Celestial Yeager, D4

I never wanted them to be like this. When I saw animals, I thought I had some friends in the Arena. They were adorable and furry and loveable- not that I wouldn't have loved them anyway if they'd been ugly. Animals were animals and I loved them all. I was afraid they'd be vicious and eat me up, but they turned out to like honey instead. I had some honey, and we were fast friends.

Things didn't go sour until Thompson chased me up a tree and camped out underneath until he could figure out a way to get up. I hid in the upper branches and dodged when he threw his spear, and it looked like I'd be safe. Then someone sent him a tree-climbing kit and he started to scale the trunk. I panicked, and the only thing that came into my head was to go to the mutts. There were two dozen of them sprawled on the branches around me. They didn't look like much, but I thought maybe they'd scare him away or make him lose his balance. I tipped over my honey jar and a stream of the golden goop slowly dribbled down onto Thompson.

What happened next was horrible. The animals poured down on Thompson like a hurricane. They swarmed over him and latched on with their little sharp claws. Thompson screamed and fell backwards off the tree and into the mud. I thought the animals would leave him alone- I prayed they would- but they pressed in even more. Thompson started to make awful, high-pitched noises and blood started to seep out from hundreds of tiny bite marks. They didn't stop when the honey was gone. They only stopped when Thompson was gone.

A thin, pinkish skeleton lay at the bottom of the tree when the animals came back up. They skittered down the branch and gathered around me. I was nearly frozen in fear as they snuggled up to me, chittering and falling over each other. Their muzzles were flecked in blood and they smelled like flesh. They were all over me, just like Thompson. They didn't attack, but they could have.

They weren't my pets anymore after that. I was the pet. They kept me around because I gave them honey. If the honey was gone, I didn't know what would happen. They might have grown fond of me and just keep me around for old time's sake, or they might get their food one way or another. From then on, I was toeing the line. I'd be a good pet.

It was a horrible idea that came to me as I looked down at Thompson's skeleton. They did that once, and they could do it again. As many times as they wanted to, even. There were five Tributes left. I wouldn't do it to Heidi or Peppermint, but Venus and Royal were fair game.

I didn't end up having to do it to Heidi or Royal. They both died before our paths crossed. When I bumped into Peppermint, we ended up allying instead of killing each other. We both wanted Venus dead before we wanted each other dead. One of us had to die anyway, so we might as well take Venus out first.

It went well at first. Peppermint drew Venus out, and she came at me. As she was about to throw her knife, I held up a hand. She halted, probably out of honest curiosity.

"Wait! Do you like honey?" I asked. As she cocked her head at the bizarreness of it, I threw my honey jar. It spilled all over her when it hit her chest. She wiped at it and wrinkled her nose when it stuck to her fingers. As she looked back up to throw the knife, the animals came at her. Then it went wrong.

When Venus saw the animals, she didn't start throwing. She sensed danger and ran. As she ran, she plowed into Peppermint. They both fell over, and the honey went everywhere. The animals reached them as they disentangled themselves. I was too late to stop them, not that I could have if I'd been quicker. They were like wild dogs. Venus didn't make a sound, but Peppermint made up for it. It was the worst thing I'd ever seen and the worst thing I'd ever heard.

"I'm sorry!" I screamed, hopefully loud enough for her to hear it. "I didn't mean it!"

The cannons sounded together. Venus and Peppermint were all tangled up again. I couldn't tell whose blood was whose and what limb attached to which body. The animals stripped the last of the flesh off and came skittering back to me. They chattered cheerfully and rubbed their bloody faces on my legs.

I want to go home, I thought as I felt the warm blood. I want to see otters. Otters don't do this.

I finally got to the end of my first SYOT. If I just do like ten more, I'll be all caught up.