Alliances
Careers: Cassie, Jason, Eydis, Murchad, Tyto
Lovers?: Santana, Rel
Survivalists: Brooke, Butch, Tessa, Matt
Business Partners: Ayla, Tesler, Eira
Furies: Liz, Tanya
Loners: Nebraska
Here's Day 2 friends!
Rel Imperatore District 10: 18M
Tuesday Morning
Day 2: 8:30AM
Sector 3
Rel felt a jostling in the warm darkness, rocking him back and forth, disturbing him slightly.
"Rel," A voice spoke as if from far away. It echoed to his ears like it was at the end of a very long tunnel. "Time to get up Rel. We've got work to do."
He grumbled to himself. Still only half awake, Rel could make out the vague form of Santana, kneeling lowly over him with his back hunched. Lips brushed lightly against his cheek, and Rel hummed in pleasure.
"Wake up Rel," Santana urged, roughly shaking Rel now. Gone were his pretenses of gentleness. Santana was battering Rel into a waking state.
"What?" Rel complained as he blearily blinked the sleep from his eyes.
"It's time to get up Rel," Santana repeated. "We need to get moving."
"Right," Rel grunted as he sat up quickly.
A sharp pain blossomed across his forehead as he slammed into a wooden plank.
"Shit!" Rel swore, placing a hand to his head.
"Careful," Santana chuckled lightly to himself at Rel's expense.
"Damn floorboards are so close to the ground."
"Come on," Santana spoke, still chuckling. "Let's see if we can find a place we can call home for a few days, huh?"
They crawled their way out of their little hidey-hole. Thankfully it was only a temporary resting spot, as it wasn't terribly comfortable, nor was it really safe, considering it was still exposed to the air and all one of Santana's former allies had to do was walk by, noticing the space under the floorboards of the house.
Out in the open air, the space behind portal three was unlike any location Rel had ever seen in an arena before. It was some sort of old-fashioned port town, where the ocean met the land in a cove filled with ships. Rel didn't know anything about boats, but most appeared as if they were designed to sail out to open sea with multiple sails of triangular and square shapes.
However, the true factor that set this area apart from arenas of the past was the sheer population density. There were people everywhere, all dressed in odd old garbs, like from hundreds of years ago well before the Capitol war. It seemed they were in some colonialist time period where explorers were revered above all others.
The streets of Sector 3 were dirty, and there were few roads constructed of real stones. Most were just mud on the ground, and Rel considered himself quite lucky to be wearing boots.
Their exploring of the area yesterday had borne little fruit, finding only that small time brawls occurred on every other street corner, and nobody seemed to care, street vendors sold many kinds of food, and there were about fifty bars, or maybe they were pubs considering their location.
Seeing as money was required to gain most services in this area, Santana and Rel couldn't find a place to sleep, so, like beggars they found a decently warm and dry location beneath the floor of somebody's house. Nobody knew they were there, which was for the best.
Rel did wonder who these people were that wandered about in the streets like this was their real life. Were they actors hired by the Gamemakers? Surely such a job was incredibly risky.
"What's the plan then?" Rel asked. "We don't have any money."
"No," Santana replied. "But we need to see what else is out there. Maybe we can explore the ocean?"
"How? We don't have a boat, and we don't have any money to buy one."
"We could steal some money."
"Are you kidding?" Rel asked incredulously. "Stealing here would probably get us shot. Have you seen how many people are armed?"
"Well, it's either steal or find a job," Santana said. "And I don't know about you, but I did not volunteer for the Hunger Games to work a regular job. I say we find some wealthy looking guy and mug him in a back alley."
"Seriously? We can't mug somebody."
"It's not like we're stealing actual money. These are all actors. The money's probably fake."
"We could sell some of the stuff we took from the Cornucopia," Rel suggested. "Maybe someone would buy it."
"We have a knife and a survival straw," Santana responded. "I doubt we can sell those for that much. Besides, we need money quick because I'm starving, and we need to eat."
Rel shook his head and sighed, not liking Santana's plan one bit, but it wasn't like they had much choice. Santana was certainly right that they didn't have time to get employed and earn a paycheck.
"Fine," Rel grumbled. "But I don't like this one bit."
They spent the next twenty minutes or so locating a suitable location to perform their ambush. It was a remote alleyway with literal shit in the road. Rel waited down the alley, while Santana would rope in an unsuspecting passerby and drag them into the trap. From there, Rel would attack from the front with his knife, and with their victim distracted, Santana would brain them over the head with the bat.
A few more minutes passed before Rel heard Santana's voice chatting animatedly with some middle-aged man. As they rounded the corner, the man came into view. He was balding and sported classic colonial era porkchop sideburns. He was incredibly ugly, but his clothes were quite nice indicating that he might have a decent amount of money stashed in his pockets.
"What is the meaning of this?" The man asked Santana, then stopped suddenly as he saw Rel. "And who are you?"
Rel sighed to himself, then charged the man, knowing it was better to get this whole situation over with. The man yelped and turned to run from the big guy attacking him with a knife, only to be whomped on the head by Santana's bat. He dropped like a sack of potatoes.
"That wasn't so bad was it?" Santana commented as he quickly swiped the man's fat wallet. "Looks like we scored."
The money was all in the form of coins, silver by the appearance. There were quite a few of them, but how much they would buy, Rel wasn't entirely sure.
Rel and Santana ventured a decent distance from the man they'd mugged, hoping to avoid him completely and thus remove the potential of being arrested or something. Though, arrest seemed not to be a concept these people were familiar with, given the sheer chaos in the streets.
Santana came up with the rather ingenious idea of purchasing clothing from one of the shops to better blend in with the crowd. Plus, it would be better than wearing these ridiculous jumpsuits. So, after a brief time spent in a shop, Santana and Rel emerged with new clothes. Rel had opted for a pair of sturdy boots and some thin pants along with a comfortable brown duster. Santana meanwhile took a break from the red theme he so often adhered to and bought a frightfully grand blue hat and a matching long blue jacket. They still had a substantial amount of coin left.
"Now to buy a boat and set sail!" Santana announced dramatically as they walked towards the docks.
"I think you're forgetting something Santana," Rel replied somewhat cynically.
"What's that?"
"Neither of us knows how to sail a boat."
Santana actually stopped in the middle of the road. The crowd parted around them, the people of the port going about their business as usual, barely noticing the cowboy and his companion with the beet red hair.
"It can't be that hard," Santana shrugged indifferently. "We'll figure it out."
"How many boats do you think two people could sail anyway?" Rel asked. "It won't be a big boat that's for damn sure. We might not even have the money for one."
"What do you suggest then?" Santana questioned in return, sounding mildly frustrated.
"Let's hitch a ride with another ship," Rel suggested. "We'd be a lot less likely to kill ourselves than by trying to sail a ship."
Santana grumbled to himself, mulling over Rel's words, but Rel could see it written all over Santana's face that he knew Rel was correct.
"You're probably right," Santana huffed. "We'll buy passage on one of the ships, head out to open sea. Maybe we can find a safe place out there."
"See," Rel rubbed a hand affectionately over Santana's back. "I knew you'd come around."
Santana sent a withering look in Rel's direction. Rel only smirked back in response. In high spirits, they set off for the docks, hoping the future truly would be as bright as it seemed.
Butch Pelt District 10: 18F
Tuesday Morning
Day 2: 9:00AM
Sector 2
They searched room by room, looking for any sort of food to share between the two of them. Yet so far nothing had been found. There was nothing in the barren halls of Sector 2 save steel paneled floors and ceilings, and cold soulless lights. It reminded Butch quite a lot of the halls they'd entered yesterday morning before the Bloodbath, only these halls were made of metal not concrete. The heart freezing feeling was still present though.
Perhaps that heart freezing was more due to their loneliness. Matt was without Tessa and Butch was without Brooke, companions that connected with them in ways that no one else could. Butch wasn't exactly an open book herself, especially not emotionally, and she could see that Matt was even further closed off than she was. For all his strength, without Tessa to guide him, Butch saw that Matt was lost.
"I hate this place," Butch grumbled. "There's just something off about it. Plus, it's not like there's anywhere to hide really. If someone showed up around the corner, we wouldn't have anywhere to run."
"We'd just kill whoever it was," Matt stated matter-of-factly. "We have knives."
"And what if it's one of the careers with a sword Matt?"
"Two of us, against one."
"What if there's two?" Butch was growing slightly frustrated with Matt's irrationality.
Currently, he was fueled only by the desire to get back to Tessa, which was fine if Butch didn't question his decision-making ability. Realistically, he shouldn't have even been here. He had a son to raise, yet here he was, wandering around the dark metallic halls of the Hunger Games arena with her.
"Doesn't matter," Matt answered. "All that matters is finding Tessa."
"And Brooke," Butch added.
"Sure, whatever you say."
Butch stopped for a moment in surprise, caught off-guard by Matt's lack of care. Matt meanwhile kept walking, feet clanking against the metal floor.
"Hey!" Butch shouted, racing to catch up with Matt. "I am just about at the end of my patience with you Scotch."
She grabbed Matt by the wrist and jammed her finger in his chest. Butch matched Matt's height and build rather well, considering her years of work on the farm and her genetic predisposition toward size and strength. She stood and six feet tall, just like Matt and probably weighed only a couple of pounds less than him. If it came to physical confrontation, Butch felt confident that she could hold her own.
"I'm not going to fight you Butch," Matt said, snatching his hand away from her grip.
"I don't want you to," Butch replied, matching Matt's pace again. "But we need to align our priorities here."
"Why?" Matt asked. "We're going to the same place regardless."
"You're not exactly being a team player here."
"So what does that have to do with anything?"
"Because it's about all of us Matt," Butch insisted, stopping and turning towards Matt. "Not just you and Tessa."
"Maybe for you it is," Matt said. "But for me it's not."
"Then what are you even doing if you don't want to help us?"
"I'm making sure Tessa gets home safe."
"Did you ever stop to ask yourself if Tessa wanted you to do that for her?"
Matt paused for a moment, pondering his next words. His face was as cold and lifeless as the halls of Sector 2.
"I'm doing it because it's my job," Matt stated. "I'm doing it because I love her, and I'd be damned if I didn't stand behind her."
"So you left your son behind in the process?" Butch shot back. "What happens if you both die here, and Jonas grows up an orphan? Your place isn't here. Your place is with your son."
"I'm right where I'm supposed to be. Jonas will live. He'll grow up strong, but Tessa could die. It's simple math. I decided to save who I could."
"Why!?"
"Because it's my duty to protect my family," Matt said lowly. "I love them, and that's what you do for people you love. You protect them, no matter what."
Butch groaned at Matt's stubbornness. He had left his son behind, potentially orphaned and alone, though at least he had done so for a noble reason. But that didn't excuse the fact that he could have orphaned his son, solely because of his noble 'duty'.
"Let's just keep going," Butch sighed, then walked ahead of Matt. "We need to find water."
A door creaked behind Butch, and she turned back to see that Matt had opened one of the many side rooms in the corridor. In the span of the next few seconds, Matt's jaw dropped, and his eyes went wide as dinner plates.
"Holy shit…"
"What?" Butch questioned as she speed walked back towards Matt.
Matt stumbled forward into the room, trancelike. When Butch caught up with him, she saw the reason for his reaction.
Inside the door was a small one-man room with a small bunk pushed against the left wall, and a sink on the right. A desk was pushed into the far right corner, but what shocked Butch was what she saw out the window of the room.
It was pure black, but in the distance, a piece of a large spherical object could be seen. It was orangish and covered by dark swirling clouds. The object wasn't alone either. It was one of a number, though no two were exactly alike. The others were smaller, likely because they were further from the window, and their surfaces were all manner of colors, some blue and green, others gray. Even further in the distance was a yellow sphere that seemed to glow, but it was far away, too far to make out features. It merely glowed like a small light in a dark room.
Butch wasn't exactly sure what she was looking at until Matt dashed to the room across the hall and threw its door open. The room was exactly the same, only mirrored, but out the window was a sphere of tremendous proportion, so vastly outstripping the others that it seemed comical. The surface was a sandy brown with swirling clouds above.
Then, at long last, the nature of her surroundings struck Butch.
"Is that…" she stammered.
"Outer space," Matt completed her thought. "That's a planet."
"And these are its moons," Butch pointed out the window closer to her.
She didn't think it was fake either. The exterior of the window didn't look like a projection. It appeared as real as the ground they stood on.
"How?" Matt breathed in shock. "We were underground, then we came up in that weird cave. How are we even here?"
Butch was just as shocked as Matt. Space…they were in outer space.
Her more practical side took over, and Butch quickly realized the much more important discovery Matt had made. She crossed the room and stood over the sink, turning the handle to find cool water rushing from the faucet.
Butch lowered her head and drank greedily. Her throat gratefully absorbed the liquid after the twenty-four hours she had spent parched. The water tasted so good.
Finally, she straightened and sighed with satisfaction. In the opposite room, Matt drank heartily from the faucet with the odd brown planet behind him.
Nothing made sense. First, they were thrown into that weird fountain cornucopia, which seemed to be underground, now they were literally so far from being underground that it boggled her mind.
But, if they could be this lost, then how lost were Brooke and Tessa? Were they in space too? Surely they were. Surely.
Nebraska Wilmington District 6: 16M
Tuesday Morning
Day 2: 11:30AM
Sector 3
Nebraska laid, feeling quite uncomfortable on top of the shingles, on a rooftop overlooking the docks. He watched as Rel and Santana boarded a large boat along with the crew. How exactly they climbed aboard the vessel was unknown to Nebraska. Perhaps they purchased passage, or maybe they agreed to work on board.
Either way, Nebraska didn't care. So long as the duo was leaving the port, Nebraska felt quite comfortable.
He spotted them this morning while they bought new clothes, likely with stolen money. Ever since, Nebraska had tailed them, remaining just out of sight. Keeping tabs on his enemies would be extremely important now that he was truly alone. But, with Santana and Rel departing the port for the ocean, Nebraska considered himself incredibly fortunate.
Now, as far as he knew, he was completely alone in the port, an urban environment where Nebraska could make use of his considerable skill running and hiding. It wasn't a glamorous plan, nor would it be exciting for the audience watching him even now, but it was safe. Nebraska knew he could make ends meet with this plan, and he could survive for a decent amount of time, as it would take a great amount of effort to track him down and then catch him.
Nebraska smiled to himself, thankful to be alone completely, though alone did not mean he was safe. There were still plenty of people in the port town who might be perfectly willing to exact their own forms of justice upon him if they caught him taking less than reputable actions. Regrettably, Nebraska was forced into taking those actions if he wanted to eat.
Thinking of food actually made him hungry, which meant Nebraska was perhaps going to have to descend into the chaotic streets again in search of some easily robbable lunch. It didn't have to be much, but substantial enough to last him until dinner.
He clambered up from his spot and slid down the roof, leaping lightly to the lower section of the building below. Nebraska landed catlike, then proceeded to climb deftly down from the roof to the road.
He peered around, seeing that there wasn't a soul around, which was probably pretty good for him. Considering the fact that he was about to rob people, Nebraska figured it would be better to go unseen. Ghosting around the port, unseen and unremembered by the locals was definitely in his best interest.
The chattering of the crowd quickly swallowed Nebraska as he entered the throng slowly flowing down the main street. Outside a bar across the road two sailors drunkenly yelled in each other's faces, and it was only around noon. This was one hell of an arena. Not only were there tributes to worry about, and probably mutts somewhere, but there were also potentially dangerous drunks.
Nebraska knew he had to find a safe place where he could take refuge in the city, preferably somewhere quiet and secluded from the energetic environment, hopefully discrete enough to avoid detection by other tributes, and if he was lucky, Nebraska could spend the entire Games in the city. He had everything he could want here, and there was no reason to take a risk and head out into the ocean like Rel and Santana had. Nor was there any reason why he should reenter the fountain.
Following the crowd, eventually, the town square came into view. There were a few large shops surrounding the area in addition to a fairly nice-looking inn that Nebraska had no desire to enter, too risky. Outside were merchant stalls, obviously placed only temporarily, but one of them, Nebraska saw was serving hot food, freshly cooked. It smelled quite good too.
Fresh cooked food was quite difficult to steal in Nebraska's experience, nothing like swiping a loaf of bread. He would need to employ some more advanced thieving techniques. Stealing a few coins off a passerby was an option, but a risky one that chanced drawing attention to himself. It seemed to Nebraska that using a form of misdirection would be far more effective considering his goals.
Quickly, a plan formulated in his mind. It was not complicated, rather it was relatively simple. Simplicity would prevent Nebraska from making a slight mistake which would cause the rest of his scheme to collapse in on itself.
He silently crept up behind the stall, where many people walked by. Thus, his presence was barely paid heed by the woman cooking fish in the frying pan. A second woman stood behind the small bar at the front of the stall, selling plates of fish and vegetables. Inside a back drawer, which rested open, lay a small bag of coins. Nebraska assumed it to be their earnings for the brief day so far.
Unnoticed by all, Nebraska snatched up the bag, then through a sneaky maneuver, transferred it into the pocket of a drunk and disreputable looking man. He stood heckling the cook. Hopefully the attention would be drawn to him and not to Nebraska.
Patiently, Nebraska stood back in the shadows and waited for the women to notice their money had been stolen. Eventually, the cries of panic came, then came the accusations, directed at the drunk, just as Nebraska expected.
He casually swiped a plate while both women focused their attention on shaking down the drunk. With no pack to call his own, Nebraska instead carried the plate towards a nearby stall. Still ghostlike, Nebraska took a small satchel off the display rack and dumped the contents of the plate inside before placing the plate precariously on top of a woman's rather large purse.
The chaos emerged as Nebraska walked away. The bag of coins was found in the drunk's pocket, and he was smacked across the face harshly. Neither woman noticed the missing plate, too caught up in the interaction. Then, at the other stall, the plate fell from the woman's purse, shattering loudly against the ground and drawing the eyes of all around. Meanwhile, Nebraska slipped away unbeknownst to the crowd. He had caused all that chaos, and no one knew. Nebraska was quite proud of that.
Jason Green District 2: 18M
Tuesday Afternoon
Day 2: 12:30
Sector 2
"This is stupid," Tyto complained. "We're never going to find anyone in here. It's like a maze, and we can't track anyone anyway. We're just guessing randomly."
"All we can do is keep looking," Jason replied, throwing a closet door open. "Plus, you never know what stuff you're going to find, especially in a place like this."
Tyto and Jason had entered the space station earlier that morning, setting off in search of other tributes. Beforehand, their little group had laid down some ground rules to regulate its function. It was unanimously agreed that the Cornucopia required twenty-four seven surveillance and that no one should go anywhere alone, but a break developed concerning the number of guards that should remain behind.
Quite simply, their supplies needed to be protected, so they couldn't all hunt every day. Someone needed to stay behind, everyone agreed. Cassie had suggested that two stay behind while three went hunting. They would be more threatening to larger groups of tributes if they hunted in threes, but Jason was highly skeptical of her plan. Leaving only two to guard the Cornucopia was exceedingly risky. Despite having come to know his allies quite well, he still didn't really trust any of them not to take off with most of the supplies. He felt reasonably comfortable that Tyto would hold fast to guard duty, but slightly less comfortable that Cassie would. Jason didn't picture Cassie as the type to betray the alliance, but one could never be too careful. Murchad and Eydis however, Jason had much less faith in. While excellent combatants, their developing relationship could lead them down the same path as Santana and Rel, deciding they were strong enough to handle the others alone.
In combination with the still recovering Murchad, Jason had suggested three should stay to guard the Cornucopia while two hunted. They would pose less of a threat to the other tributes, but there was a substantially decreased chance that anyone would betray the alliance. He absolutely could not allow Murchad and Eydis to remain guarding the Cornucopia together without a third pair of eyes watching. If the couple went out hunting together, Jason wouldn't mind too much. Their departure would be annoying, but he was more concerned with the supplies being robbed.
Pulling Cassie aside to share his concerns with the only person he could be sure would put strategy above emotions other than himself, Jason explained his thinking. Cassie, being far more trusting than Jason, wasn't sure all his overthinking was necessary, but agreed to go along with his plan, actually claiming that she trusted his judgement. So, he and Tyto had travelled out alone, picking Sector 2 out of the four available.
They knew Santana had travelled into Sector 3, but, given the brief view they had of the environment, it would be practically impossible to find him. The port town was unusual, as was the space station they walked through now, but the mystical valley and the dark forest seemed more like traditional arenas. Jason wasn't exactly sure what they had to do with each other, but he guessed that they connected to each other somehow, maybe via other portals inside the Sectors creating a giant circle around the central fountain.
Sadly, hunting in Sector 2 had proved to be a rather fruitless endeavor. Originally, Jason and Tyto believed they would be likely to hear other tributes coming, and that it would be easy to see them down the long straight halls, but that logic proved to be false. Thanks to the industrial nature of the environment tracking was, as Tyto said, impossible.
Jason's eyes scanned the closet briefly, and he almost turned away. However, a small silvery glint hidden just beneath a pile of dirty clothes caught his eye. Jason tossed the clothing aside, wondering if he should take anything to get himself out of the jumpsuit. Underneath it all was a pitch-black rectangular box trimmed with silver. It was somewhat hefty, Jason noticed as he lifted it from the floor.
"What stuff would we find anyway?" Tyto questioned. "We're just looking for the others, right?"
Jason did not answer Tyto's question, opening the box instead while his companion looked through a room on the other side of the hall.
Inside was an object of a similar color scheme. Jason had no idea what it was, eyeing it up and down as he lifted it from the box. It almost looked like a weird gun, but it wasn't a gun. Unmistakably, the structure resembled that of a sword hilt. Not only that, but it was also the hilt of a dueling sword, curved to fit perfectly into the palm so the blade angled awkwardly and made defense very difficult. But this hilt had no blade. It was just a hilt.
Or so Jason thought until he spotted a distinctly trigger shaped button below the grip on the hilt. The design seemed to indicate that the pinky finger pressed the button.
Jason held up the hilt experimentally, wondering if he was supposed to find the blade for this sword.
"That's stupid," Jason whispered to himself as he held the hilt out. "Swords don't have detachable blades."
Then, he pressed down on the pinky trigger.
With a whooshing sound and a distinct vibration, a beam of red light fired outward from the hilt and stopped suddenly a good three feet from the end of the hilt.
"Holy shit," Jason swore rather calmly for someone surprised.
"What?" Tyto asked, poking his head around the corner into the room.
Tyto's eyes went wide in surprise, then narrowed and blinked several times, checking to be sure that what he was seeing was in fact real.
"What the hell is that?" Tyto questioned.
"It's a sword," Jason replied turning the weapon in his hand and looking at it with newfound appreciation.
He approached the blade with his hand, feeling the unbelievable heat radiating from it. This was an entirely new tool to Jason. The blade was made of pure concentrated light, a lightsword. No, that sounded weird. A lightsaber. Yes, that was it.
Jason peered at the closet door for a moment, then swiped the blade on a harsh downward arc, aiming for the hinges of the door. The lightsaber cut right through them like melted butter, and the door fell to the floor with a crash.
His eyebrows arched almost into his hairline in shock.
"Wow…" Jason spoke softly to himself.
"Where did you find that?" Tyto asked, barreling toward the closet. "I want one."
"I only found one," Jason answered.
Tyto huffed in annoyance, then shrugged a moment later.
"Whatever, you're the sword guy anyway," Tyto spoke indifferently. "Try not to accidently kill yourself with that."
Jason chuckled and rolled his eyes, flicking the sword back and forth. Because the blade was made of light, it felt weightless, meaning the tip was extraordinarily maneuverable. His current short sword was now irrelevant. The lightsaber would cut through anything in his path.
He pressed the pinky trigger again and the blade retracted with the same whooshing sound. Jason looked upon the weapon fondly, then clipped it to his belt. A satisfied smile spread across his face.
Eira Carielle District 5: 15F
Tuesday Afternoon
Day 2: 2:00PM
Sector 4
It turned out that Sector 4 was probably the worst possible place they could have gone. Eira had no idea if the other areas in the arena were this dangerous, but she highly doubted it. The forest was crawling with monsters of all types. In just the span of the day, Eira had seen some stuff she thought she would never see in her life. There were zombies, weird tree spirit things, literal demons, and those weren't even the worst of it. Earlier, they'd narrowly avoided an actual werewolf, and now they were being chased by a bunch of reptilian creatures and some demons.
Yesterday, things hadn't seemed so bad. The Gamemakers had probably lured them further into the forest so escape would be substantially more difficult, and they would be provided sufficient entertainment watching Eira fight for her life.
She glanced back, finding their pursuers to be only mere yards behind them. The reptoids were vaguely human in shape, but instead of skin, they had green scales. Their eyes were a violent yellow and they had long claws instead of fingers. Snake like heads with sharp fangs stood atop long necks. They were seriously ugly, but they weren't even close to as terrifying as the demons.
Those guys looked more humanoid, but various body parts had been replaced by hellish instruments. They all had red horned heads and long forked tongues, but their limbs were strikingly different in multiple ways. Some demons had on giant clawed forearm in place of a human forearm, others had metallic fingernails made for slashing, and still more had avian looking legs, only they were red skinned, not feathered.
Each of the types of monsters, they'd found were far stronger than an average human, and it wasn't easy to kill even one, let alone ten.
Eira pushed herself to run faster, watching as her companions did the same. Ayla's hair was all disheveled and dirty while Tesler's eyes raced around their surroundings desperately. They were certainly in serious trouble, and with the monsters gaining on them, they would have to turn and fight soon.
"We can't keep running like this or we're dead!" Eira shouted.
"We should turn and fight now, surprise them!" Ayla replied.
"Keep going!" Tesler returned. "Give me just a minute first!"
Tesler swung the backpack he wore over his shoulders and pulled out the one flashlight they had between them along with a water bottle and an iodine tablet.
"Cover me for a second!" Tesler called out. "I've got this!"
"What are you doing?" Eira asked.
"Just trust me, or we're all dead!" Tesler shouted.
Eira drew her knife, grumbling while Ayla followed suit. Tesler fiddled with the bottle and the tablet, dissolving the iodine in the water. What exactly that was going to do, Eira wasn't sure, but it wasn't like they had many options available to them.
The first monster to reach Eira was one of the reptoids, thankfully not one of the demons. The demons were way stronger and more dangerous.
The reptoid slashed wildly at Eira, who jumped back, just barely avoiding the attack. She tried to counterattack, only to be swatted into a nearby tree like she weighed nothing at all. The air whooshed from her lungs when she slammed into the tree. Eira struggled to breathe while she tried unsuccessfully to climb to her feet. She slipped back to the earth with a grunt.
Ayla defended herself against two demons, dodging attacks as best she could, but she too was smacked, landing in a heap in the center of the clearing. Moments later a shower of purple sparks and fire rained down on the beasts with a loud exploding sound. The monsters screamed in pain as most of them caught fire. Those that did ran around in fright while they burned, but the others rushed Tesler who was shaking a plastic bottle up and down in his hand. He launched the bottle at the remaining monsters. It exploded in midair, purple fire flying every which way.
More monsters screamed and Tesler drew his knife, jumping on the nearest flaming reptoid. He stabbed it mercilessly multiple times before Eira finally regained her breath and struggled to her feet.
She charged at an unsuspecting demon that burned purple. Eira slammed her blade into the place where she assumed the heart would be. They'd found out quickly that there were very few ways to kill these things. Beheading and stabbing the heart were the only two they'd discovered so far. Based on what she was seeing now, burning worked pretty well too.
Eira withdrew her blade and stepped back, watching with her companions as the monsters burned. It was a horribly beautiful sight, so violent, yet so pretty. The purple flames were unbelievably unique, even if they were destructive, but they were destroying dangerous monsters, so Eira didn't figure it was so bad.
"Let's go," Ayla urged as she climbed to her feet. "The sound could draw others."
They sprinted off into the woods, reaching a safeish distance from the burning throng of monsters, some of whom still screamed in the distance.
"We need to get the hell out of here," Eira said.
"Couldn't agree more," Tesler replied. "Look for a cave, there's got to be something along this wall."
The tall cliff to their left travelled into the deeper forest, indicating that it might go on for a substantial distance. Eira eyed it up and down, figuring that any cave might be more dangerous than the forest. What would be waiting inside one? A troll? A vampire?
"What if there's monsters in the cave?" Eira asked.
"Find a small one," Tesler answered with a shrug. "But, we can't stay out in the open any longer. We'll be dead by tonight with all these assholes running around."
"I'm with Tesler," Ayla stated, rushing to inspect the wall.
"Fine, whatever," Eira shrugged. "Find the damn cave."
Perhaps thirty minutes passed before Ayla located a small crevice in the rock which opened out into a decent sized cave inside, big enough for three people to inhabit relatively comfortably. Best of all, the crevice was too small for any of the monsters outside to fit through.
Eira squeezed inside last, finding the cave to be cool and comfortable, nothing like the jungle outside which felt like a sauna. She dropped her backpack on the ground and collapsed in exhaustion to the floor, letting the cold rock soothe her aching muscles.
Tesler and Ayla did much the same, falling to the floor with their packs cast aside. Tesler shook his hand out, looking at his palm curiously. He gritted his teeth and sighed.
"That's not good," Tesler grumbled.
"What?" Ayla asked, scooting over towards her district partner.
"Burnt my hand with the bombs earlier."
"Let me see," Ayla said softly, taking Tesler's hand in her own.
Eira couldn't help but feel jealous of their closeness, or at least they appeared to be close. Obviously the two had hit it off when they met, but they didn't look like anything more than friends. Based on what she'd seen from the two, neither seemed like the type that really understood love. Ayla because whatever her true personality was, she hid beneath layers of cynicism, and Tesler because he was too preoccupied with himself and his goals. Neither of her allies was perfect, and Eira didn't think she would have become friends with either of them if circumstances were different. Tesler was a selfish bastard who made no bones about the fact that he only really cared about himself. Ayla wasn't exactly kind to those around her either. They sure made for a deadly duo though.
"Shit," Ayla swore. "That's pretty bad."
Tesler snatched his left hand back with a hiss as Ayla accidently pushed too hard against a tender nerve.
"Sorry," Ayla said. "We should put some water on it. Get it treated."
"We only have one bottle left, and we need it for drinking," Tesler returned. "Don't waste it."
"If you don't treat that, it'll become infected."
"If we do, then we'll all get killed in the forest because we're dehydrated."
Ayla turned from Tesler and grabbed her own bag, withdrawing their last water bottle from inside. Out of the three packs they'd collected at the Cornucopia, they'd found three knifes and four water bottles, along with a length of rope, a flashlight, and a bottle of iodine tablets.
"How did you make those bombs?" Eira asked.
"Iodine reacts violently with lithium," Tesler explained. "The batteries in the flashlight use lithium for fuel, so I broke a couple open and exposed them to the mixture of iodine and water. I put the cap back on the bottle to build up pressure so it would explode instead of just burn."
"You need the water bottles to make the bombs then?" Eira questioned. "Not just the water inside?"
"Yeah…"
"Maybe we should save that water bottle in case we need to make another bomb," Eira suggested. "That could be more important than Tesler's hand or dehydration."
"No," Ayla stated firmly. "First rule of survival is to focus on what you need today. Worry about tomorrow later, because you might die today."
"What do you know about survival city girl?" Eira questioned slightly aggressively.
"And you think you know more than me?" Ayla shot back. "You're as much of a city girl as me."
"Probably. You grew up in District 3. It's a lot cushier there than it is where I'm from, not nearly as many gangs."
"I'll have you know that I did not grow up with a cushy life Eira."
"Sure, only a four-bathroom house? How tragic."
"Shut it!" Tesler's voice boomed inside the tiny cave. "We can't be fighting each other. Understand?"
"But she's going to waste the water when we could use it for something better," Eira argued.
"Today first, then tomorrow Eira," Ayla replied.
"Stop it," Tesler stated strongly. "This isn't helping any of us."
"So what happens when we leave tomorrow and we get killed by monsters?" Eira questioned rhetorically.
"We'll worry about that later," Ayla said. "We need to treat Tesler's burn, or he'll get infected. Then we'd have to waste even more resources trying to keep him alive. It's best to use the water now."
"We need antiseptic too," Tesler said. "The water alone isn't enough."
"But it's better than nothing," Ayla spoke forcefully, effectively ending the argument there. "Now hold out your hand."
Tesler sighed and held his hand out. Ayla used as little water as possible to cover Tesler's burn, which Eira was grateful for. There was probably enough water in the bottle to build a bomb, but not enough for them all to drink tomorrow. Tesler tore a piece of cloth from his jumpsuit sleeve and tied it around his hand as a makeshift bandage.
Eira shook her head in frustration. What sort of luck was it going to take for them to get out of Sector 4 safely?
Liz Adler District 6: 14F
Tuesday Afternoon
Day 2: 4:00PM
Sector 1
It turned out Sector 1 was really quite peaceful. Thus far, after monitoring the portal from the cornucopia, standing atop the waterfall, they hadn't seen anyone. Liz hadn't only selected the waterfall because she knew there would be a fresh water source somewhere along the river, she had also chosen it thanks to its strategic location. It covered virtually all sightlines, and she felt quite safe atop it.
Fortunately, her ally hadn't proved to be nearly as much of a pain as Liz had first thought she would be. On the contrary, Tanya provided pretty good conversation, and she was helpful too. Tanya watched over the portal with Liz, tried to build fires and set up snare traps. She wasn't particularly good at either, leaving Liz to do most of the work, but Liz wasn't terribly frustrated by that.
She understood that the value Tanya brought as an ally was not in her ability to build fires, rather it was in her ability to fight that Tanya showed her value. Liz was tough, but she was no fighter. Sure, she had a small amount of self-defense training as required by her father. In comparison to Tanya's life of training, a few self-defense classes were nothing. So, if any other tributes did come across them, Tanya would provide an excellent opportunity for Liz to escape while Tanya fought them off. She doubted she would stay to fight with Tanya, but if it seemed like their odds of victory were decent, Liz would stick around.
All that had changed the moment Tanya found that green needle. She had climbed up the cliff behind the spring where they made their camp, exploring further along the path. A short distance up, on a ledge, Tanya located what she described as a sort of shrine. Apparently, it was a small wooden thing stuck atop a pole, but Liz didn't much care. She was more interested in the object Tanya brought back with her.
That thing was small, green, and vaguely needle shaped, only it didn't have a long sharp point. Instead, the needle was more cylindrical, like an upside-down test tube with a small spring-loaded needle at the bottom. It was labeled on the side as a 'Booster', and on the opposite side, the Booster was labeled as 'Water'. What exactly that meant, Liz had no idea.
Liz had been extremely skeptical of the Booster, wondering if it was filled with poison, but apparently Tanya had not been so. She jabbed it directly into her arm, clicking the spring down and pricking the skin of her forearm lightly with the needle. A small drop of blood appeared on the skin which Tanya promptly swiped aside.
Much to Liz's surprise, nothing had happened to Tanya, not at first. Later, the only changes were positive, not negative. Tanya, only about an hour or so later was moving the spring water around with her hands. She stood making the water float, take different shapes, and even forcefully blast trees. Liz watched in shock while Tanya took actions that were seemingly superhuman.
"What the hell is that?" Liz asked in a state of shock.
"I don't know," Tanya responded with a huge smile on her face as she formed the water into a pyramid. "But it's pretty damn cool!"
"You're bending the water," Liz stated, her mouth still agape. "How is that even possible?"
Tanya, with a fluid hand movement, extracted the water from the pyramid in a slow stream of water, forming a large continuous infinity sign with the liquid. Again, the water shifted, creating a cone shape, then suddenly froze over becoming ice instantly.
She launched it at a tree, embedding the sharp ice spike in the wood.
"That's awesome," Tanya said breathlessly.
"Are you sure this is safe?" Liz asked. "That thing you used could've been poisoned."
"Well obviously it's not," Tanya answered. "I feel fine. Actually, I feel great."
"I can tell," Liz said flatly.
"What's the problem Liz?"
"Jabbing yourself with that needle was unnecessarily risky. There was no need to do that, especially since it could have been poison."
"The word Booster was written on it. I doubt they'd call it a booster if it didn't, you know, boost you up a little."
"And you trust them to be completely honest?" Liz asked pointedly.
Tanya went silent, glaring at Liz. Her ally finally seemed to grasp the reality of the situation it seemed.
"Look Liz," Tanya said. "I'll admit what I did was risky but look what we got out of it. Now I can control water. That's a weapon for us to use. Plus, we know if we run across another Booster that you need to use it."
Liz couldn't deny that having whatever kind of superpowers that Tanya did would be nice. Maybe there were other abilities boosters could grant you too.
"Okay," Liz replied after a brief pause. "I suppose you're right. At least we got something good out of a bad decision."
"That's fair I'd say," Tanya agreed.
She thrust her hand out at the ice spike, melting it and dropping the water back into the spring again. A small smile formed across Tanya's face as she shook her head in wonder. Liz didn't blame her for her shock, given that Tanya was literally moving water around like Poseidon.
"I'm going to go check the portal again," Liz said. "Have fun with your water."
Tanya chuckled lightly behind her while Liz travelled off again to look out over the waterfall. She hadn't been anywhere out in nature before in her life, and Liz couldn't help but be taken by the beauty. There was something spectacular about looking over the valley.
The mist of the waterfall created a rainbow, shimmering brightly in the afternoon light. Only, unlike most rainbows, Liz had to look down to see this one. It mirrored the cliff arcing along its surface, then returning back to the ground below. Liz smiled and inhaled the air gratefully, unable to hold back her happiness. Even in the arena of death, there was beauty and wonder to be found it seemed. Liz hoped she'd be able to see nature like this again one day. Maybe, as a victor the Capitol would allow her certain travel privileges, but she doubted it. She had to take advantage of seeing the real world while she could, because there was no telling if she would ever be able to see it again.
Cassie Dawson District 2: 17F
Tuesday Evening
Day 2: 8:00PM
Cornucopia
Cassie hadn't thought she would be so happy to see Jason and Tyto return. She was beginning to feel like a third wheel with Eydis and Murchad around. Those two only reminded her of that which she did not have, and never would have. She wondered whether she ever would have that.
The love shared between Eydis and Murchad seemed to transcend mere human connection and enter the realm of the soul. Cassie could tell just by looking at them that those two souls were perfect for each other, fitting like pieces of a puzzle, not a single gap unfilled. But Cassie did not really understand that feeling. She had never experienced it before, or maybe she had but she denied herself.
Either way it didn't really matter. Love was only a human relationship, which Cassie had plenty of. There were her friends back home cheering for her now, and there were her friends here fighting alongside her. Having a deeper relationship could harm her ability to perform her tasks adequately, especially when it came to making tough calls.
Yet, deep inside, Cassie did feel lonely, like an island in the ocean floating close enough to other islands to speak with their inhabitants, but too far to ever make physical contact with them.
"What'd you find?" Murchad called from atop the fountain as the two returned. "Any luck?"
"No," Jason returned. "But I did find something that could prove useful."
"Come on then, let's see it," Murchad shouted.
He was still recovering from his stab wound, but the skin was healing well. If all went well, Murchad would be perfectly capable of going out tomorrow in all likelihood, but he would probably benefit from another day of rest, especially considering that they were going out two at a time. It would mean that Tyto and Jason could stay back with Murchad, while she and Eydis went out.
It took about two minutes for Jason and Tyto to climb the spiral staircase to the top of the fountain and join them just outside the door to the storage room.
Jason unclipped what looked like a futuristic sword hilt from his belt and showed it off to them. Then, he pressed a small trigger down by his pinky, and a red blade of light extended instantaneously.
"Woah," Murchad mumbled under his breath.
"How the hell does that work?" Cassie questioned. "Why haven't we seen any of these in the training academy before?"
"No idea," Jason replied. "But it's pretty cool don't you think?"
He waved the lightsaber around like it was a toothpick, weightless and endlessly maneuverable. It seemed Cassie might have to change her plans regarding Jason. Fighting him when he was armed with this tool of destruction might be too dangerous for her to consider. That thing could cut through doors and walls, which made fighting somewhat difficult. Maybe she could steal it from him at some point.
"What about other tributes?" Eydis asked. "How did the search go?"
"Poorly," Tyto answered. "It's impossible to track anyone in Sector 2. You'd have to see someone directly or follow the sounds of footsteps. Other than that, it's like stumbling around in the dark. The only way to find anyone is by blind chance."
"That's not good," Cassie said. "Maybe we should focus elsewhere, search different sectors entirely?"
"We can't just leave Sector 2 unsearched," Jason returned. "They'll figure out we're not going there eventually, and a bunch of them will congregate there. I doubt we'd be lucky enough for them to kill each other. They'd probably band together and attack us like at the Bloodbath."
The Capitol anthem broke through their conversation, but no faces appeared in the sky. No body had been killed that day it seemed. That was rather unfortunate.
What the hell? Had Cassie really just stated that to herself? It was unfortunate that nobody died that day? Only two days into the Hunger Games, and Cassie already found herself stripped of her morality. Was she really cheering for death, screaming like a roman at the coliseum?
"Still seventeen of us," Tyto stated.
"Too bad Santana wasn't up there," Eydis mumbled darkly.
"Yeah," Jason agreed, nodding to himself. "Let's ration out dinner."
The rest of them all happily followed him into the storage room, grabbing up their cold jerky, fruit, and bread. Thankfully, there seemed to be plenty of that to go around, at least a week or so. Then, there was the infinite supply of water, thanks to the fountain which provided cool fresh water, perfectly drinkable as tested by Murchad earlier in the day.
Tyto joined the couple, eating inside the storage room while Jason walked outside and sat on the edge of the fountain. Cassie looked back and forth between the trio inside and her lone district partner outside, eventually deciding that she would take up Jason's alone time. He probably wouldn't appreciate that, but Cassie had some things she wished to discuss with him anyway.
"You mind if I sit?" Cassie asked, standing over Jason.
Jason looked up to her, appearing mildly annoyed, not managing to hide his annoyance entirely. She assumed that he knew it was rude to turn her away, but he tamped down those feelings, understanding Cassie was only trying to be kind.
He said nothing but gestured that the spot was available for her. Cassie sat and took a bite of her jerky, chewing heartily.
"You were mentioning that we need to search all the sectors earlier, to keep the other tributes from getting together and attacking us," Cassie said.
"What about it?" Jason asked.
"Well, I was just thinking that maybe that would be good for us. If they're all in one area, we can sweep through it and do massive damage in an extremely short amount of time."
Jason hummed to himself thoughtfully and nodded slightly. Cassie appreciated Jason's openness to different ideas. True, there was no official leader of their alliance, but Jason did often act as the shot caller, which was fine with her. So long as he took her ideas into consideration, Cassie didn't particularly care if Jason made the calls. She could always ignore him if she chose, and if she achieved good results, Cassie doubted Jason would particularly angry.
"That's not a bad idea," Jason replied eventually. "You want to herd them into Sector 2?"
Cassie made a face at Jason's phrasing of the question. Herding other humans around wasn't exactly a glorious idea, but the linguistic comparison made sense.
"Essentially," Cassie answered. "I think it could work, but we'd have to find the others in different sectors."
"There could be another method available to us," Jason stated. "Don't be stealthy. What if we just made as much noise as possible? It could push the others to move into Sector 2."
"Are you sure that will work? It seems to me that they'd probably just avoid us if we made too much noise."
"Eh, you're probably right. I wouldn't hang around if a bunch of buffoons were crashing through the woods."
"Exactly," Cassie agreed.
They ate together contentedly for another few minutes before Jason spoke again.
"Thank you," he said, making serious eye contact with her.
"For?"
"Helping me," Jason continued. "You're kind of the glue holding us all together."
"What do you mean?" Cassie questioned. "I'm not doing anything special."
"Look at them in there," Jason gestured to their allies laughing in the storage room. "They don't understand me. I'm too cold, detached, and they're happy, enjoying themselves. I can't do that. I can't interact with people like that. You can though. You bridge the gap between them and me because you understand all of us. I'm pretty sure this would all fall apart without you to keep us in line."
A small smile spread across Cassie's face as she considered Jason's words. Maybe he was right, but she wasn't so sure Jason was giving himself enough credit.
"You're the one keeping us moving forward, keeping us motivated and focused," Cassie returned. "Without that we'd be sunk."
"Yeah, but you guys are already motivated," Jason said. "You want to win already. You don't need me to tell you that."
"We'd be a disorganized wreck without you, and that's a fact. It would only be worse if Santana was here. You had the guts to kick him out. Not many other people would have done that Jason, and we're a damn sight better off without Santana around causing chaos."
Jason nodded to himself further as the silence stretched between them again.
"Thanks for being my friend Cassie," Jason spoke softly, almost like he was embarrassed. "I was worried I'd be alone in here, but you proved me wrong."
"Of course," Cassie returned with a genuine smile, laying a comforting hand on Jason's shoulder. "I'm happy to be here for you."
She felt Jason's skin tense under her touch but never relax, like the very existence of another's caring presence terrified him. It was then that Cassie understood the true nature of Jason's paranoia, and why he was so standoffish. Any closeness, even in friendship frightened Jason to death. Cassie wanted to know why, but she knew better than to pry now. Jason had finally opened up to someone, probably for the first time in a long time, and she didn't want to ruin that.
They finished their meager meals, sitting comfortably and enjoying the companionship the presence of the other brought while the faint glow of the white water seemingly warmed the room.
Valora Brightfall Head Gamemaker: 31F
Tuesday Evening
Day 2: 9:00PM
Tribute Center
"Good evening Ms. Brightfall," the door guard greeted as Valora swiped her administration card. "Lovely night, isn't it?"
"I suppose," Valora answered, not even looking at the door guard.
"You have a good night ma'am," the guard said.
"I will," she said as the door closed behind her. "Not nearly as good as last night."
Naomi had thought to drop by Valora's penthouse apartment last night, for unknown reasons. Following their Sunday night dinner, which was pretty much a date for all intents and purposes, Valora had returned home feeling nothing short of elation. She didn't know how Naomi felt, but based on her facial expressions throughout the night, Valora had grown concerned that somehow, she had messed things up.
Despite the great success of getting the arena put together in time for the Games, and the eventful first day, including that exciting Bloodbath, Valora lived yesterday, fearing constantly that she had ruined her chances with Naomi. Then, at around ten last night, Naomi showed up at her front door offering congratulations for her accomplishments.
They drank a bottle of wine together reminiscing of the pre-Games process, and the buildup, mentioning predictions and confrontations they hoped to see. Valora remembered perfectly every word uttered by Naomi, even if she barely remembered her own words. She could see in her mind now, every smile, laugh, and eyebrow raise Naomi made.
She remembered when they'd finally given into the tension between them, the feeling of Naomi's lips on hers was still other worldly. Then, the sensations she'd experienced in her bedroom…
It was a night she'd never forget, and one she hoped to relive many times over in the coming future.
Valora entered the viewing chamber, just to the left of the airlock which entered into the Tribute chamber. The room was climate controlled, perfectly adjusted to further relax the tributes into a state of deep unconsciousness. Around the room were scattered twenty-four beds, neatly organized with twelve beds along each wall organized district by district so each tribute faced their district partner.
Inside the viewing chamber was a control panel, currently manned by an overweight young man with a jolly face but an icy disposition.
"What's the status on the tributes Oscar?" She asked, all business, hiding her pleasure.
"Their doing fine ma'am, still totally oblivious to the outside world," Oscar answered.
Oscar was his last name, not his first, and Valora wasn't exactly sure what his first name was. She wasn't even sure if she'd ever even heard him pronounce it before.
"The Bloodbath deaths?" Valora questioned further.
"Removed, just as requested," Oscar said. "The kill system worked perfectly in all seven cases."
"Good," Valora replied. "What of the arena? Is it still functioning as required?"
"So far, but that's not really my area of expertise."
Valora nodded to herself, surveying the seventeen remaining tributes in a detached manner. Each was equipped with an IV drip providing plenty of water and nutrients to keep the physical body intact, a small bracelet around the left wrist that transmitted an electric shock to stop the heart upon arena death, a small monitor to display vital signs, and a highly advanced VR system.
The VR system was constructed of a pair of goggles wrapping around the eyes of each tribute, along with a TV screen that showed a first-person point of view for the tributes. It was a rather ingenious idea, and Valora did not hesitate to give herself substantial credit for that concept. There were absolutely no limits upon the arena, or the mutts, or even the laws of physics when you could program every tiny detail of the Games. Best of all, the tributes had no idea it was even real, and if any of them could figure out that they were fighting in a simulation, that could create an interesting dynamic where one tribute could become massively powerful by manipulating the system.
The large TV at the end of the room displayed a live feed of the Games, showing what the audience was seeing. They wouldn't know the Games were held in a simulation either, further deluding the minds of the populace into believing that the Capitol could do basically anything. That would cause those District 10 anarchists to take pause in their violence.
Valora smiled to herself, knowing that there was nothing the tributes could do to escape until the Games were over. This innovation could change the future of the Games forever. There wouldn't be much reason to host the Games in real life arenas that took up space and cost a great deal of money to build when they could simply create a computer program that would prove far more effective at containing tributes. It seemed the future was bright.
Kill Count
Jason Green: 2
Santana Perez: 1
Cassie Dawson: 1
Eydis Agnarsson: 1
Murchad McNamara: 1
Tyto Winter: 1
There it is! Day 2! A little bit of a winddown from Day 1's excitement, but there was some action in there and plenty of conversation.
But, in bigger news, the arena is fully revealed, so I'll provide you the details of each Sector, though I'm sure many of you can infer what some Sectors reference. Sector 1 is based upon Avatar: The Last Airbender, a show I greatly enjoyed in my childhood. Sector 2 is based on Star Wars, which should cause plenty of violence throughout. Sector 3 comes from Pirates of the Caribbean, and you'll see some crazy stuff there later on. Sector 4 is a reference to a less well-known series of books called Monster Hunter International, which I greatly enjoy. I suppose I can now say: Welcome to the Matrix!
Anyway, let me know what you thought. Also, Happy Thanksgiving to those of you out there who celebrate!
-Red