Day 15: Morning to Afternoon
Shark Fazaysia, Predator's Father
Another day in the Games, another day of Predator's death. Shark looked at the screen in his tackle shop at Dusk Shine and Chal Sherwood talking about the remaining tributes. For all he cared, the siblings from 2 can go die in a hole. They didn't show compassion that the tribute from District 7 did. Shark took his eyes away from the screen and pretended to be busy working on some sort of bait. How can people just talk about his son's death and not realize that he was listening to their every remark? Predator was supposed to come home alive and live in the Victor's Village and have children of his own to make the victor bloodline continue. But, that all changed when the siblings decided to leave him bloody and helpless. What will the family do now?
Predator's death replayed over and over until one of the tributes woke up. With each time the death was played, it felt like a stab in the heart to Shark. Sure, Predator asked the 7 girl to 'mercy kill' him, but that meant that he was left without a child due to her. He can't hold it against her; Predator practically begged her to do it. Just looking at the bloody mess his son was in made him shiver. The Capitol was probably all over it, yelling at each other that Predator died because they made a bet on him. Shark could barely look at anything in his shop without thinking of his son. Before Predator trained at the Academy, he was just a curious child who wanted nothing more than to spend a whole day at his father's bait shop. Where ever Shark looked, he saw the little boy eager to help his father with the bait and tackle. The Capitol took his happiness for what? Entertainment or punishment for what happened over one hundred years ago?
The door swung open and little bells rang out, signaling someone was here. Shark looked up from the bait in his hands and saw a teenage girl with brown hair looking at him. He has seen that girl somewhere before. She was in a silky black dress with a small slit up the side. The funeral for Predator didn't take place until the victor has been crowned, and that wasn't today. She walked to the counter and took a look around this place. Shark, trying to be nice, looked at the girl and cleared his throat. "Hello, how may I help you?"
The girl flashed a wobbly smile and looked to Shark through clouded eyes. "Hello, Mr. Fazaysia." Her voice sounded like she was trying to choke back sobs. "I just wanted to stop by and see how you're doing because of Predator's..." she trailed off, covering her mouth to hold in the sobs. Shark looked at the girl harder and realized that she was the girl Predator always talked about, Paige Tamar. He walked around the counter and placed his arm around her. Her shoulders were shaking as she released her emotions.
"Shh, it's okay, Paige." He consoled her as best he could. Paige continued to cry as Shark tried to comfort her. No matter how hard he tried to calm her, her sobs didn't die down. They actually got worse. Paige realized that Predator truly loved her, and it was just a crush like she thought when she was saying her goodbyes. There was nothing she could do now; Predator has been dead for nearly fifteen hours. He was probably getting cleaned up from the Capitol, ready to be shipped to District 4 for the funeral in a few days. None of the fallen tributes could be buried until the victor has been crowned, prolonging important closure that everyone needs.
Paige continued to cry on Predator's father's shoulder, letting out her feelings. Shark tried to comfort her, but she was just crying. Nothing could stop her tears and nothing could take away the horrible feeling in her heart. Why didn't Paige say anything to Predator? Her tears continued to fall on Shark's clothing while Dusk Shine and Chal Sherwood continued to act like no one was crying over a lost tribute. Fallen tributes are forgotten tributes, you know.
Assistant Gamemaker, Aphrodite McKennon
Day fifteen, one day too many. Now that only three remain in the arena, Aphrodite needed to find a way to subtly move the tributes closer to one another so the victor can be crowned. In fact, they aren't too far away from each other. Only two miles separates Sheila from Kleo and Caden. She stood on the platform and looked at her Gamemakers, who were monitoring every little detail about the tributes and the arena. On the video feed, Sheila was laying at the spot where Predator has been just over sixteen hours ago. Yeah, yeah, we get that you feel bad that he died, but in order for you to win he must die. Aphrodite ran her hand through her hair and looked to the video feed, which switched to the siblings near the crushed Cornucopia. Kleo was messing around with her makeshift bow and Caden was trying to make more arrows for her. It seems that, no matter what Hunger Games they are in, Careers always stay near the horn of plenty for no reason at all.
Aphrodite paced around her platform. How can she plan something subtle to draw the tributes in closer. With only three left, the Games need to end today. The Capitol citizens have bet on the tribute they want to win and the one with the most bets is the girl from 7. Aphrodite looked to the virtual map with three points left on it, realizing how close the tributes are with each other. She paced again, only faster as she thought. Some Gamemakers looked to her with a confused look, but then went back to their arena monitoring. What else can you do when only three tributes are left to fight for their lives? Aphrodite's heels clicked on the chrome floor and echoed in everyone's ears. The faster her heels clicked, the harder she was thinking. Sometimes, the volume of the heels also determined how hard her brain was working.
They needed to be subtle about the way they moved Sheila. It didn't need to be so obvious, but everything the Gamemakers do is obvious. Since Sheila is in the part of the forest where the greenery isn't so thick, maybe she could cause a terrible storm to move her. She looked to the arena and saw what she was hoping for. She whipped her head to her right, where Felix was working on something not important. She opened her mouth to look to the little Arena Manager. "Felix! I have an important order for you." Every Gamemaker looked to Aphrodite, as if everyone was named Felix. The *real* Felix looked to her and nodded his head.
"I want you to make a terrible storm in the deepest part of the arena." Aphrodite started, listing every detail on how she wants it done. "Make it rain hard, as if tiny knifes were pelting your skin. The storm will start here-" she gestures to the edge of the arena- "and work its way to Sheila. I want her to move. Can you do it?" Felix looked to his boss and said nothing. He started working on the storm, his blue eyes not even managing a glance to Aphrodite. At least he was working on the rumbling storm she requested. She turned around and walked up the chrome stairs. She would watch the epic finale with the rest of the Capitolites in the square and she will finally be recongized throughout the city. Take that, Chal!
Sinus Alba, District Seven Mentor
The commotion in the City Circle is enough to make one sick. Sinus was sitting next to Braxton and Luna, District 2 mentors who thought that their tributes would take out hers with one nasty blow. Oh, 2 is known for more than their victors. They have terrible egos that could get them in trouble if their mouth continues to run off. Sinus pulls her hair into a messy bun and watches as Sheila looks around for the siblings. Her sword is clutched tightly to her body and she didn't dare move from the spot where she mercy killed District 4. When the mercy kill happened, Capitolites started to cry and say that Sheila will win just for him. Yeah, because every victor only wins because of a fallen tribute.
Braxton and Luna continue to joke around about Sheila as Sinus tries to ignore them. What do they know? There was never a guarantee that a trained Career would come out alive and completely unharmed. Sinus remembers when Braxton finally recovered from the surgery, he called everyone a mutt and started screaming his district partner's name over and over again. That was broadcast over live television for everyone to see. Maybe the Capitol was after this when the Dark Days ended; they wanted to see the lone victor suffer from terrible memories of the things they went through. A hand rested on Sinus' shoulder. She turns to see Luna, a smirk on her face and a flute of champagne in her hands. Sinus rolled her eyes. What now?
"Hey, Sy-nus." Luna pronounced her name like sigh-nus. Her voice hand an annoying sing-song feel to it. "I have to say that you did a wonderful job mentoring your tribute. She is in the top three! Too bad she'll never make it home to the trees and such. It must be terrible living in that district." Sinus tried to control her anger. Sure, Luna was from 2, but that didn't mean that Sinus wasn't stronger. She did win these Games after all, right? Braxton looked over to Sinus, whose cheeks have flamed into a tomato red.
"What would you do if Sheila... I don't know... got killed by one of our tributes?" He asked in a mocking tone. "You know, that would really suck if she was going to win but Caden or Kleo got in her way." Braxton has pushed the limits. Sinus turned to the pair from 2 and just stared at them, the silence making them squirm. Her gray eyes beat them down and they shut their mouths. She contained her voice so she didn't cause a scene in front of all these Capitol citizens.
"You have no right to say that about my tribute." She whispered harshly. "She has the same chance as Kleo or Caden and just because she didn't train beforehand doesn't mean she has no way of coming home. Do you understand me?" Before either mentor could reply, a loud crack of thunder was heard over the sound speaker. Sinus, Braxton, and Luna's attention turned to the giant screen and saw monstrous storm clouds covering the arena, threatening rain. Sinus looked at the screen and looked at the clouds. Those clouds aren't natural clouds that she sees when storms come in District 7. That's a storm generated by the Gamemakers.
The thunder cracked again, making a few Capitolites and past victors jump. The screenshot switched from a birds-eye view of the arena to a shot of Sheila, whose eyes have grown large as she saw the clouds coming her way. Sinus knew what her tribute was thinking, 'That's not an actual storm.' Sheila stood up and looked around her. In the corner of the screen, there was a mini map showing how far Sheila was from Kleo and Caden. She looked ahead, where the storm hasn't reached yet, and she knew she only had one option; run that direction. As she took off, the 7 on the map moved closer to the two 2s on the map. This was their last day and someone had to die.
Patrick Strong, District Seven Citizen
When the clock struck 12 noon, every citizen in District 7 was gathered to watch their representative run towards the District 2 tributes. Everyone knew that this would be the last day, since only three were left. Sheila's family was at home, watching in private just in case that anything happened to her. Most citizens, like Patrick Strong, were watching the Games in the Square. The cameras showed Sheila lightly jogging away from the storm. A birds-eye view of the arena showed that the edges have already experienced rain that has destroyed the foliage and it is working its way up to Sheila. Everyone was waiting for the moment when the final battle would take place. Some of the older citizens kept shaking their heads, as if to say that they weren't impressed with how the Gamemakers are trying to end these Games. Either way, Sheila or the siblings must die and everyone is praying that Sheila will pull through.
The screen then switched to a shot of a mini map, and Patrick realized how close Sheila was to the lethal siblings. She wasn't that far from them, only about a mile or two away. As time ticked on, the rain began to fall and Sheila sprinted away from the rain, which destroyed everything behind her. If the rain can do that to trees, no one dared imagine what it can do to humans. Patrick pushed his brown hair from his green eyes so he can get a better view of the Games. Patrick was only twelve, and he had seven more Reapings to go until he can live in peace. He wished that the Games drug out longer, but he knew the Gamemakers wanted these Games to end right now.
The screen shot changed to the siblings looking around at the storm, realizing how bad their situation is. The girl grabbed her makeshift bow and arrows, loaded one in, and aimed at nothing. The boy had his back to hers, looking around for the last remaining tribute. A loud crack of thunder and bright flash of lightning scared the siblings, making the girl drop her weapon. Her brother continued to look around, but he realized nothing was there. A loud SNAP! of a twig caught the attention of the siblings, and the boy moved closer to the forest. A poisonous smile spread across his face. The camera changed its angle and it showed Sheila face-to-face with the boy from 2.
His lips parted and he said six words that made Patrick scared for Sheila. "This time you aren't getting away." Every citizen held their breath as Sheila stepped out of the forest and looked to her opponents.
A/N: I was going to hold this off until next Friday, but everyone was so excited to see what happens next. However, the finale will be the next chapter, but I was setting up the final battle for everyone to be ready for Friday. :) This story is almost over! Which Point Of View did you like the most? Which did you like the least? Please tell me in the reviews. :D