Day Ten

When Alfred woke to find that Florence wasn't next to him, on the morning of their tenth day, he almost believed that she had been a figment of his imagination. His eyes searched the vast clearing surrounding the Cornucopia, desperately looking for a glimpse of the girl he was beginning to love. When he saw nothing, he walked over to Salome, gently waking the girl.
"Hey," He whispered quietly, not wanting to wake up Jordan or Locke, the thought of their wrath scaring him. "Hey." Alfred repeated again, trying his best to smile as Salome began to stir. "Who took over watch from Florence last night?"

Salome suddenly shot up, a look of horror and panic in her voice. "Shit." She spoke, louder than she had anticipated, causing both Jordan and Locke to jolt awake. "Me… it was supposed to be me. Florence was meant to come and wake me after four hours, but she never did." Now it was Salome's turn to scan the clearing, finding no sign of Florence.

Jordan and Locke made their way over to the pair, alerted by Salome's shouts and the panicked looks on the faces of the younger two tributes.

"Where's the girl?" Jordan asked, pretending to be unaffected, although it was clear to see the worry that creased his brow.

"We just woke up and she was gone." Salome spoke, standing up next to Alfred and placing a hand on his shoulder, steadying the boy as he trembled. "But listen, if something would have happened to her, we would have heard. She probably just went to find us some breakfast."

"No." Alfred shook his head, knowing the girl better than any of the others did. "She would have told someone, she would never have left alone without a good reason." He felt his palms begin to sweat. It was crazy how quickly he had become so attached to Florence, almost as if she wasn't around he would slowly slip into his old, nervous ways, something he never wanted to do again. "We need to find her." Alfred breathed out quickly, grounded only by Salome's reassuring touch on his shoulder.

"We will." The younger girl spoke, squeezing Alfred's arm. "She's one of us."

To Alfred's surprise, Locke and Jordan began to nod along too. They seemed so detached from the friendship that the other three tributes had built, to know that they cared was strangely comforting.
"We need a plan though, if we're going to get her back. She could be anywhere, the Capitol could have her, or she could have just wandered off." Jordan proposed, and Alfred could feel his face turning a pale white in fear, considering all the possibilities of where Florence could be.

"I don't want to plan." Alfred snapped back, harsher than he had intended to. "I want to find her." He bowed his head now, all the fight and spitefulness that was in his previous sentence gone, the boy now standing, visibly shaking.

"I know." Locke placed his hand gently on Alfred's back, the last person anyone would have expected to try and comfort him. But Locke was imagining just how broken he would have been if Salome was the one missing. He would be much worse than Alfred, uncontrollable, running around the place and screaming, doing his own thing and listening to no one. "And we'll help you. Alfred. You're not in this alone."

Despite everything, Alfred forced himself to smile, looking between the remaining tributes. "Okay." He nodded slowly, beginning to feel himself calming. These people would be with him, make sure they got Florence back unharmed. "Okay." He repeated again, a plan slowly formulating. "I'll head towards the woods, Locke, you go to the mountains, I don't think she would have gone anywhere else. Salome, Jordan, you two stay here in case she comes back." Much to his surprise, no one objected, knowing splitting up was the best way to ensure they found her quickly.
Alfred and Locke both grabbed a weapon, for Alfred, the spear he had carried from the first day, and for Locke, the machete he had obtained from Lana after he death, as well as a bottle of water, neither of them knew how long it would take to find her, or what awaited them outside the relative safety of the Cornucopia. The tributes embraced each other, Jordan more begrudgingly than the rest, before Locke and Alfred set off.

Florence

The scratching of the twigs was they clawed against her face was the only thing that reminded Florence that she was alive. The events of the previous night felt so surreal as if she was trapped in a nightmare that she was only just now waking from. She forced herself to sit up, fighting the pounding in her head. Florence had no recollection of falling asleep, as she remembered was the pleading voice of her father, the way he begged for her to win, the way he asked her to murder people, if not in those exact words. Her head was pounding, her already bruised ankle throbbing as she managed to stand, leaning against a tree to help prop herself up. Biting her tongue, to stop form moaning out in pain and discomfort, Florence scanned the area for the first time.
She didn't recognise it, not that that was much of a surprise. It was just trees and shrubs and leaves, the Cornucopia nowhere in sight. For the first time in days, Florence was truly scared. Back in the thick of the Labyrinth, she had always been afraid, but whatever happened, there was always someone by her side to help her and get her through water ever she was facing. Now, the girl stood alone, deep in the forest, unaware of whether or not she would ever see another soul again. For a moment, she debated calling out, seeing if anyone was nearby, but on second thought, Florence decided that it would be foolish. She was defenseless, no weapons or anything to protect herself, the only thing keeping her safe was the way the trees hid her from view, to shout and give her cover away, to whatever secrets the woods held would be beyond foolish. So she did all she could think to do. She sat slowly, with her back resting against the tree, praying that sooner or later someone from the camp came looking.

Florence was jolted back awake, after barely five minutes of dozing, by a stern hand on her shoulder. Instinctively, she pulled away, having taught herself to be wary of touch, rather than welcoming, but the hand held tight, pulling her into a hug.

"I thought I'd lost you." Alfred's voice was warmer and more needed than any embrace she had ever had. She could tell through just that brief sentence that he was on the verge of tears, a lump of her own forming in her throat. "I don't know what I would have done if I hadn't found you."

The thought of loss brought back the unwelcome memories Florence had from the night before, tears finally failing. She pulled away from Alfred, no matter how much she just wanted to melt against him. "Alfred," She murmured, the usual comfort she found from saying his name was absent now, a realisation that hurt her. "We're not going home." She felt the boy tense in her grip, falling backwards away from her.

"Why would you say that?" Alfred asked, hurt in his voice. His face told a different story, one of acceptance, no shock visible, and it was clear to Florence that he had already worked that out.

"The Capitol have my sisters." She spoke bluntly, all the emotion built up inside her completely missing from her voice, the girl desperately trying to push it down inside her to stop it from spilling out. "They have my sisters and they're not going to let them go until we finish this. Until the Games end the way they were meant to."

Alfred fell back on his heels, sitting on the floor opposite Florence, a wave of sickness washing over him. He had always known that the five of them going home was too good to be true. Letting both Katniss and Peeta live had been the spark needed to get the rebellion into motion, there was never any way that there could have been five victors, especially ones with the fire within Jordan and Salome. Their hatred of the Capitol had not been well hidden. "Oh God." Alfred breathed, a realisation hitting him, one that would shape the rest of their time in the Games.

The Cornucopia

By the time Alfred and Florence approached the Cornucopia, feeling instantly at ease as they settled down, Locke had already returned, the man toasting bread for lunch over the small fire constructed probably by Jordan. Salome rushed over the second hte pair came into view, embarrassing them both in turn.

"I'm so happy you're back." She exclaimed, barely out of breath from the run across the clearing. Alfred on the other hand, was barely awake, the walk through the forest and back longer than he had been expecting, operating on little food and water proving to be a harder task than he had expected.

"When we tell you what we discovered, you'll be less happy." Florence remarked, offering the remainder of the group a sad smile as she approached them.
In mere minutes the five were sitting in a circle, passing around the little rations of butter they had left to spread across their stale bread. Florence began recounting her tale of the night before, the voice of her father, the discovery of the Capitol's hold of her family, before announcing that they wouldn't be going home at all. Them finally, it was Alfred's turn to talk, something he had been dreading since the moment he discovered it.

"The Labyrinth." He began, clasping his hands together in front of him, wanting so desperately for it all to be over. "It wasn't just the maze. It's been the whole theme of the Games. The Capitol have been manipulating us, putting us in situations that would make us face our fears. Like Florence, losing her whole alliance, Salome leaving her father and going off on her own."
The younger girl nodded at that. Although she always protested the smothering presence of her parents, the one thing Salome feared more than anything was making her own decisions. It had always been the thing she had wanted, independence, to build her own life without the forceful guiding hands of her parents, but it also terrified her. So much of her personality had been shaped and changed by the people that raised her, she feared that she wouldn't know who she was if she was left alone.

Alfred paused for a second, letting the group take it all in before he continued. "Even them putting Clem here was part of it, we were forced to face the man who had made all of this happen, to fight with our own morals of whether we killed him, or used him or let him into our alliances. And we're not out of the Labyrinth now, the Capitol is still playing us. Still using us." He spat.

"We're not all going home, are we?" Locke asked, his voice more tender and fragile than any of the group had ever heard.

Before anyone could answer, a slow clapping sounded throughout the arena. Instinctively, the tributes eyes all switched to the sky, a projection of Mox now filling it. "Smart cookies, huh?" She snarled, looking down on the remaining five, as if they were nothing more than an inconvenience. "I thought I would have at least another day of watching you squirm wondering when you would be rescued. But I guess I underestimated you."

The screen switched now, away from Mox and instead to a line of people sitting in a grey room, blindfolded and gagged, tied to chairs. In unison, the tributes gasped out, as their eyes were drawn towards their loved ones.
"So you recognise them?" Mox's voice over returned.

The tributes stayed silent, Locke's eyes finding Salome's before she reached out to grasp his hand. The face of Celeste, Salome's mother and the only woman Locke had ever loved was all they could focus on on the screen, the way she still maintained her perfect posture despite the restraints holding her back. Next to Celeste, sat two young children, who Locke knew automatically were Florence's sisters. Even without the girl having told them just moments before, it was clear to see the resemblance, the girl's all had exactly the same eyes, piercing, yet calm and welcoming. A man came next, whom Locke assumed was Alfred's father, the family line clear there once again.

"How dare you?" Jordan spat, before Locke had the time to connect the young boy on the end to the final tribute. "You let Lilac die and now you take her brother away from her family too? You're sick. You sick bastards." Any excitement Jordan may have ever had for the Games was gone. He hated every single inch of them. He was ruthless, a killer who didn't think twice about hurting people. But when it came to children, who were always so helpless, who felt the wrath of society without having done anything, that was a bounty Jordan never dared to cross. He helped them, much like he had done to Lilac's brother on the day of the reaping. Or so, he thought he had been helping. Jordan gave that boy a bag of bread and cakes, something that was supposed to save his life. Instead, by making a connection with him, Jordan had condemned him to a childhood of being used and manipulated by the Capitol, controlled in a way that Jordan had tried to free him from.

Mox's laugh in response was cruel and cutting, the blood of the tributes running cold. No matter how much they had hated Clem, he had been on their side. There was no scrap of humanity left in this woman, there was no evidence it had ever been there at all.

"This Hunger Games needs a victor, and soon, if you're loved once have any chance of making it out alive." The screens switch to black, the arena going silent once more. The five remaining tributes all looked to one another, the bond and security they had felt from being together disappeared in an instant.
Slowly, five packs emerged through holes in the ground, each embroidered with the names of the tributes. Jordan was the first to move, springing into action, picking up his pack, and the few supplies that remained from the previous days. And then he was gone, sprinting off towards the mountains again, not daring to look back at the tributes, knowing the betrayal he would see in their eyes.

Only four remained at the Cornucopia now, divided clearly into two pairs.

"What do we do now?" Alfred asked, having no plan and seeing no way out for the first time in the Games. "What do we do?" He repeated again, looking between the remaining tributes.

Locke made a move first, grabbing the bags marked with Florence and Alfred's names and thrusting them in their direction, a cold look returning to his eyes. "You run."
The pair looked to Salome, hoping the girl would object, and have a plan that would see them all get out alive, but she said nothing, standing firmly by her father's side, resigned to the fact that if she didn't fight, she would be losing both her parents, instead of just one.

It was clear now, that whatever alliance the tributes had had over the last few days was gone. They were alone now, unable to trust one another. They had played exactly into the Capitol's hands.

Locke and Salome

Salome watched as the figures of Florence and Alfred disappeared into the forest. They had taken their packs, and half of the supplies that remained, leaving the father and daughter duo at the Cornucopia, in exactly the place they had been ten days ago. Salome know she should feel something, anger, sadness, confusion but there was nothing. She was numb now, played and controlled so much by the Capitol that any effect was gone. The girl wasn't surprised that they had done something like this. It had been clear from the start that the Capitol hated the close relationship the tributes had, only now had they found a way to completely destroy that.
Salome would do anything to get her mother back safely, even if it meant going against everything she had objected to and killing another tribute. She had complained about her mother to no end back in District Two, the way she had a permanent hold over her life forcing the young girl to become a person that she hated. But the thought of losing her mother forever felt like a thousand daggers plunging into her. Being able to save Celeste was worth a lifetime of pageants, and posture lessons, and becoming the perfect citizen.

"Salome." Locke's low voice cut straight through the girl, destroying the silence she had been forcing herself to endure. "I'm proud of you kid." He walked over, ruffling her hair.
There were many things Salome felt in that moment, but pride was not one of them. She had just betrayed her friends, she could have fought for them, tried to keep the group together, found a way to escape the Capitol's hold, but she hadn't given in to the things her father had tried to push onto her since day one. And now she knew that there was no turning back.

"Huh." She laughed, no humour present there, and she doubted there ever would be again. Salome turned away from her dad, collecting up the rest of the supplies and stuffing them into her backpack. Their first days in the Games had been filled with organisation, working to keep a list of all the supplies they had. All the plans they had were forgotten now, Salome just wanted to be done with it all. "We're going to have to kill them if we want to save mum." Now facing Locke, Salome's brow creased in worry as she finally voiced the truth they had all known. "And I want to get it over with, as soon as possible."

Locke nodded, hiding a sad smile. He may have objected to the strong morals Salome had held throughout the Games, but he accepted just how hard it must have been to break them. Through everything Salome had stuck fast to her principles of not hurting anyone, whatever the circumstance. Just knowing that his daughter would have to go through the emotional turmoil of killing another person hurt him deeper than Locke ever thought it could. No matter how much Locke would try and protect his daughter from having to kill someone, there would be a time where she didn't have a choice. If everything went to plan, Locke and his daughter would be the final tributes, then it would be up to Salome to cast the fatal blow to her father. Not only would the last moral she had crumble, but she would lose her father. Locke felt so guilty about that, despite knowing that everything now was out of his control.

"They already had a head start." Salome tried to hide the emotion from her voice, the sadness she felt that soon people she had fought alongside would become her enemies once more. "We need to go now."
Locke obliged, taking his turn in collecting the supplies and gave his daughter one final look over. This was probably the last time he would see her pure, untainted by the pain of harming another. It was beautiful knowing how far Salome had got here without laying a finger on anyone, but heartbreaking to know it would be over too soon.

Florence and Alfred

They almost didn't hear them before it was too late. Alfred and Florence stopped, leaning up against a tree refueling from the grueling hours of trekking across the forest, going seemingly nowhere, everything looking the same and turning into a blur.

"Shit shit shit." Florence began to mutter, knowing that seeing an armed Locke and Salome out in the forest could only mean the worst for the two new lovers. She felt Alfred's hand find her own, the boy pulling her close, making sure they were both still shielded by the trees. "I knew they were going to kill us, I just didn't think it would be this soon."

"They might just be looking for food." Alfred whispered, knowing it was wishful, and foolish, thinking, Locke and Salome coming into view for the first time.

Any questions he had about the father and daughters plans were quickly answered, as Locke spoke up. "They're terrible at hiding their tracks. They're somewhere near here." The older man remarked, scanning the area for a sign of any of the other tributes. Alfred felt himself shudder as the man's gaze passed over him. He had assumed Florence would be nervous, but instead, she was staring at the pair, her bow and arrow raised, lined with Salome's heart.

Alfred had to bite his lip to stop from gasping, the last thing he would ever have imagined was Florence trying to attack. He had supposed they would just hide, wait them out, run if they had to. He placed his hand over Florence's, attempting to lower the weapon, to little success. "What are you doing?" Alfred hissed, no venom in his voice, only worry and concern.

"They're going to kill us, you just heard them. I'm not going to just sit here and let them. We're going to win this, either me or you are going to go home and see our families again." Florence explained, the only thing on her mind was her sisters, what the Capitol was doing to them, and thought of how she could save them racing. If killing the people she had previously considered an ally was the only way, then so be it.

Alfred released his grip reluctantly, knowing that Florence was right. This was no longer something they could all work together on, Locke and Salome had made that very clear earlier that day, it would have been stupid of him to try and halt the way things were going. He nodded, as Florence readjusted her aim, now pointed at Salome's back. Alfred questioned why they were targeting Salome first, when Locke seemed to be the bigger threat, but then it made sense. Florence knew they could never beat both of them physically, so if Locke was forced to watch his daughter die, he would be too distraught to attack, he would be an easy kill. The whole reason Locke was fighting so hard was to save his daughter, if she was no longer around, then his one reason was gone.

"Okay." Florence breathed out, preparing herself to take her first lethal shot. Alfred wanted nothing more than to step in and take the task away from her, but they both knew that would have been stupid. Florence had had practise with the weapon, before Alfred had even known her. They had one chance to do this right, if they missed, it was over for them both.

For a moment, it looked like things would go their way. Then Locke looked up, meeting Florence's eye exactly, through a break in the trees. Much to their surprise, the man didn't attack, he knew that in one movement his daughter's life would be ended. There was no escaping this. Instead, he held Florence's gaze, smiling slightly and giving the smallest of nods. Then, slowly, so as not to alert Salome, he started to walk towards the pair hidden in the trees, never looking away from the girl with the bow. At the last second, just before he reached the tree line, he turned, blocking Salome from Florence's view, instead putting himself in the firing line.

"You know, Salome?" Locke spoke to his daughter, the tears that threatened to fall evident in his voice. "I love you so much. I love how strong you are, how you wouldn't let even your father change the person you wanted to be. I love how kind and compassionate you are."

"Dad, you're being weird." Salome tried to interject but Locke quickly silenced her.

"You're going to go so far in this world, because you're the type of person that never gives up. Remember that Salome, never give up. Whatever happens, you fight." Locke let out a long breath, before nodding his head. Florence knew that was her cue.

She almost couldn't bring herself to fire, but, much like Locke, she had someone in these Games that she cared for and wanted to protect, she had a family too, on the outside, probably going through as much pain as she was in here. But, the words Locke had just spoken were not ones of a killer, with only blood on his mind, they were ones of a father,a good, loving father, and who was Florence to kill a person like that?

But then she looked at Alfred, sensitive, beautiful, pure Alfred, who had changed her life in so many ways, who kept her sane, and who had, quite literally at some points, carried her through the Games. Right now, he needed her to shoot if they had any chance of beating the others. Florence knew he wasn't expecting her to shoot, Alfred was too kind to ever put that kind of pressure on her, but there was no way that she couldn't. If they backed down now, neither of them would make it out alive. She took a deep breath in, knowing the next time she did that, her life would have been changed forever.

Salome

Florence's arrow not only shattered Locke's heart, sending his body sprawling across the floor, but it shattered Salome's world, it shattered the peace and the friendship the group had built up.

Alfred looked up in horror as his girlfriend stared across at the body, no remorse or pain in her eyes, almost as if it was just a job that had to be done, one she had completed with ease. He latched on to her hand, determined not to leave her as Salome advanced on their hiding space.
"Come on." He breathed tugging on Florence's hand, pulling her away.

"Oh God." Florence mumbled as they ran, the reality hitting her. The canon sounded, and everything became too real. "I just killed someone."

Salome began the chase, desperate to kill the people that had to callously murdered her father, but the whirring sounds of the hovercrafts above stopped her. If she ran now, she would never see her father again, even if it was just his body. She turned back, crouching down next to the man, pulling his body close. Salome had always thought she would cry, when someone close to her died, she had seen it so many times in movies or interviews that she had assumed it was the norm. That was why she was shocked that no tears came. Any sadness she had expected to feel was replaced with rage, an anger so deep that it was unexplainable. She pulled her dad close, kissing him on the head. "I'm going to win for you. Whatever it takes, I'm winning."

Salome let his body return to the floor, but not before shrugging off the man's leather jacket, discarding her own and pulling it on. She plunged her hands into the pockets, inhaling the scent of her father, it was a reminder of who he had been, that he was always with her, wherever she went, whatever she did. As she turned, giving her father one last look, she noticed a small envelope on the floor a few feet away. She picked it up, her hand tracing over the District Seven address. Salome debated ripping it up, she would never get to communicate with her father again, why should someone else get to speak to a loved one? But by now, the pain was creeping in as she realised her father was gone forever. It was something she would never wish on anyone else.

Salome tucked the letter into the jacket, before setting off in the footprints that Florence and Alfred had left behind.

Tributes Graveyard

5th Place: Locke (D2M)- Damnnnn, well this is going to spice things up a bit. Locke was a bit of an ass, I'll say that, but everything he did was always for the good of his daughter, he never did anything with the intent of harm, he was just... passionate about making sure Salome was saved, which kind of stops me from hating him completely. Similar to Ezra, from the start, he never could have won, he wouldn't have let himself live and Salome die. He lost his life protecting her, a fitting end.

Welllll... it was a while without a death, but that could never have lasted, could it?

We have so few chapters left now, this is so scary and exciting, this has come so far from the little idea I had in my head over Christmas, its so crazy that this is a fully written... thing. I honestly never imagined it would get here AND that people would read it, so from the bottom of my heart, thank you all.

I feel like I could have done a little more with Locke's death scene, but I was sightly pushed for time and I wanted to get something up, and this is it!
I hope you enjoyed, and are all well.

Until next time,

Alice xxx