Ryker Merlin, District Eight
It was fun being with Wyatt. Wyatt was so much fun he actually made the Arena fun. We dug through the trash and play-fought and threw rotten fruit at things to watch them explode and told stupid jokes. It was like a really really messed-up summer camp.
Then Wyatt died.
It was foreboding being alone. Every second of every day I was waiting for an arrow I wouldn't even hear coming. Just life and then black. Every time I saw even a glimpse of movement I threw myself behind or under the nearest thing that would hide me and cowered. I went out to get food and water and that was it. The rest of the time was spent curled up in one hole or another.
After Wyatt died my Games were so boring I learned about most events by watching the recap. After a dismally small Bloodbath- four deaths- the excess of hiding places meant a week went by before we hit ten deaths. Another spanner in the works came when rat mutts killed Rapture and Vera. The rest of the Careers were spread thin over a very large and very textured Arena.
Much of the recap was made up of character moments. Vera and Whyte bickering before the rat mutt got her. Whyte falling out with the other Careers and thwarting off a violent ousting until he tripped over a chair and died. Castiel screaming Bible verses as he lay dying, knowing it was too late for the Capitol to do anything about it. They didn't air that, of course. I just heard it as it happened. It sounded lovely, what he was talking about. Very little of the recap centered around me. I just wasn't a very exciting subject.
What the audience doesn't know about the Games is how mundane most of it is. For the most part the Tributes are trying to find food and water or they're hiding or they're sleeping. There are a lot of embarrassing parts, too. Every time I relieved myself I knew a camera was watching. Before two days had gone by I smelled terrible. My hair got so greasy it clung together in moist clumps. I went past the smell of sweat and took on that marinating warm smell of rotting flesh. My clothes were filthy. They were damp and clotted and crusty with just filth. How do you clean up bathroom things if there's no bathroom? Before the week was out I threw away my underwear. It was just beyond something I even wanted to think about.
That was what eventually got me the victory. After losing Wyatt I hardly saw any of the other Tributes. I counted cannons going by and they just kept coming until I was in the final two. Later on the recap I saw all the Careers but Alex were killed in the Career breakup. Alex stumbled away with a deep slash down his side. For the next few days he hunted and fought a vain battle to keep his wound clean. The clips showed his ribs and stomach growing pink and then red and then swollen and then weeping. Then it was a crater of shredded flesh and oozing pale pus all down his side and staining his pants. He walked slower each day and only barely managed to kill Ben, the last Tribute left with us.
I found Alex when he was looking for me. I heard him coming easily. He was stumbling and sometimes crawling along with no regards for the noise of garbage sliding around underneath him. Now and then he would mutter or even yell something incoherent. When I peeked out from my hiding place and saw how far he was gone my fear turned into pity.
I was less than ten feet away from him before he noticed me. Even when he did he couldn't seem to do anything but notice me. He made no move to attack or even to stand. He lay on his stomach, back arched to keep his wound from dragging. He offered no resistance when I reached down and took his spear. I stabbed him with it and finished the Games.