Day 3
Sarabeth
Sarabeth is sleeping when the rain starts to fall. The spring forest had been relatively peaceful during the two day previous. The temperature hadn't been too high, and they're hadn't been much action. Aside from the two canons that sounded off the day before, Sarabeth had just been sitting quietly, trying her best to reserve her half gallon of water and 6 packs of beef jerky. Each morning, Sarabeth would crawl out of the tree she had slept in, walk for a few hours, find a new tree, and wait for the day to pass or for a threat to approach. She is so thankful that she retrieved the backpack from the Cornucopia. Although she didn't have any weapons, she had enough supplies for a little while longer.
Today, however, is different. Sarabeth wipes the water off of her forehead as she stares off into the grey morning light. This is the first rain she has seen since leaving her home town of District 11. She unbelts herself from the tree branch she had slept on and climbs to the ground. There isn't much mud seeing as the rain just started. Sarabeth reaches into her backpack and pulls out her water bottle, unscrewing the cap and allowing the rain to fill it up. It was about half full and is already refilling quickly. She takes a sip and screws the cap back up, preparing to begin walking. Honestly, the rain is a refreshing change, but could become a problem if it remains constant, or if this rain brings lightning with it.
Sarabeth tenses when she hears whooping and hollering. She turns and doesn't see anyone, but hears more cheering, twigs snapping, and sees branches swaying in the distance. She takes a step away from the sounds, but is still hesitant as she is not entirely sure what is making them. She turns and begins to walk quickly away, not necessarily running, but not taking her time either. However, her questions are answered when she hears a voice. "Guys, we've got one!" shouts a male voice. Sarabeth turns and sees the short boy from 1 followed by the three other remaining Careers. She is confused at why the boy from District 4 isn't with them, but she doesn't wait for an answer. Sarabeth turns back around and sprints for her life through the rain. She can hear the Careers trailing behind her but knows she is keeping a safe distance. Sarabeth is fast and is used to weaving through trees and underbrush because of her life in the fields and orchards of District 11. The Career tributes aren't, and this slows them down. She jumps over fallen branches, ducks under low hanging ones, and prays the four tributes behind her won't catch up. Why would they leave the cornucopia unprotected? Unless that's where Conner is... But Sarabeth has no idea.
Suddenly, she hears movement right next to her. She panics, turning to see which Career has caught up to her, but Sarabeth doesn't see the face of a Career. She sees the face of her district partner, Zach. He turns and, despite the life or death situation, grins at her. "You better keep up," he says, quickening his pace as best he can. Sarabeth matches him, but wonders how they ran into each other so randomly. Together, they continue to weave through the forest. The Careers don't appear to be catching up, but the District 11 tributes certainly aren't losing them.
"Catch up to them!" shouts a female voice from behind Sarabeth. She spares a glance behind her. The Careers are a good twenty feet behind them. However, the tall girl, Madison, is a few feet ahead of the rest, clearly faster. Just when Sarabeth believes she going to run out of energy, she and her district partner break into a clearing, seeing two other contestants sitting around a backpack. Sarabeth remembers them as the boys from 7 and 9, but she doesn't know why they would be together. They must have formed an alliance. They jump to their feet, one boy sliding brass knuckles onto his fingers and the other notching an arrow on his bow.
"You've got a bigger problem on your hands," Zach says as he runs to stand next to them, pointing in the direction of the fastly approaching Careers. Sarabeth follows suit, taking her place next to the District 9 boy. The four Career tributes break into the clearing, wielding swords, knives, spears, and bloodthirsty looks. There is a moment of pause as they take in the newly formed group of four. They definitely weren't expecting to take on four other tributes. One or two they could handle, but a group of four? Even the Careers had their limits. Sarabeth looks over to Zach as he pulls out a knife and hammer, passing the hammer to Sarabeth. She grabs it out of the air, testing its weight.
"You're not so sure about taking us on now, are you?" questions Sarabeth, making as if her and the three other tributes have been a group since the beginning.
"I'm sure you can't be that much trouble," says the District 2 boy, bringing his sword up to a fighting position.
"Where'd your little District 1 girl go? I thought the Careers always made it to the end?" taunts Zach, a bigger grin on his face.
"She let herself get killed. We're not too worried about it," says the girl from 4.
"You're right. It's us you should be worried about," informs the boy from 9. He charges at the Careers. Zach and Sarabeth follow him, their weapons held high. Zach slashes with his knife at the girl from 2, cutting a gash in her left arm. Sarabeth swings at the boy from 1, but he dodges, and the hammer only clips his shoulder. Nathan makes a powerful swing with his fist, slamming into the boy from District 2's face. The girl from 4 levels her spear, but is slightly hesitant for some reason. Sarabeth uses this hesitation to her advantage, grabbing the spear. She wrenches it from the other girl's grasp, holds it against a nearby tree, and breaks off the sharp tip with one swing of the hammer.
"Ugh, let's just go back and regroup!" screams the boy from 2, spitting blood out of his mouth and holding his cheek. He turns to run from the clearing. The others follow him, shooting hateful glares at the other tributes.
"Yes!" shouts Zach in victory. He laughs hysterically, throwing his hands joyfully. The boy from 9 hollers as well, offering Zach a high five. Their hands meet in the air with a loud clap.
"Do you think they'll come back?" asks Sarabeth, not exactly taking part in the festivities.
"Well, they better not!" shouts Zach.
"They probably will. We need to move. I don't want to be here when they try to catch us off guard," explains the boy from District 7, placing the arrow back in the quiver.
"We as in you and me, or we as in all four of us?" asks 9.
"We as in you and me, Nathan."
"Konor!"
"Don't ask. I don't want to add to this alliance."
"But we could help you guys!" says Zach pleadingly.
"Exactly. Did you see how well we just took on the four of them? We could take them out so easy if we just stuck together to do it!" Nathan tells his ally.
"What if one of them turns on us? It would only be a matter of time."
"How about we just stick together until we finish off the Careers?" suggests Sarabeth. "After we get rid of them, we'll split up. Every man for himself."
"That sounds good to me," says Zach.
"Me too," adds Nathan.
"So you're going to put your life into the hand of these two strangers because you had one little fight together?" asks Konor, obviously annoyed.
"Yes, I am. We're just staying together until we kill the Careers. That's not long at all, and someone has to do it!" Sarabeth watches as Konor thinks over the proposition. She honestly can't see why he wouldn't go for it. It's simple, really. They're just going to stick together until they take out the Careers, and then they'll split up again. It's that easy. Konor sighs.
"If either one of you step out of line at all, it's over. And we split up as soon as we kill the Careers. Got it?" The two District 11 tributes grin stupidly at their newly formed alliance.
Brian
Brian sneakily glances out from behind the summer tree at the Cornucopia. It appears to be deserted. There are no Careers in sight. Brian smiles, walking out from the trees toward the stock of weapons and supplies. He glances quickly at the odd rainstorm that is covering the spring area and only the spring area. He wonders how the other tributes are fairing in the rainy weather. The winter area acts similarly as a constant stream of heavy snow falls from the sky. The trees in the fall field are swaying back and forth because of a powerful wind, and Brian noticed that morning that the temperature of the summer field had risen even higher. He could tell the Gamemakers were causing crazy weather according to each field. Brian breaks into a run for the mountains of items at the golden horn. He comes first to the stack of backpacks, grabbing one and opening it. It has all kinds of helpful supplies including matches, night vision glasses, and a first aid kit. He grabs six bottles of water and as many dried foods as he can manage. He tosses in another first aid kit and walks to the pile of weapons. He grabs three knives, a pair of brass knuckles, and a small hatchet similar to the one he lost to Amberlyn. He could certainly fit more weapons into his pack, but he doesn't want to get greedy.
Brian turns and does a double take as he sees a figure emerging from the winter field. He recognizes him as Conner, the tribute from 4. Brian immediately takes a fighting stance, wielding a newly retrieved knife. Conner holds up his hand, showing that he doesn't want to fight. "Where are they?" asks the boy.
"Who?" Brian asks, lowering the knife slowly as Conner gets closer.
"The Careers."
"Aren't you with them?" wonders Brian, severely confused.
"No, I'm not. I split from them during the bloodbath. Do you know where they are?" Conner asks again, picking up two bottles of water and stowing them into his own backpack.
"No, I don't. Where do you th-" Brian stops his sentence as he hears the sound of running. He turns and sees yet another figure. It is Nikki, his district partner from 8. emerging from the rain covered, spring field. She is soaking wet and gasping for breath as she approaches the two boys.
"Let's go!" She shouts, quickly grabbing a pack of dried fruit and a bottle of water.
"What's wrong?" asks Brian.
"I followed the Careers. They attacked this alliance of four other tributes, but ran away. And now they're coming back here. So let's go!" Nikki throws the items she just collected into her backpack and turns to run into the winter field. Without a second thought, Brian and Conner follow her. They hurry deep into the field with snow falling from the sky. After a few minutes of running, they reach a small clearing and stop to catch their breath. Brian, just realizing how cold it is, zips up his jacket, hoping for warmth.
"Now, what happened?" asks Conner. There is no hostility in his voice, only confusion.
"The Careers. I was spying on them this morning, and they went into the spring field to look for more tributes. I followed them and they ran into four other tributes: both tributes from 10 and the boys from 7 and 9."
"They're in an alliance?" demands Brian, already thinking of how much of a threat the four of them could be.
"I guess so. The Careers went after them, but they attacked first and sent them running. And now, they're on their way back to the Cornucopia. I guess to regroup." Conner nods at this, looking as if he's thinking of a plan. Then, Conner says something that Brian would have never expected.
"We'll be safer together. I don't want to meet one of those alliances out there by myself." Nikki looks completely surprised, but nods anyway, and so does Brian. Not another word is spoken about the subject. The three take stock of their possessions, dividing them up so that everyone has an equal amount. They simply stay in one place as they watch the sun trail across the sky. There are no rustlings, and no figures that come to meet the trio. They eat dried fruit and drink water for supper. No faces shine in the sky. No tributes died during day three. Brian lays his head down to rest his eyes when he is brought back up to a sitting position at the sound of booming trumpets.
"Well, well, well," chimes the voice of Claudius Templesmith, "an interesting thing has occurred over the past three days of this Hunger Games. Every single tribute has formed an alliance with at least one other person." Brian and Conner share a glance. "That's right kids, no one is on their own. So, as a reward for being so proactive and having such trust in your fellow competitors, we are going to offer a feast. All of you have weapons, true, but wouldn't you like to have something to shift the tide? To place your alliance ahead of the others? If so, hurry to the cornucopia. The feast begins as dawn. Goodnight, tributes." Then, there is silence. Brian looks at his hands, weighing his options. Conner lays down on his back.
"Rest up. We're going."
Day 4
Claire
Claire did not sleep much on the night leading up to day 4. She was afraid she would not wake up in time to fight for whatever would be up for grabs at the feast. There was no question about it when the two girls found out; they were going. However, Claire could not believe that every single member of the games was in an alliance with someone else. That would definitely be a challenge. As the grey morning light began to poke through the trees of the summer field, Claire makes sure her coil is in her pocket and the hunting knife is hanging from her belt loop. She turns to look at Amberlyn, also preparing herself for the coming fight. "Let's go," Claire says, turning to walk toward the break in the trees that the two of them had camped out by.
"Let's." Amberlyn follows Claire slowly, making sure her footsteps aren't too loud. They reach the end of the forest and just barely peek out from behind a tree. All they see is the golden cornucopia shining dimly in the morning light. There are no Careers, and there is certainly no feast.
"He said it would be at dawn..."
"Just wait," Amberlyn whispers, staring intently at the seemingly deserted arena. Suddenly, the cornucopia is split in two and appears to fold in on itself, almost like a cardboard box. It lowers down into the ground and, for a moment, there is only a deep hole in its place. Then, something rises from the ground. It appears to be a massive dining table. It is absolutely covered in basic black supplies. Claire can't tell exactly what those supplies are from the distance she is at, but she knows they'll be useful. Something else rises out of the ground and takes a spot next to the dining table: a black jeep-like vehicle. Claire knows immediately that she wants to try for that.
For a moment, there is silence. No competitors come out. Nothing happens. That is, until Claire realizes they needed to hurry. "Let's go!" she shouts, no longer bothering to be stealthy. The two leap out from behind the tree cover, running their fastest towards the table, their weapons raised. Out of the winter field bursts a trio of other tributes. Claire remembers them as Nikki, Brian, and Conner. So that's one alliance, she thinks as she makes it to the table first. The first thing she sees is a handgun. There have never been guns in the games before. She grabs one, aims it at Brian and fires. She misses however, and instead of firing again, she turns to grab a backpack. Amberlyn catches up to her, grabbing a gun of her own. She turns to take her own hand at firing, but misses as well.
As Claire is grabbing cans of what she believes is pepper spray, she sees a group of four emerge from the spring field. However, they are not the Careers. Claire has yet to see them. Instead of attacking Claire and Amberlyn, the alliance of four passes them, heading straight for the jeep. Brian picks up his speed, stopping at the table just long enough to pick up what appears to be a metal baton. Conner passes the table without grabbing anything. The two boys reach the group of four just as Zach and Konor jump into the jeep, turning the key, allowing the engine to roar to life. Sarabeth tries to jump in the back, but Brian grabs her by the hair, pulling her to the ground. He takes the baton and bludgeons her head several times. A canon sounds off. That is when the Careers emerge from the autumn field. The four of them, already brandishing powerful weapons, storm Conner and Brian just as Nikki catches up to them. Brian takes a swing at Madison with his baton, but she deflects it with her sword. She offers a return swing, but he dodges it easily. Nikki takes a canister of pepper spray that she retrieved from the table and sprays it directly into Amelia's eyes. She screams out in pain. Nikki punches her twice quickly, once in the stomach and once in the face, with her brass knuckles. She falls to the ground, but there is no canon signaling her death.
Ross rears back with his own sword, aiming for Nikki, but Brian hits him hard in the back of the knees with his baton, causing him to lose his footing along with Amelia. Nikki pulls out a knife, quickly leaping at Amelia. She dispatches the fallen girl quickly while Ross shouts in protest. All the while, Zach and Konor are fighting the others for control of the jeep. Madison is trying to pull them off, but Zach is keeping her at bay with his hammer. Nathan begins to climb into the back of jeep, but Ross, after regaining his footing, drives his sword deep through Nathan's neck, causing a third canon to sound. Claire watches as Madison seems to finally notice that the group of two is still retrieving supplies at the table. Madison sprints for them, sword in hand. Amberlyn turns to run as well, but Claire grabs her shoulder. "I've got this," she says, holding up the gun. Claire closes one eye and stares down the sight. She takes a breath, and fires. It makes impact, causing Madison to stumble, but not fall completely. There is also no blood where the bullet hit. At first, this confuses Claire, but then she realizes that the guns aren't real. They have rubber bullets, the kind that are used for crowd control at riots in the districts. Claire fires twice more, forcing Madison to stop and fall completely, groaning loudly and painfully. The District 12 girl runs for her, lowering the gun and raising her knife.
Madison makes it back onto her knees, but is still grunting from the pain. Claire jumps at her, pushing her back to the ground. Madison throws a punch at the other girl's side. Claire grits her teeth and stabs Madison in the arm. The District 4 girl lets loose a blood curdling scream of pain. She grabs at Claire's hair and pulls, ripping a fair amount out. Then, she rakes her fingernails along her face, creating deep scratches on Claire's left cheek. The brown haired girl reaches up with her knife and drives it into Madison's neck. A fourth canon sounds.
Ross
"No!" Ross shouts as his second ally falls in battle. He makes a run for the table, but the girl from 10, Amberlyn, intercepts him. She make a swing with her hatchet, but he dodges out of the way, answering with a jab of his sword. Amberlyn drops to her back in order to avoid the weapon. She tries to sweep his feet out from under him, but he jumps, dodging the maneuver. Amberlyn growls, reaching up to scratch at his arm. The nails dig deep into his skin, drawing blood. Ross kicks her hard in the shoulder, knocking her back onto her back. Claire runs up to her ally and grabs her arm. "It's time to go!" she yells, helping Amberlyn back on her feet. The two turn and begin to run before Ross has time to counter. Ross turns to see the alliance of three running toward his direction, Jesse hot on their trail. Ross runs widely around them, trying to reach Jesse.
"What are you doing?!" cries Jesse. "Go after them!" he shouts, pointing at the two males beginning to drive away in the jeep. He considers running after them, but the jeep has already begun to fade into the rainfall of the spring field. Ross shakes his head and goes to follow Jesse as he chases Nikki, Brian, and Conner. The three are furiously shoving guns, pepper spray, and batons into black backpacks already full of supplies. They also grab what appears to be a riot shield, and turn to sprint for the winter field. Jesse continues to chase after them.
"It's no use!" yells Ross, causing Jesse to stop his chase. "They'll over power us. We need to stop and think about this." Jesse and Ross allow the three tributes to retreat. They close their eyes and breathe deeply, allowing the adrenaline to leave their system.
"What just happened?"
"Exactly what the Gamemakers wanted, the bloodbath they missed out on from the start." The bodies of the four fallen tributes are finally being lifted into the sky. After the massacre that just transpired, there are eleven tributes left in the games, a more appropriate number for day four.
"What do we do now?'
"We stick together and make some kind of plan. We can't stay here. Let's find another area to occupy."
"There are alliances in all of the areas," says Jesse, walking over to the table to examine what is left.
"We'll just have to find someplace new." Ross follows Jesse to the table and counts the supplies. There are two guns, a baton, three cans of pepper spray and nine of the riot shields. "This could be useful," says Ross as he taps one of the shields.
"It's all useful. Everyone else just has more of it," Jesse scoffs pessimistically.
"We have more riot shields. Only Conner's group took one. We could use them to fortify our campsite."
"Who knew the others could fight like that? I mean sure, there's always one or two tributes that aren't Careers who have the capability to win, but they were all a threat. How do we stand up to that?"
"I don't know... But hey, they weren't all a threat. The tributes from 3 aren't here. I bet they teamed up and decided not to show!"
"They'll probably be our easiest target," agrees Jesse.
"Are you ready to get moving?" Ross asks.
"Let's give the others the treatment they deserve," he answers, grabbing one of the shields.
Zach
The District 11 boy had driven a car before, but only once or twice, and it is becoming increasingly harder to weave through the rain covered trees with the vehicle. They were lucky to have been the group to get it, but they didn't gain any other supplies and lost Sarabeth and Nathan. Zach is still trying to process that. The two boys reach the clearing and kill the ignition on the jeep. "Are you okay?" Konor asks him.
"I have to be, don't I?"
"That was insane. I knew it would be dangerous, but I didn't think half of our group would be killed."
"Those two girls got lucky. They were only left alone because no one saw them as that much of a threat, but did you see that District 10 girl fighting Ross? She would have killed him if her ally didn't pull her away."
"They got most of the supplies, didn't they?" asks Konor.
"I think so. I don't think there was much left when we drove off. The District 3 tributes weren't there, were they?"
"I didn't see them. How are they both still around? District 3 always gets out early..."
"They must be doing something right," Zach sighs, climbing out of the vehicle. "So what do we do now?"
"We need to start taking out the groups, for sure."
"They're too strong for us. With all of the supplies they got, we'd be done in minutes," Zach explains. He holds up his knife, only now remembering that the hammer was dragged into the air with Sarabeth's body.
"Then, let's go after the District 3's. They can't be that much of a threat or else they would have been fighting at the feast."
"We'll go looking in the morning."
"Sounds good... Hey, Zach?" asks Konor.
"Yeah?"
"Are you scared?" There is a moment of silence before Zach's answer.
"Terrified."
Conner
The trio gasps for breath as they finally reach their clearing in the winter area. Brian throws down the riot shield, falling into the snow on his knees.
"I call that... a win," says Nikki between deep breaths.
"Definitely," Brian adds swinging his baton at an imaginary enemy.
"So, there's eleven of us left?" asks Conner.
"I think so. Let's count what we've got," Nikki says, placing her backpack next to Conner's, Brian's, and the black one that was retrieved at the feast. After taking inventory, the three of them counted six guns, four cans of pepper spray, three batons, a backpack filled with things like a high-tech first-aid kit and large bottles of water, and the one riot shield.
"The guns have rubber bullets," states Brian.
"If they gave us real guns, things would be way too easy. After all, this is meant to be entertaining," explains Conner.
"Well, that feast should have been entertainment enough for the night. Do you think the Gamemakers will leave us alone?" asks Nikki.
"Definitely. The feast may have lasted less than an hour, but they'll be replaying scenes from it all day. We should be fine until tomorrow," answers Conner as he begins divvying up the supplies.
"So, what do we do until then?"
"We wait. Tomorrow morning, we go out to start picking off the groups." Conner brushes off a place on the ground to sit as he says this, crossing his arms serenely.
Amberlyn
The two girls sit down against a tree, trying to catch their breath in the autumn toned forest. "That was insane," breathes Amberlyn slowly.
"But, we came out alive. That's the important thing."
"Who is our biggest competition?"
"Well," begins Claire, "it was the Careers, but now that there are only two of them left, Nikki, Conner, and Brian are definitely too much for us to handle head to head. We'll need to take them out from a distance of with traps." Just as Claire says the word traps, she looks up to see a camouflage colored backpack float from the sky on a silver parachute. It falls right in front of Claire's feet and she glances at Amberlyn before picking it up. Ripping off the parachute, Claire unzips the backpack to find exactly what she needs. An array of trap making tools is revealed to her: metal coil, rope, tripwire, a type of poison, and many more things that are ten times as useful than what she retrieved at the feast. She shows her sponsor gift to Amberlyn.
"That must have cost a fortune!" she says, grinning at the supplies.
"I bet it did. I'm going to rig traps around the clearing. If anyone tries to ambush us, they'll get cut short." Amberlyn grins as her ally begins setting traps galore.
Erin
Erin and Jared quickly creep away from the spring forest edge that they had been spying from. The moment they heard of the feast, they decided against going. They knew they wouldn't be able to fight against the alliances, and they were right. If two Careers can get killed, then Jared and Erin wouldn't have stood a chance. Instead, they just watched from atop a tree, gritting their teeth at the gory sight. They knew that Zach and Konor had driven into the same forest as them, so they tried to walk as far away as they could. "What are we going to do?" asks Jared sadly.
"What do you mean?"
"With all of those supplies and new weapons, we don't stand a chance against the other alliances. They'd destroy us before we'd even get close enough to pose a threat."
"You don't know that," Erin counters.
"No, Erin, I do know that. We have a bow that we don't know how to use and a couple knives. That's basically close to nothing compared to what the others have and you know it," spits Jared, grabbing at his hair aggravatingly.
"Then let's make a plan! We are still here for a reason, Jared. We can make it farther, okay?" But Jared doesn't answer. He instead sits down against a tree, holding his hands out to catch rain drops as the storm begins to lighten up. Just when Erin is about to lash out at him, she sees a silver parachute float down from the grey clouds. "Jared, look!" she says, pointing at the airborne object. The boy jumps to his feet in excitement. A small, metal canister falls directly in between the two tributes.
"It's meant for both of us," Jared says happily. Erin reaches to pick it up. She opens the canister and turns it over, her hand ready to catch whatever is inside. A small, silver sphere rolls out along a with a small remote consisting of a single red button. The sphere is about six inches in diameter and has metal like scales all over it.
"What is it?" Erin asks, confused.
"It's an explosive," Jared answers in awe, his voice almost a whisper.
"What?!"
"We learned about it in class. The Capital used them against the Districts all the time during the war. You just put the bomb wherever you want, and press the red button when you're ready. It's small, but extremely powerful. Why would someone send it to us, though? Do you realize how much it must have cost the sponsor?"
"Someone believes in us... Jared, don't you get it? This is our big ticket item! This is what we'll use to get ahead! These people want us to win. So let's give them what they asked for."
"What are we going to use it on?"
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Erin asks with a slight smile, sliding the explosive back into the canister.
"That jeep?"
"Of course." The rest of the day, the two Tributes from District 3 make a plan of action. They watch as the faces of Amelia, Madison, Nathan, and Nathan appear in the sky, and then they close their eyes to sleep, ready for another eventful day tomorrow.