Heidi Garrett, D9
There were only five of us left: me, Venus, Celestial, Peppermint, and Ever. Venus was unstoppable, Peppermint was tough as nails, and Ever was the strongest outlier. The only surprises were me and Celestial. Maybe I should have allied with her.
Surviving hadn't been a problem so far. Someone sent me a water purifying straw, and there was plenty of food if you didn't mind raw frog. I hadn't seen the crocodile in a week and the furry mutts had been leaving me alone. I wondered if Celestial liked those guys. She loved animals so much.
I tried to look forward to the future, but I didn't think I saw anything. I couldn't see any future where I would live and Venus or Ever didn't. Nine didn't even have a single Victor. What made me think I could do anything different? My father had been so sure I could do it. He said something to me before I left.
"There's my girl who can find a needle in a haystack," he said.
"That's easy," I'd said. "Burn the haystack."
Burn the haystack. It couldn't work. It was a terrible idea. I couldn't burn an Arena that was half water. But when I looked at the tree towering above me, I saw something that gave me hope. The trees were so densely intertwined they practically merged. If one tree went up in flames, it didn't matter about the water at the bottom. The fire would spread from the top. The trees would be damp, but that was actually a good thing. I'd seen grass fires in the springtime. The wet crops made suffocatingly thick blankets of smoke. That would be my weapon.
I wouldn't have expected to have matches in the pack I grabbed. I didn't, but I had a multitool. Dangling from one side was a strip of flint on a string. I struck it against a metal blade until a spark landed on my tiny pile of tinder I made from a dry leaf. I nurtured the fire and built it up on top of the base of a tree. The wood started to smolder underneath my little fire, and I watched it slowly inch its way up the trunk.
It was hours before the fire really took hold. The thick, damp wood was hard to burn, and dark smoke rose from the spot it started. As the air started to warm, I slid down off the tree and cleared myself a space under another bunch of roots. Smoke went up, so I was going down. If I was successful in killing anyone, it would be Ever. She was the most likely to be up in the trees. She was my biggest threat other than Venus. I just hoped I didn't get Celestial.
When the fire hit the leaves, it took off faster. I heard the crackling as it spread from one tree to another, and the air grew stifling with smoke and heat. I pressed down farther into the mud to avoid the scorching air. More quickly than I'd anticipated, the entire Arena felt like an oven.
The first cannon sound after another half hour. Two more came after that. I hadn't expected that much success, and it scared me a little. I wondered if one had been Celestial and hoped the mutts had been with her.
Another cannnon came a few minutes later. I sat stunned in my hole. I never would have thought it could happen. All four of them, gone just like that. The whole Arena was burned up, and only one little needle was left.