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#21
District 2 Female
Name: Clawdette Fall
Age: 18
Score: 9
Odds of Victory: 5-1
Fact: She loved trashy soap operas and would always cry during the sappiest romantic bits.
The anthem played for the thirteenth time since the Games began. Clawdette didn't see the point, not when there was no way for the remaining tributes to see it.
Though part of her wished she had seen it the previous night. She'd have been sure to react to the sight of that little girl's face with a good spit.
Only four tributes were left, and only one of them wasn't in her alliance. She'd known all along she would make it this far, of course. This was what she had trained for. Both at Overwhill Academy and her more… personal training. The times she had taken initiative.
Only the very best candidates would enter the arena. Panzer had been one of them - though how good had he really been if that little brat had killed him? - and Clawdette had made sure she was the best of the girls. She'd trained hard, of course, but never could rise beyond the fifth rank on the leaderboard.
Well, ranks fourth to first wouldn't matter if there was no longer anybody alive to fill them, right? Her allies, the audience, even the gamemakers… they thought she'd only managed one kill.
It was annoying having not gotten anymore since the bloodbath, but the truth was that she's gotten more since before the Games began. She had five to her name, truth be told.
First was Africana. Messing with the climbing rope was simple, they trained everyone on that exact topic. Nobody had a clue who did it.
Second was Diana. She'd had an allergy to peanuts. Clawdette had made sure some ended up in her protein shake.
Third was Artemis. She'd been killed when Clawdette had swapped out one of the fake swords for a real one. Her killer after that bloody spar, the eighth ranked girl, had been expelled despite her pleas of having no idea where the real sword came from.
Fourth was Ena. It had been simple to smother her with a pillow during a fifty mile training hike across the district's mountains.
After that it was all too easy to play up being afraid of becoming a target and be guarded by the staff, known as being their greatest hope of a proper female tribute. That was all it took for her to enter the arena and claim her fifth kill, that short boy from District 9.
Yes, Clawdette knew she could win this and knew she was a better killer than Pearl and - heh, nudge-nudge, wink-wink - Admirable.
Even so, once the last outlier was dead it was going to be a free for all and Clawdette, even wearing the armour she'd claimed after the bloodbath, wanted a little insurance.
Past wounds and the recent electric shock were slowing her down, and at the final four slowing down was dangerous.
Only Dragon, her district's victor from the prior year, could take it slow. He'd refused to run for his entire Games to make it harder on himself.
He was a maniac, obviously, but a victorious maniac. Clawdette knew she could be the victorious part and avoid the maniac part.
She needed a little back-up. She needed an ally within the alliance.
While Pearl walked a distance ahead, keeping her blank eyes alert for any signs of mutts or the final outlier, Clawdette walked beside Admirable.
"We should be the top two," Clawdette whispered.
"I'm listening…" Admirable whispered back, intrigued.
"Pearl's the strongest, you've seen how easy this has been for her. All the kills she's gotten," Clawdette muttered.
Admirable narrowed his eyes into a glare. Clawdette grinned; this was what she'd wanted.
"So, once we corner the last one, we stab her right in the back and then kill the outlier," Clawdette insisted.
"Just let me be the one to kill the outlier and it's a deal," Admirable said.
Clawdette nodded, bumping her shoulder to that of her ally.
"Just so long as I can kill you after that," Clawdette snickered.
"You'd fail," Admirable said, bored.
"Would I? I've still got more kills than you," Clawdette told him.
Admirable's angry retort was cut off by a shrill whistle from Pearl. The fisher girl gestured for them to catch up and look at something on the ground.
"Footprints," Pearl said. "They lead this way. Let's follow them. "
"How can you tell they're recent, or belong to the outlier?" Admirable asked.
"At least it's a plan. If we take too long then the gamemakers would just force us together, but why force their hands?" Pearl asked. "C'mon, let's go."
Pearl continued on her way. Clawdette brought up the rear, gripping her spear tightly and thinking of how much she wanted to slam it into another tribute's body.
It wouldn't be long now.
Except, it would be. The footprints, though by no means old, didn't seem to belong to the outlier. Or if they did, they were especially elusive and good at hiding. Hours passed by, perhaps more than half a day, and the pack didn't find where the final tribute was hiding.
"Let's stop," Admirable muttered. "Water break."
"No, if we stop then the outlier's gonna just go hide somewhere else," Clawdette snapped.
"Eh, water sounds good," Pearl shrugged, uncapping her bottle.
For a while the careers stopped and settled down in a tunnel of rubble, dust and twisted tracks. None of them dared take their hands off of their weapons as they drank.
Admirable finished his drink first, rising to his feet. Clawdette's eyes were upon him in an instant.
"Where're you doing?" Clawdette asked.
"Taking a piss," Admirable replied. "I'll be right back."
Admirable left behind the next corner. Clawdette watched him leave before her attention returned to her water bottle. She considered the less-than-plentiful amount she had left, wondering if she ought to conserve it.
She knocked back the rest. The Games would be over soon; why not enjoy the water while she still had the chance?
"You enjoying that?" Pearl asked.
"I guess?" Clawdette shrugged. "Who doesn't enjoy a good drink?"
"Me. I dunno what enjoying stuff really feels like," Pearl stated.
"...Maybe you have something wrong with your brain?" Clawdette remarked.
"Hmmm, maybe. Do you think the Capitol could fix it?" Pearl asked. "Good emotions, bad emotions, I just want to feel something."
"Maybe winning will make you feel something," Clawdette said, already hardly paying her ally any attention.
"I hope so," Pearl said. "That's why I volunteered. People on Capitol TV say being a victor is a feeling like nothing else. Made sense to try and win."
"Well, too bad for you because I'm winning," Clawdette told her.
"Still three cannons left to fire," Pearl said, unbothered.
Squeaking began to fill up tunnels. Footsteps pounded against the ground as Admirable sprinted back down the tunnel.
"Mutts!" Admirable yelled. "Rats! Rats!"
"Finally, some action," Clawdette grinned.
The three tributes readied themselves for battle as rats began to rush them from the front and the back. There was to be no escaping the assault other than victory.
Pearl struck first, slaying a rat mutt without even blinking. Admirable slashed with considerable ease at the next pair of rats to reach them, laughing as their blood splattered against the walls.
Clawdette wasn't to be outdone. She wielded her spear much like a jackhammer, thrusting it back and forth with such speed, spiking and in some cases outright popping the bloody bodies of the ferocious rats.
"Die you little freaks!" Clawdette sneered.
The rats kept coming, even when it was clear that the trio could handle them easily. Even with the injuries she had sustained, Clawdette didn't struggle to kill them by the half-dozen.
By the time the swarm stopped the careers' weapons were soaked in mutt blood and so were much of their arms and chests.
"That was a work-out!" Clawdette laughed.
"Not the same as killing a tribute," Admirable muttered.
"Why do you think they just… stopped?" Pearl asked.
Admirable shrugged as he marched onwards, stepping around the rats and their pooling blood.
"They're probably ready to end it and wanted some quick ratings before the finale. The outlier won't put up a fight, so why not send the mutts to spice things up?" Admirable said.
"I think our fight will be much better than killing rats," Clawdette said.
"Without a doubt," Admirable said. "But first, the outlier. They're around here somewhere…"
"Who do you think it is?" Pearl asked.
"Does it even matter?" Clawdette asked, shrugging.
"No," Pearl admitted.
Deeper the trio went. Further into darkness they trekked. Whenever they started to veer away from where the gamemakers wanted them to go a rat would charge at them. When they went the way expected of them, no mutts would appear.
At last, they rounded a bend close to the depths of the salt mines and saw their target perhaps forty feet away.
The girl from 9, the niece of the very first victor. The one who loved sports and couldn't hear a thing. The girl who rocked back and forth with a thousand yard stare, twitching and sobbing without any care for the world around her.
How long had she been lost in the darkness?
Clawdette would make sure it wasn't much longer, bolting forth in an effort to beat Pearl and Admirable to the kill.
The girl from 9 saw them before they got close. She responded just how Clawdette hoped she would; a wheeze of terror and running for her life.
Clawdette just laughed, eager for some fun and ran after the smaller girl.
She gave Admirable a brief nod, gesturing to Pearl with her eyes. He returned her nod.
Clawdette would've killed Pearl then and there, but the fisher girl was faster than them and was out of range of a spear stab.
Sure, Clawdette could throw it, but then she'd be unarmed and as good as dead. If Admirable were smart, he'd take the chance to eliminate her.
"Keep after her! She's getting away!" Admirable yelled.
"The gamemakers won't let her run for long," Pearl said, unbothered.
Clawdette had to admit, the girl from 9 was fast. Of course, Clawdette already knew she was fast, but this was something else. Whether it was terror, talent or both, the girl from 9 was keeping ahead of them and easily making a frantic retreat through the tunnels.
But she was clearly tired and half-mad. Clearly, she'd not gotten enough to eat or drink. Clearly she was getting close to her limit.
The pack chased her through the tunnels and headed even further down. The girl from 9 sloshed ahead through a tunnel of shallow water and the pack followed after her.
They had longer legs, having already hit their growth spurts. They could travel through water fast enough to negate the girl from 9's speed advantage.
Around the corner they went. Clawdette's grin widened when she saw they had entered a colourful sea cave. There was nowhere to go, the outlier had dead ended herself.
The girl from 9 knew it, cowering on her knees and crying in the middle of the cove. It was almost cruel, letting her live in such pain. Well, Clawdette would give her a kindness and kill her.
But first she'd kill Pearl with Admirable.
Then she'd take the boy off of his guard and kill him too.
That crown was as good as hers.
But then… there was movement beyond the girl from 9, off by some large clams. Mutts that Clawdette could only describe as fish people rose into sight, surveying all four of the tributes.
They began to sing. It was beautiful. Clawdette swooned, thinking of it as being sweet as honey.
Her head became full of clouds. Her gaze went all dreamy.
She joined Admirable and Pearl in approaching the mutts. They walked right past the girl from 9.
Clawdette barely noticed the terrified girl running for her life from the sea cave and right back down the tunnel.
She did, however, notice when a razor sharp set of claws sliced through the skin of her left forearm and the singing was replaced by feral snarls and shrieks.
Finally back to reality, Clawdette had no time to register the danger she'd been lured into. The mutts were already upon her and her allies.
Pearl fought hard against one of the mutts while Admirable blocked the jaws of another with his scimitar. Clawdette thrust her spear into the gut of the third mutt.
She grinned as it howled in agony. It already looked wounded, surely enough for her to take advantage and slay it.
Then the mutt slashed her right on the spot she'd already suffered a nasty electric shock not that long ago. It made her grimace and fumble with her grip, just for a moment.
That moment was all the mutt needed. It tackled Clawdette to the ground and, still howling, slashed away at her face with its terrible claws.
The vile creature clearly knew to avoid her armour.
Clawdette screamed. She screamed from the weight of the mutt. She screamed from the agony of the cuts. She screamed from the overpowering stench of fish forced into her nose.
She screamed as the mutt slashed one of her eyes away.
She tried to reach for her spear. She couldn't reach it.
The mutt forced its fingers down her throat and gripped her head with the other. It pulled.
With a crunch, Clawdette was left without a jaw.
One final slash to her throat from the mutt and she was left without her life.
Clawdette's body was roughly thrown to the water by the mutt as it joined its brethren in fighting the remaining two careers.
It screamed, enraged, as Pearl snapped the neck of the one she'd been duelling.
It had just killed one tribute and, per its instinct, was ready to kill again.
Tribute Deceased
Ranking: 4th
Cause of Death: Mauled by Siren Mutt
Time Lasted: 13 days, 4 hours, 32 minutes and 10 seconds
The odds weren't in her favour
District 2 Eliminated