Chapter 5
Meanwhile Lim trekked through the ruined city. He had managed to grab a backpack from the Corn before sprinting for his life. But he hadn't gotten away completely unharmed. He was wounded emotionally and physically. A tribute had been standing nearby, and as Lim dove for the backpack she yelled out: "it says gullible on the ceiling."
When Lim looked up, she wheezed and doubled over. "You fell for it!" She gasped. "There isn't even a ceiling here!"
Lim grit his teeth. "I hope you fall in a hole." He snarled before running away.
However, he had enraged the girl."You smell funny!" She screamed after him in anger. So that had been an altogether unpleasant experience. And to make things worse, as he ran out of the cornucopia he accidentally stubbed his right toe on a brick.
Lim spent several minutes howling in pain as quietly as he could to avoid attracting attention. However, the stubbed toe was so bad Lim thought his entire right leg was paralysed so he attempted to hop to safety.
Finally, Lim decided that he'd gone far enough. He ducked into an old building and looked inside his backpack. The first thing he pulled out was a hat. It was purple and had colourful pom-poms all over it, with ribbons dangling everywhere. The word Gullible was written in cursive on the front.
"Bah!" Lim threw it aside.
Next he pulled out some tampons.
"Are you serious?!" he chucked that too but then he saved one in case he ever had a nose bleed.
Lim then pulled out a shrivelled prune. It was too ugly to eat so he chucked that out as well.
He looked into the bag again and saw something dark and small. It was a fake spider.
"FINALLY something useful," he thought, thinking he could use it to scare someone to death.
But the bag wasn't empty yet. There was one more item protruding in a hidden pocket underneath the bag. Lim took a deep breath. He hoped - nay, prayed that it was something that could change the odds of his survival in this cruel twisted game. He slowly zipped the pocket in anticipation and closed his eyes as he pulled out the final item. He opened one eye. Alas! There, gleaming in the artificial sunlight of the arena was… a flat 2D straight line? Lim was so confused.
"What the heck…" he began to shake it trying to figure out its purpose to no avail. Then he waved it around, chanted curses, pointed it at things before slapping it onto his face in frustration. But there it stayed resting right above his eyes. He knew then, its true purpose.
"Is.. IS THIS PEA'S MONOBROW?"
Far away, in the Capitol, Pea's eyes shot open and he sat up from the floor where he was asleep.
"Did Lim just say he had my monobrow!?" He bellowed. Aleisha, who was lying on the ceiling, blinked in confirmation.
Pea rushed to the TV which had been plugged in because Persuliosianio was watching the Games. There it was, a close up of Lim's face, with his - his - monobrow shining in its full glory.
"THAT'S DISGUSTING, HOW DO I GET IT OFF?" Lim's screech could be heard from the television. He began tearing at it.
"NO!" Pea howled. "MY BEAUTIFUL LOCKS!"
Pea quickly ran out of the penthouse in search of some sponsors who were foolish enough to help him.
Meanwhile, as Lim frantically attempted to tear at his newfound facial hair he heard a faint beep in the distance.
"Is that..?" he thought but didn't finish his thoughts because he couldn't be bothered.
A parachute suddenly landed a metre in front of him. Injured and weak, Lim hopped on his left leg towards the parachute and gleefully opened it up. At the top was a note scribbled in crayon.
Lim, I once was a young boy like you discovering the beauty of facial hair but then my mum got mad at me for not doing the laundry and so I began to do my maths at the Ak-a-demy of Khans which is impossible since I don't have a left foot and so I really need my monobrow. In exchange for the preservation of my beloved beast, I shall provide for your needs. Deal?
Enclosed in the parachute was a toothbrush and hair gel.
"I'm assuming this is for the 'brow?" Lim said sarcastically.
The monobrow nodded on his forehead.
"Deh? This is so-"
"Unexpected!" A sudden shrill voice finished the sentence for him. Lim whipped his head around and found himself staring up at a tribute with great purple hair. She was accompanied by two other tributes. "Look's like we've founded little Lim! Or should I say, Limyoung!"
The Careers! Lim thought anxiously.
She closed her eyes and began reciting a monologue.
"Allow me to introduce myself before your death. I am Sprinkles of the Floyd. Floyd Sprinkles if you will. I was born and raised in the province of District 1, a land of lush-"
She opened her eyes then and backed away violently when she saw his face.
"WHAT IS THAT ANIMAL ON YOUR FACE?!" She screamed, spittle flying everywhere.
"YUCK say it don't spray it." Career 2 said.
"Watch it foghorn!" Career 3 said in sync.
At that intrusion, Lim with his horribly disfigured leg decided that the odds would be better if he ran away so he attempted to hop off into the sunset.
However, suddenly Floyd lunged for him and tackled him to the ground. She ripped the monobrow off and slapped it onto Lim's face - an act deemed the most violent thing that has happened in the Games so far by the Gamemakers. It cried at being handled so inhumanely while Pea died a little in the Capitol.
"Nuh-uh! Where do ya think you're going?" Floyd spat in his face. "You seem to be well-liked by all the tributes. I think we could use this to our advantage, right boys?" She looked at her useless Career allies who were still standing in the same spot and so were 10 metres away.
She huffed. "Tie him up and let's go."
As the two bound Lim's arms and legs and carried him like a hobo sack, Floyd looked at the things he'd discarded on the ground. She gathered them all up and put them in the backpack.
"Oh thank FLAT for a tampon." Then she saw the hat and had an idea. She plonked it onto Lim's head.
"Oi!" He squealed.
"Haha." They waddled back to the cornucopia, which was hidden in the heart of the rubble and remains of abandoned buildings.
"M-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-mr Cat! What're you doing here?"
Mr Cat ignored them and started walking past them quickly. When he was almost out of their peripheral vision, he quickly spoke.
"None of your business."
The twins had no time to reply because he was already gone.
"What the heck?" Boris muttered as they turned around. Mr Cat was sitting behind them licking his paw.
"Can you help us or not?"
"You're so pathetic that you need help from a cat? You great big lump of useless existence."
"Which one of us are you talking to?" Morris questioned.
Mr Cat blinked lazily. "Both."
"Oh."
Mr Cat then promptly walked off further into the ruins. Boris and MOris just stood there, unsure of what to do.
"Well?" the feline turned around. "Are you going to follow me or will I have to throw a conniption?"
Boris and Moris looked at each other and hurried after their pet.
Suddenly they heard voices and ran into the careers again.
"POOP!" Boris opera-sang.
Floyd starting laughing uncontrollably. "You said poop!" She gasped. Then she noticed no one else was laughing so she cleared her throat. Morris and Boris noticed that Lim was with them, tied up and gagged. He was limping.
"Well well well, if it isnt the twins again." Floyd smirked.
Morris glanced at Mr Cat anxiously. "Mr Cat! Help us!"
Mr Cat shrugged.
"HOW DO CATS EVEN SHRUG?" Morris ranted. Mr Cat shrugged again.
"You know what else I can do?" He purred. He stood up on his hind legs and clicked his fingers while bending his knee.
"Get some of this." He sang in a low voice. "You like jazz?"
"THAT IS THE MOST INHUMAN THING I HAVE EVER SEEN!" Boris screamed.
"Well what did you expect? I'm not a human, I'm a cat you idiot."
"GET RID OF IT!" Boris screeched frantically. The twins quickly jumped forward and kicked Mr Cat across the arena. Everyone within a 100km radius sighed with relief.
While Boris was distracted, Floyd suddenly grabbed Boris by the ear.
"You. Join me in an alliance. Together, we can take down Moris."
Boris was taken aback by this. "Wha? Why would I do such a thing? You're a career, you're a ruthless killer. I'm nothing like you!"
"Because… she told me she thought she was the better siamese twin."
Boris was heartbroken. She already knew that Moris thought that of her but the fact that she said it on live television in front of her entire district made her angry. Very angry. Her despair was soon replaced with fury.
However, little did Boris know of Floyd's diabolic masterplan which was basically that she couldn't be bothered to kill them herself so she used the power of her words. In fact, that's what she did for the training. Using her tricky words she told the game makers she was 18 years old when she was actually 15! They totally fell for it!
"I could help you, you know." Floyd held out her pinky. "All you need to do is pinky-swear yourself into the alliance. Whaddaya say?"
Boris stared intently at the pinky for a good minute. "You cut your nails weirdly. But I'll do it."
She shook the pinky.
"AHEM, I'm RIGHT HERE BORIS." Moris yodelled.
"TOO LATE!" Floyd shrieked. "MWAHAHAHAHA! YOU ALREADY PINKY SWORE!"
Moris growled but suddenly stopped as Floyd and her Careers brandished their swords. Floyd chucked a small plastic knife at Boris.
"What is this?" Boris asked confused.
"You need to earn my trust before I'll loan you a weapon." Floyd explained while Moris started shaking in terror at the knife. She was terrified of plastic. "You know what you have to do."
Boris eyed Moris - her very sister that shared the same blood as her. Literally! But no amount of kinship could ever sustain her loyalty. Boris held up the knife.
Suddenly, a bolt of lightning struck the ground metres from where the twins, careers and Floyd were. The arena suddenly burst into flames and there was screaming and terror and fear - oh the icy fear! Then suddenly, everything was dark. Absolutely dark.
But then Boris opened her eyes and so there was a pair of white circles hovering in the dark like in the cartoons.