Day Three:
Mason Riley (D2 M 18)
Glint wakes up Jessie, Alexandrite, and I before the sun even rises. "Come on guys!" he shouts, nearly skipping around the cornucopia. "Time to go tribute hunting!" He chucks a pack of food at each of us. I end up with some animal crackers. It's not a particularly nutritious breakfast, but whatever. When I become a Victor, no one will care what I eat for breakfast. Glint sits down next to me with his pack of beef jerky. He rips open the package with his teeth, and dumps the whole thing down his throat. He must really like the stuff.
Five minutes later, Jessie and Alexandrite join us. "Who's keeping watch today?" Jessie asks out of nowhere.
"You," Glint simply replies.
"No," Jessie says. "I kept watch yesterday."
"Fine, then Alexandrite."
"She kept watch the day before."
"What about Mason?"
"I don't want to keep watch!" I shout. "I think you should keep watch, Glint."
"I don't want to keep watch either! Today's your day."
"No! It's your day!"
"Nope! I think it's your day!"
At that point, Jessie and Alexandrite decide to let out a string of laughter. Glint and I look up at them, annoyed. "What's so funny?" Glint asks.
"You guys," Alexandrite replies. "You're like a pair of arguing little kids. Just settle it with rock, paper, scissors or something."
"That's actually not a bad idea," Glint says. "You're going down, Mason."
True to his word, my scissors are defeated by his rock. "Ha!" he shouts at me. "Guess who's not going tribute hunting today? You!"
Part of me wants to get up and strangle him. But, I remind myself that he'll be the one keeping guard tomorrow. I'll be the one laughing then.
After packing up their supplies and weapons, the three of them head off for East Island together. Now that there's only four of us, we can't hunt in pairs anymore. Although it means I'll have to work with both Jessie and Alexandrite tomorrow, there is power in numbers. It'll be a lot easier to take out the other tributes now.
Eridan Keating (D5 M 16)
I have decided to hike over to East Island. I want to leave Rory and all that stuff behind me. I want to make a new beginning for myself on a new island. Plus, I haven't found a drop of water on West Island. I've had to rely on the water we got at the cornucopia and berries we gathered. Hopefully, there's some sort of water source over here.
I chose to begin my hike over now because the sun still hasn't risen. Nobody looking out will see me unless they look hard enough. That's good because I don't want anyone knowing my whereabouts- especially the careers. If I can fly under cover and under the radar, I'll have a better shot at making it farther in the Games.
As I reach the end of the rope bridge, the sun starts to rise. I jog the remainder of the way across. At last, I step on East Island soil. I immediately take out my water bottle and drain it of its last sip. The trip over here took a lot out of me, but I can't just lie here and rest. I need to start looking for water.
I finally peel myself off of the ground and start my search. Ever since the Games started, I've been getting more dehydrated hour by hour. It would be great to end all of this suffering with a nice stream. As I trek through the forest, I watch two monkeys swing on a vine and land on a tree. That's weird- I don't think I ever saw one monkey on West Island. Not a minute later, a snake slithers on the ground in front of me. I hold my only knife out, but it doesn't even seem to notice I'm here. There seems to be lots of animal life on this island, which is quite a shock. Hopefully, the animals are a sign that water is near.
Peyton Stanley (D6 M 12)
As soon as I wake up, the pain returns to my body. My stomach feels like it's about to collapse in on itself. My throat, lips, and tongue are so dry that it feels like they're all going to break off. I need to get up and start looking for Swirl fast. Otherwise, I'm a gonner.
As soon as I stand up, the world spins and I'm forced back down. This isn't going to work. What am I supposed to do now? Wait until Swirl finds me? I try standing up a second time, but it's no use. My body is simply too starved and dehydrated to do anything useful.
As I sit on the ground, trying to come up with a plan, I hear a faint tinkling noise above me. I look up to see a parachute gliding down to me. Is it possible? Could there be food and water in there? When the parachute gets close enough, I snatch it out of the sky and peek in at its contents. I nearly jump for joy. Inside, there's a water bottle, a protein bar, and a package of crackers.
I open the water first, immediately gulping down a quarter of it. Then, I go for the protein bar, eating half of that. Half an hour later, I feel much better, so I attempt to stand for the third time. Much to my pleasure and surprise, it works. I still feel a bit light-headed, but the world isn't spinning at a hundred miles per hour, so I'm perfectly content.
Mapelle Green (D7 F 14)
"Guys!" Cherry shrieks. "Come quick! You'll never guess what I've found!"
Cherry, Nylah, and I have been searching for food and water for about an hour now. We made sure to spread out to cover as much ground as possible, so I can just barely see her body through the trees. Hopefully, she found something good. I jog over to her, and gasp when I see why she's so excited.
Cherry has found a stream. It's not a very big one, but it's fresh water, nonetheless. As much as the three of us want to drink up the water now, we know we have to boil it first. Digging through one of our bags, I come up with a piece of flint. Once we've collected enough wood, Nylah uses the flint to spark the fire. Once it begins to blaze, I pull out our pot, fill it with stream water, and place it on top of the fire.
After an agonizing half hour, in which the water reaches a steady boil and cools back down to a safe drinking temperature, we finally can drink the water. As soon as the water touches my tongue, I realize how dehydrated I've been for the past few days. The moisture makes me feel a thousand times better.
Once we've gulped down as much water as we can, we fill up our two empty bottles with the water. Since we made a fire and should be getting out of here pretty quickly, there's nothing to do but pour the remainder of the water back into the steam and place the pot back in one of our bags. There's a chance the smoke could attract other tributes, so we must leave. We decide to move downstream along the river. This is the only water source we've found in the arena, so we need to stick close to it. Also, I'm sure there's animals living along the stream, so it'll make it easier to catch food. At last, after our supplies have been gathered and our fire has been stomped out, the three of us set off along the stream.
Swirl Winters (D10 F 13)
I'm in the middle of collecting some stream water to boil when I hear something. Straining my ears, I realize it's the sound of voices talking. Abandoning the pot by kicking it into the stream, I scramble up into the nearest tree. Perched up high, I listen as the voices get closer and closer.
Finally, the three tributes step into view- the girls from Districts Six, Seven, and Eleven. Thankfully, I don't think any of them are particularly dangerous. Although, I still hope they don't spot me up here. It's three on one; I don't want to take any chances. I hold my breath as they pass under me.
To my relief, none of them spot me- or the pot lying in the water. As soon as the girls are out of sight, I climb back down to the ground. Looking into the stream, I see that my pot has tumbled down the stream a little bit. I pull it out, and notice that there's a crack in it. It must have hit a rock while bouncing downstream.
I attempt to put some water into the pot. It fills about halfway before spilling out. Well, I guess this will have to do for now, since I have no other way of collecting water. I place my half-filled, broken pot on the ground and begin to search for firewood.
Lukas Cottingham (D8 M 16)
Aria and I have been wandering around the woods, looking for food and water, for many hours now. Food hasn't been too hard; we've found a couple of edible berry bushes to feed off of. Water has been the real trouble. We've got roughly three sips left. The moisture from the berries is what has been keeping us alive. If we don't find fresh water soon, we're gonners.
We find another berry bush, and begin to pick off the berries. We've been using our empty water canteen to hold the berries, and it's almost full. About two minutes later, I glance up and see something that causes a chill to run down my spine. "Aria," I whisper. "Take out your spear."
"Why?" she asks, looking up. Once she sees what I'm looking at, her mouth forms into the shape of an o. She pulls out her spear, and I take out my sword. "When do we charge?" she asks.
"Five seconds," I whisper. "Four, three, two, one... Now!"
Aria and I raise our weapons and charge at the three careers strolling through the woods. I jab my sword at the boy from District One. He easily deflects it with his spear. We begin to fight, spear to sword. However, I notice something odd. The boy isn't fighting as well as he used to, back in the training room. Maybe the lack of a comfy bed to sleep in is finally catching up with him.
Somehow, I manage to nick his chest with my sword. For some reason, blood begins seeping through his shirt. I don't understand why it's bleeding so much. I didn't cut him that deeply. Maybe he already had a chest injury. Maybe that's why he's not fighting as well as he did a few days ago.
Even though he's injured, the boy continues to fight. Letting out a yell, he jumps on top of me and knocks my sword out of my hand. I try to escape, but he's too strong. The boy jabs his spear right in to my stomach. He jabs again and again, until the pain begins to fade away. I collapse to the ground, and feel myself fade into the darkness.
Jessie Harte (D2 F 14)
This girl has been putting up a pretty good fight. She's been standing there, deflecting my knives and Alexandrite's arrows for over a minute now. However, I can tell she's getting more tired and tired by the minute. It's only a matter of time before she slips up.
At that moment, a cannon goes off. I glance over at Glint to see that his opponent has been killed. However, seconds later, Glint collapses onto the ground right next to him. "Glint!" Alexandrite shrieks, jogging over to him, leaving me with the District Eight girl.
I'm running out of knives, so I need to kill this girl fast. My first knife flies right over her ear. My second one is deflected by her spear. My third one sails right into her chest. The girl collapses onto the ground. Two seconds later, her cannon goes off.
I look over at Glint and Alexandrite. Glint is lying on the ground. His shirt has been taken off to reveal a giant wound on his chest. "We need to get him back to the cornucopia!" Alexandrite shouts frantically. "Help me carry him back!"
As much as I don't want to, I help Alexandrite get Glint to his feet. He's barely conscious, and needs medical attention pronto. Very slowly, with one of Glint's arms around my shoulder, we begin to make our way back to the cornucopia.
Harvest Anson (D9 F 18)
I'm still wondering who those two cannons were for. As much as I hope they marked career deaths, I highly doubt it. The careers probably just took down two tributes. Well, no matter who died, two deaths mean I'm two slots closer to victory.
I've been coping surprisingly well since Osborn died. I do miss him, but I've killed two more animals, and more importantly, found water in the form of a small stream. I now have three bottles and a canteen filled with water that I've boiled. I don't think I'll have to find the stream again for a few days. That's a good thing, because I bet all of the tributes are clustered around the stream. I'm starting to think it's the only source of water in the arena.
Since I've got plenty of food and water, there's really no need to leave my cave. I may just spend the whole day in here. It'll be safer, since I'm sure the careers are out there right now. Even though I'm not the weakest tribute out here, I know I don't stand a chance against four highly-trained careers.
Since It's going to be getting dark soon, I pull out a piece of my fried monkey to munch on. I've got enough meat for about two more days. Before coming into the Games, I thought food would be hard to come by. I'm eating much more than I originally thought I would. I'm certainly not complaining. Hopefully, I'll manage to keep finding plenty of food for the remainder of my time in the Games.
Alexandrite Dazzle (D1 F 17)
At last, the three of us step onto the island. Mason rushes over to us at once. "What happened?" he asks.
"Glint's chest is hurt real bad," I say. "He's barely conscious. Can you help me fix him?"
"Sure," Mason replies.
Together, we lift him over to the cornucopia. I get his shirt off of him while Mason finds one of the first aid kits. Glint's chest is still bleeding badly. We need to prevent the blood from leaking out quickly, or he'll die from blood loss.
Mason hands me a first aid kit. Looking inside, I realize that the kit isn't advanced enough to fix a wound like Glint's. "This isn't going to work," I say. "None of this stuff will stop his wound from bleeding. What we really need is some stitches."
Not much long after the words leave my lips, I spot a parachute flying down towards us. I snatch it out of the sky, and look inside the basket to find everything I need for stitches. It's a good thing Glint is only half-conscious, or putting these stitches in would cause him immense pain. I cover the wound with bandages, and finally sit down.
I suddenly realize that Jessie has been leaning against the cornucopia this whole time, just watching Mason and I scramble around. She's munching on some dried fruit. "I didn't think you knew first aid," she says.
"Yeah, I do," I say.
"Interesting," she says. "Very interesting." It takes me a minute to realize what she's talking about. Finally, it hits me. I unintentionally let some of my true colors show while fixing up Glint. I forgot to act all ditzy and stupid, like I've been acting the entire time. Why the heck did I do that? This is the Hunger Games. I can't make any more mistakes like this, or my life could be on the line. I need to stick to my plan.
The Panem Anthem suddenly starts. With all of this commotion, I haven't noticed the sky getting darker and darker. The only deaths today were the District Eight tributes. I believe that means that there are only eleven tributes left. I've already outlasted over half of the tributes. Now, I just have to outlast ten more.
The Fallen (2):
Lukas Cottingham (D8 M 16)
Killed by Glint. His body was punctured multiple times with a spear.
Aria Law (D8 F 17)
Killed by Jessie. A knife was thrown into her chest.
Remaining Tributes (11):
D1:
Alexandrite Dazzle (D1 F 17)
{Annabeth-TheTributeThatLived}
Glint Sulf (D1 M 18)
{Jms2}
D2:
Jessie Harte (D2 F 14)
{ImSoCutee00}
Mason Riley (D2 M 18)
{Jms2}
D5:
Eridan Keating (D5 M 16)
{Nothing. Is. Real}
D6:
Nylah Tracks (D6 F 17)
{CherryRedPanda}
Peyton Stanley (D6 M 12)
{Jms2}
D7:
Mapelle Green (D7 F 14)
{Annabeth-TheTributeThatLived}
D9:
Harvest Anson (D9 F 18)
{Semi-Dedicated Wierdo}
D10:
Swirl Winters (D10 F 13)
{feistyflame}
D11:
Cherry Fairbanks (D11 F 16)
{TheTributesWhoLived34}
Kills:
Glint: Misty, Cobalt, Tadalynn, Lukas
Alexandrite: Jennette, Rory
Mason: Ryland, Peter
Jessie: Jarvis, Aria
Sheldon: Marina, Osborn
Harvest: Sheldon
Alliances:
Alexandrite/Glint/Jessie/Mason
Nylah/Mapelle/Cherry
Eridan
Peyton
Harvest
Swirl
Happy Holidays! Anyone get anything good this year? I got some fandom jewelry, a couple of movies, and this 1000-piece Harry Potter puzzle that I absolutely love. Since it's Harry Potter weekend on ABCFamily, basically all I've been doing is watching Harry Potter as I do my puzzle (and fanfictioning, of course).
Anyways, I should now probably explain my reasoning behind today's deaths. Aria's submitter hasn't reviewed in forever. Plus, Aria only got two votes in the poll. Even though Lukas's submitter has been reviewing, Lukas unfortunately also suffers from a lack of votes.
Thanks for reading! Please vote in the poll if you haven't yet voted! :-)