Day 8
Achilles Castille 18 District 2
I rub my eyes awake, staring around at the empty room that I've found myself in. The only other person to be seen is my so called girlfriend sleeping at the opposite end of the room.
I stretch my arms out, forcing myself up. We are now one day closer to my victory. I can almost see myself now, standing in front of the cheering crowds with the victor's crown on my head…
Lenita slowly rises from her sleeping bag. Without wasting any time, she quickly packs everything she'll need for today in her bag, food, water and weapons.
I hear a faint mumble escape her lips.
"Where's Olana?"
"She must have snuck off during the night," I answer, slipping my shirt off and replacing it with a spare one from my bag.
"No doubt she went after Kirin… those two have always hated each other," I continue.
She sends me a sarcastic smirk and then just walks past me, continuing to stare at the floor. She must have known I was talking about us two…
We head out into the corridor, prepared to hunt down any tributes left. Lenita leads in front, I could so easily slit her throat right now and it wouldn't make any difference but that wouldn't exactly look good for my public image back home so I'm gonna have to wait…
Suddenly I hear a voice call out from behind us.
"Hey!"
I spin around! It's Salacia! She is standing there, her trident gripped firmly in her hands. I can see a fury and determination in her eyes that almost has me worried…almost.
"Been a while," I comment.
"I'd almost forgot what you looked like…"
"Don't worry this is not personal…well not much anyway!" She shrugs.
"I agree."
With a battle cry she charges straight towards me, her trident is thrust at me at the speed of a fierce wave! I manage to parry it out the way with my broadsword however I am shocked at the grazing it causes on my shoulder! Before I am able to react she swings the weapon at my face with a spin, I just throw myself back in time so that it only slashes my cheek!
As I wipe my cheek in surprise, I see my own blood on my finger! I feel my blood begin to boil inside and with a cry I anger I jab my elbow in Salacia's face sending her backwards with a groan of pain.
Why is Lenita not helping me? The thought keeps whirling around in my head however my vision can only stay tunnelled on Salacia at the moment!
I howl in anger and begin swinging wildly at the District 4 girl, she desperately raises her trident to defend herself however the sheer force of three of my strikes quickly disarms the trident from her hands. I watch in delight as her only defence crashes to the ground! I slam a push kick into her stomach causing her to crash to the ground along with it. Victory is mine! She is going to regret turning on the careers and Lenita is going to regret not helping me!
Lenita Young 18 District 2
Salacia's trident hits the ground hard, not wasting any time, my district partner raises his sword up to finish the job. Time seems to slow down for me, the logical thing to do would be to let Achilles win… but I can't help but feel how much I despise this man I used to call my lover, I was delusional before that's for sure. My heart makes the decision for me and I quickly slice my sword up and slash Achilles arm! He cries in a shocked pain as blood squirts from his exploding artery! His sword crumbles to the ground leaving him open to attack!
Salacia Myer 17 District 4
Achilles clutches his hand in pain! The look of shock and betrayal in his eyes I will never forget. He glances over to his district partner with vile hate in his eyes. Lenita did it! I knew she would come around!
Without a moment's hesitation I stand back up to my feet with my trident in hand and launch it into his chest! This time my aim lands right where I want it to! Not even my weak eye can stop it! I hear the noise of it pierce his body, the trident strikes him straight in the chest! I leap into the large career and further impale my weapon into him, he hits the ground with a thud and soon after a cannon!
"The bigger they are, the harder they fall," I say, standing over him triumphantly.
My eyes then lock with Lenita's, it is intense at first until I remember that she's the one that saved my life and allowed me to win. We break into a smile, followed by a laugh. I rush forward and hug her!
"Thank you," I mutter.
"Let's finish this together," she smiles.
Olana Peronia 17 District 1
Kirin is close, I can feel it. I know he is on the run from me now and it's only a matter of time before I finish him off!
All of a sudden the sound of a cannon diverts my attention back down the corridor! Someone died but who?
I shake my head back to concentration. I need to focus on the task at hand! Kirin is not one that you can be negligent with.
Then I see him! He has his back to me but is walking at a hasty pace. Got him! I hurry after him, moving as fast as I can while remaining silent. He turns left through a door and into a room.
I follow him inside and find myself standing in a dark room, only lit up but a few orange lights. Cobwebs are scattered around which gives me the shivers… slightly. The space seems tight and claustrophobic.
Kirin turns around slowly to meet me, his face has an orange tonne from the lighting, he doesn't appear scared at all, in fact the glimmer in his eyes looks like he almost seems pleased to see me.
"Finally I have you alone… nowhere left to run, " I taunt.
"I suppose you're wondering why I wasn't killed by the bombs you planted in my bag yesterday," he smiles.
I shrug.
"Go on then," I might as well entertain my only intellectual competition before it's gone.
"You see I noticed you steal those bombs from a trap a few days ago, so I switched them out with some fake disarmed ones," he explains.
I smirk cockily.
"I would be impressed if I hadn't already seen you disarm those fake bombs, so I switched the fake ones with my real ones so in fact you were only switching the real ones back," I tell him.
He looks slightly shocked before his expression changes back to a grin.
"But I knew you would do that so I disarmed the real ones quickly after you placed them in my bag," he grins.
I start pacing around the room, pretending to appear annoyed.
"Well then it's a good job I also took the detonator with me," I exclaim in victory, pulling out my detonator!
I begin waving around chuckling in glee.
"If you blow me up then you'll take the key with me and you know how in important those keys are, " he reaffirms.
"That's true… but it's a good job I won't have to worry about that because I already stole the key from you 2 days ago!" I exclaim.
"Yes, you hid it in your water bottle right?"
Wait how did he know that!
"See I knew you would do that, so I placed a banana in the water bottle while you weren't looking and took the key back!" He exclaims!
I quickly reach into my bag and pull out my water bottle that I placed the key in, only to find a banana just like he said!
I growl in irritation, he might have out smarted me here but he is nowhere near as strong as me and right now he is disarmed!
I toss down the detonator in anger and charge at him! After tackling him to the ground my hands tighten around his neck, I quickly twist snapping it like a twig! I then retrieve his key from his pocket and examine it before looking down again at his twisted, lifeless body.
Wait a minute! Somethings wrong! No cannon has sounded! I look at his body again, he is definitely dead… where is the cannon!
Suddenly I can hear eerie footsteps behind me, I turn back to the door… Kirin is standing there…I look down at his body laying at my feet…how? I gasp in shock but before I can make my next move he launches his katana straight into my body!
Growling in agony, I collapse to my knees. It hurts… it hurts so much! With a cold stare, he slowly makes his way forward and confidently kneels down to face me. Then it hits me, the realization!
"There were two of you all along…" I groan.
He nods with a confident smile.
Flashback – day of the reaping
"So you're Kirin?" I greet
He doesn't answer and simply lets out a giggle. My God this boy seems weird already, it's sure going to be painful trying to work with him.
"Nope I'm Jirin" he laughs.
Is that supposed to be a joke? I'm finding it so hard not to beat the crap out of this kid right now!
"Very funny" I reply, pretending to be amused
"It's not a joke" I hear another voice announce from behind me
This voice has a much larger aurora of confidence. I turn to face someone who looks identical to the boy I was just talking to, although this boy has stoic appearance. He seems much more like someone you wouldn't want to mess with…much more like a career.
"So you're Kirin?" I ask
He nods.
During the train rides
"Anyway, to answer your question I do have one trick that I have become known for during training" he explains.
"Oh Yeah?"
"Ok walk into the next section of the train" he explains.
I look at him both mischievously and intrigued before turning around and walking to the door, I am careful not to break eye contact with him for as long as possible to try and figure out his so called "trick".
I press a button and enter the next section of the train only to almost jump out of my skin! There he is! Standing in front of me, almost like he teleported! He's holding the same drink he had just made a minute ago.
He holds out the drink to offer it.
"What? You don't think it's a good idea to drink before the games?" he smirks
End of flashbacks
I look back up at the victorious Kirin standing over me, he deceived me! I always thought I was the biggest deceiver in the world but I have been out matched fair and square. I would be lying if I said I wasn't impressed.
"That day on the train… it wasn't the same drink… your twin was waiting there…"
He nods.
"So how did you do it?" I mutter, the life now beginning to leave me.
"My family knew people in the capitol, it wasn't that hard to sneak Jirin in after the bloodbath, then we took it in turns. One day it would be me, then we would switch every night during my watch duty… that way we could be two places at once and always one step ahead,"
He glances over to the body of Jirin and lets out a mournful sigh.
"Poor brother, you always brought the charm but he never had the wits, in fact he almost messed this whole thing up… bringing Alma into the alliance… oh well I have a better ally now."
I look over to the door frame and see the District 5 girl standing there, with a cheeky grin on her face, the little rat!
"Her? Why you little…"
I feel my lungs begin filling with my blood, coughing, I fall face first onto the ground and everything goes dark….
Pattern "Pat" Fredericks 14 District 8
BOOM
A cannon fires.
"Things are heating up out there!" Ryker points out.
I look over to Jia who is pacing up and down nervously, rubbing her hands together and sweating.
"Hey, I'm not gonna let you out my sight ok?" I affirm, rushing over to her.
"Pat," she sobs, she reaches forward and hugs me.
"I'm scared."
"Me too," I admit.
I glance over to Wrenna, she is just sitting there sketching calmly! She hasn't said anything all day and has been no help for a girl that apparently knows the future… I keep wondering if she really does or if she's just been making it up this whole time…
Jia releases me and sits down, pushing her hand threw her head to think.
"Maybe the mistake we always make is staying here," she ponders.
"Maybe if we leave this room now, everything might be ok?"
"Maybe," Ryker agrees.
"Or maybe we have this exact same conversation and end up leaving which is what causes your death," I retort.
Jia rubs her face in frustration.
"Face it, no matter what we do we have no idea the outcome…" I continue.
Ryker moves over to the door frame to check for any tributes or something worse.
"Guys we got a problem," he announces.
"What?" I ask.
He turns back to us.
"Just run," he answers.
I hear multiple footsteps echoing through the corridor and making their way to us.
Ryker grabs Wrenna and moves her towards the other door to escape, I turn to Jia who is frozen in horror. I turn back towards the door, there is a creature standing in it, about the size of a large bear, it is grey in colour with multiple legs and two large pincers on its head.
"It was there… when I went into the future…" she gasps.
I ignore her and take her hand as we rush in the opposite direction.
"You're not dying today," I tell her with confidence.
As we are running through the corridors her eyes meet mine, she smiles. I know she feels reassured. With me here, she'll be ok.
I turn back to see the creature's body morph through the doorway with its six legs, hissing and screeching!
Jia Yang 15 District 8
Ryker and Wrenna are a little way in front of us. I glance back and see the mutt has how been joined by several of its friends! They are gaining on us fast and there's no way we can outrun them with their multiple legs!
We turn a corner however as we move up the corridor it begins to become familiar…
I stop dead.
Pat turns back to me.
"What are you doing? We need to go!"
"This is it," I respond coldly.
"This is the corridor where I was taken to…"
I glance down the corrido and lo and behold there is the room on the left, the room where I met with my dying self. Then I hear a cannon in the distance just like I did before!
Pat stares at me as he has come to the same revelation.
"I can't go into that room!" I shout.
I turn and run back the way we came… away from the room.
"No wait!" Pat shouts!
I turn the corner to be met with the horrifying mutt! Its pincers open, ready to strike however I suddenly feel someone tug me from behind!
In the blink of an eye I am thrown to the ground! I gasp, checking my body for any wounds, there are none.
Then I look up and notice Pat standing in my place! His torso has been embedded with the mutt's pincers! Blood is dripping down to the ground, I see his eyes sink almost like he is only now taking in what he has done.
All the sounds in the corridor seems to fade away, I feel every emotion explode inside me! I think I let out the loudest scream I ever have but I can't hear it.
All of a sudden Ryker appears, swinging a scythe into the creature's head in anger. Pat drops to the floor and I begin dragging him away from the scene with Ryker. A trail of blood stains the concrete behind us. I hear Pat try to gargle some words but he can't seem to say anything.
We drag him into the room… the fateful room where I found myself. Wrenna is also in here waiting, Ryker rushes back and closes the door behind us however I don't really care about the mutts anymore or what happens to us. Ryker kneels down beside Pat with me. I am surprised when I can see tears rolling down from the eyes of the tough District 11 boy as well.
"It's alright buddy," he tries to reassure my Pat.
Pat pulls out one of the keys from his jacket and places it into my hands.
"Take it!"
I would be shocked that he had one and didn't tell me but I just don't care right now.
I can't say anything, only weep. There's so much I need to say, so much more to say to each other… yet I can say nothing.
Pat holds both of our hands with each of his.
"Yeah, we're here buddy," Ryker says.
"I… I think I'm scared," Pat mutters.
I feel his hand go limp, the life is leaving him. No not yet!
"Wait!" I beg.
I hear him take his last breath as he goes still. A cannon fires. This is my fault! I could have just gone into the room and allowed myself to die. I hate myself forever!
Ok so that's the end of that chapter. I now it ended up being a little shorter than the rest but a lot happened. What are your thoughts? I was in two minds whether I should go ahead with the Kirin plot twist but I had set it up a while ago and I had to go through with it. You're either gonna love it or hate it I feel but I watched the Prestige and that's where I got the idea from lol. Anyway I hope you have a great day!
Deaths
Day 1
24th: Jameson Wright (District 10 male) Killed by Olana Peronia – Neck Snapped.
23rd: Ryland Fields (District 9 male) Killed by Dante Orchard – Stabbed in the eyes.
22nd: Alistair Birch (District 7 male) Killed by Kirin Ignatius – Stabbed through the heart.
21st: Tomlin Beckett (District 3 male) Killed by Achilles Castille – Spine snapped.
20th: Kaia Telm (District 3 female) Killed by Salacia Myer – Impaled by trident.
19th: Cherry Ennedes (District 11 female) Killed by Lenita Young – Shot by arrow.
Day 2
18th: Clara Labeau (District 9 female) Killed by Achilles Castille – Stabbed through the torso.
Day 3
17th: Dante Orchard (District 12 male) Killed by Moira Halloran – Hung by the neck.
Day 4
16th: Maverick "Rick" Colver (District 4 male) Killed by Achilles Castille – Throat slashed.
15th: Emerson Ingles (District 7 female) Killed by Salacia Myer – Impaled by trident.
Day 5
14th: Aleksandar 'Alek' Boltzmann (District 5 male) Killed by statue mutts – Stabbed.
Day 6
Emmy, Pat, Jia, Ryker, Wrenna, Lenita, Achilles, Kirin (multiple times and all reversed)
Day 7
13th: Alma Kaur (District 12 female) Killed by Emmanuela Chai – Throat slashed.
Day 8
12th: Achilles Castille (District 2 male) Killed by Salacia Myer – Impaled by trident. Achilles was always an ultra-confident type of character. If the winner won just based on pure strength, then it definitely would have been Achilles. I enjoyed writing his relationship with Lenita and his feud with Rick. It was fun. Thanks for the submission david12341.
11th: Olana Peronia (District 1 female) Killed by Kirin Ignatius – Impaled by katana. Olana and Kirins dynamic was one of the best to write for me. They were constantly trying to outwit each other but in the end she underestimated him which caused her to lose. Thanks for the submission Pacecca.
10th: Pattern Fredericks (District 8 male) Killed by mutt – Slashed by pincers. Noooo Pat! He was one of my favourites if I'm being honest. I always have a soft spot for characters that are bullied because I can relate to them I guess. I always try to give them a great arc and that sometimes involves a sacrifice sorry. I hope I gave him the arc he deserved! Thanks for the submission rising-balloons.
Remaining tributes
District 1
Kirin Ignatius (2 kills)
District 2
Lenita Young (1 kill)
District 4
Salacia Myer (3 kills)
District 5
Emmanuela Ruby Chai (1 kill)
District 6
Evangelo Goku Katsaros
Moira Alice Halloran (1 kill)
District 8
Jia Yang
District 10
Wrenna Chimes
District 11
Ryker Shenal