Joseph Carpenter- Wandering Souls D2M
I kept scrolling through Tuesday's blog, hoping that by some miracle there would be a hint to where Castiel and Walcott might be. I found it in the absolute last place I would have expected.
What do you think of the vampire?- FableFanForever
Vampire? More context would have been great, but the comment was locked. Clearly someone in charge had decided the writer was giving away a little too much. I had what I really needed, though. Apparently there was a vampire in the arena, which was very bizarre news I was going to need some time to reflect on. However, if there was a vampire in the arena, Walcott definitely knew about it. She was the weird one obsessed with killing vampires. Ergo, she'd be in whichever place was most likely to have vampires. Ergo, she and Castiel were in the blood bank.
"Not a vampire!" I yelled as I came down the hallway outside the door to the blood bank. "It's daylight out and there's a window in this hallway!"
The door to the blood bank opened and Castiel leaned out, having recognized my voice. Walcott peeked out alongside him, looking suspicious.
"I can come in without being invited, too," I offered, though I didn't try to force my way in.
Walcott looked at me like I was stupid. "She's not a normal vampire," she said, hands on her hips. "She's a weird muttation vampire. She doesn't follow all the same rules. But she does seem to follow the sunlight thing, so we can tell you're not a vampire."
"Oh," I said. "Can I come in?"
"Why?" Shinju asked, though she stepped aside as Castiel opened the door wider.
"I decided I don't want to kill people anymore," I said to Castiel, who smiled a little. "I'm not sure about Shinju though since she's kind of already dead, maybe?"
Over the next few minutes, Castiel (but mostly Walcott) filled me in about Shinju. Their best guess was that the Capitol had put some sort of vampire serum into the arena and she'd gotten infected by it. They conjectured there might be things like zombies, too, but so far they hadn't seen any.
"We've been here two days and she hasn't shown up," Walcott said. "She'll come eventually, though. She can't starve forever. Maybe if she was a normal vampire, but the Gamemakers wouldn't make her the kind that can go a long time without eating. They want her to attack people. But when she gets here-" She puffed herself up proudly- "we'll be the ones attacking."
Shinju Matsushita- Heart of Darkness D3F
It hurt more than anyone could bear. How could anyone resist it when it felt like my insides were boiling? It was all I could think about. Everywhere I went I smelled blood, rich and heady and mouth-watering. I swallowed compulsively as I imagined it pouring down my throat. Everywhere I turned, I saw it. I saw bright blood dripping down the walls and staining the floor. I would have gotten on my knees and licked it up if only it was real.
I need it. There's no way out. But I can't. I won't kill someone. I won't. There had to be a way. This was a hospital. Surely there was blood somewhere.
Walcott Patel- No Way Down D3F
The shadows grew longer as the sunlight dwindled. Soon all that was left was the florescent lights overhead. I waited for the doorknob to turn. When it did, my heart skipped.
She was so much less than I'd built her up to be. Shinju looked barely different than what I'd seen in the Capitol. Red dots reflected in her eyes, reminding everyone she wasn't really human. She looked paler than I remembered, and it was set off by her black hair and the harsh bluish light. Other than that, she might have been a normal girl. She might have fooled anyone but me.
I felt my stake rough against my hand as I crouched in front of Castiel and Joseph behind a supply cabinet, barely peeking out at her. I'd whittled two down from a broken-off broom handle. They were all we had. I'd asked Castiel if he could bless some holy water. He'd said that first off, he wasn't a priest, and second off, he wasn't even Catholic. We had to do it the hard way, then.
Shinju looked around the room. She seemed almost nervous, leaning forward on her toes and drawing her arms to her chest. It must have been fate that the room was more dimly-lit than most. Maybe it had to do with something in the lights affecting the stored blood, but I thought it was fate. She stepped silently across the room toward the rack of blood bags past us against the far wall of the room. When she reached the cabinet, we sprang into action. Joseph ran around the cabinet to shut the door behind her. Castiel moved up behind me to guard my back. And I ran at Shinju.
Castiel Wickham- Over and Over D10M
We couldn't have stopped her. No matter what we said, Walcott would have needed to do this. It was no reckless suicide mission, though- she'd prepared. She and I both wore high-necked surgical gowns we'd found, and we'd wrapped several layers of bandages around our necks. I couldn't say it was foolproof, but from my experience with vampire fangs, I thought it would at least slow Shinju down.
Shinju recoiled when she saw Walcott. Her mouth flew open, baring two fangs, one weirdly smaller than the other. She looked so surprised it seemed like she was gasping more than that she was baring her fangs. She turned to run- maybe she wasn't stronger than a human and two at once was too big a fight? Joseph slammed the door shut and I saw panic on Shinju's face. She darted sideways, narrowly avoiding Walcott's violent, stake-wielding charge. As Walcott's momentum carried her past Shinju, Shinju darted for the blood bags. She yanked the nearest one off the rack and raised it to her mouth.
Walcott smashed into her before she could sink her teeth into the bag. They both knocked against the wall, the stake smacking into Shinju but without enough power to punch into her. Shinju waved off a tangle of blood bag cords as she started to get up. As I ran up to help Walcott, she grabbed Shinju by the leg.
"Let me go!" Shinju screamed, still clutching the blood bag as she tried to break free.
I stopped just before I reached Shinju. She can talk? And she wasn't targeting Walcott, either. She was entirely focused on the blood bag she was holding. Maybe we were being too hasty.
Shinju yanked her leg free of Walcott and ran for the door. I held up a hand as she reached me, trying to wave her down. She shoved me aside and kept running. At the unexpected force of the shrug, I fell back. My head cracked against the ground.
Walcott Patel- No Way Down D3F
I was chasing Walcott when I heard the sound like a dropped watermelon. Castiel must have knocked somet
hing off the table, I thought. Then Joseph left his post by the door and ran across the room. "Hey!" I shouted as I followed Shinju. She's going to get away!
Shinju ran through the doorway and yanked the door shut. It hit the frame so hard it shook the room. I reached it a second later and yanked it. Rage flooded me when nothing happened. She'd shut it so hard it was jammed. I braced a foot on the wall and started yanking.
"Walcott!" I ignored Joseph's first yell. "He's dying!"
What? I turned and saw Castiel lying on the ground, blood spreading rapidly on the floor around his head.
"What happened?" I cried as I ran to them.
"Shinju pushed him and he fell," Joseph said. Castiel lay motionless, his eyes closed.
My heart burned. He wasn't even attacking her. I was the one trying to kill her. Castiel never hurt anyone. Shinju was even more evil than I thought. I hadn't known that was possible.
"I'll avenge you," I promised him, holding his hand.
Castiel Wickham- Over and Over D10M
Walcott's voice pierced through the fog.
"I don't want you to," I said. It was all I had time to say.
26th place: Castiel Wickham- accidentally killed by Shinju
Dead falls from five feet like that will kill you dead. It was unplanned irony that a vampire killed Castiel. It was planned that he died trying to help someone. Castiel always does his best to show that actions are more important than emotions. He doesn't feel love, but he shows it. Once he thought Shinju might be not trying to hurt Walcott, of course he wanted to ask her her side. Unfortunately she was pretty freaked out on account of being attacked by three people and also jonesing really hard for blood, so tragedy struck.