Nero Inculta- District Two male (18)

To tell the truth it was a little embarrassing we hadn't found anyone on our first night hunting. But oh well, more people to hunt today! And it did make sense that it was hard to find people in such a lush Arena. From what we'd explored so far there was a rainforest, a sort of fern-y kinda peaceful "zen"-ish garden, and a garden full of fruit trees and edible plants. When I looked at the glass walls in the edible plant garden I could see another garden outside, so at least one room had access to the outdoors.

So far we were concentrating most of our effort on the rainforest room. It had the thickest foliage and thus probably harbored a lot of outliers with a hiding instinct. Also Nailah thought she'd seen Dionysus going that way and we had some unfinished business with him. Not that I was mad he'd killed Ceto- that was kind of a favor, if I was being really mean- but even a washed-up drunkard Career was still a threat. We'd probably find him here trying to distill oranges into alcohol or something. Maybe Gigi knew how to do that and he happened to find out?

"There's so much food here. This place could feed my whole town," Anthony commented as he looked up at the endless rows of trees.

"I wish there was a coffee tree. And maybe some ice trees and a hazelnut syrup tree," Allure said.

"I think those are just hazelnut trees," Anthony said.

"Oh my gosh, it was a joke. I'm not that spoiled," Allure huffed.

"There probably is a coffee tree. I just don't know what they look like," I said. It would be nice, now that Allure mentioned it- a nice cup of hand-ground coffee in the mornings when we were all stiff from sleeping in sleeping bags on the lumpy ground.

I turned sharply at a flash of movement. Aha, we found someone, I thought triumphantly. Then I was wondering who shot the world's largest rubber band at me. Then I was seeing that it wasn't us who had done the finding.

It's so heavy. I'd seen footage of the giant snakes that lived in jungles but I'd never realized how heavy they were. The snake bore me to the ground like nothing and tangled around me in an instant. All around me there were coils and writhing wormy segments of snake. Immediately it felt like there were bruises on my legs, and then all the way up to my waist. I stabbed a throwing knife into the closest coil and it went down to the hilt without even hitting bone.

There was a very distinct scream as Allure saw the snake. She turned and bolted into the trees. My annoyance was quickly drowned out by claustrophobic terror as the coils reached my chest and I couldn't breathe. Not even a chance. It was like I'd been encased in cement. I stabbed at the coils over and over, terrified that they would pin my arms and worrying that the sword slung over my back would shatter and send pieces into me.

Fifteen feet away, Anthony's eyes darted back and forth. He looked out after Allure and then back at me. There was enough snake to engulf me in coils and plenty left over, and I saw him thinking the same thing. His trident arm raised a little and wavered. He looked away guiltily and ran. I couldn't even yell after him.

There was nothing to compare the pressure to. It must have been what it felt like to be pinned under a car. Like the clenched fist of some god, the coils cut off my breath and then started to hurt with the sheer pressure. I wondered if I would feel my bones break. The taste of blood hit my mouth. Oh god it popped my guts I'm all soupy inside. It didn't feel like my guts had ruptured, though. It just felt like I couldn't breathe. I couldn't sat I really saw a bright side in all this, but I guess it was cooler than dying in a quarry.


Cheyanne Talor, District Three female (17)

The first night in the Arena I huddled under a fallen tree, panicking at every noise and knowing if anyone found me I would die. But today was a new day and I could not let myself stay that weak. I started to explore the garden I'd found myself in, trying to be sneaky but knowing it was frankly a calculated risk and there wasn't much I could do if I got unlucky. I started to piece together a plan as I roamed through the trees.

I was ashamed to admit I'd panicked in the Bloodbath. I hadn't grabbed anything, not even the hatchet that had been weirdly close to my station for such a good item. But that was the past and I needed to regroup and not make any more bad decisions. I took stock of my strengths and was proud to reflect that my athletic skills, so undervalued in Three, were what would keep me alive here. I could run. I could fight a little. And I could climb.

The palm tree must have been about thirty feet high. I was really bad at estimating distances but that was my guess. It had a skinny bare trunk all the way up until the huge tuft of fronds at the top, so thick no one would see a single girl hiding in there. Anyone trying to come after me would know they risked death or a crippling injury if they fell near the top. As did I, but I knew I could do it. I gathered some vines and a rock from other trees nearby and tucked them into my pants.

The bark was rougher than I expected. I was glad, though, since it gave me better purchase. I hauled myself up the tree a little at a time. I stopped looking down as I reached high enough that it made me dizzy to see how far the ground was.

There wasn't much of a platform at the top tuft of the tree. I found a little nook and wedged one leg through until I was somewhat uncomfortable sitting astride the branch. I took my vines from my pants and started lashing them around my spot until I had a little bit of a safety mesh that I hoped would keep me from tumbling out in my sleep. If it didn't, I hoped I wouldn't know until I hit.

I was honestly proud of myself when I saw how well my plan had worked out. I'd picked out the tree with the most visible fruit and from my spot I could see maybe a dozen coconuts on various branches close to me. I reached out and carefully plucked one. I took out my rock and started pounding. It took a long, long time. I was sore and a little scraped-up when I finally wedged open a crack in the shell. But once I did, I turned it upside-down and drank clean coconut water that I didn't even have to purify. I'd never had a fresh coconut before. It tasted like sunscreen but in a good way. Once I finished the water I carved out bits of meat. It wasn't very hearty but I thought it would probably keep me alive, especially if I wasn't doing much and was mostly sitting still.

Once I'd scraped out the flesh I could get from the little hole I'd gouged in the shell, I tested the final part of my plan. I hefted the shell and then dropped it. It shot to the ground and hit with an audible noise. If it had been full and not scraped clean it would have hit even harder. I could imagine what it would do to someone's skull.


Martin Jackman- District Seven male (16)

"Well on the bright side, I can get my stick back," Porsche said as she leaned on a walking stick she'd gleaned. "Better look out, I'm armed and dangerous by Capitol standards." If it wasn't me, I kind of hoped Porsche won. Maybe she could get a new leg then.

As Preji threw rocks at a banana tree to try to dislodge some, I sat trying to sharpen a stick on another tree. If I could make a spear I'd be able to defend us against anyone who tried to attack us. Porsche would certainly give them hell but she could use help from someone strong like me. People from Seven had a lot of advantages in the Games. We knew the outdoors and we were a lot tougher than people from the city Districts. I may have been a bit of a long shot compared to the Careers but I still had a shot. And outliers had killed Careers before.

I barely even noticed when I scrunched up my shoulder and it hit my ear.

"What was that?" Preji asked from behind me.

"It's-" I started. Why was I still doing it? I knew it was fake but I was still doing it. Maybe that meant it wasn't entirely fake, it just wasn't Tourette's. I mean, people don't just fake an illness out of nowhere. There's usually a reason. It was something a therapist probably could have helped me figure out, but we were a long way from any therapists. I'd have to do my best on my own.

"It's kind of a nervous thing," I said. Just saying it gave me a little insight. "Like when people bite their nails."

"I knew a girl who did that. It got infected and they had to cut the tip off," Porsche said. "That doesn't usually happen. She just also picked at the cuticle skin and eventually it would bleed."

"Gross," Preji said.

"Wasn't a joyride for her either," Porsche said.

Why do I do it? I sat there sharpening my spear in silence and trying to figure myself out. I'd always thought my tics were what made me special. It was something that set me apart and made me rare. Sure they were inconvenient but that meant it was kind of brave that I could get over them and live my life despite them. I guess I wanted to be brave. Everyone does, so that didn't make me a bad person. And I was brave. I was making a spear to defend my alliance against the Careers.

Everyone wants to be noticed. That was part of human nature. And goodness knew my family had never noticed me. It was always either Pine getting into trouble and needing us all to bail him out or Red being perfect and always doing everything right. And then there was me, who wasn't noticeably bad or noticeably good. I was just average.

I didn't remember when I started the tics. They probably came out of something real, like I had an itchy neck one day. It kind of spiraled from there and since I told myself it had been real from the start I couldn't tell when the faking began. And it felt helpful to tic. It made me feel like I was in control of something. I did it more when I was stressed and there was something soothing about it. It was like when people twirl their hair when they're nervous. There was nothing wrong with that. Maybe there was nothing wrong with my tics, if I didn't tell people they were Tourette's. At least in the Arena. Anything that made me less nervous was good in a place like this. I could still be me, even if the special was artificial. I'd just never tell people it was Tourette's again and hopefully most of them would forget. Because honestly it was really embarrassing.


18th place: Nero Inculta- asphyxiated by anaconda
I thought I'd shake things up and kill a Career early. I had a lot of female deaths for once and since I wanted to use an anaconda it could just as easily be a Career. Nero was something of a golden boy but it seemed like he didn't really know his own identity yet, which is normal for someone his age. He got a raw deal trying to fight a 30-foot snake with a throwing knife. Sometimes that's the Games. He wasn't as mean as most Careers and I anticipate this group as a whole will be slower and less vicious in culling the outliers. But he actually had real weaknesses so a big thanks to CarlpoppaLOL (I think- they have lots of different names) for that.

Timeline: Second day

Location updates (new updates in bold)

Careers: hunting in various locations

Japanese Gardens: Oberon and RJ

Rainforest Gardens: City Slickers, Omar

North Garden: The Rejects, Cheyanne

Pavilion: Pell

Sunken Garden: Soleil