Rory James, 18
District Three Male, Pair 3
Paired With Psyche Wells of District Six
We got a head start. That was all we had against twenty-two Tributes, a thirty-second head start. I felt my body tense as Psyche joined me at the edge of the tree line. We were allowed to pick where the hunt took place, I chose the woods as I assumed it would buy us more time. Time for what, I didn't have a clue. Psyche looked like she had already given up. Her body shivering violently as she looked down at the ground, tears welling up in her eyes. To her, she had already lost the Hunger Games.
"I'm sorry," I said, my words snagging on my throat and coming out in a croak. The girl looked up at me, her eyes were bloodshot and full of resentment. That hurt me more than the prospect of dying. It reminded me that even though we were fond of each other, maybe we could have loved each other one day, I was still a stranger who had sentenced her to death. To her, and to me, that was unforgivable.
I looked over my shoulder to Laura, the girl who had pushed me out the way to save herself. I couldn't blame her, I too was willing to play dirty. Yet, I wanted her to know it should have been her and Linden in our place. Her sobbing form and eyes wide with fear told me she understood it was her that placed me and Psyche in this position. I knew she would have done it a thousand times over, no matter how guilty she felt. Part of me just hopped it would eat her up inside until she could no longer take the pain.
"Tributes!" Zircon spoke, although I was too frightened to react. "During this hunt, surviving Tributes will hunt down Psyche Wells and Rory James until at least two Tributes are dead...who they are, does not really matter as long as two of you are dead by this point. The hunted can kill anyone but surviving Tributes may only kill the hunted."
"Do you think-"
"We can live if we kill two of them," I said gesturing to the group behind us. This seemed to lift Psyche's spirits as she lifted her head and readied herself to run.
"As with most Games, you do not have to take part in the hunt." The Tributes stayed silent, even the Careers didn't cheer, their eyes on the prize, us.
"As mentioned earlier, Psyche and Rory will have a thirty-second head start. After that, the rest of you will be able to follow. As always, may the odds be ever in your favor."
Linden Hunter, 18
District Seven Male, Pair 4
Paired with Laura Hope, District Twelve Female
The moment the gong sounded, Rory and Psyche vanished into the woods. However, they split the moment they entered the tree line. Rory darted off to the left while Psyche carried on in a straight line through the undergrowth. As asked, thirty seconds later, they were followed by a large group of Tributes. There was more than I had expected, a thought which sickened me. As expected, the Careers were the first to go, followed by Beckham and Violet who seemed as keen as their partners to gain a weapon. Then Noelani, Ellie, Hycanith, and Qanom. The group that stayed behind I guessed did it out of fear they would be injured in a fight, rather than outrage for the coming deaths. Even Frederick stayed behind and seemed anxious about the scene.
It had been about forty seconds since everyone had left when there was the sound of screaming followed by silence and then two men shouting. A minute later, a cannon sounded and Laura fell to her knees sobbing and apologizing to whoever the fallen Tribute was. She mumbled under her breath how it should have been her.
Ellie Nimrod, 18
District 3 Female, Pair 5
Paired With Noelani Palmer, District Four Female
I froze when I heard the cannon, my heart beating out of my chest, my arms sagging.
Noelani turned and quickly frowned. "What's wrong?" She asked with concern.
I looked towards my partner, tears in my eyes and my body shivering. "Who do you think that was?"
The girls faced softened as she continued walking. "Rory?" She said with little emotion. "He was behind us, Psyche carried on straight."
A sudden wave of sickness washed over me as I hung back, trying to stop myself from throwing up what little liquid I had consumed. If this was because of Noelani's uncaring attitude to someone dying or the knowledge that the boy I entered the Games with was now dead, I didn't know.
In the Districts, you see death all the time. Yet, you hardly ever see murder. To know that someone lost their life, someone from home, not from illness or hunger but from the choice of someone else, it made my stomach turn. Even worse, the smallest sign of weakness and Noelani's view of me would change. I would be weak, unless, not worth her time. For some reason, no matter how much she treated Psyche like a game animal she was tracking, I couldn't stand the thought of seeing her hurt.
So when I saw Psyche in the tree above her head, I acted without thinking, like it was second nature. The girl was balanced finely on a branch, high up in the tree, a sharp, broken rock in hand and her eyes trained on Noelani. She hadn't even bothered to look around for me, so I assumed she didn't know I was there, thanks to how much distance I had put between me and my partner while within my own thoughts.
Before the girl could leap down from the tree and drive the rock into Noelani, I picked up a hand-sized rock and threw it at the girl. I threw with the intention to hit the girl or alert Noelani but I was not shocked when it missed, bouncing off the thick trunk by Psyche's head. With a yelp, the girl lost her balance and fell backward off the branch. She screamed on the way down until she hit the ground, her screams coming to a sudden end. Her body was hidden by ferns so part of me hoped she was just knocked out. It was only when her cannon sounded then the full weight of the situation sank in.
June Briony, 17
District Eleven Female, Pair 9
Paired with Miko Nunez, District 8 Male
No one spoke when the first cannon sounded. When the second one came, people seemed to become drained of their energy, most of them taking a seat on the floor and resting their face within their hands.
There was a couple of minutes between the cannon and the rest of the Tributes joining us once more. For a while, everyone that arrived was asked if they had been the ones to deliver the final kill. Everyone denied that the kill was theirs and their down deminer only supported this. The only one that didn't get asked was Noelani who went straight for Nicholas to lecture him about not taking part despite being from Four.
After five minutes, two more Tributes walked out of the tree cover. Beckham and Violet. The girl had deep gashes on her neck and her voice was pained. Beckham, on the other hand, was covered in bruises and cuts. He quickly explained, as if he was being tried for murder, that Rory ambushed them both, using his shirt to strangle Violet. He was close to killing her when Beckham stepped in, beating the boy to death. No one really cried at this knowledge, no one really being close to Rory.
However, when Ellie emerged from the woods, Gary broke down into the tears, standing up and walking as far away from the scene as he was permitted.
Through gritted teeth, Ellie explained how she had ended the life of Psyche. The tears she held back and the way her voice trailed off spoke a thousand words, creating a story on how much a simple act would affect her until she died.
"Well done to Beckham Knox and Ellie Nimrod, our champion hunters for the first task, they will both be permitted a head start in the next challenge."
24th Place: Rory James, 18 (D3M) Killed By Beckham Knox (D9M) Paired With Psyche Wells
Someone had to be first to go and this just happened to be Rory. There was no real reason for this, he just didn't fit being a victor in my eyes and this seemed like the right way for him to go, out swinging.
23rd Place: Psyche Wells, 16 (D6F) Killed by Ellie Nimrod (D3F) Paired with Rory James.
It was a bit dull to kill off a pair after I gave the chance for them to live but these two were a good fit and I couldn't see them pairing with anyone else. Aside maybe Gary for Psyche. At least neither of them gave up in the end.