Chapter 18: The Gamemaker and Control Rooms
Day 12 of the Games, 8:00 a.m. arena time:
Amanda, Blaze, and Susanna were still at the Gamemakers tropical pool. Amanda and Blaze had decided to take Susanna on as an ally.
"There is only eight of us left." said Susanna, "The competition is getting a little tight. I will stay with you until we're down to the top four, where we will part ways."
"That seems fair." said Amanda, in a voice of agreeing with the logic.
It was then that a big box hanging from a silver parachute landed in front of them. Amanda opened the box and found three giant bowls, each with a fork and steak knife. Inside each bowl was a large portion of steamed broccoli smothered in cheese, with a side of roasted ham, mashed potatoes, and a pitcher of orange juice.
"Now you're talking!" said Blaze emphatically.
They indulged themselves in this generous feast that a sponsor had sent them. They kept up conversation about a few other things with this and that.
"So where have you guys been every so often? I figure the group of you were hiding out or something on days when you're not searching around for the rest of the tributes?" asked Susanna.
"We set up our base camp in the Arctic forest, two islands south of the cornucopia." said Amanda.
Susanna looked surprised.
"The Arctic forest?" said Susanna with comprehension. "I passed through the Arctic forest about five days ago. Or at least skirted the outer edge of the beach for about five minutes until I left. I couldn't stand the cold."
"That was our plan." said Blaze. "We figured anyone looking for us wouldn't be able to stand it their and would assume that we wouldn't either."
"We braved the cold frigid arctic air until we came to the center of the island where there was a Gamemaker's gas fire pit as a reward for braving the cold, as well as a clue to the secrets of the arena, saying, 'that as the days and weeks of the Games pass, the arena will get gradually smaller and smaller'."
"That must be why the islands are sinking into the sea one at a time." surmised Susanna.
They sat in silence for a while longer as they continue to eat. Once their bowls were clean they washed everything in the pool, and then took one more bath themselves. They then packed up their stuff and were off.
David Crane, was trekking through the next island after just barely escaping the last island that just sank into the sea. He was tired and needed to take a load off, but he knew he couldn't stop. He had begun to notice that the outer edge islands were all sinking into the sea one at a time, but at a considerable rate that keeps increasing. He guessed that he had only a few hours until this island sinks, and then the next, and then the next one after that, and so on and so forth. He tried to head back to the cornucopia. It was then that by a stroke of luck, he caught sight of Barney Simpson. Barney had come down another path and turned away from David. Barney was holding a long thin tree branch as a staff. Barney was so focused on where he was going that he hadn't seen David. David raised his knife that he got from a sponsor, and a crowbar he found at the cornucopia, and ran at Barney. Barney heard the foot steps behind him and turned around to face him. He picked up a fist sized rock and threw it at David. It hit David in the shoulder but just barely, and David kept coming. Barney proved quite a competent fighter with the staff. The two boys' weapons clashed against each other as they weaved back and forth around each other, each trying to hit the other and get under the other's guard. Barney managed to trip David out from under his own feet and David hit the ground. Barney swung his staff and tried to slam it down on David's head, but David rolled to the side and hit Barney in the leg with his crowbar.
Barney felt the hard pain in his leg from the impact and backed off. David got back up onto his feet and they kept on fighting. Barney swung his staff at David hard and fast, back and forth, but then David managed to hook the crowbar around the staff and hold it to the side as he lunged forward to stab with his knife. Barney grabbed the wrist of David's knife hand and fended him off, but the wrestling match didn't last very long. Barney was a good fighter, but David was stronger, David threw all of his weight into his knife hand and it cut deeply into Barney's side and began gushing blood. Barney screamed in pain. David then kicked the staff hard between Barney's staff hand and the crowbar and it broke in half. He then whacked Barney over the head with the crowbar and Barney fell to the ground. David got on top of Barney and stabbed his knife into Barney's neck. He withdrew the knife and then stabbed it into Barney's heart. He withdrew the bloody knife and stood up and stepped back.
'BOOM!'
A hovercraft appeared overhead and dropped down a grappling arm that extracted Barney Simpson's body.
He felt a slight rumbling in the ground and then suddenly he was ankle-deep in muddy water that slowly rose.
'Here we go again!' thought David. And he headed towards the inner islands, guessing that they would be the last ones to sink.
In the Gamemakers control room, the Head Gamemaker Plutarch Heavensbee was looking around the control board. He was looking at a map of the arena on a holographic display. Island column B had sunk into the sea as well as island row 10. They would continue to sink into the sea at a significantly faster rate. The Games would be over in only a few more days if not less. There were now 64 islands left and falling. Island column J will now sink into the sea starting with island 9 and work it's way to 2.
The blips labeled with numbers on the holographic map indicated the seven remaining tributes; a group of three on island C2, one with the number 2 on it, which indicated it was Susanna Xavier, and the other two of them labeled 12, indicated they were Amanda Snow and Blaze Trenton.
The blip labeled 1, was David Crane at the far corner of the arena, headed away from the presently sinking islands.
The blip labeled District 7, which indicated Dennis Green was trekking across the sweltering desert of island D8.
The blip labeled District 9, indicated Irene Avion was on island E2.
The blip labeled District 11, which indicated Beverly O'Malley was presently on island G3 which was a tropical jungle.
It was then that Plutarch Heavensbee watched on the screen, Beverly O'Malley receive a gift from a sponsor. Actually, according to his instruments there in the control room, included the donation pools for all the Tributes. Beverly O'Malley received over two thousand simultaneous, very generous donations from her many growing fans that now thought she had the best chance of winning. Plutarch saw the goth open the box with the silver parachute attached to it, and inside the box she found a magnificent whip. It had a stainless steel handle, wrapped in a soft rubber-like grip, painted a glossy black and white to match her own chosen color. The line of the whip was over 12 feet long, and made out of a strong, remarkable silicone leather-like material that is both good and flexible for nice good spring when the end of the whip is struck against someone's skin.
With a flick of her wrist, the whip uncoils and slithers like a snake back and forth at the tiniest deliberate movement of her hand. She works out the kinks in her new weapon, figuratively speaking, to break it in; she aims for a spot on a tree, holds her arm up in the air, and then lowers her arm fast and smoothly, while simultaneously adding a flick of her wrist. The line of the whip flings out smoothly and cracks against the tree with a loud wood-breaking snap. A big chunk of bark breaks off of the trunk in the exact spot that she aimed for. Plutarch watches her smile maniacally. Clearly the goth feels that she now has a much more valuable and deadly weapon than her rope that she found in her backpack.
"Sir?" said one of the Gamemakers speaking to Plutarch. "Amanda Snow, Blaze Trenton, and Susanna Xavier are approaching the 'east bridge' on island C2, and Irene Avion is approaching the 'west bridge' on island E2."
"Then let's drive them towards each other." suggested Plutarch. "Sink islands C2 and E2." he commanded.
The Gamemaker at his console hit several buttons and the two islands on the giant holographic map slowly began to sink into the sea.
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