The Arena
Day 1
July 2nd, 2427
Briar Bacardi, 17
Briar peers through the blinds of the house that her alliance has taken refuge in. A faint orange glow lights up the grey street from the few rays of the sun that manage to reach the ground. Outside, dozens of creatures roam around, they are slightly larger than a dog - which they partly resemble. The main difference is their front legs which are huge with protruding muscles that are disproportionate to the rest of their body. Their skin is an oily black, and their canine-filled mouths drip with saliva, which curls the hairs up on Briar's skin. It won't be long until they're inside their house.
"We need to go," Briar states, turning back to her alliance from the window. "This place is crawling with those things."
Reese and Chaney nod in agreement. They swiftly stand from the dining table, that they're seated at, before grabbing their bags and slinging them around their backs. Chaney slips a small pocket knife into his hand then tosses another to Reese; the skinny, Eleven boy examines the blade with dread in his eyes like he's staring at death itself.
Briar steps past Chaney to get her own bag, but the two lovers say nothing to each other. Seeing Chaney like this is eating Briar up from the inside, it's like this place has sucked his very essence out of him. She misses his goofy smile, his constant dumb jokes, and his blind optimism in the face of the dark world that the two of them found themselves in. No, she needs it.
(Or maybe the Chaney she knew back in Nine was always a mask to begin with. Was that confident, carefree, dummy just a mask? Did the events today reveal his true self?)
(That thought terrifies Briar more than anything else.)
Never did she think the day would come when she would wish for him to open his mouth, just to act as a glimpse into some form of normality like the last flowers of autumn before the bitterness of winter.
Whatever the case, she needs to touch base with him later to talk about what happened earlier. What happened last night at their apartment is just a strange lingering memory from a past life now.
(Yet, at the same time it is at the forefront of her mind, as plain as day.)
Reese has also been quieter than usual since Jarvis died. In fact, Auren continues to be the only one talking. Briar didn't mind it at first as a distraction but now her constant objections are starting to get a little grating.
The Ten girl folds her arms stubbornly, refusing to move with the rest of the alliance. "And where do you want us to go?" She responds bluntly to Briar.
Briar moves through the sitting area of the house to the window opposite and stares outside. The desolated city continues on for roughly ten meters then it comes abruptly to an end, and is replaced by what seems like a forest. However, it is not like any forest that Briar has seen before. The trees are completely stark of leaves or life of any kind; they are nothing more than huge, thick, black trunks that grow out in every direction and snake around each other like the forest is strangling itself. A small fraction of the trees are different from the others - they have mushroom tips at the top, and emit a bioluminescent, dark blue glow.
Briar points out of the window. "We should head to those trees. I don't think those things will follow us there and it will provide better cover."
"And give up our shelter? And free supplies?" Auren retorts.
"Exactly. More supplies means more mutts… and tributes."
"Let them come. Bring it on. We're gonna have to fight eventually."
Briar rolls her eyes and decides to try to ignore Auren. Maybe that's the only way to get her to shut up - she thinks.
She shifts her attention to Chaney and Reese. "If we're fast. We can probably reach the treeline before anything sees us… and maybe those things won't follow us… I don't know-"
"Yeah, you don't know," Auren growls. "None of us nominated you to do shit, by the way. So I don't know why you're walking around giving orders."
Briar lets out a resounding sigh then yanks the living room door open, which leads directly to the front door. "Whatever. Stay here if you want Auren, fine by me."
"Guys, please! Let's not argue," Reese pleads, in an attempt to cool the room. "If we don't stay together, then what chance do we have?"
Chaney glances out of the window at the eerie forest then back at Auren, and finally chimes in, "It's either stay here in apocalypse town with a bunch of mutated puppies or head to that weird, glowy forest." He shrugs, "pick your poison."
Briar's eyes are suddenly glued on Chaney in surprise. Those were the first words that have left his mouth since the bloodbath, and it's like a warm hug to her; a glimmer of his former self shining through in this dark place. She almost feels herself smiling.
"Fine," Auren relents. "But if we all die because of this then I'm gonna be pissed."
Briar puts her ear up against the front door to try to listen for any sign of the mutts on the other side. All clear.
She turns back around to find her alliance huddled close to each other in single file with their weapons raised, awaiting her command.
"Okay," Briar murmurs. "On my mark…now!"
The Nine girl swings the front door open, and charges outside. Auren, Chaney, and Reese are right behind her in that order.
But Briar can soon hear the paws of the mutts on the rubble and their slobbering breaths getting louder and louder as they swarm her and her allies like moths to a flame.
Briar is inches from the start of the forest when she hears someone trip to the ground - in the panic, Reese has lost his footing and ended up flat on his back. He braces himself by raising his hands as one of the mutts leaps at him with its tongue flaying wildly. Fortunately, Chaney stayed close to Reese, allowing him to haul the boy back to his feet and to safety. As the creature lands where Reese was laying, Auren swings her mace swiftly at its head, cracking its skull and killing it almost instantly.
A second mutt springs at Auren. She lifts her mace to shield herself from its jaws but its teeth clamp down hard on the metal handle, and Auren ends up in a struggle with the creature, attempting to wrestle back control of her weapon.
"Come on!" Briar yells.
With a reluctant groan, Auren releases her mace and follows the rest of the alliance into the forest. Immediately, they are consumed in darkness. The silhouettes of branches and roots are all they can see, with the occasional blue glow of the towering mushroom trees to break up the darkness.
It is truly a suffocating hellscape.
At least Briar's theory on the mutts not following them into the trees was correct.
(Although, she's not sure if that's entirely a good sign.)
After some minutes of darting between the black tree trunks, when they are sure the mutts are no longer pursuing them, Auren demands that they stop before they get lost in this labyrinth, and for once - Briar agrees with her.
Chaney slumps on his own against a tree. His vacant eyes are fixed on his hands as he fiddles with them.
Briar perches down opposite him on a log. When he notices her, he attempts a smile. "You okay?" He swallows.
"Are you?"
He looks away. "Never been better," he says sarcastically.
"We need to talk." Briar never thought she would be the one saying those words to him. "That boy today… you had no choice, you know that right? He was gonna hurt us."
Chaney looks her dead in the eye. "No. He was gonna hurt you."
"Either way. You did what you had to."
She wants to reach over and pull him into her arms and plant her lips against his, and she knows that he wants to do the same for her. Yet they can't because then everyone will know the truth.
(Then again, why should they hide who they are? Why does it matter?
What is the point of reaching the other side if they are no longer themselves?)
Landon Singa, 17
Landon's hands shake as he wraps a belt of throwing knives around his waist. He and Meridia then finish packing some final supplies in their own respective bags for their little side mission organized by Romulus.
"You ready? Romulus's voice almost startles them. "We can't let them put too much distance between us."
Landon glances up. The young man is standing above them with his hands impatiently on his hips. He has a two-handed sword and a bag strapped tightly to his back; fierce determination radiates in his dark, brown eyes. Despite their baggy, arena suits, Landon is sure he can still see Romulus's upper body muscles. If a workaholic had a physical form then it would be Rom - Landon muses.
Landon hastily finishes strapping the belt of throwing knives to his waist, while Meridia lifts up an already bloodied Warhammer. "Uh-huh," they both answer in sync.
"Cool."
As they are heading to the two large double doors, Geneve calls out to them. "Hey!"
They turn to face the tall girl from One.
"What happens if you get lost? Are we supposed to just wait here and hope you eventually find your way back?" She asks.
"We won't get lost," Romulus responds, placing his keycard against the scanner to open the double doors. "When you hear a cannon or two, you'll know we'll be heading back soon," he says with a smirk.
Geneve's frustrated eyes are fixed on them, burning a hole into Landon's skull. The One boy offers a friendly but awkward goodbye-wave in an attempt to help mitigate his district partner's frustrations but to no avail.
The three careers step from the open doors into a stark, dim, grey corridor that stretches into blackness as far as Landon can see. All along the corridors are rows of broken, rusted, metal doors, leading to different rooms.
As they move through the corridor, Landon can hear the gentle but persistent dripping of water against concrete suggesting there are multiple pipe leaks, yet, the corridor is bone-dry.
Drip, drip, drip, drip.
They turn sharply into the control room, where Meridia told them she heard the scream come from.
Landon's eyes travel around the room. Amongst frantically scattered junk, there is blood on the floor and an extinguished fire.
Romulus crouches down to inspect the blood. "It's fresh," he states. "No more than a few hours, I bet."
"I'm not even gonna ask how you know that," Landon quips.
"Look!" Meridia points to a door opposite the control room, which has been swung fully open by someone. "Who's to hazard a guess that they went that way?" she grins.
Romulus pats his district partner on the shoulder. "Well done." Then he leads them through the door, and onto a spiraling, vertical staircase that descends directly down.
As the careers go further and further down, Landon begins to feel hazy, and as they get deeper in, the walls seem to close in around them. The confinement stings Landon's heart with anxiety. He never liked tight spaces, they make him feel trapped. Keep it together. You didn't come all this way to fall at the first hurdle.
To Landon's relief, they reach the bottom of the stairs where there is a single flickering orange light and a metal door.
Romulus doesn't hesitate to shove it open, and step through into the unknown. His two allies follow suit, and suddenly they find themselves standing on the edge of an underground, metro line.
There are only scattered lights throughout the station but Landon can make out a train track that runs in a straight line with two tunnels opposite each other - both equally dark.
"I packed some flashlights," Landon remembers aloud.
He unzips his bag and hands one to each ally.
"You are handy," Romulus smiles, taking the flashlight from him.
"I'm guessing that's Romulus for "thank you"," Landon mutters as they hop onto the train track.
Guided by their flashlights, they first investigate the tunnel to their left, which comes to a dead-end only a few meters down. Naturally, they conclude that the tributes must have gone through the other tunnel.
"Wait," Landon calls as they are crossing into the darkness of the train tunnel.
The Twos turn back to face him.
"What if… you know… a train comes? We'd be fucked."
Romulus turns back to face the dark, unknown of the tunnel. "Yeah, we would." He then quotes Landon's words back to him from last night, while they were climbing the Training Tower. "Only one way to find out!"
"Not if it involves getting squished to death… Oh no, you didn't just quote my beautiful catchphrase back at me like that," Landon groans.
Romulus throws his arms out with a cheeky smile. "Since when was Landon Singa scared to take a little risk, huh? Besides, The Capitol isn't gonna kill off the star of the show on the first day… or are you just too chicken?" Romulus does a clucking-chicken impression, but the echo of his voice slowly fades away into the tunnel. Eventually, he and Meridia disappear entirely from Landon's sight.
Landon crosses his arms. "Fine, your funerals."
But the silence of the underground railway creates an icy sensation deep inside Landon - starting from his bones. As frustrating as Romulus can be, Landon is growing to like him, and he doesn't particularly want to be left alone in this claustrophobic tunnel.
His heart starts racing and he takes off after them. "Rom… Meridia. Wait up!"
Despite everything, Romulus is right. Landon can't let this place take away who he is. If he lets the Capitol trap him then they've won…
(Then his parents have won.)
He spots two flashlights amongst the drowning shadow of the tunnel. "Wait up!" He yells again.
As he charges through the dark, he practically crashes into the back of Romulus, and relief floods his chest.
Romulus groans. "Landon!"
"Sorry!"
"Shhhh."
The train track appears to go on and on without an end in sight. Meridia pushes ahead, determined to be the first to make a kill. Meanwhile, Landon can't decide if the tunnel is more or less claustrophobic than the staircase.
Romulus seems to sense his ally's' unease and drops back to walk with him.
"I've been thinkin'... we should give ourselves nicknames like that career from Four did a few years back… Bloodtide or whatever his name was," Romulus suggests.
"Wasn't he like a serial killer?"
"Didn't say we had to be like him… but the whole nickname thing worked, otherwise we wouldn't still be talking about him."
Landon chuckles for the first time all day. "Okay, I'll think on it."
Romulus cockily tilts his head. "I can be the hero of the careers and you can be my sidekick."
"Why do I have to be the sidekick?"
"Because I'm not the one that puked at the sight of blood."
Landon sighs. "You're never gonna let that go are you?"
"Nope," Romulus laughs.
"Could you two keep it down?" Meridia snarls. "They'll hear us coming from a mile away."
When they are silent, the constant sound of dripping from above them is only more pronounced, as are the clicking noises from the devices in their suits.
Landon shivers. "It's so… narrow in here… I hate it," he says.
"Me too," Romulus admits in a hushed tone. "But hey, just imagine we're climbing a tower together in the rain." He lightly punches Landon's shoulder.
And Landon feels a comforting warmth in his heart battling against the empty coldness of this arena. The side of Romulus that he saw while they were sitting on the rooftop together last night is peeking through again, like a ray of sun in a sky of black clouds.
"Wait a minute, did you just comfort me? That must of hurt. Do you need an ice pack with that? Landon chuckles.
"Shut up."
"Wait!" Meridia holds her hand up and switches off her flashlight. "12 o'clock," she whispers.
Landon and Romulus also switch off their flashlights and creep silently forward to her side. The tunnel has finally come to an end, and with it, the search for the tributes they have been pursuing.
They have reached another metro station. On the other side is another track parallel to the one they are on; only this one has a train on it. Just outside the train are four tributes huddled together - the small Three girl who sticks out like a sore thumb in her yellow hazmat suit, the two tributes from Five in light-blue, and the girl from Eight in light-red.
Meridia raises her war hammer. "We hit the jackpot."
Landon fumbles for a knife in his belt, and a gulp slithers down his throat. Here we go again.
Alizka Ito, 15
Alizka takes a breath of agony as she rubs her searing shoulder; it's been burning non-stop since Day cauterised it earlier. She understands why they had to do it, but the pain of the lodged arrow was a feather duster in comparison to this. She doesn't even have an ice pack to place on it, so the burning sensation has been constant.
She gives her surroundings a once-over in an attempt to distract herself from the pain. Nope, it's only making everything worse. She's slumped up against a train underneath the surface of the arena. It is silent all around and dark, but opposite she can make out another empty train track which leads into nothing but blackness.
What's more, the devices in their pockets are louder than they were on the surface. Day and Meridian have had some wacky theories on what it means, but right now none of them know for sure. The only thing that Liz knows is that this arena sucks.
"Why couldn't they have put us on a sunny beach or something," Liz half-heartedly says, glancing around at her allies. "They had to make it as miserable as they possibly could, didn't they?" She shakes her head. "I'd like to issue a formal complaint to the gamemakers."
This has the intended effect of getting a few chuckles out of a couple of her allies - notably not Meilin, who's huddled with her knees to her chest, staring into the void.
(At least she's speaking now… even if it is just responses to Liz asking her if she's okay every half an hour.)
Liz could try to tell her that everything's going to be okay, but she'd be lying and Meilin is smart enough to know that. So all she can do for her at the moment is offer her an occasional smile and wise crack.
Day takes the final bite of their sandwich, which was in the food bag, before standing and brushing the crumbs from their hands. "You two think you're alright to keep going? I still don't feel we've put enough distance between us and the Cornucopia."
Liz begins pushing herself to her feet. "I think so - agh," she gasps as pain runs through her shoulder the moment she moves it. So, Meilin helps her up.
Meridian calls Day over from inside the train. "Do you think you could get this thing running? I mean it would be faster than walking." They point to the front carriage of the train.
To Liz's surprise, Day agrees with Meridian and heads over to the front of the train with him. Watching the two Fives have a normal conversation about the mechanics of the train engine is a strange sight. She'd have been less surprised if Meridian started singing and dancing.
"Is it me or are they… ya know… getting along? It really is the end times," Liz mutters to Meilin.
Suddenly, a humming noise activates inside the engine, and the train lights up like a Christmas tree. They must have figured it out!
"You did it!" Meridian cheers from inside.
Before Liz has time to celebrate, a blade brushes past her hair, taking some of it with her.
CLANG
A throwing knife embeds in the side of the train.
Liz turns, gasping. Three careers have snuck up on them in the dark, and are running at them from the tunnel on the opposite side of the station. The pair from Two are in the lead, with their almost matching short-brown hair, bulky, athletic build, and dark-blue outfit. The slimmer auburn-haired boy from One trails them. He is in a brighter, light-grey outfit which makes him more visible in the dark. As the girl from Two is in the front, her facial expression is the most clear, and right now it's saying that she's ready to tear Liz and her allies to pieces with her bare hands.
Liz calls out to Day and Meridian "Go!" She ushers Meilin into the train. "Lock the doors!"
Day darts to the controls at the front of the train to try to figure out a way to lock all of the doors, but the girl from Two is too fast. She slams into the much smaller Liz and Meilin like a charging bull, and they are thrown straight out of the train doors, hitting the concrete hard.
The career lifts up her warhammer but not before Day figures out how to lock the doors. The train doors swiftly clamp shut and the light on the button turns from green to red.
Enraged, the girl from Two slams her fist against the train window. The train begins rolling forward, and Liz's thoughts instantly go to Meridian and Day, who are now trapped in a train with a furious career.
However, she doesn't have time to dwell on the Five's troubles, because she is now face to face with the boys from One and Two. They must have not made it onto the train in time. The only thing that separates the two girls and the two careers is the narrow ditch of the train track.
Liz and Meilin immediately launch themselves to their feet.
Liz unzips her rucksack and sticks her hand inside until her fingers are clasping the hilt of her dagger. She pulls it out and holds it up to the career boys with a self-assured smile.
The older boys glance at each other, bemused. Then, the larger one from District Two lifts up a large, two-handed sword causing Liz's smile to drop.
She yanks Meilin by the sleeve, narrowly ducking another throwing knife. They both head for the flight of stairs which leads to another door onto an overpass above the train track.
But the careers are dead on their tail, so much so, that Liz feels they have already caught her.
I'm dead!
Then she yelps as a hand clasps around her ankle and trips her face-first onto the stairs. She rolls over to find the One boy bearing down on her, but she thinks fast, and plants her heel with force directly on the bridge of his nose.
He yelps in pain, his hands clasping around his nose.
The surprise gives Meilin enough time to drag Liz to her feet and pull her through the thick, metal door. The Three girl quickly slams it shut and locks it with a large handle.
SLAM
The door shakes as it is impacted by the boot of one of the boys.
It takes a few moments for Liz's heart to stop beating too loudly for her to hear her own thoughts. But when she's finally able to hear them, it is like she's been shot with another arrow - Day and Meridian.
"They're still on the train… with that career," Liz exclaims as they race across the overpass before the career boys can break through.
"We'll find them." Meilin's chest heaves as she runs; those are the first words she has said to Liz all day.
They descend another flight of stairs and are suddenly engulfed in yet another dark tunnel. One thought keeps repeating in Liz's mind - we left them on the train.
For a brief minute, at the end of the tunnel, Liz can see herself in her room back at home. She's staring out the window in an apron covered in multi-coloured paint. Occasionally there would be a knock on the door which would inevitably be her parents about to tell her to do her homework, or her brother with one of his annoying little pranks. Yet, it floods her with nostalgia, and she'd do anything to be back there right now.
(Maybe it wasn't so bad that she left her allies on the train.)
Emery Vandermast, 18
It's been an hour since Romulus left with Meridia and that goofy kid from One.
A part of Emery wanted to go with them just so he could get out of this ring of death in the middle of the factory. He saw plenty of blood and gore back in District Ten; in fact, much of it was caused by him, but he'd never seen children get butchered like that… especially not by other kids… the people he calls his allies - the careers. They chose to be here. Emery didn't.
Ozias chose to be here too. Although, he is different to the careers and Emery knows it. Ironically, this is the first time he's had a moment to clear his head and think about Ozias' interview with a calm mind.
Ozias isn't like the careers. He's not here for the gratification of The Capitol, he's here to spite them, that's what was attractive about him to Emery in the first place. Well, one of the things. Ozias rarely spoke about the death of his family, but occasionally, when Emery and Ozias were curled up in bed together, and Ozias had a bottle of whiskey in his hand, he would describe the moment he found their burnt bodies.
(Burnt by the fire that Emery's father started on that fateful night.)
Emery can't recall if he threw his token in the trash back in The Capitol.
(He knows he wanted to.)
There's only one way to find out. He reaches into his suit pocket for his token; his fingers trace the outline of a ring. It turns out, in fact, that he didn't throw it in the trash.
He rolls the ring gently between his thumb and fingers. He never did tell Ozias the true cause of the fire, and he's sure it would shatter his ex's entire world view if he did. But maybe that wouldn't be such a bad thing; Ozias would shout and scream, and maybe not even believe him, sure. But maybe Emery finally owes it to him to tell him the truth?
He has no token from any of his family; it was Ozias who saved him from the very lowest pits of Rustvale.
Emery looks up from his ring. It is quickly getting dark around him as the first day of the arena draws to a close. Aida and Geneve are sitting together by the bunker in the middle of the cornucopia, deep in conversation. They've used some oil from the bunker to start a fire but the glow from the flames are a strange mixture of blue and green, like a magical spell has been put upon them.
Emery rubs his arms, shivering from the impending cold of the night. Then, to his right, there is the sound of boots on the gravel. Brizio emerges from the shadows as quietly as a snake in the grass and crouches next to Emery.
"So that's how you do it," Emery smirks, looking the career up and down.
"That's how I do what?"
"Your "job" back at home… that's how you sneak up on people." Emery is careful not to spill Brizio's exact line of work to The Capitol.
"It certainly helped with fulfilling my contracts, yes."
"It's all good. I don't mind if you sneak up on me in the dark," Emery teases. Even in the low light, he catches Brizio's cheeks turning bright red at that comment. "I myself never was able to be that discreet when I did it."
Brizio inhales. "That's what I wanted to talk about, actually. Is it all true? What your… friend said during his interview-"
"I did what I did to survive. Just like you."
Brizio nods. "I don't know what you think about the career districts but life in Four was different… It's been rough for years. You were either friends with the highest bidder on your street or you were dead."
"Sounds like Ten."
The Four boy breaks eye contact with Emery and gazes off towards the fire. The multi-colored lights of the flames flicker in his eyes - eyes that are dark and dangerous like Ozias' always were.
(The two of them are similar in many ways, only Brizio is somehow less forthcoming.)
"Something's coming," Brizio suddenly says, still facing off into the distance. "Something's gonna go down in the alliance."
"What do you mean?"
Brizio locks eyes with him again. "I'm guessing you've watched previous games before?"
Emery nods.
"Then you'll know that survival in the careers is about knowing who'll stab who in the back first. You'll wanna be friends with the person who does the stabbing… trust me… friends with the highest bidder. You know how it goes."
"Is that what we are? Friends?"
The mercenary boy smirks then glances away again.
"Alright, don't answer that," Emery says with a playful smile.
"I'm freezin'... Let's go join the others," Brizio murmurs.
"But I prefer it when it's just the two of us."
Brizio simply smirks at that comment.
Emery finally agrees, and slips the ring back into his pocket; Brizio takes note of it out of the corner of his eye.
Together, they stroll over to where Aida and Geneve are sitting. The girls halt their in-depth conversation upon noticing the boys.
"Mind if we join you, ladies?" Brizio requests.
Geneve gestures opposite. "By all means."
The four of them huddle close to the fire.
"Do you think they'll find their way back?" Brizio asks, referring to Romulus, Meridia, and Landon.
"Unfortunately, yes," Geneve says with an exasperated sigh.
Yet Emery's eyes stay fixated on Brizio like they're studying the other boy under a microscope.
What does Brizio get out of protecting him? They've known each other for the best part of a week.
What isn't he telling me?
Ozias Califera, 18
The first stage of his revenge is in motion. The careers are the Capitol's star tributes; they're practically the hand-picked winners who'll do and say whatever they have to, like puppets being controlled by puppeteers. To tear them down and replace them would be the first knife in the rotting corpse that is the Capitol.
After the bloodbath, Ozias and his alliance took cover in a half-destroyed house. It's not exactly five-star accommodation, but he'll take it over Gallus Adcock's disgusting barber shop or his cell in District Fourteen. At least here, he's free.
The stifling air is quieter than ever. However, it is interrupted by the faint twittering of a bird, which has landed on top of a demolished wall nearby. A part of Ozias believes it must be an illusion; how can there be any life in this arena? However, as he looks closer at the bird, he notices that its wings are jagged and misshapen, its colouring is an eerie sickly-green, like everything else in this arena, and Ozias could swear that it has a smaller third eye. That ain't any bird i've ever seen - he thinks to himself.
From Ozias's left, on a pile of ruins, Ren lets out a seething groan as he nurses the bruises on his face with a wet cloth. Around Ren are the various bags of supplies and food that the trio managed to get from the cornucopia. Every few moments, Ren reaches into the food bag and shoves a handful of nuts into their mouth. As per their agreement on the free day - Ren gets first dibs on any of the food and weapons they collected in the bloodbath.
"Hey Ozzi," the dentist starts while aggressively munching on some nuts.
Ozias sighs internally, hating the nickname that Ren has prescribed to him, then turns his eyes from the mutated bird to his ally. He can't decide which he prefers the sight of.
Ren wrings out his damp cloth and says "I know you wanna go for the careers first but I really wanna put my knife through that spitting girl from Ten, I promised to teach her some manners."
"If I'm not mistaken, you lost that last game of liar's dice. So you don't get to decide shit," Jokull interjects, standing up from the desk in the corner of the room, that he's been diligently working on ever since the bloodbath.
"And if I'm not mistaken, then I'm the only one who did my job and actually killed anyone," Ren retorts.
Jokull grits his teeth. "Well… the night is still young."
"Enough," Ozias snaps in his deep commanding voice. "We stick to the original plan and go for the careers first then you can knock yourself out and kill who you like."
Ren stands up from the rubble and steps closer to the barber. "Are you sure this is about the careers and not… Emery?" A sharp grin lines their impish jaw.
"He has nothing to do with this. He means nothing."
"Really?" Jokull questions. "I mean we've both seen the way you look at him." The Six boy steps in towards Ozias from the other side, and suddenly he feels like he is surrounded by sharks smelling blood.
"Shut your pie holes, both of you." Ozias glares at them, puffing his chest out and standing up tall. "If either of you wanna challenge my decisions then you can fight me right now. Anyone?" His eyes move between the two boys, and they both take a step back.
"I ain't questioning your choices… only your motivations," Jokull states. "I just need to know if when you're faced with him, you'll be able to do the deed."
"Of course I will."
The three of them pause in silence for a brief moment, finally having reached an understanding.
"Fine, but have either of you actually got any ideas of how we're gonna take on the careers?" Ren asks.
"I might," Jokull says, raising his finger. The saboteur from Six strolls back over to his desk and picks up the device that he's been working on all day - an old, rusty body of a projectile weapon, which Jokull has attached some strings onto to create a crossbow. For the bolts, he's using the tips of spears from the bloodbath.
Jokull places one hand under his chin. "In fact, if this works, we could get the careers and the Ten girl and her alliance at the same time. That should keep you both happy."
Ren's eyes grow wide with a new interest. "Oh?"
"Kill two birds with one stone," Jokull says. He closes his left eye and squints the other in the direction of the mutated bird, before lowering his makeshift crossbow.
The bird flutters away, leaving a trail of mutated feathers behind. Jokull calmly strolls over to where the bird was, picks up one of the misshapen feathers, and inspects it in his fingers. "So I was right," he mutters to himself.
Ozias huffs impatiently. "Okay, Saboteur, what's this grand plan of yours? It better be good."
Jokull stands back up, and faces his allies. A grin forms on his lips.
That night, Ren insisted that he got the first watch so that he could sleep first. Their reasoning was, "It was their reward for getting a kill in the bloodbath." Neither Ozias nor Jokull could be bothered arguing. However, it meant that Ozias had to put up with listening to Ren's snoring as the boy slouches against the bags of food.
Ozias stares out into the stark blackness of the night of this arena. No stars. No wind. No scents of freshly baked pies. Nothing.
Ozias takes a deep breath. The arena won't beat him. The Capitol won't beat him. They failed before… he survived them before and he'll do it again. After he's out of here and he's smiling victoriously in the face of the people who destroyed his life, his revenge will finally be complete.
Once his eyes become heavy, he glances around for Jokull. He spots the Six boy's blood-red arena outfit in a sleeping bag. So, Ozias heads over to him and taps him on the shoulder to switch places with him.
He lays his sleeping bag over the rubble, then clambers inside it, feeling the warmth consume his body. It doesn't take long for him to drift off. Although, he only falls into a half-asleep state, and in this state, he starts to see fire consuming a farmhouse.
Suddenly, footsteps in the rubble startle him back awake. His eyes shoot open. His hands instantly clench around a dagger.
"Jokull?"
Ozias's eyes land on Jokull, who is calmly fiddling with his crossbow on a slab of rubble and facing away into the blackness.
Ozias whispers sharply again to grab the Six boy's attention "Jokull."
Jokull glances back at him.
"Did you hear that?" Ozias questions.
Jokull shakes his head.
"Pay attention… don't drift off on us."
"Don't worry." Jokull shifts back towards the night. "I ain't going to sleep," he says assuredly.
Ozias drops the knife and rests his head back on the sleeping bag. Did Jokull really not hear that? What reason would he have to lie? Maybe Ozias' biggest threat is the people closest to him.
Fuma Marlows, 18
In the hours following the carnage that took place in the morning, Fuma trekked north with her two remaining allies. At least, North is Fuma's best guess. Before the games started, she was praying for a forested arena… not whatever this is. Even in the daylight, there is no sign of the sun; searching for the direction of the sun was always Fuma's first way of getting her bearings if she got lost in the wilderness during one of her patrols as a ranger. Failing that, she'd search for moss which usually grows on the north side of trees because that side gets less sunlight or she'd check the directions of the shadows.
But all of that is practically worthless. Everything is lifeless and barren here. There are no shadows and nothing could possibly grow here, not even moss. It's as if all semblance of the natural world that Fuma is used to has evaporated away and all that's left is this empty corpse of an environment.
"Could we stop here?" Zora breathlessly requests from behind.
Fuma glances back to see the smaller Six girl still panting from the exhaustion of the bloodbath.
"Of course," Fuma says. The ranger takes this opportunity to toss her bag down in front of her and rummage through it to see what food they managed to obtain in the chaos.
Facing them from across the grey abyss is the only building that is not almost completely demolished. It is much larger than, what Fuma imagines, the other buildings would have been, if they were still standing, and the stone is a darker shade of grey. The building is in the style of an old-cathedral. It has many towers which rise up like spines. At the top the towers are sharp, like they are stabbing into the sky. The main tower has a large clock at the top; the little hand is on 2:00 pm, if it is to be believed, that is.
Fuma discovers a collection of packaged food bars in the bag. She pulls back the wrapping of one of them and begins chewing her way through it.
Glancing around at her silent allies, she decides to do something she hasn't done in a long time, she's going to start a conversation.
She clears her throat. "Say, that building opposite, we could sleep in it tonight. It'll provide better cover."
"Other tributes might have thought the same… it could be an opportunity for us to thin the herd," Lilac says. The mortician's eyes are laser focused on the spear in her lap which she is sharpening with a piece of metal.
"Yeah… that too." Fuma's eyes fall down.
"I know exactly who I wanna run into," Lilac affirms, still staring at her spear.
The Eight boy?
Fuma pushes herself up and sits beside Lilac on the concrete that she's sitting on. "What happened to Dario… please don't blame yourself," she says, rubbing the Twelve girl's shoulder.
Lilac's expression remains blank. "Don't worry, I'm not."
It's then that Fuma notices an open gash on Lilac's shoulder and upper arm; it's still oozing blood. "Lilac!" she gasps.
"It's just a scratch."
Fuma rolls her eyes. "Lilac, we need to patch that up. It could get infected, I've seen it happen before with injuries like that."
Although, for something to be infected it would require that something be alive in here to infect it - Fuma muses.
"Last I checked, I'm still breathing," Lilac rebuts.
"Just wait here, there might be something in that house." Fuma nods towards a half-destroyed building directly on their left.
"I'll go with you," Zora murmurs. If she hadn't, Fuma may have forgotten she was there.
"Okay."
Together, the two girls cross the road and push the rusted door open into the house. Inside, the room is cluttered with various decaying wooden furniture and other junk on the floor.
Zora begins searching through various draws and cupboards in a semi-frantic manner.
"Slow and steady," Fuma says, offering a smile.
Zora takes a breath, slowing her movements.
"Lilac isn't thinking straight," Fuma sighs. "We can't let her run off and get herself hurt."
"No… but she's not wrong. We are going to have to face the other tributes at some point and kil… and it's either us or her that'll have to do it." Zora's face is strained, like the words are hurting her to say… like they may not be her own words.
Fuma nods reluctantly.
"But the most important thing is we stick together," Zora adds, her tone is brighter this time.
(Those sounded more like Zora's words.)
Fuma yanks the bottom drawer open of a small chest of draws, discovering some duct tape and a cloth inside. "This will have to do. I don't think it's a good idea to leave Lilac on her own for too long," she says.
Zora nods and steps past her after filling her own bag with some items from the house. As she reaches for the door, Fuma stops her.
"Zora. I… I never had time to say sorry… for doubting you back before your private session"
"No… don't apologise, please. You're afraid. We all are." Zora gives her a gentle smile but swiftly scurries away and through the door.
Fuma follows her back to where Lilac is waiting and is relieved to see her still there. She wraps the cloth around the Twelve girl's arm before taping it over the damage to her hazmat suit.
The three girls then head for the large cathedral-looking building after slinging their bags around their shoulders. The two older girls stick at the front with Zora not far behind them.
Fuma gives Lilac a quick glance for approval before creaking the two large doors open. Their eyes are hit with a pitch-blackness from the inside which sends a shiver through Fuma's entire body.
"Home sweet home," Lilac mutters, sarcastically.
That night, the alliance rests near the doors of the building. Fuma and Zora huddle near each other in their own respective sleeping bags for warmth, and Lilac sits at the door, facing the outside as a watchful guardian.
The faces of the fallen fade in from static on a giant television screen in the sky. The first to appear is the smiling face of the boy from Three. Next is Robin's face which only confirms Fuma's worst fears.
(A small part of her is glad. One less person that she may have to kill down the line… and one less person that may try to kill her.
She can't deny that he reminded her of Terrance sometimes, especially wielding that axe.)
Finally, there is the girl from Eleven, Dario, and the girl from Fourteen.
Fewer deaths than expected. The careers were less organised than usual. That means the game makers will be more organised in how they make up for it… Fuma knows this all too well, she has watched the games before.
As the silent arena dims around them, Fuma watches Lilac drift off to sleep, slumped against the door. This is followed by the sound of her lightly snoring.
Eventually, Fuma's eyes begin to feel weighted until they close.
Then, the sound of a sleeping bag unzipping to her right. The ranger's eyes flicker open and dart in the direction of the disturbance.
Zora has unzipped her sleeping bag and is on her feet. The Six girl heads over to her rucksack with hushed footsteps.
"What are you doing?" Fuma demands as Zora retrieves her bag.
The young girl spins around, startled. "My… my water is out… I'm going to find a tap to refill it."
Fuma furrows her eyebrows. "It's not safe," she whispers. "Besides, the water here… I don't think it'll be good for drinking… just wait till the morning."
"No!" Zora's tone is suddenly harsher than it's ever been. "I'll be fine. I won't be long, promise."
Mainly from sheer exhaustion, Fuma concedes, allowing Zora to head out to refill her bottle
But she doesn't rest easy that night. Zora has been acting strange all day, and this only strengthens the uneasy suspicion growing inside Fuma's mind like a tumour.
What isn't she telling them?
Fuma shakes the thought away. She was just thirsty, she needed to refill her bottle.
She trusts Zora.
(But then, she trusted Terrence too.)
(Her family needs her. She has to return to them. She won't allow anyone else to get in between her and her family again.)
Hey everyone, sorry if my writing was a little clunky in this chapter but I wanted to get it out before a busy week next week. Hope you enjoy and let me know what you think in the reviews if you have time. I've decided to remove labelling the games chapters with days because it gives me more flexibility but this is day 1 after the bloodbath. See you next time!