Ryena Shore,16, District 4 female
I gently knock on Nyx's door and wait for an answer. I can't even begin to imagine what she's going through, her brother being brutally murdered before her eyes, not even being able to do anything to help him. I'm sure she tried, but now she has to live with the guilt of thinking she wasn't strong enough, I can't even a more helpless feeling than that. I checked on her yesterday and tried to spend a little time with her but she needed more time alone, told me to come back today, and here I am.
The door slowly creaks open and there's Nyx, her face and eyes are still puffy like she's been crying.
"Hi…" I greet her.
"Hey Ryena." She sniffs.
"Is, this an ok time?" I politely ask.
"Yes, yes please come in…" she wipes her hand over her eyes before letting me into her room. I take a seat on her mattress and she sits next to me as a moment of silence comes between us.
"How's you arm feeling?" I look over at her arm that's still in a brace. Fucking Hunter broke her arm, the fracture itself doesn't seem too severe, but I imagine she's still in a lot of pain, That guy is such a monster and I just hope he's dealt with soon, even if I can't really see anyone outside of my alliance having a chance, maybe that guy from 10, but that's besides the point.
"It's a little sore but it's fine, I can move it a little better now…" she looks over at her braced arm and I nod.
"That's good Nyx." I do a faint smile and she nods.
"Thanks…Ryena, I don't want you guys to feel like you need to babysit me, I'm going to recover ok? I'm going to be strong and…I'm going to pull my weight." She assures me.
"There's no pressure Nyx, You just get your rest ok, I'm going to stand by you, and so will Caspian." I state and this seems to move her quite a bit.
"Thank you Ryena, thank you so much…" more tears begin coming down her eyes but I gently rub her back.
"I…I heard arguing yesterday, is everything ok with Hyperion?" she worriedly asks and I sigh.
"I don't know...he's taking Blyana's death pretty hard, which is kind of surprising to me, thought they hated each other." I comment.
"Yeah me too…I guess they both had a moment to get to know the real them and then, she's gone…" she mumbles.
"Yeah I'm not sure what happened but he left early yesterday to search for Beauregard, and he hasn't returned yet." I inform her.
"I hope he's ok…" She sighs.
"Hmm" I grunt, I personally think we're better off without him, he's too much of a loose cannon.
"So Ryena…I know you said you didn't have anyone special waiting back at home, but is there at least someone you're...interested in?" she suddenly asks and I give her a blank look as I think of Caspian for a split second but quickly shake that thought away.
"I, don't know…never really thought about it." I sort of lie to her but she gives an accepting nod as she shifts on her bed briefly.
"There was so much I wanted to tell Nox…so much. He was my hero Ryena, he was my hero and I never even took a moment to tell him that." She slowly hangs her head down.
"He knew Nyx, he knew how you felt." I continue gently rubbing her back.
" Let people know how you feel Ryena, let them know how you feel about them, cause once their gone, you'll never have the chance to tell them, you'll have to live with that realization for the rest of your life, and that is one of the worst things you can possibly feel…" she looks into my eyes, they're just so full of despair and pain…
"Yes…I will Nyx, I promise you that." I promise her.
"Thank you…" her voice cracks as she leans her head on my shoulder, I embrace her gently and she does the same. Everything is so quiet, so peaceful, for a moment I forget where I even am until I see something from the corner of my eye drip from the ceiling onto the floor, which quickly gets my attention.
"What was that?" I question looking in the direction I saw the drop and that's when I notice the entire ceiling Is covered in sludge, whoa what the hell is this?
"I noticed some sludge on the ceiling, it wasn't this bad though, how could It have spread that quickly?" Nyx tries to explain, I notice another drop of sludge hits the floor though.
"Nyx…I think we need to get out of here." I practically whisper.
"Yeah…ok." She answers as we prepare to get up but the drops of sludge that hit the floor begin quickly morphing and takes the shape of a humanoid sludge monster like thing and another one morphs behind it.
"Shit!" I try punching it but it quickly smacks me across the face sending me sprawling across the bed and I'm more shocked than hurt, did that thing just slap me!?
"Ryena!" Nyx gives me a worried cry and quickly stabs the sludge monster in its skull before it turns into a puddle of sludge but I see several more drops coming from the ceiling, shit they're just going to keep spawning! I jump back to my feet and quickly kick one of the sludge monsters in the torso sending it slamming against the wall. I then grab a vase and duck under it's slap before smashing it against its skull turning it into a puddle of sludge but there's at least 4 more sludge monsters here now, one is blocking the door and Nyx stabs another one in the skull as several more drops begin falling from the ceiling and I see a sludge monster quickly charging at Nyx as another sludge monster grabs me but I snap its arm causing it to come completely off.
"Nyx behind you!" I quickly try to warn her as I leg sweep the monster to the floor and stomp on its skull but another sludge monster tackles me onto the bed and that's when I see Nyx being strangled by one of the sludge monsters, dammit!
I begin wrestling with this sludge monster trying to get it off of me but a mouth begins forming on its face and it has numerous sharp teeth as I gasp aloud.
It tries to clamp down on my face but I quickly move my head to the side and elbow the monster to the side of its skull knocking it off of me but another one pins me down as I growl in anger and I see from the corner of my eye that the entire room is infested with these things while Nyx is still being choked, trying her best to fight it off, dammit I need to hurry up and reach her!
I begin wrestling with this other sludge monster and that's when I hear the door burst open and see Caspian armed with two tridents, he seems a little shocked for a moment but quickly enters fight mode and pierces the monster that was choking Nyx through its skull finally releasing her so she can breathe. It then seems like he's teleporting across the entire room striking down all these sludge monsters, a sludge monster tackles me and I shove it against the wall where Caspian throws a trident straight though it's skull and I grab the trident piercing the other sludge monster through the skull. The entire room is cleared out at this point but there's still more drops coming from the ceiling
Caspian quickly grabs my hand along with his trident and begins motioning me out of the room, being sure to grab Nyx as well. Once we all exit the room, Capsian quickly slams the door trapping the never ending army of sludge monsters spawning in there.
"You two okay?" Caspian quickly asks us.
"Yeah, thanks Caspian." I take some deep breathes.
"Yeah, I'm fine, thank you." Nyx pants heavily.
"Catch your breath, we're safe for now, but we need to press on. Those things appeared in my room as well. I knew that stuff on the ceiling was going to be bad news at some point." Caspian states not even seeming an ounce out of breath.
"So now it's obvious we can't stay in one place for too long, those things will keep manifesting too so we won't be able to come back here." I realize.
"True, but that's fine. Don't really like the idea of staying still for too long anyways, now I think we should try and find Hyperion." Caspian suggests and I do a small sigh.
"What if he doesn't want to be found?" I counter, it's good riddance that he's away from this alliance, I really don't want him back here.
"Hmm, well if that's how he really feels, he'll tell us that himself, at this moment though he's our ally and can be in trouble." He calmly replies.
"Yeah…ok." I hesitantly agree with him.
"Will you be ok Nyx." Caspian looks at Nyx with some concern and she nods.
"Y-yeah, I'll be ok, still got one good hand." She answers and Caspian nods.
"Alright you two, let's start downstairs." Caspian looks over in the area where the staircase is, just hope we find that jerk with a sword in his neck.
Verbena Grazer,17, District 11 female
"Verbena? Verbena!?" I hear a familiar but faint voice but I'm not able to call back, I see nothing but oblivion.
"Verbena!?" I hear the faint voice again.
"Big sister!" I hear the voice again followed by a loud gunshot and my eyes shoot open as I pant heavily.
"Verbena! You're up! Thank god!" I hear Kade and I look over and notice we're both webbed up against a large cobweb on the wall, I look around for a moment and it looks like we're in a generator room of some sort but all of the generators are covered in webs and dust.
"There was a gunshot, you heard it right?" I suddenly ask but I see a confused look on Kade's face
"No, I didn't hear a gunshot, you were probably dreaming, but more important question though, is how the hell we're going to get out of here, I can't move at all! Every now and then I hear a screeching noise, I know that spider baby thing is not far from here." Kade tries to explain.
There's a large layer of web over my body but my hands are next to my pockets and I remember I had small knife in there, I just hope it's still there.
"OK…ok, just calm down. I'm going to get us out of here." I try to calm down Kade who's understandably panicked right now. I feel so groggy though, I wonder how long I was out? That's not important right now though, I need to hurry and get Kade out of here!
"Alright big sister, I trust you…" I hear Kade and I look at him for a moment as we gaze at each other for a moment. I think of Moxie, how she also trusted me, and how i… Kade starts to look like he wondered if he said anything wrong but I turn away from him. I have to use practically all of my strength to break my hand through this layer of web and I'm able to reach into my pocket where the knife still is, I quickly grab the knife and begin cutting the webs around me, they're much stronger than they look but my knife is still sharp enough to cut through them.
"You got a knife, good! Maybe we can survive this after all!" Kade does a nervous laugh.
"I'm going to get you out of here Kade, even if that's the last thing I do!" I vow to him.
"Hey, were gonna both get out of this, we're a team!" Kade chirps and I feel my lips start to quiver a little, would you still feel that way if you knew the real me Kade? I push this thought away and free my other arm from the web and I can hear a screech in the distance, it's that fucking spider, it doesn't sound like it's too far away either.
"Dammit, that thing is getting closer!" Kade panics as I start cutting the webs around my foot, I hear another screech as I free one of my legs and I fall forward with one of my legs still In the web but it breaks through the web and I slam hard onto the floor.
"Verbena!? You ok?" Zade worriedly asks.
"Yeah, I'm ok…" I groan in pain as I make my way back to my knee. I hear a screech again and only moments later do I see this large spider mutt giving me an angry glare and it screeches again before charging at me.
"Verbena, just run! Don't worry about me!" Kade cries out.
The spider mutt aims its spiked legs at me and tries to pierce me but I jump out of the way and it pierces through the wall instead as I make my way back up to my knees. The spider lets out an angry screech and pulls out a piece of the wall with it's legs and launches it at me but I duck behind a generator and it slams against the one next to me causing voltage to emit from it, these things still have electricity in them?
The spider lets out an angry cry and spits a web out its mouth but I roll out of the way and it begins chasing me but I outrun it and hug my back against another generator on the other side of the room. The spider wastes no time rushing at me and it extends it's large spiked leg preparing to pierce me, but i jump out of the way at the last second and it instead pierces the generator I was leaning on causing it to become electrocuted.
"Yeah Verbena! Fuck that thing up!" I can hear Kade cheering me on and the spider is crying out in pain, the electrocution isn't enough to kill it but it's still stunned for a moment. I use this opportunity to jump on a generator and it gives me enough momentum to launch myself at the spider and ram my knife into it's eye causing it to cry out in pain as a greenish substance is now emitting from its eye. I land on my knees and the spider quickly tries to behead me with its sharp leg but I roll out of the way and it cuts through a generator instead that once again electrocutes it and the generator begins setting on fire while the spider is still screeching in pain. The fire begins spreading to other generators and they also start setting on fire.
"Verbena!" I hear Kade worriedly cry out. Some of the fire begins spreading onto the spider and it starts getting set ablaze but that only seems to anger it as it rushes at me and tries stabbing me but I once again pivot out of the way where it stabs another generator and the electricity begins mixing in with the flames on the spider, amplifying the damage it's receiving, the whole room is practically in flames right now and both me and Kade are coughing as the Spider lets out a defeated cry and collapses on the floor. I try covering my mouth as I rush over to Kade with my knife beginning to cut the webs off of him, we don't have a lot of time, I'm already feeling lightheaded. Once I get these webs off of him, he falls forward but I manage to catch him and safely place him on the floor.
"C'mon we need to get out of here!" I cough, grabbing his wrist and navigating us out of this flame ridden room. We're both coughing profusely and once we near the exit I collapse on my knees as the smoke is starting to overwhelm my lungs but Kade helps me forward.
"C'mon were almost there." Kade pulls me forward and guides me out of the steel door and makes sure to slam it behind us trapping the flames inside and we both sit down against the wall to catch our breath.
"Verebena, you ok?" Kade worriedly asks.
"Been better, but I'll survive." I pant and I see him smile.
"Verbena that was freaking awesome, you took that thing down all by yourself, that's epic!" Kade cheers and I take in several deep breaths.
"Yeah…you ok though Kade?" I ask and he quickly nods.
"Yeah, and it's all thanks to you, you saved my ass Verbena, I owe you so much, seriously how am I ever going to make this up to you?" he frowns.
"You already are Kade…" I mumble and this seems to confuse him for a bit.
"Huh? How?" he asks in a puzzled tone.
"Just by being here Kade…" I admit but that only seems to surprise him more.
"I've only been slowing you down, and exposing you to danger Verbena…" he says in much more darker tone but I rest my hand on his shoulder and he looks at it.
"I just appreciate you Kade, you're a good person." I state and he hesitates for a moment but slowly nods.
"You're a good person too Verbena!" Kade counters and the memory plays back in my head of when I came face to face with my brother, having to decide if it was going to be him or them. He knew it was me, he saw right through my disguise and that's the only reason why he kept his gun lowered. He was very harsh, but he taught me everything I know now, to not let anyone cross me and to take no crap from anyone. He still had enough humanity in him to not be able to bring himself to kill me, even when he realized I was the enemy...
I saw the look of betrayal in his face as he realized I was on the wrong side of the war, but he accepted it, he knew no matter how hard he dug, that he wasn't going to be able to gun me down, so he stood there, accepted defeat and let himself be gunned down by me. Cronoso, you really are a better person than me…
"I wish I was able to agree with you Kade…" I mumble.
"Verbena…" he gently calls to me but I make my way back to my feet.
"We should keep moving…don't want any more uninvited guests sneaking up on us…" I try to change the subject.
"Yeah…ok. Let's move…" he makes his way back up to his feet and we start making our way up some rusty stairs.
I know there's a lot you want to know Kade, and you may get just that, but sometimes, things really are better left unsaid…
Annabeth Gordon,12, District 12 female
"This ship Is so creepy…" I mumble as me and Elsie keep our arms crossed together with Harlan taking the lead and scouting ahead of us.
"Well yeah…they obviously went with a horror theme this year, I miss that arcade though." Elsie complains.
"It was a nice little place but-" Harlan begins.
"Yeah yeah, we gotta stay on the move." She sighs.
"So where do you guys think we are right now?" I look around the ship, we went up several flights of stairs to create distance from Paisley who seems to be roaming the lower floors with her new 'friend'.
Harlan then look up at the signs near the doors we pass by, but most of them are illegible and the doors are jammed shut when we try to open them.
"I don't really know, what's that sign over there though?" Elsie points to a sign at the far end of the hall.
"A Library, let's go check it out, could be some supplies in there" Harlan suggests and I guess we both agree with him as we make our way over there but a sudden creak behind us causes us all to jump and spin around, but we see nothing.
"What was that?" Elsie questions.
"Probably just the floor, let's go…" Harlan mumbles but even he doesn't sound very convinced. We enter the library afterwards and it looks pretty much the way a library is supposed to look, there's no electricity in here so everything is all dark but there's shelves and shelves of dusty books with tables in between the room, but I notice a dusty book sitting on the table and it kinda does pique my interest.
"Well guess we can look around for a bit, might be a book or two here giving us a hint or two about the arena…" Harlan begins examining the books and Elsie does the same at a different shelf.
"I'll be at the table…" I inform them.
"Sounds cool, I'll be over there in a sec." Elsie responds but I see Harlan looking up at the ceiling and that's when I notice it's covered in that same substance that was at the arcade, just what is that?
"Let's make our visit here quick, I'm not liking the way the ceiling is looking." Harlan states still looking up at the ceiling.
"It's that same stuff, just what the hell is that anyways?" Elsie also looks up at the ceiling.
"Might be best if we don't find out…" Harlan answers her and she only shrugs her shoulders. I take a seat at the table and pick up the 'book' but it looks more like a diary and a simple looking key falls out of it, what is this?
I open up the book and from the handwriting I can see it's definitely a diary. The date on top of the diary is illegible but it seems like this thing is very old and the actual quality of the diary is pretty poor but I can still make out the somewhat neat handwriting, it reads.
"I keep hearing about people talking about some weird book on here that makes your desires come true when you write In it, I honestly think it's bullshit but having nothing better to do I'll begin trying to uncover information myself."
This leads me to the next page.
"According to one of the ship captains here, A very evil and powerful sage was defeated and sealed away into the book millenniums ago. To try and escape from the book, the sage is willing to grant the desires of anyone who uncovers it true. It seems that even a powerful sage has its limitations on just what it can grant but the actual limitations are currently unknown."
I flip to the next page.
"From what I heard from a drunken passenger at the bar downstairs, only a few select people has ever gotten possession of this book and that great misfortune befell them all, it is currently unknown just what 'misfortune' these individuals encountered."
I then flip to the next page.
"After having a conversation with another one of the ship captains here, the 'misfortune' apparently has something to do with the seal gradually weakening upon granting consecutive desires. The seal eventually does regenerate overtime and the sage isn't strong enough to completely overpower the seal, however when the seal is weakened to a certain degree the sage will apparently have a 'greater influence' over whoever is 'unfortunate' enough to uncover the book, even going as far as calling them 'hosts'. I'm not sure what any of this means, but I still want to get my hands on this book none the less, as long as I don't abuse the power, I should be fine right?"
I flip to the second to last page after this.
"I retrieved a key from a kind woman at a bar after making her laugh. She informed me that the book is apparently locked away somewhere on this ship and that this key is what'll open it, she refused to tell me where she received the key from, but she almost seems relieved to finally not have it in her possession anymore."
This leads me to the last page.
"I haven't had a decent sleep ever since I retrieved this key, Maybe I've just been overthinking about this book but still, I can't help but notice that it seems like I'm being followed, like someone is constantly watching me, sometimes I'll see something from the corner of my eye, but I turn around and nothing is there. I even sometimes hear voices telling me to 'stop'. I think I just need a good night's sleep but still, it just seems like something very bad is about to happen. If this is the last page you see in this diary, deem this a warning to not pursue this 'book' I think it's cursed…
This ends the diary and I look over at the key but Elsie suddenly slides into the seat next to me and I jump in fright for a moment.
"Oh sorry! Didn't mean to scare you!" she immediately apologizes.
"Oh no it's ok…" I explain to her.
"So what're you reading?" Elsie looks over at the diary.
"Something stupid, about how boats are made." I lie, I don't want her reading this.
"Wow that does sound pretty boring, what about that key?" she points to it.
"It was apparently a key to open this library door, it's pretty useless since the lock is broken though." I once again lie.
"Wow what a waste of time." Elsie grumbles.
"Alright girls, there doesn't appear to be anything of use here, I say we get out of here." Harlan looks up at the ceiling again, but I can't help but think of that book, is it really somewhere on this ship? Can a tribute already be in possession of it? None the less it seems like it can easily turn the tide in someone's favor, but there also seems to be consequences which aren't quite clear yet.
"Let's go Annabeth, this place sucks!" Elsie grabs my hand and Harlan is already leading us out of the room as I take one last glance at the diary.
We continue navigating around the floor and I notice I keep looking behind me, something just feels off, it's like there's another presence here besides us, no its probably just in my head.
"Urrrgh can we find somewhere to rest, my feet are hurting!" Elsie whines.
"Wanna hop on my back? I'll give you a piggyback ride!" He jokes.
"Only if you carry Annabeth too!" she jokes back but I only give them a blank look, not really knowing how to respond.
"Well hop on then ladies, just be ready to carry me on your backs too later." He snickers,
"Yeah I think I'll pass on that." Elsie smirks but there's another creak behind us making me jump and it was a lot louder this time, there's no denying it, someone or something is here.
"What was that?" Elsie whispers.
"I don't know…let's keep moving." Even Harlan seems a little uncomfortable now but we continue following him.
"Just walk normally, don't panic…" he warns us through gritted teeth and we both hesitantly nod, I see how terrified Elsie looks now and I'm pretty sure I have a similar expression on my face.
We continue walking "normally" but I can still feel this presence behind us, I know the others can sense it too because they keep turning around. We start unintentionally picking up our speed and that's when some creepy female chuckling makes us all stop in our tracks and Harlan spins around seeming more agitated than creeped out.
"What do you want!?" Harlan suddenly shouts but we receive nothing but silence in response.
After not recieveing an answer, that's when Harlan looks back over at us and looks like he's about to say something.
"I just want to see your panties…" we hear a creepy female's voice behind us and my heart rate increases as it looks like we're all about to run but a knife suddenly comes flying through the darkness and lands in Harlan's knee causing him to cry out in pain and fall to the floor.
"Harlan!" Elsie panics and kneels down next to him but I'm too frozen in fear to move and I can hear footsteps coming closer to us.
"Now Spectra, is that anyway to welcome our guests, now you have them all terrified!" I hear a female scolding uh someone and within moments that creepy girl from three emerges from the darkness with a scyhte in her hand but who was she talking to?
"Girls, run! Get out of here!" Harlan instructs us but Elsie instead grabs his sword and holds it in a defensive stance as the creepy girl continues inching her way closer to her.
"Oh please forgive us! Spectra just got a little too over excited that we finally stumbled upon some potential guests! You see we're having a tea party and just wanted one you to attend it with us, even if you know, we had to use some force!" she grins.
"Stay back! Don't come any closer!" Elsie warns her but this girl, I think her name is Emmerane doesn't seem fazed at all, she seems completely unhinged!
"Oh c'mon cutie, is this how you greet your friends? We don't mean you any harm, Now Spectra, which one should we take with us?" she eyes all us with her deranged eyes.
"Go! Both of you two get out of here! Go!" Harlan instructs us again.
"No, I'm not leaving you! You can go though Annabeth, I promise I'll catch up with you!" Elsie look over at me, but I'm so speechless right now, I don't know what to say.
"Oh what did you say Spectra, you want to take Harlan? He's pretty heavy though, why not one of the tiny girls?" she eyes me and Elsie causing me to tremble but Elsie is still standing with the sword as Emmerane comes even closer, I'm assuming Spectra is her imaginary friend cause there's no one else here, my gosh what did we get ourselves into?
"L-last chance!" Elsie stammers.
"I see, so that's why! Well it's good to have a man's input every now and then, tell you girls what though, if he likes the tea, he'll return to you safe and sound, if he doesn't however, well then let's just say Spectra is going to be very upset!" she grins and Elsie suddenly rushes at Emmerane with her sword but Emmerane easily disarms Elsie's sword with one flick of her scythe . "Elsie!" Harlan tries crawling towards Elsie but Elsie tries to punch Emmerane and Emmerane catches Elise's punch with her free hand and yanks it causing Elsie to spin around. She then kicks Elsie in the back causing her to charge head first into the wall which knocks her out cold causing me to gasp.
"No! Elsie!" Harlan manages to pull the knife out of his knee and crawls towards Emmerane trying to stab her but she kicks the knife out of his hand and brings her knee down to the back of his skull knocking him out cold as well and at this point I cower into the corner, she took down my allies without even trying, what kind of monster is this girl?!
"It's ok cutie, you're not nearly as rude as your two buddies here are, so you don't have to worry about me hurting you, however it's very possible you won't see Harlan again, let's just say Spectra's tea has a very 'acquired' taste so if you wanna like you know kiss him on the cheek or say goodbye or something, nows the time!" she giggles.
"P-please don't hurt him, please!" I plead.
"Hmm I'll try and talk to Spectra but she hasn't been In a good lately, now if you'll excuse me!" she holsters her scythe and begins dragging Harlan away down the dark hall and I look at Elsie who's still knocked out. All I can really do is sit next to her and wait for her to regain consciousness, we're nowhere near strong enough to take on Emmerane, But Harlan is ally, our friend, we have to try!
Cortez Baker,18, District 10 male
I finish my can of soda pop and I take a moment to rest my back against the wall as I think of yesterday. I'm glad Genevieve is doing ok, I'm even more glad that both her and Acer found it in them to forgive me, They're both such amazing people and I just hope he can keep her safe long enough for her to make full recovery.
They asked me to join them and honestly I thought about it, I know they can use the extra help for now but, I've put them through so much already, so much and theres nothing I can do to fully make it up to them. Every second I spent with them, I saw how much they were struggling, and realizing I was mostly to blame for it, it'll probably just be for the better if I leave them be, I'll be happy to help them again if they need it, but i don't want another horrible thing to happen to them because of me.
I've just been trying to keep a low profile as I've been resting at the bottom of this staircase for a little while. Someone was nice enough to sponsor me a club sandwich with a soda so I'm at least well fed now and feel like my strength is still intact, but I figure it's now time to relocate, just about anywhere else on this ship will be safer than this staircase which most tributes are probably using to traverse around this ship, there seems to be two staircases though, This is staircase A.
After slinging my bag over my shoulder and grabbing my war hammer, I start making my way upstairs and arrive on the next floor, there's a sign next to it reading the "pub bay" there's several locations listed on the sign such as a gentlemen's club, a smoking lounge and a bar.
I'll likely just head to the bar and try to keep my head down for a while. There's an arrow on the sign pointing me where I can reach the bar and I start heading towards that location. It doesn't take me long to reach the bar and I peer inside but it seems unoccupied. There's several small tables spread out evenly around the area and a counter on the far end of the bar where there's a plethora of drinks that's neatly shelved behind it, some do seem to be missing but that's probably just the 'design' of this ship. I sit my bag and war hammer down on one of the tables and begin slowly walking around the bar, looking at the various photos they have posted on the wall of the previous passengers here all looking happy and very drunk. I continue slowly walking around looking at the pictures but I step on something hard and it quickly gets my attention. I look down on the floor to see what it is and it's a large bone, there's no mistake about it, this is from a steak… but that means-
"Well, well, look who decided to pay me a visit!" I hear some chuckling behind me and quickly spin around to see its Hunter who's flexing his arms and let's out a small yawn as if he was napping.
"Its you…" I practically whisper.
"Well who else is it going to be cowboy? Anyways it's fancy you showed up, I already caved in two skulls and I was just thinking about who would be my third, so I must thank you for volunteering, we have some unfinished business as well, so it's even more fitting." He chuckles as he grabs a bottle of booze off the shelf and pops it open before pouring it in a small shot glass.
"Look, I don't want any trouble." I try to reason with him, If it's a fight he wants, he'll get it, but if I also have a chance to walk away from this without getting blood on my hands, then so be it.
"What is this? I thought you'd be more excited to see me! But you wanna beg for your life like a little bitch now that you're all alone? he taunts me before taking a shot of his glass but pulls out another glass and begins filling it with more booze.
"I ain't got no reason to beg another man for my life, I know what ya' capable of Hunter but also let it be known that i ain't worried one bit." I glare him and Hunter bursts out laughing.
"Haha, alright tough guy, well spoken, Well you're obviously going to get your shit wrecked but before I make your whore of a wife a widow and your future whore of a daughter fatherless, would you like to drink to them?" He offers as I grit my teeth. It's inevitable that we're going to bump heads, there's no way out of this, not without getting my hands soaked in blood, I'm going to put him down though, and to Kayla and my baby girl, I won't let you two down…
"Hmmph." I grunt as I walk towards the counter and he slides a shot glass to me filled with alcohol, I'll play along and strike when I see an opening.
"Toast to your two whores!" he raises his glass and I prepare to raise my glass aswell but quickly throw my drink into his eyes instead and he grunts in pain as he quickly tries to wipe his eyes but I grab the large bottle of booze and shatter it over his head causing him to grunt in pain and stumble back against the wall stunned, I need to capitalize on this momentum! I jump over the counter as he tries to regain his senses but I shoulder tackle him into the wall causing the back of his head to slam hard against it causing him to grunt in pain again as various drinks are knocked onto the floor. I can see blood starting to come down his face from the shards of glass that pierced through his skin, using all of my power I begin punching him on the side of his head and he grunts in pain each time and his knees buckle after the 5th punch but he still somehow remains standing!
I try punching him again but he catches my fist and quickly head butts me on my nose causing me to stumble back and fall over the counter but I quickly start making my way back up to my feet as Hunter dashes around the counter and I try punching him but he weaves it and lands a hard hook on the side of head that stuns me and sends me sprawling back against the wall. He lets out an angry roar and dashes towards me but I manage to stagger out of the way as he punches a literal hole through the wall, I try tackling him and manage to drive him against the wall but he continues elbowing me in the back of my head as I try sweeping his legs and dragging him onto the floor but it's me that falls to my knees from the accumulation of elbows to the back of my head, I try making my way back up to my feet but Hunter wraps a powerful grip around my waist and I can feel my feet being lifted off floor which shocks me for a moment.
I try to fend him off by punching him twice in the head but I feel myself get slammed through a table and I yell out in pain, Hunter then quickly smashes his fist down onto my nose and I hear a loud crack as I grunt in pain and I can immediately feel blood streaming down my nose like a fountain but I kick Hunter hard in his body knocking him off of me and we both quickly make our way back to our feet as he rushes at me, I grab a chair and strike him with it but he blocks his face as the chair literally shatters on him but it doesn't slow him down one bit, he uppercuts me on my jaw afterwards causing me to bite a piece of my tounge off and I feel a sharp pain quickly spreading through my jaw like it's dislocated or even broken but I have to fight through this!
I jab Hunter in the nose and follow it up with two hard hooks but he only stumbles slightly and grunts in anger before throwing a wide hook at me but I catch his arm under my arm and he quickly headbutts me again before digging his other fist into my body as he begins repeatedly punching it driving me back against the wall and I can feel the soda I drank earlier beginning to come back up, it feels like every organ in my torso is bruised and Hunter slams me against the wall before burying his two fists in my body again causing me to groan in pain and fall to my knees from the accumulation of damage I'm taking, dammit. I, I have to keep fighting! I split blood mixed with soda and vomit out of my mouth as I struggle to get back up but a powerful blow to my head puts me back on the floor as I fall hard on my torso, breathing heavilly.
"Get up! Get the fuck up!" Hunter stomps hard on my head as I yell out in pain, Everything is so disorienting as I can hear buzzing in my ears and my equilibrium is off as I try getting up but fall forward instead.
"Oh, need a hand!?" Hunter growls and pulls me up with both of his hands but I punch him hard in his jaw as a bunch of spit and blood flies out of his mouth and he seems stunned for a moment and this gives me an opportunity to land another powerful hook into his jaw and he grunts in pain as his knees buckle, how is he still standing! The few times I've ever had a fight I've never had to hit my opponent more than twice, I've lost count of how many times I hit him and he hasn't even gotten knocked down yet!
I then let out an angry yell as I can feel blood running down my mouth and prepare to punch his jaw again but he lands a huge straight right into my nose which drops me to my back, and I begin coughing as I think some of blood in my nose was knocked into my throat.
"C'mon big guy, that's all you got! That's all you got for your two whores!?" Hunter taunts me as he pants heavilly and I can see blood is coming from his nose, mouth the from the shards of glass that's still in his face, I see my war hammer from the corner of my eye and try crawling to it but I feel a chair break over my back as well as a crack and I yell out in pain.
"Yeah go ahead, keep screaming like a little bitch!" he breaks another chair over my back causing me to yell out in pain again.
"Haha! Bet you're screaming louder than that whore was when she was pushing out your little whore!" he kicks me hard in my eye and I feel a pop as the vision in my eye suddenly vanishes and I can feel a substance coming out of my eye, most likely blood.
At this point I'm practically crying as I continue yelling out in pain.
"Get up! I ain't done with you yet!" Hunter hisses at me and for the first time, I feel fear, I don't fear any man, living or dead, but this Hunter, he isn't a man, he's the devil himself!
My body is trembling in both pain and fear as I slowly start making my way back up to my feet but Hunter kicks me hard in the throat causing me to drop back to the floor and start making choking and coughing noises, I try screaming out in pain but only more of these inhumane choking and coughing noises come out of my mouth, I can feel blood entering my windpipe as every breath I take it feels like I'm choking more, I'm- I'm dying…Kayla.
"So that's it? Such a shame…" I hear Hunter as well as his footsteps but I can't see him, I try to stand , I try to move but my body, it just can't follow my will…
"Looks like this is how its gonna end for you and I was just starting to have fun too!" I hear Hunter again and I look up to see he's now standing over me holding my war hammer.
I think of Kayla again and my body starts involuntarily moving as I cough blood out of my mouth, I promised you Kayla, that I wouldn't let you down…I promised you! I manage to make it back to my knees but Hunter quickly rams the handle of the hammer into my head knocking me down again.
"Heh, I'm surprised you still had that much left in you, but I'm getting bored now, so I'm ready to finish this, I'll give you a moment to think of those two sluts back at home, how you'll never be able to come back home to see what filthy animals they'll turn out to be, heh heh!" Hunter snickers and all I can do is helplessly lay on my side as tears run down my eyes, this is it…this is how it ends, I wont be able to see Kayla again, I won't be able to see my baby girl talk her first words, take her first steps and grow up to be a beautiful woman like her mother, and it's all because I wasn't strong enough…
I look up at Hunter again and try to beg him to leave me here but only blood spurts from my mouth instead.
"Heh, you had your moment to reflect huh, well then let the show commence!" he brings the hammer down towards my skull and my last thoughts is how much of a failure I am, how I failed to keep my promise, I'm so sorry Kayla…
16th place-D10M Cortez Baker, Beaten to death by Hunter Skype:
Cortez you being a colossal giant yourself, a showdown with Hunter was pretty much invetitable. You're pretty much a manifestation of what Hunter could've been had he made better decisions in his life and had he not been struck with so much misfortune in his early life. You had alot going for you Cortez, you were fairly comfortable financially, had your own business, a healthy family, a fiancee with a beautiful baby girl and you just seemed set for greatness!
I always found you to be a very fun character to write, You were always so vibrant,friendly and caring but you were also very strong and wouldn't hesitate to protect your loved one's if it came down to it. Unfortunately you weren't able to overcome the trauma of unintentionally hurting your friends Cortez but I feel you redeemed yourself in the end and this in a way completed your arc. R.I.P. Cortez and I'm so sorry you won't be able to meet your baby girl but Kayla will none the less be an amazing mom and will always let her baby girl know what an amazing man you were as well!
Here is day 3 guys and things are starting to pick up now! I won't make this too long cause I don't really know what else to put haha but thanks so much for your reviews guys and I hope you all continue to enjoy the story, till next time with day 4!