Yo yo yo everybody! Chase here, and I'm uploading this from my parents' right now. Not much to say here, so I'll just post the regular stuff. 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 or any of the stuff that goes along with it. No matter how much I want to, no matter how much I despise what Suzanne Collins has done with the series, it all belongs to her—it will never belong to me.
August 22nd, 11:00 – The Capitol
"Thanks again Parker~" slurs Ivre, setting the large pizza box beside him on the couch and opening it up; steam rises off of the tasty-looking pepperoni and banana pizza (a favourite for drunks like the president).
"…it's Partridge…" sighs the dogged intern, leaving the mansion.
"Nobody cares, Padilla!" says the president in a garbled shout, his mouth full of pizza. He picks up the remote and presses play once more, crossing his legs and staring intently at the screen. He takes a sip of whiskey—just a sip, mind you. He doesn't want to drown out the taste of his pizza.
Kay of District Nine is… let's say… in a tough spot. Well, not a spot, per say—more like a tough ledge.
And by tough ledge, of course it's a small, thin ledge. After she fled the Cornucopia with a bottle of water (she would've had a backpack as well, but she lost it in a scuffle with Lucky from District Ten, who died later on) she made her way round a mountain; after a minute of searching, she saw something she is currently wishing she hadn't—a hunting shack; a rundown one, but cover and possible supplies nonetheless. The cabin, probably just one or maybe two rooms, is made of a light-coloured wood, probably birch, though it was so bright that it blends well with the surrounding snow; it is built into a little area in between two sides of a mountain; the only downside: she needs to scale a narrow ledge against a sheer cliff face to get there.
So of course, being the rich girl she is, she believes she can make it—she probably can't, though… what? Everyone else is thinking it—especially her parents. She's a third of the way across, but the ledge seems to be getting narrower as she goes on; she even says it aloud, "This ledge… it seems like it's getting even thinner with every step I take…!" (to which Ivre replies, "That's because it is!" as he shovels down another slice of pizza, laughing maniacally) "This might not have been the best idea…"
She shimmies further along the rocky shelf, keeping the water bottle in her pocket. "I wonder how far the drop would be…?" ("Too far, yo!" says Ivre, slurping down half a bottle of Jack) she asks curiously, moving a hand to her ponytail-styled hair, the colour of chestnuts, she pulls out the hairpin and drops it over the edge, waiting to hear the plink!
…
…
"Shit." She says after several minutes of no plink; this is definitely not good. And… that ground is looking even further away every second; she forces her head away from it, instead keeping her silvery eyes locked on the grey cliff face. She slowly pushes herself along, careful at every step. Finally, her foot touches snow; she breathes a sigh of relief; she pulls the other one along with her, and goes to move her left one again, but discovers that she can't move it. It's as if it's… "Frozen…" she sighs; she's going to be there for a while.
CLANK! …Or not. She hears the mechanical sound and the seed of fear in her heart blossoms into a fully grown poisonous flower of terror; the ledge is beginning to slide slowly into the cliff. It's moving quite gradually, however, but she's overreacting—she's already screaming. ("Lift your leg, stupid!" yells Ivre) She fears that she'll die—she's too caught up in fear to try any life-preserving actions, despite how much everyone back home is screaming at her.
Meanwhile, Cypress of Eleven is currently enjoying watching her prey struggle; her lithe body and knowledge of plants has given her enough food to last her for a few days, and she melts the snow for water. However, Brian of Six—the one she has been stalking—has been unable to find food nor water; most of the animals have been too fast or too well camouflaged, and he doesn't think that the snow will provide enough water. Cypress, were she not preparing to kill him, would say otherwise—of course, in Eleven, there is more of a need to ration than in Six. Moving through their forest, Brian walks slowly and quietly, so as not to make much noise. The female tribute from Eleven decides she'll let him live, for now; this is rather enjoyable.
Back at the Cornucopia, the Careers are beginning to take inventory on their spoils. Tossing the thirteen-year-old a scythe, Breck of Four says to Glamour, the male from One, "Kid. Check if there's anyone around. He has assigned Portia, the crazy girl from District Two, to check on the bodies—despite being completely insane, the fifteen-year-old does have a photographic memory. As for Breck and Marcus, the undisputed leaders of the Careers, they are currently going through the supply crates and weapons they have gained from the Cornucopia.
The black-haired girl from Two, the only girl left in the group, is currently lining up the corpses in order, smallest to largest. As soon as she gets them all in order, she begins to put names to them all—Maia of Four; perhaps it's rather pitiful that she couldn't remember her own ally, but oh well; Robin, the girl from Twelve—she didn't know much about her; Thea and the headless Megan are the same size, so they were grouped together—Thea had been killed by Glamour and Megan was decapitated by Glisten, her head was currently resting beside a supply crate; normally tall Summer is an inch shorter than Glisten, the former having been killed by the latter and the latter having had her skull crushed by the boy from Eleven. Next comes Alan of Ten, the first death of the Games—he had been speared by Marcus; Joseph from Eight, who had been mutilated by Breck for having tampered with his fish taco. Finally comes the tallest—the one Portia is least thrilled to see: Destin from Twelve. She had fallen for the boy, and was going to attempt to get him into the group; they had bonded over the knife throwing station in the training centre, and had often talked on the roof of their building, which led to Destin stealing a kiss—he had successfully soothed the madness in her soul.
He marks the third person she cared about to have died in the Games—her older sister, her little brother, and now him…
Gathering up a backpack full of supplies and a sleeve of knives, she decides she's done. She knows who killed him too—Holden of Seven, the only person to survive the Bloodbath who uses axes. "He's a dead man," she snarls, preparing to track him. Prior to the start of the Games, she had broken into the stylists' records and taken note of the tributes' shoe sizes—she knows how big his feet were, and she can track him once she finds them.
But there is no doubt: Holden is going to die.
Back with Kay, the ledge is finally about to slip from under her feet—and she is still too consumed in fear to do anything. Eventually it draws in and she can no longer keep balance—she falls painfully out of her shoe and topples over the edge, falling… falling… then hard ground, and darkness.
The sound of a cannon snaps Glamour out of his daze; the bulky thirteen-year-old from District One has been listlessly staring at a small grove of trees down at the bottom of the mountain, as if there's something he should know about it… but never mind. He needs to know who died—and if they were close. Otherwise, it isn't much to his concern. Circling around the area belonging to the Careers one last time, he finds the body of the redheaded girl from Ten; slinging her small body over his shoulder, he prepares to head back… but then he sees Portia, with a bag of supplies and weapons.
"Portia? Where are you going?" he asks—she was the last person in the group remotely close to his age, and the last one he truly trusts.
"Oh, Glamour. Well… I'm going hunting. Holden from Seven—he's going to die."
"…Breck and Marcus know about this?" he says cautiously.
"Yes," she lies. "And no, you can't come with me."
"Why not? I'd be of better use to you! They hardly need any help," protests the boy. "I-I'll fight you if I have to! I don't want to go back there."
She tilts her head. "Little mouse should run along. Little mouse is not safe among the wild cat." She says softly; she cares, at least somewhat, about the boy, just barely in his teens.
"Don't use those riddles with me, Portia. I'm coming with you whether you want to or not…!" he says.
"Go home, little mouse. You are better off with big dogs."
"…What the hell does that even mean?" he calls as she darts toward him; he blinks in anticipation but opens his eyes once more when he realizes she's behind him.
"It means… go back. You'll be safer with Marcus and Breck. You'd likely die if you followed me," she whispers in his ear, turning and walking away, down the mountain.
But Glamour isn't backing down so easy. He starts to run at her, swinging his scythe as he runs; he has dropped Lucky's body and is fully prepared to fight Portia—that's the Career mentality: if someone doesn't agree with you, fight them. Portia sighs softly—she knows he'd probably take her down if he tackled her, so she does the only thing she can—arches back her arm and throws one of her knives, catching him right in the throat. He falls mid run, the knife embedded in his jugular. He's going to bleed out within seconds.
"Maaan, I'm getting tired~" slurs Ivre drunkenly, despite it only being noon. He has scarfed down the pizza and three of his eight remaining bottles of Jack; laying back on the couch, using the pizza box as a pillow, he closes his eyes, but not pausing the movie.
The sun has finally gone down in the arena, and it's getting quite cold. Portia is long gone from the Careers; Glamour has bled out and died. His body is found by Breck, who is royally pissed about Portia's apparent desertion—he knows this was her knife as well; he pledges to kill her when the time comes—after returning to the top with Glamour's and Lucky's bodies, he actually stabs Marcus to death in a fit of rage. His plan is falling apart at the seams.
Right after the cannon fires, the sky comes alive with the sound of Panem's anthem, and then the seal of the Capitol. The fallen tributes appear next: Glamour, followed by Glisten; Marcus; Breck can't believe that three of the most powerful tributes in the Games have been killed in the first day… of course, he had killed Marcus himself. Thea from District Three—he's rather proud of Glamour for getting one of the first kills of the Games; Maia—Breck couldn't care less about her, she is… was… weak (if Harley hadn't killed her, there's a good chance he would've). Summer from Five, Megan from Six; Joseph and Cecilia from Eight; James and Kay from Nine; Alan and Lucky from Ten; and lastly Destin and Robin from Twelve. Breck mentally smirks—so that's why Portia is so upset—her boyfriend had been killed and she's out for revenge. Of course.
Perhaps he'll stay out of her way for now. After all, what was it the Victor from last year had said when she came through on her victory tour, gloating about when she killed two of his friends? Ah, yes, "Never fight a revenge-driven child."
And he's willing to take her advice—if not for his own safety, but for an easier victory; after all, if she kills more than just one person because she believes they may not have killed Destin, he'll have less competition. Breck likes the sound of that.
"HAAAAAH!" screams Ivre, sitting straight up from his slumber. "Oh. Perhaps I should stop drinking so much before bed." He looks soberly at the screen… then bursts out laughing. "I crack myself up!" he says, wiping a tear from one of his eyes. "I dreamed that I was in some sort of fan fiction… or something. And I was breaking the fourth wall or something for telling the readers to submit tributes… whatever the hell that means." He shrugs. "Whatever. I'll just drink some more." He decides, pausing the movie.
Alright everybody, that's it for today—I've decided I'll break this Games up into three parts so that I can finish it off at my mom and dad's tomorrow. Turns out it was nothing big—my sister and niece had just left to go back to Calgary (which is just under eleven hours away from my house... for some weird reason, almost all of my family who is old enough has moved to Canada, except for my older brother) so mom wanted to have one of her children in the house again, despite having my little brother Damion (who is almost old enough to drive O.O Holy Montreal, I'm getting old) and she also didn't even invite my twin sister Lex down XD So I'm just gonna be eating some of my mom's cookies and playing N64 with my little brother and probably watching stuff with my dad. Then I'll probably eat ten-course meals because my mom doesn't believe that my girlfriend and Lex make enough food for me and all my other housemates… even though I make my own meals most of the time, but hey, whatcha gonna do? She's my mom, and I think all moms are like that. 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: Oliver Mullins – JaceWillcutt
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