A/N: Wow, it's been a long time since I posted anything. Anyways, I took a small hiatus and I had a writer's block. But, A Game of Chance is back. I hope you enjoy this chapter. By the way, there was a small mistake in the last chapter, but I fixed it. I said that a cannon went off but as I wrote this chapter, I realized that the person died in this chapter because I wanted to write their POV.
Dustin Proelia – District 9
Wash and Clara pick up the silver parachute that's fallen out of the sky. Sponsors have sent them something. I'm not sure why they would have unless they liked the story Wash told us. It's not the ideal way to get sponsors, but I suppose it must've worked.
"So, what is it that you've two got?" I ask as they come back over.
"Medicine," Clara says, smiling. She's pale and looks weak. She's gotten very lucky because she has been on the edge of death.
"I suppose the sponsors liked my ghost story," Wash say, surprised.
"It was probably entertaining and some sponsor decided to give us a gift. Thank you whoever you are," Clara says. She pulls out the syringe. It is full with an odd light purple liquid. It's definitely medicine from the Capitol. Wash sticks the needle into her side, pressing the plunger down. She winces at the pain.
"You need to sleep. Then, we're getting out of this area," I say as I hear a ruffle in the brush. I glance back, then to Wash. He's holding a passed out Clara in his arms. "I don't like the feeling this place gives me."
"This is the arena, Dustin," Wash tells me. "No one likes the feeling this place gives us."
"You should sleep too," I tell him. "I can watch over camp." I lift my sword up and stand away from the dying fire. The temperature suddenly seems to drop and I shudder. Wash wraps his jacket around himself and covers Clara with her bloody one. I throw mine on and scan the outskirts of our camp area.
When I wake, the ground is covered in frost. Wash stands next to the fire, shivering. He glances at the sleeping Clara every now and then. She's on the ground shivering underneath her shredded jacket. Goose bumps cover my arms. "Why is it so cold?" I ask, slowly sitting up. I barely remember switching places with Wash.
"I don't know," he replies bluntly. "The Gamemakers I suppose." He shrugs. I stare at the white branches. There are bits of ice everywhere. It hasn't snowed, but it was cold last night.
"Were they planning on freezing us to death?" I cough.
"I don't think so. I think they would have made it even colder if they planned on freezing us to death," Wash says. He leans down to wake up Clara. He nudges her gently. "No one died in the middle of the night. So, even if they did plan on freezing us, it didn't work."
"Someone could be freezing now. Hypothermia," I say. I examine Clara. She's looking a lot better. She isn't as pale and her forehead isn't covered in sweat. The medicine has definitely helped.
"Yeah, but we don't need to worry about it."
Clara rubs the sleep from her eyes and stands. She shivers a little like the rest of us. I cough and nod towards the woods. "We better get moving. We can eat later," I tell them.
We pack up quickly and make sure the fire is completely out. I hold my sword in my right hand. Wash is armed with his axe and Clara walks in front of him. The frost starts to melt from the trees as it becomes warmer. I assume the Gamemakers will make it colder again tonight.
I try to predict the next moves the Gamemakers are going to make. I jump when something darts in front of me. It was dark with black hair. I throw my arm out, keeping Wash and Clara back. Wash steps up, axe up and ready to strike. When I look down, I notice tracks. They're not animal foot prints, they're boot prints. Someone just ran in front of us.
I turn my eyes to the direction where the person ran. But, the person isn't in sight. The ground begins to shake. "Run!" I'm not sure what's coming, but we need to get as far away as we can. It could be mutts, a bunch of rocks, or anything the Gamemakers want it to be. Could we be getting close to the edge of the arena?
We sprint as fast as we can, trying to outrun the rumble. The problem is that we don't know what we're running from. We could be running straight towards the thing trying to kill us. My foot catches on a large crack in the ground. I fall, but I catch myself. My hands burn as they slide on the ground.
Quickly, I stand back up. The ground doesn't shake as much where we are now. Of course, here, it looks like it's already moved. The ground is cracked with crevices. Trees have fallen everywhere. Obviously, a tribute was here. But are they dead?
There are low rumbles from where we are. The sound is coming from the direction of the Cornucopia. Something is happening down there and I don't know what. "We should stay here. I don't think anyone will be here any time soon," I say as we set up camp.
Bailey Fera – District 11
I scream at the top of my lungs as the blade goes into my arm. It's been torture, all night. Gabrielle has an array of knives to use on me. She grins sadistically as she stands up. The night has been cold and lonely despite the fact that half the Career Pack has been around me.
They haven't found Parrow yet. I'm happy they haven't found her.
"Want to know why I like using knives? Actually, want to know how I started to use knives?" Gabrielle asks. I would move, try to escape. If only there weren't knives in the palms of my hands. The blood runs down my skin and sinks into the ground. I'm light headed from the blood loss. Cuts and gashes run along my legs and wrists. I'm surprised I've lasted this long. It won't be long though.
"I asked you a question!" she snaps. She takes her hand and forces me to look at her straight in her demonic eyes. Then, I do something I would never do. I do it as a last act of defiance before I die. I spit in Gabrielle Dictatrix's face. "You little bitch!" She takes a small knife and cuts the side of my face. I suck in wind at the pain.
"Now look, you've made me angry," Gabrielle says. She sighs and wipes off the knife on my jacket. She looks at her allies. "I'm so sorry about that. Sometimes I just lose my mind! It won't happen again. I hope not. Anyways, where was I?" She laughs.
I frown at her. My eyes look at the Careers standing behind her. Conrad leans against a tree with his arms crossed and a dark expression on his face. Sorren isn't there. I assume he's looking for Parrow. The boy from Four isn't there either, or their hostage from Three. Sapphire Princep from District One smirks down at me as Gabrielle talks. I tune out Gabrielle's voice as she blabs on and on about knives.
"….and so, my uncle taught me to use a knife. I never thought it would be this useful, but then I grew up and it became my favorite weapon. The first time I ever used it on someone was in primary school. Some girls were making fun of my hair color because it's orange. Even though it's strawberry blonde." She smirks and pulls out another knife from her belt. "And you know what I did?"
"Get on with it, Dictatrix," Conrad says. "You're taking too long. We've been here all night."
"If you're sick and tired of being here you can leave," Gabrielle says. Her familiar viciousness returns. "I'm just getting into my story."
"Yeah, but you've been torturing this kid all night," the pretty blonde girl says. "Sooner or later his blood is going to run out."
"Fine. Just let me finish this story," Gabrielle huffs. She looks back to me. "So, this girl. That little bratty bitch. I took a knife and I cut her hair." She cuts off a lock of my hair. "I cut a little bit at first. But then, I went a bit crazy and cut it all off." She holds my hair in her hands, then lets it go. It catches in the wind and flies away.
"I think I've figured you out," I say. I'm going to die anyway. I might as well say what's on my mind. Gabrielle stares at me, amused. "You crave attention. You're willing to do anything to get people to look at you. That's why you volunteered and that's why you torture people. You're a coward!"
Gabrielle sneers at me. Her eyes are wide with anger and she snarls murderously at me. The last thing I see is the knife coming down again and again. I scream and scream. Finally, I can't scream. The blood gets into my lungs and throat. I can't breathe. I can't think. What do I do? What do you do in a situation like this?
I'm dying. I'm a goner. What do I do? I can't die…I can't go…I—I can't…I…I…
Conrad Avtlift – District 2
Gabrielle took too long to kill that pathetic piece of meat from Eleven. Finally, I smile in some satisfaction when his cannon goes off. She must've stabbed him at least ten times. Blood soaks into the ground. Unfortunately, I barely got my hands dirty. I got to play with him a little bit before Gabrielle took over.
When she stands up, she's covered in red blood. She appears to have satisfied her bloodlust. For now. Gabrielle wipes her knife and face with her jacket. Her hands are stained with red. "Are you finished?" I ask, tired of her antics. She nods and walks away. Sapphire picks up the pack she'd taken from the boy.
A parachute slowly falls in front of Gabrielle. She grins, picking it up. Inside is a small vial. I can't tell what's in it, but I'm sure it's poison or something.
Sorren went searching for the boy's partner but hasn't come back. Either the little runt left us or he's torturing the little bitch. I haven't heard any screams though so I'm guessing the bastard abandoned us. It doesn't matter if he has or not because we don't need him. In fact, we don't need his sister either or the boy from Four. And the only thing the nerd from Three is doing is making bombs.
Meanwhile, there are eight other tributes running around thinking they might stand a chance. After we hunt down a majority of them, our pack will split up. Then, I'll kill the rest of them off and finally District Two will have another victor better than all the other victors. I'm a better tribute than all the other tributes. The Capitolites will scream my name. In fact, I'm sure they are cheering me on right now.
"Can we go hunting for other tributes now?" I ask. I don't care if Gabrielle says no, I'm still going to go hunting. I don't need Dictatrix's permission to do anything.
Gabrielle nods. We tread through the forest, listening for anything that moves. Gabrielle uses her tracking skills to search for tributes. They can't all be hiding. They'll have to come out at some point.
"Come out to play, little tributes," I say in a singsong voice.
"Shut it," Gabrielle snaps. She points her spear at me. I narrow my eyes into slits and raise my sword. "Put down your weapon, Avtlift." She grits her teeth. Like I'm really going to lower my weapon before her.
"Oi! Both of you," Sapphire says, turning back around. "We've got tributes to hunt!"
"Tell that to your brother, the abandoner," I seethe.
A certain kind of fire sparks in her eyes. Her sapphire blue eyes are bright and fiery. She holds up her own weapon. Someone darts past us and we all turn our weapons.
"Sorren!" Sapphire calls out. She steps forward to see who is out there. It's not Sorren though. The person had dark hair. Long dark hair. Immediately, I remember who it is.
"It's that bitch from Five!" Dictatrix snarls. She jumps up and begins to chase the girl. "Sapphire, Conrad, go around and try to cut her off!"
We nod, following her orders. As much as I despise this redheaded twat, she knows what she's doing. When I start running, a tall guy with blond hair is running next to me. Sorren. "Where have you been?" I hiss.
"Looking for tributes," he retorts. He holds up his sword as he runs after the girl. She's mighty quick and even Dictatrix is losing her. The ground suddenly quakes and we're all stumbling. Sapphire and Sorren grab onto a tree to stay steady. Gabrielle falls and scowls when she loses the girl with black hair.
"We can get her later," I shout. "We need to get back to the Cornucopia." Something could be going wrong. What if Lucien and the dork from Three leave? What if they take our supplies?
We start running back to the Cornucopia. As the earth shakes, it's harder to run as fast. "Come on!" Gabrielle screams, dodging falling trees. The arena shook early, but not nearly as violent as this.
Sapphire and Sorren run next to each other, tripping over branches and roots. Gabrielle scowls at me, trying to beat me to the Cornucopia. She wants to be better than me. I won't let that happen.
"Hurry!" Sapphire screams as the shaking gets even worse. Suddenly, boulders come out of nowhere it seems. They land next to us. It's like the Gamemakers are just pushing us, not trying to kill us. The rocks keep missing us by a longshot. Sapphire screams like a little girl. Gabrielle has a look of determination on her face as she makes her way back to the Cornucopia.
The ground shakes more violently as larger rocks fall. When one lands in front of us, I lunge to the side. Debris goes into my lungs, making me cough. Gabrielle is struggling to get to her feet. Are we going the wrong way or something? The Gamemakers don't seem to want us to go back to the Cornucopia.
It doesn't matter because we're going to continue to push. We keep running towards the Cornucopia. Finally, the quaking subsides. We reach the Cornucopia. We must be over one hundred yards away when we see Lucien and Maxwell sprinting towards us.
Lucien Ritsert – District 4
It's been hours since the others left. I wonder if something has happened. There haven't been any cannons yet. They must not have found any tributes, but judging by the screams I hear, they're torturing a tribute. I stand up to look over Maxwell's shoulder. He's very efficient at building the bombs. He is finishing the wiring now.
Soon, we'll have to leave the Cornucopia. We can't be here forever and the Gamemakers will eventually force us out. I'm not sure how, but I don't want to wait around and see.
"Would you stop looking over my shoulder?" Maxwell says, placing the bomb down gently. "You're making me nervous." He bites his lip and moves away.
"Yes, sorry," I say. I smile, trying to cheer myself up. I don't want to die and I suppose joking around is a defense mechanism. "Where do fish wash?"
"I don't know…" Maxwell says with a sigh. "Where?"
"The river basin," I tell him. I cough and walk towards the pile of supplies. Every now and then, I hear screams. Male. He must be younger and probably from a lower district.
"That's a pretty good one," Maxwell says, shrugging. He finishes with the wiring. It had taken him a long time to dig up the landmines without setting them off. Gabrielle wants to use them to throw them at other tributes. It seems like a pretty good idea.
I remember when the boy from Eight stepped off too soon. His legs got blown off. Flesh and guts were everywhere. I shudder at the thought. Perhaps the Games isn't as cracked up as I thought it was when I was back home. All I want to do now is go home. After I murder the son of a bitch, Ector Cabot.
"We need to get out of here as soon as possible," I tell Maxwell. "We've been here for four days. The Gamemakers want us to kill other tributes."
"Yeah, but do they want us to kill the tributes this quickly?"
"There's still…" I count the tributes in my head. Most of the Career Pack is intact, minus Morgan. The little girls from Three and Six are alive I believe. I'm not sure how, but they are. Both from Seven and the boy from Nine are alive. I'm not sure about the alliance with the boy and girl from Ten and Eleven. I think they're from Ten and Eleven anyways.
Then, last but not least, the prick from Twelve is still alive. That means there are about fifteen of us left.
"There's still fourteen plus me," I say. A cannon booms. "Thirteen…plus me."
Maxwell shrugs and picks up the last bomb. They're a bit big and on the heavy side. I'm sure if the dork had a full laboratory, he could make them smaller.
"Finished. The only issue really is how big the blast will be. I can't really control it anymore now that I've reset the settings the Gamemakers have." Maxwell stuffs them into the bags we have. "What if we both just leave? I don't think the Career Pack needs us anymore."
"We leave and we're dead," I say. "Gabrielle and Conrad will hunt us down."
"What about Sorren and Sapphire? They might be on our side. They hate Two as much as we do," Maxwell says, stuffing more supplies into bags.
I pick up a few bags and move them towards the center of our camp. There's a loud boom and crash, like thunder. The ground rumbles underneath my feet so much, I fall over. Maxwell is on the ground with his hands over his head, fully prepared if anything falls on or around him.
When I get to my feet, I notice the ground shifting. It cracks and moves. The ground is shaking as it separates itself.
"We gotta go!" I drag Maxwell to his feet. We grab as many bags as we can and start to run. This is how the Gamemakers are planning on making us leave the Cornucopia. I yell as the cracks get bigger. The rocks grind against each other, making the worst noise ever. I can barely hear myself think.
"Where?" Maxwell screams, pulling the bags with him.
"Anywhere but here!" I yell over the noise. Rocks begins to fall from the sky. I'm not sure if the Gamemakers are trying to kill us. The boulders don't come anywhere near us, leading me to believe they're just driving us out.
The dirt becomes loose as it moves. The cracks are deep. Suddenly, the ground starts to fall out from under our feet. "Hurry!" I shout, shoving Maxwell forward. Giant chunks start to fall. When I glance down, it looks like a hundred foot drop or something. I slip as the ground loosens.
Maxwell and I finally make it to stable ground. The rocks stop falling. The ground ceases to shake. I look up and see the rest of the Career Pack running towards us. They appear to have been through hell and back. Gabrielle has blood covering her nearly head to toe. Sapphire and Sorren look like they rolled in mud on their way here.
We meet up with the rest of the alliance. I turn back around to see what happened. I ignore the angry and furious screams from Gabrielle. The land surrounding the Cornucopia has sunken. There is a single rocky pathway to the Cornucopia that probably can't hold more than one person.
I look over the edge. Spikes stick up. If you fall, there's no way you can survive. I jump back as I see snakes slithering around. At least I think they're snakes. They're obviously mutts. Scratches cover my arms. The hair is standing up on the back of my neck as I imagine what the snakes could do to a person.
We probably can't get back across. More than half our supplies are gone anyways. It fell into the deep abyss. Now, we have to leave the Cornucopia.
"Let's move back out," Gabrielle says, finally calming down. "It's time to hunt for more tributes."
Dead:
Morgan Colliet – D4
Kage Hatenn – D5
Tarragon Layland – D6
Corduroy Dowlas – D8
Rilly Jarson – D8
Gem Minx – D9
Trenton Cedar – D10
Maize Koranon – D11
Bailey Fera – D11
Larkspur Fisole – D12
Alive:
Sorren Princeps –D1
Sapphire Princeps – D1
Conrad Avtlift – D2
Gabrielle Dictatrix – D2
Maxwell Hoover Demonico – D3
Pietta Carmelle – D3
Lucien Ritsert – D4
Nayeli Morte – D5
Sage Freedan – D6
Washington Hayner – D7
Clara Lignum – D7
Dustin Proelia – D9
Parrow Hosira – D10
Ector Cabot – D12
A/N:
Question time!
Do you feel bad for Bailey? How do you feel about him standing up to Bailey? What was in the vial that the sponsors gave to Gabrielle? What do you think Maxwell will do with the bombs he created? What about the Careers being separated from the Cornucopia?
By the way, I just want to say a few things about this story having similarities to the 74th Hunger Games. Except for two tributes that I made, the others were created by other people. The crippled boy from District Ten happened to be a coincidence. My friend hadn't realized that there was also a crippled boy in The Hunger Games. My friend who created Gabrielle Dictatrix wanted her character to be from Two because it's her favorite district. We do not believe that the most psychotic, vicious, and gruesome tributes are all from boy from Three...yes he dug up the land mines but I have special plans for him. And obviously, now that you've read the chapter you know that Maxwell will not be using the bombs to protect the Careers. I did not originally intend for Nayeli to be a 'lone wolf' but I'm sure that Foxface wasn't the only 'lone wolf', i.e. Thresh.
Some of these things are merely coincidences. My apologies. I'll take it into consideration when I write the sequel to A Game of Chance.
Hope you enjoyed the chapter. I hope you remember where the forum is. Post there and get involved on the discussion page. By the way, vote on the poll on my profile.
Questions that don't have to do with A Game of Chance at all:
Have you seen The Dark Knight Rises? What about The Amazing Spiderman? Personally, I prefer Batman over all the Marvel movies any day. I'm a Batman lover. And you gotta deal with it. (Legend of Korra reference).
