Walcott Patel- District Three female (15)
When I first saw the Arena I was surprised at how developed it was. I'd been expecting a desert or a jungle and instead I got a skyscraper that wouldn't have seemed out of place in the Capitol. It was nicer than the places a lot of the Tributes came from. At least I'd thought so at first. Almost two weeks into the Arena, two days after Fleur died, I was on my own and I was finally starting to see what this place was. It was as much wilderness as anywhere else. I didn't have to worry about freezing to death or dehydrating but the primal fear was still everywhere. It was still a kill-or-be-killed wilderness of hunters and hunted. I'd been hiding and hunting for food for days. I hadn't spoken to another person since Fleur's death and if I saw another person either I would try to kill them or they would try to kill me. It was as savage as any jungle. It was just a jungle made of metal and glass instead of wood and stone.
I didn't have the luxury of chemicals and premade ingredients anymore. Without Fleur to help me or the supplies to boost me I'd fallen back to more primal means. Acee killed the Careers with an incendiary device but she'd used other homemade weapons to clear out the last of her opponents. She killed with things as intricate as a bomb and as primitive as a pit of sharpened sticks. That was where I found myself: following Acee's footsteps and piecing together raw materials I found lying around.
Most of the people left in the Arena were stronger than me. As much as I wished I could do things by some honorable standard, I would die if I tried that. It wasn't far that things were like that. It wasn't fair that in order to fight evil I had to stay alive and in order to stay alive I had to do evil myself. Maybe it was that lofty goal of surviving to fight evil that spurred me on as I tried to piece together a trap that would leave my opponent helpless so I could kill them. Maybe I just wanted to stay alive and was only lying to myself that it was something grander.
Making the net was easier than rigging it up. It was just a matter of knotting together the cords I gathered from various office rooms into a thick mass. Rigging it to drop from the ceiling when the door was opened was more difficult. Acee would be proud of the menagerie of supplies I used- everything from binder clips to poster tack to a staple remover.
If I only booby-trap one door it's just self-defense, I thought after I squeezed out of the doorway and looked at my handiwork. But I moved on to other office rooms and started gathering more cords. It would be self-defense if I only booby-trapped one door. But I probably wouldn't catch anything.
Lacey Weaver- District Eight female (18)
"There are only eight people left," Alysanne said. We were going door to door looking for something we didn't want to admit we were looking for. Like Alysanne said, there were only eight people left. And until seven of those people were gone we couldn't go home. Together Alysanne and I were strong enough to kill just about any of our competitors. I didn't know how long our partnership could last but certainly it could last long enough to increase our odds a bit. Which is a nice way to say it will last long enough for us to kill some people.
"Kind of crazy," I said. I hadn't thought about dying but I also hadn't thought about winning the Games, really. It was hard to think ahead at all when your life expectancy was measured in hours.
"Did you think you'd make it this far?" Alysanne asked. She peeked inside a doorway as I watched her back.
"Not really," I admitted. It would be pretty arrogant to think someone like me would last this long. I had a nice sobstory about taking care of my sister and needing to get back to her but sobstories didn't win the Games. They just made it so people cried more when you died.
"I wasn't really sure either," Alysanne said.
"What? You're super strong," I said.
She shrugged. "So are plenty of other people. And I still have a lot to learn."
I wasn't convinced. That's what people who are super good at everything and are just so good they think everyone can do that think. I pushed open another door and entered the room after looking around. As I stepped through the doorway a huge weight fell on my head. For a panicked instant I thought someone had hidden on the doorframe and jumped down on me like Pray in her Games. Then the strands of the net started falling all around me. Something heavy clacked into my ankle and I tripped and fell to the ground, half-pinned under the weight of the net. I turned over awkwardly and frantically looked around the room. I didn't see anyone but Alysanne, who was looking down at me and the makeshift net.
"Help me out here," I said.
She turned and walked away.
Walcott Patel- District Three female (15)
I hated checking my traps. It wasn't hard. I just hated the fact that I'd set traps for humans and was checking them to kill whoever I caught. I came out of the bathroom and started on the first room at the end of the hall. There was no sign that anyone had come to my floor at all since I'd gone in to relieve myself and get some water. That was one thing this Arena had over the other Arenas: plumbing. Not that I got to use it, at least not properly. Heaven forbid a flushing toilet alert someone to my location. No, I'd been lifting the top off the tank and going in the top part so there was no sound and also no visible evidence. If I got out of the Arena that was not a part I would be telling my kids.
The first room was unsprung. That probably meant all the rooms in the middle were as well. I wished I could just check the two on opposite ends of the hall but it had occurred to me the day before that someone else might have the exact same thought and picked a random door instead of the first, so I had to check them all. Or I would have, if I hadn't heard scuffling sounds coming from the other end of the hall.
Lacey Weaver- District Eight female (18)
She left me. Alysanne took one look at me helplessly tangled up in a net and walked away. After all the trouble of allying with me she dumped me without a second thought. I wasn't naive enough to have ever thought we were friends but the cold callousness still shocked me. She probably would never have done anything like that outside the Arena. That was what it made us into.
I wasn't dead yet. The net was well-made, with twisting cords every which way and heavy staplers tied into the cords to weigh it down, but I wasn't giving up. I wiggled around until I could sit up a little and started the laborious process of taking out my rapier.
Why does it have to be so long? It was the only circumstance I could think of where I'd rather have a dagger. It would be worse for combat but better for the very cramped job of twisting a long and flexible blade inches from my own face to cut through fat cords. I poked it through the cords and started sawing.
They could be coming at any second. I had to force myself to keep sawing and not descend into thrashing panic. I was stuck and helpless and I knew predators were all around and I had never felt such primal fear. I was a prey-beast snared in the wilderness and hyper-aware that my life could end in seconds. All my hope rested on one slender blade.
Walcott Patel- District Three female (15)
I was still halfway down the hall when I saw movement in the far doorway. Someone had sprung my trap. My skin went clammy as I gripped my stake. Killing something already dead wasn't comparable to stalking and slaying a human being more innocent than I was. I had a sudden urge to run down the hallway and get it over with but I knew I couldn't. Just because the trap was sprung didn't mean the prey was caught. It could as easily be a trap. So I approached cautiously and waited until I could see my quarry up close.
The Tribute's legs came into view just inside the door. I had caught someone. Then I saw the blade and knew the prey was armed. They say a wounded animal is more dangerous than a whole one. Just because I had someone trapped didn't mean they couldn't kill or seriously wound me before I finished it. I took another step closer and saw it was Lacey in the net, sawing at the hole she'd already made in its tangles. She wasn't a vampire at all. She was a girl I was about to kill. There will always be evil in the world. If I have to take a little of it into myself, all I could do was never forget it and watch myself twice as carefully.
Lacey Weaver- District Eight female (18)
It was Walcott, then. I'd thought it would be Oaken and Clair. They were hunters back in Seven, weren't they? Had that been the case I would have been doomed. But it was Walcott who stood five feet away looking down at me. She was holding, of all things, a stake. It made sense for her weird vampire delusions but it really wasn't a practical weapon. If I stayed calm and did everything right I could still get out of this.
Walcott held the stake in front of her at chest-level in a tentative stance as she took a step forward. A shadow danced on the wall behind her. Then Alysanne blurred into view. A black fan snapped open like a hawk's flaring wing and the gap in the handle slid up over Walcott's arm as Alysanne attacked. She snapped it shut on Walcott's arm and yanked it downward at the same moment as she wound her leg around Walcott's and lifted it. Walcott tilted forward and her body was airborne for an instant. Alysanne jerked her knee up as Walcott fell and they met with the sound of a bat hitting a baseball. Walcott hit the ground limply, her arm cocked backwards at a sick angle where it was still tangled in Alysanne's fan. It slid out bonelessly as Alysanne released her and knelt by me, pulling at the cords that entangled me.
"What was that?!" I demanded as I clawed at the cords and spilled out of them like a butterfly from a cocoon.
"I went next door and waited for her to show up so I could surprise her," Alysanne explained.
"Why didn't you say something?" I almost yelled. I was vibrating with adrenaline and fear and anger and pent-up panic.
"I didn't know how fast she'd come," Alysanne explained. She nodded at Walcott's body. "She's dead now. One less competitor."
It was only as we were entering the stairwell to get away from the body that I started to process how unsettling it was. Alysanne had killed effortlessly and almost instantly. That was how easy it was for her. It didn't take a genius to know the same would apply for me.
I said something else just to ward off the subject. "What if it had been Clair and Oaken? What were you going to do, kill them both?"
"I would only have to kill one," Alysanne said in a sad little voice. "The other would be easy."
8th place: Walcott Patel- Skull fracture from Alysanne
Walcott had one of those bonkers insane backstories I am glad to provide a safe harbor for. Some authors dislike weird backstories and I totally get their reasoning. I just personally take it as an opportunity to better my writing skills. You gotta work hard to make someone like Potato or Queenie shine. She had a good balance of strength and weaknesses in unusual proportions that meant she could have ended up anywhere. Her alliance with Fleur and their strategic use of the Arena boosted them a lot in ranking. All that got Walcott in the end was running afoul of the wrong Tribute. Since I decided she would go here I was able to finally let Alysanne exhibit her super-cool skills and actually get to fight someone. It also gave me an opportunity to prank Lacey and Alysanne's submitters. They were both nervous about Alysanne betraying Lacey and didn't want me to do that so I promised I wouldn't. Of course when I saw this moment to make it look like I'd totally double-crossed them I had to do it. I think Walcott's on track to be one of the often-resubmitted old favorites like Jay and Shinju, so I'm sure we'll see more of her. Thanks QueenofFunerals. Sorry Walcott died but I think she'll prove as hard to keep dead as the vampires she hunts.
Timeline: making up for all the chapters I skipped (two of which happened on the same day) it is now day 14.