Sofie Ferrari- A Night To Remember D6F
I'd never thought the Games could be this peaceful. The nights were still tense, with me laying awake and wondering which shifting shadow would be a killer instead of just the wind disturbing a tree, and there was the night someone was stalking me, but since then it had been serene. The flowers in the garden were so lovely. We'd never had such flowers in Six. The best we had there were the dandelions that grew through the cracks in cement. I remember being so horrified when as a little girl I learned they were considered weeds and pulled up in other places. How could anyone pull up the only bit of sunny yellow that survived the smog and blacktop? Here there were flowers a hundred times as big as dandelions all in rows in the flower garden. I didn't know the English word for them. My mother said they were girasoles, "turn-to-the-suns". It sounded like something from a storybook, but they really did. Every day I could watch and see they faced one way and then another as the sun moved overhead.
Aside from the flowers, there were vegetables, too. I didn't have to worry about identifying edible wild plants when there was a row of tomato plants in the garden in between rows of carrots and herbs. I liked to rub the leaves between my fingers and smell their scent. If I could ever think of a way to start a fire without getting seen, I would have loved to cook some of the fish in the pond. Maybe I could make something like my mother's tomato and anchovy sauce- I even had oregano plants! The tomatoes here were so much better than the ones we'd bought from the grocery store. I hadn't known it was possible for food to taste that bright.
There weren't so many of us left. I hadn't expected to make it this far, really. Lately it seemed to be mostly outliers dying, too. I wondered if the Careers were trying to make sure one of them won. It seemed unlikely they'd have such solidarity when they were always in such bitter competition, but maybe their hatred of us outweighed their hatred of each other.
I stretched my sore muscles as I walked toward the garden. I had a deep appreciation for my surroundings, but that didn't make it easier to sleep on the ground. I could scatter grass over my hiding spot and try to make myself a mattress of sorts, but as soon as I lay down my weight just pressed it all flat and it hardly felt any different from bare ground. At least it's not a cold arena, I thought. It got nippy at night, nippy enough to be uncomfortable, but not so bad I couldn't survive it.
My biggest worry was the water situation. The water wasn't dirty, exactly, but it certainly wasn't clean. It was touch-and-go when I'd feel okay and when I'd get a stomachache and know I was in for a rough night. If I ever had to venture back into the hospital, it would be for diarrhea medication, but it hadn't gotten that bad yet. The water tasted a bit chemically- if it hadn't been for the fish in the pond, I'd have been worried it might be dangerous. Maybe they treated it a little in case a sick person drank some. Not enough to prevent everything, clearly, but maybe enough to keep it from getting really bad.
Elissa de Angelo- Descent Into Madness D1F
Someone was out there. I knew someone was out there and it was driving me insane not being able to catch them. Maybe it was a bit Captain Ahab of me, but I thought it was worth the morale boost to see this through.
It wasn't easy finding a sniper post. None of the windows in the hospital opened. Knocking one out wouldn't be that hard, but it would certainly attract attention and be glaringly obvious from the outside. In the end the only solution was to climb seven flights of stairs and laboriously break a padlocked door to get to the hospital roof. From there I could crouch behind the brick railing around the perimeter, a pile of snacks at my feet, and wait.
Not five minutes had passed before I remembered how very much I hated being bored. The thing about being a Career was it was very fast-paced. There was always something to react to and most concerns were short-term and could be tackled immediately. The trainers said it was tailor-made for people with my sort of personality. Sitting in the same place for hours and hours was not what I was about. By the time the first hour was up, I'd already started walking towards the staircase five times, only managing to turn myself around with my stubbornness about giving up.
There are many rivers, but all flow to the same sea, I tried to remind myself. I'd never been a natural at Xian Sofrehism. I'd always excused myself with the fact that its tenets of nonaction and patience applied to Xian themselves as well, so they wouldn't be mad at me for being so bad at it. I really should be more balanced. A good Sofrehite recognized the importance of every aspect of Asuir.
Over the next few hours, I found various ways to stay sane. I crinkled snack wrappers in my hand just to get some stimulation. I aimed finger guns at passing birds. I looked around at the eerie endless landscape of grass around the arena, stretching to every horizon. I looked through the scope I'd gotten at the feast at various flowers or trees, looking at the details and watching the little red dot bounce around. Without it, I wouldn't have been able to make an accurate shot from this far. Maybe it was a divine message that I'd gotten a tool that required patience.
At last, at last, I saw the girl. I jumped when she appeared, my chest pressing against the brick railing as I leaned forward. Ha! Knew you were there! My arm itched to take aim and shoot, but she was moving. Combined with the distance, I might blow my chance if I went too quickly. I did not want to start over. So I waited, feeling physical pain from my impatience, as the girl walked toward a vegetable garden. She checked her surroundings frequently, but she didn't look up. I looked through my scope and followed her as best I could, often losing sight for an instant as she moved. She knelt at the edge of the garden. As she reached for a tomato, I shot.
Jayden Chadsey- Heart of Darkness D1F
Not an hour into the day, I knew I'd woken up on the wrong side of the bed. If it wasn't for whatever they did to us in the Capitol, I would have assumed it was that time of the month. I was lucky enough not to get insane bleeding or severe cramps, but every month, on the day before it started, I just woke up pissy. That wasn't it this time. Maybe the planets were in alignment or it was a blood moon or something. Whatever the reason, I was just plain ornery.
"I was thinking we should try finding Gaius' alliance again," Chrome remarked.
Or we could not, I thought, then exhaled slowly through my nose and reminded myself she was being perfectly reasonable. "That sounds good," I said. Maybe we'd find the twerps and I'd get to let off a little steam.
"Two of them seemed really nerdy," Jessie offered. "Maybe they went to one of the labs." It was as good a place as any to start.
We got off to an early start. Maybe that was part of why I was so mad. They say sunlight is good for the mood, and at the moment there was only harsh blue hospital light brightening our way. Please let us find someone, I repeated to myself . When we breached a door and I saw the pale, black-haired girl, I broke out into a grin.
"I got this one," I said, stepping into the room.
"Stay away!" the girl said, holding up her hands. She backed up until she hit the wall. "Don't!"
"Save it," I said. The only downside was I wasn't cruel enough to drag out a death for no reason. This would be over after just one or two solid hits. It still might help my mental state a little, though.
I grabbed the girl's wrist as she tried to dart past me. I tugged her in closer as I smashed my fist into her mouth. I felt teeth jar loose and came away with a bloody hand. The girl fell to her knees, her wrist still in my grip. She started trembling all over, so hard I wondered if she was having a seizure. I tugged her wrist, forcing her to turn toward me. She looked up at me, her mouth dripping blood, and I wondered how the light reflected in her eyes looked so red.
The girl leaped up with such speed I didn't have time to react. She shoved her face into my neck and I realized, as her teeth punctured my flesh, that she was biting me. I shoved her reflexively, but she didn't let go. It was an awkward angle, but I managed to punch her in the side of the head, knocking her loose at the expense of a groove in the skin of my neck. She tried to go back in and I punched her in the mouth. That finally knocked her backwards. She threw her arms out behind her to catch herself and bared her teeth at me. At the sight of her open mouth, it made more sense how much blood was flowing from my neck. Her left fang was uncannily long and pointed. If it had made any sense at all, I'd have thought she was a vampire. Her right fang was absent, having been punched out by my last blow.
I aimed a kick at the girl's face as my allies ran in to see if I needed help. The girl grabbed my leg, riding the kick, and bit me again. I screamed as I kicked at her head with my other leg. I saw a flash as Jessie's sword arced down into the girl's arm. She shrieked and let go of me. She crabwalked backwards a step and then got to her feet, hissing at the four of us. It was then that the room started to sway. I pressed my hand tighter to my neck as Fable ran up next to me, supporting me to a sitting position. The girl growled as Chrome and Jessie circled around her. She ran at Jessie. Jessie recoiled in uncertainty, Chrome ran to her sister to back her up, and the girl disappeared out the door. It was strange, but I thought it sounded like she was crying.
"What was that?!" Fable panted as Jessie and Chrome came to help her with me.
"I don't feel so good," I said. They really do mean it when they say "lightheaded". It was like my head was floating away.
"What do we do?" Jessie asked as Chrome dug through our supplies.
"We gotta stop the bleeding," Fable said.
"How? We can't put a tourniquet on it!" Jessie said. I was laying on my back by then. It felt easier to stay balanced when I was looking straight up.
Chrome wound bandages around my neck. I could feel the blood soaking through. I could feel it warm and sticky on my cheek and in my hair. They put a freaking vampire into the Games? What kind of joke was this? What kind of bullshit death was this?
"You better not let her win," I forced out the words. "You better kill her."
Gabriel Farad- Over and Over D5M
It was pretty cool how they'd let Tuesday put up her blog. I wished she hadn't volunteered- she would have been a really good author. She'd posted about everything from an interview with another Tribute to a list of hospital foods she'd found and taste-tested. Now she was working on a series of post listing everything she knew about each Tribute and her thoughts on each of them. I hoped I lived long enough to see my own feature.
The comments were something else, too. A lot of people were speculating about the Gilbert Delacroix murder. If the comments were all legit, it seemed like the case had been officially reopened and rumor had it there were already two persons of interest. Wouldn't that be one for the history books? A cold case solved by the Tributes in a Hunger Games?
My face fell a little when I saw Arielle's post. At least, I thought it was Arielle's. I hardly knew anything about Juni, but word had it he was a professional merman back in Four. I doubted he was the kind to call himself "cool". If the Careers went through with it, there were only two options for me: stockpile a ton of supplies and try to wait it out after they sealed my door, or tr to make it work out in the open rooms of the hospital. It certainly seemed like a dead end either way. If I went out into the open, I didn't see any way to evade Careers who had an entire sense I didn't. If I stayed in, Gamemakers lost patience eventually if a Tribute holed up. My best chance was if all the Careers died before they reached my room. It didn't give me much comfort.
Maybe two can play at this game, I thought. I stared at the computer screen, trying to think of some way I could wreak havoc on the Careers through the safety of a computer screen. Make fake accounts with names that sound like Career allies, discussing plans to kill each other? That was just stupid. They weren't that dumb. Post like an outlier warning other outliers, saying there's a huge mutt on this floor? No, they weren't that dumb either. There had to be something, though.
I got a slow, evil grin when I thought of it. It seemed so long ago that I was home in Five making the mischief I used to love so much. It was so long ago- that was decades ago! Anyway, it was good to get back up to my old tricks. The best part was, it didn't matter if some of them didn't believe it. This would affect almost every Career in the arena. If even one of them believed it, it would increase my chances. Enough of them, and it would be a glorious domino effect.
ATTENTION TWOS: Unfortunately, we share this arena with the Ones. Let the strongest win, of course, but surely that's one of us, yes? It would be an embarrassment if one of those brainless bimbos won the Games. What do you say we show a little District pride and put on a united front? We get together, wipe them all out, wipe out the outliers, and then give this country the finale it deserves. You with me? If so, meet me on- well, it wouldn't do to just spell it out, would it? Take the governor of Two. Using the standard A=1 code, meet me on the floor corresponding to the second-earliest in the alphabet letter of his name. Unless you can't stand the heat. In that case, we'll come for you too- TwoStrong
I rubbed my hands together as I watched the comment pop up on the screen. Would they do it? Would they band together and take out the Ones for all of us? Would the Ones make their own counter-alliance and meet the Twos in a huge battle that would hopefully wipe out a huge portion of them? If the starting alliances were still together, several Twos and Ones were allied at the moment. How would they react? I wasn't strong enough to get out there and fight, but I was strong enough to ignite a little class warfare. I just hoped the mayor of Two wasn't named Zyzzx Vux or something. The hospital didn't have that many floors.
46th place: Sofie Ferrari- shot by Elissa
Sofie had a good thing going on. She outlived a lot of far stronger players by accepting her limits and working within them. It's nice we got to see more of her personality this time, since she died so early in her original story. She was one of those happier souls that don't get crushed down even by the Games, and I think she appreciated dying with a bit of home in her hand. In a smaller crowd, she might have ended up like Hades, sneaking through right until the end. Elissa wouldn't be defeated, though, and unfortunately she found a way.
45th place: Jayden Chadsey- blood loss caused by Shinju
I don't intend to use Shinju as an easy way to kill strong people. I wanted to kill Jayden for unrelated reasons, and Shinju was an adequate method. It was also a noble enough way to go, going barefisted against a vampire and punching out one of her teeth before dying of her wounds. Jayden is always a power player. 45th place seems low, but that's out of about 150, so proportionally that's a solid final 8, and this arena was pretty Career-heavy. You can't keep Jayden down, though. She'll be back and ready for more, and if Shinju doesn't win this time she's in big trouble.