Thanks to goldie031, Very New To This, owlthewriter, Dani H. Danvers, ladyqueerfoot, CrocodileReader431, FrostyShadow, & GalaxyQueen500 for the reviews! Also, congrats to Very New To This for being the 200th review!
Hello everyone from the UK! Sorry I did not reply to reviews this time. I've been carving out time here and there to type up this chapter and the next and will be replying once I'm home. I'm returning home Sunday afternoon so the next update may be delayed again. But I think this is a good cliffhanger.
Enjoy!
Chapter 27 Poison in the Veins
Day 4 of the 58th HungerGames
Lana had been on guard duty for the last shift of the night so she was awake when the list of the Fallen played. A face flashed and instantly her mood soured. Before the list was complete and the face vanished, Lana walked over to a nearby tent and threw the flap open.
The stench of death washed over her. Pale, limp, and with glassy eyes looking blankly out into space was Mara, finally succumbed to her infection.
Mara face hung on the projection for a few more seconds and then vanished. As soon as the anthem ended, the water in the nearby basins was drained and refilled. Lana kept her eyes on Mara, shaking her head angrily. What a joke of a death for a Career, she thought, but fitting for the joke of a Career pack that year.
'If it was ever alive.' Lana thought. The Careers of the 58th Hunger Games had to be the most dysfunctional group since… Lana was struggling to even think of a time the Pack did worse! She wasn't sure if it was because of the individuals in the Pack, the awful luck with the girl from 9 being blown up next to three of them, or just the arena itself, but Lana knew sticking with the Pack wouldn't help.
It was an awful realization that she was part of something pathetic. All her life she had been amongst the elite: the elite of the Districts, the elite of the families in District 1, and the elite of her peers. Normally she only felt this awful thanks to Aunt Katie's prodding. All Games, Lana hadn't been able to get the thought of Aunt Katie laughing at her out of her mind. What must she be saying about her now?
With that bitter thought in mind, Lana drank her fill from the replenished water before making her way to the stashed supplies. As she dug the ladder out to he gravel, Valdez awoke and crawled out of his tent and spotted her.
"Mara's dead." Lana informed him. Valdez immediately went over to the Mara's tent and confirmed for himself, gagging at the smell. He turned back to Lana, confused by her actions.
"What are you doing?"
"Breaking up the Pack."
"With thirteen other Tributes still out there?"
"And only three Careers left." Lana huffed, putting the ladder into position before ascending it. Valdez meanwhile woke Estelle up, who groggily emerged to find Lana now fully packed and ready to depart.
"You can't leave this early." Estelle told her harshly.
"I can't think of a reason not to." Lana joked. "Because we're on a hot streak? I guess we are if you count our losses. With those, the Careers have contributed to half the deaths so far. Great job everyone!"
She zipped up the bag forcefully and threw it over her shoulders. Estelle grunted in frustration before throwing her arms up in defeat. "Fine, if you want to be a quitter, go ahead and leave the Pack!" Estelle shouted.
"I wouldn't dare insult prior Careers by calling this a Pack. A dead Career in the Bloodbath? Another dead by infection, infection?! All thanks to your leadership."
"Excuse me?"
"Did I stutter?" Lana mocked. "We should never have let you take the reins. Since you've led us it's been one bad decision after another. The Capitol even agrees. Where are our sponsors? Where's our help? They've cut us loose and are probably sponsoring everyone else. So, I'm done. Try to stop me if you want."
Estelle didn't. Instead, she threw up her hands again and stormed away. "Fine, the girl without a kill and a dead District partner is going to lecture me about being a bad Career. Screw you. We don't need you."
Estelle wandered over to the water basin and drank from it, not giving Lana a second glance. Lana just scoffed, unsurprised that Estelle didn't try to attack her. Valdez was more reserved about it, approaching her gently. "If it's what you want, good luck then." Valdez said, holding his hand out to her. Lana took it and shook it.
"You can come with me if you want." Lana offered.
"District 2 needs to stick together. Even if I'm unimpressed with Estelle."
"See you around then."
"Or not."
Lana departed, deciding to head down the green line. Valdez waited until she was out of sight before returning to Estelle, who was sitting on the edge of the basin. With just the two of them, the massive domed room around the Cornucopia seemed especially uninviting. The eyes of the frescoed women above seemed displeased, following Valdez as he took a seat next to the water and Estelle.
"We should break up camp." Valdez told her, taking control. "We should never have established a central base. The tunnel are too large and coming back to a camp means backtracking and wasting time. We should bring a sleeping bag each, a bag of supplies, and just make camp along the lines as we go, like the other Tributes have been doing."
"Ok." Estelle said, easily following in behind Valdez's lead. He shook his head, disappointed with his partner. Where had her fire gone?
He drank his fill of water and stood up, taking the lead. "Come on, lets not waste anymore time."
The pair from 2 made their way back to camp, packing up their own supplies and sleeping bag, eating while they gathered their supplies. Only afterwards did Valdez remove Mara's body from her tent and left her out so the drone could retrieve her.
And then, they drank some more water and set out.
It was a rookie strategy, one that everyone in District 12 tried when desperate, but after three days of no food the hunger pains were coming in strong and Pan was desperate for some way to alleviate them.
The blue line had a couple water fountain that Pan could sneak out from his hiding spot and drink his fill at. Currently, he was filling his stomach with water, trying to trick it into feeling full. Again, a strategy that wouldn't work. Three days wasn't the longest he had gone without food of course. But without anything else to do in the arena but hide, hunger was all that he was left with.
That, and the changing tunnel around him. He had been forced out of his earlier hiding spot at the top of the train as the water level rose. It seemed like every 12 hours the water level would increase. So far there were still places to hide, but Pan was getting the impression the Gamemakers were somehow flooding the blue tunnel, which was great for keeping other Tributes away from him so long as he didn't drown in the process.
So far things were going ok. He had clean water, places to hide, and the deaths were coming at a steady rate now. Maybe he could pull this off? It'd happened before, the last Tribute, hiding in a corner somewhere when that last cannon sounded. The Capitol would always mock that Victor for being a coward, but Pan could live with that. He'd be alive. That's all that matter.
And if he was Victor he could live in Victor Village with his family, in a mansion full of food and soft beds and electricity that never cut out. A little slice of paradise.
Pan drank some more water. He could do this.
For the first time in days, pure, unadulterated joy riveted through Cean's veins.
Mara was dead!
He had no idea how of course, but he liked to imagine it was some awful, painful death. Or the other Careers had betrayed her. Or, worst of all, a very stupid death. Dying from something so shameful it was taint her memory forever.
Wouldn't that be great!
He spent the whole morning happy, a smile never leaving his face, even when he ran into a obstacle, and there were a few.
Cean took a sip from the nearby water fountain as he contemplated his next move. He seemed to be besieged by obstacles now. Hopefully it meant the Gamemakers were trying to be helpful to him and not hinder his progress.
The blue line had run it's course he found. More because it forced him out. Every path forward he found on the blue line was sinking underwater or would have required him to dive in and swim. There wasn't a chance in hell Cean was jumping into the arena waters. Too many Tributes had made that mistake and Cean wasn't going to chance that.
So instead he had to backtracked. It had been slow going and annoying, but eventually he had made his way back to the fork in the tunnel him and his former allies had been at previously. Something had changed though. The path to the red tunnel was open, but the orange had been blocked.
A heavy, metal gate had descended from the ceiling and was blocking his way. The metal bars were too tight so he couldn't squeeze through and, after looking around, there wasn't a switch or button or something he could press to just open the gate.
He quickly deduced that the Gamemakers had done it on purpose. It wasn't too surprising. Everyone knew the Gamemakers did stuff like this to push Tributes together and create conflict.
And, Cean realized with glee, that probably meant a kill for him.
Who was really left to challenge him now? Mara was dead. The freaking bitch was dead! Seeing her face with he Fallen last night had been a euphoric. All her talk about her being the serious Career, how he'd only amount to a meat shield for her, all her stupid pride and ego and look where it got her. Dead on day 4.. District 12 was still alive and Mara wasn't!
'Serves her right.' Cean thought happily.
That left only three Careers. He wasn't counting Chase amongst them. They'd probably turn on him soon and kill him. Everyone else would be easy to handle.
Briefly, Cean wondered if the Capitol was thinking of him like a Career. Probably, they had sent him a spear after all! All he had to do was keep the kills coming and he'd be home soon.
Looking at the metal gate, Cean knew this was as sign. The Gamemakers were helping him along, pushing him towards a Tribute he could take care of.
He finished drinking from the fountain. Looked like he was going down the red line.
It wasn't pretty, but David had actually ended up back where Alice was killed.
It was a strategic spot he told himself. The subway stop's elevated position would protect him. It hadn't worked for Alice of course… but back then there had been three of them! They had been making too much noise. Since he was forced out on his own, David hadn't said a single word. He could be quiet enough to hide.
He descended down the platform, jumping between the gaps effortlessly, and landed on the hard ground. He flinched at the sound of his boots hitting the concrete floor, eyes glancing around nervously to make sure there wasn't anyone around. Satisfied there wans't, he made his way to the nearby water fountain and drank his fill.
David did not have a plan. He wished he did. Something – anything to hold onto – as a reason why he would win. But at this point he had nothing. No food. No real weapon. And no allies. His stomach had been rumbling all evening, starved after days of steady food.
Still, he had gone without food before. He could do it again and just hope the others killed each other off.
Ideally, everyone would just forget about him and he'd sneak his way to victory. And then he'd get to go home and live in Victor Village where he'd never, ever have to think about the Hunger Games again.
'Like it was all a bad dream.' He thought. Full up on water, David began to make his way back up the platform, hoping there would be more cannons today.
"Hi."
A voice came from behind Chase, barely above a whisper. Chase spun around, only to find the wack job from 3 standing there. She was perfectly still and Chase was shocked he hadn't heard her approach on the grass of the green line.
"H-hi." She repeated, nerves in her voice. She remained still, as though frozen in place.
"Hi." Chase said, smooth personality sliding on like a glove. 'Well… she'll do as a first kill.' He thought.
Poe's body shuddered when he spoke, followed by a girlish giggle. "Are you alone?" She asked.
"Guess not with you around, huh?" Chase said, taking a step forward. Poe didn't react and continued to giggle.
"I guess not. I'm Penelope. But you can call me Poe."
"I know. I'm Chase."
"I know." Poe replied, giggling again. Chase observed her face, noticing how it always seemed to be just off. The curve of her smile seemed too forced, the eyes too wide, and tilt of her head too bent. It was like she was pretending to wear someone's face.
"What are you doing here?" Chase asked.
"I… I wanted to join you. Finally." Poe said.
"Oh, yeah?"
"Yep! I saw how you looked at me during the Tributes Parades. I knew what you meant even back then."
Chase honestly couldn't remember looking at the girl at the Parades. Briefly, he realized the Parades felt like they happened months ago. "What did I mean?"
Poe suddenly looked sheepish, but her body remained absolutely still. "You don't need me to say…."
"Tell me." Chase demanded, though his voice was light. It was the tone he used that would make all girls melt and do whatever he asked.
"Well…" Poe began and giggled again. "It's so embarrassing. And I have a boy back home. I bet he's watching."
Chase didn't respond. 'This girl is an absolutely loon.' He realized. Just another crazy bitch as girls often were. 'Ah well, easy to kill then and get things started. She got an eight right? This'll look good.'
"Come here." Chase said, extending his arm wide. Poe's entire body seemed to be shaking and she let out an excited yelp of glee. She began walking towards him, her own arms extended out, unaware that Chase was reaching for the metal rebar tucked into his backpack.
Poe went in for the hug, her heart racing at the experience. It seemed surreal this was happening, here in the Hunger Games, but passion took odd forms. Love did too, but she knew this wasn't love! Chase might be her angel in the arena, but he was just a fling. Omar would understand. He had erred before too, so she was allowed one mistake too, right?
If she hadn't been so entranced by Chase's every action, she would have missed his arm going back and grabbing hold of something.
She just barely had enough time to dodge the swing of the bar, the metal whooshing over her head as she ducked down. In shock, she looked up at Chase. "What was that for?" She asked, perplexed.
Chase didn't respond, instead stabbing down. Poe rolled back, wincing in pain at the metal of the rail line underneath her. The rebar jabbed usually against said rail, a sharp clink echoing down the green tunnel. Poe was on her feet now screaming in terror. Chase, happy with this, raised his bar menacingly.
"This is the end for you, you little-"
He didn't have time to finish it. With a sharp cry, Poe launched herself at the bigger boy, hands out for an attack. Chase was slack jawed, stunned to see a girl fighting back. He raised his bar to slam it into Poe's head, only for the smaller girl to tackle him.
To his shock, he was falling backwards. Poe had actually gotten him off his feet. He slammed into the ground, landing hard on a rail line underneath him. It jammed into his back right next to his shoulder blade, blowing the air out of his lungs.
He was screaming next. The girl was biting into the hand that held the piece of rebar. She broke skin easily and was tearing away, forcing him to drop the metal. With a scream of pain, Chase slammed his free fist into Poe's side, forcing her off of him.
Poe already had what she wanted. Rebar in hand, she stabbed into Chase's side, puncturing him easily. Pain screamed through Chase's body and soon escaped his lips. He fell to the ground again as Poe pulled the metal out of him.
"Look what you made me do!" She screamed, tears in her eyes. "This is your fault! I can't believe I liked you!"
Another stab and Poe punctured his chest again. She tore it out, blood spewing forth, and stabbed again, and again, and again. Chase's strength left him, blood flooding his lungs and organs. He lay prone on the ground, eyes bulging from his face. This was how he died?
'I'm Chase freaking Metro!' he thought. 'This was suppose to be my victory! I'm suppose to be Victor!'
With a hard stab through his eye, Poe cleansed his misguided pride from his mind.
A cannon sounded, though it's sharp blast wasn't enough to snap Poe out of her fury. She pulled the metal bar out of Chase's skull and kept stabbing. Neck, arms, legs, torso, all of it was punctured until she was drenched in blood and the grass and nearby bushes were splattered with it. Even the glass ceiling above had splatter on it. Only when Chase's body was torn to shreds was her fury satiated. She threw the metal bar aside and stumbled away, breath unsteady as she kept walking through the tunnel.
She couldn't believe it… Chase had tried to kill her. She had deserved the effort though, it was the universe telling her she had been bad and needed to be punished. Omar had seen that! He was probably thinking she was a whore! Just willing to give it up to any pretty boy who came around.
He probably thought that she had been dating every boy in that horrible detention facility too!
She had to make this right somehow! "Omar, I'm sorry! I'm sorry, Omar that wasn't me! I didn't mean to go after another boy! Please, please, please forgive me!"
Poe kept screaming, begging for forgiveness before curling up into a ball, crying her eyes out. Eventually, she rose again, sniffling as she trudged down the line and came across a water fountain. She washed her hands, her arms, her face, the blood dripping from her and draining down the pipe. She drank heavily from the fountain, throat dry and tired from the crying and screaming.
She drank up, cleaned herself off as best she could, and trudged away. Her angel was dead. She was utterly heartbroken!
Hayley and Buck were running out of space in the blue line but were unsure of where to go or what to do about it.
After a day of exploring the blue line, the pair had camped out the previous night in a subway station, feeling secure despite their exposed position. The tunnels were flooded now, which meant that anyone approaching would have been making a ton of noise sloshing through the water. With that alarm and a few hiding spots, Hayley and Buck had felt secure enough to settle down.
However, the water that gave them some sort of protection the previous night was also their problem. The blue line was flooded now, not the point where they couldn't move about or have air to breath, but both Buck and Hayley realized it was getting to that point. It had flooded even more last night, ruining their earlier plan of following their current line.
"We could try going back to the green line?" Buck offered.
"Too far back." Hayley said. "If we can even find it! I swear, these tunnels are a maze. Or changing on us."
"The Gamemakers would do that." Buck said, rolling his eyes. "sClassic twist."
The only good news they both agreed on was that if they were lost, they were willing to bet every other Tribute was as well. They were also relieved to see another Career, Mara, dead. She had been a particularly scary one.
Plus, they were in good spirits more or less. The cloud of Hayley's kills still hung over them, but the plentiful food from sponsors kept their energy up. And of course, they had plenty of water to drink too.
Buck drank deeply from the water fountain as Hayley waited her turn next to him. As he finished, he reiterated his earlier proposal. "I think we should start heading back to the green line."
"You sure?"
"Ya'. I mean, look, we could keep moving forward, wade through water and spots we don't know. Or, we could go back to places we do know. Maybe give the green line another chance?"
"You want to backtrack now?" Hayley questioned.
"Well… the last time I didn't think backtracking was a good idea we got attacked." Buck conceded, not wanting to say Ola's name. "So… maybe this plan will be better?"
"Your arm ok for swimming? Because we're going to have to."
"Yeah, it's feeling better."
"Ok, get the stuff together." Hayley said, leaning down and drinking from the water fountain.
She drank her fill, contemplating the move. It wasn't great, but Hayley didn't feel they had a lot of choices right now. A day of wandering the blue line hadn't gotten them anywhere. Maybe it only connected to the green line? She pulled out her night vision scope and glanced at the tunnel's waters. It didn't have heat vision, unfortunately, but it helped more than her naked eye.
So far, no mutts in the water.
'Please, please, stay that way.' She thought.
"Is… is he dead?"
"No."
"Oh, good."
It was a repeated exchange between Olivia and Eddie. Aleko certainly looked dead to Eddie. Deathly still, breathes sporadic, Aleko laid on the ground with his skin so sunken now that his bones were jutting out from his skin, threatening to cut through. He was refusing food and water now, unable to keep them down for long. Eddie was convinced that Aleko was only holding on because Olivia was willing it so.
Aleko began to stir, his first time in hours. He shifted in their sleeping bag, muttering names again. Ciera, Talon, Navajo. Over and over.
Olivia went to his side, rubbing his head softly and with comfort before holding the back of her hand to it. "Too hot." She muttered angrily. She went for the rag she had fashioned by tearing off some of Aleko long sleeve, but it was bone dry now.
"I can wet it." Eddie offered, wanting to be helpful. Olivia nodded, handing over the cloth. Olivia and Eddie, taking Amadeus at his word, had pulled out the desk drawers they had found in the office rooms and filled them with water before Amadeus' deadline. Neither of them dared to drink the water now. Eddie got up and left the room and headed down the long hall to the entry room where the rest of the water filled drawers were. They hadn't left their location off the red line due to Aleko's health, and their door remained blockaded by the desks.
Eddie bent over and wet the towel, hoping that Aleko got better. It seemed so unfair that he was dying and the hurt that it was causing Olivia was apparent. Eddie still couldn't understand why Amadeus had done it. He said it was to protect them, but Eddie was having a hard time believing that. He firmly agreed with Olivia too, if Amadeus was willing to hurt Aleko, what was going to stop him from harming them?
Over the splashing of the water, Eddie heard a creak behind him. He turned towards the blockaded door where the noise had come from. Nothing followed. Eddie breathed in deep and tried to settle his heart rate, turning back to wetting the rag. There was a sharper creak, this one a bit more urgent. Eddie dropped the cloth and jumped to his feet. Someone was trying to get in.
Sure enough, the creak became a bang and the door opened slightly. Eddie let out a startled scream, unable to help himself. With confirmation someone was inside the room, the person outside slammed into the door once more, this time dislodging their haphazard barricade, made lighter with the drawers removed. Another one and the desks were brushed aside,, banging uselessly against the ground, and the invader barged into the room.
It was Cean from District 4, armed with a spear and a grin as he looked at Eddie.
"Hey there." He said, voice heavy with excitement and nerve. He raised the spear and launched himself at Eddie.
"Olivia!" Eddie shrieked, cowering in the corner of the room with no where to go. The spear point was getting closer but out of the other corner of the room was a flash and a roar.
The sound of metal clashing echoed through the room and out into the tunnel. A grunt of rage and the spear point was forced back as Cean fell into a defensive position. Olivia, armed with her pipe, had joined the fray.
Cean looked over Olivia. So, she was playing babysitter for Eddie? Cean quickly deduced that she was by herself now since Eddie only called to her. 'This should be easy.' He thought.. He raised his spear, crying out a challenge with his most threatening face, a look that had terrified all his prior opponents.
Unlike the others, Olivia met Cean's challenge and charged him. It baffled him, more so when she took the first swing. The first one was wild, more to push him back than strike, she followed up with another one, trying to cut up and hit Cean in the jaw. He dodged both of them easily and stabbed out with the spear. Olivia dodged in turn, crying out in fear as it got close to her. She spun her body and slammed down with the pipe, trying to disarm him. It connected, but Cean, better trained, kept hold of the spear and kicked out, hitting Olivia in the side and sending her stumbling back.
Eddie, meanwhile, had run back to the other room, desperate to help Olivia. "Aleko help, get up!" He screamed at the older boy. Shaking him did nothing, Aleko remained passed out, his sweat bleeding through his clothes and sleeping bag. Aleko was muttering something but otherwise unresponsive. "Please get up, Aleko! Olivia needs you!"
But Aleko was too far gone to help.
Meanwhile back in the entry room, Olivia was doing her best. She could hardly believe she was fighting, actually fighting, and knew each swing was wild and untrained. One mistake and she'd be skewered. The only thing in Olivia's advantage was the size of the room, which was large enough for them to swing comfortably but not large enough for Cean to utilize his spear to the fullest.
Cean was aware of this too, but still felt confident. Olivia wasn't trained like him and he could tell she was already tiring. Nobody was coming to save her, he could get her. With another loud cry, Cean stabbed out, aiming directly Olivia's chest and extended his arm and body fully to reach the distance. It was almost a hit, but Olivia managed to dodge.
And she had an opening.
Cean had been trained to use a spear in concert with a shield and, without it, the stabbing move he had just made left his left side exposed. Olivia, spotting her one chance, threw her body weight into Cean, slamming into him and forcing both of them to the ground. As she fell, Olivia slammed her pipe into Cean's wrist, dislodging it from his grip this time.
Olivia, unprepared for the force of such an action, recoiled hard as she hit the ground and struggled to get up. Cean, better prepared for the force of the impact, was able to bounce up and throw himself on top of Olivia. He tried to go fro the spear but Olivia was trying to force herself up. Quickly, Cean spread his limbs across Olivia's toros and pressed down, exerting weight on pressure points and pinning Olivia to the ground. He then gripped Olivia's wrist and tore the pipe from her, tossing it away before continuing the attack.
Two years younger than her, Olivia was terrified to find that Cean was stronger and was trained enough to know how to pin her. With her pipe thrown across the room, Cean grabbed his spear again and, unable to angle it to puncture her, slid it over Olivia's neck, pressing cold steel of the handle into her. He tried to pull it across to slice, but Olivia's own hands were holding the spear now, trying to push it off of her, barely keeping Cean off and preventing her from choking out. A trembling voice called out from behind Cean, trying to be brave for his friend.
"Get off of her!"
Eddie was there now, Olivia's discarded pipe in hand. He slammed it across Cean's back square between in his shoulders. Cean gasped in pain, his grip loosening on the spear as his back flared in agony. He fought through the pain as he was trained to and spun around to confront Eddie. The younger boy, eyes wide, screamed and swung wildly again.
The swing was barely any effort. Eddie was clearly afraid of killing someone – even in this most desperate time. Cean easily grabbed the pipe mid-swing and tore it from the weaker boy's hands. He rose to his feet and with a cry of anger, mixed with pain from the action, slammed the pipe into Eddie's temple, just like he did with Alice.
Eddie crumpled to the ground, eyes rolling back in his head. Olivia, seeing Eddie go down, screamed again. She was off the ground now, pushing herself away from Cean and stealing the spear. Gripped in both hands, she stabbed the spear forward, but Cean pulled away. Hobbled by Eddie's attack and his own counter, Cean struggled to his feet. The delay was long enough for Olivia to stab out wildly once more and land a blow, a shallow slice across Cean's calf.
He screamed in pain and crawled away quickly, using the wall to help himself up. By now, Olivia was rising too and swung the spear out like a bat, missing Cean by a couple feet but putting him on guard. She screamed again, feral and desperate, enough to break Cean who stumbled towards the door. He ran out and fled out down the red line, defeated and now weaponless.
Olivia was immediately at Eddie's side. The fourteen year old was seizing on the ground, the whites of his eyes bulging from his skull. Olivia wrapped him in her arms, rocking him between them.
"No, no, no!" She screamed. She didn't know what to do. She couldn't help him! Her mind broke for a moment, and she tried to rally Eddie. "You're fine, Eddie. You're ok! You're not even bleeding, ok? Just come on, stop shaking. You're fine! Stop shaking, please!"
Eddie continued his convulsions, a line of saliva dripping from the edges of his lips. Olivia held him tighter, willing him to snap out of it. "Eddie please stop! Just relax! You're ok, you're fine! Come on, Eddie! Please!"
He went still in Olivia's arms. Olivia's breath hitched, hope that her words reached him blossoming in her. Eddie's body then relaxed and he slumped into Olivia's arms.
A cannon fired shortly afterwards.
The wails from Olivia could be heard all down the red line.
The Fallen
17. Mara Bonavich (D4) – Killed by Infection, Bite Wound from Poe (Day 4, Tributes Killed: 0)
18. Daisy Mayfield (D11) – Killed by Cean (D4), Head Bash (Day 3, Tributes Killed: 0)
19. Oleanna "Ola" Ellery (D7) – Killed by Hayley (D10), Neck Slice (Day 2, Tributes Killed: 0)
20. Alice Barton (D9) – Killed by Cean (D4), Head Bash (Day 1, Tributes Killed: 0)
21. Marianna Gristle (D12) – Killed by Estelle (D2), Neck Stab (Day 1, Tributes Killed: 0)
22. Ruddy Clemson (D11) – Killed by a Mutt, Poison (Day 1, Tributes Killed: 0)
23. Reko Dunas (D1) – Killed by Hayley (D10), Neck Stab (Day 1, Tributes Killed: 0)
24. Millicent "Millie" Parel (D9) – Killed by Starting Plate Explosion (Day 1, Tributes Killed: 0)
Obituaries
Mara: Opinions on Mara seem mixed, but I freaking loved her! Bet you couldn't tell by how her story played out, huh? Even 10+ years ago when SYOTs first started there's always been something off about District 4 Female Tributes. For whatever reason they always get some odd backstory or what I call the "Career Lite" treatment. My two prior SYOTs had this too with the 76th having a washed up career trained girl who couldn't kill and the 77th a Tribute with a crazy spy thriller like backstory! Mara wasn't either of those. She was a legit Career and I loved her for that. I know she divided readers but I appreciated that. Her existence in her mind was tied with her father and the Games and it drove everything she did, only in the end to find out the Games wouldn't live up to her expectations for them. A hard way to go, but really it's how most Careers die.
Up Next: Day 4 Continues…
Review and Follow for more! Again, if I'm able to update I will but otherwise expect the next chapter the first week of March!