Trigger Warning: Last two pov contains cutting.
Skip for your mental health sake if needed.
I'll summarize for you via PM if you need me too.
I walk a lonely road
The only road that I have ever known
I don't know where it goes
But it's home to me, and I walk alone
Dailen Clervani, 18
District 7 Male
Seeing Lennox's name in the fallen tribute last night was the hardest thing I've ever had to go through alone. We had a plan in motion. She was fast, so she would run and get supplies, I would go and wait for her to get to the edge of the bridge. When that girl from 1 ran at her, it took everything I had not to go and help, but she made me promise.
"If I get stopped at the bloodbath, promise me you won't give your life up for mine, Dailen," she said. "Promise me, my life there isn't a lot to go back home to, you have something."
And so I kept that promise, but I hate myself for it.
I wasn't this guy in seven, it's been a day, and these games are already changing me. From being so optimistic and hardworking, to explicitly hating myself is more than I'm able to put into words. I want nothing more than to just go home, but to do that I have unspeakable crimes to commit.
But there's one that wouldn't be unspeakable.
Alexandrite is a monster. She killed Lennox in cold blood, and I can't let that go unpunished. I want to attack her the same way that she did Lennox. I want to stab her in the chest the same way she did to Lennox. I want to watch the life fade from her eyes, and her head to tilt to the side when she dies. I want to celebrate when the nasty bitch from 1 is dead.
Just like she did.
Killing Lennox was the worst thing that Alexandrite could have done. I almost should thank her. Because now, through all the self-loathing and hate, I have a purpose again. It's a noble goal, and I'd be ridding the world of a monster, but to free the world of evil, I, in turn, must do something evil.
The games normalize killing, but the truth is, for the people involved in here it's just as demonized as it was before we got here. I don't want to kill other people. Just Alexandrite. Killing Alexandrite is logical. Killing Alexandrite makes sense. Do I have it in me to kill an innocent, though? Could I kill the little girl from 10? Or even the boy from 8?
I'll let you know when I get there. Until then, I wait.
The room I'm in is on the first floor. I'm pretty sure it's a control room because there are plenty of screens. I can account for every tribute left in the game and where they are due to the cameras all throughout the ship.
When I got into this room, I thought for a second that I was going to get in trouble. It looks far too advanced for any tribute to be able to get ahold of it. I don't know what any of the buttons do, and honestly, I'm a bit scared to push any. I wouldn't want to break the ship.
Though I can see every tribute my eyes fall to one tribute, in particular, Alexandrite and the rest of the careers are currently hunting through the hallways. They're opening several doors and attempting to find the various tributes and where they are hiding. They're closest to the three girls from 6, 10, and 11 on the second floor. Those three are the only three on that floor beside the careers; the rest are on levels 1 and 3.
I am on 1. With the majority of other tributes.
I sit down in the seat that they've provided for whoever finds this room and kick my feet up on the control panel, careful not to push any buttons. Hopefully, this room is well out of the way enough to not be a focal point for tributes. I traveled well out of the way of the cornucopia. I figured if I am going to seek revenge on the girl from 1, I need time to recuperate.
I lean back in the chair, pushing myself further and further until I finally fall out of it on the back. I throw my fist on the ground in frustration, and a tear starts to run down my face. This isn't fair. This isn't anything that I signed up to do. I'm not like the sociopaths in Districts 1, 2, and 4. I have standards for my life. I have a value of human life.
As I wallow in self-pity, I notice there is an electrical circuit that is loose on the ceiling. There is a blue spark that is coming from one of the lights, which I find odd because the lights aren't blue. I stare at it in confusion, because if the Capitol spent this much money on an arena, I'd assume they tested every single wire and electric current they pumped into this thing.
So why now am I seeing this spark?
The lights begin to flicker, and this is enough to make me sit up. I feel the muscles in my neck tighten as I ponder the possibilities of what this could mean for the arena as a whole, but then I think again about it. The District 1 girl deserves to die, and she will get her due justice from me. However, the Capitol is just as much to blame as she is. If it weren't for their sick over hype of the games as a whole, people like Alexandrite wouldn't even exist. If this arena came crashing back into the atmosphere, landing God knows where it would only serve these people right.
I look back up where the spark was and notice it's gone. The lights in the room have stopped flickering, and I look around confused.
"That's odd," I say as I get up and go to the door. "Let's find out what that was," I say to myself.
Shed no tears for me
Light no candle for my sake
This journey I am going on,
Is one we all must make
Asha Titus, 18
District 2 Female
Ortheus dying shook me to the core.
Not because I liked the brute, but because he was destined for at least the top 8. Not to mention I'm sure the only reason it was Ortheus and not Alexandrite, Oliver, myself, or any of the others was because of where we appeared on the plates. Ortheus' fate was sealed because he appeared at the wrong plate.
The idea of his mortality has made me realize my own, and now I'm questioning everything. How blind was I to travel in the footsteps of my District, with no realization as to what the consequences could be for my choices? I could get out of the arena, but if I get out of the arena, people have to die.
People like Ember, who I've come to like, have to die. I don't know if I'm ready to make that choice yet. Not from lack of capability, but from a complete lack of desire to do so. By killing these other children, I am saying that by my greed, and my desire for glory, by the sheer fact that I've been taught to use a knife, which my life is worth more than theirs. If anything because of all those traits it's worthless.
"They couldn't throw a tv in here or something?" ask Ember as she runs her hand along the white interior of the ship. "It's the most boring time of my life, and I know my adrenaline should be on a high right now, but let's be honest, I hate this."
I chuckle to myself, but then a noise catches my attention. The sound of footsteps making their way down the hallway adjacent to ours send my head into a spiral. The fight or flight instinct that I've been trained to have takes over, and I instantly make a grab for my tomahawk at the side of my belt.
Ember grabs hold of the staff she managed to swipe at the cornucopia before the bloodbath and takes a defensive stance. Wasn't her first choice of a weapon, but she has done alright with the few tricks I knew to show her.
As the footsteps get closer and closer, many things cross my mind, but when the tribute rounds this corner, I have to decide if it's their time to die. I'm not sure if I can do that quite yet.
I see the brown hair before I see the face of the boy from District 7 as he rounds the corner.
"Have you guys seen a blue spark!?" he asks us with a sense of urgency. "It's been moving from place to place on the ship, and I'm starting to think it's something serious."
"How about you give me one reason why I shouldn't hit you on the head with my staff?" ask Ember angrily "You scared me half to death."
"Oh please, 12," says the boy from 7 with an eye roll. "You wouldn't know how to use that thing if it told you how to itself."
Ember looks frustrated, and I know she's contemplating on whether or not to strike with her staff. She looks at me, and I casually lower my tomahawk, as the boy doesn't seem to be armed himself. He rolls his eyes and crosses his arms.
"I think the ship is failing," he says
"What do you mean?"
"There was a blue spark in my hiding spot, and the lights flickered, and before I knew it it, was gone."
"But what does that have to do with the ship failing?" I ask nervously.
"What else could it be?!" he asks us angrily.
"A mutt," says Ember as she looks back and forth. "Nothing about this arena is normal. I doubt they'd be able to transport standard mutts like they do in the regular arenas. I bet whatever you saw is the first of many mutts we will encounter up here."
"I have to find it," he says pushing past us. The idea of the tomahawk and the staff being in our hands apparently not passing through the forefront of his mind. "I need to see where it's going."
"Excuse me?" I say holding up my hands dramatically. I put my tomahawk back in the casing on my thigh. He's clearly not out for a fight. "You're telling me there's a potential mutt on the loose and you're going to go towards it?"
"That's what I said isn't it?" he says with a cheesy smile. Who is this boy?!
"Let's go," says Ember as she shrugs her shoulders and the two begin to walk down the hallway. "Do you have a weapon on you?" she ask the boy from 7 nonchalantly. My jaw is slack as I watch my ally be so carefree in a life or death situation. "Cause, if you're going to try and kill me, I'll warn you, I might not know how to use this thing correctly, but I've had very detailed imaginative daydreams of shoving this bad boy where the sun don't shine."
"Are we seriously following a rival tribute into a mutt trap?" I ask
"Yeah," she says. "He's clearly not in his right mind right now, Asha."
"I'm definitely in my right frame of mind," I say, "But my only kill during this games will be the girl from District 1."
I shrug my shoulders. If he wants to kill Alexandrite, he can't be all bad. "Fine, my name is Asha, and hers is Ember. How long is this alliance going?" I want to make things very clear. It's important for there to be lines in the sand.
"I dunno," says the boy, "I guess you guys could help me take out the wicked witch from 1? My name is Dailen, by the way," he says shaking his head in a sense that said "haha oops, my bad guys!", "nice to meet you."
"I'm Ember, and I'm all for killing the priss." she says looking at me hopefully.
'Fine." I whine as I follow them down the hallway. As we turn the corner, the blue spark is shining at the top of a light fixture. "There it is!" I scream as we run towards it.
I still feel uneasy about this.
You need that killer instinct
To give you the nerve
To grab everything you want in life
But may not deserve
Lenovo Cane, 18
District 5 Male
The lights have been flickering on and off for the past 15 minutes now, and I'm beginning to feel uneasy. I don't do that often, but I mean, look at what I'm allied with, a country bumpkin with an incessant need to flirt with everything that moves, an annoying guy from District 8 who is always smiling and trying to tell not funny jokes, and then there's Whitney, and I like her. She's more reserved than the rest of us, but I honestly think that is because of her age.
I need her to be more dependent on me if I'm going to move forward efficiently, but to that, her District partner needs to go.
I need to start planning.
We've been trapped in this room for a day now. The room is the bare minimum. There's a bucket in the corner that we've been using as a bathroom, and eventually, are going to have to find a way to dispose of the waste, there are sleeping bags that we managed to get from the bloodbath, and that's about it. It's just plain silver, metallic, makes you freeze your toes off, dull metal walls. I've been playing with the map in hopes that I would find something about the rooms, or you know a different one, but all it shows me is where I'm at.
I clearly know where I'm at. It's called hell.
I look around at the group. Kyle is in his sleeping bag sleeping, again, and snoring quite loudly might I add. Whitney is picking at her split ends, but I can't imagine she has anymore by how often she does it, and Ishmael is just chatting away to her. I doubt she's even listening anymore at this point.
"Isaac, can you kindly poke Kyle and tell him he's snoring again?"
"It's Ishmael," he responds. "Why can't you do it?"
"Do you see me lounging?" I ask looking at him with an incredulous grin. "I have better things to do than waking a sleeping boy."
"So do I."
I roll my eyes and get inside my sleeping bag. There's a method to my madness, especially when I call someone the wrong names. I simply don't want people to know how observant I am. If they see me as the dumb old rich boy, who is also incredibly handsome and beautiful, it's kind of hard to take you seriously as a threat. My idea single handily killed one of the best tributes in this game, who might have won had I not had my brilliant idea, and all of that planning goes uncredited because I come across as obnoxious.
I'm leading this alliance whether these people see it or not. If they're scared to make me whine, then they do what I want them to do. If they think I'll lose it if I don't get my way, they do what I want to do. My way has been the only way these tributes have known the entire game.
And I don't plan to let that slip away.
"There it is!" screams a female voice from the hallway. Every single one of us flinches in this room. Except for Kyle who continues to snore. Ishmael now reaches his hand over and shoves him in the back to which he wakes up with a snort.
"What!?" he asks dazed and confused.
"Shh." says Whitney quietly as she holds her finger to her lip.
The footsteps increase, and suddenly there is a blue spark that is on our ceiling. The doors opens to our room, and the lights go out right as I get a view of the three tributes that are at our door. One of them being a career.
It's not just our room that has the lights off, but the hallway on the outside too. It's pitch black, and I can't even see in front of my hand. The only thing I can see is the blue spark that is in the ceiling. Kyle is fumbling around in the dark, and my one hope is the girl from District 2 isn't holding a grudge match from us killing her District partner.
"Hello?" says a female voice in the front of the door.
"Yes..?" says Kyle tentatively.
I swing my foot in the direction of him, and he winces in pain. I hear someone step foot into the room, and I instantly reach for my backpack. It takes me a couple of tries, but I finally find it and pull the dagger I got in one of my packs from the bloodbath. I wait quietly for the tributes to creep closer to me, and then I remembered we have a digital map, that shines a light, that lets me see as I blind our attackers.
Let's do this Lenovo.
I reach for my pack again pulling out the map. When I flick it on, I see the girl from 2, the boy from 7, and the girl from 12 walking around the edges of the room. None of them have looked down at us at all. Instead, they are watching the spark. I flash the light around the room and see Ishmael is sitting with Whitney. Something moves behind Ishmael, and I hold back a scream. Instead, I focus closer on Ishmael and see a scaled figure walking behind him.
"Boo," it says as it erupts with blue electricity going everywhere. The room is illuminated with electric currents, and the blue spark at the top of the ceiling strikes like a bolt of lightning in the middle of the room. Standing before the 7 of us is another scaly creature of the same kind as the one behind Ishmael. It also has blue electric currents swirling around it. Whitney and Ishmael scream as they both run towards me, but before Ishmael could get away, the creature reached out its long arm, almost like a tentacle, and grabbed onto Ishmael's shoulder.
"Where do you think you're going, boy?" he says taunting. "I want to play! Don't you want to play with me?"
"Guys!" screams Ishmael as he squirms in the grip of the tentacle. The three other tributes that came into the room are frozen against the wall, but I notice the girl from 12 giving me eye contact. She glances down at her fingers that are holding up a three. She does a quick countdown with her and then motions at the door. All without lifting her arm.
I nod, and she does the countdown, but this time she does it slowly. I grab ahold of Whitney's arm, and she grips my hand. Ishmael is still screaming, and the other scaly creature is messing with Kyle.
"GUYS, PLEASE HELP!" they both scream as the creatures zap them with their tentacles and then laugh about it. The girl from 12 gets down to one, and in an instant, I grab ahold of Whitney and yank her towards the door with me. She screams for her District partner as the creatures let a full force of electric energy out onto my alliance members.
BOOM
BOOM
We run down the dark hallway, but this time the girl from 2 has her map out. Instead of using it as a light she's looking for a place to go with it.
"WHERE DID MY FRIENDS GO?!" screams one of the creatures from the room. When we round the corner down the hallway, we see the blue spark as it is traveling the ceiling. We turn the corner of a different hall, and the lights flick back on. The blue spark is gone, and we are all awkward glancing at each other in the semicircle we are now standing in.
"So, do we have to like, fight now?" ask the boy from District 7. Fighting is not in my best interest, so I shake my head no.
"We are more useful to you alive than dead." I choke out quickly.
"How so?" asked the girl from 2 with a raised eyebrow.
"I was the one that came up with the plan for Ortheus," I say taking a calculated risk. I'm fully prepared to push Whitney in front of me in the case of a fight. "I'm smart."
"Ok, let's see how smart you are." says the girl from 2. "I want to take Alexandrite out."
"Good," I say, "I have a plan. Right, Whitney?" I turn to my friend, but she is just sitting on the floor looking horrified.
"He's...he's gone," she says with tears falling down her face.
Another one bites the dust
Another one bites the dust
And another one gone, and another one gone
Another one bites the dust
Micah Cobalt, 14
District 3 Male
Cortana decided to camp out on the third level of the ship. Instead of staying in the room all of today, however, we decided to walk around and see our surroundings. We have been walking for hours, and now we're just sitting against a wall. We figured that most people would want to avoid higher up places, especially because in the lobby there is a railing where each level can come out and look at the ship. Free falling to your death just doesn't sound fun for anyone. How ironic would that be, falling to your death in outer space?
Ever since I've gotten onto this ship, I've had a sense of dread fill me. Every time someone's cannon booms and their pictures appear on the ceilings, the walls, the monitors, pretty much anything with a flat surface, I feel pain for them.
I feel pain for them because they will never know the excitement of adulthood. I feel pain for them because they will never get to experience walking down an aisle, or seeing their bride walking towards them. I feel pain for them because they'll never know what it's like to love a child that is just theirs.
These people deserve an homage. They deserve to be remembered, and if I get out of this arena, they will be.
I take my left arm up and place it on my lap. In a vertical line sits five newly scabbed cuts along the top part of my arm. Each of these cuts has a name. Each of those names is ones that I'll remember forever if I get out of here.
BOOM
BOOM
"Who do you think it is?" I ask I reach over into my backpack and pull out the small pocketknife I got from the bloodbath.
"I have no clue, and I wish you wouldn't do that, Micah," she says sternly. "Knowing our luck you'd cut a vein, and then I would panic trying to save you."
"I wouldn't expect you to save me," I say carving the first unnamed tribute into my arm right under the boy from 6, Maxwell.
"But you know I would try?" she says hopeful.
"Yup," I say as I finish up the second line and place the knife back into the bag. I take my shirt off and wrap it around my arm as I lean against the cold metallic wall. I wonder how Elena is doing, and if she's rooting for me. I wonder if back home everything is going normal, or do people miss me?
"Do you think that everything is going okay back home?"
"I believe that people are getting on with their lives just fine," says Cortana as she attempts to balance a water bottle on the back of her hand. "They can't all miss us dearly, Micah. The people that matter do," she says.
"Awh, how sweet." says a voice that sends chills down my spine. Cortana and I jump and both flip around to see the boy from District 9 staring at us with an intense grin. "Looks like you kids are lost," he says holding up a sword. "Let me help you find your way...to death."
"That was seriously the shittiest line I've ever heard," says Cortana standing up and grabbing the whip she managed to get from one of the packs. "And I don't think we'll be the ones going anywhere."
"Back off 9," says another voice that appears from behind me, as now I'm facing the boy from 9. "I've been following them for hours, they are my kill."
"Or," I say, "We can all just be friends," says Cortana turning sideways. I turn to see the boy from 11 standing. He's small and stature and unthreatening enough, he carries a giant axe though that makes him a little more alarming, almost humorous, though. It looks a bit too big for him.
"You snooze, you lose, 11." says the boy from 9. "These are my kills. Get lost."
"Make me." says the boy from 11 walking forward. He and the boy from 9 walk towards each other and meet in the middle. Cortana and I try to squeeze by and sneak away, but the boy from 9 quickly takes a knife out of his pocket and hurls it at the wall.
"There's more where that came from, stay put," he says with a grin, as the boy from 11 tried to take a cheap shot. The boy from 9 steps to the side and an epic fight begins as they're swinging back and forth. You can tell that they've envisioned fights before, but haven't ever been in one. They're both very clumsy with their footing, and they lunge with their body. The trainers told us not to do that.
Cortana and I move along the wall, and we are about to round the corner when we hear a wince. We turn to see the boy from 11 slicing at the boy from 9's leg with his axe. The boy from 9 jumps over, but blood starts to trickle down his leg. The boy from 11 takes a step back and then hurls his axe at the boy from 9, but before it makes impact the boy from 9 again steps aside.
It happens before I have time even to react. The axe that he threw at the boy from 9 is embedded in my chest, and my whole body feels heavy. I fall to my knees and lean up against the wall as Cortana lets out a scream that a deaf person could hear. Her scream distracts the boy from District 11, and the boy from 9 stabs him in the throat. He falls to the ground clutching at his neck, and then his cannon sounds.
BOOM.
The boy from 9 walks over to Cortana and me, but she begins to scream and wildly swing her whip around. He jumps back a few times, but Cortana is relentless, she's even swatted herself on the legs a few times by the time the boy from 9 is running down the hall away from us.
When he's gone, she runs over to me still hyperventilating and panicking. "Micah, you can't do this," she says in between sobs. "No, no, no, no!" she says as she pounded the floor. "We were supposed to be the last two!" she says as wails escape her mouth.
I use the little energy I feel and reach my finger up to her lips. I hold it there, and she calms down for a little bit. "You need to be strong," I whisper to her. "Be brave. You can do this, Cortana." I say. I take a deep breath, and by how hard it was to inhale, I don't think I have very many left. "You go home, and tell my family I love them," I say as my vision starts to fuzz. I close my eyes and lean against the cold wall. A chill starts filling my body. It starts at my feet and slowly travels up the rest of my body.
When it hits my chest, I know my time is coming quickly. I open my eyes and look at Cortana one more time and smile. "Good luck-"
I can hear those echoes in the wind at night
Calling me back in time
Back to you
In a place far away
Where the water meets the sky
The thought of it makes me smile
You are my tomorrow
Cortana Ramslee, 18
District 3 Female
BOOM
"Micah?" I ask as tears continue to fall down my face. My voice is hoarse from screaming, but I can't stop saying his name. "Micah!?" I say again as I nudge him with my hand. "No!" I scream again, but my voice breaks, and so instead of continuing to yell I just sink into the floor and weep.
I weep for the boy that was too nervous to ask a girl out on a peanut butter date. I weep for the boy who's mom took her life. I weep for the boy who I've known my whole life, and never bothered to get to know until it was too late. I weep for the boy who died at 14.
"You need to be strong. Be brave. You can do this, Cortana" is all I hear in my head as I lay on the floor numb. No tears left to cry, no more screaming to be done, the damage is permanent. My friend is dead.
It's not fair that someone as pure and good as Micah had to die. It's not fair that any of us have to die for the entertainment of these selfish people that live in riches while we get rags.
I feel the rage boiling inside of me as I stand up and look around at the camera. "Is this what you want?!" I do my best to scream as I point at Micah. "Because I hope you're happy. He's gone!" I say.
We deserve to be remembered. We deserve to have a voice, and whether or not I'm standing at the end of this game with my head held high, or if I'm dead in a box being shipped back to my parents, I'm going to make noise.
"I understand you now," I whisper to Micah as I reach for his backpack and grab the small pocket knife out of the bag. I go where the fold of my left arm is, and carefully cut a line into my skin. Not deep enough to kill me, but deep enough to scar.
"Ortheus," I say as I move the blade lower on my arm for the next dead tribute.
I was in my feels today.
I know a lot of people died this chapter, but like, I wanted to kill 9 in my bloodbath, and I figured that splitting it into two chapters would be good? Promise that, until the feast (if I do one), there will no longer be more than two kills per chapter, if that.
Alliance Update:
Brat Pack: Alexandrite/Oliver/Arabia
#KillAlexandrite #Sheahoe: Asha/Lenovo/Whitney/Dailen/Ember
SMOL Beans….-1: Samira/Elodie/Dove
The cause of literally all of the issues in this chapter...maybe ;): Ellis/Xoren
Loners: Warren/Cortana
Eulogies…
18th/19th Place: Ishmael Fosters, District 8 Male, Killed by mutt: I killed Ishmael here because, honestly, though he was a good character, I wasn't quite sure where to go with him. Throughout this whole story, I got such good tributes, and it was so hard for me to place who I wanted to die where. I wanted to keep him around, but I couldn't just keep him around unsure of what to do. That's my fault as an author, and for that, I greatly apologize.
18th/19th Place: Kyle Timmons, District 10 Male, Killed by mutt: David, same thing as before, dude. Kyle originally had so many plot lines in my head. He was one of the easiest to write in my opinion as well. The issue with Kyle came from when I started developing the other people's arcs; his didn't line up with them as well. Kyle was fun, and honestly, had this been any other story, he probably would have went deeper. I just hope you don't hate me, dude :(! I appreciate your thoughts and your characters in mine, and other stories. So I hope you stick around.
17th Place: Danny Calison, District 11 Male, Killed by Warren Church: Tracee, I know you get attached to your children, and that's why I decided to give you a little bit of a heads up for killing Danny. I liked Danny a lot. My issue comes from a 14-year-old being a ruthless killer, and the fact he was untrained. He killed his mom, and that was like an "oh snap" moment, and then after that, I just felt kind of creepy writing him. He was a good character, and I tinkered with the idea of making him my main antagonist, but I think we both know you'd rather Cortana go farther than Danny. Thanks for the sub friend.
16th Place: Micah Cobalt, District 3 Male, Killed by Danny Calison: I'm emotionally drained having just finished writing Micah's and Cortana's POV. They are both great characters, and the chemistry between them was beautiful to write for. Micah is dead for the plot, and also because I just didn't realistically see him going much further. Thanks Abby for possibly the cutest tribute I've ever gotten. I will forever remember my storyline for this kid. Jenna, expect a peanut butter date.
Announcement: So around this time every story of mine I announce the new plans I have coming up. For those of you who remember RedRoses1000, they wrote a brilliant story called Home of the Brave. My tribute, Tahan Jacobs, won those games but it was summarized. At the end of the story note, Rose challenged us to write our versions of the story. So I found a way to make it click into my universe, and I'm making it happen. The prologue will be up shortly after I post this chapter. It's an AU, but the prologue will explain everything. I hope you'll submit!
Let me know what you think of this chapter.
Keep it classy,
Caleb