Theo Wondderoo- Touch the Sky D12M
You might say we were stuck between a rock and a hard place. We were on the second floor and Zibby's lab- assuming we were right- was on the seventh. It would have been hard enough dodging the Careers even in the best of conditions, but we had Gaius' health added to that. His petrification seemed to be progressing at an hourly rate. It didn't change much in a single hour, but each hour was one more handful of muscles permanently sealed off to us. He'd been limping when we stumbled across Arielle sealing one of the doors shut before we reached the second floor stairwell. We'd had to double back and take a longer route to the stairwell, and by the time we reached it, his left knee couldn't bend at all. Even with hour numbers, we could scarcely afford a single fight. Even a sprint would tear muscle fibers, and an injury that might have healed overnight wouldn't heal at all for him. Gaius insisted we had to leave him behind if he lost the ability to walk on his own. Todd and I had already discussed it and knew that wasn't an option for the two of us.
We all breathed a sigh of relief when we got to the seventh floor. The hazardous materials lab was exactly in the middle, of course, as far away from any exits as possible in order to increase the time to catch a thief. But it wasn't that large of a hospital. Surely we could make it.
"You don't suppose any of the Careers started on the top floor so they could work their way down?" Todd asked as I opened the stairwell door.
"Ohhh," I said. "Yeah, I suppose that would be a logical approach."
"Well let's hope people who volunteer for the Hunger Games aren't very logical," Todd said, in the sort of half-breezy and half-nervous way jokesters have when they're forced to confront something serious.
As soon as we entered the hall, we noticed all the doors lining the corridor were sealed shut. Some of the doors were visibly warped, while others just wouldn't open when tugged.
"Oh, nice. They already came through," Gaius said. He was leaned against the wall lightly, the weight off his stiff leg to prevent it from getting worse.
I'd barely registered the sound of rapid footsteps before a figure came tearing around the corner. I put my hand on the lid of my thermos, my stomach churning as I wondered if I was really willing to use it. Burns were one of those things that could never be undone. There was hardly any way possible more horribly and permanently to deform human flesh than by burning it. I didn't know if I could look someone in the eye and do that.
My knees almost gave out when I saw it was just Lily. She flew around the corner, her head turned over her shoulder. Obviously something was behind her. I heard Gaius shift as the three of us prepared to run. Lily looked ahead and gasped when she saw us. She changed paths awkwardly to avoid running to close to me or Todd. The movement was so quick it knocked her off-balance. She stumbled, crying out with fear when she knocked into Gaius.
"No!" Todd and I shouted at the same moment. I raised my arm helplessly as Gaius wobbled on his stiff leg and fell, his other knee smacking against the floor. Lily shot through the stairwell door as I ran to help Todd raise Gaius to his feet. We stood him up just as Olivine and Lottie appeared.
Toddward Howard- Swing Vote D9M
A last stand, then. Olivine and Lottie stood between us and Zibby's lab. We couldn't hope to run. Theo and I could, but Gaius couldn't, and that meant we couldn't. An outsider would have seen it as three on two. Good odds, right? But not when the two were trained killers and longtime partners, and one of the three was only half-functional. Added to that, Lottie counted as two.
"Let's go!" Theo pointed at Lottie and threw up his fists. Before the rest of us could react, he charged at her. Lottie smiled and came at him without drawing her sword. Olivine stepped back with an exasperated look, annoyed that the two of them were blocking the hallway and making it nearly impossible for her to attack Gaius and me without risking being in Lottie's way.
When the two of them hit, it was like the sickening impacts I'd seen in football games back home, the kind that ended with a concussion at best. Her arm came up and caught him at the throat as she drove him back toward the wall. He bounced a little at the impact and I swore I heard something pop. She leaned in to finish the job of crushing the air out of him. As this was happening, Olivine sized up the gap between Lottie and the far wall of the hallway, which was now big enough for her to come through. Gaius and I were bracing for the fight when I saw Theo's arm at his side.
There was a clatter as the thermos lid hit the floor. Theo's arm came up and amber-brown liquid arced out of his thermos. Gaius and I both winced as the molten caramel hit Lottie's face. She made a noise like a bear when the trap clamps shut on its leg. She dropped Theo and reeled back, bumping into Olivine behind her and almost crushing her against the opposite wall. She pawed at her face and nauseating strings of caramel and flesh dangled from her arms, catching the light from overhead. In a moment she crumpled to the floor, going limp just before she hit.
"Lottie!" Olivine screamed. She looked at the three of us for a split second before sprinting down the hallway.
I ran to Theo, who was lying on his side, his chest heaving. I knelt by him and saw the blood flecking his bluish lips as he clutched at his throat. His breath sounded like the whistle of a tea-kettle. Dots of drying caramel discolored his face.
"He can't breathe!" I called as Gaius slowly lowered himself down next to us. My hands hovered by my chest. What do I do? How do I fix it?
Theo's chest was heaving more weakly now- spasming, more like it. His arm slid along the ground in an arc by his head until he was pointing down the hallway.
"No, no, no, buddy," I said as I saw where he was heading. It couldn't be happening yet. I wasn't ready to lose my friend.
A tiny smile tugged at his lips. His hand curled into a thumbs-up. He laid down his arm and then he laid down his head.
Olivine Martinez- Back to Normal D1F
Why? Why did it have to be after we sealed the doors?
The only unsealed doors were across the entire floor. Sure, I could break through one of the doors with enough time, but Lottie didn't have time. She was already in shock and she could die in minutes if she didn't get first aid. I tore down the hallway and as my lungs burned I shuddered, wondering if Lottie's lungs were sealed. Whatever that sticky stuff was, had she breathed it in? Would it seal her lungs shut?
I reached the few unsealed corridors and burst into the first room. After frantically looking around, I moved to the next one, the one Lily had fled from as we were searching the other. I sobbed with relief when I saw a first aid kit secured to the wall underneath a row of lab tables. I snatched it and sprinted back toward Lottie. A cannon sounded as I was running through the door, but I didn't stop. Maybe it was Theo. Maybe it wasn't her.
Gaius and Todd were gone when I reached Lottie. I would have fought them both, but this made it easier. Lottie was so still on the ground. I wasn't sure either way until I looked at Theo and recognized the unnatural appearance of a corpse.
I tore open the first aid kit as I knelt by Lottie, bandages and wipes flying out onto the ground. I clawed through it and came up a little plastic box labeled BURN KIT. I opened it and found a tube of cream and some medicated bandages. I whimpered at the sight of Lottie's ruined face. A thin sheen of brownish film was smeared over pink flesh dotted with boils and cracks. Most people couldn't imagine how painful that was. Me, I'd jumped through fire before. I knew that white, sweeping pain like your skin had all been scraped off in a moment with an acid knife.
It doesn't say if I should remove the liquid, I thought as I read the directions on the bottle. Surely I should, right? It was going to dry to her raw skin. I gagged at the thought. I should take it off. I think I should take it off.
I threw off my shirt and poured some water from my bottle onto it. I started dabbing at the caramel. I'd realized what it was from the sweet disgusting smell of candied bacon coming from Lottie's face. Who would think up something like that? Even Careers hated fire. With gentle motions I patted at Lottie's swollen face, starting near her eyes. That's the most fragile part, right? I took deep breaths as I went, preparing myself in case her eyelids came off in my hands. Her head, tilted to the side, seemed to be fused to her neck. I prayed I was wrong.
A cannon sounded. I gasped. Not her, though. Right? She hasn't changed.
Lottie was more still than she had been before. I put two fingers to the side of her neck. When I didn't feel anything I pushed harder, forcing past the thick muscle. Where is it? Why isn't it there?
My hand slid to my side. There was nothing I could have done, was there? The damage and the shock was too great. I sat shaking and sniffing over Lottie's body. It was disgusting that this was how I had to leave her- an unrecognizable, melted-together flesh dotted with blisters and crackling with the sheen of caramel.
It hit me in the heart when it hit me. A sheen of caramel, covering her face. Melted flesh swollen and fused together. Caramel, gluing her lips together. Caramel, hardened around and inside her nostrils. There was something I could have done, but it was too late. She wasn't breathing anymore, and she wasn't living anymore.
42nd place: Theo Wondderoo- Throat crushed by Lottie
For that dramatic flair, I decided one of the Stadwatch had to die in the process of getting Gaius to Zibby. Theo and Todd are a bit similar but I ended up picking Theo since Todd is more sensitive and would angst more about losing his friend. Theo went out like a champ, though, goading Lottie into a fistfight to get past her sword and close enough for a point-blank prison napalm shot. Gaius has a fighting chance now, and the single strongest tribute in the Games is eliminated.
41st place: Lottie Parker- Suffocated
I chose this precise method of death since it was the quickest, allowing Lottie to die before she woke in unimaginable paint. Lottie is always a champ. It's hard to even remember that she's actually a canon foreigner, made for the Killer Elite Res Games. She's so well-loved that she escapes the skepticism most canon foreigners get, reducing their chance of winning. Lottie always goes all-in, which has boosted her popularity but has also hurt her chances of winning. She was honorable enough to give Theo a fair fight, but what she didn't know was that Theo is loyal enough to fight dirty to save his friends.
LMAOOOOO I FORGOT MAXSON WAS IN THIS ALLIANCE! He was there during this scene. He just did nothing at all of importance.