TW: Very brief mention of s**cide in Darrah's POV
Franz Kubo, 18, District 2
I wipe the blood off my blade as Marissa searches the girl for supplies. She doesn't find much, a little bit of food, her weapon, and a map.
"What is that?" I ask, taking a peek over Marissa's shoulder she shakes her head.
"It's a map of the arena." I notice instantly. The corner is stained with a bit of blood, but otherwise, it's pretty legible. Useful too.
"Maybe it was whatever role she had-" Marissa is interrupted by the sizzling of…something. We glance around for the source of the noise.
"Ow!" She drops the map, and that's when we realize the sizzling was coming from the burning of the paper. We watch as the flame slowly engulfs the map, and within seconds, it leaves nothing but a few scraps of charred paper.
"So much for that." She kicks the paper away and does one last search through the girl's body before we both continue down the path of her ally.
"We should find Tatiana." I scratch the back of my neck. My body is worn, and without a clear view to the outside, I can't tell how much time has passed. Since it's likely most of the other tributes have found their way out, we're likely just wasting time here. Yet Marissa continues onward.
"She's a big girl. She'll make it out." Marissa turns a corner, seemingly moving without a direction, without a plan. I pull out my monocle, yet no secret doors reveal themselves to me.
"Marissa-"
"What?" She turns around, her blonde hair whipping me in the face. I freeze, like an animal caught in a trap. "Listen, Franz, I gotta say, whatever is going on with Tatiana, you're completely complaisant in it, whether you realize it or not. You cannot be as involved in her deceits as you are. If you are, well, I'm not being dragged into it." She whips back around and only takes a single step before stopping again.
"Marissa, I-" I don't know what to do, or what to say. I'm trying to combine words in my head, trying to figure out what I even want to say, but as conversation is a skill I've never quite grasped, I know it certainly won't come to me now.
"Shut up." She snaps back. I oblige, more thoughts cluttering my mind, disheveling whatever coherent sentence I was going to form.
But I oblige and stay quiet. I assume she heard another tribute, maybe the ally of the girl we killed, maybe Tatiana, who knows, who cares. Whatever keeps her from exploding at me for the second, or third time today. I can't keep track of the time with the days blending together.
Silence prevails for long enough for me to just garner up the desire to say something, when I hear it. A loud screech. A crash. A vibration of the floor.
Marissa and I both cover our ears, her face of distress mirroring what I assume my own looks like.
The screech ends, but the vibration only gets worse. We take a few steps back, trying to discern where it's coming from. Or more important, what it's coming from.
"Get back!" Marissa's screams correspond with the cracking of the ground, and we both just barely manage to get away in time. We jump back on the stone, a sharp pain shooting through my spine. as the floor explodes upwards, the screech returns.
My eardrums are pierced as I try to use my uninjured arm to crawl backwards. Marissa is on her feet, sword out.
As the rubble explosion subsided, and the creature reveals itself, my heart stops, and my blood freezes. The creature hovers about six feet into the air. It's wingspan is so massive it makes contact with the wall with every flap. It's body is round, and made of some sort of hard concrete like material. It almost resembles an eagle with its oval body shape and sharp feet. But last I checked, eagles have two eyes. No, not this creature. It has one large eye placed directly in the center of its body.
It screeches again, and folds its wings back to dive down. Directly where I'm laying.
Ignoring the pain, I roll backwards and push myself up onto my feet. The creature swipes at the ground, then pushes itself up to fly over our heads. It brushes past my face with its foot, creating a superficial cut.
"We need to go!" I rush forward, Marissa not far behind. The creature turns around, preparing to dive at us again.
"Go down!" Without a hint of hesitation, Marissa jumps down the hole the creature created. I glance down, trying to determine how far down it goes, how safe it is. I can just make out Marissa's blonde head on the floor directly below ours when another screech grasps my attention.
With only seconds to react, and the creature diving towards me, I have no choice but to continue running down the hall, separating myself from my ally.
I turn the corner and sprint, ignoring the sound of crashing and screaming behind me. I look for open doors, stairs, anything to put more distance between myself and this monster.
Just as I see a dead end upcoming and despair begins to take over, I notice a glimmer of hope. The last door in this hallway isn't shut.
With one last push, I sprint into the room, slamming into the wood with my pain free side. I shut the door behind me, pushing a worn wooden desk in front of it. I step back just as a SLAM makes everything shake, releasing the multiple layers of dirt that have coated this room.
The room is small, the size of what I assume would be sized for an infant. Besides the desk-turned-door lock and a small nightstand lying on its side, it's empty of any furniture.
BAM
The creature tries and tries to break down the door, but I don't watch. I scour the room for an escape route. Another door, a hole in the ceiling, or floor, anything to stay on the move.
BAM
"Goddamnit Franz…" I should have followed Marissa down. I should have reacted faster. Why didn't I react faster?
BAM
Get it together. I walk across the room to the open turned over nightstand. As soon as I reach it, I feel an uncomfortably cold breeze graze my skin. I look over to the wall and I find the source of it almost instantly. An open window.
BAM
A way out! I rush to the window, which is only cracked open a little bit, and pull it all the way open. Glancing down, I can see I'm only about two stories high, facing the front of the building. There's a small ledge directly below the window, and a tilted roof that leads out from that. Snow has completely covered the ground outside, and there's a thin layer coating the entirety of the roof.
BAM
The door splits, and I can see the eye of the mutt peering through the cracks. It's now or never.
I climb out the window, and carefully place my feet on the ledge. It's much thinner than I thought it would be, and I hold my breath to keep my balance.
One step at a time. I make it to the roof and step off the balcony. As I carefully traverse the roof, with every bit of my attention focused on not falling, I hear the creature's screams behind me. It must've broken through.
I can't turn around and look. So, I keep moving forward, down and down, as the creature circles over me.
"Franz!" I hear a familiar voice and look past the fence. It's Tatiana. She pushes through the gate as I move towards her.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see the creature circling directly above me. I see it start to do its preparation to dive.
I duck down, losing my grip on my stance immediately, and slide down the roof.
"Franz!" Tati's voice springs me into action. I grab on to the edge of the roof, just barely hanging on, as the creature swoops by. I look at the ground below. It can't be more than a five, ten-foot drop.
With no other choice, I let go.
Seia Loam, 14, District 11
I wake up with a jolt, grasping at my heart.
I'm alive. These words calm the racing of my heart as I try to piece together the last twenty four hours. I found shelter in some sort of storage room, nestled behind a bunch of large, stacked boxes. I didn't intend to fall asleep here, but, well, at least I'm alive.
Barely alive. The shock from yesterday's chase has completely unsettled me. Not knowing if Conrad is still here, or dead, or what, hasn't helped. I wanted to wait here, in this small space, with the intent to find him after I was not being chased anymore. Clearly, that didn't happen.
Since I have no idea what time it is, it might be better for me to just start heading back to our base and hope Conrad does the same. I doubt the cannon that fired belonged to him, I would be surprised if it belonged to anyone other than one of the two girls I ran into.
Doomed, more like. Stop it, Seia. You cannot control what happens to others, nor the actions of others. There's no winning either way. This I know, but saying it to myself doesn't make it feel any better.
I gather my things, and allow myself a few moments to wake my muscles up. Feeling as ready as I'll ever be, I step out of my room and back into the hallway.
Not much has changed, other than it feels quieter than it was last time I was out here. I can do quiet.
I walk down the hallway, looking for a way down and out. I expect to find stairs, or another door, or something to lead me back to the entrance. But all I find is a dead end.
Frustrated, I backtrack the way I came, and eventually find a set of stairs that only go up. Why do they have stairs that only go up? That doesn't make any sense.
With no other choice, I ascend the stairs to the next level. The hallway mimics the one below it, but there seem to be less rooms attached to this floor. Since I don't want to continue going up, I start to walk down the hall. I pass by empty walls, shocked that this level doesn't seem to have any rooms on it.
As soon as I reach the corner, I come to a stop. There's a single open doorway revealing a large bedroom. But it's not the room that causes me to panic. It's the person inside.
He turns just as I start to run, so I don't catch a glimpse of his face, but I know for a fact that it's not Conrad. I run back to the stairs, knowing going down is a death sentence, I immediately head up.
As I reach the next level, I come to realize going up isn't much better. The floor is cracked in some places, completely missing in others, and somewhere in between around the rest.
I hear the footsteps of the boy becoming louder and louder as he gets closer and closer. I turn around and face him. And it doesn't take me long to place him.
"Harrison." I call out his name, shocking him.
"Seia." He says, frozen in place. His hands turn a few shades lighter than he is as he grips his weapon extremely tight.
"Look…I'm just trying to get out." I slowly raise my palms up, inching backwards to put more space between me and him.
"I am too." He closes the space between us, hands still gripped on his weapon. "I'm sorry Seia…"
"Wait, wait!" I yell, grasping at literally anything to keep him back.
"There can only be one winner…" He mumbles to himself. But it sounds less like he's trying to convince me, and more like he's trying to convince himself.
"Just…let me go…" His eyes are locked to the ground. This might be my only chance. "Harrison…you know how it would look back home if you killed your district partner…I guarantee someone else will get to me first. You won't see me again…" He raises his eyes to meet mine, and I just start to think he's on my side, when he raises his weapon higher.
"I'm sorry Seia. That's not a risk I want to take." I don't wait for him to advance. I turn around into a full fledged sprint, tears blurring my vision. I don't know where I'm going, I can hardly see, but I don't care. I'm scared. I'm truly terrified. Harrison and I weren't close, but there always seems to be an unspoken rule to spare your district partner for as long as you can. Otherwise, your life will be hell returning home.
What has come over him? I thought…I thought…
I feel a pressure in my back and collapse to the ground. My vision becomes hazy and my arms are shaking.
"I'm so sorry…" His voice is the last thing I hear before I fade away.
Harrison Jones, 17, District 11
I spew out whatever substance I had in my stomach onto the concrete behind Seia's body. The cannon fires, and I push myself up. I notice a handprint of blood stained on the concrete. The blood has caked my skin. Seia's blood…
My sword… it was stuck to a suit of armor in cobwebs… the garlic bombs were not lethal enough… I knew I needed another weapon and it did…
I should have listened to her. Why did I kill her? She didn't deserve to die… None of us deserve to die, and yet, every year, twenty three of us do.
How am I going to face her family back home? How am I going to face my own? How do these victors do it, year after year after year?
Those Careers…my former allies…I was disgusted with them for so long…their training, their preparation to klil other innocent kids. I spent so much time with them…am I becoming them? Am I becoming what I swore I would never?
My stomach aches from my injury, and I double check the makeshift bandage to ensure I didn't open the wound again. After that, I grab my weapon and the little bit of supplies Seia was carrying and get as quickly away from the scene as possible. I stumble down and around the castle, with no goal or destination in mind, just desperate to escape this damned castle.
I reach the bottom and can almost smell the freedom when I hear a whimper from the room behind me. I stop, and listen again, trying to determine if I imagined it or not. I don't hear any more whimpering, but I do hear a light movement.
Part of me wants to ignore it. To push through those doors and go…literally anywhere but here.
But the part of me that still wants to win these stupid games ignores the first part and enters the room.
It's dark, with minimal amounts of furniture scattered around. Because of this, I can't see who made those noises, and I'm wondering if it was all in my head.
Get it together, Harrison. I quickly search the area for supplies before preparing to leave this entire place behind.
Just as I go to do this, I hear footsteps on the ground and I see a very fast blur of someone rushing out of the room. I am quick to follow.
The person rushes outside of the mansion but stumbles in the snow. I'm right on their tail.
With only about six feet in between us, I see the person, a girl, turn around. Her eyes are bright red from crying, and she only has a small knife for defense. She seems to be half prepared for a fight, half prepared for a breakdown. Her shaky breath is visible in the cold air.
"Please don't." She stutters in between tears. I recognize her as the girl from Seven. Didn't she have allies?
Did I kill those kids, too?
I did it once… I can do it again but my… my vision's fading, my head is spinning… bloodloss… my injury! I was so lost in the adrenaline that the pain had faded. I don't know if I even have the strength to lift my sword.
"I'm not going to." I put my sword away. The young girl flinches, but I can see a hesitant relief start to form in her eyes.
"Th-thank you." She slowly puts her weapon away. I rub my temple, the beginnings of a migraine forming, and start walking towards the gate. I want to get as far away from this hellhole as possible.
Limping, I make it to the gate until her yelling at me to "Wait!" causes me to stop.
She runs up to me. "Maybe…we could ally?" I turn around to face her. She's young, sure, but she's clearly a survivor. Otherwise, we wouldn't be here having this conversation. Plus, with this injury, I'm not going to make it much further. She might be the only one that can save me.
"Only if you can patch me up." I hold my hand out to shake on it. She's careful to shake it, but she does.
"Okay." With that, the two of us leave behind our bad memories and regrets and start a new chapter of the Games. A chapter I'm sure the Capitol was not expecting.
Darrah Arinori, 12, District 7
I sit on the edge of the bed, carefully cleaning Harrison's wound before carefully applying two adhesives to try and close it. Neither of us have a needle, so this is the best I can do.
It definitely needed cleaning, though. It would have gotten infected, I'm surprised it hasn't by now. But as I cover it with a new bandage, he thanks me.
"No problem." I say. I have no idea why he spared me. Based on the blood stains on his clothes, he has secrets he doesn't want to unravel. Fine with me. I'm just grateful I'm still alive. Hopefully it wasn't just so I could patch up his wound but it's the only reason I'm currently still alive.
If I know what's best for me, I'll slip out of here at sunset.
We've taken shelter in the town for now. Harrison has us in a house far enough from the main Career base, but it provides us shelter from the snow.
Once I finish, I clean up and give him space to examine it. Taking a seat on the other side of the room, I feel my medium device bounce around in my pocket.
Memories of El fly back through my mind and I'm on the verge of tears again. Visions of her death are ingrained in my mind. I thought Adelina's death was traumatizing enough. Turns out, it can, and will, get worse.
I sit down and pull the device out. Running it through my fingers, I wonder if I could lose it in the snow. If thinking about her gives me an emotional breakdown, who knows what talking to her will do to me.
"What's that?" Harrison asks me.
"Um…nothing, really. I…do you have a role?" He nods.
"Yeah, I do. And that's related to your role?"
"I guess. It um, it allows me to talk to dead tributes at night. If I want." His face changes from curiosity to almost distress?
"Wow. That's different." He clears his throat. "Have you used it?"
"I've used it once. On my ally. Just to get closure, I guess." I slip the device back into my pocket. "What's your role, then?"
"Oh! Uh, vampire hunter." He rubs the back of his neck.
"There are vampires?" I ask, trying to recall if we ever ran into one.
"Yeah, they seem to be everywhere. They only come out at night, obviously."
"Oh. That's probably why I haven't seen them…" considering most nights we were sheltered in caves, or safe rooms.
"Well, consider yourself lucky in that regard." Harrison puts his feet up on the bed.
Ha. Are any of us lucky in this arena? Put here for the sole purpose of dying to entertain the rich bitches in the Capitol. Even the victor isn't all that lucky. Paraded around like a turkey on a platter, many succumbing to addictions or suicide. I've heard rumors of the Capitol killing the family's of troublesome victors…
As Harrison rests up, thoughts like these and worse cycle through my mind. My future, hanging on a thin string, looks bleaker and bleaker with every passing moment. I think about the medium device again, and that's when I realize…I didn't get to say goodbye to El.
Day 9 part 1 written by Team-Shadow next part will is written by Nautics!
Roles
Serenity: Vigilante
Taliesin: Disguiser
Harrison: Vampire Hunter
Conrad: Guardian Angel
Nadia: Potion Master
Charon: Werewolf
Marissa: Ambusher
El: Pirate
Tatiana: Arsonist
Franz: Transporter
Darrah: Medium
Eulogies
Day 1
24th: Ricky James (D9M) Killed by Serenity Jasper - decapitated.
23th: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.
Day 8
12th: Electra Shielle (D3F) Killed by Franz Kubo.
Day 9
11th: Seia Loam (D11F) Killed by Harrison Jones – Stabbed through the back. Seia started off as an incredibly distrusting person. Her hatred for the Capitol and everyone associated with it kept her from getting close to anyone. She finally started opening up with her alliance to Nadia, and even more when they joined up with Conrad and Beckett. We had a lot of fun exploring her character and we're so sad to see her go. Thank you so much to Loveableheart for submitting her!
Jade: 1
Taliesin: 4
Marissa: 1
Heather: 1
Serenity: 2
Charon: 1
Franz: 1
Harrison: 1
Mutts/arena: 2
