Chapter 17: The Feast
"Greetings, tributes. You are invited to a feast. Please make your way to the Cornucopia at high noon. That is all."
The remaining six tributes awoke early the next morning to the sound of Lindsey Knucklesworth's voice booming throughout the arena. Spread out all over the arena, the tributes groggily opened their eyes and forced themselves to get up and start another day. Diamond sat up against the tree she was sleeping under and turned to Silver while rubbing her eyes.
"Ugh, I am like, sooooo tired," she said, reaching up to stretch her arms behind her. "What could they possibly have for us at the Cornucopia?" Silver gave a small shrug of his shoulders while stifling a yawn.
"I don't know, Diamond," he replied. "Whatever it is, it better be something good." Silver slowly clambered to his feet, before reaching down and pulling his sister up. They collected their weapons and other belongings they acquired and left their current base camp, starting to make their way to the Cornucopia where surely the other tributes would be joining them. They planned to get there early in hopes of claiming as much of whatever the Capitol was offering them for themselves. When they arrived, they saw a long folding table set up in front of the Cornucopia, with dozens of boxes of pizza stacked up, creating a giant pizza buffet with an assortment of flavors. Some of the boxes were open, allowing the scent to travel quickly to the tributes' noses. "Mmm, that looks good," Silver commented, his mouth watering at the sight and scent of pizza. "I'm going in." Immediately Silver made a break for it, rushing to the table where the pizza party was set up. Diamond hung back for a moment, looking around and watching while the other tributes started showing up. Cyrus jumped down from the Cornucopia and grabbed a box, hungrily devouring it while he stood guard in front of his territory. Diamond could see the boy from District 8 hiding in the bushes behind the Cornucopia, avidly eyeing the pizza as he waited for his chance to swoop in and snag some. Caius had already tip-toed to the end of the table, without Cyrus detecting him much to his fortune, and quickly made off with two slices. He disappeared behind the Cornucopia where he most likely chowed down, looking to avoid combat for the time being.
"Hey, make sure you save some for me, Silver!" Diamond yelled to her brother.
"Okay!" he replied over his shoulder, waving his hand to signal that he had heard her. Finally Silver reached the table, but before he could take some food someone grabbed him from the side, roughly yanking him away from the table and shoving him up against a nearby tree. "Ow! Hey, what the-?!" Silver realized he was face to face with Regan, the District 2 female, as he struggled against her strong grip, when she held up her spear to his throat. "…Uh oh…" Diamond was casually glancing at each of the other tributes, when she saw that the girl from District 2 had her brother pinned against a tree and was about to strike.
"Oh no! Silver!" Diamond cried, running over with her axe at the ready. "Get away from him you wench!" Diamond swung her axe and clocked Regan from behind, the tip of its blade digging into her back. Regan screeched in pain, arching her back and lowering her weapon, freeing Silver from her clutches. Regan turned on Diamond and raised her spear to attack, but Diamond went in and tore into her stomach, the blow nearly knocking Regan off her feet. Regan still didn't get a chance to strike when the District 1 female slashed through her chest, the cut practically slicing her in half. That's when Regan stumbled back and collapsed onto the ground, opening the door for Diamond to deliver the final blow. Silver watched his sister in awe as she swiftly slit Regan's throat, killing her instantly. Regan laid there as her cannon fired, while Diamond took a deep breath as she turned back to Silver.
"Oh my God…" Silver said with a slight gasp in his voice. "You just saved my life. Thank you so much." Silver grabbed his sister by the shoulders and brought her in for a quick hug, before grinning at her and saying, "Come on, let's go get us some pizza." Diamond returned the smile, beaming with pride as she sighed with relief.
Back home in District 8, Roxanne was sitting on her living room couch, her eyes anxiously glued to the TV. She occasionally gnawed at her fingernails while she nervously watched her boyfriend Darien, who was currently exchanging blows with the boy from District 2. She was proud of her boyfriend for making it this far in the Games, a feat that seemed quite daunting for tributes from District 8, but she constantly worried about him in the arena. Ever since the day he was reaped and shipped off to the Capitol, Roxanne couldn't stop thinking about Darien and desperately prayed for his safe return home, not so much as a victor as much as alive and well. Roxanne eventually forced herself to pull her eyes away from the screen when her mother entered the room, standing directly in front of the TV and thus blocking her view.
"It's okay, Roxanne. Relax," her mother told her comfortingly. "Darien's made it this far in the Games. I'm sure he'll be fine." Roxanne sighed.
"I know, but…I'm just so worried about him, Mom," Roxanne said fretfully, furiously running her fingers through her blonde curls.
"I can understand that," her mother replied with a nod. "But Darien has a chance here. If he stays focused and keeps it up, he could – and will – win this thing. And he'll be back home here before you know it." Roxanne slowly nodded and resumed watching, while her mother joined her on the couch to watch with her.
After leaving the safety of their hiding, Caius and Darien had simultaneously gone for the pizza buffet, Caius aiming for seconds, Darien only for firsts, when they accidentally bumped into each other. This unintentional encounter had turned into a little skirmish between them, much to the Capitol audience's delight most likely. Darien was too up close for Caius to shoot him with an arrow, so he settled on using his bow as a temporary sword. Wood and metal clashed against one another as Darien and Caius attacked and blocked each other. Diamond and Silver had picked up a few boxes of pizza and ran off with them, but shortly after the boys noticed that Cyrus was grabbing entire stacks of pizza boxes and carrying them off to his Cornucopia castle of sorts. The District 4 male was laughing his head off as he quickly cleared the table, taking all of the pizza for himself. Caius angrily turned on him, pointing at him while he was picking up the last stack of pizza boxes.
"Hey! What do you think you're doing?!" Caius yelled at Cyrus. "You can't do that!"
"Yeah, what the hell, man?!" Darien shouted in agreement, also disgusted with Cyrus's piggy behavior. "That pizza was meant for all of us! So lay off, you asshole!"
"Ha! Sorry losers," Cyrus taunted them. "But this pizza is all mine! MINE! Hahaha!" Cyrus claimed the remainder of the pizza and took off, returning to his hideaway at the top of the Cornucopia. With the last of the pizza stolen away, the table was now empty, the Capitol having nothing more to give. Caius and Darien stood there staring at the now pizza-less table for several moments, before they heard Lindsey Knucklesworth's booming over the unseen intercom.
"And that concludes the feast for this year's Games. Release the mutts!"
Caius and Darien were pouting and huffing in disappointment at barely having any pizza, when they registered Lindsey's second statement in their heads. The boys from Districts 2 and 8 turned to each other with bemused expressions on their faces, clueless as to what she meant.
"Uh…what did she say about the mutts?" Caius asked. Darien only shrugged. As Caius pondered this aloud, they heard a collective growling noise as a pack of wolf muttations emerged from the trees behind the Cornucopia, their fangs bared as their eyes locked on the two lingering tributes. The mutts stampeded through the Cornucopia, charging at Caius and Darien. The two boys screamed and instantly took off running, splitting off in opposite directions with mutts chasing after them both. Cyrus watched them as the mutts pursued them, laughing heartily while chomping away on his newly acquired pizza. The pizza boxes were set up so that he was surrounded by them, still in their neat stacks, with him eating out of multiple boxes at once.
"I just love good old comedy television," the tyrant from District 4 said, leisurely leaning back and tearing into his fifth slice of pizza.