Hyperion Corvinus,18, District 2 male
Rain continues drenching me as I stand in the middle of my district. The rain pours endlessly and it seems like I'm the only one standing out here, but it's hard to see through all this rain. I look down at my hands and see they're coated in blood, but whose? After raising my head up from my hands, I can see a figure in the distance standing still, I can't make out who it is, but I start walking towards them. The rain begins falling even harder as I walk towards this figure and even through all of this I can start making out who it is.
"Blyana…" I edge my way closer to her but it seems like she only gets further as the rain becomes more heavy.
"Blyana!" I repeat as I pick up my pace trying to catch up to her but her silhouette becomes smaller as she it feels like the closer I get to Herr, the further she goes until she disappears and I'm alone in the rain.
"I couldn't save you…I'm sorry." I mumble as I look up at the rain fall that's drenching me.
"But I'm going to make this right…" I add before my eyes shoot open and I'm staring up ceiling but I notice a black sludge like substance forming in the corner of the ceiling, I don't recall seeing this last night, but that's not important right now. I sit up and loosen up my neck a little as I reflect on what happened yesterday. That slippery bastard Harlan managed to make it out with those two little girls and I'll eventually shift my focus back to them but right now Beauregard is my target and I'm going to make sure she pays. We…we really were just alike, she understood my pain, I understood hers and yeah we bumped heads a lot prior to that but just when I was getting to know the real her, that's when she was taken away...
I quickly grab my sword and start to exit my room but that's when I nearly slam into both Caspian and Ryena.
"Whoa, we were just about to knock on your door too!" Caspian does a smirk, always trying to lighten the mood…
"For what?" I impatiently ask.
"To see how you were doing." Ryena chimes in.
"I'm fine, or I will be atleast." I state.
"I see, well we wanted to discuss some other things with you, about the alliance but it looks like you're headed out…" Caspian looks down at my sword.
"Yes I am, so if you'll excuse me." I begin brushing by them but they both clear a way for me.
"Well…I won't stop you, but I think we should all stick together for now." Caspian suggests but I give him an annoyed look.
"Yeah sure, when I come back let's all sit around a fire and sing kum ba yah together." I sarcastically say.
"No need to be a jack ass." Ryena glares me and I glare her back.
"Excuse me?" I begin walking towards her but Caspian quickly stands infront of her.
"Hey, knock it off. We've all been through a lot, if you want to walk and blow off some steam then by all means do that but let's try and keep things healthy here." Caspian states.
"Healthy…yeah sure, don't be surprised when I bring a head back with me." I warn them and they both seem a bit uncomfortable by that but Caspian slowly nods and Ryena walks off towards Nyx's room.
"You're doing this for her right? For Blyana, I didn't realize you two were close…" Caspian comments.
"Neither did I." I grunt and begin walking away.
"Do you think this what she'd want though, For you to avenge her?" He continues and I stop in my tracks to reflect on what he said. There is still so much about her I don't know but…she was a strong and prideful woman, she wouldn't want this, but...
"She's dead, what she wants doesn't matter anymore." I glare Caspian and he does a small defeated sigh before I storm off.
I'm now in the dark narrow corridors, anger being my only guide as to where to go, but I clutch my sword tightly, ready to strike down any and everything that gets in my way. I pass by an elevator but it seems to be down just like it was yesterday, we used the staircase to navigate the arena and that's what I'll do this time. It doesn't take me long to get there and I wonder whether I should go up or down, she couldn't have gotten far and I know she must still be pretty banged up from her encounter with Blyana, so I begin heading downstairs and the dim lights flicker for a moment where I can see a figure standing at the bottom of the staircase from the railing I'm standing next to, I can see it's face…but it looks familiar.
"Hey!" I get the figures attention as I begin rushing down the stairs but the lights flicker again and the figure is gone. I clutch my sword tightly as I begin looking around me for any signs of what I just saw, but there's nothing. I make my way downstairs where the figure was and that's when I notice a drop of blood on the floor followed by a bloody handprint on the door knob. I keep my sword close to me as I slowly open the door and peer outside of it and down the hall I see the same figure slowly turning the corner and I start following after it.
"Blyana…" I mumble to myself, that figure, it looks just like her…
I slowly walk down the hall and I see the rooms I'm passing by contain workout equipment and there's even a snack bar but it looks completely empty at first glance. I'm assuming this is the fitness and conditioning part of the ship.
"Hyperion…" I can hear my name in a low echo and I stop in my tracks for a moment as I look around me.
"Blyana…" I call back to the voice but I get no response. This capitol, are they fucking with me right now!? I grunt to myself and continue my way down the hall where I saw the figure at. When I turn the corner, I see a trail of blood leading to a closed door and follow the bloodtrail before stopping infront of the door and try turning the knob but it's locked, a dead giveaway that someone is in here.
I only have to do a half assed kick for the door to go flying open and the bloodtrail ends here as I examine the room, well more like a locker room. This literally is a locker room. There's multiple sets of lockers with benches near them and there's even some showers here. I see a bag of half eaten crisps on one of the benches along with an empty bottle of water and it becomes even more clear someone is in here, and I am going to find them, especially if it's Beauregard!
I start opening the lockers one by one checking to see where this person is hiding but so far each locker is empty, I start growing frustrated and slam the next locker's door when I see there's nothing in here.
"You can hide all you want, but I will find you!" I usher a stern warning before checking the next locker that's once again empty. I make my way to the next locker and begin to open it but it suddenly flies open and smacks me in the face causing me to grunt and stumble to the other side of room and that's when I see Beauregard leap out of the locker and rush at me with a hammer and tries to smash it against my face but I quickly stagger out of the way and she makes a huge dent in the locker I was just resting against. I quickly try stabbing her with my sword but she kicks me hard in my gut causing me to grunt in pain and drop my sword. She once again tries to cave in my face with her hammer as l'm leaning against the lockers stunned but I quickly grab her arm and overpower her slamming her against the locker as she hisses in pain. I try wrestling the hammer from her grasp but she knees me in the body and I grunt and punch her across the face causing her to drop to the floor but she jumps right back up to her feet as I rush at her but she swings her hammer at me again and I grab her arm again but she punches me square in the nose which stuns me for a moment and she quickly brings her hammer towards my face which I manage to move my head away from but it still grazes my ear, she tries again to hit me with the hammer but I finally manage to disarm the hammer from her grasp and she punches me on the side of my head as I grunt and manage to grab her neck with both of my hands as I can immediately hear her struggling to breath. She punches me in the eye to try and get me off her but this only anger me more as I squeeze her neck harder and begin repeatedly slamming her against the locker as she starts making gagging noises struggling to suck in oxygen and I let out an angry growl as I glare her and begin lifting her off of her feet as her gagging intensifies.
"You killed her, you killed her!!" I growl out loud as she struggles to break free from my grasp, but she's too weak!
She rakes her nails across my face and I can see already feel fresh blood beginning to seep out of the scratches and I begin squeezing her neck harder but she suddenly jams her nail into my eye and I let out a pained growl releasing my grasp on her. She falls to the floor coughing and tries crawling towards her hammer and the pain in my eye is so severe that I can't even open it but I quickly rush at Beauregard and kick the hammer away from her but she quickly kicks me in my crotch and I let out an angry roar of pain before kicking her as hard as I can in her waist and she lets out a pained cry, but she manages to tangle her foot with mines and before I know It I'm crashing onto the floor with her. I struggle back up to my knees and she lunges at me trying to punch me but I grab her arm and slam her onto the floor and I can hear a crack as she lets out a pained grunt. I punch her across the face twice and see blood is now running down her mouth and I begin strangling her and start slamming the back of her head onto the floor and I hear another crack but pay it no mind.
"Die, just fucking die!!" I curse at her aloud as I squeeze her neck and she gags more as she tries to hopelessly free herself from my grasp and it looks like she's finally at her limits as her arms begin flailing less and less and her eyes begin rolling into the back of her skull but I hear another crack and before I know it, the entire floor under us completely caves in. it feels almost instantaneous that sudden darkness surrounds me as i slam hard on my torso and I can hear Beauregard groaning aswell as some inhumane crying noises I can hear in the distance. Where the hell am I?
I groan in pain as I make my way to my knees and start taking in my surroundings, I can see a hole that's atleast 20 feet above us where we feel through, there no way we can get back up from this way but it seems like we're in a catacombs of some sort, the walls seems to be made out of bones and I can even see some skulls in between them. I see multiple tunnel ways that's shrouded in darkness and that's also where I can hear the inhumane chatter getting closer and closer, this isn't good. I pull a dagger out of my hostler but before I can position myself, I hear a shriek followed by rapid footsteps and I see what looks like a deformed human covered in fur, with rags wrapped around its lower and upper torso. It's back is hunched and it's wielding a club as it continues making animalistic like barking sounds.
"What the hell…" I mumble to myself and quickly weave the creatures strike and try stabbing it with my dagger but it shields its face with its club and shoves me back with it causing me to stumble against the wall of bones , I can see Beauregard and another one of these creatures as she smashes her hammer into its skull, causing it to go limp but I see another one of those creatures rushing at her.
I quickly stagger out of the way of this creature's vicious club strike and it smashes the wall of bones causing some of them to crumble.
It tries striking me with it's club again but I quickly wrap my arm around its neck and ram my dagger into its eye causing it to holler in pain dropping its club and falls to its knees. I quickly pick up it's club and cave it's skull in causing it to go limp with an orange like substance beginning to ooze from its skull.
I hear more groaning behind me and I spin around to see another creature rushing at me but I feint an attack to its skull causing it to raise up its club to shield its face, good that's what I wanted. I quickly sweep its legs with my club causing it to fall onto its back and quickly bring it down on it's face.
I hear another angry roar and I see another one of those creatures rushing at me but it's a little bigger than the others. It starts to swing it's club at me and I do the same causing me to stumble back after our weapons clash into each other. It tries striking me again and I raise up my club to block the blow but it's still strong enough to knock me down. It starts to lift it's club but I quickly kick it out of its grasp causing it to let out an angry roar before bringing its large claws down towards my face, I try to cover it with my arm but I can feel it's sharp claws tearing through my skin causing me to grunt in pain. I kick this creature hard In it's torso and it drops down to its knees but it roars again as it's rancid breath fills my nostrils stunning me for a moment and it tries biting me in the neck but I grab it's head struggling to push it back but it's quickly beginning to overpower me as it's sharp teeth get closer and closer to my neck. Right when I'm about to become completely overwhelmed however I see a dagger suddenly pierce through it's throat and it suddenly freezes in its tracks and goes limp. I have to use all of my strength to kick this dead beast off of me but I look up to Beauregard standing over it, did she…
I give her a conflicted look as I look up at her and I can see she has a similar look as well, why did she save me!?
"Look, we don't need to be friends but we're both going to die down here if we don't work together and look for a way out. We can go our separate ways after or we can go back to fighting, balls in your court though." She explains.
Why should I trust her, why would I? She killed Blyana!
"She's dead, she's dead cause of you!" I hiss at her.
"She didn't give me much of a choice, if I didn't go after her first, she would've certainly came after me, anyways I really don't need to explain myself to you, if you want to form a temporary truce, fine but if you want to try to kill me right now, then you can do that too." She says with some aggravation and I gaze at her for a moment. I still have no idea what this place is, yeah it looks like catacombs of some sort, but what is an area like this doing on a ship? There's almost certainly more of those beasts or even other creatures down here and I don't really like my chances with only one good arm so it does make sense for us to form a truce until we get out of here. I think back to what Caspian said earlier, asking me if this is what she'll want, for me to avenge her but I shake that thought away from me, I know what ultimately needs to be done, this is only a fork in the road.
"Fine…I'm in." I mumble and she nods as I make my way back up to my feet, but I feel a throbbing pain in my arm.
"You should get that arm wrapped, it's going to get infected…" she states and I look down to see three large gashes with blood running down my arm. this looks a lot worse than I expected.
"Its fine, now let's go." I grunt as u pick up one of the beast's club and start pressing forward into the unknown depths, never would I have expected this…
Kade Jackson,14, District 11 male
"How's your arm Kade?" Verbena looks over at me as we make our way down a long staircase.
"Its uh…it'll manage." I state and she does a small sigh. I had a pretty large gash on my arm from that skeleton slicing me, Verbena tried her best to patch it up, but without any real supplies, there wasn't really much she can do other than wrapping a cloth around it, it hurt like hell but I didn't want to seem like a whiny little wimp, I already owed her so much already…
"We need to find something to treat that arm, gosh a map would be amazing." She states, yes it would then We wouldn't be wandering around here wanderlessly.
We camped out in a laundromat for a while but this morning we woke up with a bunch of black sludge forming on the ceiling and decided to leave the area. Not sure exactly what that was, but it's starting to seem very clear they don't want any of us staying in one place for long. We've been on the move ever since and haven't seen other tributes or anything else since, this must be a pretty large ship.
After we come downstairs, it appears we're in the main hall. Looking at the dusty signs above the doors, it looks like there's a dining hall here, along with a bar and a theater.
"Well, let's check out the dining hall, if we're lucky there might still be some food there." She suggests.
"You sure about that? What if there's tributes…or something else?" I protest and she has a slight smirk on her face, is this a game to her?
"What was it you called me earlier?" she continues smirking.
"Ugghh, bad ass big sister?" I ask, but she already knew the answer to that!
"Badass sister will keep you safe!" She smiles before pressing on.
"Hey w-wait up!" I stammer. Right now I'm completely defenseless, a sore arm and no weapons to defend myself with. Verbena on the other hand has her mace along with her badass fighting skills, if only I had even a fraction of her strength, it feels like I'm being babysat…
We slowly enter the dining hall and it kind of reminds me of the cafeteria back at the capitol, a much more upscaled one though, a lot darker too… One thing I immediately notice are the massive cobwebs that are covering practically every corner of the hall, there's no way in hell a regular spider made this web.
There's numerous tables neatly lined up and evenly spaced out from one another, there's forks and spoons neatly placed on the table along with empty containers of salt and pepper but I make sure to grab a fork, at least I can use it as a weapon if it comes to that.
"Hmm, maybe there's something in the pantry." She points to a door in the back of the hall that I assume leads to the pantry.
"Are you sure that's a good idea, look at all these webs, what if there's a giant spider in there?" I protest.
"Big sister will protect you." She reminds me before walking towards the door!
"My heart beating out of my chest might be what does me in…" I comment.
"Talk about something off topic, it'll calm you down." She suggests and I shrug.
"Well fine. You have any siblings? like any actual siblings?" I ask, I expect a quick response from her but I get an odd silence instead.
"…No." she eventually answers, what was that long pause for?
"Hmm, well I always wondered what being the only child would be like, I have two brothers but one uhmm, passed away." I reveal and she looks at me and looks like she wants to say something.
"I'm sorry…" she states
"Its ok…not like it was your fault." I mumble, I don't think I'm comfortable enough to go into more detail, so I'll leave it as is.
"You're a good person Kade, not everyone has that luxury…" she mumbles before turning the knob of the door and I continue looking at Her, Verbena...what is it you're not telling me?
Once the door opens the pantry is completely covered in cobwebs making it impossible to step inside, what the hell? Right when I'm about to tell her to lets get the hell out of here, that's when I feel a wet sticky fluid fall on my shoulder causing me to jump.
"What the-" I look up but I can't help but gasp aloud when I see a massive spider creature with a humanoid face, it looks like a babies face and it lets out a loud screech that sounds like a baby as well.
"What in the hell!" I hear Verbena curse aloud but the spider suddenly spits another substance from its mouth and it bonds itself across my entire body, is this a spider web? I can't move at all from this powerful web and I fall to the floor hopelessly struggling to break free.
Verbena throws her mace directly into the spider's face and it lets out a pained screech but quickly spits the same substance on her that was spat on me and she suffers the same fate as me, falling to the floor.
"Shit! We shouldn't have came here!" she stammers.
"You don't say!? What now?" I panic as the spider mutt lands on the floor infront of us and begins making its way towards us, there's now also a notable bruise on it's face from where Verbena threw her mace at.
"Hey stop! I can get you a cherry muffins!" I try to reason with the spider but it only glares me for a moment before opening its mouth again and breaths some kind of dust into my face, I don't know what the hell it is, but almost instaneously I feel myself losing consciousness…
Cortez Baker,18, District 10 male
"Hrrrgh!" I yell aloud as my war hammer lands into the skull of a giant saber toothed rat that's about the size of a dog. I pull my hammer out of its skull and almost gag when I see the thick red blood slowly dripping off my hammer but I rest against the wall as I take several deep breathes. I assume I'm in some kind of shopping section. I found a gift shop and and initially considered it empty but after searching around I managed to find some food that was stored away and it still looked fresh. I'm assuming a tribute must've hid it away to come back for it later. I was ambushed by these two large rats shortly after and I fended them off, but I should get out of here before more shows up.
Yesterday…was a horrific day. 8 tributes are now dead, one by my hands and It can very possibly be two soon. Genevieve must've saw me in trouble yesterday because she tried to come to my aid, I didn't see her though and she ran right into my sword as I tried to attack one of those skeletons. Christmas attacked me afterwards in a blind rage and…I had no choice but to defend myself. I got no sleep at all last night because of this, I have so much blood on my hands now and Kayla…is she looking at this screen realizing how much of a monster I am? I clean off my hammer as best as I could and I decide to leave some of the food behind incase the tribute comes back for it. I do take two sandwiches with crisps and soda so I can keep my strength up and quickly leave the area before anyone or anything else shows up.
Right as I exit the shopping district however I see a figure sprint away and run around the corner I can't catch a glimpse on who it was since its so dark but I hear something clatter on the floor where they ran.
"Hey!" I call after them beginning to walk towards their location but that's probably just going to scare them even further. Once I reach the corner they turned, that's when I see a pair of glasses on the floor and pick them up. Make no mistake about it, these are Acer's glasses.
"Acer?" I call after him but I don't hear a response.
"Acer…it's ok, I ain't gonna hurt ya'" I assure him as I slowly walk towards the direction he ran in.
I see some double doors with a sign "Kidz Lounge" above it and that's the only place he could've fled to that quickly. I push through the double doors and this place looks like what a lounge is supposed to look like I guess, sofas and comfort chairs are neatly separated from each other with tables in between them, I see empty cans of soda on some of the tables along with a large television screen in the center of the room, and posters of mascots and posters of teens who I assume must've been popular popstars or something back in the day.
"Acer…it's OK. Ya' can come out." I further assure him and that's when I see his head slowly peer from behind one of the sofas and I can see even through the dim lights in here that he's struggling to see without his glasses.
"Cortez…" he mumbles.
"Acer, I believe these belong to ya'…" I walk towards him but slowly to not frighten him and extend my hand to give him his glasses which he takes and quickly puts them over his eyes but there's a small silence between us.
"Acer, I don't even know where to begin, I'm…so sorry, I truly am." I apologize to him but I can see the look of confliction on his face.
"I'm-I'm not upset with you Cortez…I know you didn't mean to hurt Genevieve and…I know you were only defending yourself against Christmas…" he explains.
"How is she,Genevieve?" I quickly ask.
"Shes…" he begins but pauses.
"Please…please tell me she's still alive!" I practically beg him.
"She's…not doing well. I used up all the supplies I had so I came out to see what I can find, I'm not having much luck though." He admits.
"I might be able to help her, take me to her…please." I quickly tell him, I have to make this right, I have to!
Acer seems hesitant though.
"Acer, ya' can trust me…really." I try to assure him.
"Y-you can help her?" he hesitantly asks.
"Yeah, I have food and some medical supplies, I don't know how to use any of it really but ya' can make better use of it than me." I explain to him and he quickly nods.
"That's great, let's hurry back to her, follow me!" he quickly shouts and immediately runs off.
"Whoa wait up!" I chase after him, just hold on Genevieve, we'll be there!
Genevieve Altruzara,16, District 8 female
"Hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm." I hear ominous chuckling but it, sounds so far away, everything sounds so far away. It feels like I've just been swimming in darkness, the wave of darkness drowning out everything around me…is this what death is? I think of my little brother, how much I have to fight for him, how I need to stay alive so I can see him again, but the power of death, its so strong, you can only fight it for so long before it defeats you, and in the end…death will always win.
"Your strength is truly Inspiring, no normal person under these circumstances should still be alive, What is it that's keeping you alive, I'm intrigued to know." I hear that same creepy voice and slowly open my eyes, I can still barley see but there's a shroud of darkness hovering over me, it's that figure again…
"Mandel…" I weakly answer.
"Hmm, that person is clearly very important to you, the smell of death grew stronger on you and I expected to arrive here to see you took your last breath but here you are, still fighting for this 'Mandel'. Willpower can only bring you so far though, death will always find a way to take you." The voice cackles.
"Just…leave me alone…please." I plead with this figure.
"Actually, you remember when I said only the dead interest me? I have a special surprise for you. Since you refuse to embrace death, I'll just have to make you embrace it. I have a special surprise for you Genevieve!" the voice cackles and that's when I notice my door beginning to creak open and I see large figure standing in the doorway, holding a large hammer I can also see their eyes are beaming red, no is that?
"Christmas?" I weakly mumble and the large figure begins slowly walking towards me dragging its large hammer across the floor. Christmas, there's no denying that's Christmas, but what is he doing here?
"Do you know why the dead interests me Genevieve? It is because I control death! Anyone who departs from the living, comes under my control. Now Genevieve let this be a true test to see just how much you want to live!" the voice cackles as Christmas edges closer and closer to me.
"Christmas no…no, it's me…it's me." I weakly cry out but he continues walking towards me, ignoring my cries and is now standing over me but I'm powerless, I can't do anything.
"Christmas…" I cry out one final time as he raises his hammer.
"What the!? Genevieve!" I hear a familiar voice but Christmas brings his hammer down towards me and it's quickly blocked by another hammer.
I slowly look up to see Cortez standing over me as him and Christmas engage in a test of strength as their weapons push against each other.
"Christmas…no ya' not Christmas, the Christmas I know would've never tried to hurt Genevieve…you're nothing but a puppet!" Cortez says through gritted teeth as he wins the battle of strength causing "Christmas" to stumble back a little but Christmss immediately swings his hammer at Cortez and Cortez swings his causing their weapons to clash against each other and both of them stumble back slightly. Christmas wildly swings at Cortez again and Cortez quickly weaves It and slams his hammer in Christmas' skull causing him to collapse onto the floor. I see a horrified expression on Cortez's face as there's now a large dent in Christmas' skull, but he's still able to extend his hand to reach towards his hammer and Cortez stands frozen, almost like he's reliving a nightmare all over again.
"Cortez…" I can hear Acer but Cortez only stands still frozen as Chris wraps his hand around his hammer but it's at this moment where Acer snatches Cortez's hammer from his grasp and without a moments hesitation, brings it down on Christmas' head and his body goes limp for a moment before he begins disintegrating into a black dust.
"Genevieve, a-are you ok?" Acer rushes over to me.
"That thing I told you about yesterday Acer, he's real…he can bring back the dead, that's how Chris came back," I weakly explain to him.
"Shhh, that's not important right now Genevieve, he didn't hurt you right?" Acer worriedly asks and I shake my head which seems to relieve him.
"Genevieve…" I hear Cortez and slowly look over at him to see a guilty look on his face.
"Cortez…" I mumble.
"Genevieve I'm, I'm just so sorry. It's all my fault this happened…" he laments.
"Cortez…I'm not upset with you." I reveal to him and it seems to surprise him a little but he takes off his backpack and begins rummaging through it.
"I, I managed to get ahold of some food and meds, it should help you out, I don't really know what they do though" Cortez pulls out some bottles of medication but Acer begins analyzing all of then and quickly grabs one of them.
"This is perfect! Here Genevieve drink this, it'll help fight off the infection." He holds a bottle of some liquid towards my lips and I start taking small sips of it, it tastes good too, like bubble gum.
"It tastes good…" I do a faint chuckle and thst makes Acer smirk a little.
"Alright Genevieve, I'm now going to apply this anabolic cream to your wound, it might sting a little," he warns me and I do a hesitant nod before he starts applying the cream and it does sting a little bit but I feel a warm sensation on my wound afterwards like the cream is already taking effect.
"The stitches are holding up well too, You just need some rest now." He wipes more sweat off my forehead with a cloth.
"Hey…I also have these, I found these stashed away but they still look fresh." Cortez sits down some food, they look like some sort of sandwiches. I'm way too weak to eat right now but maybe later.
"Thanks Cortez…" I weakly thank him.
"You've been a huge help Cortez, thanks so much!" Acer sincerely thanks him.
"Yeah, just glad I could do something right for once…" he hangs his head down.
"You have the right be upset Cortez but please, don't put yourself down cause of it, everything, it just happened so quickly, you did your best…" I try to cheer him up a little but he still seems full of guilt.
"I'm just glad you guys are ok, I'll be going now…" he stands up.
"But wait Cortez, we can stick together, be an alliance." Acer suggests but Cortez shakes his head.
"I'm sorry but I can't, not after everything I put you guys through…good bye." He responds in a guilt filled tone and just like that, he's gone.
"Cortez…I feel so sorry for him." Acer mumbles.
"He, he just needs time alone, we'll likely see him again." I assure him.
"Yeah, maybe…" he sighs and rests his back against the wall as he sits next to me.
"Acer, thank you, thank you for all you've done, you didn't have to do any of this…" I weakly thank him.
" Well…You're my ally Genevieve, I'll always have your back." He does a faint smile.
"I'm going to get better Acer, and I'm going to return the favor." I promise him but he shakes his head.
"Please Genevieve, I don't want you to feel like you owe me anything, the truth is Genevieve…I consider you more than an ally, I consider you a friend." He admits and I'm taken back a bit and I can't help but smile but I feel my eyes starting to swell instead.
"Acer…" I utter as I try reaching my hand towards him and he gently grabs it.
"I feel a lot stronger now and its all thanks to you Genevieve, and I know if the roles were reversed, you'd also have my back." He states.
"I will…and I do." Tears start coming down my eyes, Acer, he really is special...
"You will be ok Genevieve, I promise you that, now try and get some rest and maybe you'll have some strength to eat something later, and don't worry I'll be right here with you, ok?" he vows to me.
"Yes Acer…" I look up at him and for the first time in a while, I feel like I can actually close my eyes and drift off without any worries.
Harlan Ryeson,17, District 8 male
"Hey you cheated, now I'm going to cheat too!" I hear Elsie playfully whine.
"No, I've just been practicing a lot…" I hear Annabeth try to explain herself.
"Yeah sure, just you wait, I'm going to use my best character now!" I hear Elsie and my eyes slowly open where I'm looking up at the ceiling, but I notice a black substance is starting to form in the corners however, that wasn't there before…
Once I let out a yawn, that's when the girls seem to notice me.
"Oh Harlan, you're awake!" I hear Elsie and for once she seems happy to see me.
"Yup, how long was I out?" I start to stretch my arms but I quickly remember I got a stab wound in my arm when I feel a sharp pain run through it.
"Like all day pretty much, I think we got some electricity now cause all of the games are now working!" Elsie quickly answers and that's when I notice all of the arcade games are indeed now functioning. We took shelter in this arcade yesterday and all of the machines were off but now there's dim flashing lights all over the place with all of the game machines showing demo footage of their gameplay. It looks like the two girls are playing some kind of fighting game, just hope the noise doesn't attract anyone or thing though, seems like they're able to control the volume though.
"Well I take it you two have been fine?" I slowly stand up to my feet and geez I feel so sore!
"Yeah pretty much, Annabeth got some cool sponsors earlier too so we ate and made sure to save you some too!" she points to a brown bag near me with a canteen of water.
"Wow…well thank you Annabeth." I thank her.
"No thank you Harlan, we wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you…" Annabeth shyly thanks me.
"Well as long as I'm breathing, I won't let anything happen to you two." I vow to them and I hear Elsie snicker.
"A little cliché but still…thanks Harlan, you really did save our asses." Elsie thanks me.
"It was the least I can do girls, glad you two are safe…" I look up at the ceiling and see more sludge forming in the corners.
"You noticed it too, right?" I hear Annabeth ask, her voice almost sounding like a whisper.
"Yeah, I have. If I was to make a wild guest, this must be some mechanism to make sure we're not at one place for too long, don't want to wait around long enough to see what'll happen when that substance continues to materialize.
"Yeah I noticed it too but I don't think it's anything serious, probably just mold." Elsie suggests.
"I'm not sure, just to be safe we should head out tomorrow, and make sure we get a good sleep tonight." I state.
"Hmm, well you're the boss I guess, kinda do like it here though…" Elsie sighs.
"yeah…this is an entertainment show for them though, not a luxury trip for us." I remind her.
"Right…" she agrees with me and that's when I hear heavy thudding footsteps in the distance outside of the arcade. Our double entrance doors has a pipe wedged in between the handles to prevent anyone outside from coming in but with how heavy those footsteps sound, they or it probably won't have much trouble getting through…
"What the hell was that?" Elsie seems to panic and I motion for her to be quiet as the large thudding footsteps get closer and closer and now it sounds like it's walking past the arcade. Curiosity does start getting the better of me though. I wonder who or what that can possibly be, I don't even think the biggest tributes here can create such heavy thuds with every step they take so once I hear the thuds weakening a little signaling they're getting further away, that when I start quietly unwedging the door.
"Harlan what the hell are you doing!?" Elsie 'whispers' to me.
"Just going to take a small peek." I whisper back to her and slowly open the door before peering out of it, what I see is rather shocking though. I see the girl from district 6, I think her name is Paisley? But yeah she's being followed by some silver plated knight in wielding a large golden sword and it's loyally following her looking like it's ready to cut down anything she gives the signal to, how the hell? Where did she get a knight? Let alone one that seems to able to do her bidding!? I notice the girl suddenly stop walking though, almost like she can somehow sense my presence and I quickly dip my head back into the room before she notice me. I know from the interviews that she's deaf but her other senses are probably heightened as a result, we need to be very careful not to get this girl's attention, I don't see any logical way anyone in this arena is taking down a fucking knight with a giant fucking sword.
I wedge the pipe in between the door again and both the girls are obviously curious what all that noise was.
"What you saw?" Elsie wastes no time asking.
"That girl from six, Paisley, she has some giant knight following her around, no idea how that happened…" I inform them.
"A knight? That is like so random!" Elsie blurts out but I motion for her to lower her voice.
"A knight? That's worrying…how is anyone supposed to be able to defeat a knight?" Annabeth worriedly asks.
"No idea, but let's just keep our heads down. Shes deaf obviously, but she's likely still able to sense when a presence is near her." I Inform them.
"Shit that's going to be tricky taking her on, hopefully the careers can take out that knight" she says seeming a little tense but understandably so.
"We can only hope…" I take a deep breath and look back up at the ceiling at the black substance forming, Yeah you fucking capitol, you guys will be getting the entertainment you crave soon enough, and there's nothing any of us can do about it…
Here we go with day two of the arena! no deaths to report today but the capitol is craving some bloodshed, and they just may be getting some soon! I finally have a few days to myself so that'll hopefully give me more time to pump out chapters a little quicker but I know how patient and understanding you guys are and I'd like to thank you all for that. As you guys can see, there's some interesting subplots forming and even I'm intrigued to see where they'll go! Anyways, I'm super happy for the reviews and excited for the things I got in store for you all! I'll try to get the next chapter out quickly, cause I got some interesting things planned, so as always till next time!