MIST HASTINGS- Shinju Matsushita
She was the first one since Lyte to look at me without fear. Maybe it meant something, what happened to her right after. I hated that I could hardly concentrate on her face on the ceiling. I wanted to pay my respects, but the restless pain somewhere inside my chest wouldn't let me. I didn't want to think about what kind of horrible diseases would be in an arena like this. All night I'd been running back and forth from the drinking fountain, but I was still so thirsty.
KERRY SELMOSA- Ferrari Benz
He'd been like me, hadn't he? An adventure seeker. But usually he lasted a lot longer than I did. A smart adventure seeker, then. One of the handful of mountaineers who reaches retirement. Not that people like us ever retire.
LAKEN DERVISSEY- Juniper Triton
There weren't many of us this year- Four males, I meant. Maybe we tended to be less crowd-friendly. He'd certainly seemed to be my opposite. He was a cold, standoffish killer. I was a merman and made a best friend for life in the Games. But he died early, so maybe that boded well for me.
DEMARCUS KING- Logan Quinn
He was the one who stuck in my head. It hurt, what I did to Jay, but he was never going to win. He always fought the good fight, but he would never sacrifice what all Victors gave away for their lives. Demarcus, though- he was my brother. Funny how we'd gone into the same life and come to the opposite conclusion. He said that brotherhood went past everything. I said that in the end nothing mattered but me.
JAY DALLAS- Mati Berlin
Just once, why couldn't there be a happy ending? Why couldn't it ever be the one who deserved it? It was the first time I'd died before he had. Now I had to live in a world where the people who made life living weren't there. I saw his body. I saw the sickening proof that Jay could die like anyone else. If there was another Resurrection Games, we'd be back. I'd see him again, and he'd take up just where he left off. I knew how fragile he was now, though. I would never feel the same safety and trust in our alliance again. I'd already decided I would hide it from him.
Charybdis Kincaid- No Way Down D4F
For the last few days, it felt like I'd just been running in neutral. I knew I wanted to get out of here and make something of my life, but I kept getting the nagging thought that it wasn't very noble to hunt down a bunch of scared kids. I could limit my hunting to other Careers, but truth be told, I wasn't keen on putting myself at that much risk. Bit hypocritical, but I was only human.
It was later than I expected when I woke up. Weird how I've been in two arenas and they were both indoors, I thought as I sat up in bed. It was especially weird having a real bed. In the Academy we expected the Games to be like a camping trip- we even took a few every year to practice- but this was hardly less comfortable than a cheap hotel. It must have been the stress that was keeping me up at night.
Well, back to work. I swung my legs over the edge of the bed and crouched by the locked door to check the area. I couldn't see anyone through the crack or under the edge of the door, so things were as safe as they were going to be. It had occurred to me that someone might be looking from the other side to find me, but that was just one of the inevitable risks of the Games. I'd read spy novels about people waving a piece of paper in front of a peephole to draw out an assassin who would shoot at the change in light. So far life had not imitated art.
Just outside my room, I stopped to read the sign by the door. Where to today? I thought almost lazily, as I read over the possibilities. When my eyes fell on "lobby", I had a thought.
It was eerie when I saw the hospital exit. I hadn't gotten to the bottom floor of my last arena. The closed doors seemed foreboding, like the gate to the underworld. Surely if I tried to go through them te Gamemakers would kill me. I gave them a wide berth as I snuck toward my goal.
The gift shop was still as a tomb. Incongruously bright balloons hung suspended over racks of cards and wilting flowers. Only someone with training would have noticed the stuffed cat slightly off-kilter to the others in the pile, like someone had brushed past it. More than that, there was candy in a rack by the register. There was no way that no one had taken advantage. I walked past a table full of wooden carvings, checking under shelves and behind rows of t-shirts.
I didn't even think when it happened. At the movement in my peripherals, I whirled and threw my trident. It pierced through the girl's back as she ran through the doorway, having noticed me and been forced to make a run for it. She gasped as she fell forward onto her knees. She tried to get up, but there wasn't enough time. I caught up to her and pulled her upper body back as I pushed the trident in further. She gasped once more, looking up at me with something like heartbreak.
Useless. I couldn't stop the thought piercing into my mind. It was useless, wasn't it? I'd killed someone, and someone would kill me eventually. I wasn't getting out of this. I should just give up.
My hand fell from the trident as I stepped backwards. Where had that come from? I'd been doing so well. But I hadn't, had I? I'd been sleeping in. I hadn't even wanted to get out of bed, even though I had. Then I had the sudden intrusive thought that all of this was useless.
Coldness washed over me. It couldn't be. There were so many types of depression. There was depression that came and went, depression caused by something in your life, seasonal depression… and depression caused by a chemical imbalance. The kind that just came on with no cause, especially when someone was going through puberty, like I was when I first felt its pull. Chemicals in my brain, failing to propagate or spread. But then I was cloned. A new body, with a complete set of DNA, a complete set of cells and tissues. A completely healthy person, chemically speaking. But if those chemicals couldn't regenerate…
It's like radiation poisoning. You look healthy, and for some few days, you are. All the parts of your body work fine, except they can't regenerate. You only notice it as they start to die off, and nothing comes in their place. Those chemicals flag, and dwindle, and run down until the moment there's nothing left.
Hosanna Rayles- Child's Play D9F
This was what the Games was all about, wasn't it? Culling rebellion? They took the upcoming generation and showed them beyond all doubt that there was no chance that they could win. We all thought we'd be the exception, or at least that someone would. So few of us even lived long enough to make a mark.
Talise Cicero- Swing Vote D4F
It was better than how my first Games went, but it was unbelievably dull clearing rooms. Many of the outliers had had the same idea- to lock every door behind them as they went down a hallway. My feet were killing me from all the breaking and entering we'd had to do. I wanted to break out in song when I saw the door to the audiology department was frosted glass.
"Leave this one to me," Diamond said with a flourish of her hand. I could see where she was going. Trust a One to need to know about glass. Wouldn't want to buy a fake jewel. Diamond opened her backpack and took out a roll of bandages. She taped four strips in a square near the door's handle. She reached back into the bag and rummaged around until she came out with a thin knife, so tiny it was more of a multitool than a weapon. She tapped the glass carefully with its handle with increasing force until it cracked, opening a hole in the door.
"Ta-da," she said, as she opened the door.
"Good-" I started. Then the most foul odor I could have ever imagined shot over us, her a second before me. She reeled back, clapping her hands over my nose, as I turned away and threw up my hands reflexively. God, it's so bad it actually burns.
"What the hell?!" I said as we retreated with our shirts over our noses.
"Look!"
With streaming eyes, I followed Diamond's pointing finger an instant before I noticed the movement myself. Some thirty feet down the hall, Gabriel and Delilah fled out of what must have been a network of room connected to the door we'd just breached.
Of course it would be him, I thought as we ran after the two. Even a deaf kid couldn't not notice that alarm.
Diamond may or may not have beaten me at long distances, but I was the better sprinter. I pulled ahead of her and caught up to Delilah just as she turned to look back. When she saw how close I was, she panicked, lurching forward and tripping herself. She screamed as I fell onto her. Ahead of her, Gabriel ran on unaware.
Diamond blurred past me as I straddled Delilah and started stabbing. Jagged cuts opened up on her arms as she vainly tried to bat me away. I punched her hard on the cheek to stun her, then got in some killing wounds.
"You good?" I asked, looking up at a sudden crashing noise. Diamond lay sprawled on the floor, unhurt but knocked flat underneath a shattered potted plant. Gabriel, who had seemingly just swung it, looked over in my direction and horror flashed on his face at Dominique lying under me. He reached up like he was going to plead with me to stop, then glanced down at Diamond, who was already picking her way upright between sharp pieces of pottery. He curled his arms against his chest and fled down the hall and out of sight.
"You all right?" I asked again as I caught up to Diamond as she dusted herself off.
She picked a leaf out of her hair. "When we get back, let's just tell the cool part where I broke the glass, okay?"
Delilah Clementine- Back to Normal D9F
Gabriel hadn't heard it. He hadn't heard me scream, or Talise killing me. He thought I was right behind him. I prayed he wouldn't look until later. Let him be confused and spend a day with the increasing certainty that I would be in the sky that night. It would break his heart, but it was better than him coming back to help me. It was already too late. Just a few more seconds, and he should just keep running.
Majesty Miraval- Wandering Souls D1M
It was like there had been a thousand voices in my head and all at once, they'd all gone silent but one. In an instant, my life had sharpened with clarity and purpose that would have staggered me if it hadn't seemed so natural.
"What you thinking about, hotcakes?" the adoration in Arleen's eyes almost endeared her to me. She thought I loved her, which endeared her all the more, because it was just so ludicrous. There was no room in my heart for such a stupid thing as love. She did mean something to me, though. She belonged to me, and that gave her value. Anything connected to me was, of course, valuable.
"Have you ever noticed how funny life is?" I said. Even as I said it, I could feel myself smiling. It was all just so… funny. What a wonderful feeling, to laugh. I wanted more.
"I guess I never thought about it," she offered, mirroring my expression.
"That's why I'm the brains in this partnership and you're the… what are you again?" I asked. I giggled as the confusion spread over her face. Maybe there was something worth keeping about her.
"I'm the cheerleader!" she chirped, bringing up both fists to her chest and bouncing on her feet.
"Let's have a cheer, then," I said.
The amusing confusion came back. "What? Like, right now?"
"You said you're the cheerleader. Let's hear a cheer," I repeated.
Arleen laughed nervously. No, that won't do at all. I want you to really think it's funny. She wobbled on her feet for a moment.
"Who's the best, the very very best, who's way better than the rest?" She started, her voice high and squeaky. She did a jumping jack, her hands waving in the air. It was so very attractive, how she debased herself for me."Majesty! He's brave and strong and oh so hot! Can anyone beat him? I think not!" She threw her arms wide and tilted her head.
"Ha ha ha ha!" The laugh started off strong and ended with almost violent force. "You look ridiculous!"
I could see the hurt and hope fighting it out on her scrunched-up little face. "'Cause I love you so much! I'm ridiculous for you, honey pie!"
I laid a hand on her shoulder and her face lit up. "Arleen, you're a riot."
"Thanks!" she squealed. She put her hand on mine. When I pulled loose a second later, she followed my hand with hers until it was out of reach.
"I tell you what. This kind of humor is too good to keep to ourselves. What do you say we get everyone in the Arena laughing with us? Oh, why do I even ask. Of course you're going to say yes," I said teasingly.
"That sounds great!" Arleen said, bouncing on her heels again, her smile wide across her face. "You mean like, find a radio and tell jokes? They're gonna love you!"
The fit of laughter shook me. "We can't expect the riff-raff to understand a couple of highbrow intellectual types like ourselves," I said. "No, no, we're going to have to be more direct. Force them to laugh, even."
"How are you gonna do that?" Arleen asked, tilting her head like a dog. My dog.
"Don't you know a thing or two about chemicals?" I asked.
She gasped. "Darling! You remembered!"
I ignored her sentimental outburst and looked at the rows of bottles all around us. "Surely there's something here that can stimulate a poor, underdeveloped sense of humor?"
Since they both got caught. Hah hah I'm almost as funny as Majesty.
100th place: Hosanna Rayles- Stabbed by Charybdis
I noticed the Careers were kind of just sitting around doing nothing, so I started getting some stuff done, and that meant killing a lot of people. There was no reason it had to be Hosanna, but then, there was no reason it couldn't be. Having a good story and so much determination doesn't guarantee anything. The Games are rigged and that's the cold truth.
99th place: Delilah Clementine- Stabbed by Talice
Delilah was just here since I wanted Gabriel to have his friend, so I always planned to kill her quickly. Now Gabriel's on his own in a very non-disability-friendly deathmatch, so let's see what happens. Also Delilah is NOT DOMINIQUE! Curse my weakness for names that sound kinda similar.