Yo yo yo everybody! Chase here; nothing much to say really, except that this one was written on the fly, so it may be more fast-paced and random—just remember that these filler chapters are all mostly light-hearted and attempts at humour. As always, I'll be posting stuff like this to keep this story where people will find it (around the first two pages) and I'll be updating this fairly often, considering I've hit a bit of a wall with my other two stories. Also, be sure to tell me how you like my idea of the Forbidden Zones (explained in Chapter One—the arena is divided into sectors. Twice a day, a different zone will be selected; if a tribute steps into it, they will be blown up. The idea comes from one of my favourite novels of all time—Battle Royale by Koushun Takami. Great read if you ever feel like it… The Hunger Games is a lot like it—I'm saying it this way because Battle Royale was released in 1999, long before THG). Again, I'm taking reserves, but they must be requested through PM, and you have exactly one week after you make the request to come up with the sheet; lastly, I'm starting to let people make more than one tribute—but there's a higher chance one will be a Bloodbath tribute; also, there's a better chance they'll be accepted over someone else vying for that spot if your tribute is extremely well-written ;) . Anyway, just read on!
Disclaimer: I don't own The Hunger Games, Catching Fire or Mockingjay. No matter how big of a mistake Suzanne Collins made with it, it will never be mine, no one else's but hers.
August 22nd, 9:00 – The Capitol
"Mm… what time is it…" mutters President Ivre, rolling over. He lies on his back on the black granite floor of his little kitchenette, a half-empty bottle of vodka on his counter by the sink and then a bottle of Jack Daniels that has completely spilt out lies beside him, practically forming a pool. The man is now shirtless, albeit a long black sock is tied around his head like a headband—he tilts his head at the spilt whiskey, the shaggy brown hair shaking wildly; his pale eyes stare at the pool, trying to decide how to deal with it…
…and finally he decides to start lapping it up like a dehydrated dog. Panting included. "I'm so sorry, Jack! I don't know what the hell I did last night, but I'm sorry!" Ivre sobs, sitting up and rocking the bottle back and forth comically. "I promise I'll make it right…" he whispers, taking the bottle over to a small silver cylinder, no wider than a dinner plate; a keypad with several other flashing buttons sits on its solid top. Ivre presses a big blue button, and a solid line halves the top of the device and the two parts slowly slide apart, revealing a swirling pit of darkness (literally swirling, as if there were thousands… or more likely dozens of tiny little saw blades buzzing around in there); "Goodbye, dear friend… I knew thee well," says Ivre, still obviously rather drunk (despite sleeping for ten hours—it's really a miracle, some of the things the Capitol can do). He holds the bottle over the can and drops it in there, singing a hymn in something similar to Old Norse—don't ask how he learned it, this is the first anyone's known of something like this. The can lid slides back in place as the sounds of smashing are heard inside; "…Can't believe I doomed him to that fate."
He mopes his way back to the counter and drains the vodka, doing a similar ritual for throwing it away. Stumbling over to the fridge, he opens it to realize that he's down to his last bottle of Jack Daniels. "OOOOH SHIT! NO! THIS IS NOT GOOD!" he practically screams, slapping himself in the face several times. He falls to his knees and sobs hysterically; he pulls his communications device—a small red rectangular pad—out from his underwear (don't ask how it got there—I'd rather not talk about it… *shivers*) and presses a button; his secretary's intern answers; "Hello?"
"PARKER! GET ME MORE JACK!" he shouts, hanging up. Now he resumes his sobbing.
"Thanks Parker! Come back in a couple days and we'll play some Halo!" Ivre calls out to the intern.
"It's Partridge, sir," the intern calls back, walking out the front door.
"Well… now the gang's all here," Ivre says with a giggle, hugging five bottles of Jack to him. "Let's get back to the moooovieeee~"
Stumbling over to his couch, he sets each bottle gingerly on an end table, takes the remote and presses play; the title now appears: The Seventy-Seventh Hunger Games – Brewing of Ale.
"Hah, I remember these—this was my first year!" says Ivre happily.
As the tributes are raised up on their pedestals, the first thing that stands out is blinding white—snow. The sun shines brightly, almost blindingly against it—the Cornucopia is made of a silvery metal this time, adding more to the harsh light aspect; although the items that spill out of it are worth braving it. A ring of mountain peaks and sheer drops line the starting area—it's roughly one hundred metres between the tributes and the Cornucopia on all sides, then fifty metres to the peaks and drop-offs—and there are several steep slopes with thick copses of trees dotted throughout the place.
The tributes appear in this order—tall and stoic Marcus, male tribute of District Two; lazy and uncaring Alan of District Ten; District One's Glamour, a bottomless pit of a boy; seductive and treacherous Glisten, also of District One; fierce and crazy Portia from District Two; sly Thea of District Three; arrogant and commanding Breck of District Four; and meek and softspoken Maia of Four. Starving and wild-eyed Robin, the female from District Twelve; her partner, the undeniably unremarkable Destin; strong Harley and short Cypress, male and female of District Eleven, respectively; scheming Holden of District Seven, and shifty Summer of District Five. Cautious Shawn, male of Three and his ally, the equally wary female from Seven, Rebecca; generous Cecilia from Eight and the selfish James of Nine. Rich, merchant girl Kay from Nine and farm girl Lucky of Ten; District Eight's prankster male, Joseph and genius Seth of District Five; then finally the uninteresting duo from Six, Brian and Megan. "TRIBUUUUUTES~" slurs Ivre's drunken voice, rolling over the area and bouncing off the mountains ("Oh yeah! I forgot I did this in my first year!" says Ivre, giggling). "START! YOUR! ENGIIIIINESSSSS~~"
The gong sounds out, and most of the tributes are off and running; by most, I mean everyone except Alan; he's standing in place, seemingly asleep. He hears Lucky yell out to him, "Yo! Alan!" and he snaps out of his apparent stupor, and runs off toward the Cornucopia—right onto the outstretched spear of Marcus. His body falls down in a heap, with Joseph of Eight being unceremoniously thrown down on top of it; that prankster had messed with the wrong tribute—Breck drives his trident into his throat several times, not satisfied until the fifteen-year-old's blood splatters across his face. "That'll teach you to tease a man with a fish taco." Breck snarls, spitting on Joseph's body. Holden of Seven is battling Destin of Twelve for a backpack, the two completely barehanded—Holden delivers a hard right punch to the side of Destin's face, but that moment gives the boy from District Twelve the opportunity to snatch away the backpack and take off in a dead sprint toward one of the peaks; Holden snarls and picks up a hatchet, tossing it hard at the boy—it slices into his back and knocks him to the ground.
Shawn and Rebecca, of Districts Three and Seven, respectively, took off down one of the slopes, their feet crunching beneath the snow; they carefully make their way down, toward a thicket of trees, being sure of where they stepped—Rebecca steps in Shawn's footprints, so as not to make more tracks. Back at the Cornucopia, the tributes are fighting tooth-and-nail ("YES! Fight, monkeys! I have everything and you have nothing~" giggles Ivre); and it really seems as if the Careers will, once again, take over.
The casualties so far have been Alan of Ten and Joseph of Eight; Destin of Twelve; Thea and Robin were both killed by Glamour's scythe—for a thirteen-year-old, he was undeniably strong; Maia had had her neck snapped by a staff-wielding Harley when she tried to stab him in the back. James had tackled Cecilia right off of the start, and the two tumbled off of a cliff and fell to their deaths ("Silly brawlers, cliffs are for goats!" says Ivre, having no real idea of what he's talking about). Summer and Megan were decapitated by Glisten, who later had her skull crushed by Harley. Breck almost (note: ALMOST) killed Lucky by slicing at her stomach with a sickle, though she managed to drag herself away (leaving a blood trail, however); that was it when the fighting dispersed.
Harley flees the Cornucopia after killing Glisten, carrying a long metal staff with two backpacks hanging by their straps; he treks down the mountain with relative ease, having been used to downhill movement in the fields. He has no idea what has happened to Cypress, nor does he particularly care; he saw her make her way up a peak and disappear over it, possibly onto a whole other mountain range. Brian of District Six headed her way as well… but Harley can't afford to think on that at the moment. All he cares about is making his way to safety—all the way to a small copse of woods surrounding a pond. He makes his camp there, putting down his packs and rummaging through them—but keeping on full alert at all times. However, he can't see that down in the placid water, a pair of ruby eyes are leering at him from the depths… the camera zooms in particularly on this ("OOOOH SHIT! HE'S GONNA DIE~" giggles Ivre).
Brian of Six is lost; there's nothing else to describe his situation—he passed over two mountain peaks in a period of thirty minutes, something that he never would've been able to do without having been on the run so much in his life—he silently thanks whatever deity there is for his excellence in theft. He had run into a forest for cover, sure he had lost anyone who may have followed him—but he went in too far, chasing a squirrel. But he has no idea that from the darkness between the trees, he's being stalked—not by a mutt, but by a tribute: Cypress, the eighteen-year-old female from District Eleven. Perhaps she poses no threat—but perhaps she does.
Lucky has collapsed halfway down the mountain; her arm strength has given out. She managed to escape the merciless Careers, but… perhaps a death at their hands would've been better than this; she knows she will die. "…no… I can't believe… I'm… dying here…" she tries to crawl forward, her strawberry-blonde hair matted with blood. "I… can't…" she starts again, but she lays her head in the snow, and fades away.
Seth, the genius from District Five, is very far away when the cannons begin to fire; he had grabbed a knife and a small bottle of water from the Cornucopia and then ran as if all hell were on his heels. He tore across a small ridge that connected two peaks, then went around that peak and clambered down it. Finally he took shelter in a cave that couldn't be seen unless stared at directly; he found a sleeping bear in there, so quietly he slit its throat and skinned it, using its fur for warmth and butchering part of it for meat—his uncle would often go out to hunt and taught him the basics of cleaning prey… before he was caught by Peacekeepers and killed.
One, two, three, four, five… "Yes, there's five…" he says quietly; six, seven, eight… nothing to say there; nine, ten, eleven. "So eleven are dead…" Then comes another cannon. "Okay… twelve. Twelve tributes are dead." He quietly makes a few calculations in his head, drawing the bearskin closer around him.
Ivre pauses the movie and yawns slightly. He downs another whole bottle of whiskey, reaching for another. "I'm hungry." He says, his hand stopping midstretch. "I'll make Parker get me a pizza." He adds, pulling his comm device out from his underwear (again, don't ask).
Okay guys, that's all for today! This chapter may be a little bit down in quality, but I had to write this on the run—heading down to Texas for a few days to help out my mom and dad; I'll still be writing, but I just had to get this one done quickly so that I could get packed and everything. Anyway, thanks for reading everyone. Take care, have a nice day and all that!
~Chase
Tribute list – So far
District 1 – Luxury Goods
Male: Obsidian Gold – Danny Takuto
Female: Elizabeth Grace Morgan "Belle" – Rosemarie Benson
District 2 – Masonry
Male: Nero Valentine – Nightlock Stained Lips
Female: Valariea Heroin – HarryPotterNut1
District 3 – Technology
Male: Open!
Female: Lattice Kerr – GreenApple312
District 4 – Seafood and the like
Male: Open!
Female: Open!
District 5 – Electricity
Male: Open!
Female: Celia Crossan – AlisonBlock
District 6 – Transportation
Male: Open!
Female: Open!
District 7 – Lumber
Male: Justin Myer – Danny Takuto
Female: Open!
District 8 – Textiles
Male: Open!
Female: Lacey Spool – Kittens In The Closet
District 9 – Grain
Male: Open!
Female: Open!
District 10 – Livestock
Male: Open!
Female: Open!
District 11 – Agriculture
Male: Open!
Female: Rebecca Thorne – Comettail76
District 12 – Coal
Male: Aspen Northill – LincsStef
Female: Reserved – Danny Takuto