Chapter Fifty-One: It's All in Your Head
Day Three
Spark Emmersen, District Five Male
It's so loud right now I can't even hear myself singing, which considering I'm trying to make sure Catarina can hear it is not a good thing.
Then before I can ask Catarina if she'd like me to wait until whatever this thing is goes away, she spins around and then I spin around and then holy crap what the hell is that thing and why is it here?
I have the words to describe it jumping around between my mouth and my brain but they sort of jumble up and then stop making sense as a second and third one appear, and then Catarina's screaming at me to run and I'm just screaming and both of us are getting the hell out of there as the creatures behind us buzz furiously like they want to eat us alive, which I wouldn't even put past it given the past mutts of these games. They even did that last year with these freaky fly muttations that kept popping up to attack tributes whenever they stayed still for too long.
Then I look back as I'm running and I have to wonder if these mutts had just been repurposed from last year just because hot damn, are the similarities striking. Both the fly mutts and whatever this is supposed to be are enormous insects with giant wings that look like I might be able to rip off if I get close enough to damage the thing, but it looks like they have spears or something attached to the front of their faces that could skewer us if we get too close and know enough about impalement to understand that it's not something I want to experience. Plus, these things are covered in so much blood I have to wonder if it made a snack out of one of the other tributes who died yesterday and I just never noticed. I would have had to see it, so that's probably the case anyway, and why does that even matter in the long run, anyway?
"Spark!" Catarina's yelling my name, I wonder why considering she's right next to me, couldn't she just have told me whatever she needed to? "Stop looking back and run!"
I stop looking back, probably a waste of speed at this point, only to come face to face with another one of the damn things that's coming to block us from the front. Catarina manages to scoop up a rock from the ground and hurl it at the beast and the rock soars through the air for a few seconds before crashing into the creature's side but seemingly leaving no damage and now it's angry at her, charging her before she just barely manages to dodge and then I do the same before half-landing a punch on the thing and causing a disgusting crunching sound to come from the creature's face and ruin one of its eyes but nothing further.
Then all of a sudden Catarina stumbles, not even trips, and slows down just enough for one of the monstrosities to score a hit on her and knock her to the ground, and before either of us can process what's happening one of the other mutts rushes in and stabs her in the back with the sharp point extending off its face, and then Catarina's screaming and I'm screaming and the point sticks out the other end of Catarina's body as she lolls. The mutts notice what their compatriots are doing and rush in to impale Catarina as well, and she's still alive somehow and screaming and I'm trying to beat the things off of her but not making any progress, but then her voice cuts off and she sags to the ground and the cannon fires and the mutts seem to get the signal and all pull out at the same time, Catarina's corpse slowly leaking blood even after her heart has stopped, and now I'm alone in this cruel world and I have no one left to help me.
For a brief moment I wonder if the mutts will attack me as well so I can join Catarina beyond the void but they don't do that, instead surrounding Catarina's corpse and probably preparing to do things to her I don't want to witness and I take that as my cue to run and run fast, leaving my dead ally behind me as the mutts spear her again and start making disgusting sucking noises and charging through the woods in a place I'm not sure how I got to and I'm not sure how to leave, trying to heed Catarina's last words to the best of my ability even as the world blurs before my eyes and I don't know or care where I'm going anymore, so long as I'm away from that horrible place where Catarina died when it could have been me, should have been me, will be me…
Death is coming soon and when it does I'll welcome it with open arms.
Sienna Starboard, District Four Female
The two of us have just finished our meager breakfasts and are preparing to go for a day's worth of hunting when the mutt emerges.
It doesn't charge right away, instead seeming to eye us and figure out whether or not we're worthwhile targets, which gives me time to size up the situation and figure out just how screwed we are. If it's just the one mutt, this is child's play, but if more are on their way, we better prepare ourselves for a lengthy fight.
I can tell what this is supposed to be, considering I've had to face the regular version of these many times whenever Sirena and I went fishing on one of the lakes. I always found them pretty unsettling even at normal size, but back home we could at least crush them if we aimed well enough and there were chemicals you could use that would mostly keep them away. Unfortunately, no amount of insect repellent is going to drive these ones off.
Godric readies his sword and I ready my trident, and that's when the mosquito mutt charges. It's plenty fast due to those wings, but the two of us manage to dodge its first pass rather easily, and when it comes down for a second pass, my trident has a long enough reach that I manage to score a good hit on one of its wings, and that causes the thing to spiral out of control for a few seconds before crashing headfirst into the ground, and from there it's a simple matter to bludgeon it from all sides until it stops moving.
"Well, that's one heck of a wake-up call," Godric says, pulling his sword out of the dead mutt's body, which is beginning to ooze blood that looks disturbingly human before marching back towards the Cornucopia. I do the same for my trident, although I try as hard as I can to scrub off the blood before I get back there. It makes me feel unclean.
With that out of the way and no more mutt intrusions on what could generously be called our property, it's time to figure out where we're going today. We ran into exactly one person yesterday out of the fifteen people that remain (who might not even be alive anymore, given the cannon I heard about an hour ago) so it might make sense to go in the other direction today, but then again, I'm not sure if Godric has a better idea in mind.
He swiftly proves he does not, as evidenced by what he says to me. "So? Where are we going today?"
"I'd say we just go the opposite direction as yesterday," I say. "Maybe the reason we didn't run into anyone is that the other tributes felt like it'd be easier to get supplies in places where there were buildings. There really wasn't much but woods where we went last time, so I say we go for the buildings this time."
Godric seems to agree, or at the very least he doesn't argue with what I have to say, and before we know it, we're off, starting our second march to nowhere with weapons at the ready, Godric taking the lead as usual while I fall in line behind him.
Our walk continues in silence for the first few minutes, but once the trek starts falling into monotony, I decide to see if I can start some kind of conversation with Godric while we're walking. "You know? Right now I'm honestly wondering where Galadia and Clara fucked off to with all our supplies."
"I've been thinking about that a lot lately," Godric says. "If possible, I'd prefer to face them sooner rather than later. Once we get them out of the way, everything else should be more manageable."
Well, that settles his motivation for me, but I decide to confirm just in case. "So that's our goal for now? Searching for Galadia and Clara?"
"That it is," Godric says, his voice eerily calm and monotone.
In some ways, I agree with him. I'd rather face them now while we're still in fair health before we run out of supplies or sustain crippling injuries or suffer one of the many horrific fates those who enter the Games have suffered before us. If we're all in peak condition, I think I'm a match for Galadia, at the very least. Whether or not I'd be able to take on Clara is another story, but hopefully Godric's up to the task when push comes to shove.
But times pass when I wish we didn't have to face them in the first place, that we'd stayed an alliance until the end and made everything that much simpler. Then I could stay back every other day alternating with Galadia or even just guard the Cornucopia full-time and stay off the front lines. Then our goal would just be to find the major alliances and take them out before they collected new recruits or started causing trouble. Then I'd have time to deal with my demons instead of facing them on the front lines because there's no other options available.
Unfortunately, there's no time for that. Reminiscing about a past that I wished to occur isn't going to get me anywhere. Now comes the time to focus on the present, or even better, the future.
The future is going to be ugly, I can sense that. There will be blood. There will be violence. There will even be death. But I'll have to weather it all if I want to escape this godforsaken place alive.
It's what I signed up for, anyway.
Romeo Brady, District Eight Male
The two of us, hopeless as we may be, almost certainly stand a better chance together than we would have alone.
Everything we get now is shared between us. We share sponsors, share gifts, share supplies, share information. Whatever one has beyond the clothes on their back is now property of the other. Right now, there's almost nothing that fits that category except for the occasional piece of advice about finding edible plants from Max, but once we actually get supplies to share, I'll share mine and I'm pretty confident he'll share his. Quiet as he is, he's definitely not a terrible guy.
Before long the two of us have gathered some berries that Maxxer recognized from back home (good thing, too, considering plants are almost nonexistent in District Eight due to all the smoke making it near impossible to grow anything), and we manage to have a halfway decent breakfast, and one that makes the headache I'd been nursing all night begin to ebb.
Then we got to walking. Walking without purpose, but walking nonetheless. Sitting still for too long in the Arena is just begging for something or someone to attack, so we're moving in an attempt to seem like we have a plan, even though we've spoken maybe fifty words total today and hardly any of them related to an objective at all.
Towards midday when the sun is nearing its peak, Maxxer begins to look a bit exhausted, which makes sense considering we've been going uphill for the vast majority of our time and the terrain has been far from easy, so the two of us stop under the branches of a large tree neither of us know the name of, trying to find shade and shelter from the sticky heat.
Maxxer sits with his back against the tree's broad trunk, while I just straight up lie down. A terrible position if we get attacked, but if we get attacked, we don't have weapons and they do. It's not like we're winning that fight if we start in a standing position.
"Hey," I ask Maxxer. "Do you have any idea how to find food here?"
"Uhh, maybe," he says, not even bothering to move and face me. "Maybe it would have been helpful, but none of us ever really used it."
"Okay then," I say. "Considering where I lived, finding plants at all was a rarity, let alone edible ones, I'm not going to be very useful here. We're going to have to figure that out sooner or later, or else we're getting real hungry." I'm already in 'real hungry' territory, but no need to dump that on Maxxer yet. We just joined up, he doesn't need me bitching about my problems until they get serious. This isn't my first time going hungry, to say the least.
After about fifteen minutes of rest, I stumble to my feet and motion to Maxxer to do the same. "Come on. We sit here for too long, we're never getting back up."
Maxxer grunts and stands up. Then he whips his head around for no clear reason, mouth agape.
"Wait," I say. "What happened? Should we be running?"
"No," Maxxer says. "It's a bit hard to see, but look up there." He points, presumably to show me where exactly 'up there' is.
I follow his arm, which is pointing almost straight up. My vision is heavily obstructed by the trees, but after a bit of shuffling around to try and get a better angle, I notice a streak of blue, one that doesn't quite match with the sky.
This is probably a pointless question, but I ask it anyway. "That serum?"
"Sure looks like it," Maxxer says. "You want to get it, or do you want me to try?"
I hold out my hands. "Sorry to ask about this, but do I look like I'm any good at climbing trees?"
Maxxer doesn't respond to that, although he does an admirable job of changing the subject. "The lowest branch is probably too high for me to reach, but I think I can make it with a boost up. Think you can do that?"
I nod. I might be a stick, but it's not like Maxxer's that heavy. I can hold him up for the few seconds he'll need. And hold him up I do, letting him pull himself onto my shoulders as he reaches the first branch.
Past the initial obstacle, the tree doesn't seem that hard to climb. Maxxer's not tall and he doesn't look like he has the kind of muscles needed to be really good at this, but in a few minutes he's halfway up the tree with minimal trouble, and only a little bit later than that, he's reached the serum and stuck it in his pocket.
Then, moving far too fast and reckless for my taste, he descends the tree, dropping the last eight feet or so in one motion before dusting himself off.
"Got it," he says. "Now should we get going?"
"Sounds like a plan."
Thus, the two of us begin our walk down the road to nowhere with just a little more hope than we had before.
Vick Even, District Four Male
Life's good, or at least as good as it's getting.
There was a cannon this morning, that's for sure. But it wasn't me, which is most certainly a start. I have food, I have water, I have means for getting more of both, I don't have anyone chasing me, and because of my sponsor score (if not my track record upon entering the arena) I shouldn't be too hard-pressed for sponsors, at least for the next few days.
So why do I feel so nervous? You know, besides the obvious reason.
Well, maybe it's because all this time without anyone to speak to has given me time to think about Mom and Aqua. I'm sure they brought a television into Mom's room so they can see how I'm doing, even if chances are I'm not onscreen right now. Aqua might be with her, might not be, but my guess is she's watching as well. I'm sure I want to return home just as badly as they do, but I've got a lot of road ahead of me before I can get there.
Maybe it's pushing Mom to power through, if only for a little longer. If she dies before I return, I can't say with a straight face that this whole endeavor is pointless because I'll be rich enough to grieve the rest of my life without anyone caring, but it'll be a death blow to whatever emotional stability I have at the moment.
I shake my head. Now's not the best time to have such negative thoughts. I need to think positive.
The blazing fireball that is the sun seems to have been toned down somewhat, the clouds drifting overhead helping quite a bit with that. The heat seems a bit less pressing as well, the breeze cool without being chilling and shade far easier to find. It'd be a sign of a really pleasant day (after I got off work, at least) if I'd been literally anywhere else.
Here, it's probably nothing more than a bad omen or something. Some kind of indication from the Gamemakers that they're giving us a bit of a break before shit really starts to go down.
Whatever they're cooking up, I want no part of. I'm not sure whether being more interesting or less interesting to them makes them less likely to target me, so maybe I should just compromise and stay in the middle for now. The three big alliances are likely holding the lion's share of the attention right now, maybe they'll leave me alone as long as I show potential.
And that gives me a goal: find another tribute. Even if I don't fight to kill, as long as I fight in the first place they'll have no reason to test me. Plus, if they drop any of their supplies, that means mine get replenished.
A cruel series of thoughts, for sure. But I have to be pragmatic about this if I want to survive much longer. I'm sure everyone else is thinking the same thing, after all. Eat or be eaten. Kill or be killed. All sorts of other philosophies I don't have time to get into right now.
Nevertheless, I need to stop thinking and start doing. The time has come to go.
Reasoning it'll be the most densely populated since it has the thickest brush, I march toward some nearby woods, trident at the ready and dark thoughts brewing.
Eulogies:
-Catarina Lynn, District 5 Female, 16th Place (Killed by Mosquito Muttations): Catarina had her moments. Even in the Games, she couldn't escape being forced into motherhood, and I found it interesting to work with the dichotomy between her preparedness in managing people and her lack of preparedness for something like the Hunger Games. Unfortunately, her lack of fighting skills (or weapons) led to her undoing. Thanks for sending her in, jupiter101.
Kills:
-Other: 2 unassisted (Aryion [suicide], Catarina [mosquito muttations]), 1 assisted (Artesia [bear muttation])
-Clara: 1 unassisted (Remi), 2 assisted (Faolan, Alexa)
-Galadia: 1 unassisted (Fox), 1 assisted (Alexa)
-Godric: 2 assisted (Faolan, Marius)
-Odysea: 2 assisted (Nascar, Artesia)
-Sienna: 1 assisted (Marius)
-Artesia, Thomiah: 1 assisted (Nascar)
Alliances:
-Loyalist Careers: Godric, Sienna
-Separatist Careers: Clara, Galadia
-Anti-Careers: Thomiah, Odysea
-Two Broke(n) Girls: Zari, Lacey
-Misery Loves Company: Romeo, Maxxer
-Loners (for now): Rhaemyr, Sotia, Vick, Spark, Toren
Author's Notes:
-And another one bites the dust, just in time for Daylight Savings time to end. Make sure you set your clocks back (unless you're in a region that doesn't do that, I guess).
-I have very little to say this time around. Hope you enjoyed, and I'll see you next chapter!