AUTHOR'S NOTES: With the holiday season at hand, it might be another month or so (around January) before I get back to the regular swing of things. I apologize for the lengthy delay on this story. It took a little while for the inspiration to flow, but despite these setbacks, I am still not cancelling it. Anyways, this chapter focuses a lot on the three "outlying" tributes: Kilon and Xandra from District 11, and Sudi from District 12. We still get to see our District 5 heroes, but they're in less focus for this chapter. Don't worry; they still have plenty of screentime of their own though.
Happy Reading!

CHAPTER 18: The Rebels Strike

It was not unheard of for a tribute or two to essentially vanish from the games after the usual bloodbath chaos had subsided. While the Gamemakers still knew exactly where they were, none of the other tributes, including the careers, could find where Fox and Robin from District 9 had run off to. This was a considerable oddity not only for how long they had been 'missing', but also because District 9 was notorious for its "cannon-fodder" tributes. This year, however, both of them had made it into the final 12, and were fixing to make it into the final 8 as well.

This was the issue that Xandra and Kilon discussed with Sudi as the 8th day dawned.

"Call it a hunch, but I don't think they'd join us if we found them," Sudi pointed out, "they were getting all cozy with the careers in the training center, and so that might be a thing."
"I don't imagine any of us think that they've sided with '5, do we?" Kilon raised an eyebrow.

"I highly doubt that," Xandra shook her head, "I'm pretty sure Cadence hates everyone not named Lucia Alzar. It was worth trucing with him because I'd rather not tangle with him right now. The kid can fight."

"So who do we go for?" Sudi twirled a knife in her hands with the same deftness seen from many of the District 2 tributes in recent games. "I mean, at this point all roads are pointing to the careers."

"I assumed that was a given," Kilon chortled as he took a long draught from his water bottle, "we just need to make sure that District 9 doesn't come and stab us in the back."
"You're not worried about '5 doing the same?" Sudi sheathed her knife, raising an eyebrow.

"Cadence seems genuine enough," Kilon shrugged as he packed his supplies, "and he's obsessed with protecting Lucia. I don't think he wants to preemptively make more enemies than he needs to."

"My question, rhetorical as it may be, is what happened to District 9," Xandra pointed out.

"The Gamemakers probably know," Kilon reminded her, "unless they both lost their right arms the way that girl from District 1 did last year."

"Vivian Nelson was a kindred spirit of mine," Sudi pointed out, "District 1 or not; she was what legends are made of. It reminds me of the story of Viridi Kuro."

"Is it story time?" Xandra giggled, "Because I love story time."

"It's story time." Sudi gave her friends a rare smirk as she applied more of her blood-red paint to her face and the exposed parts of her arms between her T-shirt sleeves and elbow-length gloves, "though you don't really have to worry about getting comfortable or anything. It's not very long."
Despite this, both District 11 tributes sat there with curious expressions gazing at Sudi.

"I'm not charismatic storyteller like your hero Sagittaria," the District 12 girl confessed, "but basically, Viridi was a girl from District 12 in the 32nd Hunger Games that lost her arm. The difference that time was that the Capitol couldn't find her and so they considered her dead. The cannon fired and her face showed up in the sky and all that, too. It took them like 5 days to realize they had made a mistake, and they had to publicly announce it to the other tributes so they knew who to look for. That's the official story from back home anyways."

"Wasn't there also a kid that cut her own tracker out?" Kilon raised an eyebrow.

"I think there might have been," Sudi shrugged, "I'm not sure. I guess I can't exactly go and check and get back to you on that. If it wasn't from '12 though, I'd wager there was someone from '11 that tried it. There's a reason our districts are so close. We think alike on a lot of things."

"True enough," Kilon agreed, "but I suppose as fun as it would be to just sit around the campfire and tell stories all night long, we should probably get moving."
"Fair enough," Sudi had finished applying the paint to her face and body, and promptly rose to her feet and awaited her allies to do the same.

The three of them navigated the arena to try and home in on the careers. While they did this, they wound up running into Cadence and Lucia, who were trying to hunt down Fox and Robin. Naturally, both groups got defensive out of habit, but Xandra was the one to break the ice.

"We're hunting for the careers," she indicated, "the folks from '1, '2, and '3, to be exact. Have you gotten any leads on them?"
"We ran from Gabriela, who was coming from the east," Cadence put a thumb behind his shoulder, where the outlying tributes realized he had a bandage of white cloth around his upper arm, "she did a number on me; otherwise I might have tried my hand at going for her."

"We're just trying to find safer ground," Lucia added, "if you're going after them, stay safe. I'm pretty sure their camp is east of here."

"Got it," Kilon smirked and turned to the others. They let the District 5 pair go on their way, before plunging into the woods heading east. They kept their wits about them as they sought out any of the careers. Ratchet, Nazir, Gabriela, and Serendipity were all still at large, and Sudi in particular was still thirsty for more of their blood to soak her blades.

Sudi held out her arm to halt the others as they came upon a clearing. The careers had clearly set up a camp here, but it was deserted apart from Ratchet, who was there as a guard, a bow in hand. As Xandra pulled out a knife, Ratchet sprang up and fired an arrow. It went through Xandra's hand and pinned it to a tree. The District 3 girl smirked even as Kilon and Sudi appeared, but she slowed them down by threatening them with another shot.

"Now, we can do this the easy way or the hard way," she warned, catching Kilon off guard by shooting his leg. "Let's get rid of this other painted menace first, actually…" she nocked another arrow. Sudi rucked as the string was released prematurely, and Ratchet staggered back. Xandra had used her free hand to pull out a dagger and throw it right into Ratchet's chest. She followed this up by straight-up tearing the arrow from her pinned hand out and throwing it aside as a cannon went off.

"I'm gonna need to wrap this up," she grunted as Kilon broke off the arrow that had skewered his leg and limped towards his partner. "Let's see if the careers have anything we can use…"
Sudi stood guard with throwing knives in hand as the District 11 pair raided the careers' camp. Kilon wrapped his own leg first and then helped Xandra remove the glove from her left hand as he wrapped it for her. They pocketed the rest of the medicine and the first aid kits, and Sudi joined in to help pick the camp bare of any food or other useful supplies.

"It's true what they say after all," Kilon quipped, "never trust a Ratchet."
"I think we can trust a dead one," Sudi retorted without even looking up from her work.

"We should stay wary though," Xandra warned, "The longer we linger, the more likely one of the others will come this way. They heard the cannon too, I'm pretty sure."

Almost as if she predicated it, they weren't able to escape without incident. They were packing the last of the supplies away when Gabriela returned from her hunt. Before she could ready her bow, however, she fell to the ground in a slump, one of Sudi's knives cleanly lodged in her throat. A second cannon fired, and Sudi smirked as she retrieved her knife.

"Maybe we should wait around after all," she joked to the others.

"Not with this many supplies, I'd wager," Kilon suggested, "besides, I've got a limp and Xandra's still basically one-handed for the time being. Let's rest and recover—unless you want to part ways now?"
"Not a chance," Sudi shook her head, "I'm not going to let an alliance this great dissemble this soon. If nothing else, I reckon the two of you would be worthy opponents if we all survive after taking out Serendipity, Nazir, District 9, and District 5."

"Heh," Xandra chuckled, shouldering his backpack with her good arm, "Fair enough."

They made camp on a different island after waiting for one of the shifting platforms to pick them up, and left the remaining two careers in the dust as they made camp for the evening.

They were not the only ones pleased to see the names and faces in the sky that evening. Cadence watched for the names once the anthem started playing, since he had heard the cannons just as everyone else in the arena (and watching these events on television) had.

Ratchet Caseres, District 3…

"I guess we don't have to worry about not trusting Ratchets anymore," Lucia giggled after Cadence told her the identity of the name and face. "Who's the other one?"

Gabriela Sanchez, District 2…

"I suppose that means we won't see a District 2 girl take the victory for a 3rd year in a row," Lucia commented once Cadence had shared Gabriela's death.

"There are only 7 others out there now," Cadence put his hands on Lucia's shoulders, massaging them surprisingly gently for a boy notorious for his ferocity. "Lucia, we might actually be able to get you home—I mean it."

Lucia smiled. "I believe you, Cadence," she whispered. "And I'm with you every step of the way…"