Hurrhurrhurr, Oi'm goin' to Oireland tomorro' C:
Translation: I'm going to Ireland tomorrow for two weeks, but I will still have access to a computer. Ie. I can still PM, update (MAYBE!?) just not as regually. Ya know, it's a holiday rite? OuO
Hope you like this chapter - I especially like the two last POVs. Natalie is more of a 'thinking about how this shiz is gonna end'.
Oh and I kinda cocked up the order. Sorry. I wanted some loner perspective as well.
*In the Blink of an Eye
Natalie Dismal, District Ten
Five days in. Three days since the avalanche. Bravo. New high score.
Stag Browning is smarter than I gave him credit for. I could have stared for ages at that force field around the mountain, maybe even daring to touch it. But I realised now that it would have been so easy for myself to be crept up on and killed. It was a supreme piece of engineering really. Would have been fascinating to explore. Of course, if I didn't already have my throat cut.
Our little alliance was falling to pieces before the avalanche. Then we found the other group fighting against those... mutts. Sadly, the last Career joined the fight and two of them went down. I killed the Career afterwards. She deserved it. Couldn't even have the decency to get her knife out of the body properly.
At the end of the fight, we had a spontaneous group decision: the Seven girl, Cora, was lost and devastated. She'd die on her own in the arena. So we agreed to take her under our wing. She seems to have acted a bit like glue, keeping us together, when even I thought we couldn't. I'm not going to lie though – we're going to have to split up at some point, even if the tension is defused a little for now.
Last night I heard Cora crying. I couldn't sleep, because I generally can't, but I could hear the sound of someone trying to mask their sobs. She must have got pretty attached to the two who died. Aden and... Lash, was it? We're in the last eight now. I wonder who will win. I make a quick tally in my head. Our alliance plus loners; One girl, Three boy and Six girl. Oh and Nine girl.
Since the Games started, I have realised I've seen very few tributes. The loners seemed to disappear off the face of the earth and pretty much all the Careers died in another part of the arena. The only way I knew about some of the deaths, was by scrutinising the hologram which plays in the sky at night.
If our alliance were to split, who would kill who? Would one of the loners step into our fight, or would we have to turn on each other? Could I stab one of these three people who have had each other's – and my – back for the time in the arena? Could I watch the life drain out of them and watch their eyes go glassy?
The answer is no. I wonder who will finish me off. Probably either a loner or Jaysper. I can virtually taste the hostility rising from her like a wild animal. I should step gently there. Any wrong action could cause her to flip out. Then there would be one less person to contend with.
No one has to try to pretend: we all want to go home but we're unsure of killing someone to get there.
Kyle 'Animal' Lanyer, District Three
I'm disappointed more than anything. Only one girl died in the avalanche. Come on. A full scale avalanche and one casualty! They might as well have not bothered to trigger it.
There are so few tributes left now that it's quite hard to find them. But I've been tracking One girl for days. It's not like she's hard to follow. She steps in mud or sand or soil. Doesn't even bother to remove the footprint. She sounds like an elephant walking; her footsteps ring out like a bell with a sign that says, 'Hi, my name is Charms and I would like you to come and kill me.' Really.
I'm not going to make my move yet though. She moves around, but her routine is fairly regular. Wake up, get a drink, eat some nuts from her pack and then she either moves to another place during the day, or she hides.
I was there when she found the nuts. A small squeal of joy ("Come and stalk me!") and she started shovelling the nuts into her mouth. I almost ran out to stop her – they could be poisonous and I would be loosing my game, but I stopped myself. A nice clean kill, and I could move on to someone else.
Sadly, it turns out they weren't poisonous. Shame. But she filled her backpack up to the top, so she won't be short of food for a while. I'm still going to follow her, but I'm not sure when to make my move. A day? Maybe even less than that. I'll wait until she goes to fill her water. She usually leaves her pack where ever she camps. Another sign of her ignorance.
I'll be waiting for her. Ready for when she returns.
Charms Penlum, District One
He thinks I'm stupid. A lamb to the slaughter. Thinks he's so clever. What he doesn't know is that I can see him out of the corner of my eye. Hey peripheral vision, how are you? It creeps me out, being stalked but he hasn't made any kind of move to suggest that he knows I know he is there. Wow. Confusing.
I act the part. Leaving footprints deliberately and almost stamping when I walk. I'm not afraid to defend myself from another tribute who finds me, but I know how much it annoys the Stalker. That's my little name for him.
When he attacks, and boy, he will, I'll be ready. I can almost see what he is going to do. Wait until I go to the toilet or fetch water or something, and then he'll ambush me.
I may not be willing to kill, but I sure know how to stun.