Chapter 14: Tag Teaming It

Oliver was climbing down from a tree he had slept in, rejuvenated by a good night's sleep. His hope of survival may not have been renewed, but his energy was at least, so now he just needed to find some food. The arena's temperature had decreased, and Oliver shivered as a cold breeze dropped down his spine. He wandered aimlessly through the arena until he found a bush that bore bright colored berries on it. After checking them and confirming that they weren't poisonous, Oliver plucked a few of them from the bush and ate them. He thanked his stars that he found a decent food source, after failing to snag anything from the Cornucopia due to the threat of the District 4 brute. Oliver finished eating and was ready to move on, when he heard a female voice behind him.

"Hey you!"

Oliver whirled around, and standing behind him was Regan, the girl from District 2. She was storming up to him with a spear in her hand. Oliver's eyes widened. How long had she been standing there? Probably not for very long, otherwise he'd be dead.

"Get over here," she said, her mouth curled up in a devious smirk while her eyes glowered at the scrawny District 3 male. Oliver screamed and started running. Without missing a beat Regan chased after him, pursuing him for about a mile before Oliver grew tired and started to slow down, allowing Regan to catch him. Oliver turned and raised his arms in defense as Regan readied her spear.

"Wait, stop! Don't kill me! Please!" Oliver cried, as Regan drew closer menacingly. "What about…what about that guy from your district?" Regan paused, suspiciously raising her eyebrow at him.

"Dude, what are you talking about?" she questioned, taken aback by Oliver's random mention of Caius. He was still on her mind of course, but she wondered why he could possibly be on this outlier's mind.

"That guy Caius. You know, your district partner," Oliver answered, giving Regan an expectant look. "Aren't you looking for him?"

"Uh, yeah, maybe I am," Regan replied curtly. "So what? That's none of your business."

"He went that way!" Oliver blurted out, pointing in a random direction. "If you go now, you can still catch up with him." Regan stopped to consider it, Oliver shaking in his shoes as her eyes bore into his head. After a moment of contemplation, Regan reluctantly but swiftly lowered her spear.

"All right, fine," Regan said to him, taking a step back. "I'll let you go this once, but I'll be back, and next time you won't be so lucky." With that, Regan turned and ran off in the direction Oliver pointed to, and once she was out of sight he breathed a huge sigh of relief. That was the way to cheat death at the hands of a Career. Oliver also ran away, quick to head in the opposite direction before Regan changed her mind and came back to kill him.

"I'm bored!"

"You're always bored!"

"I'm tired!"

"You're always tired!"

"I need more people to kill!"

"You always need more people to-oh, wait…"

Pause.

"I'm hungry!"

"Stop complaining you annoying bitch! God!"

Diamond and Silver continued walking through the woodsy part of the arena after brutally killing the District 9 female. It was long before noon, and Diamond was already on edge due to her trivial discomforts. Silver figured she probably missed being pampered in the Capitol or even at home. Plus she was never a fan out of the outdoors. Not that he was either, as he far preferred their plush sofas and his water bed than the sod and stars, but he could at least manage to put up with it, unlike his bratty, diva sister. God, she was so annoying.

"Oof! Ow!"

Silver looked down and noticed that Diamond had tripped on a large stick and was now laying face-down in the dirt. She looked kind of funny, so instinctively he pointed at her and laughed at her expense, while she grumbled and cursed under her breath as she pushed herself to her feet. Silver's laughter eventually subsided, when he heard a strange buzzing sound behind him. He turned around, when he caught a glimpse of a giant tracker jacker nest making its way to the ground.

"Uh oh," he muttered, followed by a gulp.

"What?" Diamond asked while dusting herself off. That's when the nest hit the ground and broke open.

"It's a Gamemaker trap!" Silver cried, his eyes flashing with fear. "Run!" Diamond turned her head right as hundreds of tracker jackers burst out of their fallen nest, forming a venomous, threatening cloud. The District 1 duo quickly bolted for the lake, screaming their heads off and flailing their arms about.

"Where's the lake?! Where's the lake?!" Silver yelled, fighting to outrun the tracker jackers. "WHERE THE FUCK IS THE LAKE?!" The two of them were panting and wheezing as they kept running, the sudden exertion of their legs draining their energy fast. They were a good few feet ahead of the tracker jackers, until Diamond slammed face-first into a tree. Diamond caught up with her brother, but the mutated wasps closed in on them. Diamond and Silver ran faster, but they couldn't shake the tracker jackers. Finally the lake was in sight. With another burst of energy, Diamond and Silver sprinted through the rest of the woods and dove head first into the lake. The two siblings coughed and spat out water as their heads popped up on the surface.

"Bleh…ugh…phew!" Diamond sighed, pulling her sopping wet hair off her face. "That was close. Glad that's over." Diamond looked up and saw the cluster of tracker jackers hovering over them. "…Oh." She and Silver took a deep breath before their heads disappeared underwater again. When they resurfaced, the tracker jackers were flying away, and the siblings breathed a collective sigh of relief.

"Okay it's over," Silver said, and they climbed out of the lake.

Darien wandered aimlessly through the woods, still silently grieving over Ariani's death. Even though there was nothing he could have done, he couldn't shake the guilt because of how he stood by and watched Cyrus kill her. Darien hoped the guilt wouldn't be too much for him to bear; after all, he still needed to survive the arena. He imagined how much worse he would have felt if Ariani had known he was there, and while that wasn't the case the thought made him feel worse.

Darien sighed. What did his district think of him for it? Were they understanding of the situation and just glad that they still had one tribute left, or was his cowardice too unforgivable? He knew he didn't stand a chance against the District 4 brute, but he wondered if he should have at least tried. Maybe he would have gotten lucky and landed a fatal blow, but even if he didn't and was killed as well at least it wouldn't be on his conscience.

At least he was still alive. His life was all he had in the arena.

It suddenly grew windy and Darien could hear loud whirring sounds. He looked up to see a helicopter flying by, darkening the sky with its huge shadow. Darien wondered what the helicopter was doing in the arena, as he didn't see any dead tributes today. He peered around the area, when he glanced down and saw a dead body lying next to his feet. He recognized it as the girl from District 4. He was curious as to how she died, when he noticed the poisonous berries in her hand. I guess she skipped the survival stations at training… The girl hadn't turned cold yet, so he figured that she must have died only a while ago. Darien checked her for any weapons or any other useful supplies, but she was unarmed save for a yellow backpack. Darien searched the backpack and found an empty water container and a funky pair of night vision sunglasses. Approving of the backpack's contents, Darien grabbed it and stored his axe inside it, before slinging it over his shoulder along with the pack he took during the bloodbath. The weight of the second pack showed no signs of wearing him down as Darien sidestepped the girl's slightly decaying corpse and watched the helicopter collect it, before disappearing from the arena.

"Well, another one down," Darien said to himself, when he saw a tiny plastic pot tied to a silver parachute slowly descending from the sky. He watched it gently float down to the ground, and he blinked in surprise when it landed on his feet. "Is this…is this for me? Really? I wonder what it is." Darien bent down and picked it up, and opened it to find a few strips of beef inside. "Oh, wow. Food. Awesome." Without hesitation he devoured the tiny meal sent to him. "Thank you sponsors," he said with a mouth full of food.

"What should we do now?" Aeris asked as she and Naoko were walking back to their little base camp.

"I don't know," Naoko replied, stifling a yawn. "I'm hungry though." Naoko and Aeris had been exploring the arena all morning and decided to return to their camp to eat some lunch. The two girls sat down on a giant log and Naoko began digging through one of their packs, before pulling out a pack of crackers and passing them to Aeris. Aeris began munching on the crackers, when Naoko gave her a few beef strips before eating the rest. Aeris accepted those as well and in turn handed her ally a handful of crackers.

"Wouldn't it be cool if sponsors gave us a giant picnic?" Aeris said as they ate. Naoko smiled and nodded.

"Oh my gosh, yes," she answered wistfully. "That would be nice." As the girls chatted about the stuff they'd seen so far and stuff they wished they had, a silver parachute with a small pot attached to it sailed to the ground, heading for their makeshift living space. They noticed the parachute coming to them as it landed in Naoko's lap. "Oh, wow, a sponsor gift!" Naoko exclaimed, untying the parachute from the container. "Cool!" Aeris leaned in to see it, her eyes brightened with delight.

"It's a bit small for them to fit a whole picnic in there," Aeris joked. Naoko laughed and nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, it is," the District 11 girl replied, opening the container. "All right, let's see what we've really got here…"

"Naoko, look out!" Aeris cried. Without hesitation Naoko pushed herself off the log and dove to the ground to duck. An axe flew past their heads and buried itself in the log, right where Naoko was just sitting. Aeris gaped at the axe in shock, while Naoko gasped and looked up. Meeting Naoko's gaze was Aimee and Kelilyn, the girls from Districts 3 and 5, and with weapons in hand they started to advance on them.

"Uh oh," Naoko muttered.

"I got the weapons!" Aeris ran around the log to avoid their new enemies and handed Naoko her throwing knives. Naoko clambered to her feet and started throwing them while Aeris pried the axe from the log and began exchanging blows with the District 3 girl. Naoko threw one of her knives at the girl from 5, who dodged and counterattacked with another axe. Naoko held up her other knife to shield herself, and upon impact with it the axe dropped to the ground. The District 11 female picked up the axe before hurling her remaining knife at Kelilyn, who charged at her with a third axe in hand. The axe lightly grazed Naoko's arm, but her knife buried itself in Kelilyn's chest, and she dropped dead instantly. Meanwhile, Aeris had landed a few lucky shots, and Aimee now had shoulder and leg wounds. With one final slash, Aeris slit Aimee's throat, and her opponent too went down.

"Yay! We did it!" Aeris cheered, running over and hugging Naoko. Naoko grinned and returned the hug, and they started jumping up and down jubilantly while two cannons fired.