A/N: Omg I sincerely apologize for the lack of chapters I won't make this long so you can enjoy the chapter :) Winter break is next Wednesday which hopefully means more activity on this story! You guys are my motivation, thank you for staying with this story this far
Here we have some sponsor stuff, Calamity giving herself a pep talk, and a very ominous death at the end..
STILL ALIVE LIST:
Skyrah Labelle(D1 Female)
Felix Saunders(D2 Male)
Calamity Astrea(D3 Female)
Azurine Bahari(D4 Female)
Twyla Zahavyin(D5 Female)
Cameron Bordeaux(D6 Male)
Spruce Ashmark(D7 Male)
Cornell Wheaton(D9 Male)
Elisabeth Bronzebrook(D11 Female)
Jackson Winters(D12 Male)
Alice Kimminger(D12 Female)
Cornell Wheaton(D9 Male)
I was getting seriously suspicious when another package landed on the ground, Monday morning. On Mondays I was usually halfhearted, not really conscious of my surroundings, but I realized, I had changed a lot since the Games began. Now, each sunrise, I woke up, alert, fresh from sleep.
I was also getting used to seeing Cameron already up before me. He was going through our rations, picking out a couple things, like bread, and nuts, and splitting them between two piles, one for me, one for him.
"Gee, thanks Cameron," I yawned, shaking the fatigue out of me and blinking slightly, not used to the gleam of the light after a long period of darkness.
"No problem," he nodded.
I devoured my breakfast slowly. It was composed of walnuts, dried cranberries, a protein bar, and a bit of water. I definitely felt like someone who was fighting for his life right now, just looking at what I was eating.
Usually in Nine, we would eat things dealing with grain, like breads. It wasn't the best, but at least it was enough so that our stomachs weren't too empty. Right now, it felt like I was eating nothing, just crisp morning air.
"Hey, Cornell," Cameron observed. "Usually you breathe in the food- what's with you today?"
Sure enough, I thought as I looked down at my portion, I had barely eaten a thing. The food felt tasteless in my mouth now, like sandpaper, and I was afraid I would throw up if I even tasted some more of what we had been eating for the past few days.
"I don't know," I muttered, not really wanting to spill the actual truth. Trying to change the subject, I cracked a joke: "Anyway, what were we talking about yesterday- that story about the lady with the really crazy hair in my District. Oh, yeah. Well, she had the craziest hair, let me tell you. It was really frizzy and super pale, like the color of the snow. But she wasn't old or anything, she was in her mid-twenties. Weird, huh?" Really, it wasn't weird. Kinda lame, in fact. But I had nothing much to say.
Cameron narrowed his eyes, biting on his lip, but said nothing. Then he forced out a shaking laugh. "Yeah, weird. Super..weird."
"Hey, look at that," I pointed out something which had just caught my eye. It was a package of medium size, quite similar to the one that had held our previous sponsor supplies.
"We need that," I blurted out, my happiness mounting. "It feels like a month ago that we received the other one.."
I dashed for it and tore the package from the parachute-type thing. Cameron followed at a slower pace, his enthusiasm slowed probably by my oddness. "Whoa!" I exclaimed as I peeked inside. "Clothes!"
Cameron raised an eyebrow dubiously. "..Clothes?"
"Come on, we've been wearing the same thing since Day 1," I protested, laying out the two pieces of clothing beside each other. They looked extremely stark against the clean snow, one seeming to be weather protective and the other a blend of brown and whites, perhaps for camouflage.
"This is useful stuff," I grinned from ear to ear. "Come see, Cameron!"
He came over at a quicker walk than before and then he was smiling too. "This is awesome!" he gasped. "It's a miracle!"
I nodded, beaming. "I call the camouflage one!" I said, leaving Cameron with the one for weather protection. The weather protection suit-type thing was a dark gray, thick and feeling like rubber. It still camouflaged well, just not as well as mine. Same went for me- mine was thick, but not thick enough to be called "specially designed that way".
"This proves miracles do happen," Cameron concluded, his eyes bright, "even in the Hunger Games."
Calamity Astrea(D3 Female)
Now Tyler was dead. To make matters worse, he was my last ally alive, which meant I was completely and utterly alone now. Everything seemed so enhanced, like my vision had been sharpened. The snow was crisper, the cold dug deeper into my skin, and the trees were even more taller than before, casting great shadows before them.
I found a different place to stay, just because I was a little paranoid someone would find me. Now, I didn't have any company, didn't have a single soul in the world to help make decisions with me. Everything I did- from here on out- would be my choices entirely.
I shivered, tucking the jacket closer around me and exhaling slowly. A burst of clashing warm and cold air made my breath look foggy for an instant, before fanning out again. I sighed.
I wished for the warmth of the library, the flickering candles and the beautiful shelves filled with wonderful books. I wished for just one moment where I could not be afraid, where I could have at least one other companion again. I wished for the aroma of pages in the air, going up through my nostrils and sending a feeling of satisfaction and pleasure through me. All these wishes weighed down on me until it was difficult even to be sarcastic anymore.
I dug my nails into the skin of my arm- nails which I had not cut in a long, long time, and told myself it was all a dream.
It was all, all a dream.
But no. Nothing was ever a dream, here. I stood up, a sudden rush of determination consuming me. The embrace of its hot flames, the lovely feeling of strength that came with it, made me a bit more confident. My chin rose in sharp defiance.
"I can do it," I whispered to myself, my voice hoarse, a ghostly echo. "I can do it. I've done it before, I've survived until now- I can't just give up."
Wendigo - Prey
I looked around in the shadows, examining each tree. I knew there was a specific shape I was looking for... Aha. There it was: a bush the size of a rabbit with thin prickly leaves resting on top.
My plan with Cameron, I thought with a quiet laugh, was going well. More than well. I had waited years for this and finally I was getting what I deserved. This would be the product of all my hard work, and nobody could ruin it like last time.
Plus, all those days of pretending to be "nice guy" as Murray's mentor had been really draining on my energy, and I had always went to bed feeling extremely tired. Now, I could be as powerful and manipulative as I wanted. All of these tributes were nothing against me.
Except, I thought with a scowl, Jackson and Alice. They had technically "won" against me.
Ugh. Stupid, stupid, stupid. All those Capitol's brats in their annoying Games. Well, now, I would take them down. I had grown up with the Capitol, but now I knew better. The Capitol was just a band of little, peanut-size brained people and it would be easy to take them down and replace them with my own method of government.
I remembered my mother and the salon once more, the tapestry, the bright colors she had tried on my hair. Wasting her money on useless things.
He should be here any moment now... Ah. Yes. My eyes narrowed into mere slits in my face and my lip curled.
He was tall with gleaming eyes that shone in the darkness. I had left him a note earlier next to his camp and he had seen it. I had told him that I would hunt him down if he didn't come, and he must've been afraid, a coward without his allies, because he had listened to me. I laughed to myself, trying my best to contain it because I knew I had to get the timing right, had to leap down as a surprise attack. I was high up in a tree, perched on top of a slender branch that swayed dangerously under my weight. My plan was to jump to the ground, hopefully without a sound because the snow would muffle the impact, and use that same force which brought me onto the earth, to kill him.
I lowered my head, crouching in the shadows, my ears pricked.
It was hard not to show signs of nervousness, especially when this moment would either be death or failure. I knew it was a one percent chance that my opponent would win, but it was still a chance, and I hated chances. The only time I was satisfied was when things were straight up facts, a fact that I would win, a fact that I need not worry.
But I couldn't predict the future, however much I wished I could. Though, of course, I wouldn't want to be predicting my own failure.
I cast these annoying thoughts away from my head and concentrated on the plan at hand. I would jump down at him, then turn and shove him to the ground. Hopefully the amount of power used in that blow- a blow to the back of the head- would cause him to fall unconscious, and from there it would be easy.
There were many ways to kill a man. For one, you could slit his throat, let the blood seep out, droplet by droplet until they gathered in a crimson puddle on the ground, dragging his final moments on. The merciful way would be to break his neck entirely, wrench it until there was blood, yes, but it was mostly bone and muscle. That would probably even sever his spine, the death coming in a matter of seconds, with no painfully slow bleeding.
Another way, of course, was to go for the heart, or just the chest area, if you couldn't aim for such a precious part as the throat. There were veins and things that lurked under there, the lungs, the rib cage, and, of course, the heart. I willed myself to remember that the heart was on the right side if I was facing him. And, also, that it was difficult to go for the heart because it was so small, like the throat, and could potentially miss and just fly over the shoulder.
Third option(I had decided I would pick options based on which angle he was facing me, increasing my nervousness), was to just slice him open and let him bleed. This could happen anywhere, on the face, on the head, etc. Also, if my head blow thing didn't work and he got back up, totally good and knowing of my presence, I could perhaps fake that I was aiming for his heart- then, when he dodged as my dagger was soaring through the air, I would run forward, catch it again and shove it into his flesh when he was only focused on protecting where I was pretending to go for.
There, that was my plan, I thought, somewhat satisfied. My pulse was still really quick, my heart thumping and bumping against my chest, like it wanted to jump out of my rib cage. I tried to calm myself, to no avail.
He was approaching me, curiously gazing upward, when I suddenly moved to the ground, slithering from the trunk of the tree and running toward him. Dammit. I wasn't supposed to slither. As my opponent was faced right toward me, seemingly frozen to the ground, a look of shock on his face, I decided quickly that I would use Option 2. It was the easiest and most effective in this situation.
In a quick motion, the dagger was in his chest and his breaths quickly went from normal to fast and ragged. He made a rasping sound in his throat, his eyes rolling with delirious pain, then flopped to the ground like a dead fish. He seemed like he was wanting to speak, but no words came out of his mouth- the only thing that happened, in fact, was the endless moving of his jaw.
He seemed to be trying to say, "monster".
Soon, he was dead though, and I realized I had totally forgotten about the head injury part of the plan. Oh, well. He was gone already, so what did it matter? It wasn't like I cared about his demise. I looked coldly down at his dead body, the mask on my face quivering as I fought for breath. The mask, I remembered faintly, to keep anyone from recognizing me. The cannon tore through the air and I was filled with triumph.
One down, nine more to go.
There had been eleven tributes. Now there was ten. Nine would have to die. Then one would survive, and I would use him.
Also, I mused, District Seven had just lost their chance of winning this year..
A/N: The fact that I am cussing in a story when I don't in real life is incredible. xD But it's for the sake of the chapter.
Qotd: What do you guys want for Christmas?
Aotd: Books and slime supplies
12/17/17