Bloodbath
Fallon
There is an emptiness in my stomach that won't go away. Understandably too, considering that the Games begin in less than two hours. I take a shower that would be way too hot on any other day except for this one. My fire-coloured hair is beginning to fade. Already mousy-brown roots are peaking through. I'm going to be total mess if I get out of the arena. Physically, emotionally, mentally. The victors of the districts always try to cover their damage up, but some of us see through their mask. We know they drink and drug themselves out of the nightmares. I pray that I don't end up like that.
Broden's usually cheerful smile has been wiped away like a spill. He slumps slightly and keeps his hands in his pockets. At breakfast I hardly get to eat anything, partly because I'm so terrified and partly because I'm going over our strategy with Broden for the billionth time. In these Games, we're our own mentors.
The uniform for the arena that an Avox has laid out for us is nondescript. Running shoes, black track pants and a grey-green tank top. There's a dark grey sweater too, with a hood. I dress and Broden and I wait for someone to come and collect us. It takes a little longer than usual - the guards catch Broden trying to smuggle some bread rolls under his shirt.
We ride silently and solemnly down to the lobby where we are joined by the rest of our opponents. We are all dressed the same. The clothes stop individualization, making it easier for everyone to see us as fiction, instead of a unique person.
Haymitch's last words are a reminder of what's about to happen.
"Stick to your allies. Don't waste your food or water too soon. It'll all be over before you know it." He doesn't mention the part where 23 of us die. I guess it's not in the spirit of the Games.
The flight over is uncomfortable, not to mention silent. My arm throbs from where they injected my tracker. Innogen, Junia and Drusilla were so terrified of the injection that they had to be paralyzed. Opposite from where I'm sitting is Corsan. We don't look at each other at all.
After an hour, the plane lands and the doors open. Guards lead us out one by one to our fates.
Vyctor
The air down here is heavy; it makes me claustrophobic. The room itself is small, but the air and the smell is worse. I've already thrown up breakfast in the corner and my hands shake so hard that I can't grab onto anything. The glass cylinder is ominous.
A guard enters abruptly, sending my heart racing. Evidently he's here to make sure I get into the cylinder and away from the rest of the world.
"Time to go," he ushers. I walk very slowly over to the cylinder. My head spins. I contemplate fighting back, but I know I can't win. The worst thing that could happen is that I get injured right before the Games begin.
There's a whoosh as the cylinder rises. I panic. All of my limbs are shaking. I begin to hyperventilate. The sun blasts down on me and an unfamiliar voice booms out.
"Ladies and gentlemen, let the 76th and final Hunger Games begin."
Silvan
We circle the golden Cornucopia, shouting or making gestures at our allies to prepare for the upcoming onslaught. Alec waves at me to charge forward, pointing at a big crate not too far away from me. I can't see Lucas. He must be obscured by the Cornucopia.
Those who aren't communicating frantically are staring around at the arena in fascination and horror. There has never been an arena like this. We were prepared for forest or desert, not this.
It's a city. A dilapidated, utterly destroyed, abandoned city, straight out of a horror movie. Decay and age have peeled all of the paint from the buildings, rusted the cars and caused plants to seep through cracks and crevices in the walls. This is very old. You can tell from the design of the cars. This city probably predates even the Dark Days. Was it abandoned or attacked? If I look closer I can see evidence of war: small holes in walls that could be bullet holes, piles of rubble from bombs, black soot stains from fire. Did the Gamemakers discover this city or design it to look this way? Either way, it's creepy.
I pay attention to my immediate surroundings. The Cornucopia seems to be in some sort of town square. Four broad roads branch from the square. In front of me, the road leads to the tallest two buildings in the city. They're not gigantic, but they could've been office buildings a long time ago. Behind me the road leads to a beach far in the distance. To my left is a wildly overgrown park, with grass almost waist high. To my right, the road continues on to a suburban area, dotted with the ruins of bombed-out houses.
I see Alec making discreet gestures to run down to the beach. I nod. There is no crying among the other tributes. There is no screaming. The air is heavy with focus and concentration. We all tense up to run.
I'm a terrible runner. Probably because I'm quite overweight. It's not all my fault. Food has just always been my passion. But the extra weight will definitely slow me down. I can't afford that.
The gong sounds and time freezes. Everything goes into slow motion. I leap off my pedestal and sprint as fast as my legs will take me, but not fast enough. After only a few seconds, the fastest runners - Lorna, Larissa, Sergia and Lucas have already arrived and begin ripping into the numerous crates and bags. I've been assigned with getting the supplies while Alec and Lucas cover me. Lucas already has a spear and throws it at Lorna. It misses.
The rest of us have arrived and utter mayhem ensues. Fists come out, punching, kicking, pulling hair, biting, pushing. Alec takes a spear and fires it through Vyctor's chest. Blood spurts out of his mouth and he slumps to the concrete, a pool of blood forming around him. The first death. I rush over to Alec and Lucas, narrowly missing one of Falko's arrows.
Suddenly there's another scream as Lenora tackles Junia and clubs her to death with a mace. I retch. There's nothing left of her face, just bloody pulp.
"Silvan!" I hear Lucas cry. I bend down and grab a couple of packs, stuffing anything I can find nearby into them. Lucas and Alec stand guard, spears in hand. We're not the only ones with this idea. Several other alliances have guards protecting those who are collecting supplies. Tunney is next to me, shoving a green sleeping bag into a huge backpack. She runs over and punches me in the face. Pain and blood gushes into my mouth while Alec kicks her away. He throws his spear, but just misses her.
I get up to open up a nearby crate. A few metres away is Otis' bloodstained body and Tunney's bloody sword leaving his chest. She grabs his sack of apples and runs away.
I jerk my head up at the surrounding action. Blood drips from my mouth. I see tiny Drusilla crumpling to the ground, an axe stuck in her skull. Fallon sprints over and retrieves it, before swinging it around and smashing open a supply crate.
"SUMMER! NO!" I hear Lorna scream. Corsan has tackled her to the ground, and they struggle. Summer manages to kick him in the groin and he howls in pain and retracts. As Summer is stumbling away, a knife comes out of nowhere and hits her in the back. Sergia leaps over me, armed with a second knife and thrusts it into Summer's corpse. Lorna shrieks and screams. Sergia throws another knife in her direction, but it zooms past Lorna's hair. She stumbles away from the Cornucopia, screaming and crying. She is the first to leave. She doesn't have any supplies at all.
"Look out!" Alec shouts. I spin around. Urban is charging towards me, mace in hand. He bowls me over and dodges Lucas' and Alec's spears. They rip him of me and I crawl away. My heart is beating the fastest and strongest it ever has. My blood is pure adrenalin. I get up clumsily and turn to face Alec and Lucas, one second too late. Falko's arrow is fired in the distance and sinks deeply into my chest. The pain sucks the air out of my lungs. I feel dizzy and my vision blurs. My muscles give way and I fall. Lucas shouts something but I can't hear. I can't breathe. I can't see. Everything has gone black.
Corsan
Silvan collapses like a deflated balloon. Behind me, Tunney has been struck in the head by Lenora. She's bleeding, but she's alive. I help her up and grab the pack she's assembled. We locate Sergia who is stuffing items into a pack of her own and Oberyn, who has just pierced Innogen in the heart with an arrow.
"Tunney's hurt. We need to get out of her now!" I yell. Sergia shakes her head.
"We don't have enough supplies yet! If we leave now, Larissa's alliance will divide up what remains. Duck!" Sergia flings a knife at Alec. It hits him in the thigh and he screams in pain. Urban charges over and brings his mace down on Alec's head. I see Lucas watching, his mouth open in horror. Oberyn fires an arrow at him, but Lucas ducks out of the way. He grabs Alec's massive pack and sprints away towards the park.
Sergia and Oberyn grab as much as they can while I stand guard with Tunney.
"I'm fine, Corsan. Go help the others," she commands. I run deep inside the mouth of the Cornucopia. Larissa has just stuck an axe into Fausta's chest, who slumps to the floor, leaning up against a chest. I bring my sword down onto Larissa, but she is too quick. We remain locked in battle for a few seconds before I kick her in the gut and she falls back. I move Fausta's corpse out of the way and take everything I can carry. Food, clothes, medicine, blankets. Oberyn arrives behind me.
"We're leaving."
We escape the Cornucopia just as Cicero flees. Max and Lily are long gone as well. I can also see Broden and Fallon heading in the direction of the beach.
Tunney and Sergia have already run ahead, darting towards the two tall buildings. Oberyn and I follow quickly. All four of us have huge black backpacks and are well armed. And apart from Tunney's head injury, there doesn't seem to be any other physical damage apart from bruises or minor cuts. Falko fires one last arrow at us before returning to the Cornucopia with his alliance. It suck that they'll be left with the bulk of what's available, but we're pretty well off too. We don't stop running until our bodies refuse to move any more.
Lorna
The screaming behind me refuses to cease. I run, wailing and sobbing as far away as possible. I don't pay attention to the direction, just Summer's face as she died. I will never forget that look of fear. I'm hyperventilating and my muscles burn, but I keep running. And running. And running.
Lily
"Max, run! We need to hurry or they'll catch us!" I try not to blame him. He's carrying most of what we were able to get from the bloodbath. His face is red and mis breathing heavy. But we made it. We survived. Wait, that's not entirely true. Otis is dead. He was supposed to be our leader. What are we going to do now? We don't even have weapons. All Max has is a small knife designed for cutting vegetables.
The park is so scary. All the plants are overgrown and the rusty children's playground squeaks and creaks. I can hear the sound of water nearby.
"This way, Max!" I call, waving my hand. Up ahead is a collapsed bridge over a small creek. The ruined bridge should provide a decent hiding spot. When we arrive, we collapse and we cry fearfully and for a long time.
Lucas
My alliance is dead, I think, turning a corner and skidding past a fallen lamppost. Their faces will be in the sky tonight. I am alone.
The firing of cannons declares the bloodbath to be over. I stop to listen and count how many people I've gotten to know now are dead. I count nine. Silvan and Alec will be among them. The whirring of hovercraft passes over me, assigned to pick up the corpses. All my life I wanted to heal people. Now I'm going to have to kill them.
I pick up the pace again as quickly as I can, although my pack slows me down significantly. I turn another corner into an alleyway. It's a dead end. I'm about to turn around when a dark circle on the ground catches my eye. It's a manhole cover, probably leading to the sewers. I contemplate going down for a few seconds, and the sound of shouting not too far behind me prompts me to bend down and remove the cover. Should I? I have no idea what's down there. There could be traps or mutts. I flick on a flashlight and descend into the darkness.
Cicero
I wait another hour or so even after the cannons have fired to let us know that the bloodbath is over. The old dumpster that I'm hiding in not too far away from the Cornucopia stinks, but it offers protection. My large eyes have adjusted to the dark and I see can that I'm sharing my space with a small cockroach.
The moment I realized that Fausta wasn't coming out of the Cornucopia, I bolted, leaving with nothing but the clothes on my back.
"Don't worry," she had said. "I'm only going in for a minute. Hide behind this old car until I come back and give the signal."
Now I'm alone.
Hesitantly and with great fear, I lift the dumpster lid. The midday light blinds me and it takes a few seconds to adjust. Then I get out and retrace my steps as best I can to the Cornucopia. I get lost twice; I wasn't really paying attention to where I was running. But eventually, a sliver of gold catches my eye and I sneak over to where it sits, keeping well in the shadows.
I didn't really expect anyone to linger around. The two big alliances left with as much as they could carry. All that is left are empty crates and piles of blood. The Gamemakers will clean this up tonight. Careers usually hoard the supplies, but I guess there weren't enough supplies left over to guard, so whoever remained the longest just took what they could carry and left. What I'm doing here is what many a tribute has done over the years - scavenge. With Fausta dead, I'm on my own with nothing to eat and defend myself with. Sometimes stuff gets left behind. You never know, in the chaos of the bloodbath something might have been dropped or overlooked. I hope no-one else has the same idea as me.
After thoroughly investigating the remains of the fight that occurred here this morning, I leave with three items. The first is a pack of pretzels that someone must've stepped on, because there is more powder than pretzel. The second is a tiny flashlight, like the ones that people put on their keyrings. The third is a glove. Not a pair of gloves. A glove. It's not much, but it's better than nothing.
I try to find my dumpster again. Maybe I'll just hide in there until someone finds me. Well, I would if I could find it. In the total destruction of the city, I've become lost. In front of me is a dented, rusty car parked in a black alleyway. I go over and examine it. The paint has faded and the upholstery is rotting, but it's a better shelter than anything else around here. I curl up on the back seats and cry.
Broden
When Fallon and I first arrived at the beach, we looked at each other and thought the same thing: do not drink the water. Sea water is supposed to be deep blue, or sometimes green or stormy grey depending on the weather. This water is the colour of olives and is thick like fruit juice. The waves move slower and don't make the same splashing sound like they're supposed to; it's more of a wet plop.
Fallon was the one who discovered the old fish cannery on a pier over the water. She thought there might be some food there. There were cans of fish there, but they were old cans. Very old. Dating way back to 2023, judging by the dates of production on their labels. We had tried opening one, but it smelled so bad we had to throw it away.
We lost Junia and Innogen. Neither Fallon or I talk about it although their bodies are still burned fresh in our brains. Junia's bloody mess for a face after Lenora was done with her. Innogen's screams and pleas for mercy before Oberyn's arrow went straight through her chest. It was after Innogen fell that we made a run for it. Fallon had a medium-sized pack, I had a smaller one. The first thing we did when we arrived in the cannery was unpack. There's only one sleeping bag and water bottle, but enough food for a few days. Plus Fallon has her axe and I have a small dagger that I picked up on the way out.
The more we investigate, the more we come to realize that this city is too detailed to have been constructed by Gamemakers. There are chests filled with documents, employee records, shipping details, accounting bills. The dates are from similar times to the cans. Fallon seems totally engrossed in reading them, but I'm too busy exploring.
By late afternoon I'm hungry but Fallon is fiercely protective of the food.
"Not until tomorrow, Broden. Even then, we need to ration very carefully."
"But I'm starving."
"You're not starving," Fallon chuckles. "Never in our lives have we ever truly starved."
Sergia
"Hold still," I say, pressing the cloth to Tunney's head and wrapping several layers of sterile bandage around her head. She winces but doesn't say a word. Tough girl. In the Capitol, no-one gets anything worse than a broken bone if they're not too careful. This must be Tunney's worst injury she's ever had, and it's not too bad as far as head injuries go.
The boys are standing guard. Oberyn has his bow drawn a little too tightly. Corsan holds his sword a little too firmly. Their eyes are moving to rapidly, flitting from one direction to the other. Even my hands are shaking as I wrap the bandage around Tunney's head.
Tunney looks dazed. "I killed someone…" Her eyes stare into the distance like she's in shock. "I didn't mean to kill Otis. I just… he came at me. I had no other choice."
I rip the bandage with my teeth and finish wrapping. "Don't get worked up about it, Tunney. You did what you had to do. I killed someone too and you don't hear me talking about it."
Tunney stares at me. "Well, that's because you're an emotionless psychopath with no morals. I can't believe you don't regret what you did."
"Like I said, Tunney, we did what needed to be done. There's no use getting upset. They were going to die anyway. It was either them or me."
"Don't you see, Sergia? We're turning into savages. This is exactly what happened in the district Games. The Games turned people against one another and made them do things that they wouldn't ordinarily do."
"All done," I say, changing the subject. I help Tunney up and nod for the boys to join us. We've set up a temporary camp on the top storey of one of the tall buildings, which turns out to be a hotel, and thrown a bunch of old mattresses in a pile to sleep on.
"I'm going to go look around," Corsan says.
"Good. I'll come with you," Tunney declares.
"No, you won't. You're in no fit state. I'll go with Corsan. Lie down and rest. If you're scared, I'm sure Oberyn will protect you." I meant this last bit as a joke, but both Oberyn and Tunney scowl.
"I'm don't need protection," says Tunney.
"I'm not a bodyguard," says Oberyn at the same time.
I grab a slender knife and head downstairs with Corsan. When we first arrived, we had to choose between the dilapidated, old stairs and the even more dilapidated, older elevator. None of us were stupid enough to take the elevator.
Most of the floors are the same or very similar. None contain anything particularly useful. Most of them have fridges, but there's nothing inside them anyway. The most useful things are the grey, moth-bitten towels that we could use in case anyone gets cold, but we have enough sleeping bags to go around. Corsan tries messing with the water taps in each room; most don't work. Those that do only leak out a thin, rusty-coloured stream. We'll have to find our water elsewhere.
The kitchens on the bottom floor are by far the most interesting. All food has decomposed into nothing over the years, but not all of the utensils have rusted away. Some of the knives are actually in pretty good condition. I stash these away, of course. I'm in charge of the knives.
Tunney is fast asleep by the time we get back with our towels and knives. Oberyn is watching the sun set. We pass around a small bag of nuts to share for dinner, not daring to break into the real food yet.
There's an old phrase that people used to say in the Capitol. It's a very old phrase, so old that most people have forgotten where it originated. But it pretty much means that you're not in a familiar, safe place. You're in the wild.
We're not in Kansas anymore.
Yeah, we sure as hell ain't in Kansas anymore, wherever that is.
Falko
The anthem. Drusilla. Vyctor. Summer. Alec. Junia. Silvan. Otis. Fausta. Innogen. Nine faces. Nine deaths. Silvan was mine.
But wait, there's more. Another face flashes under the heading 'Today's Sponsor Gift Winner'. It's little Cicero, his large green eyes glowing in the dark like an owl's. This is a strange, but not unfamiliar addition to the Games. Haymitch had explained that at the end of each day one of us would be rewarded with a sponsor gift if we did well in the Games. What could Cicero have done to deserve this and more importantly, what has he received? Next to me, the others are exclaiming in disappointment and anger. Of course they thought they were going to get the prize.
I hate them. I hate them all. I hate Larissa's smug little face. I hate Lenora's scheming and plotting. I hate Urban's superiority and righteousness. I want to kill them. I want to bury an axe in their bloated heads. I want to slit their throats and watch them bleed dry.
But I need allies so I can't.
Yet.
We sit around a fire in what used to be someone's backyard. The grass is overgrown and most of the house has rotted away, but a tree with the remains of a tyre swing shelters us. Urban has even set up a tent for the girls. But the conversation is as empty as our stomachs. Urban flirts with the girls, showing off his muscles while they giggle as though they haven't been responsible for the deaths of other kids this morning. Surely they're not stupid enough to realize that the Gamemakers are never going to fall for a fake romance. Not after what Katniss and Peeta pulled.
My entire thoughts today have been around how to kill my allies when the time is right. Analyzing their behaviours. Looking for weaknesses to exploit. Strengths to take into consideration.
Urban is probably the physically strongest tribute in the arena. I'll need to take him out from afar or stab him in the back.
Larissa scored the highest on the Intelligence Test in Training. She'll be one step ahead of me the whole time. I need to find a way to outsmart her.
Lenora knows how the Games work. Perhaps obsessing over the Careers year after year will pay off. I'll have to find a way to catch her off guard.
After we run out of wood for the fire, we call it a night. I take the first watch. Everything is quiet and still. It's more unnerving than movement.
I wait for the night to pass by and wish that it all would end.