"He could be that boy, but I'm not that girl."
-Stephen Schwartz, "Wicked"
Christopher Price (17) POV
District 2 male
So Dustin and Terry definitely ran off yesterday. That became clear when Penny's face was in the sky with the boy from District 6, and Dustin and Terry didn't come back last night. Our best bet is that they ran into the boy from 6, who killed Penny. Then Dustin killed the boy, and he and Terry didn't want to show their faces again, so they went off on their own. Their loss. At least now it won't be too hard to kill them if we run into them today.
Naturally, hunting is on our list today. The only people left besides the three of us and Dustin and Terry are the girls from 5 and 12 and the boy from 10. With any luck, the girl from 12 and the boy from 10 are still allies, and we'll be able to find and kill them both. The only difficulty is trying to figure out how to split everyone up. With only three of us left, we don't want any one of us to be alone, whether it's guarding the camp or hunting. So we've decided to do something a bit drastic.
We're all going to go hunting and leave the camp unguarded. The way we see it, we really should be sticking together at this point in the Games to make sure nothing comes in the way of the three of us being in the finale. Not to mention, with only eight tributes left in the Games, it's not like any serious damage is going to come to our supplies if we leave it unguarded for too long. There aren't enough tributes left to completely deplete our supplies, and at the rate that the Games are going, we don't need very many days' worth of food anyway. As long as we're left with enough food to last us a couple of days, two sleeping bags, three water bottles, and some matches, we'll be just fine, since we're taking our weapons with us.
We each fill a large bag with as many essentials as possible- sleeping bags, water, packets of food- before we grab our weapons and set out on our mission to catch as many tributes as we can. Hopefully today is a lucky one.
Clio Paxton (17) POV
District 5 female
I need to focus, and the sooner the better. I got attacked by that mutt three days ago now, and what have I done since then? Tend to my festering wounds, eat nuts off trees, and sleep. It's no wonder I haven't gotten a sponsor to send me anything for my arm; what have I done to deserve it? Nothing! No sponsor in their right mind would look at me strapped in a tree with pus dripping from my upper arm and think that I have what it takes to win the Hunger Games.
I need to change that. If I want any chance at victory, I need to convince not only the viewers but myself that I have what it takes. And why wouldn't I have what it takes? Sure, I haven't made a kill, and I haven't seen another tribute since I watched Alayne die on the first night, but that doesn't mean everything. I got a seven in training, so clearly the Gamemakers have some faith in me- at least, they did at one point. And even though my interview was pretty awkward, I know I looked beautiful.
So what can I do to give myself a chance? Obviously I'm not doing anything right now to keep the attention of the sponsors. Even I can recognize that. The fight I had with a mutt was definitely exciting, but all it left me with was two serious injuries and no more supplies or sponsors than before. I had the idea before, but my best bet has got to be to find a tribute. If I can manage to take one down, that would guarantee more sponsors for me, and even if they do kill me, at least it wouldn't be as brutal as death by a Capitol-made mutt.
I decide to pack my things and go towards the Cornucopia. The Careers are probably out hunting, but there's probably one left to guard the camp. That's usually how they do things. If I can get there when there's only one of them, I could theoretically kill the one keeping watch, replenish my supplies, and leave again.
After a couple of hours, I get back to the place where it all began, but to my surprise, there's nobody there. The only Careers I know to be dead are the girls from 1 and 4, so I would figure they wouldn't want all five of the rest of them hunting at the same time. Did the alliance break up this soon? Is that why the girl from 4's face appeared in the sky last night? She must have been caught up in the final battle.
Since there isn't anyone here yet, I decide to eat and replenish my supplies first. I help myself to an entire bag of beef jerky, an apple that's looking like it's seen better days, and a quart of water, and I feel the best I have since the bird mutt attacked me. Speaking of which, I also rifle around until I find a first aid kit, and spread some disinfectant on my ear and arm before bandaging my arm. Much better.
I'm contemplating laying down for a nap when I hear a rustle from behind the dollhouse. Has someone come back already? I grab my knife, clutching it tightly in my hand and facing towards the direction of the noise. To my complete surprise, it isn't a tribute or an animal that makes its presence known, but a human being about fifty feet tall, surely a mutt. It's modeled after a little girl, with brown hair in pigtails tied off with pale pink ribbons, and a matching dress. It would be cute if it wasn't so terrifying.
"There you are!" she squeals. "I've been looking for you everywhere!"
My blood runs cold, and my chest starts heaving as she lifts me in a clenched fist and carries me over to the dollhouse. Her grip is like steel, and I can't even struggle to get free.
"Let's play kitchen," she says, pushing me into the kitchen of the dollhouse. She drops me with enough force for me to fall to the ground. Before I can steady myself, she picks me up again in her powerful hands and pushes me against the sink. My torso bangs against the corner part of the ledge, and I double over in pain.
"Oh no!" she exclaims. "The dishes are gone! Let's go find some, dolly!"
She grabs me by the ankle and carries me upside down to the Cornucopia. On the way back, all the blood rushes to my head, and I start to see stars. The girl can't find any dishes, and begins to have a temper tantrum, stomping her feet, screaming, and much to my dismay, shaking me up and down. I start struggling to get free, thinking that the fall from this height must be better than being continuously shaken.
I finally break free to find that I was wrong. I fall from her grip but land on my head at least 20 feet below on the ground. I raise my hand to my head, and when I pull it away, it comes back bloody. Disoriented, I shake my head, trying to come up with a plan, but it's really hard. My ears are ringing, and I can't see straight. It's like when I turn my head, the world takes a few seconds to catch up.
"Come on, dolly!" she says, scooping me up again. "We don't have to play kitchen, we can play, um, something else."
She takes me back to the dollhouse and thrusts me into the living room, hitting my head against the ceiling again. My vision starts to go seriously blurry, and before too long, I can't see anything but stars, so I squeeze my eyes shut, finally letting the tears pour out of them. There's nothing I can do. She's too strong.
My mother reaches her hand out to me, and with all the strength I have left, I take it.
Rowan Griffey (16) POV
District 10 male
BOOM!
With one cannon shot, I'm one of the last seven tributes left standing in the arena. Six more cannon shots until a Victor is decided, and whether it's me or not, I'd like to get it done as soon as possible. At this point in the Games and in the alliance, as much as it pains me to admit it, Tessa isn't doing much for me lately. She's helping to keep us fed by bringing back edible plants, but she's also been so scared to leave our camp. As much as the idea of killing another tribute pains me- the girl from District 3 has been weighing on me heavily enough- there's no chance that I can get out of here alive if I don't take matters back into my own hands.
The other thing that's been really upsetting me lately is my feelings towards Tessa. Something shifted in her yesterday, and she's seemed more like a real person lately, rather than just an accessory to my plan to win. She spent the first few days in the arena hanging all over me, obviously just trying to get the attention of sponsors. But yesterday, she started backing off, and it's made it a lot easier to be around her. She's way more fun when she's not trying too hard.
With that said, that doesn't mean she isn't going to have to die in order for me to live. And with every day that passes that we don't encounter another tribute, the greater the chances are that I'm going to be the one that has to kill her. It's not like I'm looking forward to it, especially since I'm starting to like her more, but it's something that has to get done. And if I continue to like her more and more, it's only going to get harder to do it. I need to do this now.
"Okay, I think everything's done," Tessa says, walking over with some food on a napkin leftover from our sponsor gift. "I cooked that squirrel from earlier, and I found some greens in the forest."
"Awesome, thanks," I say. She hands me the food, and I hope she doesn't sense my nerves. I take the bundle from her and set it on the ground before pulling her in for a long kiss. I can sense her surprise before she wraps her arms around me, and I feel her body relax against mine. I place my left hand on the small of her back before covertly reaching for the knife in my belt. Without thinking, I stab her in the side, and watch as she falls to the ground. Her face begins to pale immediately, and tears spring to her eyes.
"I'm so sorry," I say, unable to look into her eyes. "It had to happen sooner or later."
The magnitude of what I've done hasn't really kicked in yet, and I know I should eat now before my body convinces itself that I can't. Facing away from Tessa, I take the food and eat slowly, trying not to make myself sick.
I just stabbed someone. And not just a random tribute, like the girl from District 3. Tessa was my ally. We said we were going to be together until the very end, and I completely betrayed her trust. I know she probably didn't actually think we would be together in the final two, but thinking about the possibility of her thinking we would make it to the end makes me so upset, my stomach starts hurting.
It's really hurting. Cramping like I'm the one that got stabbed. Before I have time to react to my stomach ache, my breath starts coming in shallow. I just stabbed Tessa! How could I do that? I'm hyperventilating. My throat is closing up. I must be having a panic attack or something. I cough deeply into my hand, and when I pull it away, it's bloody. What's going on?
I take a deep breath in, trying to regulate my body. Something is not okay. I take one last fleeting look at the half-eaten food Tessa gave me before taking one last shuddery breath. My vision goes fuzzy before fading out completely. My last thought is the realization that I never got to live my truth.
Terry Kartcher (18) POV
District 10 female
"Tell me something I don't know about you," I tell Dustin.
The sun is almost down, and we're sitting around a fire roasting marshmallows that we got from a sponsor. The gift also came with chocolate bars and graham crackers, and I was shocked to learn that Dustin had never made s'mores before. Granted, I've only ever had them a few times. I had them a few times as a kid when we had the extra money, and once with Fenton shortly after his victory. It reminded me of childhood, back when things seemed simpler. I can't help but think he helped pick this out for Dustin and I.
"My sister, Dixie…" he trails off. "Four years ago, when she was 16, she volunteered for the 223rd Games. She… I mean, obviously, she didn't make it."
"I'm so sorry, Dustin," I say, resting my hand on his.
"Yeah," he says, not seeming all there. "She was so confident. I was only 14 at the time, and I really thought she would win. We were devastated when Maverick Jett… Anyway, Daniel, the boy that was supposed to volunteer just reminded me so much of Dixie. He was one of my trainees at the Academy. And it just made me realize that he has a family, too, and if his confidence turned out to be the death of him, his family would be upset, just like we were with Dixie. So I volunteered."
"My District really hates my family," I blurt out without thinking. Dustin didn't have to share something so personal, but because he did, I feel like I should share with him as well. "My parents are 17 years apart, and they got married when my mom was super young, so people started spreading rumors that my mom was, like, abused or coerced into marrying him. But she really just genuinely loved him. I mean, she still does. But that carried over to me. My family wasn't super well off because people didn't want to give us their business."
I hesitate before mentioning the next part. It probably won't get aired on TV since it's about illegal activity, but my parents don't even know about this, and this isn't how I wanted them to find out.
"I started helping out at the black market in District 10," I confess. "Nothing too serious, just cleaning and counting drawers and stuff like that. But when I started bringing home extra money, people started spreading rumors that I was sleeping with older men for money, which is just completely not true. But now that I'm in the Games, I feel like… I mean, I can't win, not really. I'm not as good with weapons as someone like Julius or Topher or Alecto or you, I'm not as smart as the girl from 5, or as confident as the girl from 12, or as likeable as Rowan, my District partner. All I have is my looks. The only way I could possibly win this thing is by becoming the false stereotype that everyone back home thought I was."
I start breathing heavily, in disbelief that I finally said all of that out loud. I wonder how much of that got televised. I wonder how much Fenton heard, and my parents, and the rest of District 10.
"Terry," he says, looking me in the eyes. "Terry, listen to me. You are so much more capable than you give yourself credit for. You're obviously beautiful, but you're so much more than that. You have such a positive energy, and you've made me smile every day in the Games. You're so honest and helpful, and you're a really fast learner. Trust me, I've trained a lot of people with weapons, and you've picked it up remarkably quickly. Don't count yourself out."
I've been holding back tears ever since my name was called on Reaping day almost two weeks ago, and Dustin's words send them all flooding out. I've been holding back too many emotions for too long, and it feels so bittersweet to finally let them out. Without giving it more thought, I kiss Dustin hard on the lips, tears still falling down my cheeks. He kisses me back, just for a moment, before gently pushing me away and meeting my eyes.
"You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that," he admits. "But I know your heart wasn't in it, and I don't want you to do anything you're not a hundred percent comfortable with. Let's just make s'mores, okay?"
I nod wordlessly, grateful that he stopped me. I wasn't in the right headspace to be making that decision. I pick up my marshmallow stick from the rock it was propped against and go back to toasting my marshmallow as if nothing happened.
Now is the point where I'm going to start writing eulogies.
8th: Clio Paxton, District 5 female, killed by a mutt. Clio was always one of my favorites, and she was the first of my potential victors that I killed off, and I've always had her bouncing from fifth to eighth place. (Fun fact: I've considered five people from the top eight. Clio and Rowan were both on the list. Figure that one out.) She was a lot of fun to write for, and I loved her personality, but ultimately she just didn't fit with my plan for the ending of the story.
7th: Rowan Griffey, District 10 male, poisoned by Tessa. Oh man. I loved Rowan. I really loved Rowan and how he felt like he needed to hide who he was even as he was about to die. I always wanted something dramatic to go down between him and Tessa, but I've been putting it off because I just loved their dynamic so much. I would have loved for it to come down to the two of them, but that would have just been way too easy.
Tessa?
1. Thoughts on Clio's death/the mutt?
2. Thoughts on the Rowan/Tessa betrayal? Is Tessa okay?
3. Where do you stand with Terry and Dustin?