Chapter 28: Delusions of Grandeur Before a Feast
Day 12 of the Games, 7 PM arena time, Caesar Flickerman's talk show studio:
"Well, well, well, ladies and gentlemen that was incredible!" said Caesar Flickerman excitedly. "The use of the weapons and skill against the muttations, and then the fierce sword fight between Amanda Snow and Irene Avion! I don't think we have ever seen anything like that before!
"I have just received word that the Gamemakers are going to give the tributes a little time off from the perils of the arena for a few days. We will continue to bring you regular updates on the Games as they progress. And now, my next guest that I will be inviting onto the stage with me is…"
Amanda, Blaze, and Susanna, had stocked up on a few weapons. Filled some containers with lids full of the special wound clotting blood replenishing medicine, and began to head south.
Amanda was still weak, but thanks to the Gamemakers medicine she was getting stronger. They walked in silence for a while. They kept expecting more laboratory grown Gamemakers monsters to jump out and attack them as they walked through the forest full of giant mushroom-like trees. But they encountered absolutely no resistance for their entire walk.
They then saw the bridge leading to the island south of the one that they were on. They crossed it and then they smelled it. They smelled the earthly human forest of fresh-pine. This island was just an unremarkable normal forest.
They then received a Silver parachute with a large square flat box. While the box was closed they smelled cheese, and tomato sauce, and freshly baked crust. When they opened the box it was a veal, raspberry, and horseradish pizza. Amanda's favorite.
"Well Amanda," said Blaze, "it looks like your sponsors really pulled through on this one."
Amanda smiled weakly. They all began to eat. They decided that they wouldn't save any of it. Probably wouldn't last long without refrigeration anyway.
The sun had gone down but they didn't stop right away. In the din of the evening twilight they continued walking south until they crossed the next South bridge. They had arrived again at the tropical paradise that they had left early that morning. They found their way back to the tropical pool that was fed by a Gamemaker's waterfall. They all shed their clothing and jumped in the water. They washed their clothing. They washed the filth and grim and blood off their bodies. But it was just rinsing themselves with water, and when Amanda brought her scarred-forearm and the ends of her pink-hair to her nose, she realized she still smelled like alien fungus.
"Hey Katniss, can you afford to send us some shampoo, please!" Amanda called out to the camera.
A few moments later a silver parachute landed on the beach of the pool. And sure enough, it was a small bottle. The liquid inside was a combination bodywash and shampoo, floral scented.
Amanda and Blaze indulged themselves in another round of human pleasures, and then two of them went to sleep feeling clean and refreshed while one stayed awake to stand guard. Then at midnight the faces of Barney Simpson, and Irene Avion appeared in the sky.
Day 15 of the Games, 12:00 noon arena time:
The voice of Claudius Templesmith boomed out over loud hidden speakers in the distance.
"Attention tributes! May I have your attention please tributes! There will be a feast at the Cornucopia in one hour from now! Good luck! Happy Hunger Games! And may the odds be ever in your favor!"
Amanda, Blaze, and Susanna, were on alert.
"It could be a trap." said Blaze with caution.
"It will draw out the other tributes." said Amanda eagerly.
"Including us apparently." said Blaze in a half matter-of-fact half mock-tone voice.
"I agree with Amanda." said Susanna. "The other tributes will want to end this quickly, just as much as we do. We need to draw them out by using ourselves as bait."
"Alright, fine." said Blaze. "Who's left anyway?"
Amanda tried counting the faces in the sky backward for the past 14 days.
"Beverly O'Malley, Dennis Green, and David Crane." said Amanda.
"In the last two days at least another 30 outer edge islands have sunk into the sea." said Blaze. "I haven't mapped out the entire arena completely, but I think the Cornucopia is right in the center of the arena. It will be the last island to go and the Gamemakers are trying to drive us all there."
"Then let's go." said Susanna.
And they all started in the direction of the Cornucopia.
50 minutes later. They had crossed the west bridge onto the center island F6, and headed for the Cornucopia.
After a few hundred yards of bushwhacking they came to the tree line of the clearing that was directly above the Launch Rooms of the arena's catacombs. They ducked behind some bushes, out of sight of anyone else who was also hiding in the tree line. There at the mouth of the Cornucopia was the large pile of supplies from the start of the Games 14 days ago that the Career Tributes had yet to use up.
"I'm going to draw them out." said Blaze. "I will run out there and they will think I'm alone. You two follow 20 seconds later."
Before Blaze's two female companions could protest, he drew his long handled spiked hammer and ran toward the supplies.
He got to the supplies and was about to pick through them, when a fist sized rock flew out of nowhere hit Blaze in the head. Blaze grabbed his head in pain and dropped his hammer. David Crane came out of nowhere and jabbed at Blaze with a knife. Blaze quickly got over the pain in his head and jumped out of the way. Blaze pulled a long and thick bladed hunting knife from his belt and fought back.
Amanda and Susanna followed the moment they saw David. Amanda took aim with a throwing-knife but was then struck in the side by a loud and painful whip crack.
Susanna was then grabbed from behind by a pair of hands. The pair of hands belonged to Dennis Green. Dennis wrapped a cord around her neck and pulled tight. Susanna was choked off of air. She fought to get free, but her assailant was too strong. Not quite as strong as her but she had been taken by surprise. She dropped her staff and tried to grab a knife at her waist. Dennis Green wrapped his legs around Susanna's waist and bound her hands too her sides.
Blaze and David fought hard and fast, slashing at eachother while hitting eachother too.
Amanda turned in the direction of the whip that had hit her, and came face to face with Beverly O'Malley wielding an impressive and intimidating whip. Beverly tried to whip Amanda again, but Amanda rolled to the side at a split second's reaction. She drew her sword. The line of the whip was whipped at her again, and hit her in the arm causing her to drop her sword. The lash mark on her arm started to bleed heavily. She then received lash after lash again and again. Amanda was covered in blood from multiple whip marks. Amanda tried to throw some knives but couldn't seem to get a good aim at the goth. Amanda then mustered up a reserve of strength, got out of the way, and lunged forward. And the pink-haired girl and the goth started wrestling.
Susanna struggled hard as she could but couldn't break free. Her lungs were completely oxygen deprived as she was being choked. She knew that there was a big tree directly behind her. She ran backwards as hard as she could while Dennis was on her back. She slammed into the trees hard which caused Dennis's head to snap back and the back of his head hit the tree. His grip on the cord that he was holding around Susanna's neck was loosened and Susanna managed to pull the cord free when she got one of her hands free from his legs. She then pulled a knife from her belt. She then stabbed him in the leg, he screamed in pain and released his legs. She spun around, but he whacked her in the hand so hard and fast he had disarmed her. They then fought hard and fast for a little while, neither one able to get the upper hand. After another moment Susanna managed to kick Dennis in the chest knocking the wind out of him. He staggered back trying to catch his breath. Susanna hooked the toe of her boot under the long handled battle staff, flicked it up into the air towards her own head with her foot, and caught it with one hand in midair. She then began hitting Dennis hard again and again until he fell to the ground. Susanna was ready to finish this. She raised the staff high up into the air to slam it down on his head like a sledge hammer, but then in a quick motion Dennis pulled a knife out from under his shirt and stabbed her in the stomach all the way to the hilt.
She paused. She made a choking sound in her throat. Dennis kicked her hard in the knee and it bent inward the wrong way with a loud 'CRACK!'.
Susanna staggered in her weakened state as Dennis got to his feet, and withdrew the bloody knife. Dennis then grabbed the staff out of Susanna's hand and hit her hard in the head with it.
Dennis then ran at Amanda. He saw the goth that made a fool out of his team on the island with all the cliffs and canyons, but his eyes were on Amanda Snow. He had a job to do.
In a quick motion he scooped up one of Amanda's lost throwing-knives that was lying on the ground and threw it at Beverly's head. The knife sliced a gash across the side of her head and started bleeding heavily.
Amanda then laid several hard kicks and karate chops on Beverly, and Beverly felt that in her weakened state she couldn't win against both of them. Beverly grabbed back up her whip and lashed Amanda hard one more time and ran for the trees, limping. When she was behind the tree line she kept running and didn't stop for a while.
A moment after Amanda was lashed by the whip and the goth started running, Dennis whacked her hard over the head with the staff and then hit her in the chest and gut. He then wrestled her to the ground flat on her back in less than a second. He was several times Amanda's strength and she stood no chance. She knew Susanna was down, though she didn't look in her direction. Her right arm was free, stretched out on the grass above her head, but she didn't try to defend herself with it because she knew it wouldn't do any good.
"Amanda Snow," said Dennis with a plain straight face, no hint of anger or hatred. As he looked at her he hesitated. "Even though this is the Hunger Games, and therefore I would still kill you anyway, I feel compelled to tell you that this is not personal. I have nothing against you as an individual. You see, it's just plain and simple, the granddaughter of President Snow cannot win the Hunger Games. It would bring to much honor and glory to his name and memory. It would cause an uproar among the Anti-Capitol district citizens, and maybe even a Civil war."
He had a look of sorrow and regret on his face of the fact that it had to be that way for her as an individual.
"I'm sorry." said Dennis.
He raised his knife up high to plunge it into her neck.
Amanda squeezed her eyes tightly shut and turned her head away and waited for the stab in her neck to happen quick. It was then right at that moment that she felt the familiar handle of her sword being pushed into her hand. She closed her fist around it and in a quick motion swung and Dennis's head came clean off at the neck.
She pushed the torso with the bleeding stump of a neck off of her and quickly got up.
'BOOM!' went the cannon.
Amanda turned in the direction that her sword had been pushed into her hand from, and she saw Susanna on her hands and knees. In her weakened state Susanna had crawled in the direction of Amanda, picked up her fallen sword and placed it in her outstretched hand above her head while Dennis was holding the knife over Amanda.
Amanda got up and took Susanna's face in her hands. The stab wound in Susanna's stomach was bleeding very heavily, there was a red bruise-like welt on her neck, and several bruises and bleeding wounds elsewhere. The inside of her mouth was full of blood. Susanna looked Amanda in the eyes and tried to say something, but she just coughed and choked, and then stopped breathing, and her eyes went blank.
'BOOM!' went the cannon.
Amanda squeezed her eyes tightly shut and tears dripped out from between the lids. She then got angry. She gritted her teeth, had a hard look in her eye, and she picked up her sword and ran at David Crane who was still fighting with Blaze.
David went for cheap shot and kicked Blaze in the groin. Blaze staggered in pain, and David slashed at Blaze's wrist and neck with his knife. David then picked up Blaze's long handled spiked hammer and was about to bash his skull in, when a knife flew at him and cut him in the shoulder.
David didn't think that he can take on both of them so in his weakened state he headed for the tree line.
Amanda knelt down beside Blaze. He was wounded badly. The slash in his neck was too deep, it had cut right through and into his windpipe.
She went and got her backpack that she had dropped nearby. She got the container full of the special medicine that they had made in the fungus forest. She was about to rub some on his wounds, when he then grabbed her wrists and stopped her.
"No!" he said in a hoarse voice, "Just let me go! I've had enough!"
"No! You still have a chance to win this!" said Amanda in an angry criticizing voice.
"If Beverly and David die before you do, I prefer it not come down to you and me." said Blaze.
"Neither do I." said Amanda exasperatedly. "But you got to play the Games to the bitter end! It's how you're supposed to do it! And I'm telling you not to give up!"
"One way or another, I'm not going to win." said Blaze.
"Not with that attitude." said Amanda.
"I told you this before, I was going to sacrifice myself for Lisa. I... I..."
He stopped breathing when a gush of blood came bursting out of his neck wound.
'BOOM!' went the cannon.
"NOOOO!" she screamed.
She took his face in her hands and shook him, prompting him to wake up as tears ran down her face. Detecting it in her throat a second early but unable to control it, she turned sideways just in time and vomited all over the grass beside Blaze.
Amanda felt sick with despair at losing not just one but two more allies. And now she was all alone.
In her despair she sat in silence for a few minutes just starring into empty space trying to gather and sort out her thoughts. She then took a deep breath and relaxed and then she felt better. She wiped the tears off her face, and then closed Blaze's eyes.
"Rest in peace, Blaze Trenton." she said solemnly.
She then rubbed some of the medicine on her own wounds and they clotted immediately. She then ate some of the medicine.
She went back over to Susanna who lay dead on the ground, her eyes still open.
"Rest in peace, Susanna Xavier." said Amanda while simultaneously closing Susanna's eyes.
Amanda then looked up trying to find the camera and spoke loudly.
"President Paylor, please let the record say that Susanna Xavier died with honor, not of the Capitol, but as a proud citizen of District 5."
Amanda then gave the three fingered District salute over Susanna's body.
she then looked at Dennis greens body and severed head that were lying right there.
"I'm sorry Dennis." said Amanda in a half regretful tone of voice that also portrayed fairness. "I understand that you were just fighting for what you legitimately believed to be a good cause, and I appreciate of all things that this was not personal. Rest in peace."
She then looked through their backpacks and prioritized what would she would need. She took the poison detector, the desalination straw, and some medicine. Now for food. The group had been eating wild berries and fresh meat for the last day or so, and currently had nothing. She then turned to the mouth of the Cornucopia in hopes of finding some non-perishables among the 14 day old supplies that the Careers hadn't eaten yet. But what she came face to face with was a magnificent bounty of hot food and desserts on a platform that had been raised out of the ground. It must have happened while her back was to the Cornucopia during the battle. She then remembered why she and her allies were there in the first place, the Gamemakers had invited them to a feast that the six of them were supposed to fight over. But they hadn't waited for the platform to come up out of the ground first, for Blaze had triggered the fight a minute early.
She filled her stomach with choice items, put items that would keep for awhile into containers, and then went in search of her competition, which she hoped would be easy to find right now as the area was small and getting smaller. Her unreasonable eye of anger and revenge on David Crane for killing Blaze.
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