Yo yo yo everybody! Chase here, and I'm uploading this from my parents' right now. Sorry for no update yesterday, my dad had some stuff he needed me to do for him. Also sorry if this chapter isn't quite as good as the others, I'm writing this on literally two hours of sleep. 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, 13:00 – The Capitol
President Ivre is laying on his carpeted floor, stone-cold drunk, but awake; he is playing with two empty bottles of Jack, making various motions with them; "Chaaaarizzzaaaaarddd~ use FLAMETHROWAAA!" he giggles, throwing one of the bottles at the wall. "It was super-effective~ Pikastoise fainteeeeeed~" as the brown bottle shatters against the wall, he looks at it and says, "I'm bored. I'm going to watch some more of those movies."
He plops back on the couch and turns on the TV. "Time for more of my idiotic commentary~ yaaaaaay~~"
Seth, male tribute of District Five, has been happily hunkered down in his cave for the three days since the Games have started; he has had no shortage of food because of the bear he killed, skinned and butchered—he has also been comfortably warm. He's been perfectly content to watch the tributes kill each other below; see, his cave wasn't necessarily far from the Cornucopia, just far above—so he's had a pretty good view of the fighting. After sleeping peacefully for eight hours, he has discovered that the Career tributes have all but disbanded—the pair from One are completely dead, the male from Two was killed by the male from Four, and the female from Four was killed in the Bloodbath; and then the female from Two left after doing a count of the bodies—there was a fierce expression on her face after sadness at seeing the boy from Twelve dead; Seth knows there was something between them, so she is likely after his killer. Breck from Four disappeared from the Cornucopia in the middle of the night, so Seth is a bit on his toes about that… although from this height, Seth would know if he were coming.
Looking down at the Cornucopia… perhaps this would be a good time to run down and see if he could scavenge anything. Yes, it'll only take a minute after all. Cautiously removing the bearskin, he becomes painfully aware of the biting cold of this altitude; he slowly walks out of his cave, allowing his eyes to adjust to the blinding snow. Looking around once more, he takes a slow, cautious run down to the practically bowl-shaped area that surrounds the Cornucopia; what luck—he sees a rather large backpack right out in the open. He starts to run for it…
"Wait a minute…" he mutters, looking at the placement of the bag—it's certainly a trap. But he decides to spring it; walking forward, he snatches at one of the straps of the bag, and he hears a voice from inside the Cornucopia yell, "SURPRISE!"
Breck, the male with curly red hair from District Four, leaps out of the inside of the horn with a trident held fast in hand; there's a wild look in his eyes. His skin is somewhat paler than it had before—he certainly wasn't stupid enough to light a fire, no matter what, and after noting how much had been taken from the Cornucopia on the first day, Seth decided that there hadn't been enough blankets—so Breck had to be freezing cold.
"Yes. Surprise for you!" Seth says, sidestepping the swing of the trident—it was rather slow and rigid compared to how it normally would be. He pulls the knife he got from the Cornucopia and drives it into Breck's stomach—the boy is moving undeniably slowly. A flower of blood blossoms in the boy's green jacket. He cuts the knife across, dragging it through Breck's stomach, opening it in a red crescent.
Breck looks down at the open wound, voice faltering slightly; he falls facedown into the snow, and a cannon fires shortly after. "Hn. Never thought a Career tribute would be killed so easily." Seth mocked slightly. Bending down to take the backpack, he discovered the several untouched treasures that lay deep inside the Cornucopia—"Jackpot," says Seth happily.
Meanwhile, Cypress has finally gotten bored of her prey; he has trekked through the woods for several days, hopelessly lost—when in all actuality, the Cornucopia is only a couple hundred metres to the west. Brian has been kneeling by a pond for several minutes now—more than long enough for him to take a drink. Sneaking forward slightly, she pushes Brian's shoulder softly; he falls over. She flips the body over and sees that… "A dummy?"
A sharp sensation sprouts in the back of her head. Her knees buckle and she falls forward; "I knew you were there." Brian's voice.
"…How…?"
"I saw you at night. Around the fire; plus I heard you in the bushes several times." He laughs a little. "Shame. If you'd told me how to get back down, I may have spared you. I'll ask you one last time, since you're dying." His voice turns a bit harsh as he rolls her over onto her back. "Where is the Cornucopia."
Cypress works up a glob of blood and saliva and spits in his eye; he snarls a bit. "I'm going to enjoy this." He smashes a rock into her temple; it's the very last thing she sees as she is consumed in darkness…
("DAMN! These dudes are tricky bastards~" trills Ivre, spinning his arms wildly.)
Holden has been moving nonstop for two days straight; as soon as he killed Destin, he knew he had to get the hell out of there. It wasn't exactly a well-kept secret that he and the girl from Two had a thing for each other—hell, he heard a rumour that the two had spent the night together the night before the Games started. Of course, there was no evidence, since nobody spoke to Robin or him besides Portia. But either way, he needed to be far away from her. Kneeling and drinking from a pond in a grove, he splashes some water in his face—his eyes were beginning to droop a bit. He is tired; very tired. Perhaps just a small nap would do…
"Finally I've found you."
Shit. This is not good—horrible actually. He knows her voice—he needs to run. Now.
"And don't even think about running." she growls. "Turn around. Now."
He does so—keeping his head down. The black-haired girl, though he cannot see her, is smirking at him. She kicks him in the stomach, knocking him to the ground. Pinning his arms down, she draws a curved knife from her sleeve. "I am going to enjoy this."
Smiling madly at the torture that Holden is being put through, Ivre watches in full focus. "Nobody should have to be put through what that boy is." He says happily. "Too damn bad that he had it coming. Never fight a revenge-driven child, eh?" Ivre grins fiercely.
"Hell yeah." He says, clapping his hands together.
After the torturous death that Holden was put to—don't ask to read about it, because it is not pretty and probably illegal to depict in forty-three states as well as Atlantis—Portia walks out of the grove, whistling happily. It won't bring her love back, but… it will at least bring her closure. Holden is dead; she no longer cares if she lives nor dies.
Several more days pass with only one death: Brian from Six; he had eventually starved to death, unable to catch any of the animals, nor did he find the fruit that Cypress had had on her corpse. The only ones who remain are Harley, Portia, Seth, Shawn and Rebecca. Well…
"Damn…" Harley says as he is thrashed around by a giant tentacle; he is being squeezed horribly. It is slowly dragging him into the pond where he has spent the entire Games. He has nothing else to say… nothing at all, besides… "I'm… sorry… sister."
With Shawn and Rebecca, the two are jolted from sleep by the sound of a cannon; Shawn was sleeping with an arm wrapped around Rebecca, the latter being curled into his body. It's a rather cute sight, honestly—the two truly did have feelings for each other, but Shawn refused to admit it, despite constantly referring to her with names such as "Becca," "sweetie," and the like—Rebecca is much more open about it, hugging him, kissing his cheek, and of course… sleeping beside him. "What was that…?" Rebecca asks, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.
"Nothing. Go back to sleep," Shawn says, slowly standing up and removing the blanket from his body, covering Rebecca again. "I'm just going to check on something. I'll be right back."
Rebecca yawns and nods, drifting back to sleep. Shawn takes a slow step out of the safety of their little area, which is surrounded by trees, and looks around—a wall of flames is advancing from the south. "Shit." Shawn mutters, running over and kneeling beside Rebecca. "Becca, wake up."
"Mm…? What now, Shawn?" she asks quietly, yawning cutely.
"We have to get going. There's a bunch of fire coming our way."
"What…?"
"Come on!" Shawn says, grabbing her and throwing her over his shoulder. He takes off in a run toward the mountains, the flames quickly following. As they near the summit, Shawn sees another tribute running that way as well—it's the girl from Two, Portia: one of the only people who could possibly stop Rebecca from winning. He sets the girl down and looks her square in the eye. "Rebecca. I want you to run to the Cornucopia."
"What? Why? Not without you!"
"Becca. Go." He says forcefully. "I'm going to stop Portia. You should be able to make it, and win. Listen to me…" his expression softens. "I'm sorry…" he whispers. "I love you."
"I love you too. Please Shawn, come with me!" Rebecca begs.
He kisses her; when they draw apart, he looks at her and says one thing: "Go." before taking off toward Portia; Rebecca follows Shawn's command—she runs to the Cornucopia area… and she breaks down into tears when she hears the sound of two cannons. She knows Shawn has died.
"I don't want to kill you." Comes a voice from inside the Cornucopia. "I've done enough killing."
She gasps slightly when Seth from Five walks out of the Cornucopia as if he were on a stroll; his expression said nothing to betray that fact—he is calm and stoic as ever. "Besides, my head hurts from all the calculations I've done." He wears a bearskin around him like a coat, and he carries a knife in one hand.
"What's your name?" she asks cautiously.
"Seth. District Five." He says courteously. "I know who you are—Rebecca, female tribute of District Seven. Seventeen years old; lover to Shawn, seventeen year old male of District Three, now passed." At her downcast look, he apologizes. "Sorry. Force of habit."
"Don't worry about it…" she says quietly, looking at the flames that have surrounded the area on all sides, maxing out the heat. They're practically perspiring now—Seth sheds his bearskin coat. "I plan to join him soon."
"You're not going to try to win? Why ever not?"
"Shawn is dead. No point in it now."
"He would have had to die anyway."
"Now I'll die with him. I'll be with him again." She's already walking toward the flames. Seth is quite conflicted—save the girl and possibly die, or win?
Save the girl or win? ("DON'T YOU DARE SAVE THE GIRL YOU DUMMY!" yells Ivre at the screen) Save the girl or win? Those words keep repeating—not just inside his head, but in the actual movie—there's been an echo effect given to it to make it more dramatic.
During his pondering, Rebecca has made her way to the fire. "So long, Seth." She says, walking in. Her cannon fires shortly after.
"Damn it. I got so caught up in my thinking, and I let her die." Seth says, not sounding at all sorry—although who can actually tell with him? He's a genius—he hardly shows emotion anyway.
Ivre looks at the screen expectantly, hoping for some sort of jumpscare or something. "Well, that was anticlimactic, wasn't it? BOOOOOOOO! HISS! BOO!"
He drinks some more of his whiskey and pauses the movie. "I'm gonna go play Skyrim." He says, stumbling out of the room happily.
Well, there you go folks! I really wanted to make at least one anticlimactic Games—I bet a lot of you thought that Seth was going to save Rebecca—maybe even a certain reviewer who has been betting on Seth the whole time :P But anyway, that's it for this time. Again, sorry for no update yesterday. I'll probably start doing the Reapings soon too, since we're starting to get a decent amount of tributes. 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: Marina Caspian
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: Reserved – ThatMusician
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