Quark Kirchhoff, 15, District 5 Male Tribute's POV
Quark was woken up rather unceremoniously by the static that boomed from the television on the wall. He barely had time to try and gather his bearings before Raven pushed him to the side, ready to fight off whatever the sound was. Realizing that it was the tv, she smiled sheepishly and rubbed some of the sleep from her eyes.
"Sorry." Raven murmured, "I was gonna protect you."
"Wow, thanks. Love being the damsel in distress." Quark said with a roll of his eyes. Raven gave a small laugh before she moved from the bed and stretched.
"What time is it, anyway?" She looked out the window that looked into the gardens they had started in. The window was frosted with a morning dew, causing the grass to glitter ruby and emerald underneath the soft light of the lamps scattered around the courtyard."The sun's not even up."
Before Quark could come up with a snarky answer, however, the sound stopped and the tv flashed. A face of one of the other younger tributes flashed before the letters popped up to display her information. The first death outside of the bloodbath: Gillian Silks. Quark didn't really know the girl from 8, so he wasn't bothered, but he could tell Raven was upset about it by the way she stared at the screen. Quark reached out a tentative hand to her back, "You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." Raven took a deep breath in through her nose.
"Did you know her?"
She shook her head. "Not really. I saw her during training and stuff, but… She talked a lot about her sister."
Quark raised a brow. "So?"
"They seemed close. It just made me think of Julia. If she was in the games, she would've talked about me like that." Raven swallowed, pushing a smile to her face. "But it's cool, y'know? One less person to worry about."
Quark nodded. They couldn't waste time worrying about all of the other tributes that died - they were inevitabilities. If either of them were to go home, everyone else had to die. Quark had already accepted that.
It was sad, though. In the dustiest corner of his mind, where his empathy sat with cobwebs covering it due to lack of use, he felt compassion for this girl he barely knew. He knew it was a fellow younger tribute, and in another universe that could've been him being picked off. That must be why it was affecting him this way - though the possibility of him growing any sort of emotions reserved for other people was the last thing he wanted in this god-forsaken house of death. Maybe it was a side effect of being around Raven, who seemed to be so full of sympathy for the world around her. Either way, Quark would be happy to rid himself of it as soon as possible. Moping around wouldn't help his odds of survival.
The screen flashed off and the room was filled with darkness once more. Quark pushed his blanket to the side, knowing he wouldn't be able to get back to sleep after the interruption. Even if he could, there were bound to be other tributes that had been woken up by it too and he knew that sleeping would make them easy targets.
"We should probably get moving." Raven said, breaking the silence. "We've been in this children's room too long."
Quark gathered his few things and hiked a bag over his shoulder. Raven took the sponsor gift and wrapped the jar in a blanket before carefully placing it in her bag. Smart. Quark thought to himself. The last thing they'd want is to have some sort of malfunction that turned the gift against them. He still wasn't sure what they should do with it, though. He doubted they'd be able to find a tribute that wouldn't notice being crept up on for them to dump the stuff on them.
"Where do you think we should go?" Raven asked as Quark shuffled to get the bag to lay comfortable over his shoulder. He shrugged, and Raven bit her lip nervously. "Hmm… Maybe we could search the house a little bit more to find some weapons?"
"Sounds good to me. You're the boss." Quark replied, his voice more nonchalant than anything else. He was never a big 'leader' type of person, so he was happy to just follow her lead. Especially since she was trained and likely knew a lot more than he did. Raven hesitated only a moment before starting towards the door and turning down the hall.
Quark followed her, but he couldn't help the feeling in the pit of his stomach that something was not quite right. He didn't know why or how, but he could feel in the tips of his fingers that blood would be shed today. Perhaps the most important question, though, was: whose?
Gemini Petris, 16, District 12 Female Tribute's POV
Gemini knew she would feel the euphoria of the kill as soon as she took a life, but she had no idea that every kill would magnify the feeling. Her toes were numb. She knew they were in her shoes, and she could swear that she was moving them, but she couldn't feel them.
Oh yes. The second kill was even better than the first. How would the third feel? Or the fourth? The fifth? How much blood could she let spill on the thick hardwood floors of the mansion before her hunger was satisfied?
She didn't know what to do next, though. Gemini knew that she was strong and capable, but that giant cocoon thing hadn't been alive when she was hiding in the attic before. She didn't recognize it as any sort of bug she had seen before, but the gamemakers always created monsters to hide in the arena. It wasn't smart to linger around a mutt, Gemini was sure of that much.
Were the other two tributes still up there? she wondered to herself. They weren't the easiest kills necessarily, but after the sounds she had heard as she rushed down the stairs, it felt almost inhumane to leave them like that. Didn't they realize they were in the Hunger Games? Having feelings was the last thing to do in an arena.
Gemini opened the final door in the hallway. She had been searching through random rooms for the entire night, but had yet to find anything useful. Most of the rooms looked untouched. How big could this mansion really be?
This room was one of the first ones for her to open that wasn't a random bedroom. It was huge, with a window facing out to what Gemini assumed was the front yard of the home. In the middle of the room sat a desk that spanned almost ten feet wide.
Throwing caution to the wind, Gemini climbed over the top of the desk and started pulling drawers open. Inside were papers, pens, sticky notes; nothing too exciting. Gemini pulled one of the papers out, but it was covered in some sort of weird language that she didn't recognize.
The bottom drawer was the biggest one, and it made Gemini the most excited. Pulling it open, a wicked grin stretched Gemini's lips. She had hit the jackpot.
Inside the bottom drawer was a contraption that she barely recognized. Gemini had never seen one in real life, but her fingers still tingled with excitement. She pulled it out, letting out a satisfied hum at it's hefty weight. She aimed the tool towards the window and pulled the trigger. Staples shot out like bullets from a gun, shattering the window into a thousand shards of glass that glittered rainbow colors in the barely risen sunshine.
Gemini had found a staple gun.
Scandal Rotherham, 16, District 3 Male Tribute's POV
Despite telling himself that he didn't want allies, Scandal had managed to find himself in his second alliance of the games. Well, maybe alliance was too loose of a term, since Viola had made it quite clear that his standing with the two girls was delicate at best.
His eyes moved to them as they ate their breakfast consisting of water and a few protein bars. His stomach gave a low growl and Scandal scoffed at himself sarcastically. Maybe those nuts would've been more useful than he previously thought. He would kill for a handful of them now, but it was too late to complain about it now. After all, this was the hunger games. It would almost be disingenuous for him to have a big full belly.
The training had spoiled him. Having so many delicacies and never having to feel the hollow grumbling of his stomach had become almost a habit after the week he spent in the Capitol. It made the hunger so much more apparent now in the arena. Maybe that was part of the plan - just like how they fattened up animals in District 10 just so they could have more meat when they were slaughtered.
"Here." Scandal snapped back to reality to see Emmeline offering a bar to him, a gentleness in her smile that reminded him of the way his father always explained things to him. They might have been dirt poor, but as a child Scandal didn't realize his predicament until the other kids in school picked on how ragged his clothes were and how his secondhand shoes had a hole in the left sole. Scandal hesitated, but Emmeline placed the breakfast bar in front of his lap. "You should eat."
"I don't want to waste your supplies…" Scandal's voice veered off and he could feel his mouth watering at the thought of food. It was a salted caramel breakfast bar, and he could practically feel the puckering of his tongue at its saltiness.
"No, you should eat." Viola asserted, swallowing the last bit of her own. "You need to be at full strength if we're going to battle the Careers."
Feeling his insides twist with a mix of excitement and anxiety, Scandal opened up the bar and ate it quickly. Attacking the Careers felt like suicide, but what did he have to lose? He had already failed at protecting Nevaeh, and the Careers hadn't lost a single person yet, if the televisions had been correct when they showed deaths. They'd have to die eventually if Scandal had any chance of making it out of here.
As he finished his breakfast, he rose and gave a big stretch. Viola was pacing outside of the small table fort they had created and Emmeline was twisting her hands around the stick of her plunger. The nerves were like a static in the room, and Scandal stepped towards Emmeline, hesitantly.
"So, what's the plan, Em?" He asked. She took a deep breath, shaking her head.
"I don't know if we really have much of a plan." Emmeline replied.
"We just need to make it quick - find the Careers, steal some supplies, and cause some injuries if we can." Viola turned abruptly to face the two.
"There's a lot of them left," Emmeline pressed her plunger to the floor, leaning over it to stretch the back of her calves. "It'd be dangerous to spend too much time in there."
"Exactly why we want to get in and get out." Viola said with a nod. "I don't want an all out brawl - we'd surely lose."
"Probably." Scandal agreed. "They're trained killers. We're just a bunch of unlucky lottery kids."
"But we'll have the element of surprise." Viola said. "Now, we just need to find you a weapon…"
"Good look finding something better than my plunger." Em joked. Scandal laughed, and he could see the gratefulness in her eyes as Viola just continued to pace around. He could see the tension between Emmeline's need to joke to cope with the situation and Viola's impatience for her humor as if it were literal zaps of electricity between them. And then there he was, awkward as hell and unsure of how he would even fit into their plan.
Before he had a moment to ponder it any longer, Viola grabbed one of the chairs and spun it like a discus towards the wall, where it broke into three pieces upon impact. Scandal's jaw dropped. Viola knelt beside the broken piece of furniture.
"Um, you cool Vi?" Emmeline asked, Viola rose, a triumphant smile on her face as she handed Scandal one of the legs of the chair.
"Oh! It's like a club." Scandal weighed the long piece of wood in his hands, letting the heaviness create a pleasant patting sound on his hand.
The corner of Viola's lip cracked into a smile. "We're ready for battle."
Bethany Joy Carrington, 18, District 1 Female Tribute's POV
"And here we are… Hunting for tributes." Bethany watched in the viewfinder as Lachlan gave a grin to the camera. She kept an eye on it purely to make sure that it wasn't showing her worst angles as he filmed, despite the fact that it made her itch to slice his throat now and look the other way. Bethany had worked far too hard to get here and overcome too many obstacles to not be at the top of her game.
"If you don't be more quiet then they'll hear us coming." Kukla poked him in the side, earning a laugh from her district partner as he tried to steady the camera. "The heavy footed cat brings no prey home, you know?"
Bethany had no idea what Kukla's stupid animal reference meant - in fact, she felt like she rarely knew what the hell the girl from District 4 was talking about. Everything seemed so out of place coming from her mouth and Bethany didn't trust her one bit.
"That's cool, I'm not even hungry." Lachlan said with a shake of his head. "Those crackers were a lot more filling than I thought they'd be."
"Must be some sort of Capitol food." Kukla said with a small shrug of her shoulders. Her voice seemed innocent enough, but Bethany was uneasy with the glint in her eyes as she smiled. Bethany was grateful that she was away from Arius - boy, could that kid snore loud enough to wake up God himself. If she snored that loud, Bethany knew that her family would've gotten complaints. The walls of her family's apartment were paper thin, but she had learned to be happy with having somewhere to rest her head at all. Her dad had worked hard to get them into District 1, and even if she was in a poorer neighborhood, not a single kid from the Academy outfought the fiery latina.
"This house is huge… I wish we'd find some action already." Lachlan murmured. "I've had this itch all morning to get my hands dirty, you know?"
Bethany snorted. She didn't believe for a second that the boy had it in him. Sure, he could get a few kills, but he was clearly too soft for the arena. Lachlan folded his arms as he shot her an annoyed look. "What? I've got just as many as you."
"No no, it's not that." Bethany feigned sweetness. "I just thought it was funny that we're somewhere so confined yet still aren't finding people."
"Agreed." Kukla pursed her lips. "Do you think they're hiding? Or do you think it's just a coincidence?"
Bethany opened her mouth to answer but a loud crash interrupted her, startling the trio and causing Kukla to immediately pull her weapon. Bethany moved the candelabra that she had pried from a wall towards where the sound came from.
"What was that sound?" Lachlan's eyes were wide, making him look much younger than he was. He was only seventeen, a late bloomer in his year of Careers if Bethany's snooping during training was correct.
"Sounds like some tributes testing their luck. Come on." Bethany led the group down the hallway, but before she reached the door she saw a flash of dark skin dart towards her.
Bethany swung her candelabra without a moment of hesitation, surprised when the lithe girl ducked away from the flame to knock into Kukla's legs. It took little scrambling for Kukla to get back onto her feet, but the moment of distraction was enough for Bethany to not notice the large object that struck her right in the gut.
Bethany doubled over in pain, a look of fiery hatred burning in her eyes as she looked up at her attacker. It was the scrawny boy from 3. She gritted her teeth and swiped at his legs with the metal candelabra. A crack like a bolt of thunder sounded and he fell to his knee.
With her opponent grounded for at least a moment, Bethany swung around to see where her allies were. Kukla was head to head with the afroed tribute - Viola, Bethany remembered her from training. Lachlan had managed to get around Bethany and Scandal, and was chasing after the bulkier girl from district 7.
"Scandal!" 7 shouted and turned around to see the boy on the ground. The small hesitation was enough for Lachlan to pounce. Bethany's eyes widened at him, her voice stuck in her throat as she saw his skin start to glimmer and pulsate. The girl seemed just as frightened, lashing out with a plunger of all things to keep him away.
"Lachlan?!" Bethany started towards him, but barely had taken a step before he put a single arm around the girl to effortlessly lift her and throw her down the hallway. She hit the wall on the opposite side - at least fifteen feet away - hitting the ground with a loud thud. Kukla's eyes were wide and wild, a grin stretching across her lips.
Lachlan let out a scream - sounding more like a godzilla movie sound effect than a human being. Bethany's surprise allowed the tribute behind her to scatter towards the girl crumpled on the ground. There was an obvious limp in his gait, but he was fast. Viola also turned to run towards her ally.
"Don't let them escape!" Bethany screeched, sprinting towards the end of the hall. She had missed out on kills during the bloodbath - but she was going to make sure this trio didn't make it out of this hallway alive.
Lachlan Aberforth, 17, District 4 Male Tribute's POV
Lachlan was not himself. As he charged down the hallway following the outer district tributes, his vision was tinted a bloody scarlet around the edges. His heart beat in his throat, expanding and collapsing in a way that felt anaphylactic in nature. He could taste flesh on his tongue.
It was surreal in a way. The power coursed through his veins as he finally caught up with the boy - who was limping towards the back of the pack. Lachlan didn't even see the boy as a tribute anymore. He was an antelope, pulling its leg behind it, reeking of desperate fear. A smell that singed Lachlan's nostrils as he grinned.
This wasn't right. In the back of his mind, a flicker of empathy - of his true self - scampered through. But it was quickly obliterated.
Lachlan dropped his weapon, bringing his fists together and dropping down on the lanky boy's back with a force that felt almost godlike. He could feel the cracking of bones as a scream ripped through the air.
"Scandal!" The fear in the voice snapped Lachlan momentarily out of his blood tinted fog. This wasn't him. This wasn't right. A searing pain overwhelmed his mind, and his hands shot to the sides of his head as he shook back and forth. He pressed his eyes shut tightly, hoping for a reprieve, but the girl took the opportunity and pushed him backwards with a strong kick. She dragged her friend along the floor for a few feet before being joined by the last girl.
"Viola, he's hurt bad." Lachlan could hear her whisper. He could feel the floor beneath him as it moved with Scandal's tremors of pain. His senses were on high alert. Viola took a solid step over the two of them, holding her knife as the two trios stood face to face. Once more, a bolt of pain shot through Lachlan's head and he pressed his fingers to his temples with a small hiss of pain.
"I think he broke my ass." Came the reply. Lachlan tried to regain his composure. He had landed on Scandal's lower back - the cracking must have been from his hips. Lachlan couldn't imagine the sort of pain he must have caused… That was never the kind of Valedictorian he wanted to be. He wanted to make the deaths as quick and painless as he could.
The bigger girl tried to open the door at the end of the hall, but it seemed like it wouldn't budge.
"You might as well stop running. We'll find you." Bethany snarled, but Lachlan could barely focus. He wanted to rip Scandal's limbs off. He wanted to be drenched in the boy's blood. He wanted to use his cracked bones to make a kabob out of his organs.
"Go away!" His voice was a hoarse whisper. Somebody else was in his head. The voice he heard couldn't be his own. Lachlan would never think such vile thoughts. His hand moved to his chest, where the girl had pushed him. Moving the fabric of his training suit revealed a deep bruise, already painted a blackened blue color with a ring of sickly yellow green.
"Are you okay?" Kukla knelt beside Lachlan, tilting her head in concern. When she saw the bruise, her eyes widened.
"Something's wrong with me." Lachlan closed his eyes tightly. "I don't know what's going on."
"We've got them at a dead end." Bethany tossed a smile over her shoulder. "But I'm happy to kill all three if you two want to sit this one out."
His hands began to shake. No. He had to kill. He had to kill to make these feelings stop. Maybe that would be enough to satiate the monster that was under her skin.
"Lachlan..?" He could feel Kukla's hand on his shoulder, but he was already pushing himself to his feet. Lachlan moved quickly, and before she could even let out a scream, he was on top of Viola.
He pressed his hands to her throat, squeezing tightly. Viola's arms thrashed wildly, but his weight was easily overpowering her. Everything seemed to be going fine until he felt the plunger ram into his cheek. His cheekbone crunched with the blow, and he flopped to the side.
Emmeline stared at him. "I-I didn't hit you that hard." She stammered. Scandal pulled Viola to her feet.
"No time, run!" Viola wheezed. Lachlan moved his hand to his face, feeling the skin that sagged on his left cheek. It was completely shattered. Feeling a new anger start to boil in his stomach, Lachlan turned around to see that Emmeline was distracting Bethany in a sword fight of candelabra versus plunger while Viola was face to face with Kukla. The pain in his face mingled with the sharp pain that shot through his head. No time to think. Only to act.
Scandal had slipped farther down the hall, maybe to attack from behind while one of the girls was distracted. That one would be his kill. Lachlan launched his body into the fray once more.
Viola Wynn, 18, District 11 Female Tribute's POV
Every slash Viola made at the girl from district 4 was matched with speed and strength that was frightening. This was not a fight she could win - not without some sort of saving grace. Her attack was a failure. Not only that, but they were not going to come out of it without injuries.
Kukla's knife darted at Viola, nicking her on the shoulder as she dodged. She gritted her teeth to not make a sound, managing to get a blow back. It barely scraped the cloth of her abdomen, ripping the training suit but not making it to the skin.
She felt a whoosh beside her as Lachlan took on Scandal again, barely seeing him until he had grabbed Scandal by the leg. Viola did, however, hear the pop as Lachlan yanked the leg out of its socket. Scandal let out a wail of pain, but the female careers didn't stop to acknowledge it. Kukla swung a fist, almost catching Viola in her moment of distraction. She swiped the knife again, still not causing damage, but getting Kukla to at least take a step back.
Another sound came from Scandal, but this time when she looked she saw Lachlan digging his fingers into Scandal's mouth, stretching it open as he screamed until the jaw became unhinged. The sounds coming from Scandal this time were so unholy that even Kukla turned to see what was going on. His hand trembled as he reached for his camera, holding it out as if taking some sort of morbid selfie. A single flash went off before Lachlan brought the camera down on Scandal's skull. A clock chimed through the house. Viola could see Lachlan's lips moving, his voice a hollow whisper. "I-I didn't mean to do this... I'm so sorry."
"Oh no. Oh god no." Kukla breathed, her hand flying to her mouth. "This is my fault."
Viola had to get Emmeline out of here. Viola ducked into Kukla's stomach, hitting the career with her head to knock the wind out of her before rushing towards the two boys. She dug her knife into Lachlan's chest, feeling his sternum crumble beneath her force. With all the strength she could muster, Viola dragged it down, opening up his chest cavity and feeling the warm blood coat her hands.
Another ring of the clock echoed through the house. Viola was pushed to the side, hitting the wall of the hallway and Kukla pulled Lachlan's body off of Scandal.
"I-I didn't mean for this to happen. I didn't think… Oh, Lachlan. This is all my fault."
Viola scrambled to her feet, looking over to Emmeline, who was still fighting off the girl from district 1.
"Kukla, don't just sit there! Get her!" Bethany shouted, hitting Emmeline with her weapon in the side. Viola's eyes darted to the potential danger, but Kukla didn't even seem to hear, instead cradling the body of her district partner in her arms.
Viola made a start towards her own ally, but was surprised to be knocked off her feet once more. The house began to shake once more, but this time it was different. It had a violence from within its core as if the hands of the game maker came down, curling their fingers around the throat of the house. Something was different, though she wasn't sure exactly what. The shaking was enough to also send Bethany to the ground, and Viola took this chance to spring up, reaching out for her partner.
"We've got to run!" Viola grabbed Emmeline's hand.
"But what about Scandal?! We can't just -"
"We have to. Come on!"
Viola half dragged her partner down the hallway. She ran as fast as she could. She didn't know where she was going and all she could do was pray that the tremors of the house didn't knock her off her feet.
the fallen
15th Place: Scandal Rotheram (D3M) killed by Lachlan Aberforth (D4M): Lachlan used his camera to break Scandal's skull. Submitted by Carrot Lord.
Scandal was a cool dude. I liked him a lot - he was always a more sort of chill guy that I gave a little sister in the hopes to break him in the arena. I think I may have taken a few creative liberties with him, but the ADHD magic obsessed bean pole was more than enough to give me so much to work with. I think that his friendly demeanor helped him stand out and even though I knew he wouldn't be a top contender, I was so grateful to have him in the cast. I hope you consider subbing in the future!
14th Place: Lachlan Aberforth (D4M) killed by Viola Wynn (D11F): Viola got a revenge kill with a knife to the sternum after the 'glass cannon' went off. Submitted by ladyqueerfoot.
Everyone's favorite vlogger... He has met his end. I know it seems early, but I needed this for Kukla's arc and I'm sure you understand linds. I had so much fun with him and I adore that you took the idea of a modern AU and really ran with it. Unfortunately, I just knew I needed his relationship with Kukla to be something strong that breaks her and his time came here. I feel like people either loved him or hated him, but I was always firmly a Lachy stan. Thank you for submitting him and letting me murder him.
AN: Jail will never get me. Enjoy the chapter that's been long in the works while depression has kicked my booty. Haha. As a side note, though, I've got some pretty cool things in the works and I will not give up!
Confirmed Alliances:
Career Pack: Bethany Joy, Arius, Milo, Kukla, Asher
Team Clip Clop: Raul, Alina
Hackers4Lyfe: Raven, Quark
Tough Girls: Viola, Emmeline