(District 9 Death Duel) |
(District 10 Death Duel) |
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| + | |Ellis Blackberry |
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+ | |16 |
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+ | |5'7 |
| + | |Throwing Knives, Spear |
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| + | |Cassie Lexys |
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+ | |14 |
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+ | |5'4 |
| + | |Crossbow, Blowgun |
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| + | |MissRandomStuff |
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(Note: These alliances are not final and are subject to change.) |
(Note: These alliances are not final and are subject to change.) |
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| − | '''Careers''': Cullinan Beryll (1), Jake Locketback (1), Elvis Alexander (1), Cole Harrison (1), Trinity Mace (1), Luigi Wilkins (2), Chloe Black (2), Pansy Costella (2), Dylan Murrow (4), Seth Rollins (5), Luxray Meganium (14), & Dean Ambrose (14) |
+ | '''Careers''': Cullinan Beryll (1), Jake Locketback (1), Elvis Alexander (1), Cole Harrison (1), Trinity Mace (1), Luigi Wilkins (2), Chloe Black (2), Pansy Costella (2), Dylan Murrow (4), Sheol Argos (4), Seth Rollins (5), Luxray Meganium (14), & Dean Ambrose (14) |
'''Splinter Careers''': Carmine Morrisa (2), Ena Shea (2), & Zoey Proasheck (13) |
'''Splinter Careers''': Carmine Morrisa (2), Ena Shea (2), & Zoey Proasheck (13) |
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| − | '''Anti-Careers''': Blade Spectrus (6), Shade Spectrus (7), Crimson Typhoon (11), Daisy Lilac (11), Misty Honeysuckle (12), & Radiant Tayz (13) |
+ | '''Anti-Careers''': Blade Spectrus (6), Frade Spectrus (7), Shade Spectrus (7), Crimson Typhoon (11), Daisy Lilac (11), Misty Honeysuckle (12), & Radiant Tayz (13) |
'''Aelia's Alliance''': Aelia Freedome (0), Anissa Fallows (1), Amore Madness (6), Luna Fern (6), Aisha Hakeem (8), Freya Prada (8), Annabelle Harret (11), Ganta Alomo (12), Amaya Lovelace (14), & Amica Belle (14) |
'''Aelia's Alliance''': Aelia Freedome (0), Anissa Fallows (1), Amore Madness (6), Luna Fern (6), Aisha Hakeem (8), Freya Prada (8), Annabelle Harret (11), Ganta Alomo (12), Amaya Lovelace (14), & Amica Belle (14) |
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| Line 1,055: | Line 1,055: | ||
'''District 5, 8, 9, & 13 Alliance''': Johnathan Mikeal (5), Banette Tsukomogami (8), Harvest Cropper (9), & Julian Veritas (13) |
'''District 5, 8, 9, & 13 Alliance''': Johnathan Mikeal (5), Banette Tsukomogami (8), Harvest Cropper (9), & Julian Veritas (13) |
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| − | '''District 5, 9, & 10 Alliance''': Amira Blodwen (9), Marlon Lander (10) |
+ | '''District 5, 9, & 10 Alliance''': Amira Blodwen (9), Marlon Lander (10), & Ashley Curtis (5) |
'''District 7 & 8 Alliance''': Amethystia Thall (7) & Camiren Paisley (8) |
'''District 7 & 8 Alliance''': Amethystia Thall (7) & Camiren Paisley (8) |
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"Ugh! She is, like, such a little faker!" Plasma throws her jacket open and I have absolutely no time to react. A knife has appeared in her hand and she drives it into deeply into my chest. Vera shouts but it's useless. I fall back, smacking my head against the fence. Blood is seeping from the wound and the world I getting black. The last thing I see is Vera and Plasma arguing... |
"Ugh! She is, like, such a little faker!" Plasma throws her jacket open and I have absolutely no time to react. A knife has appeared in her hand and she drives it into deeply into my chest. Vera shouts but it's useless. I fall back, smacking my head against the fence. Blood is seeping from the wound and the world I getting black. The last thing I see is Vera and Plasma arguing... |
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| + | |||
| + | |||
| + | ==='''District 10 Death Duel'''=== |
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| + | ===Ellis Blackberry (302nd Games)=== |
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| + | It's a shame that the Capitol hasn't been overthrown already. I thought this the last time I was in this sort of situation as well but the point still stands because nothing has changed since then. The Capitol is still in charge, they still do whatever they damn well please without any fear of repercussions. What the hell have these Rebels been doing since I died? |
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| + | |||
| + | "Prepare for Duel Commencement." |
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| + | |||
| + | I crack my knuckles as the platform under me begins to churn. Well, if no one else is going to stop these Games I might as well play them. They're my only shot of staying alive, after all. The only way I could actually get to a point where ''I'' could finally be the one to show the Capitol they're not in control. |
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| + | |||
| + | But first I have to kill some innocent kids. |
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| + | |||
| + | The platform takes me up into a small field of grass. The scent of manure wafts around me and I wrinkle my face as I notice the nearby pen filled with pigs that mill about, doing nothing. "That hasn't changed," I mutter as I look around at the other landmarks. Nearby sits a farmhouse of sorts, surrounded by a small wooden fence and a few platforms laden with more tributes. Off in the distance I see a barn and a stable; more tribute platforms surround these. Time to get fighting, eh? |
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| + | |||
| + | I bound off of my platform and go racing for the farmhouse. It's my first destination not because it's closest but because, well, okay, it's because it's the closest. Some sort of chimes sounds off as I sprint across the open grassland. Ahead of me, right in front of the house, a pair of tributes fight. |
||
| + | |||
| + | A well-defined, muscular blonde boy is throwing punches at a raven haired girl who continually bounces away from his fists. She laughs merrily, like this is all a game, and sometimes throws her own punch, which is usually on target. |
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| + | |||
| + | "Another?" The boy, who I believe is Morolith (300), stops in his tracks to watch me trot up behind them. The girl spins around to see what he's talking about and my fist takes her in the face. I note her eye-patch as she crumples to the grass, screaming obscenities at me. Seeker (301). |
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| + | |||
| + | "Yeah," I flash a cocky grin at the stunned boy. "I'm just another fighter." My fist connects with his nose and it squirts out blood as it breaks under the force of my blow. Seeker is back on her feet and the both of them are trying to fight me now but this is a brawl and that's where I shine brightest. Back home I was always getting into street fights just like this one, only, there I had real opponents who knew how to fight with just their bodies. |
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| + | |||
| + | I throw an elbow into Morolith's gut, spin out of the way and kick Seeker in the kneecap before back-fisting her skull. They try their best to keep up but fail miserably. I'm beginning to wonder how I'll kill them, since they won't win this battle, when Morolith falls down with a bloody scream. |
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| + | |||
| + | "Bronco!" Seeker's one eye lights up with joy when she spots the muscular black boy creeping towards us. In his left hand he holds a throwing axe, his other is buried in Morolith's back. "Help me finish this birch off!" |
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| + | |||
| + | Uh-oh. I remember the info cards we were shown and, more importantly, I remember how it said that Seeker and Bronco were allied in their initial Hunger Games. Not good. |
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| + | |||
| + | The boy nods his brooding head and then he winds up to throw his axe just as I grip Seeker around the shoulders and pull her in front of me. The axe catches her right in the heart and spits blood before I let her go, wherein she then slides to the bloodstained grass below. "Oops!" I smirk at Bronco as he gapes in shock at what he just did. "I think you made an itsy-bitsy mistake." |
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| + | |||
| + | I'm not slow about it. |
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| + | |||
| + | In a flash I rip the axe out from Morolith's back and hurl it towards the only other tribute left standing. Bronco goes down, the axe lodged in his cranium. It wasn't my best throw ever but it was good enough to get the job done and that counts for something. I collect the two axes and glance at the sky as I wipe the blood off of the blades, apparently several more cannons had gone off while I was fighting for only four faces are still lit, excluding my own. |
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| + | |||
| + | I shake my head and look towards the stables, where I had previously seen tribute platforms. I don't see any fighting tributes but I do see a girl limping towards me, a bow clutched in her shaky right hand. Something stops me from just striking her down with one of the axes; I don't know why, but I can't bring myself to kill her. Maybe it's because she's crying and not fighting. |
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| + | |||
| + | "Th-they killed him!" The girl's sobs become audible as she draws closer. "They killed him!" She's a wreck. Her formerly pretty blonde hair is disheveled and knotted, her face is streaked with tears and a bloody gash is etched across her left leg, obviously the reason for her limp. |
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| + | |||
| + | "Who killed him?" I ask as she drops to the soft grass beside me. The girl's brown eyes swivel to meet mine but she doesn't answer as another sob takes over. I feel a strange connection with the girl, a desire to protect her. I guess it's because she reminds me of Jamie, my best friend back when I lived in District 10. Jamie was nothing like me, she always followed the rules and played nice, but she was somehow one of the few people I actually cared for. This girl reminds me of how Jamie was when her rules broke down and everything went to hell. A crying mess. |
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| + | |||
| + | "They did!" The girl whips around to point a trembling finger at the stables in the distance. "The Cohen's! They killed Alex!" Damn. I recognize the girl now. Cassie Lexys, one-half of the two pairs of siblings in this duel. Alec and Alecia Cohen are the other pair and, according to Cassie, they were the ones to kill Alex. Jumped the two of them from behind and started a brawl. Alex stayed behind for Cassie to escape. |
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| + | |||
| + | The girl can barely form the words through her tears and I don't blame her. She witnessed her brother being killed once before and now, after being reunited with him for only a few brief minutes, she has lost him again. The girl can barely operate with how devastated she is. See, that's the difference between people like me and people like Jamie and Cassie. When something horrible happens they get sad, whereas I just get pissed off. |
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| + | |||
| + | "What kind of weapons do they have?" I ask the girl and her head shoots up as she hears my hardened tone. She knows what I plan on doing. |
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| + | |||
| + | "You-you can't fight them. Th-they'll just kill you too--" |
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| + | |||
| + | "What kind of weapons do they have?" I ignore her. I've gone sixteen years with people telling me I can't do something, I've always paid them no mind. Now's not the time to change that. |
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| + | |||
| + | Cassie sees how futile it is to protest and just mumbles something, I don't catch it so I have her repeat it, louder this time. "A sword and spear!" She gets out through a shuddering sob. Damn. Those weapons won't be easy to beat, but still, I never give up on anything. |
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| + | |||
| + | "Find some shelter," I tell the crying girl as I did to my feet and eye the stable in the distance. "If all goes well then you and me will win this Duel. If it doesn't...I plan on killing at least one of them. So you win either way." She just looks at me, awestruck. She isn't use to others taking the sacrifice for her. But none of us are, really. The Capital always ensures that we're the ones being sacrificed and not the ones being spared the burden. I've always been the rebellious rulebreaker. |
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| + | |||
| + | After Cassie limps off, taking her old bow with her, I begin to approach the stables. Slowly but surely. I don't bother hiding, I want them to see me, to come for me. My advantage is that my axes can be thrown, making open field combat preferable to fighting in that musty stable. Hopefully they don't realize that and try to bum rush me. |
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| + | |||
| + | When I draw about fifty yards away from the stable, the doors swing open. I'm expecting to see the Cohen twins emerge but instead it's a small red-headed boy, screaming as he runs across the grassy plains. He won't get very far. |
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| + | |||
| + | Two horses come galloping out of the stable after him, two kids reining them in with expert skill. The boy picks up his pace as he hears the hooves but it's no use. One of the riders runs him down from behind and with one slash of a sword, the boy goes sprawling to the ground. |
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| + | |||
| + | Horses. |
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| + | |||
| + | They have ''horses''! How is that bloody fair?! |
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| + | |||
| + | The face of Kwartz Diodin (325) blinks off in the sky and then the two riders see me as they're wheeling their stress about. Suddenly my idea about engaging them in an open field doesn't sound so good. |
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| + | |||
| + | One of the riders points their spear at me and then the chase is on. I'm running as fast as my feet will take me but I can hear the pounding of the hooves as they close in. I can't outrun a horse. No one can. |
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| + | |||
| + | My feet stumble across the plains, nearly tripping as I step over a rabbits burrow. The horses continue to close in, one look behind shows that Alec and his spear are only two dozen feet behind me. A plan comes to mind, a stupid one, but a plan nonetheless. I stop running and spin around, facing the oncoming riders. |
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| + | |||
| + | Alec's horse comes throttling towards me but at the last moment it rears up on it's back legs, neighing wildly. Alec wasn't expecting the sudden upheaval of his mount and he goes flying off the back of his horse, crashing into the grass below. |
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| + | |||
| + | My plan isn't finished. Already my axe has left my hand, spiralling for Alecia whose still on her horse. She doesn't see it coming. |
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| + | |||
| + | Her horse goes galloping off into the open plains once she falls off, dead with an axe in her chest. I smile as I watch it go. It wasn't a very loyal horse, now was it? |
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| + | |||
| + | "Alecia!" Unbeknownst to me, Alec has already gotten back to his feet. He goes stumbling towards Alecia but when he sees tthe axe in her chest he changes directions. He comes hurtling towards me. The spear is lofted over his head, ready to be thrown, when an arrow takes him in the neck. I don't know where it came from or how, but it does all the same. Alec chokes and gags as his blood pours out and clogs his airway before eventually dying. I wonder if it was from blood loss or suffocation. |
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| + | |||
| + | "He killed Alex." |
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| + | |||
| + | Cassie has appeared at my side, her eyes hard and a bow locked in her hands. Of course. How did I forget she had that with? I'm surprised she helped though, I'd figure she was loony from.sadness. "Yep. He did," I kick his body to make sure everything is final and I also check Alecia's. Both seem very dead. "And you paid him pay for it." |
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| + | |||
| + | "He deserved it!" Cassie fights back the tears that swell in her eyes. "Him and his devilish sister deserved everything they got!" |
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| + | |||
| + | "I'm not arguing on that front," I shrug and watch as the Cohen twins faces are blanked out in the sky. Only mine and Cassie's remain. I make a pretense of yawning for the camera's. The Capitol loves callous and cold-hearted people, almost as much as they like revenge stories. Wonder how much they'll like revenge when I'm burning their buildings to the ground. |
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[[Category:Blog posts]] |
[[Category:Blog posts]] |
||
Revision as of 00:07, 20 December 2014
Welcome everyone to my ninth ever Hunger Games! In my last games, The 399th Annual Hunger Games, Anais Morrisa from District 1 and created by Pippycat was crowned victor. These Games have a special twist added to them as well, a very special twist that will make these my biggest, boldest, and bloodiest Games yet!
Introduction
This year the Hunger Games will be a Quell, a very special Quell at that. This year the Games will contain ninety-two tributes. Yes, ninety-two! Thirty-two of them will be Reaped from District's 0 through 14 and the Capitol, another thirty-two will be voted upon by citizens of the Capitol. These tributes will be tributes from the 327th, 398th, and 399th Hunger Games. The tributes with the most votes will be revived and and sent back into the Games to compete again. And the final twenty-eight will be tributes who competed in the 300th, 301st, 302nd, 325th, & 326th Games. However, unlike the tributes from the newer Games, these tributes will not be voted in. Instead, these tributes will be divided by District, placed into a large location that matches the District's import, and be forced to fight to the death until only two remain. These two tributes will then be inserted into the Games along with the new tributes and the voted in tributes, bringing the total amount of tributes competing to ninety-two.
Rules
1: There will be ninety-two Tributes, 32 tributes who competed in my 327th, 398th, and 399th Games, 28 tributes who competed in my 300th, 301st, 302nd, 325th, & 326th Games, and finally, there will be 32 new tributes
2: You may submit up two new Tributes
3: Because of the sheer amount of tributes, sponsoring will not be in these Games, at least not at first. Once the numbers begin to dwindle then sponsoring will be reinstated
4: I will write Reapings, Group Training, and of course the actual Games
5: I will not accept any Tributes that have been in my previous Games (that's what the All-Stars' are for)
6: Reservations last exactly 48 hours (this may be extended in certain cases)
7: The Capitol is a Career district in my Games
8: Because of the size of these Games, I anticipate it will take a long time for them to finish. If you're not comfortable joining a Games that will last many months than I'd advise you refrain from joining.
9: Tribute Form: (for new tributes)
Name:
District:
Gender:
Age:
Personality:
Back-story:
Height:
Appearance:
Weapon(s):
Strengths:
Weaknesses:
Fear(s):
Bloodbath Strategy:
Alliance: (can be filled out later)
Training Strategy: (how they will behave in training)
Choosing All-Stars
1: There will be three factors that will decide who will compete again. First of which is votes. I'll explain how it works below.
Each user can vote for one tribute per slot, and de-vote one tribute per slot. (Example: You can only vote for 1 D1 male and de-vote one D1 male) A devote means that you DO NOT want that tribute, and one vote will be taken away from them instead. (Example: Vote: Edmund Everton, De-Vote: Marcio Redge Edmund would be at one, Marcio at -1)
Here is the vote template: (Just copy and paste this in the comments and bold which tribute you are voting for, and italicize the tribute you are de-voting.)
The three Games are...
http://thehungergames.wikia.com/wiki/User_blog:LightStone123/327th_Annual_Hunger_Games_(All-Stars)
http://thehungergames.wikia.com/wiki/User_blog:LightStone123/398th_Annual_Hunger_Games
http://thehungergames.wikia.com/wiki/User_blog:LightStone123/399th_Annual_Hunger_Games
Start copy and pasting HERE:
District 0 Male: Solar Energy (398) & Fenrir Amarth (399)
District 0 Female: Aelia Freedome (398) & Bailey Snowbelle (399)
District 1 Male: Dragon Lord (327), Trevor Gold (398), & Jake Locketback (399)
District 1 Female: Glique Dumofitz (327), Astrid Bellia (327), & Trinity Mace (398)
District 2 Male: Julius Paris (327), Hatch Scright (327), Luigi Wilkins (398), & Hammer Time (399)
District 2 Female: Jerica Straddler (327), Ella Massey (327), Avia Stafford (398), & Carmine Morrisa (399)
District 3 Male: Wario Wade (327), Courage Blitz (327), Shuppet Jorravaskr (398), Aspen Bolts (399)
District 3 Female: Annabeth March (327), Sombra Celesta (398), & Iris Pixel (399)
District 4 Male: Percy Grace (327), Ryan Marine (327), Nikki Heart (398), & Kaye Ocelote (399)
District 4 Female: Zia Grace (327) Swatty Lakeside (327), Scarlet Avalon (398), & Mizu Fall (399)
District 5 Male: Woody Chopper (327), Kodai Hitogoroshi (327), Johnathan Mikeal (398), & Clark Stevens (399)
District 5 Female: Augusta Winters (327), Trick Treat (327), Lucinda Kidd (398), & Missy Turner (399)
District 6 Male: Blade Spectrus (327), Train McBridge (327), & Julio Fall (399)
District 6 Female: Alissa Metal Beam (327), Mimic Slaughter (327) A Amore Madness (398), & Rosalie Sonnet (399)
District 7 Male: Hybrid Three (327), Shade Spectrus (327), Nick Maclachlan (398), & Henry Polyester (399)
District 7 Female: Marcia Callamezzo (327), Willow Firethorn (327), Fiora Waltz (398), & Arbor Alpine (399)
District 8 Male: Rufus Silks (327), Dome Citadel (327), Banette Tsukomogami (398), & Colin Bisset (399)
District 8 Female: Evelyn Dinstra (327), Cashmere Prada (327), Aisha Hakeem (398), & Kim Carett (399)
District 9 Male: Hunter Davila (327), Jake Price (327), Lyman Milton (398), & Jac Price (399)
District 9 Female: Alicia Haze (327), Varina Tapora (327), Juline Cenia (398), & Azalea Finch (399)
District 10 Male: Twix Cinders (327), Vlad Rockford (327), Stephen Star (398), & Billy McGranger (399)
District 10 Female: Bella Mustang (327), Vivan Incomstanti (327), Cleopatra Royalty (398), & Fawn Talons (399)
District 11 Male: Gloom Ivy (327), Darker Horrfi (327), Crimson Typhoon (398), & Bellamy Blake (399)
District 11 Female: Daisy Lilac (327), Mondi Bakerman (327), Raven Night (398), & Octavia Blake (399)
District 12 Male: Exolian Dynamite (327), Drago Fire (398), & Ganta Alomo (399)
District 12 Female: Rio Flock (327), Amaryllis Silvermoon (327), Celica Rotas (398) & Misty Honeysuckle (399)
District 13 Male: Kingsley Orion (327), Ice Hunts (327), Radiant Tayz (325), & Luxio Sertralium (399)
District 13 Female: Celia Myer (327), Piper Quinn (327), Zoey Proasheck (398) & Alexandrite Bohamia (399)
District 14 Male: Odin Amarth (398) & Luxray Meganium (399)
District 14 Female: Angel Orthodox (398) & Amaya Lovelace (399)
Capitol Male: Dusk Olive (327), Ramon Constancy (327), Furcifer Soror (398), & Iggy Coupe (399)
Capitol Female: Dawn Olive (327), Aemillia Wonder (398), Flame Vapore (399)
Stop copy and pasting HERE:
2: The other factors in deciding who will be selected is 1: My personal preference. Basically, If I like the tribute it has a better chance of getting in. and 2: Detail. If a tribute wasn't very detailed or interesting the first time it competed, it likely won't get in this time.
3. After all the votes and de-votes are counted (I will allow a week for voting), I will pick the tributes using the other categories as well.
3. Please do not pick tributes because you are friends with their creator, etc. Pick the tribute you find most interesting due to backstory, you liked reading about them etc.. It would probably be a good idea to read my past Games if you haven't already. Oh, and of course, you can vote for your own tributes.
4. In case the tributes have creators who are no longer active, I will assign people to mentor those tributes. So don't not vote for a tribute because their creator isn't active.
5: Don't worry. I'll make sure that the amount of tributes people have is even. Example, one person won't have like six All-Stars.
All-Stars Part 2
The other twenty-eight All-Stars will not be voted upon. No, they will have to earn their second chance at the Games through an all-out battle to the death.
These duels will be between every tribute from my 300th through 326th Games. Yes, every tribute except for Victors and the tributes who were voted into the 327th Games. They will be exempt from this death duel and instead be included in the voting process.
All the other tributes however, will be separated by District and inserted into the Death Duels. The duels themselves will take place in a enclosed environment, either outside or inside, and weapons may be provided. There will be no possibility of escape. The only way the duels end Is when only two tributes remain living. All others must be dead.
In short, the duels will be like a miniature bloodbath where everyone must fight and kill until there is only two tributes left standing. At this point, the Duel ends and the two winners will join the Reaped tributes and the voted in All-Stars in the Games.
The five Games that these tributes are from will be listed below...
http://thehungergames.wikia.com/wiki/User_blog:LightStone123/The_300th_Annual_Hunger_Games:
http://thehungergames.wikia.com/wiki/User_blog:LightStone123/301st_Annual_Hunger_Games
http://thehungergames.wikia.com/wiki/User_blog:LightStone123/302nd_Annual_Hunger_Games
http://thehungergames.wikia.com/wiki/User_blog:LightStone123/325th_Annual_Hunger_Games
http://thehungergames.wikia.com/wiki/User_blog:LightStone123/326th_Annual_Hunger_Games
The tributes who will compete in each duel are...
District 1 Duel: Elvis Alexander (300), Cole Harrison (325), Karma Blood (325), Warwickite Jewelly (326), Diamond Coman (301), Raven Armor (302), Skylar Windbreeze (325), Artemis Grace (325), & Kate Willis (326)
District 2 Duel: Johnny Clarke (300), Damian Weatherby (301), Drewsiff Bloodwonky (302), Yuki Kokyu (325), Jeffrey Killheart (326), Bethany Clarke (300), Pansy Costello (301), Onyx Eboni (302), Chloe Black (325), & Teresa Silver (325
District 3 Duel: Noah Everest (300), Elecc Commission (325), Chip Parks (325), Rebel Groots (326), Di Thorn (300), Bethunia Underium (301), Syren Song (302), Elecctronny Watson (325), & Vision Faith (325)
District 4 Duel: Flick Rivers (300th), Cody Freshwater (301st), Trident Bekke (302nd), Giller McFish (325th), Wayne Defleckt (325th), Kaylay Netter (300) Wari Oceani (301), Nymph Mere (325), Fressa Saltie (325), & Seafoam Majesty (326)
District 5 Duel: Trenton Powers (300), Watt Powers (301), Tameo Arghus (302), Sebastian Hive (325), Philo Ventus (326), Allie Costigan (300), Swift Twirpshkin (301), Allana Darkbloom (325), & Bonnie Cougar (326)
District 6 Duel: Cosmo Fyngelli (300), Xavier Woods (301), Illegal Drugs (302), Zak Slaughter (325), Wolbert Toonico (325), Belladonna Saware (300), Luna Fern (301) Bluffy Silvestein (302), Eleith Lightstorm (325), & Blondie Genesis (326)
District 7 Duel: Ransom Overman (301), Wocky Oak (302), & Frade Spectrus (326), May-Ann Hunter (300), Nastya Gushkin (301), Maple Leavestruck (325), Chumps Harvaria (325), & Voolia Kelopi (326)
District 8 Duel: Nick Kobarg (300), Josef Wilder (301), Jax Griffin (325), Tot Tenham (325), Yuri Collins (326), Coco Joansi (300), Freya Prada (302), Galina Von Dover (325), Catalina Tweed (325), & Odessa Garnetstone (326)
District 9 Duel: Eli Dawn (300), Mark Haulk (301), Hunther Hayes (302), Folly Rover (325), Tito Granso (326), Plasma Perimen (300), Perrie Grain (301), Layla Twozone (325), & Vera Luchabra (326)
District 10 Duel: Morolith Dmitry (300), Bronco Bagwell (301), Alec Cohen (325), Kwarts Diodin (325), Alex Lexys (326), Gracie King (300), Seeker Amaryllis (301), Ellis Blackberry (302), Alecia Cohen (325), & Cassie Lexys (326)
District 11 Duel: Wess Cornstob (300), Shimdt Raspberry (302), Trent Korey (325), Seez Croppley (325), Zippy Oakster (326), Flow’r Raspberry (301), Rasp Southern (302), Flora Sapsling (325), Eva Destiny (325) & Flippy Twinmind (326)
District 12 Duel: Gogh Lizta (300), Knight Castle (302), Jack Cayman (325), Julian (325), Regina Victorious (301), Mina Ebony (302), Salem Calla (325), Thalia Combe (325) & Steammie Pic (326)
District 13 Duel: Aeron Ashkyn (302), Harley Swoop (325), Douglas Biles (326), Saidy Dauntless (301), Kiara Mitchell (302), Violetta Nobel (325), & Jenessa Whitten (326)
Capitol Duel: Avian Monte (302), Josool Wiranda (325), Dexter Malon (325), Olympic Oblado (326), Shervert Wonkalandia (301), Flawra Moonshadow (325), Amelia Puregold (325), & Isolde Blair (326)
Tributes
| District | Type | Gender | Name | Age | Height | Weapon | User |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Capitol | New | Male | Kaneki Urashi | 15 | 5'9 | Double Glaive | WongPongSoup |
| Capitol | Voted | Male | Ramon Constancy | 18 | 6'2 | Bow & Arrows | VDA1999 |
| Capitol | Duel | Male | |||||
| Capitol | New | Female | Mahogany Vesta | 17 | 5'8 | Throwing Knives | TheFireJay |
| Capitol | Voted | Female | Flame Vapore | 16 | 5'11 | Axe, Dagger | Mistfire333 |
| Capitol | Duel | Female | |||||
| 0 | New | Male | Todd Evans | 18 | 6'3 | Brass Knuckles, Knife Glove | YourFavoriteSalmon |
| 0 | Voted | Male | Solar Energy | 15 | 5'6 | Spear | TheFireJay |
| 0 | New | Female | Rosalina Cosmic | 14 | 5'2 | Throwing Knives | TheFireJay |
| 0 | Voted | Female | Aelia Freedome | 17 | 5'7 | Spear | Mistymolla |
| 1 | New | Male | Cullinan Beryll | 18 | 6'3 | Iron Shoes | Nlby001 |
| 1 | Voted | Male | Jake Locketback | 18 | 5'10 | Spear, Bow | MarinaTheTenkaiKnight |
| 1 | Duel | Male | Elvis Alexander | 18 | 6'2 | Sword, Spear | SuperTomato |
| 1 | New | Female | Anissa Fallows | 17 | 6'2 | Bow, Throwing Knives | Mistymolla |
| 1 | Voted | Female | Trinity Mace | 17 | 5'2 | Knife, Mace | YourFavoriteSalmon |
| 1 | Duel | Male | Cole Harrison | 18 | 6'3 | Mace, Spear | Kaegan-is-a-tribute |
| 2 | New | Male | Rodeo Baldios | 16 | 6'5 | Hand-to-Hand combat | SerpentKing999 |
| 2 | Voted | Male | Luigi Wilkins | 17 | 6'1 | Sword, Throwing Knives | MyWorld |
| 2 | Duel | Female | Pansy Costella | 18 | 5'7 | Scimitar | AxedFox |
| 2 | New | Female | Ena Shea | 17 | 5'9 | Ice pick, Bow | Aerialchinook |
| 2 | Voted | Female | Carmine Morrisa | 16 | 5'9 | Warhammer, Mace | Pippycat |
| 2 | Duel | Female | Chloe Black | 16 | 5'7 | Sword, Throwing Knives | CatoET |
| 3 | New | Male | Caspian Mahoney | 18 | 6'2 | Sword, Chakram | CToaURN |
| 3 | Voted | Male | Courage Blitz | 14 | 5'7 | Sword | Jabberjay78 |
| 3 | Duel | Male | Noah Everest | 13 | 5'4 | Throwing Axes | Theman77 |
| 3 | New | Female | Ziya Ashton | 15 | 5'6 | Throwing Knives, Hammer | Aerialchinook |
| 3 | Voted | Female | Annabeth March | 16 | 5'4 | Bow, Sickle | FrostyFire |
| 3 | Duel | Female | Chip Parks | 15 | 5'5 | Mines, Knives | MissRandomStuff |
| 4 | New | Male | Dylan Murrow | 17 | 5'10 | Trident, Throwing Knives | Sambaroses |
| 4 | Voted | Male | Ryan Marine | 17 | 5'10 | Trident, Knives | TheFireJay |
| 4 | Duel | Male | Trident Bekke | 15 | 5'10 | Trident, Net | Junior II |
| 4 | New | Female | Sheol Argos | 16 | 6'0 | Scissors | SerpentKing999 |
| 4 | Voted | Female | Mizu Fall | 16 | 5'4 | Teeth, Trident | Mistymolla |
| 4 | Duel | Female | Fressa Saltie | 17 | 5'11 | Trident, Throwing Knives | FrostyFire |
| 5 | New | Male | Seth Rollins | 18 | 6'0 | Axe, Longsword | Misfire333 |
| 5 | Duel | Male | Watt Powers | 14 | 5'4 | Blowgun, Snares | Attackcobra |
| 5 | Voted | Male | Johnathan Mikeal | 18 | 6'5 | Sword, Spear | YourFavoriteSalmon |
| 5 | New | Female | Ashley Curtis | 14 | 5'4 | Bow, Dagger | MyWorld |
| 5 | Duel | Male | Sebastian Hive | 18 | 6'1 | Butcher Knife | Nommehzombies |
| 5 | Voted | Female | Trick Treat | 17 | 5'9 | Anything | Hybrid Shadow |
| 6 | New | Male | Stario Lucaren | 13 | 5'4 | Throwing Knives, Dagger | MyWorld |
| 6 | Duel | Male | Wolbert Toonico | 18 | 6'0 | Sword | Supertomato |
| 6 | Voted | Male | Blade Spectrus | 14 | 5'4 | Spear, Sword | tehblakdeath |
| 6 | New | Female | Kennedy Marks | 17 | 5'8 | Dagger | Bacon Canadian |
| 6 | Duel | Female | Luna Fern | 14 | 5'4 | Axe | Mistymolla |
| 6 | Voted | Female | Amore Madness | 16 | 5'6 | Spear, Crossbow | Mistfire333 |
| 7 | New | Male | Axel Alex | 17 | 6'2 | Throwing Axe, Axe | Striker12345 |
| 7 | Duel | Male | Wocky Oak | 16 | 5'5 | Axe, Throwing Knives | FrostyFire |
| 7 | Voted | Male | Shade Spectrus | 16 | 6'2 | Dagger, Crossbow | Mistfire333 |
| 7 | New | Female | Amethystia Thall | 15 | 5'3 | Mace, Throwing Axe | MarinaTheTenkaiKnight |
| 7 | Duel | Male | Frade Spectrus | 14 | 5'4 | Dagger, Crossbow | Mistfire333 |
| 7 | Voted | Female | Arbor Alpine | 17 | 5'5 | Axe | Hybrid Shadow |
| 8 | New | Male | Jet Flack | 15 | 6'1 | Sword, Crossbow | Striker12345 |
| 8 | Duel | Male | Josef Wilder | 18 | 5'11 | Crossbow, Knives | Attackcobra |
| 8 | Voted | Male | Banette Tsukomogami | 15 | 5'5 | Needles, Knives | Mistfire333 |
| 8 | New | Female |
Camiren Paisley-Idylwyld |
17 | 5'7 | Sword, Dagger | Summer Bee 13 |
| 8 | Duel | Female | Freya Prada | 13 | 5'6 | Crossbow | Mistymolla |
| 8 | Voted | Female | Aisha Hakeem | 15 | 5'6 | Throwing Knives, Axes | Aerialchinook |
| 9 | New | Male | Harvest Cropper | 14 | 5'7 | Sickle, Scythe | Wolfgirl23 |
| 9 | Duel | Female | Plasma Perimen | 16 | 5'11 | Machete | Dedejacob |
| 9 | Voted | Male | Jac Price | 16 | 5'9 | Sword | TheFireJay |
| 9 | New | Female | Amira Blodwen | 14 | 5'6 | Bow, Scythe | Sambaroses |
| 9 | Duel | Female | Vera Luchabra | 18 | 6'2 | Axe, Club | Andy1854 |
| 9 | Voted | Female | Azalea Finch | 16 | 5'5 | Scythe, Bow | Aerialchinook |
| 10 | New | Male | Marlon Lander | 12 | 5'3 | Scythe, Bow | Yoonie |
| 10 | Duel | Female | Ellis Blackberry | 16 | 5'7 | Throwing Knives, Spear | EmpressOreo |
| 10 | Voted | Male | Billy McGranger | 14 | 5'3 | Whip | Wolfgirl23 |
| 10 | New | Female | Madeva McGranger | 18 | 6'4 | Whip, Knives | Wolfgirl23 |
| 10 | Duel | Female | Cassie Lexys | 14 | 5'4 | Crossbow, Blowgun | MissRandomStuff |
| 10 | Voted | Female | Fawn Talons | 16 | 5'9 | Scythe, Throwing Knives | Sambaroses |
| 11 | New | Male | Caliban Rweed | 17 | 6'3 | Sword, Dagger | tehblakdeath |
| 11 | Duel | Male | |||||
| 11 | Voted | Male | Crimson Typhoon | 14 | 5'6 | Bow, Sword | AwesomeAidan |
| 11 | New | Female | Annabelle Harret | 14 | 5'5 | Bow, Throwing Knives | YourFavoriteSalmon |
| 11 | Duel | Female | |||||
| 11 | Voted | Female | Daisy Lilac | 16 | 5'7 | Machete, Dagger | Aerialchinook |
| 12 | New | Male | Falk Avian | 13 | 5'7 | Bow & Arrows | Yoonie |
| 12 | Duel | Male | |||||
| 12 | Voted | Male | Ganta Alomo | 15 | 5'8 | Needles | WongPongSoup |
| 12 | New | Female | Curricular Lunes | 17 | 5'7 | Cleaver, Knife | Blissfully Mine |
| 12 | Duel | Female | |||||
| 12 | Voted | Female | Misty Honeysuckle | 14 | 5'1 | Sword, Blowgun | Sambaroses |
| 13 | New | Male | Julian Veritas | 15 | 5'11 | Machete, Bow | Pippycat |
| 13 | Duel | Male | |||||
| 13 | Voted | Male | Radiant Tayz | 16 | 5'11 | Sword, Crossbow | tehblakdeath |
| 13 | New | Female | Adreanna Danish | 17 | 5'11 | Hand-to-Hand combat | Blissfully Mine |
| 13 | Duel | Female | |||||
| 13 | Voted | Female | Zoey Proasheck | 15 | 5'8 | Axe, Katana | tehblakdeath |
| 14 | New | Male | Dean Ambrose | 18 | 6'4 | Knife, Axe | Mistfire333 |
| 14 | Voted | Male | Luxray Meganium | 18 | 6'5 | Morning Star | tehblakdeath |
| 14 | New | Female | Amica Belle | 17 | 5'8 | Knife, Mace | Mistymolla |
| 14 | Voted | Female | Amaya Lovelace | 16 | 5'2 | Knife | Mistymolla |
Alliances
(Note: These alliances are not final and are subject to change.)
Careers: Cullinan Beryll (1), Jake Locketback (1), Elvis Alexander (1), Cole Harrison (1), Trinity Mace (1), Luigi Wilkins (2), Chloe Black (2), Pansy Costella (2), Dylan Murrow (4), Sheol Argos (4), Seth Rollins (5), Luxray Meganium (14), & Dean Ambrose (14)
Splinter Careers: Carmine Morrisa (2), Ena Shea (2), & Zoey Proasheck (13)
Anti-Careers: Blade Spectrus (6), Frade Spectrus (7), Shade Spectrus (7), Crimson Typhoon (11), Daisy Lilac (11), Misty Honeysuckle (12), & Radiant Tayz (13)
Aelia's Alliance: Aelia Freedome (0), Anissa Fallows (1), Amore Madness (6), Luna Fern (6), Aisha Hakeem (8), Freya Prada (8), Annabelle Harret (11), Ganta Alomo (12), Amaya Lovelace (14), & Amica Belle (14)
District 3 & 12 Alliance: Rosalina Cosmic (0), Caspian Mahoney (3) & Curricular Lunes (12)
District 5, 8, 9, & 13 Alliance: Johnathan Mikeal (5), Banette Tsukomogami (8), Harvest Cropper (9), & Julian Veritas (13)
District 5, 9, & 10 Alliance: Amira Blodwen (9), Marlon Lander (10), & Ashley Curtis (5)
District 7 & 8 Alliance: Amethystia Thall (7) & Camiren Paisley (8)
District 9 Alliance: Jac Price (9) & Azalea Finch (9)
District 10 Alliance: Billy McGranger (10), Madeva McGranger (10), & Fawn Talons (10)
Looking for an alliance: Falk Avian (12)
Loners: Solar Energy (0), Courage Blitz (3), Ziya Ashton (3), Mizu Fall (4), Axel Alex (7), Caliban Rweed (11), & Kaneki Urashi (C)
Death Duels
District 1 Death Duel
Elvis Alexander (300th Games)
I'm in a very small room, there's absolutely nothing here but the tiled floors and ceiling that surround me. A metallic platform rests under my booted feet, ready to rise up and bring me into the Duel Arena.
Can't believe I'm even in this situation.
I've already been told what happened, how I got back into this place. How I need to kill every damn person who will join me in that small arena. Nine of us will enter but only two will leave. Only two will be in the 400th Hunger Games. They've given me some info cards to read to get myself adjusted to my opponents. The cards told me their names and how they performed in the Games but it's very light on the details. Still, I'm ready. I've prepared my entire life for the Games and I would have won my Games, the 300th, if it weren't for those treacherous traitors Di and Flick, jumping me from behind. My hands are already clenching into fists at my side at the mere thought of them.
The Games are meant to be played with honor. Those two knew nothing of honor. They were filthy cretins who lied, cheated, and stole their way through the Games. I wish they were in this Duel. Then I would wring their pathetic little necks.
"Prepare for Duel commencing!"
A robotic female voice comes through a speaker into my room. I shake my head vigorously, my blonde ponytail bouncing behind me. "Bring it on, baby!" I scream to the sky, ready for some violence. My body is ready.
"Platforms will now rise. Please stay in the center. Thank you."
I hear gears churning under my feet as the metal platform begins to rise. I'm excited, giddy almost. I don't think I've felt this level of anticipation since the first time I was brought into the arena. Apparently that was over a hundred years ago. Man, time flies when you're dead. The platform rises through the ceiling and then I'm in a dark tunnel. Very much like the arena. "I'm ready!" I howl as a light appears above my head. Then I arrive in the arena.
It's dark and after that bright light I can barely see anything, causing me to rub my eyes. It doesn't help but after a few seconds pass everything comes into focus. I'm in a cavern, of sorts. Dark musty rocks surround me, predictably smelling like soil and dirt. But that's not the attention grabbing. That's the giant diamonds.
Massive diamonds surround me, shining in the darkness. I don't see any outside light source for them to be reflecting, rather, it seems that they are the light source. "Coolio man!" I whistle as I stare at the diamonds, impressed. Plain white diamonds are the most common but there's others too, red diamonds, blue, green, yellow, even purple. There's one of just about every color.
I get so absorbed in watching these diamonds sparkle with their innate light that I don't even think to look around for other tributes. Not that there's any around. The cavern is dark and my view is impeded by this coolio diamonds. I'm supposing that the others are on platforms similar to mine. Just waiting out there...
A full minute passes before I realize something is wrong. There's been no announcement. No signal that the Duel has started. Nothing. What gives?
I bring my gaze back across the diamonds and cavern. I see nothing out of place. "Where's my signal, man?" I mutter aloud just before looking up. I don't know how I missed it before. A giant holographic screen shining on the roof of the cavern. Picture headshots of tributes are shown, along with their Games number. Nine District 1 tributes from five different Hunger Games stated down at me, my own face one of them. These are the losers, the dead. The tributes who died in their Games and weren't voted in to compete in the 327th. The ones nobody wanted to see compete again. My District partner from the 300th Games, Astrid Bellia, isn't among us. I'm pissed off I'm not with her and instead stuck here with the dregs. I am far above them!
Ding!
A quiet chiming noise echoes throughout the cavern, vibrating towards my ears. I'm just beginning to wonder what it means when one of the faces, the one of the girl from the 301st Hunger Games, blinks off. The portrait goes dark and red words scroll across reading "Deceased".
"Oh, hell no!"
I realize two things at once. One: That holographic screen is used to track whose still alive and fighting. And Two: The fact that someone has just died means that this Duel has already started. There is no announcement. The Duel just starts the moment you come into the arena.
I tighten my muscles and spring off of the platform. When my boot lands on the hard-packed dirt of the cavern, I have a brief fear that I'm wrong. That there will be landmines like in the Hunger Games. That I'll have my legs blown off. Luckily for me there's no explosion. My first guess was right, this Duel has already started.
I take off into the maze of diamonds, wondering how many of the others have already figured it out. At least one did. I mean, the girl didn't kill herself. I hope they haven't taken all of the weapons yet.
I've gone about ten feet forward when I skirt around a particularly large green diamond and come face to face with another tribute. The girl shrieks in alarm and jumps back. I make note of her long brunette hair with red highlights. It's one of the girls from the 325th Games. Skylar.
She throws her arms up for protection and I resist barking out laughter. What kind of District 1 tribute is she? She's an embarrassment to us all! I'll have no problem with fighting her. Too late the girl thinks to run. She's turned but my arms wrap around her and heave backwards. I don't have any weapons but I don't need any for this fight.
Skylar shouts for mercy as I grip my hands around her neck and slam her into the side of a diamond. She for silent immediately but I smash her head into the hard crystal several more times, just to make sure. After the fifth time her skull smacks into the diamond, I let go. Her neck hangs at an odd angle as she slips to the cold ground, leaving a long streak of blood across the beautiful diamond.
I spit and then crack my knuckles as another chime echoes through the cavern and Skylar's face dims. This should be fun.
Cole Harrison (325th Games)
Already two tributes have died. One of them being Skylar, a girl from my Games. I'm a bit torn seeing her dead. She was a terrible fighter, useless at almost everything. She was the first death of our Games after all. But she was also easy on the eyes. I'll miss her, if just for that.
I keep my ears open for any more chimes as I weave through the diamonds, in search of the weapons we were promised. No more chimes come as I reach what appears to be the edge diamond field. A large clearing rests in the center of all the diamonds that form a large circle around it. Crates full of weapons sit in an organized pattern, divided by weapon type. There's a crate full of swords, one with laces, axes, and spears. Just about every weapon I'd need. Great.
My eyes focused on a black handled spear, I step out into the clearing. Only then do I see the boy as he rises from the ground, a crimson liquid coating his hands and knees. Karma Blood. A boy from ny Games and a real freak at that. He loved to look at blood, collected it even. If that wasn't reason enough to hate him, there's also the fact that he betrayed me. "Where'd you get the blood, Karma?" I ask, stopping my progress. He lets out a low, sinister laugh and gestures at his feet.
"I found a pretty little donor!" He calls merrily and I see the girl. Blonde hair, green eyes. She was the first death of this Duel, Diamond Coman.
"You're a sick dude. You know that?" Diamond's throat had been torn open, revealing the bones and muscles inside. I can see the skin and blood under Karma's fingernails. No reason to wonder how it happened. He didn't even use a knife.
"Perhaps. But we all have our vices, don't we, Cole?" A smile spreads along his elongated face as he takes a step towards me. I spot the shape running out from the diamond maze and smile back.
"Yeah. Wonder what Warwickite's vices are?"
I take joy in the look of discomfort that crosses Karma's face right before Wariwickite blows into his back. The two boys fall to the ground, snarling as they wrestle for dominance. I don't know much about Warwickite. Just that he's from the 326th Games. But I trust he can handle Karma. I go sprinting for the spear I signalled out earlier but now I see that someone else has found the clearing. Raven Armor (302) slides a long katana out from the sword crate and grins wickedly at me.
"Game time, Cole!" My hands whip the spear out from its crate as I pass by, still sprinting at full speed. Raven sees me coming right for her and winds up swing at my head. Bad placement. I slide like a baseball player just as she unleashes the swing. She misses. I don't. My spear tip slices across her thigh and she drops to one uninjured leg, howling in pain. I spring back to my feet and thrust spear through the nape of her neck. Her howls of pain break off into bloody gurgles as the spear tip clogs her throat. She falls down, choking on her own blood as another chime goes off. "Oh yeah!" I give myself an imaginary high-five and turn to examine the clearing. Karma and Warwickite are still brawling, though it appears Karma is gaining the edge. I should go help--
"Think fast!"
I don't have time to think as a knife slices across the clearing, slashing into the tip of my spear and ripping it from my grasp. A girl with blonde haired tied back in a ponytail has appeared on the edge of clearing, a pair of throwing knives in hand. Where did she get those? Not from a crate, that's certain. But I don't have time to think about it. Kate (326) winds back her arm to throw another knife and I drop to the ground so hard that I swear I bruise my chest.
Not that I needed to. The knife doesn't even come for me. Instead, it cartwheels through the air and slams into the heart of an emerging Artemis, the second girl from my Games. She drops like a stone, dead on impact. Kate turns to me, priming the knife in her hand. "Crap."
I brace for another desperate dive when a figure lunges out from the diamond maze and grabs Kate from behind. I hear her squeal of panic as two thickly muscled arms wrap around her neck. She doesn't have time to use her knife before the arms give a sharp jerk and her neck snaps. She slides to the ground, dead.
Three more chimes go off as Elvis (300) stalks into the clearing. Instinctively, I look to the sky and the holographic scoreboard. The faces of Kate, Artemis, and Warwickite all dim at once, leaving only three more. Elvis, Karma, and myself.
"That was...most amusing," Karma rises from where Warwickite's body lies, stiff and unmoving. "He really knew how to fight. But still, he underestimated the power of one's fingers." He stretches his long fingers as he speaks and I grimace as I see the fresh blood that soaks them. Karma just smiles at me and pulls a sword out from a nearby crate. "Duel to the death? An honourable fight?" He asks, his voice dripping with mock politeness.
"No way. Two people can survive this Duel. Let's make it you and me. Let's just get him. He's unarmed!" I point towards Elvis, whose been watching our interaction with an emotionless face. Karma's crimson eyes flicker towards him and I see them light up when he sees I am right. Elvis has no weapons.
"Ah. I see. You wish to kill the weakling, avoid putting yourself at risk. Smart. Very smart." Karma sounds like a snake as he stops halfway between the two of us, his gaze flickering back and forth.
I shrug and pick up my fallen spear. "Seems like common sense, no? Why risk our own health when we could just team up and win unscathed?"
"Oh, you're clever. So very clever. But you see, I could never possibly bring myself to trust--"
His words turn into a brief scream of pain as my spear digs into his chest. He topples over and I race across the clearing, a wide grin on my face. "Of course you couldn't trust me! You already betrayed me once! No way was I letting it happen again, asshole!" I stomp on his face for emphasis, then a chime sounds. My spear pierced his heart, killed him instantly. Awesome.
"Coolio, man. Nice moves." Elvis comes walking towards me, applauding. His claps echo through the now deathly silent caverb. "Looks like you and me have something in common."
"Hmm?"
"We both really hate traitors!" He stops a few feet away from me and grins. After a moment I return it. I don't know this guy, but I already like him more than any allies I had in my first Games. I go to speak when trumpets interrupt and a voice I don't recognize speaks.
"Congratulations to the winners of the District 1 Death Duel! Elvis Alxexander and Cole Harrison! The two of you will join the pool of tributes competing in the 400th Annual Hunger Games!"
I grin like a fool as the voice fades and aan opening suddenly forms in the wall of the cavern. White suited people come pouring out and approach both me and Elvis. "We're the best District 1 has to offer," I tell him as the people begin to corrale us towards the opening that just formed. "And we should be the ones to lead the Careers!"
District 2 Death Duel
Teresa Silvers (325th Games)
When someone tells you that you've been asleep for over seventy-five years, you tend not to believe them. Except for when you consider that you've already died once and was somehow brought back to life. Then you'd believe anything they told you.
My room is empty and featureless, leaving absolutely no impression on me as I wait for this so-called "death duel" to begin. My mind is elsewhere anyways, focused on the family I once had. Are they dead now? Or just extremely old? I feel my stomach churn uncomfortably at either possibility. The fact that everyone I've ever known could be dead is...an unpleasant one. Very unpleasant.
I shuffle my feet around on the platform and try not to cry. Everyone I've ever loved is dead. Dead or an old, elderly person. What even awaits me back home? What would I return to? Is there even a point in winning these Games when I have nothing left? The only thing that I even feel slightly good about is the fact that the man who was stalking me when I was Reaped so long ago is dead too. I mean, he has to be dead, doesn't he?
"Prepare for Duel commencement."
A voice seeps into my small room and tears me from my thoughts. Beneath me, the metal platform has begun to stir and move.
"The platform will now rise. Please stay in the center. Thank you."
There's no sound as the platform begins to rise. I hear nothing but the thudding of my heart as I enter a dark tunnel and then emerge into a brand new locale. I recognize the room, though I've never been in one myself. Hammers and anvils, vats of molten metal and steamy pots of water. A musty smell hang in the air, one that reeks of iron and sweat.
I'm in a smithy
I'm just looking around for a few seconds when I notice the platforms that have risen beside me. Four of them. I recognize Chloe from my Games and then there's tiny Onyx (302) and arrogant Bethany (300). And a lone boy. A sneer is etched on his face as he leers at me with a very disturbing face. "I'm gonna kill you first!" He growls at me. His voice is low and menacing, his amber eyes filled with an insatiable bloodlust. I instinctively take a step back and too late do I remember that I'll have my legs blown off.
But I don't.
I don't have time to ponder this discovery before the boy hurtles off of his platform and comes sprinting towards me. Behind him, the other girls begin to fight. I shouldn't have stopped to watch that.
The boy's shoulders ram into my gut and he takes me to the ground. The square of my back smacks into the cold, cobbled bricks below and I feel the breath shoot out of me as the boy howls to the sky. "I am Drewsiff Bloodwonky! I am the blood hound!" He balls his hands into fists and sends them barreling down towards me but I roll out of the way, hearing the crack of his knuckles as they smash into the hard bricks. He screams and cradles his hands close as I bring my feet to my chest and then kick him hard in the gut. He falls back and I'm on him, hands gripped around his head. A stream of curses flow out of his mouth as I smack his skull back into the ground. His eyes roll up into his head and I hear a sickenly loud crack.
I let go and slump backwards, panting heavily. I feel no pity for the boy. He was a cold-blooded murderer who got what he deserved. I'm just worried about myself.
The smithy is alive with the sounds of fighting. Screams of pain, shouts of anger and the occasional chiming of a bell fill the air. I smell the scent of blood lingering in the air. Already I see Onyx (302) lies dead on the floor. Chloe and Bethany still fight nearby though. I don't want anything to do with them.
As I crawl behind the tables and anvils that litter the room, I finally notice that hologram on the ceiling. The faces of Onyx, Damian, and Drewsiff are already blanked out. Only seven left.
Eager to get a look at the other tributes, I cautiously rise up from the ground and look across the table I'm hidden behind. The giant boy, Yuki (325) is squaring off with Pansy (301). The crimson girl keeps dancing away from his grasp and he's getting visibly upset at his inability to catch her.
I hear movement behind me but I don't have time to react. A hand clamps over my mouth and then a voice speaks directly into my ear. "Go to sleep...."
Something sharp and metal cuts into my throat.
Pansy Costella (325th Games)
Yuki swings his massive fists towards me and I duck as his momentum sends his large frame barreling past me. He doesn't have a weapon, he doesn't need one. I've already seen how he killed my original District partner, Damian, with nothing but those fists of his. He's dangerous. "Stop moving!" He screams at me and once again sends a fist flying towards me. I roll sideways and avoid it.
"We both know I won't do that!" A grin forms on my face as he grunts and spins around much faster than I thought possible. He strikes me across the face with a massive backhand and I go sprawling to the floor, agony ripping through my jaw. Probably have a broken molar. Whiplash too. No time to think on it, Yuki stomps towards me and I roll, avoiding the deadly foot. "Just give up, you fat bastard!" I scream at him as I fall back towards the tables. I see a handled vat.
"Never!" He snarls and charges. I don't move.
Confusion crosses his face halfway towards me. He doesn't understand why I am not running, why I am not dodging. He soon learns why.
I smash my hand down onto the handle and the vat flies forward, spewing molten metal into Yuki's face and eyes. There's a delightful sizzling sound as Yuki stumbles backwards, howling and screaming as the metal burns his face and eyes. Pulling a long metal nail off of the table, I savagely kick Yuki in the knee, causing him to drop to my height.
He's still screaming. The metal has begun to merge with his face, a very painful looking thing. A smile crosses my face as I realize he's done for. "Shoulda just gave up!" I hoist the nail up and drive it into his chest, once, twice, thrice. His body gives one massive jerk and then he drops like a stone. Dead.
A chime goes off as I look away from the boy and observe the rest of the fighting. The Clarke siblings have Chloe cornered now. Johnny (300) holds a wicked hammer in his hands as the two of them approach the trapped girl.
"Looks like you have no weapons!" Bethany sneers at her. Chloe spits defiantly in he face. Bethany wipes it away and grins. "Oh, you shouldn't have done that!"
"Your death will be much more painful now!" Johnny agrees. The two of them step forward and then Johnny gives a half shout and falls to his knees. Bethany is screaming in shock as she sees the knife sticking out from his back. She didn't see what I did. Jeffrey (326) has slunk out from the shadows and is racing across the smithy, his knife in Johnny's back.
Bethany screams again as Jeff rips the knife back out from her brothers back. What an idiot. Jeff slashes the knife forward and her screams turn into gurgles as blood flows from a new gash in her throat. Jeff watches as she falls to the ground beside her dead brother. Two more chimes go off. Then a heavy metal hammer smashes in his skull.
He never saw it coming.
Jeff is dead on impact but Chloe continues to wail on his body, smashing it until he's an unrecognizable bloody mess. I position my fingers around the nail, ready to send it hurtling into Chloe's skull.
"Congratulations to the survivors of the District 2 Death Duel! Pansy Costella and Chloe Black!"
I hear the voice announce our victory. I just don't care. Chloe is still going to die. It'll just be one less opponent for me when the Games begin. I'm about to throw when a whistling noise pierces the air and my body is suddenly frozen. I can't move a muscle, everything is stiff as I feel an unknown energy pulsing through my body. Then the doors of the smithy open up and doctors pile in, followed by Peacekeepers.
They surround me and Chloe, who also appears to be frozen. One of the doctors stands in front of me. "You naughty little girl!" He waves a scolding finger at me as he grins. "Trying to get the drop on the competition? I'm afraid that just won't do." I try to tell him to go slag himself but I can't. So this immobility extends to my speech too. Swell. Just swell. The man turns to the others and barks out orders. "Get them out of here. They have a Hunger Games to compete in."
District 3 Death Duel
Noah Everest (300th Games)
I feel like I'm trapped back in that horrid cell as I nervously pace across my small room. Soon I'll be brought into an "arena" and be forced to fight with my fellow prisoners. Only two will survive. The rest must die.
I guess we should be grateful they're at least letting two of us live. I would have thought only one would survive.
"Prepare for Duel commencement."
I position myself in the exact center of the platform and wait as it slowly begins to rise. I wonder what our surroundings will be. They said it'd be something similar to our District export, so electronics, perhaps?
Yes. Yes, it's electronics. The platform rises into a command hub-like area. Giant, complex plasma monitors line the walls behind me and the other tributes. All of our platforms are placed in a circle around a ring of computers on a raised circle. Four stairways from each direction, north, south, east and west, lead up to the circle. In the center of the circle, I see a table. Laden with knives, wires and all sorts of electronic goodies.
Those will be our weapons.
The other tributes seem confused, dazzled by the lights of the plasma screens that show nothing but static. I'm the only one that has noticed there's no countdown. Nothing showing how long we have to stay on our platforms. Now, this can mean one of two things. Either they want someone to explode or there is no countdown.
I'm betting its the latter.
I've learned from my past mistakes. I lost the 300th Games and died because I ran from a fight, ran straight into a forcefield while fleeing. Well, this time I don't intend to run from the fighting. I'm going to run towards it.
The tributes near me don't even react as I hurtle off of the platform. They just watch as I pound up the stairs, heading for the table and weapons. I thought District 3 was supposed to be smart? I guess not. Maybe that's why we're all here instead of living a life of luxury in the Capitol.
I reach the top of the stairs and see that at least one other tribute has the same idea as me. Rebel Groots, the long haired emo kid from the 326th Games has just ascended the north staircase. We both stop to stare at one another and then lunge for the table.
He predictably grabs a knife, I grab the handle of a smooth black tazer. Within seconds he's slashing the knife at me. I dodge and then slide the switch on the taser from "Off" to "On", a small hum of electricity tells me that it's now active. Good.
Rebel swings for my head and I duck it, stepping forward to meet him. There's a flash of surprise in his eyes and then my taser pokes into his ribs.
There's a sharp crackling sound of electricity and then Rebel begins to convulse uncontrollably. Brilliant blue arcs of electricity race across his body, frying his innards. His eyes roll back into his head, his clothes smoke and sizzle and then he's falling to the floor.
The taser killed him within seconds.
There's no sense of grief, no loss. He wasn't a person. None of us are people. We lost our humanity back when we died in our Games. We lost our families, our friends and our dreams. We lost everything we cared about. Now we're just empty husks, husks with nothing to live for except life itself.
"Oh, God..."
A small feminine voice brings notice to the other tributes. It seems all of them are here now, standing on the edge of the four stairwells, watching me. They all seem shocked, terrified even. One of the girls (Elecctronny from the 325th Games I think) is shaking. The rest watch me with fearful gazes. I have the best weapon. I have the taser. I have the means of dealing death here. That makes me the target.
"Are we gonna get him or what?" A small, impish girl sneers from the eastern stairs. Di Thorn. My District partner. Despite only being twelve years old she was a psychopath. Someone obsessed with killing and maiming. I wasn't surprised when she joined the Careers.
"Just try it, Di!" I position my body to face her and tighten my grip on the taser. "Let's finally see who'd win a fight between the two of us!"
A smirk crosses her khaki face. "I don't have to fight you."
The sound of his footsteps slapping on the smooth floor give him away. I turn just as he's grabbing a knife from the table. Elecc (325) has a short scream as my taser jabs him and then he's on the ground, shaking as errant streaks of white heat snake around him. I passively watch as the electricity ebbs away and leaves his prone body, smoking slightly. "Anyone else want to try their hand?" I ask, trying to keep my voice from shaking. I need to appear strong, unimpressed by their numbers. Or else I'll perish.
I spin around, gazing at the remaining six tributes. They don't answer me, their faces are stony and silent. Then one of then comes rushing towards me.
I hold my taser out but the boy slides to his knees and holds his hands together. "Please! Don't kill me! I'm with you, Noah! Two of us can live, just let me help you and we can win this together!" The boy looks up to me with pleading blue eyes hidden behind wired glasses. His beanie hat covers his ruffled brown hair and I recognize him as the boy kept in the cell across from me, the one who always cried for his family. I can't kill him.
"Then get up!" With one hand I pull the boy to his feet. He flashes me a small smile and then grabs a knife off from the table with trembling fingers. The two of us face the others.
"Chip! We were allies in the Games!" A brunette girl shouts to my new ally. Beside her, Electronny cries silent tears. "Are you just going to abandon us now? Kill us even? Just so you can stay alive?"
Chip opens his mouth but doesn't speak. He's conflicted; He wants to help his friends but he also wants to live. And I give him the best chance of living. The girl waits for him to say something but he doesn't. He keeps his gaze fixed on the floor and I shake my head. "Are you saying you wouldn't kill him?" I challenge the girl, Vision (325). "That you'd rather kill Elecctronny then him?" I gesture at the small frightened girl beside her. "No? Then shut up and fight. People have to die. And it doesn't matter who--"
A heavy weight drops onto my shoulders, drives me to the floor. The taser slips from my fingers and slides across the floor as chaos breaks out. Vision and Elecctronny charge forward as another girl grabs Chip from behind. I go to help when I'm spun around and faced with the snarling vestige of Di. "Think you're some kind of visionary?" She growls as her fist strikes me access the face. "With your pretty speeches and making allies out of the downtrodden?" Her blows disorient and then her slender hands slip around my neck and pull me up. "Well, you're not. You're no visionary. You're just another forgettable kid!" She smashes my head into the keyboard for one of the computers. The keys clack as my head screams in agony as she repeats the process. She brings my head down for the fourth knock when I catch the side of the table with my hands. I throw an elbow into her ribs and she let's out an Oomph! of pain, giving me the opportunity to shove her away and dive across the floor.
I slide across to the other side, stopping right next to the taser. I hear Di shouting angrily and then I roll onto my back as she throws herself towards me. Unfortunately for her, she just lands on the business end of a tazer.
Spittle flies from her mouth as the electricity sparks her body. Her arms and legs kick out as she falls backwards, contorting unnaturally as she rolls and throbs. Then she goes still, dead at last.
I give myself only a few seconds to breathe easy and survey my surroundings. The chaos that had started just a moment ago has already created casualties. Elecctronny lies dead on the cold floor, her neck bent at an odd angle. Syren (302) is on top of Vision, squeezing a thin wire around her throat. I think it's barbed, because blood begins to flow from where the wire touches skin. And finally, Bethunia (301) is kicking and beating away at Chip as he lies on the floor, curled in a ball.
It's her who I attack first. I spring to my feet and jab Bethunia square in the back with the tazer. She goes down like the rest, kicking and convulsing. Nothing new here. Just another unnecessary death. "Are you okay?" I pull Chip to his feet and give him a thorough look over. His lip is bloodied and black bruises cover his face but nothing looks too serious or fatal.
"Y-yeah...I think..." He coughs feebly and then, when he looks up, a flash of horror crosses his face. "Noah! Behind you!"
I'm tossed backwards to the floor. A foot stomps on my ribs and I hear a loud crack. Breathing becomes difficult and I see the face of Syren as she looks down on me. She was a Career recruit in her Games. Brutality is just second nature. She smiles and lifts her foot to crush my skull when a new expression forms. Confusion.
Her eyes glance downwards but she never sees what happened. Her knees buckle she collapses to the ground, I see the knife buried in her back and realized what happened.
Chip.
He doesn't even say anything to me. He just drops to the ground and curls back into a ball, sobbing and crying out for someone named Kinsey. Nothing else moves. All of the other tributes are dead, leaving us as the two survivors. "Congratulations to us," I mutter sarcastically and try to sit up. I can't. My ribs hurt too much so I'm forced to settle with leaning back against the computers.
The air is scented with blood and burnt flesh. Some of the dead tributes still smoke from the effects of the taser. I say no more and think of nothing as I sit in the room of death. Chip is still sobbing, but quietly now. I think he now calls for his parents. Poor boy.
I lean my head back and close my eyes, waiting for the moment when the Capitol will come for us and put me in the Hunger Games, where I will regrettably kill once more.
District 4 Death Duel
Trident Bekke (302nd Games)
I'm not nervous, I'm not concerned, and I'm definitely not frightened. One thing I am is excited. Excited for the possibility of living once more.
Being dead sucks. You don't do anything cool, you don't do anything at all! At least, what I remember of it. Which isn't anything. Which is kinda weird really. I remember being stabbed by that hot girl from District 7 and then I don't remember a thing until some Capitol dude wakes me up and claims to have resurrected me. Something is off about that. I don't know what, but something is. Feels like I'm missing something obvious...something--
"Prepare for Duel commencement."
I look up to the ceiling and flash one of my most charming smiles. "Okay, lady. Whatever you say. "Just make sure I get up there in one piece, ya know?"
The platform rises and next thing I know, I'm in the middle of some sort of ocean or whatever. Pure blue water surrounds me and in the distance a large rocky outcropping shines under a bright yellow sun. "Woah. That's bright!" I squint my eyes from the intense sunlight so it's several more seconds before I notice the beautiful girls that surround me.
There's four of them and they're all standing on platforms like me, meaning they're also tributes. Three of them are positioned to my right and the other is on my left. All of them look to the outcropping in the distance, which I can now see is surrounded by a stretch of sand and littered with tools used back in District 4. Nets, fishing hooks, tridents, bidents, harpoons, etcetera, etcetera. Boring stuff. I look to the girl to my left, a tan orange-haired hotty with green highlights and call out. "Hey, beautiful. You have anything goin' on tonight?"
She looks to me with a twinkling eye and cunning grin. "Oh, I don't know. I might be celebrating a few killings, nothing much."
I go to respond when another girl, a brunette and the hottest girl in this row of platforms, interrupts with a shout. "What the hell are they waiting for?! Get this started already!"
"Wow. You're a frisky one, ain't chu?"
The girl spins to face me, armed with a glare that would make most shiver in fear. I just smile and wink. "If you're so bored, you could entertain me. I really think--"
"She's moving! She's moving!"
The first girl I spoke to, Seafoam I think I remember her name from the brief info we were given, is shouting and pointing behind the brunette. Another girl, a creamy haired blonde, has stepped off her platform with a dazed look on her face. It sounds like she's speaking to herself.
"Gonna have to pass on that offer," The brunette cackles gleefully and jumps off her platform, splashing into the two foot deep water. "Because this game has just begun!" She sprints for the girl who moved, Nymph (325), and pairs her up. Then she strikes forward with a lightning quick bladejab and the girl goes falling to the water, her trachea almost assuredly broken from the force of that blow. "Wow. She really knows how to fight, eh?" I speak to Seafoam (326) before realizing that she has already gone sprinting for the outcropping. Dang, these girls really love to kill don't they? I like it. Makes them much more...interesting.
The fourth girl on the platforms, Kaylay from the 300th, goes charging Miss Kills-A-Lot in what has to be the worst idea in the history of forever. Kaylay throws a punch that's easily dodged and then Fressa, for that is her name, grabs her in a arm bar and jerks back, effectively breaking Kaylay's right arm.
The girl howls in pain and then Fressa just pulls her into a headlock and does what she did to the arm again. Only this time it's Kaylay's neck that breaks. "You're not very smart, are you?" Fressa drops the body and watches it float neck to Nymph's.
"You talking to me?" I smile coyly as she turns around. Her gorgeous brown eyes are filled with a bloodlust as she coldly regards me.
"Who else would I be speaking to, stupid? A fish?" She laughs scornfully and begins to approach me, which I actually find more exciting than terrifying. "You should have ran with Seafoam. Why didn't you?"
I shrug as if we're speaking about something trivial. "I just like watching hot girls kick ass."
"Well, you're gonna die now. I hope it was worth it!" She lunges for me but I hop our of her reach and wag a knowing finger.
"Ah, ah, ah! You should really get to that outcropping. Because if you don't, someone else will claim those weapons. Someone much bigger and stronger than me."
"You got lucky."
She turns and runs. Just like that. I watch as she sprints for the outcropping, marvelling her perfect form. I really hope she lives. I'd much rather her be my co-survivor so than some sweaty muscle-head.
Fressa Saltie (325th Games)
Already the others have reached the outcropping, already they've begun fighting. Wari (301) lies dead on the sand. I curse my own ineptitude. I should have killed Trident within seconds and then came here right away. Now I'm at a disadvantage.
At the outcropping, it's Wayne (325), the giant who had rejected the Careers invitation in his Games, who draws the most attention. He sits in the center of the sandy turf, a trident in each hand as he circles around to keep everyone in his field of view. No one wants to take the risk of being the first to charge him. No one is that stupid--
A boy suddenly darts forward, a harpoon in his hand. Foolishly he raises it to spear Wayne but he's given the boy far too much time to react. Cody doesn't even have time to strike before one of Wayne's tridents hits him in the chest and he goes tumbling into the sand. Moron.
But still, his charge didn't go to waste. Flick, the runner-up of the 300th Games and a boy who looks more like a man, sees that Wayne is distracted and chucks his own bident into the giants leg. As Wayne howls and drops to one knee, Flick charges forward, ducks under the giants swinging trident, and throws his entire body into him. They fall to the sandy floor and begin to brawl just as Giller, one of my allies from the 325th Games and about the only one I didn't betray, comes jogging up to the outcropping. I see my opportunity. "Giller! Finish off the winner of that brawl! I'll end Seafoam!" Always the obedient one, he nods and pulls the harpoon from the dead Cody's hands. I turn to face Seafoam with manic grin.
"Wait. What?" The daft girl doesn't understand what just happened and by the time she has even an inkling of it, I've tackled her to the ground and pried the fish hook she held so proudly from her hand. Her desperate eyes watch mine as I use the hook to slice her throat open.
She dies just like the rest. Her life bleeds out of her, smearing in the sand and being washed into the water, where it turns a pale pink. She was worthless. An easy kill.
"Fressa! Fressa! I need help, Fress--"
A wet gurgle cuts off Giller's screams and I turn to see Flick ripping the harpoon from his neck. Dark crimson blood stains his hands and I see Wayne lying stiffly on the sand. This guy is good.
"I intend to come out of here alive," Flick says as he faces me, twirling a trident with his deft fingers. "Will you let me?""
"Is that it? You're so frightened you won't win that you've resorted to begging?" I sneer at him, showing my utter contempt for everything he is. He shrugs modestly.
"Not really. I was just being a gentleman," He gives a dramatic sigh and then looks at me with a sly smile. "Guess I'll just have to kill you."
I'm expecting him to throw the trident, so I'm taken back by his feint. He crosses the gap between us in a few seconds, his long legs giving him the advantage. I'm forced to duck and dodge to stay alive, no easy task. The tip of his trident catches me twice, once on the thigh and the other against my forearm. Both leave bleeding cuts.
"You're fast," He says when I duck under one of his ridiculously powerful thrusts.
"Or you're slow," He grins at my retort and thrusts again. This time I'm not quick enough to duck and I yelp in pain as the tip of my ear is sliced open. His grin widens.
"I'd say that you're fast. But maybe not fast enough."
He unleashes a flurry of strikes, I dodge them all until I step into the blunt end of the trident as he brings it forward. Flick follows up by smacking me in the crown of the head and then I'm sprawled on the ground, completely at his mercy. His eyes glint as he readies himself to finish me.
"Deus ex machina."
"Huh?" He doesn't pause as he brings the trident down where my head once was. But I've moved it just a few inches, prolonging my life for another moment.
"Deus ex machina," I repeat. "Deus ex machina is a plot device whereby a seemingly unsolvable problem is suddenly and abruptly resolved by the contrived and unexpected intervention of some new event, character, ability or object. And it's gonna happen right now."
The confusion on his face turns to fear as he spins around to face the person coming to my rescue. Only thing is, no one is coming to my rescue. When he sees no one in sight he spins back to face me but he already took the bait.
My foot smashes him between the legs and he cries and screams as he collapses. I don't waste time mounting him and slicing his throat with the same fish hook I used upon Seafoam. Deus ex machina indeed.
I stand and wipe my bloodstained hands on my shirt as I survey the outcropping. I've won. Everyone else is dead. I smile as the announcement confirms this. But the smile fades when it mentions the other survivor.
Trident Bekke.
"Hey toots, glad you took care of them all for me!" I see the boy as he comes jogging through the water, his blonde moppish hair bouncing along. A cold angry burns in my chest as I realize that I've been used. He sent me here to fight and kill his competition while he sat back and did nothing. Clever. Usually I'd appreciate such thinking, but not when it's used against me. "You're a real sweetheart, ya know?" A grin forms on Trident's face and I go to respond when I realize that I can no longer move. Shapes writhe in the distance, Peacekeepers or scientists sent to retrieve us. They must have immobilized me in case I was going to attack Trident. I wasn't. I have an entire Hunger Games ahead of me, full of opportunities for my revenge. I can wait a while longer.
I'm a patient person.
District 5 Death Duel
Sebastian Hive (325th Games)
I'm quite possibly the most prepared tribute in these Duels. I'm most assuredly the most prepared one from District 5. I've looked over the info cards they prepared for us countless times. I know my enemies weaknesses, their strengths, I know how they died, what their Games strategy was and how they failed in it. I know just about everything valuable about them.
And now I will kill them.
My platform rises, brings me into the duelling arena. Other tributes rest on their platforms beside me, their nervous eyes taking in the surroundings. We're on a long platform, the ground a see through mesh grid. Beneath us I can see the crackling electricity arcing across the ground. Behind me is a small concrete flooring in the back of the room. A large machine of sorts rests on it. I haven't the faintest idea what it is for.
But he does.
I see his plump red face, his body and it's rolls of fat, the glasses on his face and his messy red hair. Watt Powers, male tribute from the 301st Annual Hunger Games. Unlike the other tributes who've lined themselves up to face forward, he does the opposite. He stares at the machine with a delighted grin on his fat face, like he just got the most magnificent present for Christmas.
Very curious.
There is no gong, no signal that the competition has begun. One moment we're just standing there idly and the next a girl is rushing off of his platform. I recognize her face from the info cards. Allie Costigan from the 300th Annual Hunger Games. She's the first to realize there's no timer but the others follow suit. Soon they all go rushing for the center of the grid, away from platforms.
Except for Watt.
He watches the others run with a grin etched on his face and then he plops off of his platform and goes waddling for the machine. I simply must find out what is so special about it.
I follow the boy as he drops beside the machine and casually pries a panel off of it, revealing a mess of wires and electrical sockets. He goes to meddle with these when I grab him around the shoulder and he yelps in fear. "Don't kill me!" He screams pathetically without even turning around. "I can fry the others! You can win without even lifting a finger!"
Peculiar. "How so?" I ask the boy and he finally turns around. I grimace as I see his fat jowels flap about as he speaks.
"I--See the grid? The meshy wire like stuff?" He points at the ground that covers every inch of the room except for the small area where we stand.
"Of course I see it! Do you think I am daft, goodman?"
"No!" Terror lights his eyes as he thinks he has offended me. I can't hold back a laugh at how awestruck this little piggy is. "I would never! I wouldn't--"
"Cut to the chase. I have no time for this nonsense." Already I can hear the other tributes fighting. I hear their yells and screams. Curiously, there doesn't seem to be any provided weapons. They fight with their fists alone.
"Okay. Okay. Well, That mesh is used in the power plants back in District 5. Which this whole area is meant to resemble, obviously."
I nod. "Of course. I knew that right away." This is a lie. I've never stepped foot inside a plant, much less know what one looks like. But no point in making myself look inferior. "But what does this machine have to do with this?"
"I'm getting there. The mesh is used to channel electricity from either room to room or plant to plant. Vast amounts can travel through it without frying the wires, however the grid itself is very hazardous. One touch would kill you instantly. And that machine," He jerks a thumb at the metallic contraption behind us. "Is what generates the electricity. When turned on the entire gird will become alive with enough electricity to kill twelve elephants."
"Can you turn it on?" I ask eagerly. The thought of being able to kill every single tribute in this room without having to do it manually is...enthralling, to say the least.
"Uh, hello?" The fatty pulls against my grip and I let go. "That's what I was doing before you stopped me! It'd already have been done and we could be sitting in a comfy room eating poptarts and..."
"Get to work," I quickly interrupt him. "I'll watch your back and make sure you have enough time." He blinks in confusion and then I see that look again. He's still awestruck.
"Does this mean we're allies?" His voice is high with excitement.
"For now, yes. But get to work!" I give him a sharp shove and he nods with ecstasy as he turns to fiddle with the exposed wires. I watch the others as they fight, punching and kicking with all their strength. There's still no weapons and I now know why. This machine is meant to be our weapon. I suppose that the Gamemakers thought we'd all know what it did. They certainly wouldn't have anticipated that only the fatty would know it.
Thinking of the fatty, he would make an intriguing ally once we enter the Games. In my last Games I made one crucial mistake. I only recruited hardened killers and no one else. Mayhap I would have won, if I had been in the same arena as my allies, but nonetheless, I wound up dead on the jungle floor. I will not allow that to happen again.
Allana (325), one of my original allies, is in this Duel. She's punching and biting with the rest right now. She'll die when Fatty activates the machine. I do not care for her at all, she was a useless ally to me. And the only reason I keep allies is for their usefulness. "Nearly done!" Fatty calls over his shoulder as he continues to do something with the open panel. "Just a couple more moments!"
"You better hurry," I tell him grimly as a tribute suddenly comes straight towards us. "Because it looks like we have company."
It's not just a District 5 scrub who challenges me. It's Philo Ventus (326), the giant who stayed hidden for the entirety of his Games until the finale. He would have won if he hadn't been struck down from behind whilst finishing someone off.
"You looking for something?" I ask the giant with a polite nod of the head. Manners are crucial, even when dealing with a horrid beast like Philo. His eyes just flicker to Fatty and the machine, a peculiar look crossing his face. Then it transforms into a glare. "Ah. I see that you understand what is happening!" I laugh lightly and step forward to block his path towards Fatty. "I did not expect a mangy mongrel like yourself to understand the principles of electricity. I would have thought that even simple fire would be too much for you."
His massive hands curl into fists at his side. He doesn't like to be insulted. Good. "They said you were a kind person, a gentle giant of sorts. Someone who innately disliked fighting. But I know the truth. It's not that you dislike fighting, you're just afraid of it. You're a bleeding heart coward!"
His nostrils flare and he steps even closer. "I don't like bullies."
A smile crosses my face. "And I don't like giant freaks who have no place in society."
His fist flies for me but I know it's coming. His initial blow misses and he tries with his left hand and this goes the same way. I was taught how to fight by the finest trainers in District 5, I've spent years learning the fine art of combat, understanding how my enemy works and how to avoid his attack. This ignoramus just throws punches as hard as he can without even the semblance of subtlety or planning. I could dodge him for days.
His attacks keep coming hard and fast but I continue to duck and weave past them. He's getting annoyed and grunts in exasperation with each missed strike. When I see an opening I step forward and deliver three quick jabs to his ribcage before bounding back again as his fists seek my head. He always misses.
The battle continues on like this. He attacks. I dodge. I counter his attack. He desperately tries to drop me. He fails. Repeat. I'm convinced that I don't even need Fatty's help when a massive fist comes for my head and I dodge out of the way. Straight into another fist.
It smacks me in the stomach and drops me to the ground. I groan and cough, feeling like I've just been hit by a truck. Philo stomps his boot down on my ankle and I scream as I feel the crack rip through my body. My first mistake was not seeing his feint. My second was not rolling when I had the chance.
"Seb! I got it!" Fatty jumps to his feet and waves frantically for me, screaming at the top of his lungs. "Hurry up and get on the concrete before the grid turns on!"
Philo's huge head turns to face him and that's when I raise my uninjured leg and kick him in the gut. Fatty screams for me as I begin to hobble towards the slab of concrete and the machine. I wish he would shut up. The other tributes are beginning to notice us and will soon figure out what he means by "the grid will turn on".
I'm almost there when I hear Philo running after me, his giant legs pounding against the mesh grid. Fatty clutches a switch on the machine and I scream for him to pull it when I dive for the concrete.
He pulls it.
I don't see the result but I hear it. The crackling sound of the machine turning on and then the simultaneous screams of the tributes as electricity tears through their bodies, Philo's included. It only lasts for a few seconds and then there's a mechanical whirring and the screaming stops. A pudgy hand pulls me up. "Ha ha! Look at em'! There all skeletons!" Fatty crows viciously as I stand on one good leg, grimacing when I see my twisted right ankle. I pray that the Gamemakers will have it fixed before plopping me in the Games. "They all thought I was an easy kill! Well, guess they were all wrong, weren't they?" Fatty continues to boast about his accomplishments as I stare out at the grid. He wasn't lying when he said they were skeletons. The tributes who weren't as smart as we were lie dead, just a charred skeleton amid the ruins of a battlefield. That electricity was even stronger than I thought.
"Good job, Watt," I clap Fatty on the shoulder and give him a proud smile. "You showed them alright."
"Yeah! Yeah I did!" He's like a puppy. Give him praise and treats and in exchange he'll be loyal to you. He'd make a most excellent ally in the Games. "We make a great team!" He puffs out his pudgy chest and strikes a ridiculous pose. I tell him he looks quite heroic and he grins stupidly.
"Will you ally with me in the Games?" I ask him, knowing that the answer won't be anything other than a resounding yes. His grin somehow widens even further.
"Yeah! Of course! We'll be like, the most unstoppable team ever! Everyone will fear us! I have the brain, you have everything else!"
I chuckle softly and clap him on the shoulder. Such a naive boy. Naive, but admirable. His intelligence is unparalleled but he has much to learn about everything else. Still, he is the best ally I could ever hope for. Someone who is undeniably loyal to me and yet is not a threat to me in the slightest.
The two of us will conquer the 400th Games.
District 6 Death Duel
Cosmo Fyngelli (300th Games)
I stand on the platform of a train station as the platform finishes its ascent. Behind me is a solid brick wall and there's two more platforms ahead of me, across two sets of train tracks. One of the platforms rests in between the two tracks and has a metal table laden with items. The other is on the far side of the station. I see five tributes on their platforms there.
Just like us.
Four tributes are in the same platform as I. Two of them are to my right, two to my left. When we first arrived they all looked around at each other but now they don't give anyone a second look. We're all just focused on what must be done.
I take a shaky breath as a signal lamp that hangs above the near track suddenly lights up. A frown crosses my face but three of the tributes surrounding me take it as a sign that the Duel has begun.
They spring off of their platforms like rabbits, not bothering with me and the small girl who have remained motionless. They don't hear the rumbling that comes from the dark tunnel, they don't listen to the flashing light on the signal lamp as it bleeps and bloops rapidly.
Their ignorance is death.
A train comes speeding out from the tunnel. One of the high-tech ultra trains that we of District 6 build for the Capitol. It can travel up to speeds beyond three hundred miles per hour. Those poor tributes never had a chance.
One second they're racing across the track, the next they're swallowed by the train. I cry out in horror as I hear the terrible sounds of cracking bones and ripping flesh. Squirts of red spew out from under the train, splashing my face and making me gag, sickened by the sight. Then, only mere seconds later, the train disappears back down the opposite tunnel.
There's hardly anything left of the tributes who ran. There's just bits of torn flesh and fragments of bone. A slimy, crimson grist sticks to the tracks and the station reeks of fresh blood and death.
Ding! Ding! Ding!
Three separate chimes go off, three faces in the sky blank out. Illegal Drugs (302), Belladonna Saware (300) and Blondie Genesis (326) no longer live. Only seven tributes left.
Despite the horror that now swims in my thoughts I force myself to run forward. Death is coming and I need to be proactive to avoid it. The scraps of bloody flesh left behind by the train squish under by feet as I sprint across the track towards the center platform. I try not to vomit as I scrabble up onto the platform.
Another boy comes from the opposite side. He's tall and lean, a wiry sort of boy that always looks like he's about to flee. Except he doesn't flee; He instead runs for the table. I'm not fast enough to reach it before him. His long legs give him ample time to arrive at the square wooden table and pluck his desired weapon off of it. A steering wheel.
Wait.
A steering wheel?!
My mouth falls open in shock and then I shake my head furiously to clear my thoughts. The table only holds items that pertain to our District. Only things like tire irons, gears, pipes, and a whole sort of other stuff that I don't recognize. But I'm still confused. Why'd he pick a steering wheel?
The heavy wheel smashes down onto the crown of my head. In my confusion the boy had closed the gap between us and now beats me down with the wheel. It's a better weapon then it looks. I roll into a kneeling position and throw a punch at the boy's thigh. He blocks of but then I throw ny hands around his waist and pull him towards me. He goes flipping over my head and lands in the pit of the train tracks, very much alive but now covered with a bloody red grist.
Not my problem, I think. The table is still there with the weapons and I plunge towards it, my hands wrapping around the first thing I lay eyes on. But I haven't even had time to pull it towards me when a heavy object slams into the back of my skull.
Wolbert Toonico (325th Games)
Cosmo (300) doesn't utter a sound as my tire iron slams into his skull. The wound leaves no blood but there's a dent in his head, such a deep dent that I have no doubt that he will die, if he hasn't already.
It's a terribly sad sight, seeing that poor boy lying lifeless on the table, slowly sliding back to the ground. He didn't deserve this. None of us do. But it's what we've got, what we have to deal with. Kill or be killed. That's just what has to happen.
I hate myself for rationalizing the murder I just committed.
Because that's what it is. Murder. No matter how much you dress it up or how you present it, every single kill committed in this Duel or inside of the Hunger Games is murder. It doesn't matter if it's in self-defence or if you're just a maniacal psychopath, if you killed you've murdered. And we're all going to have to live with its effects for the rest of our lives. I wonder how long that will be for me.
Xavier (301) rises from the tracks where he was thrown. Cosmo had managed to avoid him and his deadly steering wheel but I don't think I'll have the same luck. I'm going to have to kill him. The tire iron is locked firmly in my hand as the boy watches me cautiously. I notice his eyes flicker around the platform, searching for the other tributes. Surprisingly they haven't yet came here.
Xavier's eyes suddenly spin towards me and he dives. I throw my iron up to block it but it was only a feint and no attack comes. I frown as I realize that the boy is trying to figure out my weak point, see how best to get me. I can't allow him to do that.
He sees me as I come for him, he raises the wheel over his head as if that would protect him. It doesn't. The tire iron cracks into his ribs and as he bends over in shock and pain, I smash the iron back into the center of his skull.
He dies as quickly as Cosmo did and that familiar sensation of guilt and despair is back. I don't want to be a Reaper. I don't want to be the killer of kids. But I must if I wish to live.
Ding! Ding!
Two chimes go off. Only five of us are still breathing right now and I gaze around the train station, looking for the others. The platform opposite of the one I started on, the one Cosmo came from, seems deserted. Just empty pillars and benches, no tributes in sight. They all must have been taken out by the train.
With the tire iron in hand I hop back across the tracks to the platform I began on. There I see the three tributes who were positioned next to me and Xavier. And it's a disturbing sight.
Two small girls lie on the ground, one screaming the other moaning. Eleith (325) and Bluffy (302). "You like what I have done?" Zak (325) snickers as he turns to face me, a long rail spike that drips with blood clenched in his hand. "I think these whiny babies look much better now, don't you?" His hand gestures at the two girls. Bluffy has her hands pressed to her eyes, screaming hysterically. With a jolt I see the blood that seeps from behind her protective grasp.
"I can't see! I can't see!" Her screams are repetitive and pitiful, making me feel an anger that I have not felt in a very long time.
"Yes," Zak grins ghoulishly at me. "I put out her eyes. They were nasty little things. You wouldn't have liked them." I can't believe he's so nonchalant about this. That he can joke and laugh after torturing a small, defenceless girl. She was only twelve... "And Eleith, well, I didn't just stab her." He carelessly points out the second girl and I don't even look. I don't want to know what this monster did.
"Why?" My eyebrows pinch together as I feel a overwhelming desire to smash his face to pieces. "Why would you do this? The goal is to kill. Not torture."
His face is quiet and cruel. "I lost Mimic. Nothing matters anymore. I feel nothing but pain and despair. Why shouldn't you all feel the same?"
His cruel red eyes drop to his feet. I'm wondering if he actually feels sorry when lightening fast he swings his spike for my head. I barely manage to pull my tire iron up in thine, the metal screeching as it deflects the deadly weapon. We back off and circle around one another. A chime has gone off and Eleith doesn't move anymore. I believe she is dead. Good. She won't feel anymore pain.
"You're not such a good person, you know," Zak laughs as he takes another swing that I dodge. "I saw you kill Cosmo and Xavier. Think they deserved what you gave them?"
"It's better than what you would have done." I don't need to justify myself to this boy.
He laughs. "So true!" I would have--"
My shoulder takes him in the gut and we both go falling off of the platform into the train tracks below. Zak hisses and tries to pull his spike up but I'm faster. I kick the weapon away and smash my tire iron into his knee before he can move.
His howl of pain sounds like an animal. He tosses and turns, screaming fruitlessly at me. I just nod my head and climb off of the tracks. "Where are you going?!" He screams after me, his voice no longer menacing or fearful. It's just pitiful. "Finish me off! Kill me like a man!"
I turn to face him from where I stand on the platform. His leg is bent at an almost impossible angle, his face full of hatred and sorrow. "I don't have to. The train will do it for me."
"Train?! What train?!"
I shake my head and turn around. I don't need to see this. The ground rumbles as the approaching train arrives at the station. Zak just has one short scream before it crushes him. I don't see it but I can imagine it. Somehow that is even worse.
I stare at the brick wall of the station until the rumbling halts. I still don't turn around. Instead, I slowly walk to where we left Bluffy. The poor, poor girl needs to be released from her pain.
"Congratulations to the winners of the District 6 Death Duel! Wolbert Toonico and Luna Fern! The two of you will join the pool of tributes competing in the 400th Annual Hunger Games!"
It's over? The Duel is over? I'm confused until I see Bluffy's prone body and the girl rising off of it. Luna (301). The small girl shakes her blonde head at me and drops a bloody nail to the ground. "I had to stop her pain," She whispers softly. "I couldn't let her suffer any longer.
"You did right," I tell her and then she throws herself forward to hug me. I don't know what brought this on, possibly just the complete and utter sense of hopelessness we're faced with. Or maybe the death she's seen today. I don't know and I don't care. I just hug her back, fearful of what further atrocities must be completed in the name of these horrible Games.
District 7 Death Duel
Wocky Oak (302nd Games)
Fear.
Trepidation.
Uncertainty.
More fear.
That's what I feel as I'm raised into the Duelling arena. Dark trees loom over my head, completely blocking out the sun. They're gigantic, trunks as big as small houses and branches so large that they cover the entire sky. The forest is dark and eerie. Not a single bush rustles, no animal stirs.
This is not a normal forest.
And none of us are normal kids. We're all freaks, abnormalities. People brought back to life just so we can kill and then kill some more. I'm sure that there's kids here who'll relish that role, those who have lost their innocence and humanity long ago. They just want to kill and maim without a care in the world. These kids exist.
But I'm not one of them.
In my original Games, the 302nd Annual Hunger Games, I was the runner-up. I made it to the final day without making a single kill. I managed to place second without a killing a single person, making me an abnormality in the eyes of the Capitol. Everyone probably thought I was weird, crazy, stupid or a combination of the three. I don't know if they're wrong about that last one but I know one thing that I am not.
A killer.
I will not, under any circumstances, kill another person. I survived once before by doing this and I'll do it again. Last time it was purely coincidental that I didn't kill. This time it will be purposeful.
Ding!
A strange chiming sound echoes throughout the woods, seemingly coming from nowhere but everywhere at the same time. It vibrates through the thick trunks of the trees and slips through the vines that hang from them.
What does it mean?
I don't have to wonder long. A holographic screen appears amongst the leafy branches that blot out the sky, showing the faces of all eight tributes that will compete in this Duel. District 7 has the fewest tributes of all the Duels, save District 13 and the Capitol, a by-product of having two Victors from the Hunger Games that participate in this duel. I'm examining all the faces when one, a boy's, blinks out and the words "Deceased" crawl across his face.
Ransom Overman (301) is dead. That means this Duel has started.
Oh boy. Not good, not good at all. I spin around on my platform, nervously peering into the thick shrubbery that surrounds me. The darkness could conceal just about anything and I wouldn't be able to see it. Someone could be watching me right now...
My boot slips on the edge of the platform and I go crashing to the ground. I let out an involuntary shout and it seems to echo through the forest for miles. "Damn!" I slam my fist into the ground and then my newest shout begins to echo as well. Fear takes over me now as I realize that the others could know where I am now because of my stupidity. I imagine several armed tributes descending upon my position and I can no longer hold back my instincts.
I get up and run.
At first the undergrowth is so thick that I have to literally push my way through, scratching my arms and legs in the process. But then it begins to clear and in its place large tentacle like roots arrive, stretching up like they want to sap what little light comes from the sky. Little else can exist here, beyond the roots and their trees.
I fear for myself.
I scramble over the roots and push myself into a crevice, a space where the roots twist around one another to create a opening big enough for me to hide in but small enough to stay hidden. I crawl to the very back of the crevice, pushing myself as deep as possible. I let out a sigh when I feel safe. Then I hear a scream.
It's a girl's and it sounds close by. My hands tremble slightly at the noise, fearing that I will be found. I couldn't survive an encounter. And not just because I vowed not to kill. I don't have a single weapon on me and I know that weapons were provided. Whoever found them is probably the ones doing the killing...
Two chimes sound. One for the screaming girl and someone else. Despite the fear that grips me, I feel an overwhelming sense of morbid curiosity to see exactly who died and I begin to creep towards the hole of the crevice. My brain screams at me to stop but I don't listen. Reaching the edge, I nervously place my hands on the edge and peer out. The forest is empty, no one is around. I guess I can see who--
"Found you!"
Hands grab my collar and haul me out of the crevice, kicking and screaming. A girl's snarling face glares at me as she tosses me to the ground like a sack of potatoes. I see the hatchet in her hands and scream again. "Shut up!" Her foot presses against my windpipe, effectively shutting me up. "Do you want the others to find us? No. You do not. Now, just die nice and quiet like..."
The hatchet rises back over her head and I know I can't just lie here and die. I rip the foot off of me and bite into it with savage fury. My teeth don't penetrate the thick rubber sole but the girl shouts at me just the same. "What are you doing, eh?" She pulls her foot back and I try to get up but she's still faster. Her hands grip my shoulder and throw me into the side of the massive tree trunk. "You think you can escape me? Nastya Gushkin? Well, you need better plan than that to escape from Grind!" Her left hand squeezes around my throat, holding me in place as her right readies the hatchet. She raises it over her head again and...it just keeps going higher and higher until she just tumbles over sideways.
"What the heck...?" I rub my throat ruefully and peer down at the girl as she lies stiff as a board. A large axe is embedded in her back and that's when I see them.
Two girls are creeping out of the woods, their faces ugly masks of loathing and hatred. Both hold large axes in their right hands but that's not the scary part. One of the girl's holds a severed head in her hand. The head of Voolia (326).
I scream and run. Again. I scramble over the twisting roots, frantic in my haste to escape from those two murderous girls. I can hear them behind me, not whooping and shouting like a bunch of Careers but just silently sprinting. Quiet. Deadly.
My foot gets tangled in the roots but I force it free, ignoring any pain that comes from it. I don't hear the girls sprinting anymore and I don't know if that's good or bad. I keep moving for several more minutes before stopping to catch my breath. Two more chimes went off while I was running. How many people even still live? I look to the sky for an answer when something slams into my side.
I hear rasping breath as an axe is raised and I scream out in the only way I can. "Don't kill me! We can team up!" It's a last ditch effort, one I expect to fail. But no axe hits me and I blink my eyes open cautiously.
A frail and rather skinny boy stands before me. His hair is a very unusual crimson and black, his eyes the same color. For some reason he smells like fish. "Why the crap should I team with a weak bastard like you?"
Despite his foul language I realize he's actually considering what I asked. I need to capitalize on this opportunity. "Because there's two girl's in the woods; Dangerous girls who are expert killers. If you kill me, you'll have to go up against them by yourself!"
He waves a careless hand and smirks. "I don't fear them. I don't fear anyone or anything!"
"It doesn't matter if you fear them. They'll kill you all the same."
A scowl forms on his fearsome face. "And how could you help me?"
"I..." How could I help him? I've already made a vow not to kill and besides, I'd be useless in a fight against those two girls anyways. But I can think of one thing. "I could distract them. Let you get the upper hand."
The boy laughs and then pats me on the shoulder. "Okay you little sh--eater, it looks like we have a plan."
I do not like this plan very much. I don't know if I can trust the boy, Frade (326). He is a dangerous person, someone who loves to kill just as much as those two girls. But he's my only hope for survival and I can't afford to waste it.
I survey the open forest now, looking for those girls, Chumps and Maple. I see them exiting the thicker part of the woods and I take a deep breath. Here goes everything. "Hey! You two!"
Their heads snap towards me and they have their weapons out in an instant. But they're not stupid enough to come running for me because that's obviously a trap. No. Instead, one of them hangs back as the other begins to slowly slink towards me, a glancing eye keeping a lookout for any surprises. Frade was right. He somehow knew exactly how they would react. He's better than I thought.
The girl coming for me, Chumps, sticks close to the ground as she goes. I don't quite like the look of that axe in her hand. I saw how she killed Nastya with it from afar. "Come on Frade..." I mutter to myself nervously. Maple has begun to step out of the cover offered by the woods. Soon he should strike...
Chumps comes to a halt. First I think she's just seen through our trap but then I see the axe flipping across the air. She's thrown it right for me!
I hit the ground and then I hear Maple give a shout of alarm. Frade has appeared! He's dropped from one of the trees and is fighting with Maple. Chumps is alarmed as she watches her friend brawl with the violent boy but she can't do a thing. She threw her weapon at me.
She realizes it the same time as I do. We both go sprinting for the weapon that lies behind me but I am closer and reach it first. "That's mine! Give it back!" Chumps crashes into me and I lose grip of the axe as I fall. The girl picks it up triumphantly but the sound of a chime stops her in her tracks. Instinctively she looks to the sky and sees the face of Maple blink out.
Her eyes are filled with cold fury as she turns to face me. I don't have any words or thoughts as she stalks towards me. How many times can I be in mortal danger?!
"Knock, knock!"
Chumps stops in place and spins around to see Frade's axe slamming into her face. It's not pretty but it's quick. Maple is dead and so is Chumps. Frade is howling with laughter, calling them both horrid names. I don't like that boy, I actually hate him. But he saves my life and I have to respect him for that. "You look like someone took a piss in your cereal," The stringy boy glances at me. "Why? You won. Be happy." He snickers cruelly and I just shake my head. I can never feel happy knowing that someone else died. Never. It doesn't matter if that person was an insane monster, they were still a person.
But I guess I'm the only one to think like that.
District 8 Death Duel
Freya Prada (302nd Games)
The arena is deathly silent as I come into it. There's nary a sound as I look around at my surroundings, which isn't much to see. Hanging veils of silk are everywhere, blotting out my view. The silk tapestries descend from a gray concrete ceiling and the flooring is the same dull gray, leaving no color except for the pale purple tapestries that seem to billow in the non-existent wind.
It's a bit disturbing, watching the tapestries move by themselves. It almost looks like an unseen presence is manipulating them, making them move for its own mysterious gain. And just like that I'm suddenly frightened about being surrounded by ghosts. A stupid thing to fear when faced with the prospect of nine other kids gunning for your head, I know. But the supernatural has always frightened me, something my elder sister, Cashmere, always made fun of me for.
A pang of loss stirs in my chest at the thought of her. Despite how she constantly insulted and mocked me, I loved her. I was beyond devastated when she died and then I died just like her...
Ding!
An eerie chime goes off somewhere and a shiver runs down my back. Where are the other tributes? I can't see a single thing with these dumb tapestries in the way. And I don't want to risk stepping off the platform and blowing off my legs. That would be a stupid way to die.
"Help me!" I freeze in position, glued to my platform as a feminine voice calls out for help, her fearful cry echoing along the floor. "Nick! Nick! Please help me! Nick--"
There's a small shriek and then something thumping onto the cold floor. My head spins around, trying to see where this horror is coming from. "Coco!" Another voice shouts from my left, a male voice. "Coco! Where are--Oh, God, no!" A shriek of pain and then another body slumping to the ground, another horrifying reminder what we're all here for. I'm horribly scared now but I'm no longer frozen in place, quite the opposite, I'm now running for my life.
I push my way through the veils as I run, my heart rate going astronomically high as footsteps echo around me. I can't see anything, I'm completely blinded by these tapestries, pushing through one just to be confronted by another.
Another muffled scream echoes from my right and I change direction without even thinking. Four chimes have gone off now, four tributes are dead. Whose killing them? Is it one person? No...no that wouldn't make sense. Though Nick and Coco were assuredly killed by a single person...
This maze of tapestries is seemingly never-ending. I race through them, my feet slapping hard against the concrete ground and echoing around me. I'm terrified of what I may run into but not as terrified as I am of staying still, where a cold-hearted killer may find me.
I plow into a tapestry and my foot catches on it, sending me sprawling to the ground hard. I cry out and clutch at my right knee, which took the brunt of my fall. All around me more people are screaming. One shouts about the veiled demon that haunts them and then let's out a blood-curdling scream. Another chime goes off.
It's not until I climb to my feet, cradling my hurt knee, do I notice that the tapestries no longer impede my progress. A small circular clearing rests before me, no tapestry hanging within it but many still surround it. In the very center of the clearing I see a small knife lying on the ground.
It's shocking how much safer someone feels when they have a weapon in their hand. I roll the knife between my fingers, trying to regulate my breathing and slow my heart rate. I'll be fine...as long as I avoid the combat and fighting I'll be fine...
"You!"
A small girl with curly dark hair steps out from behind a tapestry. I'm shocked by her sudden appearance and I don't respond as she begins to approach, her footsteps echoing through the now silent room. "Have you seen him?" She demands, stopping about a foot away from me. I shake my head furiously, clueless to what she is asking. "Then you know nothing of what has happened to the rest. And you don't know that our time is limited. He's already killed the others and if we don't act soon he'll kill us."
"Who?" I'm confused by her words. Is she talking about the person taking out the other tributes?
"The demon. The Veiled Demon. He's already gotten the others." The veiled demon? That's not the first time I've heard of this. One of the kids was shouting about this before...he died
"So what are we suppose to do?" I nervously roll the knife back in forth between my hands, the girl, Galina (325), watches this with her amber eyes. "Team up against him?"
She shakes her head, a scowl forming upon her face. "No. He will only kill one of us. Two tributes have to survive this."
"And?"
"And nothing. You just have to die!"
The girl has worked her way up to me, she made me let my guard down and leave myself vulnerable. I'm such a fool. Her right hand snatches the knife from me as I flip it between my own, her left punches me in the gut and as I'm reeling she smashes her knee into my temple.
"You're such a foolish moron," The girl snickers as she places her foot on my wrist, eliciting pained screams from me. "I don't even think this "Veiled Demon" exists. I just heard about tribute crying like a baby and used it to fool you. I knew you'd believe it, being the sappy whiner that you are." I hate myself. I hate myself for falling for such an obvious trick. Cashmere was right about me, I am a baby that believes in ghosts and spirits. If I wasn't such a fool I'd never be here, lying on cold stone at this girl's mercy. "Just be happy that I'm not psychotic," The girl grunts as she flips the knife over so the point is aimed at me. "Because I'll be sure to make your death quick."
I close my eyes and pray that she is telling the truth. I don't want a prolonged death. I just want it to be quick.
I hear the sound of metal sinking into flesh and I scream as the pain tears into me, as I feel the blood splatter upon my face. I know that I have died, that I have failed.
Then I realize that I'm not dead.
My eyes shoot open and I see Galina still standing there, her amber eyes vacant and glazed over. I don't understand until I see the sharpened metal sticking out from her chest, see the blood that coats the blade.
The sword is slid out just as I notice it and Galina's body drops to the ground and now a tall boy towers over me. His jaw is large and square, his blue eyes as cold as ice. I know him immediately. He is the one, the Veiled Demon.
His eyes notice me and he takes a step forward so that he is now directly over me. There is no mercy in those eyes of his but I do see a faint glimmer of--What? Pity? Anger? Regret? I don't know. And it really doesn't matter. He saved me only to kill me himself. A thankless rescue.
His sword is held over his head when I hear a very familiar noise, a noise that I myself have caused before. The sound of a crossbow bolt flying through the air.
The tall boy stumbles back as an arrow strikes him in the chest. But, remarkably, he still stands. A thin gasp of pain escapes his lips right before another arrow hits him, quickly followed by yet another.
He goes down, crashing to the concrete ground. All three arrows are only inches apart, a perfect tiny triangle in his chest. I don't understand, a feeling that I've been feeling quite a lot recently. How did he die? Who killed him? My head swivels around the clearing but I see nothing but the gently swaying tapestries. Two more chimes go off and I go to look at the holographic screen when he steps out from behind the tapestries. It's him. The Veiled Demon.
He's not very tall, standing just slightly under six feet. He's not muscular either, his arms and legs are as average as his height. In his hands rests a large crossbow, the crossbow that saved my life. But it's his face that's remarkable, or what I can't see of it, anyway.
A thin purple cloth covers his face, a veil that hides him from view. Only his eyes can be seen, two orbs of gray that seem both vacant and observant. It's these eyes that spin to face me now.
"Who are you?" I demand, though my voice is small and weak. He makes a small noise and I follow his eyes as they go to look at the screen in the sky. All but two of the faces are blanked out; my own and that of Josef Wilder. I turn back to him, now knowing the true identity of the "Veiled Demon". "Why did you save me?" I ask quietly. "You would have won either way."
"I did not do it in a sudden wave of empathy, I assure you." His voice is quiet, threatening. It's a legitimate type of fear that he inspires, not at all like the Careers and their overbearing attempts to be frightening. "But Yuri over there," He waves a hand at the corpse of the tall boy. "Was an actual threat once the Games begin. You are not. Needless to say, I chose to let the weaker predator live."
"Did...did you really kill all of the others?" My voice cracks as I face this killer down. He saved by life, yes. But there's something different about him, something...nonhuman.
"Oh, yes." He nods sagely but then pauses. "Well, not quite all. Yuri killed that girl there, did he not? Or were you the one to end her life?"
"It was Yuri," I speak quickly, not wanting to be confused for a relentless killer. Josef sees my discomfort and laughs, short and quick, like a bark.
"Ah. I see. You're no killer. Someone like you would be incapable of killing another." He speaks politely, kindly even, but his eyes are cold and blank. He is a very different breed.
"I killed Kiara and Varina," I say softly, remembering how I had accidentally taken the life of my own friend. Not to mention how I burnt a poor little twelve year old to death. Those deeds will forever haunt me and I will not ever forget it. Not that I deserve to. I did the horrible things, I must pay for them.
"I have no idea who those girls are," Josef says with a rather patronizing tone. When I don't respond he nods curtly and then turns his back on me. I am confused until I see the throng of Peacekeepers and others coming out from the maze of tapestries. I stand with a swirling feeling in my guy, certain that I am incapable of winning these Games. Especially with people like Josef on the loose.
District 9 Death Duel
Perrie Grain (301st Games)
I don't know how you feel when you get a heart attack but I imagine it's something like how I currently feel. My chest seems to be shrinking, constricting its self and making it difficult for me to breathe. My head is swimming with all the horrible ways I could die, making me extremely light-headed and unsteady on my feet. I fear everything and I'm still in the small holding room. I can't imagine how I'll fare once the actual Duel starts.
I squeeze my eyes shut tight as a voice announces the beginning of the battle. The ground beneath my feet jerks as the platform begins to rise, bringing me up to the death and destruction that awaits. Higher and higher do I go, not knowing when it'll end. I begin working myself into a panic but I try to control it the longer the ride goes.
A sweet smelling wind blows against my face, bringing the slightest scent of wild flowers and the more overwhelming scent of wheat. My eyes flicker open.
Wheat as tall as a person surrounds me, casting shadows against the platform as the sun rises in the east. "I'm home..." I murmur gently, inhaling deeply. I'm not home, not even close. But the scents have fooled me, made me remember the warm mornings spent hanging around my house in District 9, just playing and enjoying life as my father did his mayoral duties.
My father...
I remember where I am, how long has passed since I first died. It's been almost an entire century since that moment I stopped breathing and anything could have happened in that time. Like when I was revived and put into the box for the 327th Games, where I saw a kid whose dad was now Mayor. That was when I realized just how long I'd been dead. The Grain family had been the Mayor of District 9 for decades but now that was over. Some other family had taken over.
It feels like my world has been destroyed.
Ding!
"Huh?" A bell chimes but I don't know what it is for. A signal to move off of our platforms maybe. I take the bait and do as the Gamemakers tell me, stepping off of the platform and walking nervously into the tall wheat. It's not the wheat that makes me nervous, it's the fact that the other tributes are now out and about, hunting us down.
I just walk forward, waiting for something to just pop out in front of me. It'd be foolish to try and find the others. I don't have any weapons, what could I do? Beat them to death with my fists? Not likely.
So I just continue walking, noting the two extra chimes that go off. Maybe some tributes haven't gotten the message and still remain on their platforms. I feel sorry for those clueless kids. Don't they realize the danger they're in?
Suddenly something appears above of the wheat, causing me to do a double take. It's a head, the head of some giant boy who looms over the wheat that populates the area. Eli Dawn. The male tribute from the 300th Games. I remember watching his Games on the television and feeling sorry for how he'd likely be targeted due to his freakish height. Maybe I should try to befriend him. He looks like he could use a friend. "Hey, Eli!" I hop up and down, trying to signal the giant. "Eli! Over here! I'm trying to get your attention, Eli!"
His massive head whips around and peers through the wheat. While I can see him because of his height, I don't think he sees me for he has a confounded expression upon his face. "Whose there?" He grumbles, swinging his arms from side to side. "Why are you speaking? We're supposed to kill, not talk!"
"I don't want to kill. Why can't we just team up?" I begin to approach Eli now, content that he means me no harm.
"That is not how it works," He sounds surprised.
"Are you sure? I wasn't given a rule book..." A frown crosses his giant face and he suddenly turns away from me.
"Who are you? You look as if--"
Eli screams and then his head drops into the wheat, I hear the sounds of hacking and maniacal laughing and I scream for Eli. He doesn't respond. My heart tells me to go running to his aide but my brain orders me to run the other way and, unfortunately, I listen to my brain.
I can feel the tears glistening in my eyes as I run, clueless to where I am supposed to go. How am I suppose to fight? Where are the weapons? Another chime is heard. What is with the chimes? I'm so deep in thought that I don't see the fence until it's too late.
I run face first into the thick wooden planks and I feel the blood burst from my nose as it breaks. It hurts, it hurts so much that I can't not cry. My tears come pouring out as I just lie there, hurt and frightened beyond measure. Another chime goes off. Two minutes pass and the there's yet another. I still don't know what they're meant to represent. I continue crying.
More minutes pass and my nose stops bleeding but it still hurts, despite this manage to pull myself into a sitting position, leaning back against the fence. "Where are the other tributes?" I wonder aloud. As if in answer, the wheat bristles and two girls step out.
"Ugh! Like, just look at her! She was, like, beaten by a fence!" A snobby looking girl with a blonde and brunette mohawk sneers at me as I sit dejected before them.
"Do I kill?" The other girl, one with neck length ginger hair and huge muscled arms that belong on boys, grunts irritability as she points a wickedly curved sickle at me.
"What do you think, Vera?" Mohawk girl snaps at the large girl, who must be over six feet tall, and crosses her arms. "Just kill her like you killed Mark and Tito."
"Very well, Plasma." The girl turns to face me with a grim expression. Once more I see the deadly sickle and I whimper, holding out a hand to defend myself. The giant girl, Vera, hesitates.
"Like, are you killing her or what?" Plasma looks up from where she was examining her nails and glares at me. I don't offer anything more than a frightened squeal. "You didn't hesitate with the others!"
"Those boys were fighting back, yes? I do not enjoy inflicting harm on the innocent." Vera seems to be kind-hearted and I look to her with the most pathetic expression I can muster. If I can just convince her to spare me...
"Whatever." Plasma throws her hands to the sky and utters a curse. "If you're too much of a baby then just let me do it."
"You..." Vera looks between the two of us and looks utterly torn. I feel my chances of survival increase by the second and I even get myself to stand and walk towards Vera.
"P-please d-don't kill me. I d-didn't do anything to deserve it!" I fake the stutter as I approach, both hands placed on my head to show that I mean no harm.
"Ugh! She is, like, such a little faker!" Plasma throws her jacket open and I have absolutely no time to react. A knife has appeared in her hand and she drives it into deeply into my chest. Vera shouts but it's useless. I fall back, smacking my head against the fence. Blood is seeping from the wound and the world I getting black. The last thing I see is Vera and Plasma arguing...
District 10 Death Duel
Ellis Blackberry (302nd Games)
It's a shame that the Capitol hasn't been overthrown already. I thought this the last time I was in this sort of situation as well but the point still stands because nothing has changed since then. The Capitol is still in charge, they still do whatever they damn well please without any fear of repercussions. What the hell have these Rebels been doing since I died?
"Prepare for Duel Commencement."
I crack my knuckles as the platform under me begins to churn. Well, if no one else is going to stop these Games I might as well play them. They're my only shot of staying alive, after all. The only way I could actually get to a point where I could finally be the one to show the Capitol they're not in control.
But first I have to kill some innocent kids.
The platform takes me up into a small field of grass. The scent of manure wafts around me and I wrinkle my face as I notice the nearby pen filled with pigs that mill about, doing nothing. "That hasn't changed," I mutter as I look around at the other landmarks. Nearby sits a farmhouse of sorts, surrounded by a small wooden fence and a few platforms laden with more tributes. Off in the distance I see a barn and a stable; more tribute platforms surround these. Time to get fighting, eh?
I bound off of my platform and go racing for the farmhouse. It's my first destination not because it's closest but because, well, okay, it's because it's the closest. Some sort of chimes sounds off as I sprint across the open grassland. Ahead of me, right in front of the house, a pair of tributes fight.
A well-defined, muscular blonde boy is throwing punches at a raven haired girl who continually bounces away from his fists. She laughs merrily, like this is all a game, and sometimes throws her own punch, which is usually on target.
"Another?" The boy, who I believe is Morolith (300), stops in his tracks to watch me trot up behind them. The girl spins around to see what he's talking about and my fist takes her in the face. I note her eye-patch as she crumples to the grass, screaming obscenities at me. Seeker (301).
"Yeah," I flash a cocky grin at the stunned boy. "I'm just another fighter." My fist connects with his nose and it squirts out blood as it breaks under the force of my blow. Seeker is back on her feet and the both of them are trying to fight me now but this is a brawl and that's where I shine brightest. Back home I was always getting into street fights just like this one, only, there I had real opponents who knew how to fight with just their bodies.
I throw an elbow into Morolith's gut, spin out of the way and kick Seeker in the kneecap before back-fisting her skull. They try their best to keep up but fail miserably. I'm beginning to wonder how I'll kill them, since they won't win this battle, when Morolith falls down with a bloody scream.
"Bronco!" Seeker's one eye lights up with joy when she spots the muscular black boy creeping towards us. In his left hand he holds a throwing axe, his other is buried in Morolith's back. "Help me finish this birch off!"
Uh-oh. I remember the info cards we were shown and, more importantly, I remember how it said that Seeker and Bronco were allied in their initial Hunger Games. Not good.
The boy nods his brooding head and then he winds up to throw his axe just as I grip Seeker around the shoulders and pull her in front of me. The axe catches her right in the heart and spits blood before I let her go, wherein she then slides to the bloodstained grass below. "Oops!" I smirk at Bronco as he gapes in shock at what he just did. "I think you made an itsy-bitsy mistake."
I'm not slow about it.
In a flash I rip the axe out from Morolith's back and hurl it towards the only other tribute left standing. Bronco goes down, the axe lodged in his cranium. It wasn't my best throw ever but it was good enough to get the job done and that counts for something. I collect the two axes and glance at the sky as I wipe the blood off of the blades, apparently several more cannons had gone off while I was fighting for only four faces are still lit, excluding my own.
I shake my head and look towards the stables, where I had previously seen tribute platforms. I don't see any fighting tributes but I do see a girl limping towards me, a bow clutched in her shaky right hand. Something stops me from just striking her down with one of the axes; I don't know why, but I can't bring myself to kill her. Maybe it's because she's crying and not fighting.
"Th-they killed him!" The girl's sobs become audible as she draws closer. "They killed him!" She's a wreck. Her formerly pretty blonde hair is disheveled and knotted, her face is streaked with tears and a bloody gash is etched across her left leg, obviously the reason for her limp.
"Who killed him?" I ask as she drops to the soft grass beside me. The girl's brown eyes swivel to meet mine but she doesn't answer as another sob takes over. I feel a strange connection with the girl, a desire to protect her. I guess it's because she reminds me of Jamie, my best friend back when I lived in District 10. Jamie was nothing like me, she always followed the rules and played nice, but she was somehow one of the few people I actually cared for. This girl reminds me of how Jamie was when her rules broke down and everything went to hell. A crying mess.
"They did!" The girl whips around to point a trembling finger at the stables in the distance. "The Cohen's! They killed Alex!" Damn. I recognize the girl now. Cassie Lexys, one-half of the two pairs of siblings in this duel. Alec and Alecia Cohen are the other pair and, according to Cassie, they were the ones to kill Alex. Jumped the two of them from behind and started a brawl. Alex stayed behind for Cassie to escape.
The girl can barely form the words through her tears and I don't blame her. She witnessed her brother being killed once before and now, after being reunited with him for only a few brief minutes, she has lost him again. The girl can barely operate with how devastated she is. See, that's the difference between people like me and people like Jamie and Cassie. When something horrible happens they get sad, whereas I just get pissed off.
"What kind of weapons do they have?" I ask the girl and her head shoots up as she hears my hardened tone. She knows what I plan on doing.
"You-you can't fight them. Th-they'll just kill you too--"
"What kind of weapons do they have?" I ignore her. I've gone sixteen years with people telling me I can't do something, I've always paid them no mind. Now's not the time to change that.
Cassie sees how futile it is to protest and just mumbles something, I don't catch it so I have her repeat it, louder this time. "A sword and spear!" She gets out through a shuddering sob. Damn. Those weapons won't be easy to beat, but still, I never give up on anything.
"Find some shelter," I tell the crying girl as I did to my feet and eye the stable in the distance. "If all goes well then you and me will win this Duel. If it doesn't...I plan on killing at least one of them. So you win either way." She just looks at me, awestruck. She isn't use to others taking the sacrifice for her. But none of us are, really. The Capital always ensures that we're the ones being sacrificed and not the ones being spared the burden. I've always been the rebellious rulebreaker.
After Cassie limps off, taking her old bow with her, I begin to approach the stables. Slowly but surely. I don't bother hiding, I want them to see me, to come for me. My advantage is that my axes can be thrown, making open field combat preferable to fighting in that musty stable. Hopefully they don't realize that and try to bum rush me.
When I draw about fifty yards away from the stable, the doors swing open. I'm expecting to see the Cohen twins emerge but instead it's a small red-headed boy, screaming as he runs across the grassy plains. He won't get very far.
Two horses come galloping out of the stable after him, two kids reining them in with expert skill. The boy picks up his pace as he hears the hooves but it's no use. One of the riders runs him down from behind and with one slash of a sword, the boy goes sprawling to the ground.
Horses.
They have horses! How is that bloody fair?!
The face of Kwartz Diodin (325) blinks off in the sky and then the two riders see me as they're wheeling their stress about. Suddenly my idea about engaging them in an open field doesn't sound so good.
One of the riders points their spear at me and then the chase is on. I'm running as fast as my feet will take me but I can hear the pounding of the hooves as they close in. I can't outrun a horse. No one can.
My feet stumble across the plains, nearly tripping as I step over a rabbits burrow. The horses continue to close in, one look behind shows that Alec and his spear are only two dozen feet behind me. A plan comes to mind, a stupid one, but a plan nonetheless. I stop running and spin around, facing the oncoming riders.
Alec's horse comes throttling towards me but at the last moment it rears up on it's back legs, neighing wildly. Alec wasn't expecting the sudden upheaval of his mount and he goes flying off the back of his horse, crashing into the grass below.
My plan isn't finished. Already my axe has left my hand, spiralling for Alecia whose still on her horse. She doesn't see it coming.
Her horse goes galloping off into the open plains once she falls off, dead with an axe in her chest. I smile as I watch it go. It wasn't a very loyal horse, now was it?
"Alecia!" Unbeknownst to me, Alec has already gotten back to his feet. He goes stumbling towards Alecia but when he sees tthe axe in her chest he changes directions. He comes hurtling towards me. The spear is lofted over his head, ready to be thrown, when an arrow takes him in the neck. I don't know where it came from or how, but it does all the same. Alec chokes and gags as his blood pours out and clogs his airway before eventually dying. I wonder if it was from blood loss or suffocation.
"He killed Alex."
Cassie has appeared at my side, her eyes hard and a bow locked in her hands. Of course. How did I forget she had that with? I'm surprised she helped though, I'd figure she was loony from.sadness. "Yep. He did," I kick his body to make sure everything is final and I also check Alecia's. Both seem very dead. "And you paid him pay for it."
"He deserved it!" Cassie fights back the tears that swell in her eyes. "Him and his devilish sister deserved everything they got!"
"I'm not arguing on that front," I shrug and watch as the Cohen twins faces are blanked out in the sky. Only mine and Cassie's remain. I make a pretense of yawning for the camera's. The Capitol loves callous and cold-hearted people, almost as much as they like revenge stories. Wonder how much they'll like revenge when I'm burning their buildings to the ground.