Lyndie Franklin, 12
District 8 Female
Tick, tock.
The clock is back, hanging over her head, a never-ending pendulum that counts down the seconds she has left to live. The sound of it threatens to drive her insane, just going around and around and around. There is only so much time in every day, and there is only so much time in Lyndie's life. The clock reminds her of it. Every second ticks by, a reminder. A reminder of what she has to lose.
Her eyes zero in on a pair of dark red bags, one on top of the other.
"One!"
Tick, tock.
Lyndie springs off of her pedestal as the announcer yells, "Ladies and gentlemen, let the One-Hundredth, Fifty-Third Annual Hunger Games, begin!" Her feet smack against the stone pathway beneath her dark green shoes. She looks around wildly, catching sight of Larch from 6 taking a knife to the throat of Mercury from 7. She pauses for a moment, transfixed, as Larch stabs Mercury in the chest and leaves him to die.
Maybe he's already dead.
Like she could be. Any second now.
Tick, tock, tick, tock.
Everything seems to play in slow motion; three of the Careers converge upon Larch, holding multicolored, light up sticks. Ainsley grabs Eris and makes a break for Tomorrowland. Everett and Geo run off into Frontierland, toting a pair of backpacks and a sword. Darwin fights with Navarro, ultimately culminating in blood being splattered, but Lyndie doesn't see who is belongs to. Her eyes remain trained on the blood puddle. A small pool of red that finds its way into the cracks in the cobblestone. It spreads, trickling closer and closer to Lyndie's frozen feet.
"Lyndie!" Lana suddenly yells, holding onto the two backpacks Lyndie was going for. "What are you doing? Go, come on!"
The world snaps back to speed. Lyndie looks around wildly, trying to gain her bearings.
Tick, tock, tick, tock, tick tock.
The clock pounds above her head, screaming louder and louder as each second goes by.
Suddenly Lana is beside her, handing her one of the backpacks and telling her to run. "Lana!" Lyndie yells, as Lana runs off to Ashe, leaving her standing there alone. "W-wait!"
Tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock.
Lyndie balls her free hand into a fist. She steps forward and picks up a discarded knife and runs after Lana.
She is not ready to die. But if she does, it will be on her own terms, and she only hopes she doesn't go to hell for this. "Lana!" she shouts, looking side-to-side, trying to keep an eye on her surroundings. They think the twelve-year-old with the broken arm can't do anything.
She'll show them.
Tick. Tock.
Halfway past the Cornucopia, she is suddenly bowled into and knocked onto the ground. Her knife skids a few feet away, just out of reach. She desperately attempts to grab at it, but her hand falls short.
Tick.
Navarro Lune sits on top of her, blood spattered across his face and a crazy look in his eyes. He has lost his headband somewhere in the fracas, but the cutesy princess in pink on his shirt remains there. Somehow, the shirt only makes the situation worse.
"LANA!" Lyndie shouts, still trying to reach her knife. "ASHE!"
Tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock.
The clock beats faster as Lyndie squirms beneath Navarro, trembling in terror.
Tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock.
Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Lana and Ashe sprinting desperately toward her, both carrying a weapon of some kind.
Her hand closes around the knife, and she brings it up to Navarro's back, frantically trying to make her wrist bend in a way it doesn't bend.
Everything is going to be okay. If only she can get this knife into Navarro's back, everything will be okay. If only Lana and Ashe save her if she can't save herself, everything will be okay.
She's going to be okay. Surely she will.
Tick, tock.
Navarro leans upwards, and for a second, Lyndie thinks he is going to leave. Instead, he whips around and pulls the knife from her hand, leaving her weaponless and stranded.
Tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock.
"I already got the boy from 3, what's one more?" Navarro taunts, holding her knife over Lyndie's forehead. His other one, which is now pressed against Lyndie's free arm, is coated with red. The cold of the blade and warmth of the blood makes Lyndie gag.
"Please," Lyndie says, desperately trying to stall. "Please, don't kill me."
"That's cute." Navarro starts to press the blade into her forehead. Lyndie writhes, hoping that if she moves enough, she can knock him off. A bead of blood trickles down her forehead and into her eye.
Lyndie screams.
Tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock.
Ashe suddenly appears, shoving Navarro off of her and sending his knife flying. It drops like a rock and—
Tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock, tick—
Liesel Leenheer, 17
District 5 Female
Liesel doesn't know what's wrong with her, but after last night, after the interviews, after everything Sterne said, she can't stand the sight of Jayce and Ishtar. The very notion of their existence makes her blood boil. Jayce and Ishtar—well, hell, they've lived. Jayce has moved Districts, for fuck's sake! She's seen so much, loved so many, and what has Liesel done? Fuck a girl, get bitter when she gets cheated on, and then spend the rest of her meaningless existence being petty?
What kind of a life has Liesel even lived?
But Jayce and Ishtar; Jayce and Ishtar make her want to scream and rip out of her hair. They're just so perfect. They pull at the Capitol's heartstrings just as they should. Hell, the whole thing could be fabricated, and Liesel would never know?
What a perfect soap opera their lives are. Oh, boohoo, poor, neglected Ishtar was in love with kind and smart Jayce. But Jayce had to go away, and they agreed to go full-on Romeo and Juliet and kill themselves for love.
Liesel can't imagine being so blind.
"One!" shouts the announcer.
Liesel snaps back to reality and looks around. She has to find Tam; she knows that much. She can't ditch the girl she's supposed to be in love with.
She springs off of her platform moments too late, having located Tam on the other side of the Cornucopia. Out of the corner of her eye, she spots three of the Careers mercilessly beating Larch with brightly colored sticks that are emitting bubbles.
As she passes the mouth of the Cornucopia, carefully dodging a fight between the little kids from 8, she spontaneously grabs a katana. Even if she and Tam have nothing else to sustain themselves with, they can at least defend each other.
Tam is running toward the row of shops. Liesel calls out to her and starts to follow her, but as she passes the pedestals, something suddenly rams into her.
No, not something.
Someone.
Jayce Dotter, to be specific.
Katana held firmly in hand, Liesel scrambles to her feet and yells, "What the fuck?"
Jayce backs away, holding a bag close to her chest. She doesn't say anything, but Liesel certainly doesn't want her to.
This moment, this moment that Liesel remains here, in a standoff with the person she currently hates most, something snaps inside of her. She hasn't lived enough. She hasn't lived enough to die.
But Jayce has.
Jayce has seen shit, done shit, one of which being Ishtar. She done plenty.
Liesel lifts the katana, and Jayce makes a break for it. She takes off running in the opposite direction, toward Tomorrowland, but Liesel will make sure that she doesn't get far.
In a desperate attempt to stop her, Liesel lobs the katana through the arm like a javelin. It makes a surprisingly nice arc before hitting its mark with perfection—
It slams into Jayce's retreating back with enough force to knock her down. Or maybe it was the shock of the impact, or maybe it cut her spine in half. Liesel doesn't know and she certainly doesn't care.
Jayce screams and screams and screams as Liesel jogs up to her. She yanks the katana out of Jayce's back, eliciting a particularly brutal scream from the girl, before she leans down to her level and says, "Maybe next time, you'll think twice about falling love. I know I do."
"Ishtar!" Jayce cries, her voice horribly broken and frayed. "Ishtar!"
"Sorry, hun, your ex isn't coming to save you," Liesel says as she starts to leave. "My sure didn't."
And she jogs away, noting that Tam disappeared into one of the shops and tries to figure out which one.
It doesn't occur to her, as she quickly ducks into an ice cream parlor and finds Tam hidden amongst piles of stuffed animals, that she just killed someone. It doesn't occur to her until Tam asks her where the blood came from.
"I killed the girl from 6," Liesel says stoically. She wonders if someone else would have an adverse reaction to this. Maybe she would have, before. When she was a rich District 5 girl, could she have killed someone? Could she have done what she did to Jayce, and thrown the katana without second thought?
Maybe she could. Maybe she couldn't. But whatever that Liesel could or couldn't have done is of no issue. Liesel is here, in the Games, and is kill or be killed.
She's ready to accept that. She's ready to fight, to stop dwelling on her past life, and worrying about what Noor thinks.
Noor isn't here. But Liesel is. And so is Tam. They are far more important than who Noor did or did not sleep with.
"I didn't know you had it in you," Tam says in a quiet voice. Her normal gruff undertone isn't there. "I…"
"You what?" Liesel asks uncertainly.
"She didn't suffer, did she?"
Liesel sees Jayce's bloodied back, with her possibly snapped spine, and the girl herself lying face down on the ground, screaming in absolute agony and begging the girl she may or may not love to save her. It imprints itself on Liesel's vision for several moments she says slowly, "No, I don't think she did."
"It was quick?"
"…yes, it was quick."
"That's a relief," Tam says, smiling slightly. "It's not right, you know? Killing people. But it is what it is."
"Yeah," Liesel says, running a hand through her hair. "Shit! I lost my headband."
Tam takes off hers. "You can have mine. I certainly don't want it."
Liesel accepts it and puts it on her head. Both circles are light gray, one of which is features a golden man with a strange looking face and the other having a small, trash-can like creature on it. "It's great."
"I didn't design it," Tam says. She gets to her feet. "We should keep moving. We need to get a…what, layout of the land or somethin'?"
Liesel forces out a laugh and says, "Yeah. We should."
This day is not sitting right with Liesel, but it almost surprises her that it bothers her as little as it does. She killed someone. She ended a life, and it feels like nothing has changed.
Ashe Illyrian, 14
District 11 Female
It was barely a moment.
Barely a moment, from when the knife fell from Navarro's hand to when it slammed into Lyndie's forehead.
There really wasn't any blood, at least, not that Ashe had seen. It was just…death. A shell—a human who once was there and now is gone.
Ashe knows that Lyndie believed there was a place after death. Somewhere safe, somewhere almost like…paradise.
As she grabs Navarro by the shoulders and slams him against the Cornucopia, she hopes that is where Lyndie is. And she hopes Lyndie will forgive her for what she does.
Anger and adrenaline are pounding through her veins as Navarro's head ricochets forward, hitting his chest and bouncing backwards into the hard metal of the Cornucopia. Droplets of blood fly onto Ashe's face and hands, but she hardly notices.
There is blood splattered against the Cornucopia when Ashe makes the second slam, and with an audible crack, something in Navarro's head breaks.
His eyes go dark and Ashe drops him like he has a deadly, contagious disease. She turns to Lana, trying to ignore the warmth of blood on her skin. "Let's…go."
Lana gapes at her for a moment, before her eyes dart toward Lyndie's body. The blade of the knife that stick up straight from her forehead glints in the morning sun.
Together, the pair run off in the direction of the spinning golden spire and sign that reads Tomorrowland.
Ashe looks over her shoulder more than once as the Cornucopia gets smaller and smaller. She isn't sure exactly what she's looking for; to make they aren't being followed by a Career, or perhaps something worse?
They find Eris and Ainsley behind the circular hub in the middle of Tomorrowland. No words are exchanged between the four when Ashe and Lana arrive, but Ashe can see it in their eyes.
They know. They know Lyndie will not be joining them.
"Well," Ainsley says, hands on her hips, continually glancing around. Her voice carries a tiny tremor, as if their situation is just now sitting upon her shoulders. "We'd better find somewhere to set up camp."
"Where?" Eris asks. "This place is so open that there's nowhere to hide."
Ashe looks around. "Let's go up these stairs."
Eris freezes. "Won't that just put us in plain view of the other tributes?"
"I think I see what Ashe means, Eris," Lana says gently. "Those tracks lead into the trees, see? Above the pond."
Ashe follows Lana's finger. The tracks that split off from the second level of the hub curve over their heads and to the right, beside the snowy mountain and the lagoon. Ashe cranes her neck and notices two strange things about these locations:
One. Sleds rocket around the mountain on some sort of path, but there doesn't appear to be anyone inside.
Two. Bright yellow submarines sit in the lagoon, making loops around the water and occasionally disappearing into a cave.
It is a strange sight. "What kind of place is this?" Ashe wonders aloud. There is so much to take in, so much to process: everywhere you look, there is something new and different. A highway of some sort, filled with tiny, two-person cars. An enormous, four-level coliseum of sorts. A triangular, white dome.
There may not be much cover, but there is so much to see.
"I don't know," Lana says quietly, eyes wide as she surveys the area. "Maybe we can figure it out once we get on those tracks." She points to the tracks that hang over their heads.
The four girls climb over the chain that hangs in front of the staircase and start up to the second level.
"You guys don't think that chain was there for a reason, do you?" Eris asks nervously. "Like, I don't know, maybe to keep us out?"
"It's going to be fine," Ainsley says impatiently. She takes the bold first step onto the tracks and opens her arms. "See, Eris? I'm fine."
Ashe glances around the terminal as she follows Ainsley. The floor is made of a rubbery substance. It is nothing Ashe has ever seen before.
"I bet the floor used to move in here," Lana says.
Ashe raises her eyebrows.
"It looks like a conveyor belt," says Lana, looking at Ashe oddly. "…have you never seen a conveyor belt before?"
"Can't say I have." Ashe looks back toward the terminal, wondering what it feels like to stand on moving ground like that. She supposes it is just another thing she will never experience. With a shake to her head, she falls back to talk to Eris. "Hey, are you okay?"
Eris shoots her glare. "Of course I'm not okay! We're in the fucking Hunger Games!"
"Yes," Ashe says. Certainly she knows that better than any of them. "But something else is bothering you."
"Haven't you figured it out already, or do you just have a terrible memory?"
"I—oh."
"Yeah." Eris slows her speed as they approach the trees. The lagoon stands directly below them. For a moment, neither of them moving. Instead, they stand there and watch the submarines go by. "What happened to your hands?"
"Nothing?" Ashe says confusedly. She raises her hands to look at them and realizes that Eris is referring to the blood on them. "Oh. I, uh, I avenged Lyndie."
Eris freezes. "You killed someone?"
Now that the adrenaline in sapped from her veins, and the reality of what she has done is now setting in, the question sounds a hell of a lot worse. "Yes. Yes, I did."
"…who was it?" Eris asks nervously as they enter the cover of the trees.
"Lyndie's District partner."
"Ohhhh," Eris says. "That's fine, then."
Ashe stares at her. "W-what?"
"I said that that's fine. Navarro was an all-around terrible person," Eris says, shrugging. "I mean, if you'd taken out, like, Sterne, or something, I might have been inclined to be horrified."
"I don't understand," Ashe says. "I still took a life. It doesn't matter who Navarro was; I still killed him, didn't I?"
"You did everyone here a favor, Ashe," Eris says, leveling her eyes with Ashe's. "Navarro would have gone on a killing spree and taken out half of the arena, including some of us. You can't be blamed for it." Eris shrugs again. "Besides, it's the Hunger Games. What are you gonna do?"
Ashe slows her steps and allows Eris to walk in front of her. In the cover of the overgrown trees, some of which are wrapped around the tracks like rope, Ashe realizes something.
It will always be her or someone else. And Navarro was that someone else.
Sterne Colvin, 14
District 5 Male
The moment he saw Navarro's knife enter Darwin's stomach, he knew it was all over.
He had already seen Mercury fall with a slit throat and stab wound, courtesy of Larch from District 6. He can't lose Darwin too; he can't be alone in here. He'll never survive if he's on his own.
And now here he is, following a stumbling, bleeding, dying Darwin Abner through fantastical paths around a carnival of sorts.
He doubts it is the place Darwin imagined he would die in. It certainly isn't the place he imagined he would watch someone die in. Maybe a forest, or a tundra or a desert or something. But a magical carnival? Didn't even place on the list.
"Darwin!" Sterne calls, holding nothing but a small backpack. "Darwin, w-wait!"
Darwin drops to his knees in front of a dozen flying, plastic elephants. As Sterne approaches, he recognizes what a strange scene it is: a fifteen-year-old boy, wearing a bright yellow shirt with the word Disneyland on the back, nursing a grievous stab wound on the ground in front of spinning plastic elephants.
Sterne stops just a few feet short of Darwin and glances over his shoulder. He can hear talking. Someone is talking, but there's no one but him and Darwin here…
"I'm sorry for picking so many fights, I-I was just trying to do what was right, but maybe I was wrong to and maybe I should have to just sat down and shut up and maybe I should have just behaved myself and maybe then I wouldn't be here and…"
"Darwin?" Sterne says, walking around to Darwin's front. Darwin's mouth is moving, and a seemingly-endless stream of words is pouring forth. Apologies. Insults. Confessions.
The wound is worse when it's full view: the entire left side of his shirt is soaked with crimson. The wound itself is just a gaping hole in Darwin's skin. Somewhere along the path, the knife must have fallen out, or maybe Navarro took it with him. Blood is still trickling from the shredded pocket of skin.
Sterne leans down and tries to put pressure on it.
"Acer, I-I can't believe you would ever say something like that to Nikola…she's just a kid, with no parents and I hope you learn that violence isn't always…always the answer. But black eyes can heal and sometimes words can't and maybe I should have just taken Mr. Ott's advice and kept my tongue in check…maybe I wouldn't be here if I had…"
"Darwin!" Sterne repeats. Blood is still trickling from his wound, but it isn't on his shirt anymore. Instead, it's on Sterne's hands, fighting its way into the cracks and the creases in his skin. "Darwin, please stay me."
"Sterne," Darwin says, his voice slurred. "I don' wanna die, and neither do you, but maybe once I'm gone, you'll have an actual shot at this. And if you don't, maybe that will be my fault. I'm sorry…sorry about everything, Sterne, I'm sorry I have to leave you alone because I already say Mercury die but I know enough about wounds to know this one is fatal and I'm sorry…"
"What the hell you do have to be sorry about?" Sterne cries, trying to fight the hysterical edge out of his voice. He can't lose Darwin! He'll be dead in ten minutes! There's strength in numbers even if none of them know how to fight!
"Stay with me, damnit!" Sterne yells, pressing his hands harder against Darwin's side.
A strange sort of laugh breaks Darwin's steady stream of words. "It doesn't even hurt, Sterne…I'm so dead, I may as well not even have any blood left! But I don't wanna die…I don't wanna die…" Darwin leans back against the ground. "Are you listen', Sterne? I don't wanna die without being heard…"
Darwin's eyes drop close, and suddenly his words stop coming. "Darwin?" Sterne says, eyes wide with terror. "Darwin?! Darwin, wake up!"
He shakes Darwin desperately, trying to fight off the tears that prick at his eyes. "Darwin, please, come back! I can't do this without allies! I need you! Please!"
He waits. He waits for Darwin to open his eyes and keep talking.
But he doesn't.
Sterne sits there for a long moment before he gets to his feet. Looking down on Darwin's bloody corpse, he says, "I listened, Darwin. I heard you."
And he walks away, leaving Darwin's corpse to be picked up by the hovercraft.
As he passes the carousel, he suddenly hears someone yell, "Look! It's the boy from 5!"
Sterne looks over his shoulder and sees all five Careers standing by a building marked with a sign that reads Mr. Toad's Wild Ride.
He doesn't think; he just runs. He sprints, as fast as he physically can, adrenaline pouring into his veins like wildfire.
The Careers follow him around a bend, past a strange, tan mountain and into some sort of town square. He glances over his shoulder and sees the group not far behind him. He tries to take a deep breath and sees some kind of floating platform by the docks.
Sterne runs toward it, hoping beyond hope that it will start moving and will take him to the island across the river.
Almost as soon as he gets on the platform and closes the netted gate, it pushes off from the dock, seemingly open its own volition.
The Careers stop on the docks, and for a moment, Sterne thinks he's won. And then Calista yells something, and Ottilie and Bayou leap into the water and start to swim.
Oh. Fuck, Sterne thinks as he runs to the other end of the platform.
Ottilie reaches it first, and she claws her way onto the boat, bearing small sword and a dagger. They're nearly to the island now, the docks are mere feet away.
Sterne takes a chance and leaps from the platform. He leads poorly on the docks, but once he regains his footing, he takes off running again. Adrenaline is the only thing keeping him going, he can tell. He feels winded, but his need to live overtakes his need for a break.
Ottilie and Bayou are slower than they were before, likely the fault of their soaked denim shorts. The only one of the three still wearing their ears is Sterne, which makes him feel silly despite his bad situation.
Despite all of this, the pair from 4 are gaining on him. They're both clearly in better shape than Sterne, and have a leg up on almost every aspect.
The path is uneven beneath his feet, and he fears that he may trip over a root or rock. If he trips, it is all over. He can kiss his life goodbye.
Suddenly a knife slices through the air above his shoulder, narrowly missing cutting into his skin. Sterne takes a deep breath and looks around. There has to be something around here that he can use to lose them.
At last, he sees a boat. An extravagant boat, seeming far too nice for such a desperate situation. It lazily floats through the river, and Sterne sees his chance.
He steps up beside some sort of water mill and claws his way to the roof. Ottilie is quick to follow, leaving Bayou alone on the ground, as if he is waiting for Sterne to fall.
Sterne clambers to the end highest end of the small tin roof. The boat will pass by in just a few seconds and he can—
Another knife imbeds itself in the tree behind Sterne's head. He looks at Ottilie, now poised at the other end of the roof. She dives toward him, hands outstretched, and he jumps.
He imagines the jump in slow motion: Ottilie's hands grab desperately for his feet as he flails through the air, arms frantically trying to catch onto the deck of the boat. Ottilie's hand closes around one of his feet, but only manages to pull off his shoe.
Sterne slams onto the top deck of the boat with enough force to knock the wind out of him.
"NO!" Ottilie shouts disbelievingly as the boy leisurely passes by her. She jumps off of the roof of the water mill, but the only thing that that achieves is making land directly on top of Bayou.
Sterne takes a deep breath and cowers behind the railings, hoping that the other three Careers don't try to come after him.
"He's right there, Cal, we've gotta go after him."
"We don't have to go after anybody, Shad. It's clear we're not going to get him right now."
Pause. "Besides, who cares about the boy from District 5? He's of no threat to us now."
"But—"
"Calista is right. And we left the Cornucopia unprotected. Who knows if there's even still supplies in it?"
Their conversation is interrupted by the sound of five cannons being fired. Five booms. Five deaths.
And Sterne is not one of them. If he has any say about it, he never will be.
Shad Marcum, 18
District 1 Male
"I cannot believe we let the boy from 5 go," Shad says angrily as the five Careers make the shameful trek back to the Cornucopia, completely empty-handed.
"We've told you a thousand times, Shad," Calista says impatiently. "5 is one of the smallest threats in this arena."
"So? He still has to die for me to win," Ottilie says. Both she and Bayou are soaked to the bone, and the warm weather doesn't seem to be drying them off very well.
Shad is happy to know that Ottilie agrees with him, but at the same time, he is disappointed in her. He thought she would actually get something done, like, oh, killing the boy from 5? Or even getting a kill in the Bloodbath?
Well, Shad isn't sure if he should voice that bit. After all, his kill is only a shared one—the boy from 6, Lark, or something. He aided Calista and Scoria in beating the head in of that boy. Well, Shad hit the final blow, of course. When he gets out of this arena, he knows that he will be credited with that kill, and him only.
"And, there are certainly smaller threats than him," Shad says matter-of-factly. "How about those little girls?"
"Those "little girls" already have one more kill to their name than you do, Shad," Calista says annoyedly.
"What?!" Shad yells. "The oldest one of those girls is fourteen, Calista. I have a full foot on the tallest one of those girls."
"So? I watched the girl from 11 slam the boy from 8 against the Cornucopia with enough force to do his head in," Calista says, shrugging.
"What?!" Ottilie yells this time. "The girl from 11 got the boy from 8?"
"Yeah," Calista answers, looking at Ottilie strangely.
"Why does it matter who killed who?" says Scoria tiredly. "They're dead. Get over it."
"I was—wanted to kill the boy from 8!" Ottilie cries.
Even Shad looks at her oddly. "Why?" Calista asks.
"I—er, I—I just wanted to, okay?"
Ottilie stalks into the Cornucopia and sits alone in the darkness. Shad watches her go, looking at her with disgust. Wanting to kill someone in particular is ridiculous, frivolous, and often gets tributes killed. Shad is smarter than that. He is much smarter than Ottilie, and he knows how to play this game.
If he didn't, what would he be?
"We need to get a lay of this place," Calista says, taking a seat on a crate. "We saw a fair amount while we were chasing the boy from 5, but everything south of us is unknown."
"I can't find any food in these crates," Bayou blurts nervously. "There's none in the backpacks either."
"What?" Calista says urgently. "But there's no vegetation here that we can eat."
"Maybe we were robbed," Ottilie says snidely from the back of the Cornucopia.
"Calista," Scoria says.
"What?"
"Look around us. There's no vegetation, but there's restaurants and food stands all over the place."
All three of the Careers with a clear view the arena and, sure enough, a food stand is not ten feet from the Cornucopia.
Shad walks up to it and opens the freezer. Buried within several bags of ice sit various types of frozen treats. He digs around it in for a moment before producing a popsicle stick wrapped in plastic. The picture on it indicates that the shape of the treat is some sort of…mouse, maybe? It seems reminiscent of the headbands everyone was wearing.
"Well?" Calista says.
"What? I'm not going to try it," Shad says defensively, putting the treat down on the cart. "It could be poisoned!"
"Ugh, dramatic much?" Calista says annoyedly.
"I'll try it," Bayou suddenly volunteers. He takes the treat and removes the wrapper.
The other Careers, including Ottilie, watch intently as he takes a bite of the chocolate-covered ice cream. Shad does his best to watch with his usual aloof sort of interest.
After a moment, Bayou swallows. He shrugs and says, "It's ice cream. Don' know what else ya expected."
"Well, that's a relief," Calista says. "Now, as I was saying before, we need to get a lay of the land. I say that in the morning, we should send out a team to explore the arena." She eyes Shad. "And, yes, kill any tributes you come across."
"The little girls are over there," Scoria says, pointing toward Tomorrowland. "I believe the girls from 5 and 10, as well as my District partner went down there." She gestures directly south of the Cornucopia.
"Yes, good," Calista says. "Bayou, do you want to go?"
Bayou swallows and says, "Er…sure?"
"Alright," Calista says. "Shad, why don't you join him?"
Shad glares at her. "No, I don't think I will."
"Shad, don't you want to get kills? You're not going to get anything by hanging out around the Cornucopia all day," Calista says.
Shad knows that she is trying to manipulate him, yet she makes a very convincing argument. He does want to get more kills. He needs to get kills in order to make himself memorable, and in order to get kills, he has to go hunting. "Fine. Whatever."
"Great," Calista says. "Scoria, Ottilie and I will stay here and take stock of the supplies. When do you guys want to meet up again?"
"I dunno," Bayou says. "Like, two days, or somethin'?"
"Shad?"
"Sure, whatever." His eyes dart toward Bayou. He wonders what would happen if he were to kill Bayou. What would he tell Calista when he returned? On the off chance that Calista wins, which is close to zero—hell, it might even be zero—she would see that Shad lied to her.
He shakes his head. Killing off his teammates, no matter how useless or annoying they are, isn't a viable way to win. He wants to be a fan favorite with everyone, not just himself.
The sun has begun its descent from the sky by the time Bayou and Shad set out. They carry nothing but a first aid kit and their weapons; food and water are literally everywhere. Well, everywhere except the Cornucopia.
Shad takes the lead, taking them straight south toward the row of shops that Scoria said several tributes went to. Shad doesn't really care about knowing what the arena looks like. He just wants to go wherever he can that will have tributes in it. The more kills he can wrack up, the better.
It is nearly dark out when they enter a shop, upon the claim that Bayou saw something moving. Eventually, they come to the conclusion that there is not, in fact, something moving inside.
Shad heaves a sigh. It is going to be a long two days.
Wonder Hammerfort, 12
District 2 Male
The Careers are outside.
At least, some of the Careers are. He can hear their voices, one of them yelling at the other. Wonder will admit that hiding in practically plain view of the Cornucopia wasn't his best idea, but he was so desperate to get out of the Bloodbath before Navarro could follow him. And now he's here. Cowering in a…hat shop?
There are windows above his head, which was, again, not his best decision. Hiding beside the door, which is wide open, just below large windows, is really a terrible idea.
But Wonder is stuck here, and he should be okay as long as the Careers don't spot him. If they do…well, he's as good as dead. There's only one entrance to this hat shop, meaning that there is also only one exit.
"God, I can't believe Calista made me come with you," one of the Career says. "Why couldn't Ottilie have come with me instead? Or Scoria? Hell, I'd take Calista. At least she's actually capable of doing anything."
"…yeah."
"Ugh, what do you know, anyway? I mean, that ridiculous accent and poor grammar and everything."
"…um, yeah."
"Come on, let's head over to Adventureplace or whatever it's called. I bet there's some tributes out there."
"Adventureland."
"Whatever."
Two pairs of footsteps echo in the quiet night as the Careers go back the way they came. Wonder finally opens his eyes and stretches out his legs. He peers out of the open door and sees the retreating backs of the boys from 1 and 4, both carrying weapons and backpacks.
Wonder didn't get very lucky with supplies. He has nothing but a small dagger that he barely knows how to use. No food, no water, no first aid, no nothing. If it comes down to a battle of survival, Wonder is sitting ducks.
Quietly, he gets to his feet and looks out onto the street. Way down the lane, at the Cornucopia in front of the castle, he can see someone sitting on a crate, back turned to him. He takes this as his chance; he dashes out of the hat shop and across the road. He ducks into the large store on the corner and finds himself in a darkened emporium of merchandise.
The place is dark and crowded with shelves of clothes and keepsakes. He pauses to examine a few rows of snow globes that feature the castle behind the Cornucopia. Below that sits groups of picture frames with stock photos of happy people wandering around the arena. Below the picture slot, it says in loopy writing, My Disney Vacation, One-Hundredth, Fifty-Third Hunger Games!
Wonder picks one of them up. Why would a family be in this place, much less parading around happily? He notes that all four family members are wearing the same ear headband that all of the tributes had.
He bumps into a rack of shirts with the word Disneyland written on them in some form or fashion. The sign on top of the rack marks them as Disney Maternity Shirts! $39.99 USD!
Wonder has never seen that symbol before, but if it has anything to do with currency, this place sells some seriously overpriced shirts.
If Wonder looks straight north, he can see through the entire building, baring racks of merchandise and tables in the way.
He moves toward the checkout counters and examines the bags of snacks hanging beside the cash registers. He gingerly picks one up and reads the title.
Mickey Pretzels is emblazoned at the top of the plastic bag, above a window inside which shows strangely-shaped hard pretzels. Wonder glances around and opens the bag as quietly as possible.
As he pops a few of the pretzels into his mouth, he notices the price tag above the bag. $11.99 USD. Again with things being overpriced. Like, they're pretzels, but they're not good pretzels.
Wonder looks around in hopes of finding an alcove that he can sleep in without being easily seen, but his search is interrupted by the sound of anthem blaring through the arena.
He dashes over to one of the windows and peers out at the sky.
The first face is that of the boy from District 3. Darwin, Wonder is pretty sure his name was.
The second is the girl from District 6. Wonder remembers her well; the District 12 transplant with a history of the girl from said District. He looks at her face and wonders how she died and if the girl from District 12 was there.
Once her face disappears, she is replaced by her District partner. Wonder can't remember much about him; he's pretty sure his parents were murdered, so he at least had something in common with Wonder. He had a dark history, but Wonder hopes that it affected him less than it still affects Wonder.
The little girl from District 8 appears next. Wonder remembers seeing her break her arm in training.
At last, the face of Navarro Lune hangs above Wonder's head. He is, in theory, the last person that Wonder needed to die. Yoldan already got what was coming to him. His mother…well, his mother is probably out there somewhere. But those reminders, those that remained to remind Wonder of his past…they're all gone.
Navarro may not have played a part in Wonder's history, but he certainly amplified it. But he's dead, and Wonder's not.
Wonder returns to the search for a place to sleep, feeling exponentially safer now that he knows Navarro isn't out there hunting for him.
Finally, he finds a disguised door to a store room, which he has to wrestle open. He finds a stuffed…whale, maybe? That he uses as a pillow, and retrieves a large sweatshirt to use as a blanket. His white shirt with a mountain that is eerily reminiscent of the one outside is great and all, but isn't warm in the slightest.
It isn't really comfortable, per se, but it feels almost safe. And almost safe is about as good as it's going to get in the Hunger Games.
A/N: I really wanted to have started the Games before the one-year anniversary of this story, but at least I only missed it by like a week.
Anyways, there's two things about this arena I need to clear up: one, Galaxy's Edge won't be included in this arena. The problem is that I've never seen Galaxy's Edge in person, while the rest of the park I have. And I started planning this story before Galaxy's Edge opened and it just isn't going to work. So Galaxy's Edge is cut. Two, I will be taking some creative liberties with this. Like, I already remapped the route the old Peoplemover takes. So, everything won't be exactly like its real-life counterpart.
1. Saddest death?
2. Least sad death?
3. Most surprising death?
4. Most surprising killer?
EULOGIES:
24th Place – Mercury Harrigan, District 7 Male. Throat slit and chest stabbed by Larch Tyre (D6M).
So, I'm not sure if anyone knows this, but Mercury and Liesel actually belong to one of my real-life friends. She has an actual account on here that she submits under, but reading my stories is pretty much all she does with it. Anyways, Mercury was a really cool character to explore. His past of abuse was different and more calculated than the usual kind of abused kids you see in SYOTs. One of the best parts of writing him was getting to pull him out of his shell and give him some closure. He didn't die happy, but I don't think he died unfulfilled.
23rd Place – Larch Tyre, District 6 Male. Head bashed in with glow wands and bubble makers by Calista Abbey (D1F), Shad Marcum (D1M), and Scoria Primer (D2F).
Larch was a bit of enigma to me. He had a kind of barebones form, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I don't think it did Larch any favors. He was a fine character, with an interesting backstory, but he just faded into the background so easily. I never really felt like I knew what to do with Larch. I was able to fulfill his submitter's wish of him getting a kill before he died, however.
22nd Place – Lyndie Franklin, District 8 Female. Stabbed in the forehead by Navarro Lune (D8M).
Oh, Lyndie. What do I even say about you? Well, for starters, I loved you. Exploring your inner turmoil over your choices was a delight, and I have never written a religious character like her before either. Lyndie was a new experience for me in many ways, and that is one of the reasons I love her as much as I do. She was realistic for a twelve-year-old: scared in the way she should be, and acting accordingly. She didn't want to die so young, but ultimately, it came back to bite her.
21st Place – Jayce Dotter, District 6 Female. Stabbed in the back by Liesel Leenheer (D5F).
Jayce and Ishtar were incredible characters to write. They had such an interesting dynamic, and the change between Ishtar's introduction and Jayce's was really fun to write. Getting to see how Ishtar reacted to Jayce having moved on was an especially cool part of them. Jayce herself is probably the stronger of two, in some ways, but she crossed paths with an angry Liesel and this is where she falls because of it.
20th Place – Navarro Lune, District 8 Male. Head slammed against the Cornucopia by Ashe Illyrian (D11F).
Originally, Navarro's death was supposed to be more of team effort between Ashe and Lana. But as I was writing Ashe's POV, it just became Ashe killing a bitch. Because that is what Navarro was; he was insane, bloodthirsty, cruel and overconfident. It was a recipe for disaster. Navarro did manage two kills before his timely demise, when he pissed off someone he didn't consider a threat. Ottilie didn't even get the killing blow.
19th Place – Darwin Abner, District 3 Male. Bled out from a stab wound inflicted by Navarro Lune (D8M).
Darwin's entire death scene was based off of something I wrote in my phone notes in the middle of the night. It reads "The boy with so much to say would not die without being heard." I thought it sounded cool, and decided to apply it to Darwin. Darwin himself was really fun to write; he and Mercury contrasted each other so well, with Sterne in the middle of them. I always like characters who talk a lot, and Darwin is no different. I'll miss writing him, but I'm sure Sterne will miss him even more.
ALLIANCES:
We're Still Extremely Volatile This Year: Shad (D1M), Calista (D1F), Scoria (D2F), Bayou (D4M), Ottilie (D4F)
Flower Power: Lana (D3F), Eris (D7F), Ainsley (D9F), Ashe (D11F)
Disaster Lesbians: Liesel (D5F), Tam (D10F)
For Peace of Mind: Everett (D9M), Geo (D12M)
Sad Lesbian: Ishtar (D12F)
Oh. Fuck: Sterne (D5M)
Where Even Is He?: Afandina (D10M)
Overpriced Maternity Shirts: Wonder (D2M)
Didn't Even Get a Kill: Quinn (D11M)
KILL COUNT:
Shad: 1 (Larch)
Calista: 1 (Larch)
Scoria: 1 (Larch)
Larch (deceased): 1 (Mercury)
Navarro (deceased): 2 (Lyndie, Darwin)
Ashe: 1 (Navarro)
I will soon be back with day 2, hopefully within a few days if I'm lucky.
-Amanda
