Warning: Wit's POV mentions mental health struggles.
Wit Castiglione- The Poseidon Adventure D5M
"There has to be food somewhere."
Study looked out at the locked door nervously.
"I think it's pretty sturdy," I said. Really I had no idea, but I wanted to be encouraging.
"No, it's just-" Study looked away from me again. "I had an idea."
"What is it?" I asked, a sinking feeling in my stomach. If it was so hard to say, I could only imagine it was something violent. But if we attacked someone else, we didn't even know if they had food either.
"I think there might be some food in the behavioral health ward." Study said.
"What's the behavioral health ward?" I asked.
Study winced. "The mental ward."
"Oh, cool!" I said, smiling. Then it came to me and the smile fell.
"I didn't try to kill myself or anything," Study said, her arms crossed. "I was just in a bad place."
"That's okay," I said. "It's good you took care of yourself." It seemed like such a stupid, basic thing to say, but this was so serious I didn't want to say the wrong thing, so I just said an empty thing. I thought back to the handful of times Study had said she was going to visit a relative for a few weeks, and how her stories about what they did together were different each time she told them. I'd thought she was just stretching the truth a little- she did that sometimes when she thought the truth wasn't interesting enough- but perhaps it was more than that.
"Anyway," Study said, waving her hand, "There will be food there. They were always nagging the eating disorder kids to eat, and the eating disorder kids were always finding excuses."
In the hospital hallways, the awkwardness of the conversation was replaced by the terror of being exposed. We didn't have to say anything about what happened minutes before, because we were silent out of necessity. I couldn't explain to anyone who hadn't been there what it was like to simply roll the dice with your life. The Careers were out stalking the hallways, and it was pure chance whether they'd be in one of the halls or stairwells we needed to take. My hand was clammy as I opened the door to the stairs. It was the perfect place to hide behind. I wondered if I'd even see them before I was dead.
The energy of the behavioral health ward hit me like a wave. It was probably just the nervousness of being in the Arena, but the spookier part of me thought it was the painful energy of so many kids who had come here before. Probably they didn't even, I reminded myself. Arenas were constructed, not reused. Maybe it was just my sympathy knowing this wasn't at all unfamiliar to Study.
"It's a lot nicer here," Study remarked as she hunted around. She paused by one of the few doors in the wing with no lock. "But some things are still the same."
Inside the pantry, we found shelves and shelves of snack foods. There were shelves full of bottles of something that looked like thick milk, and snack bars of all sorts, and pudding cups. I couldn't help but think, as I held a chocolate cup, of someone else hungrier than me who couldn't eat it. If we could deal with the eeriness, though, it would last as long as we needed.
Jude Sylvus- Res D7M
I needed to find Deciduous. He was all mixed up- it only made sense, what with the Games and all, but it couldn't go on. I shouldn't have left him, even if he wasn't seeing logic. Surely he didn't really mean what he said. We loved each other, and one little spat couldn't be the end of everything. I'd find him and make him see the truth, and everything could go back to the way it was.
There was probably something poetic about how we'd ended up in the blood bank. Wasn't that what the Games were all about? Avenging the blood of those who died uniting Panem? Alongside the swinging bags of various types of blood, both real and synthetic- though I doubted the real ones were really real, since the Capitol wouldn't waste good blood on an Arena- there were bags of things like saline, sugar solution, and nutrition solution. We weren't sure if they worked if we drank them instead of injecting them, but it seemed to be keeping our hunger down, and none of us were brave enough to try sticking ourselves. Besides, there were also the cookies and juice bottles that hospitals handed out to people who donated blood. It wasn't much of a balanced diet, but we wouldn't die… probably.
It took until I was on watch to slip away. I should have felt bad about leaving my allies exposed, but there was only one person I really cared about in the Arena. The dimly-lit hospital corridors, with their bluish and ominous light, cast a sense of romance over the scene. I was going to find my lost love and we'd passionately make up. With any luck he'd been separated from Tyler. If not, he just better not give me any trouble.
Where would Deciduous go? My first thought was somewhere on the top floors. People in Seven were used to heights. We were like birds. Up was safe, away from the Peacekeepers who wouldn't come up after us in case they fell down.
My heart skipped when a shadow moved in the stairwell above me. Maybe it's Deciduous! Probably not- almost certainly not, with this many Tributes- but I could hope. But it was Jayden who rounded the corner. She dropped into a fighting stance when she saw me, bringing her knife hand up. Then a hand dropped onto her shoulder.
"Hold on," Chrome said, coming up behind Jayden. The rest of her allies peeked over the railing down at me. "He's with Gaius."
Jayden glanced at her allies as I stood frozen on the stair platform, unsure why she wasn't attacking but not wanting to set her off. "I don't suppose Gaius and his friends are around?" she asked.
"Oh, yeah. They're one floor down in the blood bank," I said. I'd only been with them for protection, and maybe to make Cid a little jealous. If telling Jayden and her friends gave me a chance at getting out of this, it was worth it.
"Cool." Jayden said. "Thanks." There was a flash of light as she threw her knife. I reeled, expecting it to hit me in the chest, but instead there was a sudden pain in my foot. It wasn't a throwing knife she'd been holding, and the awkward throw only penetrated an inch or two. In the chest it wouldn't have killed me. The goal, as was obvious when I tried to run downstairs to the nearest floor, was to slow me down.
Jayden reached me before I was halfway down the stairs. She shoved me forward, sending me tumbling down the rest of my steps. As I lay stunned, my head swimming with the multiple impacts with the stairs, Jayden crouched over my prone form and bent an arm around my neck. As the pressure went from uncomfortable to excruciating, I hoped Deciduous stayed safe.
Theo Wondderoo- Open Arms D8M
I sat up sharply, a Bloodbath dream having jerked me out of my sleep. When I saw the open door, my first thought was that I was just bleary. After rubbing my eyes, I stood up, huffing. It was insanely dangerous for Jude to just wander off like that. I could hear him coming up to the door from the other side. To put it lightly, I was about to give him a piece of my mind.
"Hey!" I said, as I reached out to yank the door shut the instant Jude stepped through it. "What were-"
The sword punched through the gap in the door, missing skewering me by inches and slicing through the skin of my arm. I fell backwards in shock, landing on my backside as Jessie shoved her way through the door.
Gaius was up in an instant, like he'd never been asleep. He shoved Todd, who was lying next to him, as I scuttled behind the door and shoved it into Jessie, knocking her off-balance. As Valencia leapt to her feet, she stepped on Maxson, waking him up as well.
Gaius fell on Jessie like a tiger, pinning her down and rendering her unable to properly use her sword. I reflexively covered his back as Chrome ran to help her sister. I kicked out a leg and caught her in the calf. She tripped, falling halfway onto Gaius and Jessie, and battered at him as he battered at Jessie, who was working to wiggle out from underneath him. Elise and Arno darted past them to establish a perimeter.
"Get blooded!"
A bag sailed over my head and nailed Jayden, who'd been running towards Maxson, in the face. Blood exploded all over her. She shrieked and almost stabbed herself in the cheek in her haste to wipe it from her eyes. Valencia took the opportunity to barrel into her, knocking her backwards and outside the door. Valencia slammed it shut and locked it as Jayden reached it and started pounding.
Jessie wiggled out from underneath Gaius and Chrome yanked her to her feet. Gaius threw himself backwards, out of their range, and then everyone flinched as a scream split the air. Fable staggered backwards, clutching at her thigh, as Valencia stepped around her and deeper into the room with the rest of our alliance.
"Fable!" Jessie screamed. She ran past Chrome, abandoning Gaius, and tore off her shirt, cinching it around the wound. Between them and us, Chrome glared balefully at Gaius.
"One chance," he said, pointing at the door.
The venom on Chrome's face settled into cold pragmatism. She backed toward the door as Arno and Elise slunk along the side wall toward her. Jessie opened the door and helped Fable out, followed by Arno and Elise. Chrome slunk out last, with a single acrid look over her shoulder.
"That went better than expected," Todd remarked.
"Oh, no," Maxson said. I turned around and saw Valencia slouched against the wall.
Valencia Cadillac- Wandering Souls D6F
No one had even seen it. I'd been running toward Maxson, who was struggling to avoid Elise's darting rapier, when Arno's blade slid through my ribs like a needle through fabric. I gasped, but the air caught inside me. A wave of nausea, and then lightheadedness, washed over me as I struggled for breath. I fell to one side, Arno running past me to another target. I pressed my hand to the wound, leaning backwards against the wall, but found no relief. I slid down the wall until I was in a tilted sitting position.
Gaius pointed at the door, challenging the Careers. I noticed then that Fable was bleeding heavily, and blood was flowing freely from Jessie's nose. They retreated out the door and clicked it shut behind them. Good, I thought. Now my allies can help me. If I could only call to them, that was. But I could barely move.
"Oh, no," Maxson said, his gaze falling on me. He rushed to my side. "What's wrong?"
It took so much effort to form the words. "Can't breathe," I whispered.
Todd ran over, almost knocking Maxson aside. "Nononononono," he moaned, pressing both hands to the wound. He looked up at Gaius. "No, she can't die."
Gaius peeled back his hands. "It's a sucking chest wound," he said gravely. "Perforated lung."
"Fix it," Todd pleaded.
Gaius' face was grave. "There's nothing we can do. We can try to cover the wound, but we wouldn't seal it in time. She's bleeding internally, too." He winced at my wet, hacking breaths. "It's all fluid in there."
"No! She has a kid!" Todd protested.
"I know!" Gaius snapped, and Todd flinched backwards. "They don't care, okay? They killed her once and they'll kill her again! No one's safe! No one!" His head sagged. "Not even if they deserve it."
Todd took my hand, resting my drooping head on his shoulder. "I'm sorry," he said.
"We'll take care of him," Maxson said. "One of us has to get out of here."
I smiled weakly, letting him think he'd help. No, one of us didn't have to get out of here. It could just as well be Arno, or someone we'd barely seen. And they didn't have to take care of Nico. I knew Giada was giving him all her love. Lancia was providing for the both of them. And I'd taken care of him, too. I'd taken care of the one person who would have done anything to hurt him. It was lovely of my allies to try, but there was nothing I needed from them. I'd given Nico everything a mother could.
108th place: Jude Sylvus- Neck broken by Jayden
Jude was largely here to advance Deciduous' story, so there was less inspiration for his own character. He was also hampered by the Capitol's cloning hijinks. We'll never get to see the person Jude really was, which is another tragedy of the Games. He deserved better, and perhaps in a future Games he can show his real self.
107th place: Valencia Cadillac- Stabbed by Arno
Whenever I looked over my list thinking of who to kill next, I always disregarded Valencia. She was so cool, right? And this was her chance to get back to her son. But everyone else wants to live, too. All the other Tributes deserved a chance to live, not just the ones with kids. And wouldn't it be shocking to kill her so early, and so suddenly? It certainly wasn't my usual style. So this time I went out on a limb. Valencia was strong, and brave, and resilient, but the odds in a Res Games just aren't surmountable. Valencia died in a battle that wasn't even about her at all, and that's just the way it went this time. Sucks.
NOTE about Wit's POV: I purposely did not research mental health wards with the express intent that the description not be accurate, in order that the POV would be less likely to bring up painful memories. That is the reason for any inaccuracies. Study's form did not mention any suicidal ideation, so this time she was telling the truth. She was in the hospital for severe but not critical mental health struggles. That wasn't explicitly in her form either, but I thought it was in-character since borderline personality disorder has a huge hospitalization rate.