Night 1

Everette Hastings (18) D1M

I could relate to ice at the time of its melting.

As of now, I felt the same. After what seemed to be like hours and hours on end, Casper and I finally got out of one of the craters, only to find that it was one of the last ones. The cornucopia wasn't visible from where we stood, and Casper suggested that we explore the place further. I didn't really agree with the idea, but it seemed better that to just stand and stare into nothingness.

In the distance we saw two figures just lying down, and I wondered who they were. Slowly, we tiptoed over to them, only to find that they were the pair from Five, their eyes closed, chests heaving. Perhaps they'd fallen asleep due to exhaustion.

It was frustrating to see them that way, for I simply wanted to drop down and relax too. The bags that we had managed to acquire had different things, like a sleeping bag, a bottle of fruit juice, some apples, a rope along with other things, but there was no water, and my throat was parched. Casper looked no better, and the two of us wondered whether we should kill them in order to gain sponsors.

"They're sleeping," Casper whispered, "We shouldn't really attack sleeping tributes, shall we?"

"I say we wake them up, and allow them a few seconds to prepare."

"I think we should just let go and explore this arena further."

"It's too cold, I don't think I can carry on."

Neither of us felt like attacking the tributes, but Casper nodded as he came to see things my way. not that I didn't agree with him, but there had been no deaths since bloodbath. And no deaths would mean something terrible by the Gamemakers. No, for the sake of our own peace, we had to do it.

"Get up," I called out loudly, prodding the girl to wake her up. She didn't budge even in the slightest, and I wondered how could anyone be so relaxed in such a rough terrain. Casper too, had no success in waking up the boy.

"I think we should end this."

"No!" Casper exclaimed, "I thought you're here for redemption. Killing tributes in their sleep is against our very honour code!"

I sighed; he was correct. I was here to redeem myself, and people back in Career Districts really looked down on tributes who killed others in their sleep. They called it cowardice, and being labelled a 'coward' would certainly not serve my purpose.

"So what do we do?"

"Let's try again. GET UP AND FIGHT!"

Casper's yell was so sudden that even I jumped, startled. Liya was soon on her feet, whereas the boy just looked around groggily.

"What?"

"No…" Liya whispered as she looked at us, and it kind of hurt to see the fear in her eyes.

"Well, I'm sorry but it has to be done."

"What- hey how did you…?"

Vis looked around at us helplessly, unable to understand what had happened. Most probably they didn't even know that they'd fallen asleep.

I had to make it quick.

I threw myself at the girl, bringing her down on the hard ground. She struggled hard against me, and kicked me in my abdomen once, but I didn't let her go. reaching out, I grabbed her neck and twisted it around, ending it right there.

Casper wasn't so successful though, for Vis was running away towards the crater. I yelled for him to catch the boy, but Casper made no effort to give him a real chase. Sure, he ran after him, but it was so half-hearted that it was no surprise that the boy got away and jumped into the hole.

"You could have got him!" I said as I looked at my ally, who just appeared to be tired.

"Yeah, I could. But… I think eight deaths are more than enough for a day, you know?"

That had been a while back now. Both of us had somehow stumbled into an area where the sun was big enough to engulf all of us, and the very air seemed to be on fire. I was literally melting, and beside me my ally staggered just a bit.

"There seems to be a town there."

"Let's check it out…"

Jordan Arroyo (18) D8F

The three of us had captured the cornucopia, and everything inside it.

It was terribly cold around us, and so we had started a small fire around which we sat in a circle, keeping warm. Aryton was trying to heat the bread we had in the flames, and I was impressed how the bread never burned, but got the exact crispness that would appease us right now. As we munched on our crisp breads, I saw Saunder stare into the horizon, whereas Aryton just watched the flames. He was usually not so quiet, and I assumed this change was because he had killed Mickayala and had assisted in Emeline's murder as well. I personally couldn't understand why that made him so sad, it was refreshing for me, but people's minds just worked differently.

"We need to go tribute hunting tomorrow," I said as I bit into the bread.

"You're foolish," Saunder said bluntly, "How are we going to understand that it's tomorrow?"

"Don't call me foolish, you rejected Career."

"Don't you dare call me rejected. I rejected them."

"Yeah yeah whatever."

"Oh shut up you two!" Aryton slammed, "You're making my head hurt."

"Stay in your limits or you'll be going the same way as the other tributes."

"Worse, since it's two against one."

"You duffers can unite against me, but still continue to fight. How nice."

"Look, we're not here to fight each other," I said finally, looking at both the boys who lazily threw insults at each other, "We need to find out the others, whether now or later."

"The anthem played a while ago," Aryton muttered, "It's surely night right now."

"Let's take some rest," Saunder said all of a sudden, rubbing his arms.

"We can't. Somebody will just come over and steal our supplies-"

"-or murder us."

Saunder Kilkenny sighed dramatically before glancing at us as if we were particularly difficult children whom he had to handle.

"That's why I think you both are dumb. Obviously one of us will keep watch."

"I'll do it," I replied instantly, ignoring the 'dumb' comment. I would get back at him for it later. But for now, it was still our first night here, and it would be better if we stuck together.

"Alright. Wake me up if something turns up."

With that, the only Career present walked over to the cornucopia to pull out a sleeping bag. Bringing it close to the fire, he snuggled inside comfortably, and to my surprise was snoring in an instant.

"That was quick," Aryton muttered as he started munching on an apple.

"We should conserve our food Aryton."

"We have a lot of food left. Plus, we also got a sponsor bag."

That was true. After all the tributes had cleared out of the area, a bag from sponsors had arrived for each of us, with lots of fruits, berries and water. We honestly had no food shortage as of now, but one couldn't relax in the arena. Things could happen any time.

And that's what happened.

It was so sudden that it took me a second to process it. Saunder was up in at once, and Aryton yelled at us to make it for the craters.

Large rocks showered from the sky, as if somebody was hurling them at us. They were following all over the arena, causing cracks in the ground, and violent trembles that made me fall on my back.

"RUN! RUN!"

With that, Aryton grabbed his sabre and the sponsor's bag and dashed for the craters. One of the rocks fell horribly close to him, and he just managed to evade it. I didn't even realise when I started following him, but I was running for my life, and was Saunder. Aryton jumped into the closest crater, for the rocks seemed to avoid those holes, and we barely managed to follow.

Even as I fell, Aryton had disappeared into the darkness, and Saunder and I were stuck in something that felt like quicksand. It pulled us in, and no matter how much we struggled against it, we couldn't get out. I could feel tears in my eyes by the time my chin got immersed in whatever substance it was. It was a shame that I had to go like this. I wish I could have gotten more kills.

And then I fell on hard ground on my back, hurting it slightly. Saunder felt right on top of me and I swore. Why couldn't he fall a few feet away?!

"So this is where the tributes have run off to."

Tybal Marran (17) D9M

Neither Lily nor I knew why we were still allying.

But the fact was that we were together at the moment, and it didn't seem as if that would change soon.

Lily had been sobbing on and on about Wesley, and how she wished she could do something for him. We were in a weird hall like area inside the maze below the ground. Yes, it was a maze for all practical purposes, as every space below the crater holes led to three different paths, and then those paths diverged into three more paths. I was surprised to be in such a large space though, since there were no crater holes above us, and I might have pointed that out to Lily had she not been sobbing incessantly.

"Get a grip!" I finally snapped at her, tired of all the crying she had been doing.

I was naturally astounded at the sudden silence, and the fact that her eyes had dried up instantly. Maybe there had been no tears at all to begin with, but the aggrieved look she had made me uneasy.

"We lost him Tybal…"

"Well, these are the Games, obviously we'll lose people."

Maybe I was rude to her, and I wished I could avoid it, but honestly her crying had irritated me beyond belief. Sure, I was unhappy that Wesley was no more, but right now I had more pressing matters at hand. Saving my own life, for example. And wasting my time on a sobbing mess didn't seem like a good idea.

"Where are we, Tybal?"

"Exactly what I'd like to know."

It was almost something had been awaiting this question, for suddenly the purplish glow started to dim, and Lily grasped my hand in fear. I didn't like it, and shook her off, looking around in order to understand what was wrong. Everything seemed to be colder now, and her hand had been like solid ice. I couldn't stop my teeth from chattering as I rubbed my hands together to get some feeling in them.

It was then, from the middle tunnel, something appeared to be emerging. I backed away towards the tunnel we had come from, ready to run, but to my utter horror, the same slimy purplish webs started spreading out across the entryway, blocking the access completely. One thing was clear though, we had to fight this thing.

I tried to adjust my vision for what was coming, and even as Lily inched closer, I saw that it was another person.

But that was where the similarity ended.

This person was not human. And no, I wasn't saying so because I knew that the arena had mutts; I said so because, despite the purplish hue, their dirty green colour couldn't be concealed. This thing had bright purple eyes, shining like little orbs of flame. It was muscular and thin at the same time, and was wearing a pair of purple shorts and T-shirt. One thing was good about him, that he had a dazzling smile. It was so bright that it threatened to blind me and I looked away for a second to just adjust to its radiant smile.

"Hey, welcome,"

Its voice was so low pitched and eerie that it literally made my skin crawl. I looked on, poised to fight if it did anything, but it only smiled.

"It's been a long time since someone visited me. Sorry, I haven't introduced myself. The name's Cundaar, and this place is my home. My siblings all live around too, but nobody ever visits us. I hope you don't have many issues here?"

"It's *** cold," I grumbled as I eyed him cautiously.

"I apologise for that, dear Tybal. It's just that we need cold weather."

"How do you know my name?!"

The thing, Cundaar, threw back its head and laughed, laughed like a maniac, and I looked around desperately for a second if I could escape this place. But this thing had blocked both the tunnels and the web had blocked the third.

"You're in my house! Of course, I'll know who you are!"

"Let us go, please," Lily whispered, maybe for the first time in a while.

"Ah, but I can't. You see, Lily, I'm very lonely here. We'd like to have some fresh faces here."

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean, Tybal, is that the two of you will have to compete in order to decide who comes with us and who leaves!"

Ari Bell (17) D11F

I still couldn't forget Maurice's face when that horrible boy strangled him to death.

There was so much fear on his face, and his eyes begged for mercy, but the boy didn't stop. All because Maurice had a bag and Dwayne wanted it. By the time I had started towards him, he was already done and, like a traitor, decided to save the girl from One. And then he had teamed up with the two Career girls before just disappearing.

I had wanted to follow them, but by then Jordan was almost on me, and jumping into the first crater wouldn't give her the slip. So I ran ahead and jumped into the second closest hole, knowing here she wouldn't come after me in order to secure the cornucopia.

That was long ago now. I was in a dull place, far away from where I had first entered. This place was a gigantic labyrinth of sorts, with tunnels inside tunnels and so on. I was exhausted after all the walking, and soon I was leaning against the only spot on the wall that didn't have the slimy stuff on it. and I felt like crying now, maybe for the first time.

I had volunteered to save my brother, but here I was, in the middle of a death match. I didn't know how Rocco was doing, and I hoped against hope that our mother wasn't hurting him. I should have thought through this! Why did I volunteer? What if something happened to him while I was here?! And I wondered if he was watching me. In the interviews yesterday, I had openly asked him to stay strong. That I would be back. I had asked our mother to look after him, and I hoped she would take my request into consideration.

And then there was Maurice… No, I wasn't close to him or anything. I felt that he hated me. But he was a victim, victim of bullying, and I could relate so well. After all, Rocco got called names all the time for being paralysed, something that wasn't in his control.

When Dwayne killed Maurice, it felt to me as if he had attempted to kill Rocco himself. The elder boy had no business attacking an innocent child, and it wasn't as if they were in the final stage that it was inevitable. No, he could have just run, Maurice wasn't bothering him, but he still chose to kill him.

And right now, I wanted nothing more than to teach him a lesson. I wanted revenge, not for Maurice alone, but for every bullied kid. That boy had picked on a weak person despite knowing it wasn't necessary. I wanted to kill him, to let him have a taste of his own medicine.

But at the moment, keeping tears at bay was hard. I missed Rocco dearly, and the image of Dwayne Wildflower murdering Maurice was just driving me insane. The bitter cold wasn't helping either, and I wished nothing more than being back with my brother.

Unwillingly, the tears flowed.

So, I know Ari's POV was slightly shorter, but it wasn't intentional. It just felt that this should be enough, because I didn't want to build anything this chapter after Tybal and Lily's dilemma. Plus, a little insight on their thoughts would be nice. Or that's what I thought.

Eulogies:

17th- Liya Chiaro: Liya was amazing in every sense, and I loved her risk-taking and adventurous personality. She was a good girl, and I wished she wasn't reaped. It was certainly fun to write her though. Rest in peace, you'll be missed.

Anyway, do let me know your thoughts on this chapter. Everette's and Casper's dialogues may sound weird, but I honestly believe that when these people are so high on honour, they wouldn't really kill sleeping tributes. We'll focus on the other characters, from whom we've not heard, in the next chapter.

Also, I'll be unable to make a map for this, because I don't know how to, and if I write it all down it might become confusing. I regret the inconvenience, and I hope it's not too much of a problem.

Death list:

Horatio (blew up)

Lanai (killed by Jordan)

Mickayla (killed by Ayton)

Emeline (killed by Jordan and Aryton)

Wesley (killed by Teddy)

Maurice (killed by Dwayne)

Tapicca (killed by Jordan)

Liya (killed by Everette)

Have a great day!