The Park: Clickers

A/N: The Park, part 1 of 2. Enjoy!

~Who shot that arrow in your throat?

Who missed the crimson apple?

It hung heavy on the tree above your head~

Juniper Lourdes

The rain had finally stopped. It was eerily quiet without the constant pattering to serve as a backdrop. The city seemed even more eerie than before. Walking the streets alone had given her an awful feeling. It felt as if something was waiting to leap out at her at any moment. She knew that it wouldn't be long before she found a mutt or tribute on the streets, so she had swerved off as soon as possible, and the park had provided the perfect opportunity.

It looked massive from the outside. It was an expanse of complete nature, trees and vines and waist-length grass everywhere. Really it wasn't all that much bigger than most parks, but it was big enough that Juniper wouldn't be able to tell if someone else was there with her, particularly with the tall grass. She could lie down in the middle of the park and nobody would ever know she was there.

Not that she was willing to test that theory out. She was keeping moving, doing everything she could to make sure the Capitol saw her as someone looking for action. She was still holding onto her dagger, and she had proved that she was willing to use it. She was a contender.

That was harder to convince herself of. She hadn't slept last night. Nightmares kept waking her up. Every time she closed her eyes she would see it, Inesa's eyes staring up at her. Silent. Accusing.

Murder turned out to be harder to shake off than theft, who would have thought? She hoped that it would get easier. It wouldn't be the last time she would be killing, not if she wanted to make it out. And she was going to make it out. She couldn't have gone so far for nothing. She was a killer, and that had to mean something. If she had murdered someone in their sleep, all for it to mean nothing. . . what would that make her?

Juniper was almost grateful that she didn't have to answer that question. A noise stole her attention, a croaking sort of shriek, followed by a few short, high-pitched clicks. It came from behind her, and she crouched down, hiding below the grass and sneaking over to the nearest tree, hiding behind its trunk.

The sound came again, and she peeked around the tree, and spotted the source of the sound. The only way to describe it was a monster. It looked vaguely like a human, but it clearly wasn't. The body was covered in what almost looked like warts, protrusions of fleshy, discolored fungus all over. Its head was worse. It was as if a human's head had been split open at the center, almost like mushrooms growing over it. Its mouth was distinctly human, but the teeth were sharpened and its lip almost entirely torn off so that its mouth was bare and open, bloody and fleshy.

Juniper was frozen in place. It was wandering around aimlessly, swinging its arms around as it continued to make that awful sound. It had no eyes that Juniper could see, and based on the way it was moving it wasn't a long logical step to take that it was blind. That gave her a bit of relief.

She let out a sigh. The thing snapped its head towards her. Juniper froze, going still. It let out a croak and started staggering towards her hiding spot. She stumbled backwards, crawling through the grass for a moment before falling down and going still. The thing was at the tree now, flailing at the spot that Juniper had just been at. Its head was spinning around, letting out the clicking sound.

Something clicked in Juniper's mind. She felt like an idiot. She was an idiot, and it nearly cost her her life. A blind creature using clicking sounds? It didn't take a genius to put those puzzle pieces together. So she just had to be quiet. Very quiet. That was fine. She would get out of here, and from there it would be fine. If it was blind then it probably wouldn't be able to follow her far. She just had to get out of the park.

She waited for a moment, letting her heartbeat calm, then she slowly climbed to her feet, careful not to make any sort of noise. She almost let out a breath of relief when it didn't react to her moving, but stopped herself short.

It started moving, seemingly random as it continued to make that clicking noise as it swung its arms about. Juniper kept her distance, backing away from it. The exit she knew of had that thing in the way, so Juniper would have to find a different way. She had the dagger still, but the Gamemakers would have to forgive herself for not fighting a six foot tall monster out of a horror movie when walking away was also an option.

She continued backing away, unwilling to look away from the thing until she was well away. She had a gut feeling that the moment she looked away it would charge at her. She stole a glance behind her, and she saw a gate off in the distance. She could make it there and then hop over. She doubted it would be able to follow. It led to some part of the city that Juniper hadn't explored, but anywhere was better than locked in a grassland with that thing.

Her foot hit against something. Glass shattered at the loudest volume Juniper had ever heard before. Just a slight tip over, a slight crack, but it made her entire body shudder. Her eyes snapped over to the thing, which returned the favor. They were both still for a moment. Then, it began running towards her, screeching.

She should have ran and then gone still, tried to outhink it, but her brain wasn't working on logic, it was pure adrenaline and survival instinct picking up as she turned and ran towards the gate. She reached it and immediately started climbing. She made it two steps before something grabbed onto her leg.

Juniper felt a sharp pain as it dug its teeth into her calf. She screamed out, flailing as she fell onto the ground, the breath leaving her lungs as she landed with a thud. The thing came at her, and she panicked, flailing out with the dagger in her hand. The blade went through its neck.

It didn't seem to notice.

Her hand was torn away, and she closed her eyes as she saw the monster lurching its head towards her, blood pouring from its gapped teeth. Her lips wobbled and she sent up a silent prayer. She felt something tear into her neck, a sharp pain that was quickly dulled away and washed aside with a calming sensation that went through her veins.

River

Boom!

The canon went off as the animal continued to tear into the girl from Seven. River watched from her treetop perch, chewing on an apple as she eyed the creature curiously. It was different from the ones before. At first they had been mindless, running around and attacking anything they saw. Then they had all disappeared, and been replaced by smarter ones. Those ones were like hunters. They hid in the grass and stalked their prey. They had come after River a few times, but she was a better hunter than they were. None of their tricks worked.

But these were something else entirely. They were blind, for starters. They seemed aware of their surroundings, at least if something was very close to it. And its hearing was good. It seemed to hear even a footstep, and it didn't hesitate to run at any noise and attack. That also was a disadvantage, and made them easy to trick.

River had been hard at work. The forest was small, which just made it easier to rig with traps. She had collected glass from the streets, and combined them with bricks and rope traps to make the entire forest a landmine for anyone or anything but her. She felt bad that the girl had died because of her trap. She had meant them to keep people out, and to keep her safe from the animals. She hadn't meant to kill anyone.

She finished the apple, and pocketed the core. In an emergency it would make a good distraction for the animals. Heavy enough to make a bit of noise to distract them. She took out her bottle of water, taking a quick swig before placing it back in her pack. She had managed to create a filter with rocks, coarse sand, charcoal (she had to burn some wood in a small pit for that, something that had been risky but worth it in the long run), fine sand, and cloth. It turned even the grimy sewer water clear, but didn't clear out the bacteria. With those gross animals splashing around in it, she made sure to boil it every time before she drank. Luckily, a metal pot had dropped from the sky for her to do just that, and so she didn't have to worry about water anymore.

River had everything she needed. She felt secure and safe for the first time in a long time. She was in her element, surviving the way that she knew how. Nobody could harm her in the forest. It was her place, and she knew it better than anyone else. She could already make her way through the entire forest with her eyes closed, avoiding her traps the whole time. The animals didn't give her trouble anymore. They tried, but they never got close.

In the distance, River saw something. Carefully, she walked across the branches to the nearest tree, and recovered her bow and arrows from the hollowed out hole in the trunk she had found. It was a handy place to hide things, particularly when she tied herself down to the branch and went to sleep.

She recovered the bow, slinging the quiver over her shoulder and shimmying her way back to her main vantage point, the tallest tree that was at the center of the forest. Off in the streets neighboring the forest, where the girl who had just died came from, River could just barely make out a group approaching.

They were too far for her to tell who it was, but there were a lot of them. Five that River could see. One of them pointed towards the forest, and the rest of the group made a turn and headed towards the gate that blocked it from the outside streets.

River's heartbeat quickened. She had thought the forest would be quiet, but now all these people were coming to change that. And they were loud, she could already hear them. The animal could too, but it was too busy eating the remains of the girl to notice or care. They would bring more of them into the forest, and ruin everything.

She held a hand to her heart, steadying herself. She closed her eyes, and focused on her breathing. It would be okay. She had set up her traps. She wouldn't let someone come into her forest and destroy everything again. She would protect it. River didn't want to hurt them, but she wasn't going to give up her new home.

River slung her backpack in front of her, and began digging around inside of it. A brick, a few glass bottles, she would be ready for them. She hung her backpack on the branch, and took a moment to be silent. She thought of the prayers that Wanderer had taught her. They were all too complicated for her, and she could never remember the words. But she remembered how it made her feel. The way that the words sounded when he spoke them, and what he said they meant.

She was the River's daughter, he had told her. And The River protected her own, wherever they went, no matter how far. River opened her eyes, and slung the quiver over her shoulder, holding tightly to the bow in her hands.

She wouldn't lose another home.

Nikola Surge

Nikola didn't like the way that the alliance was shaping out. Everyone was secretly glad when Lana had split off at the bloodbath. The kid was a ticking time bomb, and then she showed exactly that by killing Udon. Nikola didn't give a shit about Udon, but still, he knew fully well that could've just as easily been him on the receiving end of that thrashing. And then Talon just welcomes her back like it's nothing? He didn't even need to kill her, she was gonna die of her own injuries, but he used their supplies to save a kid who had murdered one of their alliance. A kid who needed to die if they all wanted to win. It didn't make any sense.

He didn't exactly have anyone he trusted in confiding that with, even though he knew they both agreed with him. Maya firmly trusted Talon, far more than she trusted Nikola at least. And Ciera was a wallflower, who was to know what she really thought about anything. So he had to keep his thoughts to himself.

But still, it worried him. He could see the writing on the wall. The final eight was approaching, and when it arrived Talon would want to cut the extra weight loose. And he was at the top of the list of most likely targets. He only needed one ally, and as long as Lana was around he would choose her. Unless every single one of the rest of the alliance was gone, Talon would have a knife to the back for him real soon. So he had to slip away. Preferably as late as possible, seeing as the arena didn't seem like a kind place for loners to wander.

"Hey, look at that!" Maya pointed ahead, and all of them looked her way. The streets had proved to be pretty empty and eventless thus far, but just ahead was a large park in the center of the city.

"Yeah, a park, so what?" Nikola asked.

"It's something that isn't concrete, so I vote we check it out," Maya said, turning to Talon. Nikola didn't have to look over to know who he would side with.

"Could be worth checking out," he said.

Ciera seemed hesitant, but went along with it, trailing after Maya as she led the way. Lana was still limping, holding onto her gut as she staggered along. She refused any help that Talon offered, and had a determined look in her eyes that seemed to refuse showing any weakness.

Nikola got the feeling that Talon didn't really expect to find anything in the park except for a place to get the girl to rest for a while. Just another example of the boy's softness for his district partner.

They had to climb a fence to enter the park, with the front gate locked, and once they were inside it seemed less like a park and more like a forest or grassland. The grass was up to his thighs, and there was no telling what kinda freaky shit the Gamemakers were hiding below, out of sight. Nikola hated it already.

Maya led the way, and paused in front of one of the trees. "Huh, that's odd," she said quietly.

"What is?" Talon asked. One of his hands went to the hilt of his sword as he walked toward her. Ciera kept walking by Maya, spinning around in a circle as she took in the forest. Lana was silent, her eyes darting around the treetops suspiciously. A dagger slipped from her pocket into her hand. Nikola took a step back.

"Right here," Maya said, kneeling down. She looked up to Talon. "It looks like there's some sort of-"

The arrow entered her forehead, snapping her head back and cutting her sentence off halfway. Ciera let out a scream, and Nikola staggered back.

Boom!

Ciera's screaming continued, and Nikola looked over to see her leg caught in a rope, being pulled into the air and dangled above the ground. A massive collection of glass bottles and bricks all fell to the ground in unison with the trap, shattering loudly.

Nikola and Talon looked at each other. A chorus of shrieking screams rose from all around them.

Ciera screamed again, thrashing about. "Help me down! Help me down! Please!" She pleaded.

Talon looked ready to step towards her, but paused as the shrieking continued, louder now. It may have been Nikola's imagination but he swore he could hear footsteps pounding. One of the mutts came at them from the grass, it's head completely overgrown with the fungus and seemingly split in half. The mutts didn't even look human anymore, just like freakish monsters.

Talon stepped forward, grunting as he swung out his sword. It made it halfway through the thing's head before stopping, but thankfully that was enough. It twitched, then fell to the ground as Talon yanked his blade free.

He looked over to Ciera, who was still yelling for help, then over to Lana, and then to Nikola. "We've gotta get out of here," he said.

Nikola nodded. He looked back to their two allies, shook his head, then quickly ran over to Maya's body and grabbed the pack off of her back. "Alright," he said breathlessly.

"Don't leave me!" Ciera screeched. She was flailing now, tears mixing into her words as she sobbed. Nikola didn't even look back, lugging the bags over his shoulder and following Talon as he bolted towards the gate.

Lana tripped over a root, letting out a pained grunt as she landed on the ground. Talon paused, and Nikola looked at him frantically. The creatures were at the gates now, dozens of them pouring into the park.

"We've gotta get out of here, forget about her!" He yelled.

Talon hesitated, then shook his head, running back. Nikola let out a frustrated, muted scream, and ran ahead to the gate by himself. None of the mutts were coming from the street they had come from, and so he threw his bags over the fence, and dug in his feet, quickly working on climbing up. He went faster than he had any right being able to, adrenaline pushing him up.

He stopped for a moment at the top, even his dangling feet out of reach of the mutts, to look back. Talon had Lana in his arms, and he was limping, an arrow dug partially into his calf as he limped forward, a pained expression as he cradled her, pushing toward the fence. He collapsed at the base, the two of them both falling to the ground. Most of the mutts seemed attracted to Ciera's screaming, her hands desperately swatting away the horde that was attacking her. A few had noticed the duo, though, and three of them were charging towards them. Talon stumbled to his feet, sword held loosely in one hand as he swayed in place.

The first mutt lashed out at him, and stopped just short, an arrow in the back of its head as it fell to the floor. The other two continued their assault, but were dropped in rapid succession. Nikola tried to track the shots, but couldn't see where they were coming from, the foliage in the trees too dense to see a thing.

Talon didn't seem to share his curiosity. He stumbled backwards, helping Lana to her feet and pushing her up the first half of the fence. Lana managed the rest on her own, nearly falling over as she reached the top, but managing to hold on and slip her way to the ground. Nikola dropped next to her, and Talon came soon after.

He was breathless, and gone was the normal calmness and confidence that he wore. He winced as he brought a hand down to his calf. "Come on," he said breathlessly, he waved them forwards. "We gotta get out of here."

Nikola didn't need to be told twice, and he hurried ahead, rushing forward to the building next door and holding the door open as Lana and Talon wordlessly limped through, both of them collapsing in a heap as soon as they made it through.

Nikola slammed the door shut, and did the same, slumping to the ground, his heart racing. He was vaguely aware that a canon had gone off while they were running, but wasn't sure when.

He brought a hand up to his face, running it through his hair as he let out a shaky breath. "Fuck, man," he said, his voice shaking.

Talon nodded his head. "Yeah," he said breathlessly. "Fuck."

A/N: Yeah so deaths are happening again, you know that couldn't last long. Next chapter will be the second and final part of The Park, so tune in tomorrow to see the aftermath of all this chaos. Clickers have now entered the arena, so rip everyone tbh. Hope y'all enjoyed this bloody chapter, cya tomorrow.

14th: Juniper Lourdes. Torn apart by Clicker after stepping on noise trap set by River. That was a more brutal death than you deserved Juniper. Juniper was such an amazing character, one who was morally conflicted and normally the type of character that I would be rushing to make a victor. She was so much fun to write, and I really enjoyed her, but ultimately I didn't know how to fit her into the larger story going on here, and so she had to go here. Thank you Andii for this incredibly complex character. RIP

13th: Maya Hoover. Shot with arrow by River. Maya was easily my fave non-POV character. She was just such a fun character, witty and smart and funny while not being a total asshole. If she were a POV character she'd probably be one of the faves and somebody I'd be considering as a victor. But she wasn't, so when someone had to die here, it was always gonna have to be her. RIP

12th: Ciera Ocussia. Torn apart by Clickers while caught in trap set by River. Ciera was another phenomenal character that kind of got pushed to the background when they deserved better. She was such a complex, interesting character that just got lost in the shuffle. With a six person alliance not everyone will shine, and she was the one who felt most out of place, so again, when a POV character had to die here she was going to be the one. Thank you VR for sending in Ciera, she was such an incredible character! RIP

Trivia(1-8 points): Well River just popped off. Don't step on her turf. Only 3 more deaths and then it's final eight time. Guess what the final eight will be and I'll shoot you 1 point for every right guess.