Rapture Kai, District One
The Arena clung to my senses. I hadn't known an Arena could be so relentlessly physical. This Arena wasn't just a background to this Games. It was its own character. It was an entire world. The air was wet and thick. It slid over my skin like a constant embrace. Heat lingered in the air so damp it raised clouds of steam. My feet sank into oozing mud or were cushioned by a carpet of moss wherever I walked. Life grew upon life all around me. Trees were covered in vines and flowers that held their own ecosystems of insects and smaller plants. Birdsong and the screams of distant animals reverberated through the trees.
And I was growing every day to be more part of it. The world around me shimmered through the halfway sight of my ruined eye. It wept constantly, streams of wetness connecting me to the dampness around me. The pain stayed with me always, even with the antibiotics Azure kept sending to keep me alive. The visceral primalness of it brought me ever closer to the animal I was when all the trappings of civilization were stripped away. We were all jungle animals here. We fought for life and supremacy and the strongest would win.
I had been strong since the Games began. More than fifty of us were already gone and six of those had been at my hands, from nonentities like Miller to fierce competitors like Shogo. I'd fought them all and I'd won every time, though sometimes I sacrificed my own flesh or blood. I'd cut and stabbed and torn to pieces. And I'd survived. The hellbeast that had torn out my eye had killed nearly all of my allies. It was still out there and I had no intentions of fighting it. I only wanted to survive it. When the Games began I had gloried in the fight and sought out opponents. Now I skulked in the darkness and fled when creatures beyond my strength made their presence known.
Other beasts were here as well. Crocodiles that lurked at the edge of rivers to take a Tribute in the blink of an eye. Jaguars that screamed in the night and dared us to show ourselves. Hairy spiders the size of dogs that ran after you instead of skittering into their holes when you passed by. Snakes that looked like discarded sections of vines until you stepped on them and knew your Games had ended with two pinpricks. This was their world.
The light on the other side of the river was the first indication of humanity I'd seen in days. The darkness of night covered me as I waded into lukewarm brown water. The water rose around me until I was up to my chest and gliding through a river that held who knows what horrors as well as my own. I shuddered when something brushed against my legs, long and thin and sinuous. Bubbles rose around me at the presence of creatures perhaps peaceful and perhaps carnivorous. The scent of mud and stirred-up debris followed me as I crept. I bent lower as I reached shallower water. At the edge of the river I crouched.
Two Tributes were left in the Games with me. They sat opposite each around a fire that crackled and spat sparks as they roasted the fish they'd caught. It flickered in the night, mesmerizing me. It was a remnant of a humanity I'd been for weeks cut off from. The two Tributes were silhouetted against its light. There were so many of us I didn't know who the female was but I recognize Zach's huge bulk. He was the one to approach the river first. I slid down the banks along with him as he came. As he bent to get water I burst up like the crocodiles. My sword punched through his throat so hard his head was nearly severed. I held him up, simulating a struggle, and his ally ran to see what had happened. I threw his body backwards onto her. As she struggled to throw off his weight I sprang on her and ran her through. I crouched over them as I waited for the hovercraft. I was afraid of its approach. I didn't remember what humans were like.