our weapons.
"What was that?" Terry asks.
"I think it was another tribute," Penny says, starting to hop from one foot to another. "We should go find them!"
"I don't know," I say. "We were talking pretty loudly. If there was another tribute around, they'd probably keep to themselves."
"You think it was a mutt?" Terry asks, her eyes wide.
"I don't know. It might even just be an animal or something. I just think it's either bad news or nothing to worry about."
"If you guys are going to sit around and be chickens, I'll just go by myself," Penny interjects. "And when my kill count goes up to three and you guys are stuck at one, I'll remind you that you could have come with me, but you were too scared."
Before either me or Terry has a chance to say another word, Penny sets off to the trees, spear in hand. As soon as she's gone, Terry turns to me.
"Let's run away," she says, desperation in her voice.
"Back to camp?" I ask. Why would she want to go back to camp? If Penny kills whatever's over there, she'd just be mad at us for ditching her in the woods.
"No, away from camp," she says. "Away from everything. Dustin, you're the only one here that actually likes me, and we both know I respect you more than Penny does. We'd be so much better off on our own."
She's taking a huge risk asking this of me. If I were to say no, I couldn't let her come back to camp, not knowing that she was planning on betraying everyone. I'd have to kill her, or at least finally let Penny do it. Terry has to be pretty sure of herself to think that this would work. On the other hand, I know that what she's saying is right. Penny sees herself as above everyone, Julius and Topher both think they're the leader of the group, and Alecto doesn't seem to care either way. Why shouldn't I remove myself from an alliance that doesn't respect me?
I begin to get anxious, trying to figure out what I should do. Do I stay loyal to my District partner and the people I'm expected to stay with until the end? Or do I selfishly do what I know is best for me?
BOOM!
"Let's do it."
Brian Spencer (17) POV
District 6 male
I would have been happy if my trap caught anyone. Anyone in this entire arena. But the fact that I'm responsible for killing the girl from District 4 fills me with sheer giddy excitement. I've killed two people in the last 24 hours! It's not so much that I'm excited to have killed people, but my rankings with the Capitol citizens must have just skyrocketed. I've betrayed an ally and killed a Career tribute. The viewers love that.
It was pretty easy to catch her, actually. All I had to do was make some sound, and she immediately came out to investigate what she thought she heard. She must have thought that she would definitely be stronger than whatever tribute would be stupid enough to make their presence known. From there, she stepped right where she was supposed to step, and the next thing I knew, she was dangling from a tree by her ankle, her body scorched and smoking.
Her cannon goes off, and I know they're going to want me to clear out so they can pick up her body, but I can't bring myself to leave my trap just yet. This is definitely the most impressive thing I've ever built. Maybe if I win, I can make a living inventing, manufacturing, and selling traps like these. Obviously I wouldn't test them on humans, but it would still be a fun hobby.
After a couple more minutes admiring my work, I decide that it's time to leave. My trap did what it had to do to kill a strong contender, and probably bring me more sponsors, so in the grand scheme of things, I don't need it anymore. I look around one more time with a grin on my face, pausing momentarily on the still smoking remains of the girl from District 4. Penny. I'm pretty sure she scored a nine. There really wouldn't have been very many better people that I could have caught.
Sighing contently, I begin to walk away from my design. I know that something is wrong before it even happens. I miscalculated. I took a step ever so slightly in the wrong direction. I brace myself for what I know is about to come, although there's no real way to anticipate this. With just a few seconds of notice, I'm upside down, and I hear a loud zap.
Alecto Caraway (18) POV
District 2 female
BOOM!
I look over at Topher, then Julius, and they both look as nervous as I feel. That's two cannons in five minutes. Unless our group found the boy from 10 and the girl from 12, or there were two fights going on at the same time, at least one of our own is dead. Personally, my guess is that they found either the girl from 5 or the boy from 6, that tribute killed Terry, and Dustin killed them immediately afterward. If I'm right, then Penny and Dustin should be coming back before too long.
Topher, Julius and I wait in silent anticipation for our allies to return. We try to do small tasks to keep our minds off of the others- Topher finds a pen and pad of paper in the Cornucopia and spends some time writing, Julius tidies up the camp as best as he can while avoiding broken glass, and I practice my aim on squirrels as they pass by.
The first two hours or so pass by with minimal worry on my part. It took them a little over an hour of walking before the cannons fired, and it would take them at least that long to make it back to camp. When that much time passes, though, I start to get nervous. Why haven't they come back yet? Even if something wild happened and both cannons were for our allies, there would still be one left.
What if they got captured or kidnapped? There's not very many people strong enough to kidnap any of my allies, but it's not too unrealistic that the boy from 6 did it. What if Penny and Dustin both died and Terry ran off? What if she killed them herself and met up with her District partner? I can't be the only one that realizes that he's still alive. Is it possible that they've been in cahoots this entire time?
Julius begins pacing like he always does when he has something on his mind, and I take a seat next to Topher, knowing that a conversation is coming. Topher has a few folded sheets of paper at his feet, labeled "Rachel," "Mom," and "Dad" in big letters. He's talked a lot about his mother and his girlfriend being driving forces behind him wanting to win, but I don't think he's ever mentioned his father to us. All I know is that his parents are divorced.
"Okay, what do we think happened?" Julius asks, breaking the long silence. "There were two cannon shots, right? Not three?"
"Just two," I confirm.
"It was probably the boy from 10 and the girl from 12," Topher says, absentmindedly touching the corner of the paper labeled "Dad." "They're probably just taking a while to get back because they're looking for other tributes or something."
Why would they keep looking for tributes? If they really did get the girl from 12 and the boy from 10, the only other tributes left outside of our alliance would be the girl from five and the boy from six.
Woah.
Is that possible? That we're in the final eight tributes, and six of them are our alliance? If there are only two other people left that we're not allied with, are the six of us all going to stay together until we're the last ones standing? If that's the case, we could probably kill the last two tributes from the outer Districts in the next day or two, and have some kind of epic final showdown immediately afterward. Win or lose, this is not going to go on much longer. Should I prepare myself to leave and spend the rest of the Games on my own? No, I couldn't abandon Topher, and he would want to stay with everyone until the very end. In that case, I just need to be ready for a betrayal.
"There's no way they're still looking for tributes," Julius says, snapping myself out of my thoughts. "We're in the final eight now, and at least one of our allies is still alive. At most, there's four outer District kids left. More likely, there's two, and they're too spread out to spend less than a whole day finding them."
Sometimes I worry about how similar my and Julius's thought patterns are. If we had met under different circumstances, we could have been really great friends, I think. And if his temper wasn't so bad.
"I guess," Topher says. "But can we at least agree that no matter what happens, the three of us are in it until the end?"
He puts his hand forward and waits, eyes darting between Julius and myself. I survey them both, wanting to make an informed decision. Truth be told, Topher and Julius have always been my two favorites in this alliance. Topher's my District partner, obviously, but it's more than that. For a volunteer from District 2, he's just so nice and genuine. He's not like some of the crazies who volunteer just so they can kill as many people as they can legally, or even like me who volunteered to prove myself worthy. He just wants a better life for himself and his future fiancée. And then there's Julius, who I just relate to so much. Like me, he has something to prove. He needs everyone to know that he's not weak just because of some stereotypes. If I was watching from home, I might be rooting for him.
"Agreed," I say, putting my hand on top of Topher's. Julis follows suit, and I'm comforted knowing that I'm in the best company possible for the remainder of the Games. As the sun begins to set and the other three still haven't made an appearance, I find myself significantly less worried than I know that I should be.
Tessa Ray (15) POV
District 12 female
The sky tonight shows the faces of the girl from District 4 and the boy from District 6, two pretty strong competitors. That leaves the boy from 1, both from 2, the boy from 4, the girl from 5, me, Rowan, and Rowan's District partner. I've been the weakest one left in the Games for a little while now, ever since the boy from 7 died, but it's difficult being the weakest one left in an ever shrinking pool. At this point, the girl from 5 is probably the only one left that would even struggle to kill me, and even then, I'd put my money on her. I can't go on much longer without killing anyone, but how can I when there's only one non-Career tribute left besides Rowan and I? Brute strength is definitely out.
In addition to struggling with being the weakest one left, I'm also having a hard time knowing that we're reaching the end. On the one hand, getting to the end fills me with adrenaline, because with every cannon shot, I'm one step closer to getting out of here. On the other hand, though, what is there for me to come home to? A family that doesn't care? A District that's always hated me because I've always hated it? Haunting memories of mutts? Not to mention, if I make it home, I'd have to live with Rowan's death, and no matter how it happens, it's going to be brutal for me to come to terms with.
Rowan.
The final eight is around the time that alliances tend to break apart. This is when people realize that only one can win. But I can't leave Rowan. I can't win without him. Is he going to leave me? Kill me? He doesn't have the problem that I have. He could definitely win without me. To be frank, I'm not sure why he hasn't left or tried to kill me yet, especially when I was weak, tired, and sick from the piranha attack. Surely I'm just weighing him down at this point.
I need to get out of my own head. A walk by myself should do me some good. I'll bring a knife just in case, and I won't go far, I just need to be alone for a minute.
"I need to go for a walk," I say, grabbing a knife. "I'll be back soon, I promise."
"Be safe, okay?" Rowan says, concern in his eyes.
"I will," I promise, kissing him softly.
With that, I'm off on my walk. The full moon and stars light my way, so I'm not completely in the dark. The moon has been full every night that I've been here so far, which just solidifies to me that I'm not anywhere natural in the world. Wherever I am, it's completely man made. I never really appreciated things like the moon, the stars, and the sunset before I came into the arena, but now that I'm starting to notice them, they're fake. Would I still like them if what I was seeing was the real sun, moon, and stars? Would I still be interested in Rowan if I thought that his feelings towards me were real?
After some wandering, I find a wild cherry tree. I'm certain they're really cherries once I inspect the bark and leaves on the trees, the fruit, and the pit. I pick a handful and sit down at the base of the tree to eat them, chewing carefully and being sure to spit out the pits. Before leaving, I take a long, hard look at the small pile of cherry pits next to me before deciding to pocket them. You never know when they could come in handy.
Once my head feels less fuzzy, I get up off the ground and go back to camp, where I cuddle up next to Rowan and drift off to sleep.
10th: Penny War, District 4 female, killed by Brian's trap.
9th: Brian Spencer, District 6 male, killed in his own trap.
Final 8 (in District order): Julius Helios, Alecto Caraway, Christopher Price, Dustin Zigmund, Clio Paxton, Terry Kartcher, Rowan Griffey, Tessa Ray.
We are in the final 8! There's a whole new poll up on my profile, so go vote on that even if you already voted on the last one.
1. What did you think of the trap?
2. What do you think will happen to Dustin and Terry?
3. Who do you think is going to die next?
4. Who do you think is going to win?