Day Seven: Part Two/Day Eight
Thanks for all the reviews! Guess what? I can update! Yay! I was able to use a computer for posting some stories. This chapter takes place just after the the floor shows who has died that day. Not everyone sleeps...
Tron Nightcore POV
Six dead. The eruption killed six. The Gamemakers usually don't kill off tributes, but with 48, i guess you could justify it. BOOM! A cannon fires after the floor goes dark. Another dead, already. It's only a matter of time before they off all of us...
I fiddle with the wire some more. It's a special wire, built to conduct electricity. It has sharp, serrated edges, I've cut myself twice now. Ouch. We also got two posts. You could tie the wire around it. The posts were made to absorb any electrical charge in the ground and send it through wire, but this cave isn't electric. Gamemakers must've thought of that.
Our group has been working on this idea I thought of. Escaping. This is obviously a mountain of some sort, a huge mountain at that. There's got to be an outside to this place. We've been walking in the opposite direction of where the Cornucopia is. For the last few days that's what we've been doing.
"Tron," Blake says, commandingly. "Dead end."
That's it? A dead end. The wall in front of us is plain, rocky, just like all of the other walls in this place. But we've never seen a dead end in this cave yet. Everything has been endless. "This isn't the end. It can't be," I say.
"Well, it is," Blake tells me. "Let's turn back while we can. There's only like 15 of us left. I don't know exactly."
I take out my laser pointer. It came with the wire and posts and the food. I turn it on, and point it at the rock. The rock wall starts to smoke, as my laser pokes a hole through it. Finally, light. Natural light. Basil and Tecna gasp, almost screaming, but I motion for them to be quiet. Blake stares in awe at my device that just ensured our freedom. Yes, it may look like a laser pointer. But it's a laser now, after my slight modifications.
Blake snaps out of it and takes out a shovel that we found with the dead Careers we killed back then. I don't even know how far back. Time had no meaning in this cave. But now it does. We know what time it is. For the first time. We all start digging at the wall, Blake with the shovel, others with a knife or bare hands. Finally, we break a passage that about two of us could fit through.
"Go ahead," Basil tells me. "You solved this place."
"No," I respond.
"Fine, I'll just go," Blake says as he steps out of the mountain. Outside all I can see are trees. Tall, trees. I've never seen a lot of trees like this before. Pretty much endless jungle. Off of the mountain side is about a 30 feet drop, inclined, to the ground that I can't see. The drop goes to the treeline. The ground is probably below the trees, I can't tell how far.
"Well, chickens, we can just slide down to the trees, then we'll be okay," Blake soothes my fear of heights. Well, that doesn't work. Blake starts sliding down, when I hear the humming.
"Wait!" I scream, but it's too late. He's about a few feet down when he stops, and flies back up towards us. He hit something, and it goes Sizzle! I catch him while he's up here, and he's unconscious. Not even breathing.
"God, no," Blake's sister mumbles. "Is he dead?"
"Not yet. He could still wake up. I guess," I say solemnly. BOOM! Nope, I guess not.
"No!" Basil screams. "No!No! No!"
"We have to go," I tell her. "Now, before the hovercraft comes." I can't seem to shake her out of her pain. "I'm staying," she says.
"Fine, there's not going to be many of us left at the rate we're going at. Might as well break up now." I tell her coldly. She doesn't hear us walk away, still screaming. The I hear a note. Reverberating throughout the forest. Like a chorus of birds. I look back, and there's a hovercraft, claw dipping down. Picks up Blake. Basil is climbing up the claw. That's not good. I see the bullet slice through the air. Hit her in the arm. She drops and falls back into the cave. We run to help her, as quick as we can. Try to staunch the blood flow. Our hope for safety outside the mountain is gone.
Ephraim Wolf POV
"Cool," I say quietly, as we look at the silver parachute that just arrived. I open it quickly to see the contents. We have some food and water, and a flail. That is cool. Willow can actually use a flail.
Willow nods, picks the flail up and tries it out. Attacks a stalagmite or something. I don't know what the heck it is, but it's a spike coming out of the ground. We've stayed in the cavern for the whole Games and have been surprised nothing has forced us to move yet. Had lots of fresh water and food. Sustained ourselves.
BOOM! it's been awhile since the last cannon, which was after the dead faces. Two dead in the next day. Any moment we'll be at the final eight of us. Probably really soon.
I hear the rumbling and hit the ground, expecting another quake, like before. No, something bursts out of the ground. It's a mutt. I've heard them in another cavern. They're even more terrifying up close, creatures with long, steel claws. Three of them are in the room we're in. Crap. I yell, "RUN!" and my sister and I take off. The mutts don't follow.
They tunnel. That's not a good thing for us. The mutts burst several feet behind me, and then vanish again. We keep running, for a long time, until we reach the cave with the Cornucopia in it. Obviously we've startled the Careers. Not many of them left, since the last time I checked. They wake up and instant terror floods their eyes as they see the mutts, who have resurfaced in the Cornucopia room. They all draw weapons and I draw my axe, ready to kill them like I have done before.
But they seem more occupied with the mutts, because they start attacking them. I join in, and it must look odd on TV, Careers and tributes working together. They wanted me on their side at the beginning, because of my height. Eventually Ross Droke strikes down the last mutt, and then turns on me. Oh. They haven't forgotten.
Ross Droke POV
Wow, the Careers are decimated today. Not many of us left. But then the tall bloke runs in the room, along with his little sister. Ephraim. Thanks, we don't have to find you now. But then I see the mutts burrow out of the ground, kicking up dirt and such. They're giant beavers, my mind thinks. But deadlier. Because beavers aren't any fun in the Hunger Games if they don't sting, breathe fire, or in general kill people.
All of the pack is onto the mutts, stabbing and slashing, even Ephraim joins in. After the mutts are finished off by yours truly, I turn on Ephraim. The short-lived truce between us is gone, all that's left is to kill them. I charge, Archer charges, Ephraim rushes in. I'm suddenly intimidated by the six-and-a-half foot tall guy, and back up a little.
Archer and Ephraim fight it out, and I just watch, thinking my brother has walked into certain doom. I spot Ephraim's sister, Willow, and go after her. What's she doing with that heavy flail? She can barely pick it up by the looks of it. I take my short sword and charge, surprising her, and stabbing Willow in the heart. BOOM! Ephraim looks at Archer, half-expecting him to just drop dead. Archer has several large gashes on his face now, Ouch.
Now, Ephraim charges me. Great, I just pick up the girl's flail and run. Toward the Cornucopia, I'll have cover there. The flail is slowing me down, so I drop it and dive behind the golden horn just as Ephraim's axe hits where my head was. No, I'm not dead.
Ephraim takes a surprising turn, and takes the flail lying on the ground and runs off with it. A spear juts into the ground in the spot where he was.
Death List:
Eric Smithstone: killed in volcanic eruption
Raven Welroot: killed in volcanic eruption
Libya Moran: killed in volcanic eruption
Gideon Moran: killed by Eric Smithstone
Dehlia Zahler: volcanic eruption
Oliver Zahler: volcanic eruption
Brynja Lycrum: after math of the explosion, lava
Blake Dew: hit force field after escaping
and finally Willow Wolf: killed by Ross Droke
these deaths were from the last chapter and this chapter. 8 dead, in one day. Get used to it, readers.