Just a note: You've probably noticed Arleen's relationship isn't healthy. This will not improve in the oncoming chapters.
DAISY STEM MAHI KATAO- Unique Dior
I kicked him away. The last thing Mahi knew of me was me kicking him away. Had he known? He'd grabbed on to me while I was trying to drag Daisy. Had he been trying to ask for help? I'd screamed at him to let go of me. I should have found a way. They needed me.
DAISY STEM MAHI KATAO- Arleen Limera
I turned to Majesty. "Wasn't it great?"
His hand smacked across my face. I reeled back. "But Cupcake, it worked!"
"It did not work!" Majesty screamed, spit flying from his mouth.
"But they were laughing!" I managed. My smile was thin and nervous as horror washed over me. Somehow, I'd ruined everything.
"They were enjoying it! They weren't supposed to enjoy it! They were just supposed to laugh!"
"I'm sorry!" I wailed. "I'll do better next time. I promise!"
TALISE CICERO- Juni Triton
I did better than Talise? She must have had a tough break. Maybe we barely spoke to each other, but she really was strong. That's the Games, I guess.
DIAMOND KAI- Emma Wolfe
We'd all heard the cannons. We were looking up at the sky wondering who they killed when Diamond's face flickered into view. We glanced at each other, shocked. I didn't know if the others were thinking it, but my mind went straight to Cyrene. It was just like her to try to take out her own allies. But then, after Talise's face… Cyrene. Had they run across Jay and his friends? No wait, they were dead. The Party Girls? But none of them got killed? They were a lot more loyal to each other. It was a shame to think whatever went down, Diamond had probably stayed loyal, too.
CYRENE LONGUMARE- Arielle Ermin
You )*%! it up. Whatever happened, I knew it was Cyrene who'd started it. Just like that, she wiped us from total dominance to an even playing field. The Cabellos, the Party Girls, even the circus kids could fight us now. We had a treasure trove of supplies, and we very much did not have the means to defend it. I rolled my eyes. Thanks to Cyrene, we would have to run.
Tuesday Erelle- Into Thin Air D2f
It couldn't hurt, anyway. I felt stupid for even trying, but it couldn't hurt. The Gamemakers would know I wasn't trying to get any unfair advantage. If it worked, it wasn't unfair, since anyone could have done it. If it didn't work, no harm no foul?
"Computer?" I asked uncertainly as I sat down in the rolling chair behind the desk.
"Yes?" the computer's display flicked on.
"Pull up Tuesday's Child?" I asked. I still thought it was a stupid name. I was only keeping it until I could find something better.
I almost laughed when my blog popped up on the screen. I wasn't even going to try asking for access to the rest of the internet, but it seemed the Gamemakers didn't think some random blog could help me, especially since there wasn't anything there I didn't already know. Or maybe it was the showmanship aspect. I reached up to start typing, then noticed there was no keyboard.
"Uh, keyboard?" I asked. A holographic keyboard winked into view.
"Speech-to-text is recommended," the computer suggested.
"Kind of defeats the purpose," I said. I was surrounded by cameras. I could have just talked, but there was something special about writing. A sort of old-fashioned artistry.
Hey everyone, Tuesday here. I didn't think I'd get to continue this, but it just so happens I'm in probably the only arena in history with computers. Lucky me! But really, lucky me. It's really nice having beds and food and stuff.
So, let's get everyone updated. You've all been watching, but you don't see every detail, you know? To start off with, my alliance got wrecked in day one. You win some, you lose some. Jynx, Cierra, and Charybdis are still alive, but I don't know where they are. I don't even know if I'd try to regroup if I saw them. Maybe Charybdis. She seems like the real deal.
I bet you'd like some inside details about the arena. Overall, I pretty much like it. I definitely see the irony of a deathmatch in a hospital, but it kind of makes sense? This way there are lots of supplies and medications if people get hurt. It makes for a cooler, more drawn-out games. Definitely better than the open water one. Goodness that one gives me the willies just thinking about it. Finding food was hard at first, but weirdly enough, I found an edible plant! There were a bunch of potted geraniums in one of the rooms- I guess whoever was in there was popular. I also found some vitamin supplements, which is nice, since the geraniums fill me (kind of) but I doubt they're a balanced diet. At least there's plenty of water. I'm very hydrated right now, since I drink a lot to cover up being constantly hungry. Geraniums only go so far.
I should probably be out killing people, but there are a lot of really big alliances out there. Sometimes you gotta let the competition die down a bit before you rush out there. Three of the big Career alliance died today, so I assume that means there was a battle and some more of them are wounded. I guess you know more about that than me.
Hope you enjoy these updates! Looks like comments are disabled right now but maybe the Gamemakers will let people interact with me (hint hint)? That would be pretty cool, wouldn't it- getting to talk to a Tribute while she's inside the Games? If anyone wants to give me a hand, drop me a sponsor gift! Not to shamelessly beg, but I do shamelessly beg you. Maybe some MEAT? Some meat would be nice.
I looked up at the computer screen, satisfied. "Send."
Sofie Ferrari- A Night to Remember D6F
This year was a huge, high-tech indoor arena, and I still managed to rough it. The hospital was U-shaped, and I could tell because I was in the U's mouth. Way back in the Bloodbath, I'd noticed that down the big grand staircase, right behind two little playhouses, there was a wall of windows that led to a garden. It wasn't just outside- it was a garden. It was so deliberately made that I thought maybe it was part of the arena. It had been a big risk, opening the door and stepping outside. There was a real chance it was the arena's edge and I was about to get fried by a forcefield, but nope, nothing happened. I ducked past the row of windows and I was out of sight.
Coming from Six, I'd never seen such a pretty garden. The only gardens I'd seen were the sad, run-down "city park" near my building and the rooftop garden a cool old local lady grew to share with people. This garden was something else entirely. There were trails made of rocks that crunched underfoot, and a pond with a fountain that gurgled, and a big gazebo I might sleep in sometime if it ever rained. It seemed too obvious, so for the moment I was sleeping under a pine tree with branches low enough they hid me. It was very prickly and very sticky.
The best thing about the garden was the edible plant section. Maybe it was for the patients to have something to care for. It was probably good for them to get outside. Whatever the reason, there was a section of the garden with rows of tomato plants, beans, some herbs, and various other plants. I hadn't been anticipating, though, how hungry I'd still be. I had enough that I wasn't starving, but it was still just really hard to eat nothing but raw vegetables. Often I'd be hungry but I'd look at them and they just didn't look appetizing. I'd already starting munching on the green caterpillars that crawled on the leaves, just to get something that wasn't fresh vegetables. Honestly, they kind of just tasted like watery butter. I was starting to eye the fish in the pond. If I went into the gazebo, no one would see my fire.
While plenty of the garden was out of sight from the windows, I still only moved around at night. It wasn't ideal having a bright white outfit, so I'd done what I had to do. I rolled around in the mud at the edge of the pond until my clothes were completely covered. After a shivery night under my tree, I was as hidden as I could get. I just tried not to think about how crusty my clothes were, and how they hung stiff on my body and slid around whenever I moved. People who weren't in the Games would never understand that yes, we were always scared, but we were also always extremely uncomfortable. My nails were absolutely caked in dirt, and it was driving me crazy to not clean them. I kept bringing them up to my mouth to clean, then reminding myself of germs and putting them back down. It was bad enough knowing whenever I ate, my hands were filthy. I got my water right out of the fountain in the pond. It seemed like it must be a little cleaner. So far I hadn't had any diarrhea, so I guess it was working.
Most of the time, other than the constant paranoia, it was kind of peaceful in the garden. There was a violet-colored bench under a willow tree I liked to sit on and just look at the plants. It must be heaven, living in Seven or Ten or other places with grass and trees everywhere. The air felt so clean. I hadn't noticed that for my entire life, my throat had burned. Here, I could just breathe, and it felt right. It didn't even bother me that there was a bronze plaque on the bench dedicated to some lady who'd died.
Fleur Laveau- No Way Down 11F
Where else? Where else would I end up? Castiel and I were in the morgue. The tables we'd seen were all empty, but the shelves in the wall stared ominously at me from across the room. It was certainly a good place to hide. If I was a Career I'd come here eventually, but I'd want it to be the last place I went.
They didn't have to be so extra about it, I thought resentfully about the half-burned-out light and how it didn't reach the edges of the room. The heavy, thick door had a lock on the inside, which would help keep the Careers at bay if they came for us, but it also gave me the uneasy feeling that it was to keep something in.
It's just dead bodies, I told myself. Not like you've never seen one before. You've been one before. Besides, it was a good place to camp. There was a vending machine down the hall. The smell of formaldehyde and acrid chemicals would mask any odor that might give us away. There was a big fan in the ceiling that made constant noise to cover us even more. It had scalpels and a bone saw, not that I'd be brave enough to use the latter.
"Scared of ghosts?" I teased when I saw Castiel looking uncomfortably at the body shelf wall.
He hesitated, seeming to argue with himself. "You don't think," he started.
"What don't I think?" I was very afraid that it was exactly what I thought, and had been thinking for a few days.
"You don't think they'd put them in there, right?" My stomach dropped out from under me as the words left his mouth. I hadn't wanted to think it. I certainly hadn't wanted to say it. But it was there, and had been since day one. We'd opened the drawers- of course we weren't going to stay if there were dead people in there. But that was the first day, and just after the Bloodbath. They didn't collect the bodies until a little bit later, after all the wounded were entirely dead…
"You had to say it," I said. I curled my arms against my chest as we both looked at the wall. If I find out… if I find out I've been sleeping ten feet away from a wall full of dead kids, I am going to lose my mind. I'm going to lose it.
I couldn't move as Castiel sprung into action. It was like a nightmare where the room got longer and longer as you tried to cross it. But then he was at the wall. He put out a hand and his fingers curled around the pale steel handle.
Don't, I wanted to say. But was the truth really worse than living in ignorance? I had to know, even if it was going to make me puke.
Castiel pulled, and the door slid open. His whole body jerked and he shoved it shut so hard the door shook. Not that it made any difference. Even from the angle, I'd seen the drawer wasn't empty. I'd seen a bit of black plasticky material, not a corpse, but I was quick enough to know what a body bag looked like. It's pitch black here at night, I thought. Pitch black lying in a cold morgue with fifty bodies lying above my head.
Castiel backed away from the wall, unwilling to look away until he was beside me. I turned and started toward the door. He followed me without a word. No matter how long we walked, or how we tried to talk about something else, it was in my head. No matter where I went, I would wonder which one of us it was.