*Imp* Heyo! Good *insert generalized time of day here* Ladies and Gentlemen! Step right up to read the one and only FANDOM HUNGER GAMES! (giggles) Sorry, I'm in a very showman shippy mood, I just watched the fifth episode of season three of Escape the Night (the third season is all carnival themed). *Bookworm* IF YOU HAVE READ THE MISTBORN TRILOGY BY BRANDON SANDERSON, PLEASE LET ME KNOW IN THE REVIEWS. I'M OBSESSED! IF YOU HAVEN'T, STOP READING THIS AND GO READ MISTBORN. THEN COME BACK, REVIEW YOUR THOUGHTS, AND READ THIS. Also, this chapter contains spoilers for The Burning Maze. *Imp* Okay, calm yourself. I just finished the first Mistborn book yesterday. Ehh (don't hurt me please). Anyway, I think you get the point by now, we don't own any of this amazing stuff, sadly. On with the story!
Dustin woke and dragged himself up from the ground, his jacket and pants were stained, but he really didn't care. He needed to team up with someone, because he sure as hell wouldn't survive on his own.
He ran through the contestants in his head, trying to figure out which ones would be most trustworthy and which ones were still alive. He knew there were 22 tributes to start with, and six had died at the cornucopia, El was dead, and he estimated that at least three others had to have been killed at this point, which meant that there were 12 left, at the most. The girl who had killed El was out of the question, and it probably was't a good idea to try for an alliance with a team, they'd know each other at the very least. He knew the boy who's teammate El had killed wasn't working with anyone, but he put that on the back burner. It probably wasn't a good idea to try teaming up with him if there were other options. He knew there were two teams, which left 8 contestants, assuming that only four people had died outside the cornucopia.
Better start looking. He thought, trudging off looking for a weapon. After a while he came across a brown haired girl with a stick through her heart, and shrugged, pulling the branch out. Yikes! Whoever did this was really strong. He mused, looking at the end of the branch, which seemed to have been ripped off a tree. I had better either team up with them, or stay away.
He scouted around for a while, and eventually drew the conclusion that everyone was either teamed up, or too bloodthirsty to bother. Almost everyone, anyway. Looks like I gotta go find wolf-boy. Dejected, and rather afraid, he went in the general direction he thought a cave was.
It took him a good two hours to find the boy.
…
Luke growled as the teammate of Resus's killer approached him. The curly haired boy immediately raised in hands in surrender, and spoke.
"Whoah! Please don't kill me! I want to team up." Luke continued to glare, but his growl let up and he walked toward the boy.
"Why?" He asked, and the boy cringed.
"My teammate… died." He said, and Luke drew back. This could be a trap. He thought, his instincts were screaming at him to rip this boy's throat out where he stood, but he didn't. But, if this kid really does want to team up, I could stay with him long enough to kill off a few more people, then turn on him. His instincts calmed down at this, he and the wolf couldn't communicate directly, but it could influence him in a fashion, warning him about danger, and expressing itself in a way. He called these instances his instincts.
"What's your name?" He asked the boy, who seemed to take this as a signal that he wasn't in imminent danger. Bad move, but in this situation, Luke didn't care.
"Dustin." The boy said, and Luke nodded.
"Fine. You've got yourself a teammate. For now." Luke warned, and Dustin's eyes widened. Luke chuckled, and Dustin grinned nervously.
…
Annabeth aimlessly trudged through the woods.
Aimlessly. She hated that. She had never been aimless before. She always knew where she was going, she always had some sort of goal. A vision to follow, a dream to chase. But now… Percy was gone. Percy. Seaweed Brain. All she wanted was to slap him one more time. One more chance to call him an ignoramus. At least one more hug… one more…
No. It was over. Time to stop dreaming, time to be rational and win. But did she even really want to win? Did she want to be without Percy? What was waiting for her back at camp? Jason was dead. And now Percy. How long before Piper, Hazel, Leo, and Frank were gone? How long till she was alone?
She trudged on. Maybe losing the Games wouldn't be so terrible. At least-
A rustle.
She heard a rustle. It came from the bushes. Instinct took over, and she raised her knife, starting towards the bush. She peered behind it-
Jace.
She remembered that face- he was a dangerous one, he was. She had watched him in the training center. Did the man ever miss? He was good with all weapons.
He grinned at her. Such an annoying grin. And then he spoke. Gods, he had the nerve to speak! "Well, Anniebella-"
"Annabeth."
"-you don't look so good. I could get you some-"
"I don't need your help."
"Well then, I need yours."
Annabeth hesitated. Another alliance might be useful…
Jace grinned, pointing to a cave. "Follow me."
…
Fernie frowned as Gustav walked off again to find some water. She didn't like that they spent so much time hiding, but, as Gustav had pointed out, hiding was the best way to survive, and that was the goal.
She had argued that hiding had done nothing to help at his house, but he had countered with the argument that, one, hiding had kept him alive long enough to meet her, so that they could help, and two, helping wasn't the goal here. There was nothing to help, killing was the point of these games, and it was best to try and keep it from happening to them.
She shook her head, frowning. This wasn't right, but here, there was nothing that could be done. This was the society here, and two children wouldn't be able to change that.
…
"So, let me get this straight. You want my help going after this girl, who killed your teammate?" Luke asked, trying to keep his grin down.
"Yeah. That, and I don't think I can survive this on my own." Dustin said, and Luke had to bite his tongue to keep from grinning.
"I can do that." He said, and Dustin looked relived.
"Great. I think I know where she and her teammate are camping. You are hard to find!" He exclaimed, and got up. Luke followed dutifully, years of nigh unbearable pain assuring that he did not notice when trees and bushes scratched him, while his companion shied away from even the dullest of thorns.
After a good hour, and several wrong turns and detours, Dustin and Luke came upon the little clearing El's (Luke had learned her name) killer and her teammate were camping in. They had hit upon a stroke of luck, her teammate wasn't there.
Luke smirked and stalked up behind the redhead, holding what he presumed to be the same stick he had killed that other girl with. He quickly pulled her against him, placing the stick parallel in front of her to create a sort of cage. Dustin ran up with a knife they had found, and stabbed her in the neck. The girl gasped and choked, but Dustin twisted the knife and she quickly stopped, blood spilling from her throat.
Luke grinned dropping the girl and stick rather unceremoniously and rushing the other boy. He snagged the knife and threw it away, wrapping his hands around Dustin's throat and snapping it. He helped me eliminate some of the competition, might as well give him a quick death.
*Bookworm* MISTBORN IS SERIOUSLY SOOOOO GOOD! I'm serious, y'all. It's good stuff, 'specially if you like fantasy. Each book has made me cry, IT'S SO FREAKING GREAT! No really, at least google it and consider reading it. If you decided to read it, let me know in the reviews, and I'll… write you something. *Imp* And it's done! This chapter, anyway. Did you enjoy? BTW, on the Mistborn thing, I am proud to say, not one damn tear! And I didn't even realize the big plot twist was the plot twist. Bookworm looked sooo distraught when I told them. Good book, if not a series I want to continue reading.