Here we are: we've entered the Hunger Games!
Sorry for the late update; I started school again so my updates will become less frequent. I'm aiming for one chapter per week, but you should know by this point that I'm terrible when it comes to deadlines :D
Sorry if I kill your tribute this chapter - I really debated some of the deaths, but I think all of them are for the best. I'll explain the reasons next chapter, because I'm not doing eulogies until the chapter after, so you won't be able to just skip to the bottom to see who died. If you want to know, you'll have to read the whole chapter.
I feel really bad about killing some of the tributes because most submitters only ended up having one of their tributes in the Games so some no longer have any tributes. Sorry if this happened to you, and I hope you don't stop reading!
I'm also having two parts for each day, and each will have 6 POVs.
District 1
Trajan Seth
Leandros Winthrop counts down from sixty, and the tension rises. Everyone around me is on edge, with only a few exceptions. I quickly scan the arena, trying to figure out who intends to enter the Cornucopia. From what I can see, the number of swords and overall supplies in the arena are minimal. Most years, the Careers will have enough supplies to last them weeks no matter how many kids enter the Bloodbath. But the supplies this year are limited, so any kid who takes a single blanket is probably greatly impacting us.
Most kids look ready to run into the Bloodbath, but a handful are facing toward the forest. And by 'a handful', I mean the two tributes on either side of me, who seem to be the only kids facing toward the jungle behind us. The boy from District 12 is on one side, and the girl from District 3 is on the other.
Technically, I know it would make more sense to kill the kids trying to gather supplies since there are so few. But I didn't Volunteer to have a lot of supplies in the arena - I volunteered to separate the sheep from the wolves and kill the sheep. I'll kill the wolves too, but the sheep must die first.
People who run from the Bloodbath are automatically marked as sheep in my eyes. Some sheep will also enter the Bloodbath, but it might be difficult to separate them from wolves amidst all of the chaos. I need to chase after the people who are definitely sheep. So I reluctantly turn my back on the few goodies placed in and around the Cornucopia and face the boy from District 12, who seems like he has no wolf in him at all.
He notices me staring and nervously licks his lips, then tenses up, getting ready to run. Leandros continues counting down - in a few seconds, the gong will sound and I can finally leap into the Games.
"3… 2… 1…"
The gong rings, and everyone leaps off of their pedestals as if on cue. The boy rushes toward the jungle, but he isn't a very fast runner. The girl from District 3 is much quicker and manages to pull ahead. I scowl; I suppose I won't be able to kill her yet. But the boy from District 12 is almost as slow as I am.
I'm not a faster runner, and I know it will be very difficult to run in the dense jungle, so I know it would be best to kill the boy before he gets away. The distance between us begins to widen, and I know if it widens any more, I won't have a chance of catching him. We reach the edge of the jungle, and I leap toward him.
I tackle him and yank him to the ground. He immediately scrambles to get away, but I punch him in the face, which promptly knocks him back to the ground. His hands fly to his nose, which is gushing blood, but I punch him again.
This time, I hear a loud snap and I know his nose is broken. The boy lets out a strangled cry and begins fighting to get away again, but I hold him down with my hand and knee. I only now realize that I don't have a weapon, which is a little inconvenient. I'll be able to kill him anyway, though.
I reach out for a mossy rock lying an arm's reach away, but as I do so, he bucks upward, knocking me off him. I let out a startled shout as I crash into the ground. I barely have time to process anything before the boy's fist connects with my face. He's surprisingly strong, and blood fills my mouth. I suspect he's knocked a tooth loose. I focus my vision on the boy in front of me, who has his arm cocked to punch me again. When he punches toward my face, I grab hold of his wrist. The momentum causes it to still hit my face, but I barely feel anything.
The boy pulls his wrist, trying to get away, but my strong hands won't let go. I twist his wrist to one side until I hear a snap. The boy cries out and I let go of his wrist. He immediately brings it toward him, crying out in pain. I use my foot to kick him back and he stumbles back against a tree.
This seems to snap him out of his daze, and he begins running away, still nursing his broken wrist. My aim isn't great, but apparently, it's good enough, because when I throw the moss-covered rock at him, it hits him square in the back and he falls over. I don't have time to be impressed by my aim.
I dart over to him just as he's trying to get back to his feet. I slam my foot into his back, knocking him back down. I grab hold of the rock, and before anything can go wrong again, I slam it into his head.
The boy screams in pain and terror as I bring the rock back into his head. It takes longer than I would have expected, but that's probably due to the spongy moss covering the outside. Eventually, blood begins to cover the rock and his screams die down. I strike him in the head one more time to make sure he's dead. The cannon doesn't boom, but it won't until the Bloodbath is over.
Even if he isn't actually dead, he isn't going anywhere. I won't feel satisfied until I'm absolutely sure, so I press two fingers against his slick, bloody neck and feel for a pulse. He's still.
I stand up and drop the rock. I need to get back to the Cornucopia - a lot of the stuff will probably be gone by now. I wipe my bloody hand against my pants and begin jogging back to the Cornucopia. The District 12 boy and I didn't go far into the jungle, so it doesn't take long until I'm back in the action.
There are a few bodies on the ground, but not an acceptable amount. I push past a few battles to reach the mouth of the Cornucopia, where the number of supplies remaining is pathetic. I scan the walls, but don't see any more swords. I groan and reluctantly snatch up a spear. I look at the table which previously held all of the guns - unsurprisingly, it's empty. It has also been smashed and is now in two pieces.
I really want a gun. The person with the gun is the one with all of the power. And since the gun is no longer in an easily accessible location, I'll have to take it from someone. I scan the battle scene ensuing around me, but only see one gun. It's held onto by a girl who's standing over someone she just killed.
I charge at her and she doesn't notice me until I tackle her to the ground and knock the gun from her hands.
"Trajan, what are you doing?" she demands angrily as I grab the gun. Cecelia glares at me, dusting off her white jacket, which is now stained with blood and dirt.
"I wanted a gun," I say simply, grinning. She seems very angry, but knows better than to mess with me. After all, I have the gun.
District 5
Tracey Aderyn
Macey and I know we have no chance if we attempt to leap right into the Bloodbath. From the moment we were Reaped (or at least, when we finally accepted that we'd need to plan) we decided we stood no chance trying to get supplies and our best option would be to run away.
I was very glad when we first rose up and realized the arena held a dense forest. It has a lot of hiding places, which will be good for our strategy. It's impossible to tell how far the arena stretches yet, but I hope it's large. Macey and I carefully turned to face the forest (by now, everyone knows we have some issues with balance, and we didn't want to fall off the pedestal) and now we anxiously wait for the gong to sound.
When it does, Macey leaps off slightly before me and begins running. My foot lags behind slightly, surprised by her sudden burst of speed. I lose control of my leg and we topple to the ground. I fall face-first into the shin-high grass, not managing to block my fall in time.
"Go, go!" Macey shouts frantically, and tries to pull us up. I scramble up and begin trying to move forward, but we both fall back down. We have no rhythm for walking when we're trying to run at top speed.
I try to continue moving, but Macey is frozen. I look to my right and see Macey gaping in horror at something behind us. Terrified, I begin to turn my head, but before I can, a sword slams into Macey's neck, beheading her. I let out a scream as my sister's head rolls across the ground in front of me. As blood gushes from the stump of her neck, I begin feeling faint.
Not wanting to look behind me at Macey's murderer, I begin clawing myself forward, using my one hand to drag our body away from whoever is behind us. I know it's no use. Even if I manage to escape, I'll bleed out. Tears begin sliding down my cheeks as I lose the feeling in my body.
A pair of legs easily walk around me, blocking my path. The leather boots in front of me are the same color as my own; gray. I slowly raise my head to look up at Dennis. He maniacally grins down at me, holding a blood-stained sword. It's stained with Macey's blood. My blood.
"I said I would kill you in the arena. I said I would separate you," Dennis says in a low voice, still smiling creepily at me. "Now, I'm going to fulfill my promise."
I already feel myself fading as Dennis lifts the sword high above his head. My hand, which is clenched tightly around a clump of grass in anticipation twitches and falls loose, soaking up the warm blood I'm lying in. Before Dennis can bring his sword down on me, a body charges into him and knocks him to the ground.
It's too late. My head is fuzzy and drops, splashing into the puddle of blood. My vision goes spotty, then white, and then all of my thoughts fade.
District 9
Hadley Moreau
The moment the gong sounds, I leap off my platform and run toward the center of the Cornucopia. Around me, everyone else runs toward the Cornucopia just as fast. I grit my teeth and urge myself to run faster than I ever have, and I somehow manage to be one of the first people to the Cornucopia, despite my short legs.
I skid to a halt and immediately grab one of the two remaining guns on the wicker table. I consider taking the other one, when I hear a familiar scream behind me.
"Hadley!" Linen screams, and I spin around, losing my chance to grab the second gun. I don't worry about it, though, because I have more pressing concerns. Linen and Axel are both caught up in a tussle for a knapsack with the boy from District 3. I gasp and rush over to them as Axel and the boy (his name might be Nicholas?) wrestle each other. Linen slings the knapsack over her shoulder, but Nicholas strikes Axel in the face, knocking him to the ground.
Nicholas stands up, holding a dagger in his hand. I charge at him, confident that I can beat Nicholas. However, someone else reaches the three of them first.
The girl from District 2, Glitter Monique, aims a crossbow at the three of them. Not noticing me, she aims at Nicholas first. Without hesitation, she shoots a bolt through his heart. He crumples to the ground, dagger dropped and a bolt embedded in his chest. Axel and Linen both scamper to get away, but she aims at them next. She shoots a bolt at Axel, only hitting his calf.
I lift my pistol and shoot it at her. I've never used a gun before, and the recoil startles me. The bullet misses her greatly, but she looks up at me, surprised. I aim at her again, this time prepared and confident I won't miss.
Glitter seems to realize she's no match against me, at least while I have a gun, and darts away, back toward the Cornucopia. I intend to shoot her, but I hear my name yelled again. This time, it comes from Savanna.
I turn to see where it's coming from and barely have time to register the sight of Kade plunging a spear into Savanna's chest. On impulse, I raise my gun and fire at Kade. I don't miss this time - the bullet hits his temple, and he immediately falls to the ground alongside Savanna.
I rush toward the pair of them; they're near the pedestals and I have to push past the boy from District 8 in order to reach them, but I'm determined to see Savanna, to make sure she's okay. Maybe I saw wrong and the spear actually missed her?
But when I reach her body, there's a spear protruding from her chest and a puddle of blood surrounding her. I fall to my knees, unable to tear myself away. Savanna was my last bit of home, and now she's gone. She was the first person I connected with in the Hunger Games, and in a way, I felt determined to protect her. I've failed. I promised to protect her, and I couldn't even keep that promise for longer than ten minutes in the Hunger Games.
"Hadley, we have to go," Axel says, tugging on my arm. I yank my arm back, refusing to leave Savanna's corpse among the bloodthirsty Careers who caused this. She shouldn't have to just stay here, waiting for a hovercraft to pick her up as Careers laugh about her death.
"Hadley, everyone's leaving," Linen informs me, urgency in her tone. I look around and see that the Cornucopia is emptying out; only a few tributes are left fighting and a lot of the Careers are roaming free, without anyone to distract them from my alliance. Linen and Axel both loaded up with supplies; they have the knapsack that caused so much trouble earlier and both are armed with daggers. There's also what looks like a lasso tied around Axel's arm.
"We can't stay here," Axel presses, his eyes darting nervously around the Cornucopia.
"Fine," I say, picking myself up. The knees of my pants are stained with blood; I don't know who's. Axel thrusts the lasso into my hands and both he and Linen take off, rushing for the treeline. I run after them, the bloodstains on my knees warm and sticky. I peer over my shoulder at the Cornucopia as we depart. There are so many kids who had been alive minutes before, but are now lying dead on the ground. The group of Careers meet up near the center.
I make eye-contact with one of them, the boy from District 4, as we leave. For a second, I think he's going to run after us, but he tears his eyes away and faces the rest of his group. I breathe a sigh of relief as we enter the tree-line.
We're safe. For now.
District 12
Rachel Ivy
I leap off the pedestal a second before the gong rings. I want to get a head-start, and I assumed I would land just after the gong rung. For one heart-stopping instant I think that I'll hit the ground faster than I expected and blow up into thousands of pieces, but then the gong sounds and my feet hit the soft dirt. Intact.
I race into the center, running the hardest I ever have. I can't afford to slow down at all; I'm not a super-fast runner (although, I wouldn't call myself slow) so I need to compensate with my adrenaline. My pedestal was at the very end of the semi-circle, so I can see everyone racing in to my right. The boy from District 10, Buck, was to my right and he's currently lagging behind, which doesn't bode well for him.
I can't see my allies, but if I'm being perfectly honest, I'm not looking that hard. I scanned the placements once when we first entered, so I have a basic idea where most of them are (although, I couldn't find Yael), so I know Tristana will be on the other side of Buck and Arabella will be almost perpendicular to me.
I know I should focus on grabbing supplies, since there aren't a lot of backpacks and most of them will be snatched up immediately. However, I have my eyes on the guns. Whenever a gun is placed in the Cornucopia, whoever manages to grab it automatically wields a lot of power. Power is something I'll need in the Hunger Games, so I need to get the gun.
A few people reach the Cornucopia before me; the boy from District 5, the girl from District 1, and Arabella. Arabella immediately runs past the guns (a choice which I think was terrible) and begins collecting goodies from inside the Cornucopia. However, I immediately realize why she chose to ignore the guns. The girl from 1 and the boy from 5 immediately get in a brawl over one of them, allowing me to rush up and grab one of the free ones.
At the exact same time, another girl reaches for my same gun and our hands both enclose around the barrel. I look up and see the girl from District 7, Zaira. She yanks on the gun and it almost slips between my fingers. However, I manage to hold on. Zaira sends a punch flying toward my face and it makes contact with my cheekbone. I grimace - that's going to leave a deep bruise. Before Zaira can inflict any more damage upon me, I use all of my weight (which is not saying a lot) to smack her in the side of the head and send her crashing into the wicker table holding the guns.
The weak surface immediately snaps and she crashes to the ground. She still clutches onto the barrel of the gun, but I have a much stronger grip on it. I easily yank it out of her hands and aim it at her. Her eyes widen, and a second later, I pull the trigger and her whole body slackens. The bullet enters just above her ribcage and a small amount of blood trickles from the hole in her shirt.
I loosen my hold on the gun, surprised at how unfazed I am. I guess it's good that I don't have a debilitating response to killing someone, but it freaks me out. Is there something wrong with me? Why don't I feel bad that I just killed a girl?
I'm shocked out of my stupor by the boy from District 8 almost crashing into me. He's running from someone and trips on Zaira's body, crashing to the ground. I look up to see the girl from District 1 chasing toward us with a gun, and I'm sensible enough to run.
I head away from the Cornucopia, looking around for my allies. As I do, I pick up a few things littering the ground including a dagger, a half-full water bottle, and a basket of fruit. I jam the bottle into the basket of fruit and hang that from my elbow, so my hands are free. I hold the dagger out in front of me, wanting to be ready in case anyone chooses to attack me.
Luckily, nobody takes notice of me. I make my way to the edge of the arena, where I see Arabella watching behind a mossy tree. She has a decent amount of supplies; the satchel and sleeping bag will be good assets and I suspect by the overflowing satchel, she has more supplies. I join her by the tree, where she's nursing a light slash on her arm. It doesn't look too bad, but she can't tear her eyes off of it.
"Are you okay?" I ask, putting my friendly-weakling facade up, again.
"Yeah, it's not a big deal," Arabella assures me, covering it with her jacket sleeve as if to prove it. "The District 4 boy caused me some trouble as I was getting out, but it's barely anything to worry about."
"Where are Yael and Tristana?" I ask. Arabella points at the Cornucopia, which isn't very helpful, since I pretty much assumed they were still fighting in the Bloodbath. I squint, and make out Tristana running toward us with a satchel and crossbow. She has to fight through a few kids to make it through, but comes out fine.
She doesn't stop running until she reaches us, then collapses, clutching a stitch in her side. She doesn't seem to have any major injuries, besides some minor scrapes and bruises.
"Where's… Yael?" Tristana manages to ask between gulps of air. Arabella and I shrug. I look back at the Bloodbath, but don't see Yael fighting.
"Do you think she's okay?" Arabella asks. The three of us exchange nervous glances. We wouldn't know if she's been killed or not until tonight, and it's better to get out of here sooner or later. We can't just wait around expecting her to show up, when the most likely explanation of her absence is that she's been killed.
"We'll wait a few more minutes," I decide. Arabella and Tristana nod in agreement. There's an uncomfortable silence in the next few minutes as we all wait for Yael to run out of the Bloodbath. Just when we've decided to get going, Arabella's keen eyes spot Yael running toward us.
We all turn to look as our final group member runs over with a sleeping bag tucked under one arm and a whip held in the other.
"I couldn't find another weapon," Yael grins, seeing our reactions to her questionable weapon choice.
"We should get out of here," I say. "The Bloodbath is finishing up - we don't want to stick around when it ends."
District 2
Glorian Stafford
The moment gong sounds, I leap off of my pedestal, not wanting to waste a single second. I know I'm not the speediest guy, due to my muscular build, so I have to make up for it by keeping myself one-hundred-percent focused on the Cornucopia. If I get distracted for even a second, that can make a difference between me getting supplies or not.
The Cornucopia hasn't been this empty in years. Normally it's stocked with so many supplies, the Careers can last the whole Games on it (assuming it isn't destroyed by a flood or another tribute or something). This year, the supplies can probably only last us a few days - and that's including all of the food that will probably be taken by other tributes. We won't get to depend on Cornucopia supplies this year, we'll actually have to hunt and gather edible plants in order to stay healthy.
Despite my concentration on running as fast as possible, many tributes reach the Cornucopia before I do. One of the only things the outer district kids usually exceed the Careers in is running. A lot of tributes reach the Cornucopia before I do, including most of my allies and a lot of outer District tributes. Apparently, most of them have decided to risk running into the Bloodbath, which is unfortunate for me.
The guns are immediately fought over - Cecelia and the creepy boy from District 5 fight over one until Noelani runs to assist her and he decides to give up. Another gun is fought over by the girls from Seven and Twelve. The last one is left alone, and I think that I'll be able to grab it, but the boy from District 9 runs up and snatches it just before I get the chance to.
I groan in disappointment, but go to look for a sword. I'm okay with not getting a gun, as long as I have a sword. But when I go into the center of the Cornucopia, I immediately realize that the swords I saw hanging on the walls during the countdown are all missing. I curse in disappointment and angrily kick a packet of food.
Looking around, I can make out a few people who have swords. From what I can see, each of the swords is held by an ally of mine, except one - the boy from District 5 holds a blood-coated sword, just past the pedestals. He's stocked up with supplies, and I have no doubt that he'll be leaving the Bloodbath any moment now. If I want a sword, I have no time to spare. I can't take a sword from my allies, especially since I'm supposed to be their leader, so this kid is my only chance.
I dash toward him, leaping over the bodies of the girl from District 7 and boy from District 3. I reach him at a good time - he doesn't seem to notice me approaching, even though my footsteps can't be very quiet. He's focused on talking to a girl lying on the ground who I recognize as the Siamese twins - or twin, because her sister's head is on the ground a few feet away.
He raises his sword and before he can notice me, I charge at him and knock him to the ground. He lets out a grunt of surprise as the sword is knocked from his hands and he's slammed to the ground with me on top of him. I don't block my fall, so my entire weight crushes him. He shouts out in pain, and waves his arms around uselessly, attempting to hit me. The angle is terrible, though, so I know I'm safe.
I reach out for the sword, but it's a few inches from my fingertips and I can't manage to reach it. I use my fist to slam down on his head, and his entire face is pushed into the soft dirt. He pulls his head back up, groaning in pain. I hit him again, and once again, his head is shoved into the dirt.
I don't want to kill him with my fists, but as I was stupid enough to not grab any other weapon before approaching him, I don't have another option. I glance at the body of his district partner (who is now clearly dead), hoping she'll have some kind of weapon in her hand, but there's nothing. I should have expected that - how would she have managed to get to the Cornucopia and back before I even reached it?
While I'm distracted, the 5 boy struggles to get away again, but I have a good hold on him. He's strong, but I'm much stronger and have an advantage. Since he's face down, he can't hit me back. All he can do in defense is wave his arms around in hope I'll somehow be close enough for him to strike me.
Feeling somewhat safe, I take this time to look around at the chaos of the Bloodbath. The District 11 girl is running past me right now. Around the Cornucopia, most people have left. There are only a few people still collecting supplies, and most are the rest of the Careers. I watch Cecelia get in a small fight with the boy from District 8. She easily manages to overpower him and shoots a bullet through his head a second later. I look back down at the 5 boy.
When he swings his right arm back again, I take hold of it and immediately begin pushing it down, toward his other arm. He actually screams as I apply more pressure - it won't be too much longer before his arm breaks. It's just about to snap when I feel something hit my head, hard.
I slink forward toward the ground, my vision blurring. I see dark spots, but manage to stay conscious. I barely notice the 5 boy break free, taking his supplies with him. My head aching, I groan and start attempting to get back up, when I'm struck in the head again. This time, my vision goes dark for a few seconds. I roll over, face-up, and see Buck swinging a shockingly heavy satchel toward my face.
I roll away and the satchel barely misses me. I jump to my feet but almost stumble, still feeling a little faint from the multiple hits to the head. Buck charges at me, and my now-slow reflexes don't allow me to get out of the way before he tackles me to the ground. My head snaps against the ground, causing even more pain in the back of my head. The ground is soft, but the previous pain is amplified so it hurts pretty badly.
I let out a loud curse word. I blink and look up at Buck, who has now discarded his satchel and is now simply using his fists to inflict pain. He cocks his arm and his arm moves so fast, I barely have time to register what's about to happen before I feel blossom in my jaw. I try to hit him back, but the angle doesn't allow me to wind-up and all I can manage is a light shove to his chest. He barely moves and responds with a well-aimed punch to my nose a second later.
I hear a loud snap and for what feels like the fifteenth time in the past five minutes, my vision goes spotted once again. Blood immediately begins to flood from my broken nose, covering my face. The majority of it trails into my mouth, which isn't good, since its currently my only way of breathing.
I feel another hit to my face, but it doesn't hurt as bad as my nose. Desperate, I use both arms to shove Buck back. The push is weak, and it doesn't manage to get him off me. It only pushes him back enough so that my stomach is free. He's hovering over my knees now. Before he can move back to attack my face some more, I swiftly send my knee up between his legs.
That was effective. Buck cries out and gets off of me, allowing me to get to my feet. I'm feeling slightly woozy, but way more confident now that he's no longer on top of me. As he momentarily staggers around in pain, I gingerly feel my nose. I wince after only slightly brushing it with my hand. Blood flows between my fingers at an alarming speed.
I wipe the blood off my hand using my pants and look back at Buck, who has returned to his senses and looks ready to attack again. Unsure of whether I'll be able to wrestle Buck in this state, I glance at the ground. To my surprise, the District 5 boy had not grabbed his sword before leaving. He must have been too afraid of Buck to spend any more time in the Bloodbath. Buck rushes at me, and I manage to step out of the way.
His slow speed allows him to change paths rather quickly, but not before I snatch the sword off the ground. Buck slips as he tries to change course and lands on the ground. His eyes widen in alarm as I approach with the sword raised above my head. Knowing he won't be able to escape, Buck raises his arms to protect his facing, already wincing. I slam the sword down at him. It slices through his hands, but doesn't go through them.
Buck yells out in pain and I strike him again. This time, his arms aren't blocking his head and it slices into the side of his face. He completely collapses, still yelling out in pain. I hit him with the sword a few more times until he's definitely dead, or at least incapable of moving.
I finally lower the sword, breathing heavily through my mouth (my nose is still bleeding). I look around - the Bloodbath seems to have almost ended. The last outer District tributes remaining in the Cornucopia, the District 9 boy and his allies, run into the forest. I don't bother chasing after them - I doubt I'd be able to reach them, anyway.
I stumble over to the Cornucopia, where the rest of my allies are grouped. Looking around, I see that all are alive… well, Kade's missing. As I get closer, I see his body splayed in the center of the Cornucopia. A small bullet hole pierces his temple. I feel slightly guilty when a small flicker of joy shoots through me - I shouldn't be glad over someone's death. I may have volunteered to kill kids, but I never said I'd do it with a smile on my face. But Kade was super annoying and I'm still not sure how he managed to worm his way into this alliance.
When I reach the Cornucopia, I fall to the ground. My hands immediately fly to my pained face. Blood is still flowing from my nose, but it's much slower. I pull up the hem of my shirt and hold it gently to my nose, hoping to staunch the blood flow. The rest of my allies come join me - most of them have some bruises and cuts, but no one's bleeding near as much as me.
"Are you okay?" Lucretius asks, squatting down next to me.
"Yeah, just a broken nose," I say. Lucretius winces in sympathy, which doesn't help. Cecelia and Noelani also lean down near me to expect my nose. The rest of my allies wander around the Cornucopia, inspecting the supplies, looking as though they couldn't care less about my nose.
"Have you set it yet?" Noelani asks me. I shake my head. "You need to set it soon so it heals properly. It will probably be less painful afterward."
"Okay," I agree, but don't touch my nose. It hurts when my shirt brushes against it, so I can't imagine how painful it will be to reset the bones.
"Are you going to do it or do I have to?" Cecelia asks.
"You know how to set a broken nose?" I ask her, surprised.
"We learn first-aid at District 1's training academy," she explains. In District 2, we didn't learn much first-aid. We learned how to fight, and the basic survival skills, but not much else. Before anyone can reset my broken nose (to my relief) a series of cannons boom out through the arena.
The Bloodbath is officially over.
District 8
Linen Baird
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
"Eight cannons," I say, when nobody else talks. "Eight people died in the Bloodbath. That's more than last year." Axel and Hadley nod in understanding, but neither of them say anything. Eight is sort of a lot of people - I heard that back in the first century of the Hunger Games, half of the tributes would usually die in the Bloodbath. But nowadays, the number is closer to six or so.
I don't bring up that one of the cannons was for Savanna, and another was for the boy that killed her… who was killed seconds later by Hadley.
I step over a thick root blocking the path. The jungle is very dense. When we first entered it, the trees were sort of short and there wasn't a lot of plants. But now that we've gotten deeper into the jungle, the ground has become much more imbalanced and full of plants. It's uncommon for us to find a patch of ground that doesn't have some vibrantly-colored plant covering it. The trees have also become taller, now. They seem to be getting higher as we get deeper into the forest.
We go about fifteen minutes without saying anything to each other. Both Hadley and Axel seem lost and though, so I guess I'm the only one who feels like talking. I want to respect their silent mourning (that's what I assume they're doing), but after a while, I can't resist speaking.
"What mutts do you think are in this arena?" I ask loudly. I'm immediately shushed by Hadley.
"Be quiet!" he hisses. "Do you want to draw the attention of other tributes?"
"The odds of other tributes being nearby are very small. And the odds they'll attack us are even slimmer," I remind him, but I do lower my voice a bit.
"There'll probably be a lot of mutts," Axel responds in a quiet voice. I can't tell if he's being as cautious as Hadley or just doesn't want to speak loudly. Probably a bit of both. "There are a lot of places for them to hide in this arena. I'm guessing there will be a lot of snakes and stuff."
"Snakes?" I repeat, feeling my heart jump. Snakes freak me out, probably more than any other creature.
"Yeah. We're in a jungle and can barely see where we're stepping. The Gamemakers will definitely have added some snakes," Hadley agrees. I wince and suddenly begin being very careful of where I'm stepping.
I fall silent now, focusing on where I'm stepping. I suddenly have a very vivid image of stepping into a bush, only to have a thick, poisonous snake leap out and bite me. I shiver and have a very strong urge to stop hiking in the forest. Every step increases the likelihood that the next one will have a snake.
"Can we take a break?" I ask. Hadley seems very hesitant, but Axel immediately agrees with me and we manage to persuade him to let us rest for fifteen minutes..
"We should look at our supplies, anyway," Hadley says. "The satchel is pretty heavy, so hopefully it will have some good stuff in it."
We find a nice seat around the trunk of a mossy tree and slide to the ground. Hadley sets down the satchel, which he volunteered to carry after we got away from the Careers. I look carefully along the ground to make sure there aren't any snakes or creepy bugs before plopping down.
"I have a gun and a lasso," Hadley starts.
"I have a dagger and this full water bottle," I tell him, holding up both of my supplies so he can see. We look at Axel expectantly.
"I have this dagger and two packs of food," Axel tells us. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out two thick packs of what look like condensed slabs of food. They look gross, but will probably fill us up.
"Okay, so what's in the satchel?" I ask excitedly. Hadley grins, for the first time since we entered the arena. He begins looking through the stuff and pulls it out one by one, setting everything down on the ground so we can see all of it.
"Five feet of rope… an empty water bottle… a hammer and a few nails… a switchblade…"
Hadley pulls out each of the objects as he says what they are. I get excited when he mentions the hammer, thinking it could be a good weapon, but it's so small it could barely do any damage to another tribute.
"You can have the switchblade, you need a close-combat weapon," Axel tells Hadley, who looks relieved. "I think I could use the nails as darts… I'll need to practice, the balance will be different, but I could do it. What else is there?"
"A compass…" After pulling out a rusty but functioning compass, Hadley's face contorts to a frown.
"What else is there?" I ask nervously. Hadley empties out the rest of the bag, and its contents surprise Axel and I as well.
"Some coins… not Panemian currency, though, so I don't know what use they could have…"
"What use would Panemian currency be in the Hunger Games?" I interrupt. Axel and Hadley ignore me.
"Some rags, and a bag of sand." Hadley lifts the bag of sand, and grunts. "Yep, that's what made the bag so heavy. Why would they stick a bag of sand in here?" he asks, sounding annoyed. I don't blame him. I'd be bothered too if I had to lug a useless item all over the arena.
"It probably has a purpose…" Axel starts, but I interrupt him.
"Leave it here," I say. Axel and Hadley look at me in surprise. "It's not worth it to carry it around, when it probably doesn't have a purpose." Hadley looks hesitant, but finally shrugs.
"I guess you're right," he says, setting it down.
"Now, aren't you glad I made us take a break?" I ask him.
I have another poll on my profile for your favorite of the remaining tributes.
Eulogies will be the next chapter.
I've updated the sponsor points to the best of my ability. If you find that you're missing points, just let me know.
This alliance list does not include any deaths:
ALLIANCES:
Cecelia/Trajan/Glitter/Glorian/Noelani/Lucretius/Kade?
Cecelia/Noelani
Macey/Tracey (obviously)
Tristana/Arabella/Yael/Rachel
Axel/Linen/Savanna/Hadley
Zaira/Felix/Quentin
SOLO:
Lennox
Nikola
Dennis
Ruce
Buck
- Lilah