Morning of the Games:
Mac Dalton's POV:
It would be a cliché to say I didn't sleep the night before the games. Of course I slept, it was broken and filled with terrible dreams but it was sleep none the less. I wake up with the sun as I've always done in the past and start to prepare myself for what could be my last day on earth.
Flash comes in soon after and doesn't look surprised to see that I'm already awake.
"You sleep well?" He asks
"Alright" I reply,
"There some breakfast for you on the table and you know the deal with your clothes and stuff" he says.
I nod "Just throw on something quick" I reply repeating his instructions from yesterday "Marcus will dress me in my final outfit when I get to the arena."
"And don't forget your token" he adds before leaving me to get dressed.
I take a quick shower and brush my teeth, before gulping down a glass of tap water, finding water in the arena will probably be tricky so I may as well drink as much as possible now. I throw on some plain white boxers and my training tracksuit and the watch that lay on the table beside my bed before heading out to breakfast.
Tek is already waiting at the dining table in a cute little yellow sun dress Lanni stands behind her platting her hair.
"You look pretty" I say as I sit down and decide what to eat, not bacon too salty, I start with some fruit.
"People might see me before we get to the arena" she says "I want to give a good impression and Lanni says I might as well enjoy the last of the Captiol's finery before" she sobs instead of finishing her sentence.
"Chin up little one" Lanni says placing her hand under Tek's chin and pushing it physically upwards and Tek manages to hold her tears in. She was only a couple of years younger than me but seemed so young, especially in that little dress being played with like a doll by Lanni. It was a sad and strange scene to be watching.
"What time do we go up to the helipad?" I ask Flash who was staring into a mug of coffee.
"Soon" he replies "You'll get onto the crafts in District order."
"Will there be cameras?" Tek asks
"There sometimes is" Flash replies "but with all the extra security this year I don't know."
I finish my fruit and spend a while packing myself with carbs, Tek eats too, some fruity sweet cereal and drinks a hot chocolate. I can tell she doesn't expect to survive the day by the way she takes in everything around her and treats every mouthful so carefully.
Soon our final breakfast is broken up by the arrival of Elvio, who compliments Tek on her choice of dress and tells me how prepared I look.
Lanni and Flash say their farewells and as we follow Elvio out of the apartment for the last time; Tek reaches out and holds my hand. I let her take it, squeezing it in an attempt to comfort her.
As Flash had predicted there are no cameras up on the helipad only the two escorts from Districts One and Two standing to one side deep in conversation. They see Elvio and smile beckoning him over to join them. I didn't expect to get the same reception from their tributes.
The wait on the flight craft was long but eventually District Six joined us and the first twelve tributes left the tribute centre. Hugh catches my eye as the attendant injects my tracker and nods quickly. I smile and nod in return. I'd decided I'll let him ally with me once I saw his score of Five which was pretty decent.
The craft lands and we file out "I'll see you in the arena" I say to Hugh as he passes me, he turns around and shakes my hand "I look forward to it" he says almost confidently. I smile, I know the crying was all an act he'd put on to draw attention away from himself but I do hope he'd not overdone it. The weakest were sometimes seen as easy prey for the careers wanting to get a quick kill in as the games began.
A peacekeeper escorts me to the prep room where the door opens and Marcus waits for me "Looks like you're in for a bit of chilly arena" he says leading me over to my clothes.
I have about five layers to put on and I'm glad Marcus is there to help as some of the items I've never seen before so wouldn't know which order to change into them in. "I hope you don't have to change out of this stuff in a hurry" he says.
There a thin base layer, fleece jumper, Thick coat and rain coat, on the bottom I have a thin pair of leggings, normal trousers and over the whole lot goes a thick one piece. I can barely move in all these layers and the thick gloves, neck warmer and hat Marcus passes me next make moving even harder.
"Can't I just put these in a pocket?" I ask as he passes me the goggles, he shakes his head
"You've got it all for a reason; tributes need to be in full gear before going into the tubes."
"One minute" the announcement comes out of nowhere and reminds me of the glass tube in the corner of the room. "Well thanks then" I say turning towards the tube.
"Wait" he says grabbing the arm where my token watch was he slips it off my wrist on one quick movement and places a new watch on my wrist "Don't forget your token" he taps the stem "You'll know the time"
I nod understanding though a little bit confused. I thought I already had my arena watch, I didn't know Marcus was in on the plan or that he'd have the real watch.
I don't have time to worry about my watch though as I step into the tube. The door closes quickly and I slowly start to rise, my heart flickers quickly and I'm finding it hard to breathe. Focusing on my next moves I think about what I know.
Hugh is my ally.
I already have my weapon.
The arena will be cold.
Turns out I didn't know much at all.
Hugh Krakis' POV:
I had an ally, I had an ally. I was all I could think about as I was dressed in all my warming layers for the arena.
The tube is quite a confined space and I find my heartbeat quickening as I rise up into the arena, I'm wearing my goggles but I can see the brightness of the snow above me.
It's really warm in this tube I realise, the coldness of the arena mustn't have reached me yet. I feel dizzy. Am I sweating?
The sun is so bright as I reach the top of the tube and I still feel like I'm spinning and sweating.
I've never been in the snow before.
Was it supposed to feel like this?
My eyes are blurring and I can't see the other tributes or the countdown so I remove my goggles.
"What is this shit!" comes a female voice from beside me and then I realise.
This isn't a cold arena, it's a desert one ... no there's water, it's a beach and we're all dressed in so many layers people are struggling to stand straight on their pedestals.
Beside me the girl from one has finished swearing and is removing her layers, I copy her move and as I stuff my gloves and hat and neck warmer in my pockets I can see the countdown getting lower.
"26"
I unbutton my top layer and un-zip my other coats as I try to lay my eyes on Mac.
Eventually I spot him, a few tributes over, the girl from One separate us but none of the other careers look nearby.
He points over to the cornucopia which sits out in the water "Get supplies" he mouths and I nod, if we're to do this we'll need supplies, if for no other reason than to replenish the water we've lost sweating in these suits.
"6"
Crap where did those 20 seconds go? I wonder as the buzzer sounds.
Tributes dive of their pedestals and into the sand and their footing looks loose and I take care in stepping down. As I look up I'm facing the girl from One; sweat drips from her brow and she has the largest grin on her face.
"Too easy" she cries as she reaches up for my head.
Pleb Solvent's POV:
Crack! I can hear the sound of breaking bones but I don't see where it comes from, I'm running, stumbling even through the sand in my large heavy boots and too many layers. Lem joins me as we run.
"We need to wait for Amber" he says as we reach the cover of the trees I'm pulling off my gloves and dropping them on the floor.
"We need to go in deeper" I tell him "Were still to exposed"
"I'm not going without her" he cries back at me.
I duck further into the overgrowth and pull off my boots and top two layers. I shove them in a hold in the ground before sliding my boots back on.
"Come on come on come on Amber" Lem bounces slightly as he waits.
"You'll sweat out" I tell him, "take off those clothes"
"There she is" he says pointing to the other side of the beach where I can see Amber duck and dive between bushes to reach us.
The other tributes that haven't run for the bushes are wading through the water trying to reach the Cornucopia Island and while Lem watches Amber I look over to see what's happening to them.
In the water the boy from Eleven is almost at the cornucopia as Cassius from Two appears from out of the blue and slashes him across the chest with a sword, he falls backwards and splashes into the water.
A brown haired girl I recognise to be Lurex from Eight is fighting the boy from Four over a large rucksack. The boy had the upper hand though he is clearly a couple of years younger and Lurex too falls into the water with a splash, blood pouring from her body.
"Amber watch out" Lem calls and I look over to see the boy from One charging towards Amber as she almost reaches us.
"Where are you going" he laughs as he flings a short knife in her direction it hits her neck and she crumples to the floor.
"Nooo" Lem cries and I grab his arm
"I'm sorry but we have to go now" I cry pulling Lem away from the beach. The boy from One has seen us though and grabs a second knife from his bag.
"I'm running with our without you" I cry as I set off running. I'm glad I'd slipped my boots back on as away from the beach the arenas ground was hard and uneven. Lem is smart enough to follow me and we rush for cover. I feel a rush of wind past my ear and hear the thud of a knife slam into a tree just ahead of us and as we sprint past it I start to get the feeling the boy has given up.
"Did we make it?!" I shout as we continue to run, there's no response "Lem?" There wasn't a second knife was there, he isn't? I pull to a stop and spin around where I can see Lem a short distance back pulling the knife loose from the tree.
"Where did he go?" I ask as I run back to meet him again.
"Turned back" Lem replies as he frees the knife. "Didn't want to get too far from the others is my guess." He holds the knife in his hands and looks at me "You want it?"
I shake my head "You found it" I say "You keep it"
"I'm going to use it to kill him" Lem says his face darkening "To avenge Amber" I nod in agreement.
"Let's keep moving" I say. We walk through some more of the jungle, keeping to the shadows not saying a word.
Eventually the cannons begin to sound Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
"Only four" I say "Thought there would have been more"
"There will be" Lem days spinning the knife in his hand "and I'll be among them unless"
He looks over to me his eyes burning and I prepare to run. "Duck down" he hisses at me and I obey without thought. He growls as he looks through the undergrowth, I follow his line of sight and can see three male tributes walking through the trees.
"Leave them" I tell Lem "We need to get further away from the cornucopia then we can make a plan."
"It's me or them though" Lem says "It's me or you. Only one of us will survive"
"How long you think you'll last if you run in there with your single knife."
"One of them if deaf, the others just dumb, it'll be easy"
"Lem please don't do this" I plead "You're not going to survive if you go at the games like this?"
"What other way is there?" he asks "It's kill or be killed; the boy from One knows that, these three know that. You know that." His eyes burn with purpose as he starts to stalk his way through the undergrowth heading for the one a few paces back. The knife ready in his hand.
"Just like throwing an axe" he mutters just loud enough for me and the cameras watching us to register his last words.
Axel Maloney's POV:
As planned me and Sussex make a run for it the moment the countdown hits zero. As neither of us could swim, at least I assumed he couldn't, we made our way into the trees. We slowed down eventually and were keeping up a brief pace as we moved through the undergrowth. I kept considering stopping but the further away from the bloodbath we got the safer I felt.
I don't ever realise anything is wrong until Sussex touches my shoulder and pulls me to a stop. That was the scary thing, I couldn't hear him sneaking up on us and it could have been me.
But it wasn't, as I turn around I see Velorum stood their wide eyed, a trickle of blood running from him mouth he slumps forward and falls to the ground, there is a faint rumble in the air, like the four I felt earlier. Velorum's cannon had just sounded.
It takes a moment for me to register the knife in the back of his head and a moment longer to notice the person who'd thrown it rushing towards us. It was Lem from District Seven, he's running towards us and his mouth is wide open, probably not speaking but screaming as he lunges for Sussex. Sussex tosses Lem to the floor like he weighs nothing. He looks at me as Lem just lies there stunned or is he unconscious I can't tell. I just stand there looking at Velorum's body and up to Sussex, what did he want?
He points at Lem and then back to Velorum and I understand, he wants permission; he wants me to tell him he can kill this boy. This kid who has just killed another right in front of him and would have killed one of us next.
"Do it" I say but I can't look as he does, when it's over he steps back in front of me holding a bloody knife and points into the bushes where another boy sits watching us, his eyes wide open in fear. I shake my head and we turn away from the dead bodies as a rumble fills the air and keep heading out to the depths of the arena.
"Did you know he was following us, the kid from twelve?" I ask Sussex after a while and look up at him as he nods his head. I hope he stays around a bit longer; my ears and muscle, I think or I would be dead right now.
Ethel Bone's POV:
"You know I could hear Otho White shouting at you after the interviews" I tell Grace, "I almost considered kicking you out of the alliance; you're just bringing unwanted attention on us all."
We've sheltered in a small cave on the far side of the island; it looks out towards the vast ocean beyond us and looking at the wide empty space makes me think of the vast bleak ranges back home.
"Kick me out then" she replies "You and Christine go on without me."
"Yh I'm not an idiot" I reply ripping at the sleeves of my base layer as I speak. I was still feeling so constricted despite the fact we'd pilled the clothes we hadn't shed as we'd run onto the cave floor to use as bedding. Grace had removed her top layer too and had wrapped it around her waist so only her bra was covering up her top. I mean they were good sturdy bras ones without any of the fancy frills and wires that the capitol were so fond of. I actually felt comfortable in mine for the first time in days but I wasn't willing to show it off to the world though.
Grace though I kind of felt she was more desperate, she didn't have the fighting skills I had and the whole pretending to be the Head Gamemakers daughter thing had failed so spectacularly that I guess she had just resorted to stripping off for the cameras.
At least she seemed to have a plan Christine just kept telling us random facts about her life as if she were reciting something from a text book and then as soon as she'd gotten the chance she'd fallen asleep.
Grace yawns "I'll take the second shift if that's okay, didn't sleep much last night"
"Me neither but will you wait up with me for a bit, just until the pictures fill the sky"
"Of course" she replies "You know I almost forgot they did that, we never really see it back home do we?"
"I guess it's one thing that's for the tributes not the crowds"
"Makes a change" as she speaks the sky lights up and the anthem plays around the arena. I hear a squirm and a murmur from the pile of coats and jumpers as Christine wakes up.
The names and pictures cycle through the sky and the three of us watch in silence knowing were lucky not to be in that list.
"I can't believe Millers dead" Grace says eventually "And Hugh, only your male counterparts still alive Ethel, I keep forgetting his name"
"It's Sussex" I reply.
"Yh that's it" she replies curling down next to Christine "Wake one of us up when you need to sleep" she murmurs before the two of them drift off to an exhausted sleep.
It's at that point I think of home, think of my father who wouldn't be torturing my brother for a change instead I pictured him sat in his chair watching a borrowed screen screaming at me. He'd want me to kill them both, to end my alliance quickly and then go for the others. He'd be calling me all sorts of names through his television set. But for once I couldn't hear him so I just smiled and went back to trying to rip some of these thick winter clothes we'd been given into something I wouldn't melt in.
Bloodbath Obituaries:
Hugh – I almost had Hugh live for a while and ally with Mac but in the end I just decided he didn't have it in him to win. Someone has to go first and it was Hugh.
Miller – I liked Millers history with the Tracker Jackers but as the hallucinations and blackouts were my addition as I didn't really see much else there, I think in the end I just struggled to write him properly.
Lurex – I liked Lurex's spark and her total unwillingness to play the Games but in the end she had no choice and she didn't make it.
Amber – Amber's creator told me she couldn't run very fast, so I had Amber die like I imagine I would in the Hunger Games.
Velorum – I think Velorum had to go as he was just one too many silent tributes, by killing him off early I have a bit more time to develop Axel and Sussex who are two tributes I really like writing.
Lem – I'm afraid Lem just didn't have it in him to win, from being too worried to climb a tree to killing Velorum, Lem had been destroyed by the games and wouldn't have been able to win with the guilt he would have felt once the adrenalin and grief faded away.
Opps I appear to have whipped out District Seven there ... oh well, maybe next year guys.
