Author's Note: Battles get their own chapters, though they're probably going to be shorter ones than normal chapters. They're also going to be from a POV that's not one of the participating tributes, as not to spoil who lives and who dies. And we also get to follow up on some of the Gamemakers, mentors, Capitol citizens, and family members that we introduced earlier.
Fun Fact of the Chapter: How the Mentors Won Their Games, Part II. Spark Raine, Emily's uncle and mentor, won the 181st Games. He was physically and emotionally the weakest of the Career pack, so when the formidable girl from Four turned on her allies, she didn't think to go for Spark until he had already fled the scene. He waited out in a cave until there was only him and the girl from Seven left, tracked her down, and slit her throat from behind.
…..
Fabian Flynncher, Gamemaker
No one is surprised when the Careers manage to find Che Botill and Parker Bates' alliance. They've mostly stayed in one place this whole time, and the girl keeps whimpering and sobbing for everyone nearby to hear. If the boy had been the one to see the pack coming, he might have made an attempt to flee and possibly even succeeded, but it was the girl who was facing that direction and she isn't exactly lucid enough to warn her ally of the impending danger.
Personally, I'm relieved by the whole thing. After last night's lack of bloodshed, we've been worrying that the audience will get impatient with the Careers and, eventually, with the Games. We have plenty of surprises in store regarding the arena, but what is the point of an interesting arena when the tributes are such phenomenal failures? That's not my opinion, of course, but it is the way the majority of viewers think. And we as Gamemakers owe them a good show.
The Careers have formed a circle around their victims, cutting them off from any kind of escape. Luka crouches down beside Parker, who has curled herself into a fetal position with her eyes closed. Almost experimentally, he digs the point of his knife into her shoulder, clearly expecting some kind of reaction. But Parker stays absolutely still and makes no sound. Her whimpering actually seems to stop with the pain.
Luka frowns at this and pushes the knife even deeper into her skin. Parker flinches a bit, but doesn't say anything.
Meanwhile, Che is staring down Carreen and Emily. All three have their weapons drawn and ready to fire, but all three are hesitating for some reason. After a moment, Che darts back and starts scaling a nearby tree as fast as he can. He doesn't make it very far, as Emily shoots an arrow into his hand, causing him to fall to the ground. He scrambles up and flings his boomerang into the air, knocking Emily's next arrow out of its path. From the other side of the circle, Emerald throws a knife, which Che just barely dodges. The boy is very clearly scared out of his wits, but his raw instinct for survival is enhancing his reflexes, as has happened with so many tributes before him.
Luka has been busy slicing up Parker, torturing her without killing her, unsuccessfully trying to get her involved in the battle. Che turns toward him and throws the boomerang, but he blocks it with his knife and it whirls back toward Che at a speed he can't dodge, hitting and bruising the boy's side before falling at his feet. As he picks it up, Carreen steps forward and swiftly thrusts her spear into the Seven boy's abdomen.
A look of shock spreads onto his face as he realizes that this is the end, that he's going to die. The supposed leader of the Career pack pulls out her spear, face carefully neutral, almost serene in her expression. Che falls onto his back, eyes glazed over. I push the button to sound the cannon. Out of the corner of my eye I can see Claret adjusting the scoreboard—the boy from Seven is no longer in the race, and Carreen Haggerty gets a kill to her name.
Luka stands, his knife pressed into the girl from Eight's throat. Blood is leaking from every possible vein, and yet she's still non-responsive. Catatonia—a fairly common coping mechanism. Maybe even a merciful one.
"Whose kill?" says Luka.
"You don't want it?" Gabriel says with a slight laugh, a mirror of their conversation during the bloodbath. I can see Amata smiling from across the room—she does enjoy when the tributes provide their own dramatic structure.
Luka snorts. "There's no point in it. Girl's practically a vegetable. I so had hoped to hear her scream," he says with a sneer, clearly intending to intimidate his fellow Career. It doesn't work.
Carreen shakes her head, rolling her eyes as she moves over to Parker. She slits the girl's throat in the matter of a second. Cannon. Another kill for the Four girl, whose style seems to be efficiency. Sixteen tributes left. We're a third of the way there.
The Careers head back to their camp, satisfied with the day's work. I lean back in my chair and watch them all on the screen, the sixteen teenagers scrambling for survival. I don't feel any remorse for them—why should I? At least they get the chance to fight for their lives, instead of just getting executed. This way, they have an opportunity, maybe even a glimmer of hope. And even if they don't live through it, they still have a shot at immortality by taking part in the story of the Hunger Games and the tale of history. People will remember them—as long as they give us a good show, of course.
There are those who disagree with me—rebels in both the districts and the Capitol who will argue that the tributes are innocent creatures, lambs led to the slaughter, tortured all the more by having to murder and be murdered for sport in hellish arenas. But the tributes themselves disprove that, the Careers especially. Anyone who goes into the Games for glory, knowing exactly what they're doing, is far from some angelic child sacrificed by the brutal Capitol. They're people, strong people, perhaps brutal people, but people all the same—people who deserve their chance to be great. And as long as the Hunger Games continue, that is exactly what is going to happen.