NOTE: I published a few chapters close together. Please make sure you're caught up on Day 12 with Quinten and Ardledge before you read this one! There will be spoilers.
Damon Archer, 14, D7M:
"Ten minutes remain!" booms Iris Whottenberg's voice. I'm hidden in a thicket, safe behind the tree line. In the clearing, the Cornucopia juts high against the black sky, perched atop its platform. The flag undulates ominously in the cool night breeze. The anthem revealed the death of another Career, but his three surviving allies are sure to be around somewhere. I can't see a single other tribute. There has been no sound. By silent agreement, we've all waited for midnight together. This is the closest we've all been to one another since the Bloodbath, and I'm not particularly keen to repeat that.
I've come more out of fear than an actual desire to get whatever goods the Gamemakers are offering for us to fight over. The announcement seemed to be saying that tributes who don't attend will be at a disadvantage, and I definitely didn't want that, so I've arrived, same as everyone else. Of course, I could be paranoid. Perhaps there's nobody else here, after all, I haven't been able to detect any single presence. But I can sense our collective fear.
There's a rustle, but whether it was caused by a person or an animal is hard to say. It might have only been the wind, but I check behind me to make sure. "Five minutes remain," Iris informs us, almost cheerfully. As if on cue, across the circle of dirt, a figure slinks out from behind the brittle branches. After a moment's hesitation, another follows it. One holds a long spear and wears a backpack. The other carries a large stick. I watch as they circle the structure supporting the Cornucopia and easily haul themselves to the top platform. There's a flicker of light as the second figure ignites their torch. They swing it around the mouth of the Cornucopia, inspecting it for hidden tributes, and seemingly declare it to be clear. I take these tributes to be two of the remaining Careers.
They settle in to wait. I watch, wondering if I can get away with staying out of the action entirely, when Iris updates us again. "Sixty. Fifty-nine. Fifty-eight." It's eerily similar to the countdown at the beginning of the Games, and I have to wonder if this is the end. If the Gamemakers are doing this intentionally, to mess with our minds. From somewhere else in the clearing, a tribute edges out into the open.
"Five. Four. Three. Two. One." The torch snuffs out and the Cornucopia goes dark, probably the Gamemakers' attempt at equalizing things. For a moment, nothing happens. Then there's a shout.
"There's nothing here!"
"There has to be something," their companion argues.
"I thought I saw it. But the torch went out and I don't see it anymore."
"Did you check? You might have missed someone."
"Livi, I promise. I checked. There wasn't anybody." And then a tribute tucked somewhere in the upper levels of the obstacle course pounces on them, and the tribute across the clearing starts to run towards me.
Almost without thinking, I give chase. It's the Four boy, the one who comforted the boy I killed two days ago. There's no time to think. If I can get him, I might have a chance at the finale. I take a risk and throw my axe, and it lodges exactly where I was aiming, burying itself in his neck. A quick, merciful death, an immediate cannon.
Then the revving starts, and I'm confused for a second. It sounds like the chainsaws possessed by the lucky few of District Seven, and then it all makes sense. The Ten girl has a chainsaw, and she's sprinting towards me with it. I'm a fast runner, but whoever told me about adrenaline must have been lying because the girl catches up fast. I take a lap around the pond below the Cornucopia tower, and she follows me. There's action atop it, the sounds of a fight, the thwack of a human skull clanging against the Cornucopia, and a sharp shout: "Oscar! No!" Then a body comes tumbling down, ponytail fanning out behind it, as it lands hard on a lower platform. In the Cornucopia, Livi Carnelian kneels down next to her ally. "Oscar, hang on for me. Just hang on. Hold my hand, yes, there's a good boy. I know, it looks pretty bad to me too." She shushes him gently, but it's eclipsed by the noise of the approaching chainsaw. I jaunt up onto an element of the obstacle course, a sort of rotating log, and hope for the best.
Careers above, Ten girl below, and not an escape route in sight. I make it to one of the high platforms by making a sheer leap of faith onto a swinging rope, and I can see Livi bringing her lips to the bridge of Oscar's nose, which is so out of character that I nearly stop in my tracks to watch, but I can't. I find myself at the edge of the low railing, and Emily, furious, points the chainsaw at my chest like a revolver before she drives it in. I can't stop the horrible scream, harmonizing with Oscar's cannon, as the blades chew my flesh. She makes a diagonal cut before bundling me over the railing. I hope that I can catch a platform too, but no, I'm hurtling toward the surface of the blackwater pond, and am I going delerious with blood loss, or are those eyes?
The alligator raises its head above the surface, opening its waiting jaws to receive me. One last "I love you Mom, I love—" and there's nothing left.
Kill Tracker:
Livi Carnelian: IIIII
Oscar Poudret (DECEASED): II
Eliza Maddox: III
Rafe McClellan (DECEASED): I
Lyra-Rose Ripley (DECEASED): I
Quinten Aramdale: I
Damon Archer (DECEASED): II
Emily Parker: II
Soya Orlando (DECEASED): I
Weapons Tracker:
Livi: Dagger, Spear
Eliza: Bandolier of Throwing Knives
Quinten: Spear
Emily: Chainsaw
Death Tracker/Eulogies:
7th Place: Ardledge Merton, throat slashed by Damon Archer
6th Place: Oscar Poudret, killed by Eliza Maddox
5th Place: Damon Archer, stomach lacerated/fed to alligators by Emily Parker
Ardledge was such a sweetheart, and he really felt like the glue holding together the Big Bro alliance at certain points. It was interesting to write from the perspective of a parent with a child to come home to, and Ardledge's responses to that, especially in the way of his relationships with his allies, really characterized him. He went down swinging when it came to Eliza, but ultimately, he wasn't prepared for Damon to go on the attack. Ardledge is friend-shaped and I will miss him very much.
Oscar was a little bit troubled. His relationship with Livi and its transformation from the Train Rides to the Feast was very imperfect, but ultimately, I think this was an important change for the both of them. Oscar's guilt about his childhood ate him up so much, and that combined with Livi's protectiveness for him resulted in the collapse of the Career Pack, but I don't think Oscar would have ever psychologically been able to confront Eliza, even though they're well-matched physically. I loved writing Oscar!
Damon was a bit of a special case. His father was in Ardledge's exact situation, and I liked the narrative parallels between the two. I had it planned from the beginning that Damon was going to kill Ardledge. I think the closing conflict between these two and Emily really illustrates the inhumanity of the Games, since all of them have intense and equally valid reasons for needing to go home. He was one of the only loners in this cast, so writing him was a challenge at times since I was a dumb-dumb when I started this fic and decided I ought to write it in first person, but I loved seeing his character development.
Thank you for these three incredible tributes!
Hey y'all!
We've got our four finalists on the Cornucopia obstacle course: Livi, Eliza, Quinten, and Emily, and a pool of alligator mutts below them. Whatever ended up happening to the Feast prize? Excellent question, dear readers. Next chapter, we crown a Victor!
–LC :)
