And, this chapter has a lot of POVs because I had a lot to fit into one day! Sorry!
Day Seven: A Day Of Annex
Katryna Aden's POV- D10
The parachute wakes me. I rip it open and find a chest plate inside. "Yes!" I say a little too loudly, and quickly put the protection on. I feel much more confident now.
Ryker Hawk's POV- D9
Pearce and I are eating some fruit when it lands with a thud. It's perfectly between us. I have no idea who it's for, but I grab it and open it anyway. It's a poisonous dart gun. I smile mischeviously at Pearce and he grins elfishly back.
"C'mon, let's go kill some tributes!" I say and stuff the rest of the mango into my mouth. He eagerly follows and we slip out of the muddy field just before it starts to rain. Now we're in the desert, but don't see anyone. It takes a while, but eventually we're out of the desert and into the cool jungle. There, we hear a ruslte. Pearce puts his hand on my shoulder to stop me, and when I open my mouth, he puts a finger to his, signaling me to be quiet. I grip the gun, ready to fire. Then she appears.
She melts out of the shadows. Charity Jackson. I've barely registered her face when the gun is lifted and the trigger pulled. The world moves in slow motion. The see the dart, slowly moving through the air. Her face, at first wore a grimace, now in shock as the dart hits her chest and she falls to the ground. The world resumes to normal time.
I walk over to her, to make sure she's dead. Her cannon sounds just as I'm crouching down. But I continue down, and stay there, staring at her face. Her eyes have rolled to the back of her head and her mouth is slightly open. I close it and her eyelids.
"Ryker, let's go. She's dead, c'mon! The hovercraft needs to take her away. Move!" He shoves me. I don't budge.
Even though I killed her, I still feel remorse. She was just another tribute, like me. She was my first kill. And now the reality of what I've done is sinking in.
"Pearce, why didn't you stop me?" I ask, standing up.
"Finally! Come on, let's go. I don't know why. I guess because I want to win and we should be killing. I thought you were excited to kill."
"I was... but..."
"But what?"
"Nothing. Forget it. Let's go." I turn my face to stone and we trudge through the tangles of vines.
Lani Tuckerson's POV- D5
The stew's almost gone now, and there's no more bread. We sit in the grass with nothing to do. Amaryllis goes over her scythe. I begin to get impatient. I need to keep moving.
"Amaryllis, do you think we could move?"
"Why? I think it's fine here."
"Yeah, but... what if someone comes... and we're just out in the open? We should move to the jungle and get under cover."
She considers this. "Okay," she says and nods. I pick up the basket that holds the stew just as the silver parachute lands at my feet.
"Oh!" I say excitedly and open the package. It's a small loaf of bread. Not the gritty kind from Five or the one dotted with greens like Eleven. No, this is Capitol bread. I rip it evenly in half and we both agree to save the soup. I nibble on my bread, knowing I need to save it, and it's all I can do not to stuff it in my mouth like I did in the Capitol. Soon we reach the jungle and nearly run straight into Lavender Jones and Genevive Hawkins.
Genevive Hawkins' POV- D3
I look up defensively to the girls I ran into, then see it's only little Lani and the pregnant girl from Eleven... Amaryllis.
"Oh, hi." I say. Lani is small like me, so I don't feel like she's much different from me: timid, tiny, and starving. I guess. She holds bread in her hand. I've run out of dried fruit but there's plenty of fresh fruit in the jungle. I feel really bad for Amaryllis. I don't see either of them as threats. Actually, I really want them as allies. I take Lavender aside.
"Excuse us, ladies," I say professionally. "Lavender, what do you think? They seem harmless, but both must know how to survive."
"They're weaklings," she says coldly, but I look into her eyes, pleading.
"Oh, fine. But if we die it's your fault."
I smile brightly. "I doubt blaming me will be your biggest worry if you die," I say as we re-join them. They seem to have been talking as well.
Lavender clears her throat. "Um... Lani, Amaryllis, we were wondering if you would like to join alliances."
They look at each other with wide eyes. Then Lani says, "That's what we were wondering!" I relax a little. We shake hands and then we take them to our tree where we've slept. It has very thick branches that we can both fit on. Lani and Amaryllis settle on a branch slightly lower than ours. Then we split food.
I gasp in awe at the sight of meat and vegetables. I've been living off citris fruit for the past four days. They give us the remains of the stew and some bread. I show them what fruits I've come to know as poisonous and which ones are safe.
Axel Kahmari's POV- D1
We're preparing the meager supplies we have and the weapons for hunting. We're going to see if the air by the mountain's cleared up. We've captured Beau and are holding him captive so we can use him to test the air. He's gagged and bound with vines. He was squirmish at first, but realized there was no point, so he stopped. Now he just sits by my feet, staring at the mountain that could kill him. If it doesn't, we sure will.
We've gathered everything and are about to go back when a silver parachute floats down and lands into my hands. I rip it open. A skin-tight full body armor suit. With this, I'll be un-beatable. I put it on and turn to the others. "What do you think?" They nod approval, well, everyone but Shimmer. Her eyes glare at me with extreme jealousy. Oh, well. I'm indestructable now. What's she gonna do?
In my distraction, Beau had freed his legs and now runs. "Crap!" I yell.
I begin to run after him, but Jesse holds me back. "We'll get him later." he says. I nod and begin to sit down, but something catches my eye.
In the mountain section, something, a wolf, I think, crawls near the ground. It's going after our food! But, if it's going after our food, then the air must be fine. It seems to be breathing normally. But when it gets about ten yeards away from the Cornucopia, it begins to cough and gag and then faints. Dead. The ground opens up to swallow it and soon it's gone. The others saw it, too. Now we know the air isn't safe. Less toxic, but not safe.
"C'mon. Let's hunt!" I say. The others follow me. We leave Skye and Austre behind. They sit next to each other and guard our stuff.
Skye Wilder's POV- D4
I don't want to be left behind. Neither does Austre. We walk around as soon as the others are out of sight.
"Is it just me, or has Jesse been a real jerk lately?"
"Lately? He's always been a jerk," I reply.
"Yeah, I guess. Do you think we could trick him or something?"
"Yeah, that would be sick! Get him all excited or upset! Ha! But how?"
"Who would you say is our biggest competitor? Or, who do you think Jesse wants to get the most?"
"That pregnant chick. He wants her gone. Or Blane Audy. He hates him. I think Magnum Harron would be our biggest worry right now, though."
"Perfect," she smiles evily. I'm a little scared of what she has in mind, but I'm also excited to find out.
She begins to run in the direction the others went. I follow her, obviously. When we reach them, Austre calls out, "Hey, Jesse! You'd better come back! Something happened back at camp-" she can say no more. He bolts back. I almost laugh at how easy it was to get him going. He's too paranoid.
"What are you laughing at?" he snaps.
My eyes get wide. I admit, I am afraid of Jesse. "Nothing!" I say quickly.
We get there, and something really has happened. I hold my breath in fear. I laughed. Austre had smiled. And Jesse already thought we had done something. Now I'm sure I'll die.
Our food, our water, and all the weapons they didn't take- everything we had - is gone. Poof! Disappeared. Jesse turns to me. I think I can see steam coming out of his ears. I press my lips together to suppress a laugh. Austre thinks his fury is funny, too, because she smirks. He steps toward us.
"What did you do?" he asks between clenched teeth.
"Nothing!" Austre says. "It wasn't us! it was a joke! We... we were kidding! But then we came back and... and..."
He takes another step. I shrink back as he lifts his hand. The back of it comes down across my cheek. He does the same to Austre. I stand my ground and look him in the eye. You can't just slap Skye Wilder and get off easy.
"This is a warning. I only let you live because you know where our stuff is. You have twenty-four hours to give it back. Otherwise..." he looks at the sword on his belt. I swallow, unchanged. Austre nods quickly.
Then a parachute floats down. It's a picnic basket. Shimmer opens it and finds eight apples, eight oranges, sixteen pieces of roast beef, and a huge platter of mashed potatoes. They each take an apple, but Jesse takes two and hands the one remaining one to Alacia. She accepts it with a giggle and a snotty look in our direction. They eat and sleep. We're left up again, but they made no sleep-rotation plan, so I assume we'll be guarding all night.
Magnum Harron's POV- D8
My sword is gone. I still have a meager pile of food, but a hovercraft appeared and took my most valuble posession away so quickly I couldn't react. I saw many other hovercrafts in the distance, reaching down even though there was no cannon, and I knew that they were sent by the Gamemakers. A cruel trick. I heard the cries of another tribute a little further off and assumed she lost her food from the cries.
My skin is itching and peeling from the acid burns. It peels, then itches, or itches so I scratch it and it peels away. I can't put into words how grateful I am when the burn medicine's arrival wakes me up in the middle of the night. It hit my nose and now I'm bleeding, but my skin has relief, and I use a leaf to sop it up after I've applied it.
Alright... so, I suppose I should explain some things. Ryker and Pearce... they are really brothers in real life. LawAndOrderSVUAlways goes to the same school as me and our science teacher's kids' names are Ryker and Pearce. That's why I keep referring to them as brothers with a connection. So now I hope you feel sympathy, unlike LT (or LawAndOrderSVUAlways) here, who I'm holding a grudge against for submitting them. I swear, she's heartless!
Anywho, there was one death today, a big step-down from yesterday, and next up is Sisco's thoughts volume III!
Also, soon some of you will lose all your tributes in the Games. But, I ask you don't stop reading, and here's why: Later in the Games, we will have some special guest stars make an appearance in the arena! But you have to read to find out who they are!
Points:
I'mALittleCinna:
Lavender Jones- 150
Skye Wilder- 150
Beau Atkinson- 150
neb88:
Doon Wainright- 130
zorack1995:
Axel Kahmari- 20
Leartus Thatecus- 105
Magnum Harron- 35
CharmyXcream14:
Shimmer Star- 55
Turq8:
Nan Weatherall- 115
Headmund:
Blane Audy- 135
Skywriter5:
Alicia Evans- 100
kitresskat:
Kaeit Grey- 115
Pynnelopi:
Lara Lynn Case- 110
Nightfall12:
Austre Mason- 115
Jess Malice- 115
Rachina:
Amaryllis Field- 30
Alacia Odair- 95
TwiggySpazz:
Jesse Tame- 110
Anonamous1:
Tara Lyn Ruben- 120
Becky Barnes:
Avery Davis- 110
Queen of Conspiracies:
Zenia Weissman- 110
primrose98:
Genevive Hawkins- 120
Lani Tuckerson- 120
ButterflyBliss8:
BeBe Collins- 110
KiwiRawr:
Ollie Prevo- 135
LawAndOrderSVUAlways:
Katryna Aden- 15
Pearce Shaw- 115
Ryker Hawk- 35