Chapter Fifty-Four: The Observers

Still Night Three

Romeo Brady, District Eight Male

Maxxer's still hopped up on whatever the hell was in that vial, so now I need to wait for him to ease the hell off before we can go anywhere or do anything. I just hope he doesn't get himself killed, because those tree branches don't look too sturdy and it's not like he's treading lightly.

I tried calling him down at the beginning, but that hasn't worked. Furthermore, I don't want to get too loud, because attracting the wrong kind of attention now is more or less a death sentence. Given my deformities, I doubt I'd be very good at climbing trees unhindered, let alone trying to ferry down a squirming kid almost as big as I am, so forcing him out isn't an option either. There's just nothing I can do and it's ticking me the hell off.

On the other hand, before Maxxer took the serum, we were being attacked, and now, we're not. That's a pleasant change in any circumstances.

So I wait. And wait. And wait. And eventually, the serum finally wears off. Maxxer goes from bouncing off of everything in sight, cackling and hissing at nothing, to stumbling and grunting, to staggering and groaning (thankfully regaining enough sense to slip out of the tree he'd been climbing in the process), then finally collapses against the ground to sleep. I think his stomach lands on top of a somewhat-pointy rock, which makes me cringe a bit, but given that he doesn't immediately wake up, it must not matter that much. As long as he didn't stab himself with it it's a discomfort I'm sure he'll get over.

Looks like I'm taking the first shift. If and when he wakes up, he'll handle the rest. But at this point, if I fall asleep, I fall asleep. I can't be dead on my feet when we have to get moving again.

Standing over the prone form of Maxxer, I hold a fist-sized rock in the most authoritative manner that I can, ready to try and fend off anything that comes our way.

Odysea Davos, District Eleven Female

Thomiah only slept for a few hours before waking up on his own to patrol, and considering the sun still hasn't come up yet when my slumber ends, I probably did the same.

Well, time's a-wasting, and we might as well leave now before everyone else starts moving around. Maybe we'll be able to catch someone off-guard that way.

Trying not to startle Thomiah, I exit the building, leaning against the door as I wait for his patrol to pass me by. Once it does, I manage to flag him down and get his attention.

"If you don't need sleep or anything, I'm ready to finish packing and leave," I say. "I think we might as well get moving."

Thomiah nods. "Give me a few minutes to sit down, then we can get going."

Thomiah looks more than a fair bit exhausted, maybe he could have used more sleep than he got last night. I know I certainly could. Unfortunately, it's not fair to go back to sleep after that and I really don't want to risk getting jumped at this point. We're already down two allies, no need to risk ourselves again.

Our final preparations are a rather quiet affair, all things considered. We've eaten enough of the food that carrying the rest of it isn't a problem even if we're at half capacity. Between food, weapons, and all the other things you need to survive, our bags fill up rather quickly. Fortunately, just about everything we leave behind isn't necessary, anyway, most of it consisting of weapons we'll never use. Even if the Careers somehow stumble across these, I doubt they'll discard whatever their favorite weapons are at the moment to use whatever the hell these monstrosities are. I mean, what Career specializes in throwing darts?

The bags are heavy, but I can manage one, even while holding a weapon at the same time. Will I need to drop it if I want to fight something with any reasonable skill? Probably, but if that happens I doubt the combatant's going to try and steal something that'll actively slow them down.

Thomiah hoists his bag over his shoulders, making it look easy in the process. "So, what's our plan now?"

Something we probably needed to have figured out a while ago, and something I unfortunately have no idea of.

"Explore the arena, I guess," I say. "I mean, our goal at the end of the day is to outlast everyone else. Maybe there's some hidden perks if we go looking for them."

"Makes sense," Thomiah says. "I'm guessing that means you want to get further away from the Cornucopia, not closer to it?"

"Yes," I say. "Let's try and stay as far away from the Careers as possible for now. Once we're all hungry and exhausted, I'd say we're actually in better shape to take them on, since we're used to that and they're not. Let's find some smaller targets for now just to keep us in the public eye, then once the numbers start dropping we can go after the bigger fish."

"And if the Careers find us?"

"I'd run like hell," I say. "There's four of them and two of us at the moment, and even if we assume they leave someone behind to guard that's still three on two. Not yet. Let them lose one or two first."

Thomiah nods. "So, with that out of the way, you ready to leave?"

"Yes," I say. "Let's go."

Just like that, the two of us take our bags, leaving behind the closest thing to a home we've known so far in these Games, as the faintest traces of morning start creeping into the sky.

The future awaits.

Lacey Loveless, District Eight Female

Zari and I have been walking for a while, trying to figure out a place to stop. The woods are somewhat thick here, but that also makes it easier to get snuck up on, so I want to find somewhere less open.

Without warning, Zari stops. "Is it just me, or do you see movement up ahead?"

I try looking more closely, but I don't see what she's talking about. I do, however, notice there's something in front of us, something pretty big. It's somewhat far away at the moment, but I want to figure out what it is.

However, if Zari actually sees movement, that might mean it's already occupied. Depending on the occupants in question, that could either work for or against us, but either way, we need to be stealthy about it.

"Here's the deal," I tell Zari. "Maybe not you, but I want to see whatever that thing is in front of us. It may be occupied, it may not, but either way, we need to be careful. Move slowly, break the line of sight between you and the object however you can, and don't make unnecessary noise unless you need to warn me that someone's sneaking up on us. You got it?"

Zari nods.

"Good. Let's get sneaky," I say.

And we do. Zari's surprisingly good at this, moving from tree to bush to oversize rock with ease, all while making minimal noise and staying at least somewhat well-hidden. Where she got those skills from, I don't know, but now's not the time to ask. For the most part, I just follow her lead for now, splitting off on occasion whenever her hiding place is too small for two to fit. After ten minutes or so of this, the woods thin out, leaving us with nothing but some skinny trees and bushes between us and our target. And since the trees don't block out everything anymore, it's light enough that I can figure out what we've been moving towards.

It's a building of sorts, open on the side closest to us, but that's not the important part.

The important part is that the girl I just saw pass was almost certainly the girl from One. This is Career territory. We could theoretically just turn around, but we haven't done much since the Games started: now's the time to make a splash.

Zari stays behind for now, but when the girl disappears for a moment, probably to check the other side of the building, I manage to crawl from the edge of the thicker woods to behind a bush. It's closer and I have a much better view from here, and based on its position, no matter where she approaches me from I'll get the jump on her. When she passes by but does not notice me, I signal to Zari that all is clear, and she moves up to join me. Another pass confirms that we're still out of sight at least for now, and that's when I feel it's safe to whisper.

Instead of jumping straight to the topic, I decide to ask a question of Zari first. "How the hell are you so good at that?"

"My siblings," Zari said. "There's a lot of games they came up with that involve sneaking around and they're more perceptive than you think. I've got way more practice than I should."

We stay silent as the girl makes another pass, leaving me wondering whether we should just jump her now before she inevitably discovers we're here, or at least retreat to somewhere a bit less exposed. But then again, why there are Careers out here at this time of night is eluding me. Still, it does present us with a nice opportunity, and one I really don't want to let go to waste.

"It's kind of weird the Careers chose here as their base, but given that she's patrolling and not sleeping or standing still, she's not alone," I say. "We're going to have to wait for a bit. Once the others leave to go hunting or whatever, we wait until they're reasonably far away and take out whoever they leave behind."

Zari nods, but it looks pained.

'I get it," I say. "You're not comfortable with killing another person. Unfortunately, that's kind of a requisite for living here. It's go big or go home, and we can't go home."

That doesn't seem to change anything about her, not like I expected it to, to be honest. The fear of killing another human isn't something I can just make vanish with one speech or one psychological trick. It's something so deeply ingrained that she might even struggle to put a knife to the throat of someone that tried to kill her.

That's fine more or less anywhere else. Here, it's a massive weakness. Kindness only gets you so far in these Games.

Sotia Vance, District Three Female

I'm not sure who those two girls who just moved behind the bushes are, but they aren't anywhere near as clever as they thought they were. I saw them moving in just fine. Thankfully, the bitches watching over me didn't, considering that neither of them have made a move on the newcomers yet. That leaves me with some decisions to make.

The Careers have already thwarted one assassination attempt tonight, so trying that again tonight doesn't make sense; I need to wait for them to lower their guard again. Once that happens, I need to figure out how I can tip the newcomers off that I'm willing to work with them without also alerting whichever one of them they leave behind to guard me, probably the bitch from Two. Given that the only alliance I know of that still has two living girls (besides the bitches, of course) is the second anti-Career pack, I presume together they'd at least be an even match for her, but I also don't want to risk it. If I stay in here much longer the Gamemakers might just kill me to get the Careers moving again. It's been days now, and it's only going to get longer if they keep watching me.

I guess that will have to wait until morning. There's plenty of ways to signal them without making noise and they're close enough that I'm reasonably confident they won't misinterpret my intent.

Unfortunately, the bitch from One is currently watching me at the moment, and despite her earlier outburst, she steeled herself afterward, meaning I couldn't rile her up at all. Probably not a smart idea, but fuck it. She knows better than to try and attack me with the minefield between us, and she deserves every second.

The bitch from One passes by once more, and I don't even bother throwing a sarcastic remark her way anymore. They just don't work, and I need to focus on these upcoming events. Nothing for now, but it'll be soon. Sunrise can't be far away, after all.

When the sun comes up, the plan can be set into motion.

And then, no one will ever forget the name Sotia Vance.

Author's Notes:

-Shorter chapter this time around. That is literally all I have to say.

-Hope you enjoyed this chapter, and see you next chapter!