Heather Monroe, 16, District 5
The crackles of the fire, that Seia and Nadia lit earlier, is crunching through the chilly afternoon air. The warm embers brush against my skin as they are brought by a cool breeze through the forest that we are camping in.
My eyes follow the bright, amber embers back to where Nadia and Seia are chatting by the campfire. I'm simply twirling my knife in my hand, reliving the last day over and over in my mind. Seia didn't want me anywhere near them. Understandably I suppose. It was only yesterday that I was shoving my knife in their faces, threatening to kill them. That was when I still had a certain wolf boy to cling onto, to protect, so that our little partnership could go on for as long as possible but now the space around me feels like a void without him. His contant snarky comments, his jabs and his stupid grin that lined his face whenever a misfortune befell me.
He was a pain in my ass but I do miss him…
He's gone now and all for that girl. He traded his life for hers. My eyes find their way to her again. Nadia. Sitting over there, observing one of her potions diligently, tapping her nail against the glass. She managed to convince Seia to keep me around… only she could do that. She knew Charon, knew what he did, what he gave for her, who he truly was deep down. She has to be damn important. So, if he gave his life for hers, then there's no way in hell that I'm letting her die now and I think she knows that inside. That's why she convinced Seia to keep me around. It has to be.
Her eyes catch mine staring at her again and she sends me a slight smile through the dark… to my surprise. From what I remember of her during the days before the games, she always seemed… I don't know… vacant? Like she wasn't really there, floating off somewhere in her own little bubble. But now she seems present and purpose filled, even more than she did yesterday. Like a switch had suddenly been activated in her brain. Was it Charon? It has to have been Charon. She knew Charon before me after all.
Seia frowns when she catches Nadia staring at me and quickly drags her back by the jacket to face her. Seia trusts exactly one person and that is herself… well maybe she trusts Nadia as well by now. They seem to have spent a lot of time together.
I can hear Charons deep, gruntled voice drifting through my mind again.
"I'm just a killer. Nothing more," I said.
"That's your father talking, not you. Don't be what he made you. You're more than that."
His glowing, red eyes on that moon-lit pathway briefly flash before me with his grin. But they are soon gone, just like him.
A light crunching in the leaves around me suddenly pricks my ears attention. I have a crushing feeling in my heart that we're no longer alone…
The fire!
I peer around the misty, gloomy forest for the origin of that sound but find nothing. Only the leaves of the shrubs, blowing faintly in the breeze. So, with a deep breath, I find my way back to my feet and stumble through the path of embers towards them. Their faces are lit up, with the fire seeming to bounce off their skin.
Seia recoils when she notices me standing above them, she reaches for one of the potions in Nadia's bag however her ally quickly grabs her hand to stop her. The District Eleven girl narrows her eyes at Nadia before jolting her hand away.
"Look, I get it. You have no reason to trust me but something's out there… or someone. I can sense it," I breath.
The two girls exchange looks momentarily. Nadia gives me a little smile before nodding ever so slightly.
"Ok Heather… I trust you," she states.
Seia glances sideways sharply, shaking her head with her eyes wide.
"Nadia… no…"
Nadia just shrugs.
"What? If we can't trust each other then what chance can we ever have? I wouldn't have trusted Charon until yesterday," she responds.
Seia stares downwards to the ground, hesitantly nodding her head.
"I guess…"
"Alright, glad we straightened that out," I state.
"Now, firstly… douse the fire," I order, turning back to the forest around us at the sound of more rustling in the leaves. Nothing. Just gloomy tree trunks and blowing leaves in the afternoon light with a growing, low-lying mist spreading about us.
My body revolves around with my eyes, whilst my lungs simultaneously try to control my breathing.
I swivel back to them to find Nadia has reluctantly put out the fire.
"Just tell us what's out there," Seia groans, shooting daggers at me.
"I don't know!" I bark back.
My brain begins replaying the sounds that i'm hearing in the back of my mind, my hand strokes my chin. I'd often have to do that. If my father sent me on some dangerous mission that involved me listening in on our rival gang.
"It's two pairs of footsteps… no wait…they can't have found us alre…"
They've found us! No! None of us imagined they could have moved this fast, after their fight with werewolf Charon!
"Come on!" I exclaim, seizing the two girls by their hands and dragging them up!
Seia quickly snatches her hand away, but Nadia doesn't seem to mind the help. After she has slung her sachet around her shoulder, she allows me to drag her up a mound in the forest with Seia lagging behind a little. Still glaring.
"This better not be some kind of trick!" She mutters under her teeth.
Now that we're at the top of the mound, I can get a better view of what's behind the, now doused, fire in the forest.
Just above one of the misty bushes, behind the doused campfire, my eyes spot a layer of dark blond, curly hair peeking out. The girl from Nine. They have found us!
"Freeze," I whisper to my two companions whilst slipping a throwing knife into my right hand.
They are motionless and as silent as me. Silence that's broken by the sound of an arriving train mere meters behind us.
"Get to the train… that's your ticket out of this," I whisper.
A faint voice follows from below me.
"What about you?" Nadia gulps.
My eyes drift down to her, to find her staring up at me in a way that puts me in mind of a puppy. A puppy begging for something good to come out of my mouth in the next few seconds.
"I've got her… the District Nine girl. I can kill her and draw the other one off…"
"That will give you enough time to escape."
"But why?" Nadia asks.
I pause for a moment, glancing back down at the Twelve girl for one last time, furrowing my eyebrows, as I try to think of a way to answer that question. What is the answer to that question?
With deep inhale, I stare back outwards towards the forest in front of me.
"To not be what he made me," I answer sternly.
"Now go! You've got a train to catch," I insist, giving them one last friendly wink of goodbye.
Nadia continues to stare back at me with sunken, teary eyes, even as Seia drags her away through the trees towards the train.
"Thank you…" I hear her croak under her breath.
My fingers then clench violently around my knife, turning back to the Nine girl hiding in the bush directly in front of me.
She's gone…
My legs begin pacing forward cautiously, before I slip nimbly down the mound, as a snake sliding towards a mouse that it's about to gobble up.
The misty air around me seems to choke out any sound that the dark forest might have in its depths, along with my vision. No wind against the leaves, no birds, or insects. Nothing.
I use the trees as cover, keeping my shoulder against them before I quietly slip towards the next one, peering around each trunk, my eyes remain peeled for any sign of the Nine girl… or the Four boy.
But as I move through the forest, my feet pacing like the paws of a cat, I can't help but get the feeling more and more that I'm not the predator stalking its target. That I'm the prey. That I'm not the snake… am I the mouse?
My heart begins to jolt in my chest. It's picking up speed along with my feet on the forest floor…
The noise of the leaves splintering under my boots is so loud against the dead silence.
I now seem to have lost my way entirely… everything just looks the same around me… I have no idea what direction I even came from.
More sounds of footsteps in the dry leaves but not mine…
So, I begin to back up through the forest, faster and faster. Still, I can see no one. Just endless hollow trunks, tangling bushes and mist! It doesn't help that the sun has disappeared behind the tree line already which has infected the forest with a growing shadow.
I'm a sitting duck here!
My steady backsteps soon turn into a straight up run across the leaves, my breaths must be able to be heard from all around me now, piercing through the forest.
My foot is suddenly caught! A twig? A root? It doesn't matter because I've found myself lying flat on the ground, clutching the tufts of grass by their stems.
Grass? I'm in a clearing!
You're panicking Heather. So you're making mistakes. Stop it.
I look up to find a large, wooden, dingy house directly in front of me. The planks of wood just look like shadows in the brief clearing of the forest.
More rustling in the bushes behind me! It feels like, whoever it is, is almost right on top of me now!
Instinctively, I'm already taking off sprinting across the grass towards the manor but my heels slide to a halt outside the door, spinning around to make sure no one is about to stab me in the back! No one. There's still no one. It's just the mist and the darkness encroaching in around me from the tree line.
But they know where I am, and I don't know where they are. They're following me. They're winning.
The breath in my lungs continues to pulsate until it gets fully out of control, and I can no longer contain my rage.
"Where are you!?" I yell into the night air.
My chest is now puffing out violently.
"Come out you fucking coward!"
Still nothing. Still silence.
My heels prod backwards towards the door of the manor and before I know it, I'm inside. Into a heavier darkness. I try to blink and widen my eyes as much as possible to sharpen my sight but it's so dark that all I can make out, is a single decaying staircase in front of me.
I can use this to my advantage, to turn this situation around, to confuse them and disorientate them. Whichever one it is.
So, gritting my teeth and keeping my hand tight around the hilt of my knife, I creep my way up the staircase until I make a left turn and find myself in a tight, dirty, wooden corridor, lined with cobwebs and leading to multiple different rooms.
Tip-toeing my way across the floorboards, I pivot left into the first room. It's compact, stuffed full of many different ornaments… mostly children's toys. There's an empty cradle on the right, a smiling toy clown on one of the high shelves but worse is the swinging rocking horse, swaying on one of the cabinets to the left.
The creaks and squeaks that the rocking horse is emitting, as it tilts in the draft, are the only sounds that can be heard in the room.
Creak. Creak.
On repeat.
I move towards the window of the room, facing out to the grassy clearing I just came from in the forest. Still, there's no one there. Just an empty field in what now is the almost complete blackness.
Urgh. The sound of that rocking horse is so distracting. It's stinging against my ears! All the same, a plan begins to form in my mind. Since I'm currently alone here and in my environment, I can ambush them. It's the perfect place for an ambush.
We'd often organise ambushes… back home. The last one I took part in was much like this. We were in a house, and we shot members of The Horde as they filtered in. Mowing them down. It was one of the Monroe Mafia's most famous massacres. That was the first time my father made me kill people, whilst he took the backseat. Killing so that the great "Monroe Mafia" could have their hands in every pocket in District Five.
It's how my mother died… in a shootout. A shootout gone wrong. Organised by him. He pretended to shroud me in love, but it was all an illusion because he wanted me to become the same. The same as him. To be his lap dog, killing whoever he told me to. That's not love. It never was.
I wonder what he thinks now I've broken out of his cage. Now I'm killing to save others, innocent children, instead of to further his own power. If I ever make it out of this, I'll never be his little servant again, I'm not going back to him. I don't even want to take over the family business just to become another… him. Exploiting and killing others for his own gain.
My thoughts of home are suddenly intercepted by… movement. It's very subtle but my eyes manage to catch it. Out of the window there is a shadow scurrying across the clearing towards the house from the tree line. It looks slightly taller than the Nine girl and slender.
However, it freezes momentarily in the middle of the clearing then switches to a kind of unsettling, cartoonish lunge across the remainder of the patch of grass.
It's such a strange movement, like they aren't even taking this seriously.
The creeping shadow does an exaggerated tiptoe the rest of the way but halts just outside the door. I can finally glimpse dark, chestnut, curly hair and a long thin face. It's the boy from Four. The career. His skin is so pale that it glows in the mist.
Gotcha.
But his eyes suddenly curl upwards through the window, almost grinning straight at me! No! How did he see me!
My body stumbles back through the tiny room, almost slipping on some toy dolls in the process but I steady myself with a deep breath, bracing my hands against the door frame.
Think Heather. You can't let fear beat you! I've never gone down without a fight! That's the one thing my father taught me that I can appreciate.
Straightening up my back, I peer back around the corner into the hallway.
There is a high-pitched grind, a screech of the old door, slowly opening downstairs.
Then footsteps follow, creaking gradually against the floorboards directly below me. What throws me off is how… inconsistent the steps seem to be. There are some where each foot follows the other almost instantly in a hop, then suddenly he seems to wait at least five seconds to place his next foot. A shiver uncontrollably runs down my spine.
The corridor is black and empty, so I pace as silently as possible until I'm about half way to the top of the staircase. He can't know where I am, it's my only chance.
More creaking against the floorboards but this time it's on the staircase. He's coming! The footsteps against the stairs are sluggish but… menacing.
He's going to appear any second, in front of me from the stairs! His head will come first.
I flip my knife, so the blade is cupped in my palm then raise it above my shoulder, ready to throw it through his skull as soon as it rises into view from the stairs.
The footsteps continue
Creak… creak… creak…
Then nothing…
It's so silent now that I can hear my heart thumping in my chest. The cold blade of my knife is even straining against my hand. Where is he?
It feels as though the corridor is crushing in around me as I stand here waiting… narrowing.
Then a shadow suddenly zips across the corridor in front of me from the stairs, but it disappears further back behind the top of the staircase to the right, which is completely covered in darkness. Even so, I unleash my knife at the head of the shadow. All I get in return is the sound of it embedding into the wooden wall at the back!
Shit!
My hand rapidly fumbles to another knife in my jacket, before he can have a chance to pounce on me from out of the shadows…
but he's gone again…
I'm met with nothing. Not even footsteps against the floorboards now…
Only my own breaths.
I feel so vulnerable here! Standing in the middle of the corridor! I feel like he could emerge any second from any of the rooms! I have to act now! I have to kill him now! This is what he wants… to make me panic. From what I remember about him in the past, he was always like that. He called himself "Bloodtide" in the interviews as a way to strike fear into us, I guess? I remember just rolling my eyes at the time. He won't succeed this time either. I'm going to run my knife through his heart! Slowly and painfully! I've met plenty of people just like him back in Five and they can never back up their scare tactics.
I'm already striding to the direction that he went, passing through the blackness.
At the very back of the corridor is a door with my knife still sticking out of it.
He's cornered himself in this room… he's probably waiting in there to ambush me. I've got no choice! I can't keep playing his games! I'll probably get injured in the process but if I duck under his initial strike then I'll have a shot at killing him. I've got to take it!
Not long before the reaping's someone ambushed me, and I managed to turn it around and kill them. I can do it again!
I press my hand against the doorknob, tightening my lips and grinding my teeth. Here we go.
My hand twists the handle and I proceed to burst in with my shoulder, ducking down from his impeding attack and readying my knife to toss into his heart!
But no one's there…
It's just a large empty room… except for the single wardrobe on the right.
My lungs sink in my chest… not really with relief but agony. Will this ever end?
At the back of the room - thin, silvery curtains are blowing dust lightly in the breeze… behind them a window, an open window. Recently opened, I think.
Did he escape out that way? I hurry over to the window, brushing the curtain out the way to glimpse outside. A bunch of razor branches from nearby trees are almost sticking in. An easy escape, it would seem.
Coward! When is he going to quit playing games!
Then out of the corner of my eye I spot something on the floor, at my feet… a mask and a curly haired wig. Dark blond hair.
I hastily snatch it off the floor and examine it in my hand. It was him all along! He disguised himself as the Nine girl. He's been messing with me this whole time! I bet the real Nine girl went after Nadia and Seia, while he led me off here on this wild goose chase…
Nadia! I've got to keep Charon's final wish!
Tossing the mask aside, I'm about to charge out of the room to get back to them when…
I practically leap out of my skin!
No! It can't be! I'm suddenly staring directly at him! He never left! His pale face and lanky frame are directly to the left of the door which I came in! How did I not see him!
Without a second to lose I've already hurled my knife straight at his face, but it simply cracks against… glass, splitting his face.
A mirror! He's… He's behind me!
He must have been hiding in the wardrobe! A poisonous grin etches on the face of his reflection under the cracked glass! His pupils are shining!
My heart jumps in my chest and in a split second his reflection descends towards mine from behind! A black gloved hand clasps around my mouth, cutting off the panic escaping from my lungs!
All I can do is watch my eyes light up in terror and his reflection drags mine away into the pitch darkness! A blade glimmers up towards my throat from his other hand.
The last thing I feel is the cold steal running across my windpipe before everything fades to black…
Beckett Amory, 13, District 3
It's easy to get lost in this place, lost in thought, that is. Staring out the window of our manor by the lake, with the golden rays of the afternoon sun snuggling their way inside to keep us warm.
But Conrad is outside, just outside the doorway eating a snack of some kind, I believe.
I've forgotten what day it is. I think he has too. Ever since we mutually decided to live in the moment on that fateful morning on the hill, staring out at that rising sun…
I've never let go of that moment. How could I? That's what living in the moment is all about, it's not about days or hours, it's just about moments in time. Life is a collection of moments in time and we're trying to make each one full of happiness. That's what we've realised together.
We did get sponsored a climbing rope yesterday, so that's something. Clearly some people are looking out for us.
My fingers are already becoming too fidgety from all this sitting around… I need to move my body.
Leaping up from my chair, I scuttle over to the bowl of nuts on one of the side tables and stuff a handful into my mouth. Then I reach for my water bottle, attached to my belt.
It's light weight… very light weight. Empty in fact. Nevertheless, I tip the last drops onto my lips and peer down the barrel.
"Nope… definitely empty," I mutter to myself.
So, I push the door of our manor open and skip outside into the fresh lake air. Conrad is there, the golden sunshine is coloring up his messy, dirty, blond hair as the illuminated insects dance around it. He's squatting on the wooden porch, facing the lake, and munching on a sandwich, whilst occasionally brushing some of the insects out of his hair.
He told me he used to do that a lot… squatting I mean. Often, he didn't have anywhere to sit or lay down on the dirty streets of Six, so he told me he got used to just squatting around. Poor Conrad.
But a subtle giggle escapes my mouth, just at the fact that there's so many nice places to sit around here, yet he still squats out of habit.
Strolling up to where he's squatting, my hand gently pats on his shoulder.
"Conny!"
He is broken out of one of his daydreams, glancing up at me.
"Hey bee," he smiles.
"I'm just gonna go get some more water," I tell him.
He nods casually and continues munching on his sandwich.
"Don't stray too far," he calls as I skip off towards the lake.
There are some bushes that I have to push through in order to get to the water but after I've brushed them out the way, I set my stuff down by a tree and begin to gather some fresh lake water in one of our pots from the manor.
When the pot is heavy, with filled lake water, is when I hear sudden rustling in the bushes to my right! Light but frenzied footsteps in the grass heading straight for me!
Two girls burst out of the bushes, looking roughly my age, now covered in leaves. Their eyes are wide, glancing frantically back to the way they came from, and they are panting and sweating rapidly. I think I recognise them as two of the very outer district girls. The Eleven and Twelve girl... so they've allied.
"She's not following us," the Twelve girl pants, peering back through the bushes that they emerged from.
"I don't think she made it onto the train…" she continues.
I'm frozen solid. Caught completely off guard. In my blissful ignorance of the last few days I'd almost forgotten there were other people here. Other than me and Conrad. We were just enjoying life too much.
I'm shaking now, so the pot jolts out of my hand and bounces onto the grass with a thud, spilling the water everywhere!
Both girl's eyes shoot over to me from where they're standing by the water edge… they have also frozen, locking eyes with mine, still panting from exhaustion.
I have one way to defend myself… the little mallet in my pocket. I really don't want to use it on these two little kids though…
My hands come up instinctively in surrender.
"I don't want any trouble…" I blurt.
"Nadia… potion! Now!" The Eleven girl snaps, clenching her jaw.
Nadia seems more conflicted, her eyes are hesitant but still she reluctantly reaches into her pocket and produces a bright red colored bottle with the symbol of a flame on it. Maybe she got granted that in the same way Conrad was granted his sword. Either way, it will spell disaster for me, I'm sure of that!
"Nadia… don't! Please" I plead, shaking my head slowly.
Her arms are droopy, despite her ally nudging her on.
"Yeah don't," a deeper voice repeats from our right!
Conrad!
He leaps down from the mound above and hits the grass with a thud, bracing his knees.
"You unleash that fire potion or whatever it is, and we all go up in flames. I wouldn't like to see how it reacts with my magic sword," he states, raising his eyebrows.
The two girls exchange looks with each other momentarily.
"It's not a bluff," I tell them.
Conrad glances down at me after I said that. His cheeks are flushed red with slight… anger, I think. He's keeping the tips of his fingers on the hilt of his sword, ready to pull it out from his back. It's the first time I've seen him… flustered since he tussled with those careers. He gets like this whenever I'm in danger.
His eyes move back over to them.
"Now, this will be a lot less messy for all of us, if we just all chill out… you guys can even come back to our base and we can talk this over?" he offers.
Nadia finally starts to lower her potion allowing me to move forward, keeping my hands up.
Her eyes dart between us, like a nervous squirrel eyeing up potential dangers.
"Trust us Nadia… we'll even share some of our food with you," I smile.
Her eyes fall on me, and she continues watching me until finally her potion is back in her sachet. Conrad releases his sword hilt soon after and we all collectively breath a deep sigh of relief.
"Alright… let's do it," Nadia agrees.
"What?" The Eleven gasps, tugging her ally by her jacket.
"What's gotten into you lately? There's no reason why they won't kill us at the first chance they get!" she exclaims.
Nadia shoots her head back to her ally.
"We don't know that!" She snaps.
"Clearly you don't know people," her ally continues to argue.
"How could you? You've always just been stuck in your little world of alchemy or whatever it was you did back in Twelve."
Conrad steps closer to them.
"You should listen to your friend," he tells the Eleven girl.
She glares up at my tall ally, clenching her fists.
"Oh yeah?"
She steps around her ally to face Conrad, puffing her chest out. The sight of someone threatening my big bro almost makes my hand go for my mallet but luckily I remember - we're trying to diffuse the situation.
"How can I trust you? I don't even know your name?" She hisses.
"It's Conrad," he shrugs calmly in response.
"He' a…urm… racer," I blurt.
Everyone's eyes fall on me all of a sudden. I don't even know why I said that, it's no reason that they should trust him more…
But everyone's staring at me now, so I feel like I have to continue.
"On… on the second day I was trapped in this hole and… and he fought his way across the entire arena, through razor sharp trees and giant man-sized bugs to rescue me…" I stutter.
Nadia and her ally are silent now, just watching me with a newfound interest.
My emotions begin to pick up, as the memories of everything he's done for me cycle through my mind. Everything we've been through together…
"He was given the role of Guardian Angel to protect me… on the fourth day we were ambushed by these careers… so he dove in front of me, piggybacked me onto a moving train and we ended up here."
My voice begins to pick up suddenly.
"So…if there's one stranger you should trust your grandma's life with, then it's Conrad!"
By the time I've stopped talking I'm panting heavily. I look up to my ally who now has his eyes fixed on me in surprise, a slight smile of joy lining his face.
I've found myself facing him fully… realizing that it's him I'm truly talking to.
"And I never imagined in all my life… that after being reaped for the Hunger Games, that I would ever feel freedom again, but I have because… because it meant meeting the brother I never knew I needed," I smile.
"So thank you," I finish.
Tiny drops of water have begun welling up at the bottom of his blue eyes… tears? In turn, I swallow to prevent myself from shedding one.
His eyes fall down to the grass in a kind of cheerful sadness.
"You don't have to thank me," he mutters.
By the time I'm at the end of my speech, the afternoon has turned fully into evening, with the scarlet glowing light across the lake again. It's suddenly gone quiet, with just the sounds of cicadas and buzzing insects floating about our heads.
"So go ahead… throw your potion. It doesn't matter to me because I'll die with him which is what we agreed anyway. Ain't that right Conny?"
Conrad nods and turns back to the two girls.
In the darkening lake edge, they are now in stunned silence after my little speech.
"Yeah… he does that sometimes," Conrad shrugs with a smirk.
Nadia finally inhales to break their silence.
"Well… I'm convinced," she mutters.
Her ally remains silent but at last nods in agreement.
"As long as it gets you to shut up," she grumbles.
She shifts her attention to Conrad.
"Alright… since you told me your name. I might has well tell you mine… I'm Seia," she sighs.
"Good to meet you," Conrad smiles, shaking her hand.
And so, I offer my hand out to Nadia with a beaming smile.
"I'm Beckett… nice to meet ya!"
A chuckle escapes from her lips as she shakes my hand and Conrad quickly joins in the laughter whilst his eyes dart between us.
Serenity Jasper, 16, District 9
It's dark outside now and eerily tranquil… almost deathly quiet.
With only the aggressive rattling of the window to my right, swinging open and shut with a thud which shakes my heart with each slam.
Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.
There was a cannon earlier and now I'm waiting inside this dim, little shack we've taken cover in, for him to arrive back. It's lit only by faint candlelight which I'm constantly having to reignite.
I'm poised patiently for his imminent arrival. That is, unless the Five girl managed to get the upper hand… part of me deep down hopes that she has.
SLAM
The front door comes swinging open followed by a gust of wind and a shadow standing in the doorway, with the illuminations of the moonlight filtering down behind him against the trees. I jump up out of my chair promptly, my heart almost bouncing out of my chest, but I manage to maintain my cool with a deep breath. I must keep up my facade… it's working after all. My plan is paying off, he's destroying some of the most dangerous opponents in the arena and I'm still standing.
The Five girl will have been the 12th death, I've been keeping close tabs. That means half of them are dead. In other words, I'm halfway to victory and then I'll be back to my brother and as a victor, we'll never have to worry about having no running water, he'll be put in the best school, I'll make sure of that and we'll start our new life in the Victors Village. This will be my last game, then my days of gambling and getting in deep with the sharks will be over.
However, as I'm staring up through the hallway at the silhouette of Taliesin, there is a thought plaguing the back of my mind, like a growing virus that I can no longer ignore. All the while my plan is succeeding, I'm helping this… monster murder more and more people. How long can I let this go on? How many more innocent lives am I going to allow him to slaughter, just so I can go back and live my perfect life? Don't their lives matter too?
Taliesin's boots creak forward on the floorboards, until his ghostly face is revealed in the candlelight of the main room.
My throat takes in a tiny swallow to speak.
"Did you get her?" I ask.
He glimpses at me out of the corner of his eyes with a smile, before suddenly producing a knife in his hand and embedding it into the dining room table. My vision hones into the blade, drenched in blood, dripping on the wooden surface.
"Does that answer your question?" He smirks.
Now that he's closer, it's clear that his face is also half covered in blood. Not his own blood…
I'm expecting my skin to crawl at least or something but now I just feel so numb to the sight of gore…
With a deep breath, I fall back down onto my old wooden chair while he slumps down on his one, opposite me. His right foot comes up and rests casually on his left knee and at the same time he leans on his elbow on the dining table. Still grinning.
I'm struggling to hide my disgust at the person I'm sitting opposite to. He's actually enjoying this isn't he? Not just the game but the murder as well. It makes him feel powerful. With each passing day and each passing kill, I feel as though I'm looking less and less at a human being and more at a… devil. Like he's falling down into this spiral of darkness and I'm accompanying him and we're now past the point of no return… I'm starting to feel sick in my stomach…
My hand moves to grasp my gut, but his eyes are running along my entire body, scanning me constantly for weakness. I need to remain strong…
"What about your two?" He asks.
"They… had a lucky break on the train," I answer.
He shrugs and throws his hands behind his head.
"All in good time… we only need to follow them on the next train," he says.
I find myself nodding in agreement but they're just two little, innocent girls. I… I can't do this. In truth, I could have fought harder to pursue them, but I let them go…
But at the same time, they're an obstacle, an obstacle to me getting back to Harper and if Taliesin doesn't kill them, will I? No! None of that matters! This is wrong! That's all I know.
No. Keep up the façade.
"The wig plan - not a bad idea," I comment with a tilt of the head.
"Although I would have appreciated it if you'd told me about your disguiser role earli…"
The realization! It is coming to the forefront of my mind. The wigs, Jade… it was him all along! I went along with him thinking he'd be the best protection against the others… turns out he was the greatest danger the entire time… how could I be so stupid? That sly bastard. I've been helping a serial killer!
I push myself up from my chair, wide eyed, in shock.
He's still grinning up at me, interlocking his fingers together.
"Cat got your tongue?" He quips, raising an eyebrow.
"You Killed Henry…" I realise out loud.
"Of course I killed Henry," he cackles in response.
"Took you long enough to figure that out."
"You're actually enjoying this aren't you?" I breath.
The smile disappears from his face fleetingly. The yellow glowing candlelight still flickers of his cheeks.
"You think I'm sick, don't you?"
I can't even begin to answer that question. The breath building up in my lungs feels as though it's imploding in on itself. I have no words. Come on Serenity. Be strong. Be strong for your brother.
"And what makes you so different from me Serenity? Both our families hit hard times and now we're competing in a death game to save them. What's the difference between you and me huh? A moral code?" He scoffs.
His words are picking up in pace, he's becoming more flustered as I continue to judge him. Yes, keep this up. He needs to be agitated so he can't think. When he thinks, he's dangerous.
His jittering words give me confidence.
"Well at least I'm not enjoying murdering," I shoot back.
He throws his foot off his knee but rests his shoulders. Appearing more relaxed again.
"Well, I hate to break it to you but there's no such thing as morality. It's all subjective… and life is just a sick little pantomime. As soon as you except that, nothing can stop you from fulfilling your destiny…" He grins.
"Is a cat evil for tormenting a mouse?" He shrugs.
"You think this is the first time I've heard that kind of twisted logic?" I retort.
His grinning casts a cold shiver down my spine. His viperous eyes move between my own and my hand, which has been getting closer and closer to the gun on my belt, ever since we started this conversation.
"You want to use it on me, don't you? I can see it in your eyes," he says, curling his lips with glee.
"But your thinking - will I reach for it before he gets to his knife? Will it even go off in time? What if it doesn't kill him on the first shot? Will I have time to reload before he strikes back? What if it misses?"
"Oh, I won't miss… I can guarantee you that," I retort.
"Then why are you pacing your right leg?" He questions, glimpsing down at my leg momentarily.
My throat prevents a gasp from escaping my mouth… my tell. Time in this little wooden shack seems to have frozen entirely. He's doing it again… he's invading my thoughts. My life could depend on the words come out of my mouth in the next few moments.
"How about we settle this in the morning? I'm tired," I stutter.
"Very well."
My feet wobble and stumble backwards across the wooden floor until I've found myself in the bedroom, I'm staying in. I slam the door shut and luckily find a lock on it which, I promptly jolt across.
My chest is finally allowed to pant and puff up and down as I collapse down on my bed, burying my face in my cushion. His serpent voice is still in my head, spinning round and round as a whirlwind.. His maniacal laugh and grin that he's developed since the games begun, it's reverberating in my mind.
To think I gave up my other allies for him. Tatiana, Franz… Harrison and it's only now I've realised for infectious he is. I was enjoying winning so much, enjoying the game and so was he. So much that I lost sight of who I am, what I'm doing here! This is only a game to them, not us. To us it's a nightmare that we're living.
I've been helping a monster who volunteered to kill people. Innocent people…
No more. This ends tonight. He asked what the difference was between us. Well, I didn't chose this.
With a deep breath, I claw the pillow away from my face and look towards the door. My hands scamper down to my gun with my eyes. Three silver bullets to kill the evildoers of the town. That's why they chose me as vigilante. They want me to kill him. He's an evil doer. It's so clear to me now.
I'm killing him tonight… is his sleep. His game is over. I cannot allow it to go on anymore. Forget my strategy.
Several hours pass in the almost pitch back of my bedroom. I've waited here, hugging my pillow in the chilly night air, keeping my eyes and ears peeled.
The soft sound of his footsteps went into his room at least an hour ago but I have to be sure he's asleep, I know what he's like…
My wooden and rustic gun is clasped in my palms, rested on my lap. I examine the weapon for a brief second, thinking about what I'm about to do with it. Then… my eyes close with a deep internal breath. My mind must be as clear as day.
My mind knows when it is ready, when the time has come. When my right leg is no longer pacing and my left hand isn't drumming. That's when I'm ready.
And they've stopped…
My eyelids shoot open, my teeth grit against each other and my hands tighten around my gun. It's time to do the deed. My mind knows it. I owe it to everyone he's killed so far in these games. Their families will want justice for them and only I have the power to deliver it right now.
I push myself up off my bed and tentatively place one foot in front of the other, steadily making my way across the wooden floorboards, as to be absolutely sure not to creak it…
My hand goes up to the lock and slides it open slowly and then the door follows. It creaks slightly, subtly but it's enough to make my heart jump and for me to want to kick myself. Taliesin is someone I can't afford to make any mistakes with.
The corridor between the rooms is thin so I'm directly outside his door now, the door into the dark abyss of death. It almost feels like it's staring back at me menacingly, reaching into my soul. I know I have to go in there, even if it's the last place on Earth I want to be.
A deep breath. Then my hand moves over to the doorhandle, turning it silently. I pause, bracing myself before I place my left palm on the door to give it a light nudge. It creeps open, minutely, with a black void waiting on the other side, in which I'm about to disappear into.
But I place my right foot inside, keeping my left hand tight on my gun with my finger poised on the trigger.
At the very end of the room, next to the window, I spot his tangling hair sticking out of his covers. His head is laying on the pillow facing the other way… good. I won't have to look him in the eyes when I do it.
My breathing is picking up again… no… I need to do this quickly, get it over with. So, I creep forward with one big lunge. It's so silent in this room, not even his breaths can be heard.
Now that I'm directly above him, my hand brings the gun up so it's touching the back of his head. My eyes squint into the trigger… pull the trigger… pull the trigger… pull the trigger. Do it! Before he wakes up!
My hand is shaking now!
But his head is so… soft… like straw…
The realization strikes me… why it's so silent in here. Why I can't hear his breaths!
My right-hand tears the covers off the rest of his body to find the face of a scarecrow smiling up at me with its stitched mouth! The scarecrow! The one he decapitated a few days ago! He's been planning this for some time. Hasn't he?
My hand thumps against my heart with a gasp. Where is he? Where is he? Where is he? He could be behind me right now grinning! This is just another one of his games, his theatrics.
Taking one last look at the head of the scarecrow, I notice it's face has been smothered in blood!
My entire body shudders and all I can think to do is leap out of the window directly in front of me, into the misty night air!
I hit the ground outside with a thud but I'm back to my feet in a split second, stumbling through the blackened forest, rubbing my arms from the chilly air, and constantly checking behind me for his grinning face… it's still plastered in my mind… always.
I need to get as far away from here as possible but the mist all around me is preventing me from seeing clearly where I'm going! My eyes dart back to the cabin of hell one last time. Away from there, that's where I'm going, that's where my feet are taking me. Then I can regroup my thoughts… my thoughts of putting a bullet through his brain.
Hey everyone! Halloween special by Nautics. Hope you were at least a little spooked by this chapter, I've never really written horror before. No mutts or arena gimmicks needed either just Taliesin being Taliesin lol see you next time! Happy Halloween!
Roles
Serenity: Vigilante
Taliesin: Disguiser
Harrison: Vampire Hunter
Conrad: Guardian Angel
Nadia: Potion Master
Charon: Werewolf
Marissa: Ambusher
El: Pirate
Tatiana: Arsonist
Eulogies
Day 1
24th: Ricky James (D9M) Killed by Serenity Jasper - decapitated.
23rd: Tristan Card (D8M) Killed by Jade Hastings – Slashed through the chest.
22nd: Jonathan Priel (D10M) Killed by Taliesin Ulysses – Knife thrown through neck.
21st: Elijah Axenfros (D7M) Killed by Taliesin Ulysses – Blunt force trauma.
20th: Emily Lynch (D6F) Killed by Heather Monroe – Knife thrown into torso.
19th: Kalen Demner (D5M) Killed by Marissa Grey - Sliced with a sword.
18th: Aeliana Decima (D8F) Killed by vampire mutts – bitten in the neck.
Day 2
17th: Henry Haines (D1M) Killed by Taliesin Ulysses – Throat crushed and neck snapped.
Day 3
16th: Adelina Claire (D10F) Killed by Gargoyle mutts.
Day 4
0 deaths.
Day 5
0 deaths.
Day 6
15th: Jade Hastings (D1F) Killed by Charon Aytigin – Throat ripped out.
14th: Charon Aytigin (D12M) Killed by Serenity Jasper – Shot in the chest.
Day 7
13th: Heather Monroe (D5F) Killed by Taliesin Ulysses – Throat slit. I loved Heather. I really did. My favourite part was writing her witty banter with Charon and how even though they started off this story as violent and merciless, they slowly discovered together that there was more to them and so I gave them both a sacrifice arc. She managed to figure out that there was more to life than what her father had told her. Her sacrifice has insured Nadia and Seia can live another day. I think her arc ended similar to Charons and at a similar time, so we decided to kill her off here. So RIP Heather and thank you for the submission n3b!
Jade: 1
Taliesin: 4
Marissa: 1
Heather: 1
Serenity: 2
Charon: 1
Mutts/arena: 2
Half the cast is now gone. Anyone got any predictions on victors or who dies next ect?