The next day is quiet. Too quiet. Everyone plods along in their own little patch of the grasslands from sunrise to sunset and into the night.
The day after the Arena strikes.
The Career pack has already started to strain at the edges, and after a long and vocal argument ended by Flora back-handing Malachite in the mouth, decided not to go hunting that night. As a reward they are wakened by a stampede of deer-like creatures with long, pointed antlers. Gazelle, according to Games announcer Narcissus Elkheart.
Individually the creatures aren't much of a challenge, each about the size of a grown man. The herd of forty or so together send most of the Career pack scrambling out of the way, trampling over food and water, butting into the tributes, and stomping repeatedly over the girl from Four when she's not quick enough to dodge away.
One of the bigger gazelle catches Brutus on the forearm with its horn. He chases it down and tackles it by the hind-quarters. A hoof to the face breaks his nose. He laughs savagely and plunges his knife into the animal's spine, pinning it down until it stops thrashing. He calls back to the others that they're having venison steaks for dinner and they all laugh with him. Even the girl from Four, who seems battered but ok.
Tansy is the Gamemakers next target. One minute she's stripping leaves from a flowering bush, the next she's screaming first in shock, then in pain as a swarm of butterflies settle on her uncovered skin. They flit off in a great cloud of blue when she starts swatting them, leaving swollen red mounds up and down her arms and neck.
A great gray beast with a horn on its nose takes offence to Jessi drinking from its water-hole around eleven. She leaves when it starts pawing the ground, and the pair from Nine follow her towards Tansy's trees on the horizon.
Osbern is filling his water-bottle from his own pool when a great mass of scaly skin and teeth lunges out, catching the sleeve of his jacket in its long-muzzled jaw. He rips the jacket off and lets the beast have it, stumbling backwards and swearing impressively as he gets well out of reach. The reptile sinks back into the pool with its brown prize.
Around noon, Elmett and the boy from Five find themselves each facing a trio of wild dogs. Elmett suffers a bite on one leg, but hits back with his weighted rope, eventually killing one. The other two back off and circle around to where Nio's boy is still being harried.
Unlike Elmett, his only weapon is a woven grass noose, and he takes nasty scratches and bites before he gives up on fighting and runs. They chase, nipping his heels, and I glance towards the mentors from Five when I realize which direction.
The back of the couch shifts and I turn to see Cupros leaning on it, his brow creased in a frown.
"Now we see if he's got it in him," he says. From the tone I'm not sure whether he's hoping for a yes or no.
The dogs back off when the two boys are twenty feet apart. Nio's boy is younger, only sixteen, but a touch taller and heavier in build. Unarmed, but desperate. He drops into a crouch and the pair circle one-another.
"You know-" Elmett starts. The boy cuts him off with a ragged snarl.
"I don't want to hear it. I'd rather die fighting than be eaten by dogs."
Our boy shrugs, and suddenly dances forwards, swinging the weighted rope out towards his opponent's head. Five ducks and rolls, and comes up ready. The next rope swing hits him in the thigh and he staggers. Another one misses and he gets in close, taking our boy to ground, pinning Elmett's smaller frame with his body as he rains down untrained blows.
Elmett twists and squirms, and eventually gets a hand free. He goes straight for Five's eyes. The younger boy screams and claps a hand to his face. A moment later there is a knife buried in Five's chest.
Elmett shoves away the bleeding boy who rolls off him, chest heaving, and staring at his own hands, as though he can't believe he just did that. I curl my own hands in understanding as his eyes widen in horror and he scrambles back on all fours through the grass. It takes him thirty seconds to gain control and he staggers to his feet, wiping his bloodied mouth on the back of his hand, and his hands on the back of his shirt. The cannon fires and he remembers to retrieve his knife before the hovercraft takes the body.
Cupros lets out a slow breath and walks over to the sideboard, where he pours two glasses of spirits. He takes one to Nio and they both drink a toast to another fallen tribute.
Elmett spends the rest of the day sitting with his hands wrapped around his legs, knees drawn to his chest, staring at the blood-spattered grass where he killed a boy.
I go back upstairs and call home again, because I need to hear their voices. Balia, mother, father, Ezra. Balia even puts Malcy on for a few seconds, though he doesn't really manage a conversation. It doesn't matter; it's their voices I needed to hear. Barely ten seconds after I've hung up the phone rings again, and I hesitantly answer it.
Beetee, who has been trying to get through for the last hour. He's starting to sound better, and very deliberately directs the conversation away from boys knifing other boys in the chest. Gloria summons me at dinner-time to take over from Cupros, who's been called in for another interview. I go, and even half-listen to her chatter while we watch Brutus and Malachite spitting slabs of gazelle meat over another sponsor-provided coal fire. They're certainly not going hungry this Games.
Elmett looks up when the sky shows the photo of the boy he killed, then goes right back to staring at the shadowed patch of grass. I decide I have to do something to wake him up and scroll through the list of gifts on the computer in the booth until I find what I'm looking for.
It costs nearly a fifth of our current sponsor funds, but will be worth it if it wakes him up in time for the next bad thing to come calling. In under a minute the silver parachute drops beside him. He slowly unwraps it, smiles and raises the bite-sized square of bread to the sky.
"Still fighting," he says softly to the stars. "Still fighting Soni, Wills. I'll come back, just like I promised."
He makes it last, one nibble at a time, and when he's done he cleans the knife, re-coils his rope and drinks some water before curling up to sleep.
The booth door swings open and Cupros steps inside.
"You sent the bread?"
Suddenly I'm worried he had other plans for the money.
"I…I…had to do…"
He half-smiles and jerks his head positively.
"No, you did right. The boy needed waking up. I was going to send him something when I got back, but your idea was better. And cheaper. Now let's hope it works. "
He sends me to go get some sleep, and even though I've done nothing all day I fall into bed and nod off.
In the morning there are four more people willing to sponsor our tribute. Cupros and Gloria deal with them while I keep watch in the Hall. It's another quiet day. Jessi decides not to continue on to the trees and turns aside, back towards the Cornucopia. The pair from Nine keep on and reach the trees by mid-day. They're struggling a bit, and while Robin and Whisper got them a water-bottle and purifiers, they haven't eaten much. Tansy sees them arrive and keeps to the far end of the trees, though the whole patch is only thirty-odd yards across. They don't spot her, and she doesn't seem to want to engage in a two-on-one fight.
Osbern has been walking all day, trying to find a new drinking hole not inhabited by a savage reptile. Eventually he comes across Jessi's old spot and settles in.
Another quiet day. The Gamemakers send a swarm of termites through the Careers' camp when they decide not to go night hunting again. The tensions between them are running pretty high, snappish conversations and sideways glances. Fingers twitching towards weapons. None of them want to leave in case the others take the supplies, and no two of them trust one-another to go out in a pair, except Four, but the others won't let them.
A ticking time-bomb that suits us well.
~xXx~
The next morning I have my first proper run-in with Carmenius Fallow, our previous Escort. I'd seen him around over the last two weeks but hadn't actually spoken to him. We didn't tend to be very civil with one another, a trend he is apparently keen on continuing.
"It's going to be a good morning," he tells me with that smug smirk, stepping in my path as I enter the room.
"Not if I have to…to…"
He laughs over my stuttering and nods towards the screen.
"They're getting pretty close to your pathetic little boy. When they find him and realize he's from your district they're going to do him good and slow. Make a nice show of it."
On the screen the Career pack, led by the boy from Four are tracking along into dangerously familiar territory. I can't think of a reply to this that doesn't involve severe violence or threats, so I step past him and continue on to our booth to make sure Cupros is awake and aware of the imminent danger.
"Don't go too far," he calls out after me with another cruel laugh. "You don't want to miss the show."
Cupros is awake and looking decidedly uneasy. Gloria is beside him, fingers clasped over her mouth in nervous anticipation as the group of six gets closer and closer to the water-hole. There's no trees or rocks or anything for cover. Just the long grasses, a few scraggly waist-high bushes and the water-hole itself.
Elmett must see their outlines from a distance, because he suddenly drops low in the grass, crawling slowly with his pack towards the water. I'm not sure what he's thinking; the slight dip will hide him until they get close, another ten, fifteen minutes maybe, but no more. The pool is only twenty feet across, and goodness knows how deep. The water isn't clear and might cover him if he were to jump in, but there's no way he can hold his breath for the long minutes it would take them to pass. Unless…
My eyes drift to the edges of the pool, to the thin, reedy grasses. Of course.
"Reeds," I say.
Gloria stares at me like I've gone mad. Cupros shakes his head sadly and grunts, "Not thick enough to hide him. They'd see him in….Oh."
He's not a stupid man; it doesn't take him long to work it out.
Sure enough, Elmett wades into the murky water, and suddenly I remember the great beast that leaped at Osbern from another pool. But this is interesting, so unless it's already there the Gamemakers won't release one. I hope.
Elmett submerses the pack first, grabs a handful of mud and smears his face and hair with it, then slices the thickest of the reeds down and trims both ends. It's not until he sinks down into the rippling water with the reed in his mouth that Gloria understands and claps her hands joyfully.
"Oh, he's such a clever boy, isn't he?"
Yes he is. But is he clever enough? Or lucky enough?
After three minutes with him still alive, it's clear he isn't drowning and no giant reptiles are chasing after him, and his face surfaces again until he hears the approaching figures come close, ducking once more under the murky waters by the reeds. When the Career pack reaches the pool a few minutes later, they pause to wander around the edges and refill water bottles. Flora picks up a lumpy chunk of dirt and throws it sideways across the water. It sinks with a plop about five feet from Elmett's hiding place. Brutus laughs at his district partner, who scowls, and they leave.
Three more minutes, five. Finally Elmett's head surfaces to peer around cautiously. He crawls out, shivering and gasping, pack clenched in his fist as he tries to cough quietly and clear the mud from his face and throat. Cupros waits until the Careers are well away before sending a cheap cloth sack.
Elmett acknowledges this with a tired smile and rips down the stitching to make a towel that doubles as a blanket.
The coverage soon turns to the north, where the pair from Nine have finally come across Tansy from Seven in the little patch of trees. I don't know how she hid from them for so long, but the inevitable fight has come. Nine's girl, Gretal keeps Tansy's attention, yelling threats and waving the hefty stick she picked up as a weapon, while the boy Kern circles around.
Like them, Tansy has a sturdy piece of wood that she shifts from hand to hand uncertainly. Gretal darts in and out, dodging a blow and Kern pounces from behind, slamming Tansy over the head.
She cries out and falls, an unmoving heap on the ground. Kern stares at her limp form, his own staff dropping from numb fingers as he steps back, muttering "I…I didn't mean to…"
He looks like he's about to be sick. Gretal glowers at him as she prods Tansy's slumped form with her foot. "She's not dead stupid. No cannon. Now we have to-"
She doesn't get any further. Tansy rolls to the side, knocking Gretal's weapon clear and before either of them can react, has Gretal in a choke-lock from behind. Blood streams down her face from a nasty cut in her hair. Her eyes have changed from the uncertain, scared girl to those of a killer. Just like mine did the day the Careers hunted me in the maze, when I truly realized it was kill or be killed and that I really was willing to do the former to survive.
She's big for a girl, the eighteen-year-old from the lumber district, and she has no trouble keeping the smaller, younger Gretal pinned while the latter's face turns red then blue. Kern takes a hesitant step forward and Tansy screams at him. It's not entirely coherent but I catch the words, "-any closer-" and "-kill you-"
His nerve breaks and he runs. Runs with tears in his eyes, muttering over and over, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to...I didn't want to…I'm sorry…" as he runs and stumbles and runs some more. The cannon fires and Tansy drops Gretal's limp body, stripping off the jacket, belt, and shoelaces before abandoning her to the hovercraft. If she cries, she hides it well from the camera.
I spell Cupros, who heads upstairs for a nap, and join Robin, Boyd and Glory in the common area. Glory hands me a drink and says, "Your boy was lucky this morning."
"Clever," I correct him as I accept the drink, remembering to sip slowly. They all laugh.
We spend the next few hours swapping tales from our time in the Capitol, Robin throwing regular worried looks towards the screen, where his boy is still muttering. I mostly listen, though Glory does ask me about some of my mechanical work as his grandfather was a watch-maker. The ornate gem-encrusted sort, but the internals are no different to any other. Glory himself makes little clock-work toys as his talent, and promises to bring some along next year to show me.
Olivia joins us shortly after lunch, fresh from another interview about Tansy. Whisper arrives a little later to spell Robin, tag-teaming like Cupros and I have been so that someone stays fresh.
Two of the non-mentor victors start a game of cards with Vikus, and Glory wanders over to join them. I grab the notepad from our booth and sketch idly. I don't realize I'm humming under my breath until I hear Whisper take up the counterpart tune. When I look at her she gives me that sly smile and rises from the couch, stretching like a cat before heading to the food platters. Unconsciously I shudder. Of all the victors I've met, she makes me the most uncomfortable.
I go back to drawing until the couch jumps, and a thick magenta boot kicks the notepad out of my hands. Carmenius again, smirking gleefully.
"Your boy got lucky before, but he's about to get what's coming."
Sure enough the Careers have looped back towards the waterhole. This time Elmett doesn't see them until it's too late. He tries to run, but they're much faster, much fitter and better fed, and they rapidly make up ground.
He's smart enough to realize this and turns to catch his breath before his last stand. He has the rope curled in one hand, knife in the other, eyes flicking wildly between the advancing foes.
"Looks like you get another chance to prove your worth Halga," Flora says pointedly to the girl from Four.
"Leave off her," her district partner snaps as he settles his spear and knife. Malachite puts a hand on Four's chest and nods at Halga. "No, Flora's right. Her turn to pull her weight. Go on, bring him down. He's from Three, and we all know they only fight by stabbing people in the back. Once he's down I'll play with him for a bit before you off him."
I feel the bile rising in my throat. Beside me Carmenius laughs loudly.
While they talk, Elmett manages to take a few steps backwards, enough distance to bring his rope into play. Reluctantly Halga steps forward to face him, knife clasped in her shaking hand. He waits until she's five steps away before he swings the rope. She ducks, but he jerks it back and it tangles around her feet, tripping her over. Quick as a cat, he darts in with his knife, but the boy from Four jumps in to help, and the pair go down in a flurry of limbs and a spray of bright blood.
A cannon fires. Neither of them moves. Finally Brutus steps forwards and separates the two out. Four has a knife embedded under his jaw. Elmett groans, and when Four's body is dragged away, we can all see the blade buried in his groin. When he sees Brutus looming over him he forces himself to curl up and drags the knife free, screaming from the pain. He screams again when Brutus stamps on his hand, fracturing his long, delicate fingers around the hilt.
As he writhes I can see the spreading pool of blood around his waist, bleeding out, but too slow to avoid the threatened fate. Brutus stomps again, this time on his face, shattering the lenses in his glasses and awkwardly bending the wire frames. His moan chokes off as he coughs blood, his face a mess of red and tiny glass shards.
Malachite kneels beside him and he spits his blood in the face of the boy from One. One replies by slashing across his face, taking off a chunk of his already broken nose. I clap a hand over my mouth and shudder. The next cut traces down the side of his face, along his jaw. He writhes suddenly, violently, and the blade slips down into his throat. Malachite yells in shock as his own face is coated red, and by the time he clears his eyes the cannon has fired once more.
One more clever boy's potential wasted by the Games. I slowly unclench my right fist, absently noting the broken pen and blue ink staining my palm. My other hand stays over my mouth until I'm sure I won't be sick.
"I wasn't done," mutters Malachite on the screen. "DAMNIT!"
He kicks Elmett's body in frustration, jolting free the broken glasses. Brutus stoops beside him with a sneer as he scoops up Elmett's knife. Without warning the massive boy from Two turns and stabs Halga, who had just untangled herself from the weighted rope. She falls and the third cannon fires.
"What the hell?" Zia yells at him, and he grins condescendingly back.
"She wasn't any use to us. Only kept her 'round for Jonah's sake. He's dead now so there was no point keeping her."
"And you think you can just decide that without asking the rest of us?" Zia snaps back, drawing her sword.
"Yes, I can," he tells her, drawing his own blade. Both Flora and Malachite step back, their own weapons in hand. All four of them are glancing between each-other now, eyes asking 'do we do this now?'
No-one moves until Brutus laughs and lowers his sword. The other three relax and he pounces, striking out and slashing his sword at Zia's chest. Except she's faster than that and he only grazes her. Then the melee is on.
The Career victors in the lounge whoop and cheer at the four-way fight, and even the ones from One boo when Malachite breaks and runs, bleeding from his arm and side.
Zia drives her sword through Flora's stomach, then runs as well, in the opposite direction. Brutus bellows and chases after her, though she proves to be faster and gets enough of a lead that he eventually stops running to treat the cut down his leg.
Flora is left lying in the grass beside three bodies, a sword through her belly.
There's silence in the Viewing Hall until Toria from Two says, "Well shit."
A few of the Victors and Escorts laugh and a low murmur of conversation returns.
The boot prods me again. I turn and glare at Carmenius.
"Told you he'd die."
"He took down your…your…"
Carmenius' face flickers at this, and he sneers back, "My boy died fighting. Yours died a pathetic, crying mess. Like every tribute you will ever mentor. Your whole district is pathetic. In fact-Owwww!"
He yelps as Cupros, who I had seen earlier hovering around the booth, grabs him from behind by the hair, savagely twists his ear and shoves him forward off the couch.
"Get out."
Carmenius unceremoniously picks himself up and dusts down his waistcoat. "How dare you speak to me like that? How dare you touch me? I'll-"
Morstan Wake, the male mentor from Four steps between Carmenius and Cupros, also glaring at his Escort.
"Get. Out. Now."
Carmenius goes.
Morstan watches him leave, then turns to us and says, "I need a drink. Jonah was a decent lad. Too decent, and it got him killed. Got your decent lad killed too, though he died bravely."
"Your boy died defending the girl. Can't ask for more honorable than that. Better luck next year," Cupros says with a nod.
"Better luck next year," Morstan replies, and leaves, glowering Denissa in tow.
Glory Winchester trails over in their wake to also offer his condolences, as it was technically his boy with the kill on Elmett.
I'm glad to see that none of the mentors gloat over their tribute's kills. After all, we've all been there. We all do understand.
The commentators appear on-screen to discuss all the big, exciting happenings from day seven. Behind me Cupros sighs.
"It was a long shot, but he had a chance." He checks his watch and grunts. "It'll be interviews all night long, then I'm going to go get drunk. Again. Don't wait up."
"I….won't," I say, though I expect any sleep I get tonight will be broken and filled with dreams of the dead. One in particular.
Gloria catches me in the hall, all flustered that she missed the terrible moment as she was busy getting her hair done for a party tonight. A party she's still going to, and didn't Elmett do well to come tenth overall? All very exciting for her first Games, though she hopes next year will be better. Anyway, she'd better be going or she'll be late.
I don't strangle her, or hit her, or even attempt to stammer out a cutting remark to her retreating back.
Instead I go curl up in a corner of my bed, let the tears flow, and sing to myself until my eyes close.