Second day in the arena

Autumn Peachskin (18)- District 8 female tribute

The Actress

I wake up cold and with awful stomach cramps. In the backpack Kyle gave me, there is nothing really useful to survive- neither food nor water, not even tools of any kind, but just a blanket and… well, I don't know what this thing is. It is made of iron, and it looks like a rudimental spearhead. Is it a weapon? Maybe, but, as a matter of fact, even things that aren't normally used as weapons could serve as such in the arena. But what if it had another use? But which use? I mean, what's the point of putting such an object in the arena but to use it as a weapon? The problem is that I've never seen such a thing before. Is it really to be used against other tributes? Or against other threats? If you consider that every arena is unique and has its hidden dangers… the arena of the 50th Hunger Games always comes to my mind. It seemed a paradise on earth, and yet... who would imagine that it was as beautiful as deadly? Even the arena of this year has its own beauty... these gentle hills spotted of violet, this huge silence... the atmosphere is surreal and almost timeless, the threshold of a dreamy realm.

Another stomach cramp reminds me that thinking of the arena's beauty is just a waste of time... a dangerous waste of time. I should not forget that every inch of this place was designed by Gamemakers, and we all know that Gamemakers want to provide the audience with spectacular deaths. I freeze at the thought. As an actress, I performed also tragedies in my career, but this is real life, people enjoy watching other people being killed for real! What an aberration!

I manage to stand up, but I'm actually staggering. I feel so weak and unstable. My stomach has eaten itself. After all, it's hard… I mean, for someone who's used to having meals three times a day… the last time I grabbed a bite was the morning we all left the Capitol… only yesterday, and yet it seems like a century ago. The truth is that, so far, I've spent most of my time in the arena by putting as much distance as possible between me and the bloodthirsty Careers. I ran for so long that fatigue eventually knocked me out cold. It's a wonder I didn't die of hypothermia during the night! I didn't even pull my blanket out of my backpack! And what dreams I had! I was still in the Capitol, during a lavish banquet, where one could find any possible kind of dessert. I was eating a vanilla pudding with a delicious cherry frosting… ah, Autumn! Stop torturing yourself! You need to find something to eat soon! Something real!

I look up at the sky. It's clear, there are just some white clouds here and there, but they look more like cotton threads than proper clouds. Where's the help Gemini promised me? We don't agree on strategy, but he cannot abandon me like that!

I shake my head. I'm alone, no one is going to help me. I cannot stay here, desperately waiting for sponsor gifts that could never arrive. I need to find food, but where? Are these bushes edible? Who knows? I'd better not risk. There's one place… maybe… but it's a risky choice. I mean… if my plan doesn't work, I'm dead… but I'll die as well, if I don't eat anything. To go or not to go… ah! I must go! I won't win the Games without taking risks! So, I put my rucksack on my back and then head to… to the cornucopia. Hopefully, the Careers will be already on the hunt in the valley, or somewhere else. Can you imagine that? The cornucopia left unguarded, a treasure ready to be looted.

Honestly, I didn't realize yesterday how far I went. I don't know exactly how much it takes to go back to the cornucopia; all I know is that, due to my conditions, I need to take several breaks before reaching it. Now, I'm almost crawling among the shrubberies, careful not to make any noise. I lean on the imposing tree near the ring of plates and eventually peak my head out in the direction of the cornucopia. I see nobody. A sense of joy and satisfaction permeates me. Now, I just need to rush to the cornucopia's mouth, grab some supplies, flee, and that's it. I can't believe how lucky I am! But my happiness is suddenly interrupted by something hard that hits the back of my head, and everything goes dark...

... when I regain consciousness, I register a terrible headache and... there's something that smells like fire... yeah, something's burning... near me... I feel the heat... my feet... my feet! I scream in fear. Now, I'm fully awake. I'd like to move my legs but... they're tied, and so my wrists! I'm seated against the tree trunk, unable to move. Then, I notice something strange: my feet are naked. Between their toes, there are some lighted matches. That's where the heat and the smell came from, that's why I felt as if my skin was burning, but how...?

"Oh, here you are, sleeping beauty!" someone shouts.

I look up: it's the boy of District 2. He has a knife in hand. Beside him, his district partner Scarlett Pearce, who's smirking.

"Why am I still alive?" I ask him, my voice full of all the fear that I'd like to hide.

In response, a mischievous smile forms on his lips, as he's getting closer to me. Eventually, he squats. Now, we are face to face. "What's the hurry?"

I spit in his face. "Coward! You want to kill me now that I cannot defend myself! Is this the great prowess of Careers?" I say, defiant, while I'm trying with my fingers to untie the knots that keep my wrists tied behind my back.

"Looks like the little viper has still venom to spew," comments Scarlett, amused.

Victor wipes his face with the back of his hand. "Trust me, she won't be able to spew venom for much longer. I really want to enjoy this kill," he replies, addressing his district partner.

With terror, I watch him use the matches to heat the blade of his knife. These knots are too tight, I cannot free myself, I… I scream in pain. Victor has just pressed the blade against the sole of my foot! Not only wants he to kill me, he wants also to torture me to death! He repeats this operation a couple of times. I'd like not to scream every time, but I can't, and my screams seem to provoke an insane sense of pleasure in him.

"Stop it!" I shout at some point.

Now, my vision is blurred by tears, and an awful smell of burnt flesh has filled up my nostrils.

"Stop!? This is just the beginning," he rebuts.

That's when I see it. My vision is blurred, but I can still see something… beyond Victor's shoulders… an arrowhead… and behind it, the violet eyes of Kyle Whiteswan. His arrow is nocked, ready to hit its target. I am the target. There's no hope, then… but, after all, my name's Autumn, I was destined to fall…

…...

Victor Blade (18)- District 2 male tribute

The Envious

Before I can realize it, someone sends an arrow through the heart of the girl from Eight, killing her almost instantly. A cannon fires. I turn to the direction where the arrow came from, outraged. Who dared to kill my target… again? … What!? Kyle!?

I jump up. Many things that I might do to him come all together to my mind- I could insult him, punch him in the face, and so on- but just an angry why escapes my throat. He doesn't answer, though, he ignores me completely! He frees the girl, lifts up her corpse, and eventually places it again on the ground, out of the tree's shade.

"Let's move so that the hovercraft can retrieve her," he says at some point, as he's standing up, still looking down at the corpse.

Is it me, or is his voice quivering? I can't believe it! I've been outsmarted by a coward, a boy who cannot bear to think of his deed! Oh, he needs a lesson, and what a lesson! I yank him to make him turn to me. I want to watch him right in the eye. At first, he looks surprised but quickly composes himself.

"She was mine! How dared you interfering?" I shout.

Kyle holds my gaze, but his body is slightly shaking. Out of fear? Out of anger? I hope it's out of anger, Whiteswan… a scared brat a Career!? No, such a Career doesn't deserve to live!

"Don't you say anything?" I insist.

"What could I say? These are the Hunger Games, not the torture games. You captured her… okay, well done… but what's the point of torturing her? Why didn't you kill her immediately?" he replies.

I register an unnatural calm in his voice. Is he kidding me?

"Yes, these are the Hunger Games, and we are the Careers, we kill, and we enjoy doing it! Have you got the guts to do it as well? Or do we need to spoon-feed you? You're the son of two victors, but what have you done so far? Nothing a true Career does! I wonder what your parents would tell you, if they were here…"

I expect an angry reply, but Kyle doesn't sound angry at all when he rebuts: "Are you done?"

I don't know what to say. I'm beside myself, more than ever. He cannot treat me like that… with such a… such a… such a disregard!

Now, he has just turned his back on me to head to the cornucopia. Oh, since I didn't reply, he thought he was allowed to leave- how arrogant! That's too much! I've got still my knife in hand. Let's see what you can do, brat… I move toward Kyle, pointing my weapon at him… but Scarlett stops me! What!? Everyone's mad at me today!? How dared she…?

"What are you doing?" she yells at me.

"None of your business!" I shout back.

At this stage, Kyle has already turned around. He looks first at my knife and then at me. He doesn't seem scared, though. His gaze is judgmental. Oh, how much I hate him!

"It was just a suggestion, Victor. No need to get that mad," he says.

"I don't need the suggestions of a coward!" I reply.

"Said he who was about to backstab his ally."

"You…!"

"Okay, stop it, Whiteswan! It's enough!" Scarlett chimes in, annoyed.

"Yeah, you're right," agrees Kyle, and then he walks away.

"Why did you stop me? Whiteswan deserves to die!" I tell her as soon as Kyle is gone.

"Do you think I like his arrogance? No, I hate him as much as you, but this ain't the right moment to break the Career pack. There are still too many tributes to eliminate, so you'll keep calm, is that understood? When the time comes, you'll have the honour of killing him, okay?" she whispers in response.

"He's incapable, a burden for the Career pack! I may not be the Chosen Tribute, but I'm trying to do my part unlike him! Roger would think the same."

"I'm not questioning your participation, just your strategy. Don't you understand that a strong alliance is your best bet for the moment?"

"Why are you so interested in my strategy? If I mess up, you might have one less opponent," I challenge her.

She seems to consider this for a moment, then she replies: "I want District 2 to win, you if not me. Roger was better than you, but you aren't completely hopeless. If only you were able to control your temper!"

"Was that a compliment? I'm flattered," I reply, smirking.

"See? You're unstable!" she comments and then walks away like Kyle.

She thinks I'm the unstable one!? How ironic! There's a soul hidden behind her glacial eyes, then. Looks like Scarlett has a little weakness: district pride, about which I couldn't care the less. I want to win for myself, not for my district. The only reason why I don't want all its citizens dead is that I need someone to display my success to. I want them to hail me, to worship me like a deity. I want social recognition, and everything else I couldn't have so far! And I'll get what I want. A spoiled brat and a bloodthirsty lunatic cannot stop me, that's for sure.

…...

Adam Thorn (18)- District 9 male tribute

The Fiancé

The sound of a cannon wakes me up. I immediately get up from my lying position.

"Rebecca!" I shout, agitated.

I cover my mouth with one hand. Shit! What if someone heard me? Luckily, I cannot see anybody nearby. I look up at the sky. Guess I'll need to wait till nightfall to know who died. I truly hope it's not Rebecca… no, it cannot be, she's too strong to die so early in the Games, and, besides, she has some allies. I wonder if I should try to find her… I mean, now that Coin is gone forever… ah! It would be pointless. Clearly, Rebecca doesn't give a fig about my love. I feel so stupid… volunteering for her… if I hadn't been that rash, now I would have been at home, safe and sound… I'm here instead, in the most dangerous place on earth. Maybe my parents were right about her, she's not the right girl for me. After all, she has betrayed me for a boy who was doomed from the very beginning. I know I shouldn't feel happy for someone else's death, but, hell, we're in the arena of the Hunger Games! The death of another tribute means that I'm closer to victory! Besides, I hated Coin with all my heart. Thinking that Rebecca might be regretting her preference for him now is flattering.

A tinkling sound distracts me from my thoughts. I look up. If I don't mistake, sponsor gifts are preceded by tinkles. Indeed, a small parachute appears in the sky, and I watch its movements till it lands to my left. I stretch my arm out to grab it. It holds a very small box. I open it and… there's just a message inside, how disappointing!

Keep on moving. The audience will get bored otherwise.

Moving!? Now that I've found a comfortable place to stay!? Well, "comfortable" is not exactly a suitable definition, but I cannot complain neither. In response, I throw the message into the embers before me, and I watch the paper curl up and eventually dissipate as if it had never existed. It's curious how fire can quickly destroy things.

Last night, I started a fire at the foot of a hill so that it couldn't be seen in the distance. Then, I roasted the wild rabbit I had managed to catch with a wire snare. Not bad for my first dinner in the arena. I set other snares nearby, so I'll go and check them. But let's take a quick inventory of what I have first: a quiver full of arrows, a bow, a backpack with two flasks filled with water, iodine tablets, vitamin C tablets, a couple of cracker packs, and another spool of iron wire. If I want to watch the surroundings, I just need to climb a hill. If I need food, I can set snares. If I need water, yesterday I found a passage to reach the lake. Actually, I went there to fill the flasks and also to wash my hands, which were still blood-stained. I close my eyes. I killed the little girl of District 11- an innocent person- and with what a fury I did it! I don't recognize myself in that brutal killer, and yet it was me- not someone else- who murdered her. I couldn't reason, killing came almost natural to me, and this is scary. But I had to kill her, right? She didn't want to renounce the bow, and I needed it… I need a weapon to win, that's why I killed her… nothing personal… she was just at the wrong place at the wrong time, that's it. Why don't I feel better, then? Why does all this sound like a silly justification of evil? Ah! There's no evil in the arena, just necessity. No grey zones: either you kill, or you get killed; either you cope with killing, or you freak out. I open my eyes again to look at my hands. I couldn't wash away all the bloodstains. It must be a sign. If they could speak, they would probably say:" What is done is done, and you'll carry the burden of your deed for the rest of your life"… but I don't want to freak out, I can cope with what I did!

With this conviction, I stand up. I erase the traces of my campfire with my boots. The last thing I need is revealing my presence to other tributes. This area of the arena has become my territory. Moving!? That's something I'm not going to do… for the moment, at least. I can wait nearby for the number of tributes to decrease, then we'll see. I don't care if the audience gets bored, there are still plenty of tributes to focus on. I gather my things, and I'm finally on the move.

…...

Christine "Christie" Harsh (14)- District 13 female tribute

The Protester

The sound of the cannon is still echoing through the arena, but nobody says a word to comment. What could we say, after all? Another tribute died, that's it. Ah! Have I really become so cold due to the Games? I wonder what Carol would think of me in this moment, if she was here. She would probably understand my point, she always understands me. I stroke her red foulard, which I'm wearing around my neck, while imagining stroking her blonde hair. I miss her so much! Sometimes, love makes you suffer instead of making you happy.

Out of the corner of my eye, I look at Estrella, who's right behind me. She's walking head-down. That's a person who's suffering for love. She looks better than yesterday, but I cannot imagine how deep her sorrow is… or, rather, I could try, but… honestly, I cannot understand her stubbornness. Her district partner was mean to her in many ways- he broke her heart, he refused to ally with her- so why doesn't she hate him? As a matter of fact, there's a fine line between love and hate. One could easily go from loving Timothy to hating him, especially after everything he did. She was brave to confess her feelings. I remember how paralysing the fear of being rejected can be… confessing my feelings for Carol was hard as well. But now Timothy is dead, so Estrella should really try to let him go to focus on the Games.

At the moment, we're all- Estrella, Rebecca, and I- on the move to find a better place to stay. Rebecca is walking in the head. The idea of moving was hers, after all. She insisted on the fact that staying always in the same place is not wise. Besides, the pond at which we stopped yesterday was certainly a water source, but it was too in the open as well. Not that one can hope to find a safe place in the arena, but let's say that some places are less safe than others. Anyway, I wouldn't mind if Rebecca decided to become the leader of our alliance. She's charismatic, self-confident, and seems to know her stuff. Moving will also give us extra information about the geography of the arena: yesterday, the sun set in the opposite direction of the cornucopia, which means that the latter stands in the eastern part of the arena- it makes sense, the sun rises where everything began; since the cornucopia is on the left now, it means that we're moving southwards, right? I hope I'm not mistaking. To be sincere, I've never been good at geography.

The hours pass. Occasionally, we have a break to rest or to grab a bite. We meet nobody, the arena appears silent and deserted. Gradually, bushes start making room for turf and then for moss. The soil is softer, looser, almost muddy.

At some point, Rebecca stops.

"What's up?" Estrella asks her, alarmed.

"It's a swamp," answers Rebecca.

The landscape has changed, indeed. Now, you can see no more bushes, just pools scattered here and there and reed thickets. There's a strong smell of mud in the air, but to me this place doesn't reek of mud, it reeks of danger and death.


So, I'm glad to be finally back. As you can read, there are some geographical references in the last POV, and I'm going to add other info in the following chapters so that you can get a more precise idea of how the arena is structured. Actually, there are still many places to see, and we will explore them together along with our tributes. What do you think of the arena so far? Any idea about the iron object Autumn- poor Autumn, she didn't deserve to die- found in her backpack?

Submitters can assign points to: Victor (D2M), Adam (D9M), Christine (D13F)

Specific questions about tributes:

Victor: will his argument with Kyle lead to a breakup within the Career pack?

Adam: should he move or stay where he is?

Christine: what do you think of her attitude in this chapter?

GROUPS IN THE ARENA

Careers: Kyle (D1M), Excelsa (D1F), Victor (D2M), Scarlett (D2F), Oliver (D4M)

No longer a trio: Ambra (D3F), Christopher (D6M)

We are rebel girls: Rebecca (D9F), Estrella (D10F), Christine (D13F)

Siblings: Cedric (D7M), Bella (D7F)

Loners: Alexa (D6F), Adam (D9M), Yolanda (D12F)

The situation of alliances is still quite stable, but it's going to change soon. I've got already some ideas, but I'm open also to your suggestions or predictions, so feel free to write what you think in your reviews or to PM me :)

And now let's move to painful points.

THE FALLEN

26th: Owen Coin (18), D13M, the Memory

25th: Cliff Wells (14), D5M, the Dam Worker

24th: Rhonda Hope (12), D5F, the Orphan

23rd: Timothy "Tim" Cunningham (18), D10M, the Rancher

22nd: Tobias Jackson (13), D11M, the Breadwinner

21st: Fabian Swift (15), D12M, the Gambler

20th: Maya Seeds (12), D11F, the Blossom

19th: Vivian "Vivi" Tide (18), D4F, the Mermaid

18th: Autumn Peachskin (18), D8F, the Actress- arrow sent through her heart by Kyle Whiteswan (D1M). Cruel irony. Kyle spared her life during the bloodbath, but he was also the one who eventually killed her. Autumn was a character with a great potential. Her theatrical nature would emerge quite often, and it was an interesting element to write about. The problem is that she was unprepared for the hardships of the arena; indeed, she fell at the first difficulty. She will be missed, though.

KILLS

Kyle: 1 (Autumn)

Excelsa: 1 (Cliff)

Victor: 1 (Rhonda)

Scarlett: 2 (Owen, Timothy)

Alexa: 2 (Tobias, Fabian)

Adam: 1 (Maya)

Yolanda: 1 (Vivian)

Thank you a lot for reading :)