#apogarena

[apieceinourgames]

The Final Fallen

4th: Kineos Yager - by Fox Delarue

3rd: Sutter Galbraith - by Delilah Lalonde

2nd: Delilah Lalonde -by Fox Delarue

With that we say goodbye to three tributes who put up an amazing fight for the finale. We thank each and every one of you for putting all of your hard work into making three tributes that we loved to read. We hope to see you in APOG19 and perhaps as a victor? 

[apieceinourgames]

Finale: Part 3 of 3

This was it. The moment all of Panem had been waiting for with baited breath was finally upon them. Fox and Delilah had beaten the odds, and now the two of them of them stood face to face as part of the final four. Delilah surveyed the girl in front of her, hair disheveled, eyes wild, mouth a snarling mess of teeth and lips; this was not the same Fox Delilah had come across in training.

Finally, Fox turned with shaking hands to face the petite redhead she loathed. The girl who had killed Colt, sweet, innocent Colt, and done it with no signs of remorse. The girl who had sent Fox into a mental spiral that powered her up and made her a killer, though in her own mind she was focused on being more of a protector, an eliminator of those who would hurt her or others. She’d disposed of the other killers, but now the biggest and worst remained. The one who had claimed the most lives as if it meant nothing at all.

“Looks like you’ve found your fight Foxy.” Delilah snarked as she kept her distance from the other girl. “What did it take? Seeing me kill Colt or losing Imogene?” She knew she was playing with fire here but she wanted to see just how far gone Fox was. Delilah smirked, strutting toward Fox. “What’s wrong, sweetie, cat got your stupid little tongue?” She cooed.

“SHUT UP! SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP! I DON’T TALK TO FILTHY MURDERING SCUM LIKE YOU.” Fox screamed at Delilah. She was twitching, ravenous, a lunatic. If there was any shred of the girl she had once been it was buried deep inside. She was practically frothing at the mouth. What did Fox say about rabid animals? They should be put down for their own good? That sounded about right. Fox’s mind flashed red, she pictured Colt bleeding out on the ground and Charlie slumped lifeless and her body kicked into motion. Fox sprinted the distance between her and Delilah and jabbed hard at the smaller girl’s stomach with her shovel. Delilah laughed, blocking the hit with her war hammer as she cackled. “Oh, look at you, getting all feisty! Too bad you won’t be alive much longer to keep at it.”

Fox let out a low growl and lashed forward with her machete, stabbing deep into Delilah’s thigh and causing the Career to scream out, slashing at Fox’s cheek with one of her deer horn knives. The cut from training she’d given Fox re-opened and blood dribbled down Fox’s cheek, but it didn’t stop her. Taking her dagger, Fox aimed at the re-opened wound in Del’s shoulder, her weak spot. Del blocked the hits expertly, as a trained Career does, but that didn’t stop Fox from fighting back.

Delilah struck Fox’s face hard, her knuckles digging into the cut on her cheek and Fox tumbled back, thrown off-balance by the punch like their fight back in the training centre. She pulled her gas mask tightly over her face just as Delilah dove on her, pinning her to the floor with her knees on Fox’s arms. Fox’s heart pounded as she looked up at the girl, who smiled sickeningly.

“Now, you’re just a stupid little hick girl, right Fox?” Delilah taunted, dragging Fox’s chin up and staring at her through the eye holes of her gas mask. “So I’ll explain to you,” she cooed, holding up a vial of an unmarked substance. “Some people call this zombie powder. But it’s gonna kill you, and it’s gonna make it so much fun for me to play with you first, doesn’t that sound fun?” Fox’s heart pounded, but she slowly reached one hand to the side, trying to move slowly as to not be detected by Delilah’s knee pinning her arm.

Delilah pulled at the gas mask to get the toxin in Fox’s mouth, but struggled to get it off of Fox’s head given the way the straps ran around the back of the girl’s head which was currently pressed into the floor. As Del yanked Fox’s head up by her hair to unstrap the gas mask, Fox jerked her upper body up quickly, smashing the hard surface of the gas mask into Delilah’s nose, breaking it. As she did so, Fox reached the last few inches for her dagger, which she drove directly into the bandaged wound in Delilah’s side, twisting it and angling it upward, weakening the muscles there. Delilah shrieked and Fox took the opportunity to throw her hips up quickly and jolt pain through Del’s side wound, allowing Fox to free her arm and push Delilah off, thankful for years of harmless wrestling with Eagle teaching her how to unseat someone far larger than Delilah.

Fox shakily but quickly got to her feet and Delilah sprung at her again. Fox knocked the vial of toxin from her hand and it hit the floor, rolling across with some oozing out from a crack in the container. Delilah snarled, shaking her head at Fox. “You know I’m gonna kill you… just like I killed everyone else, Fox, don’t go thinking you’re special. You’re just going to share a plot of dirt with that little kid and no one is going to ever remember you… or him.” It pained Delilah to speak of a young boy so nonchalantly when little Rory was at home watching, but she knew she could weaken Fox with the mention of Colt. But Fox only had one thought on her mind. Kill the killers. Kill the killers kill the killers kill the killers…

While Delilah eyed the vial, Fox socked her in the jaw, stunning her long enough to scramble up the unstable mountain of gold. Acting quickly before Delilah came back at her, Fox reached back and grabbed the bottle of alcohol from her bag, never breaking eye contact with Delilah so she wouldn’t be caught off guard. As Delilah lunged to attack again, her sword sliced along Fox’s thigh as Fox brought the bottle of alcohol down hard onto Delilah’s head, still holding the top part of the bottle. The bottom of the bottle smashed, leaving Delilah drenched in alcohol and covered in tiny cuts along with a bloody lump where Fox smashed her. The liquid dripped into her eyes and cuts, causing it to sting painfully and Delilah screeched, blindly thrusting her knife toward Fox as she tried to regain her sight through the blurriness. “You fucking bitch!” Del shrieked. “Are you fucking crazy!?” Fox was left holding only part of an empty bottle with sharp, jagged edges as she dodged Del’s anger-infused hits.

Fox lunged forward, slicing across Delilah’s chest with the jagged bottle. The glass ripped Del’s shirt open and left angry claw marks across her chest. Del tried to break the glass with the hilt of her knife but Fox stabbed with her machete in her other hand, landing it deep into Delilah’s thigh and the force of the swing sending both of them down to the floor. Fox scrambled on top of Del, bringing her dagger down hard into the wound on Delilah’s shoulder and twisting it, clawing through the muscle and nerves and leaving that arm essentially useless.

Fox resumed her clawing at Delilah’s chest, face, wherever, she could reach. “You’re heartless!” Fox screamed, spit flying from her mouth and landing in the open chest wound. Delilah fought back, clawing and slashing at Fox’s arms and body with her knives. As Del left a long cut down the side of Fox’s thigh, Fox moved again to smash her dagger into Del’s other shoulder, slicing through muscle and flesh as she screamed.

“I hate you I hate you I hate you I hate you how could you I hate you…” Fox’s screaming was more and more intense as she clawed with the glass, getting closer and closer to Del’s heart. Delilah regained a grip on her knife with her remaining good arm and slammed the hilt of it into Fox’s hand, smashing the rest of the glass over her, covering her in little cuts. Del used the opportunity to squirm slighly away from Fox, reaching for the cracked and leaking vial of tetrodotoxin which lay on the floor close to them. Grasping it, she tossed the chemical at Fox, aiming for her face but missing, splashing a bit more over her body. Fox couldn’t be calm anymore. With so many cuts over her body and a toxin now dripping from her skin, she didn’t know how much time she had left, if any. She had to end this now.

Armed with the shovel Fox swung it into Delilah’s chest, winding the girl. “I am just, in my cause.” Her whole body trembled as she spoke. “You’re a murderer, you need to be put down!” She swung the shovel into Delilah’s shoulder forcing the girl to scream again.

With all her strength Delilah kicked up into Fox’s thigh wound causing the girl to falter. “You killed, you’re just as bad as me.” She knew exactly what effect the words would have on Fox.

“I WASN’T THE ONE TO KILL AN INNOCENT KID. I DIDN’T BREAK UP A SET OF LOVERS.” She slammed the shovel into the side of Delilah’s head dazing her. “YOU KILLED COLT.” She slammed the shovel on Delilah’s face breaking her nose. “YOU MURDERED A LITTLE KID.”

A malicious grin overtook Fox’s face giving Delilah pause. “Time to burn for what you’ve done bitch.” Fox giggled before tossing the lighter at Delilah. The flames landed on her pant leg before spreading like wildfire up her alcohol soaked tribute outfit. She dropped to the ground screaming as she rolled in an attempt to extinguish the flames.

Clutching her shovel, she had to finish the job. Del laid on the floor, burned and bleeding with her heart nearly exposed from Fox’s clawing at her chest. Fox grimly dug into her body with the shovel, prying her heart out like it was a buried treasure. Delilah was now truly heartless as the final cannon of the Games fired.

It wasn’t until they’d announced Fox’s name over the loudspeaker that she stopped, realized what had happened, then realized just what she had done. All the killers were killed. It was over. It was done. She’d done it. She’d saved them- but nobody was left there for her to turn to and have saved. They were gone, all gone, it was just her. And as all of Panem praised and cursed her name, as the toxin hit her and her body began to paralyze, as the medical team immediately began treating her, all Fox could think was that she had won. She had done the impossible.

[apieceinourgames]

Finale: Part 2 of 3

There was only one final obstacle in Sutter’s way and it was the one he was looking forward to the most. His revenge was only partially achieved with Kyan but there was still the other half of District Four. Sutter stood stoic across from Delilah, the two of them staring at each other. By now both of them were injured and bleeding, but Sutter felt as strong as ever. All he wanted to do was rip the girl’s throat out and watch her suffer as she bled to the death. He was sure that Delilah felt the same way about him. The only thing was that only one of them would get that satisfaction.

“Well, damn. How did you not just die of guilt?” Delilah jeered, slowly swinging her war hammer around to taunt him. Sutter stood confidently, refusing to be affected by her words. Getting to him was exactly what she wanted.

“I had something I needed to do,” he replied through gritted teeth, making it clear what he needed to do was kill her. She just smiled in return, obviously amused by his whole determination of vengeance.

“Oh are you talking about that slut we killed at the feast together? Did you say goodbye? You know, that was fun, we should do it again sometime.” Delilah retorted, her answer silenced by a growl from Sutter who stood stock still across from her. He wanted this over with and he wouldn’t bow down to her taunts. “Fine. Then do it,” she cooed in attempt to provoke him. Delilah was always one to appreciate a good fight and it was evident that with Sutter that was what she was going to get. Without waiting any longer, Sutter took all three shurikens and threw them at rapid fire in hopes to distract Delilah a bit. She tried to dodge them but was not fast enough as she one of them cut her cheek. While she was busy focused on herself, Sutter went charging towards her and tackled her to the ground. The two fell to the ground with a hard thud, both of them grunting from some kind of injury. Delilah swung her fist around to hit Sutter in the groin, which made him yelp. She let out a laugh, throwing him off of her so she could grab one of her deer horn blades. As Sutter lay in pain on the ground, she swung her weapon around and plunged the sharp point into his shoulder. He screeched, the sharp pain making him wrap his hand around her throat. She gasped as he threw her back on the bottom, her head hitting the hard ground. Once she recovered, her hand wrapped around Sutter’s strong wrist.

“You know Sutter I expected better from someone who scored an eleven. You’re tall, strong, and by all evidence should actually be a challenge.” Then suddenly, she raised her dual edged sword and made a long slash across his back. He fell off of her, shrieking as his now open wound hit the ground. Delilah wasted no time climbing on top again, digging her nails into Sutter’s cheek. Her nails broke his skin, making blood drip down his cheek. He gritted his teeth as he spit into her face. Unseating Del as she scrambled backwards, wiping futilely at her face. She fought to get to her feet as Sutter stood.

”Even your little bitch of a girlfriend put up a better fight than you before you decided winning was more important than she was.” She grinned maliciously at him and watched as something inside the boy snapped.  He lunged forwards and though Delilah had training, Sutter had brute strength. The axe slammed against her hammer, jarring her arm back painfully. “I’m going to make you regret ever volunteering. By the time I’m done with you, you’re going to beg me for death.” He growled and launched himself at Delilah again. He passed her block and sunk the axe into her shoulder making her scream with pain. Delilah swung the hammer weakly at Sutter and caught him in the stomach giving herself a little breathing room. Already her arm felt weaker as the warm blood trickled down her arm.

If she couldn’t beat him with strength, she was going to have to rely on her speed. Sutter was emotional, rash, reckless. He charged forwards and Delilah sidestepped him. Spinning she slammed the hammer into his back with all her might and he gave a sharp cry of pain. Pure adrenaline kept him from buckling under the pain as he stumbled forwards, catching himself against a pillar. Sutter started fiddling around with his pockets which was never a good sign so Delilah charged the boy. The two exchanged blows as Delilah slammed her hammer hard into his stomach.

Sutter doubled over, his ribs broken as Delilah looked down at the knife sticking out of her stomach. She pulled it out and saw that Sutter had put something on it. Immediately a fierce pain gripped her system and she fell to the ground wracked with spasms. Doing the only thing she could think of Delilah lit the smoke bomb and set it on the ground beside her. Her vision danced and blurred as the smoke rose and billowed creating a wall between them.

A sudden noise forced Delilah’s eyes open. She pulled herself upright listening for it again. “Della!” The voice screeched making her blood run cold. All pain forgotten Delilah rocketed to her feet, her eyes searching frantically in the smoke. Finally they locked on to a small shadow cowering in front of a big shadow.

“I told you I had plans for him if you chose not to cooperate Miss Lalonde.” Even here Xanthus’ voice was unmistakable. Where once it gave her chills, now it did nothing but enrage her. Gripping the hammer tightly Delilah screamed as she charged Xanthus, swinging the hammer into his knees. His legs were already injured and he had no chance to dodge it causing them to buckle under the force of the assault.

“If you so much as lay a fucking finger on him I’ll-” the rest of her sentence was incoherent screaming as she brought the hammer down on his wounded chest, fracturing what few intact ribs he had left. Sutter gasped for air under the crazed girl and in a last ditch attempted sliced upwards at her with the hand axe catching her in the side. “FUCK YOU. TAKING CHILDREN JUST BECAUSE YOU CAN.” Delilah was too far gone to even notice and slammed the hammer against his hand forcing Xanthus to drop it with a scream.

She slammed the hammer against his jaw filling his mouth with teeth and blood. “I’m not Xanthus you psycho bitch.” He moaned as she continued to pummel him. He raised his arms over his face to protect himself but they did little as Delilah brought the hammer down relentlessly. Blood sprayed up from the assault coating the both of them and filling Delilah with a sense of righteous glee.

Over and over again she smashed at any available body part while screaming a string of profanities. “DONT. YOU. FUCKING. TOUCH. HIM. AGAIN. YOU. CUNT. I’LL RIP YOUR FUCKING FACE OFF.”Each word was accentuated with the sound of metal crushing bone and flesh. A cannon fired but still she didn’t stop, over and over she crushed his face until it was a mess of blood and bone. She continued until the tracker jacker venom wore off and the unrecognizable face underneath her was Sutter not Xanthus. Blood covered her from head to toe and she stood up from Sutter’s mangled body knowing Rory wasn’t here. He never was.

[apieceinourgames]

Finale: Part 1 of 3 

As Fox stumbled into the catacombs from her cavern, the light trickling in reflected off the shiny surface of the floor caught the girl’s eye. Coins. Gold ones. And jewels, and incredible piles of riches like she’d never seen. Her eyes glinted and she smiled, her face curling into a sickening grin. If she could just kill three more people, it’d be all hers.

Kineos was behind a pile of coins when he heard another tribute walking through the catacombs. He took a peek and it was Fox, from District ten. Kineos nocked an arrow into his crossbow and aimed it at her head, a quick and easy kill is what he was hoping to go for. He took a deep breath and fired it, missing hard.

As she looked into the pile, an arrow whizzing past her head grabbed her attention and she whirled around to see Kineos across from her, clutching something in his hands. A small crossbow. Fox frowned, where had she seen one of those- she paused, her eyes narrowing.

That was Imogene’s crossbow. And knowing that Kineos was holding it meant only one thing- that he’d killed her. They were gone, they were all gone. All her friends were dead. And Kineos, the boy in front of her, had killed her last one. She had to get revenge. With that, Fox charged across the catacomb to Kineos, her shovel outstretched. The fire blazing in her eyes was dangerous and Kineos was slightly startled, firing another arrow toward Fox. It clipped her in the shoulder and she snapped the shaft of the arrow off, continuing her charge.

Kineos threw his crossbow to the side and pulled out his dagger and dirk and prepared for a good little battle. She had a shovel out with her along with a machete. Kineos thought to himself, Who the fuck has a shovel in the games?

But it didn’t matter as Fox closed the distance and swung across with her shovel, connecting against his face. He heard a slight noise and looked up at Fox who was slightly blurry and she hit him again but on his back. He stumbled back, cursing, as Fox brought the shovel around into his other side, stabbing it into him. Kineos let out a yell and slowly got up, she could just kill him right now but didn’t, she must have wanted this to last. He looked at her and gave a small smile “Is that all you got you little bitch?” She let out a small snarl and swung her shovel again and Kineos dropped down and swiped his dirk across her leg and she let out a yell. He jabbed with the dirk then at Fox’s stomach, causing the girl to jump backwards, avoiding the hit but losing her proximity to him. Pulling her machete from her belt, Fox sliced hard at the gauze-wrapped area of Kineos’ left arm.  He let out a shriek as Fox sliced the gauze away, exposing the flesh again. Moving closer, Fox jammed her hand into the exposed skin, pulling hard at whatever tendons she could reach and Kineos screamed harder as she clawed at his flesh.

Bringing around his dirk again, Kineos knocked Fox off his body, sending her to the floor. Fox rolled at the impact of the floor and sprung back up to her feet, her eyes glinting.  Kineos’ blood dripped on the floor in time with Fox’s muttering of “kill the killers… kill the killers… kill the killers…” that penetrated the catacombs. Kineos approached her again and she continued to mutter as she shoved into him hard with the handle of her shovel, aiming for his head. He ducked, the shovel’s head smashing into his shoulder, causing it to crack as it shattered on the impact.

As he stumbled back from the hit Fox quickly lit the smoke bomb she’d taken from Joule and tossed it in a high arc right at Kineos. She snapped the gas mask over her face as it detonated right in front of the boy as he turned and tried to run. As he struggled to locate the girl through the smoke, she got low and crept across the floor to wind around at his back. As she did, she sprung forward and smashed both of her daggers into each side of Kineos’ ribcage, blood spurting over her shirt and over the floor, spattering over a few stray gold pieces that lay there.

Kineos shouted out, taking his dirk and shoving it hard behind him, slicing across Fox’s hip and opening the wound she’d bandaged there. Fox screeched back in anger, kicking his wounded knee from behind hard and sending him crumpling to the floor. As he toppled down, he reached for the front of Fox’s shirt with his hand and pulled hard, bringing her down with him.

Fox pulled herself on top of Kineos, pinning his arms down with her legs and squeezing her knees hard to send pain coursing through the boy’s body. “You can’t kill my best friend and not expect me to fuck. You. Up.” She hissed, her eyes manic and her tone rough and harsh. Kineos grappled for his dirk on the floor next to him and took it, slicing it into the side of Fox’s leg from where his hand was pinned underneath her. She shrieked, grabbing the front part of his hair and slamming his head against the floor, the small pieces of gold jingling as she did, and causing him to let go of the weapon which she threw across the floor. She pulled her dagger and held it to his throat, keeping him in place.

Wrenching around to grab the sheet of plastic while keeping Kineos’ head down with the threat of her knife, Fox stretched it over his mouth. “Death by deoxygenation relaxes the brain as the flow of breath stops and stops you from moving so I can give you what you deserve for killing her,” Fox hissed. Kineos struggled, moving his hips to try and buck her off but Fox was strong, she’d spent much of her life roughhousing with her older brother and knew just where to move herself to cause extreme discomfort to Kineos.

The plastic wouldn’t stay and she screamed. “Stop! Let me do this!” She screeched. “Don’t you understand? Do none of you understand that you deserve this?!” Fox screamed to anyone who was listening. Kill the killers kill the killers kill the killers… pulling her lighter, Fox moved the flame up to the plastic which she held on with one hand flat over Kineos’ face while she pressed his injured arm down harder with her left knee, causing him to gasp, holding the plastic in place. Burning the plastic, Kineos began to scream as the plastic melted to his face. Fox moved the lighter around, sealing the plastic in around Kineos’ nose and mouth, and sat back, smiling, as the boy’s breaths eventually slowed.

Like with Joule, Fox worried briefly that she hadn’t killed him, even when his cannon sounded. So she leaned back down to slit his throat cleanly, blood pouring over her feet. “There you go, Imogene,” she said clearly. “I fixed it for you. I got revenge.”

[apieceinourgames]

Final Task: The Finale

Four tributes remain; they’ve fought, loved and lost but there’s one final hurdle they have to face before they return home to anxious family and friends. It’s time for the Game maker’s final trick.

As the four of you step over your fallen enemy, you follow the gopher hole you fell into to a light that glimmers in the distance. You finally emerge from the darkness to a large catacomb. It seems as if its the remnants of a castle of old. Your footsteps echo as you look about. Suddenly, you see it. Mounds and mounds of gold, gems, and riches none of you could've ever imagined. Could this all be yours if you win? Chances are... but you'll have to beat the remaining 3 to claim your crown.

Task: Submit to us your final task in 3rd person. Since you'll be writing a KS for each tribute separately, we ask you to keep each under 1200 words. Please submit a list which puts the tributes in order of who you'd attack first. Submit your stories in that order. You can submit all 3 together. 

Once received, we will compare all stories, the order in which you would attack, and post the results. You have until Tuesday at 6 pm EST/3 pm PST to submit your task. 

Good luck to everyone!

As soon as you are able, please post a new status update that includes new injuries, updated items, and updated weapons!

[apieceinourgames]

Fallen Day Four

9th: Tessa Hale - by Sutter Galbraith & Delilah Lalonde

8th: Imogene Fuller - by Kineos Yager

7th: Kyan Malaki - by Sutter Galbraith

6th: Jeremiah Hudson - by Delilah Lalonde

5th: Joule Alvarez - by Fox Delarue

[apieceinourgames]

Pre-Finale: Joule vs Fox

Fox navigated her way through the tunnels with adrenaline pumping through her veins, adjusting the gas mask to prop up on her head so she could pull it down if she needed. Her eyes were manic and glossy, darting about as she looked for any signs of life in the pathways. She needed blood spilled, particularly that of a killer. She needed to know she’d taken care of one person who was just going to hurt everyone else. She couldn’t handle knowing this many killers were out there. Almost every person left had killed, it was wrong.

A shiver shot down Joule’s spine as she slowly moved forward, her ears on high alert as she moved. I one hand was her dagger and the other her axe. The golf club bumped against her leg, but she paid it no mind. It was actually quite comforting, knowing it was there. She knew she was going to need all help she could use, even a golf club.

It was dark, but not pitch black, thankfully. She wanted to call out for Jeremiah or Kineos, but she knew that, for as likely as it would be for her to find them, it would be triple as likely to find someone who wanted to kill her. Two allies amongst the seven tributes still alive. The odds were definitely NOT in her favor.

Suddenly the tunnel she was walking through opened up into a larger room. Adjusting her grip on her weapons, she edged in slowly, keeping to the walls as she crossed the room, when her ears perked up at the sounds of someone behind her. Whipping around, her  eyes widened almost comically as she realized it was someone else. Raising her axe, she called out softly. “Cap? Kineos?”

Her hair stood on edge when a familiar voice rang out through the cavern. “Afraid not, Joule.” She immediately recognized the voice as Fox’s, there was something different about her, something darker.

As she burst into a larger chamber, Joule approached from the other side. Fox narrowed her eyes, racking her brain from the Fallen from days previous. Was Joule a killer?. Then Fox remembered: Joule and her allies had killed Avery and Zeke. She had to go. Fox let a malicious smile come over her face and charged at the other girl.

Tightening her grip on her axe, Joule stepped forward, a frown on her face. This clearly wasn’t the same girl she had met in the Capitol, but then again, she wasn’t that same girl either. Fox looked perfectly fine, almost completely unharmed and Joule scowled. While her leg was almost completely healed up, it was definitely a weak spot. And she was half blind.

How the fuck did she managed to live this long without encountering ANYONE?

“Fox. Any chance of the two of us walking away? Pretend like we didn’t see each other?” She asked, a last ditch effort of escaping unharmed.

The look on the other girl’s face told her her answer, and Joule knew her answer. Fox looked pissed. Not just angry, but murderous and Joule wanted to laugh. Why was she so angry? Nothing bad had happened to her. Nothing at all. She was whole and had never had to fight for her life. She had never killed. But Joule had. And now, she would again.

Joule panicked a little as Fox charged her. What had happened to the peaceful yet snarky girl she’d encountered in training? Joule let out a low swing with the hand axe, aiming for Fox’s stomach, but Fox used her shovel to block the hit to her abdomen, holding it out with the handle between her and Joule. Holding the shovel this way in both hands, she pushed forward, knocking into Joule’s chest hard. Joule used her axe as she fell from the impact to slice at Fox’s leg. Fox yelped just a little, but jumped back in time to only end up with a couple small slices to the fleshy part of her thigh.

Fox advanced on Joule as she lay on the ground and the girl from Five scrambled to get to her feet, her leg still a bit sore from her injury which slowed her standing. Joule ducked to avoid the blow as Fox swung the blade of her shovel at the girl, her eyes still glinting and manic as she fought. “Stay still!” Fox screeched, stabbing her shovel downward at Joule’s leg wound and pulling her poison-tipped machete from her belt, swinging it wildly at the younger girl. “I’m trying to make this fast for you!”

Thinking of all the injustices that she had been put through, Joule felt her blood begin to boil. Stepping closer, she switched her axe for her gold club, feeling her anger seep into her body. The clang of metal on metal was harsh in the cavern Joule raised her golf club to defend herself from the shovel coming at her, the sound of it cutting through the air seeming louder due to her compromised vision. The clash of metal was harsh against the quiet of the cavern as each girl matched and blocked the other’s attack, seemingly even matched. It seemed Fox’s endurance was higher than her own as Joule’s arm began to burn and give from the strain.

Grunting from exertion, she twisted the club, before pulling it away, causing Fox to jab her machete forward, cutting into Joule’s arm. She let out a cry of pain, but did her best to ignore it as she brought the club up, taking advantage of the other girl’s position and swinging it into her head. Fox staggered back, her hand coming to clutch at her head. Unfortunately the hit was only enough to disorient her for a moment before she was back, swinging her machete at her head once more, backing Joule up towards the wall.

Ducking down, Joule dropped to the ground before scrambling away, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a smoke bomb, lighting it quickly and launching it at the other girl. Fox had just enough time to register the item before slipping her gas mask firmly down over her face. The smoke bomb activated, sending thick, curling smoke throughout the entire cavern. The moment of distraction the smoke bomb had caused was enough to allow Joule to disappear into the smoke, allowing her a few moments to regroup and try and come up with a way to defeat the other girl. Fox looked through it, the mask providing her with eye protection so she could see still- and what she saw was the shadow of Joule working at something.

Joule could hear the whoosh of the machete as it was swung around and tried to quiet her breathing, sticking low to the ground and close to the wall, careful to stay behind the other girl. She quickly untied the rope around her waist, fashioning it into a noose like knot before dropping to her knees, sneaking closer to Fox. The smoke was beginning to clear, and Joule knew she was running out of time to put her plan into action.

Reaching into her pocket, she pulled her other smoke bomb, lighting it as stealthily as she could, however Fox whirled around, knocking against Joule’s right temple with her shovel, a gas mask adorning her face. Having not seen the shovel coming from her right, she was completely caught off guard, the force knocking her to the ground and lit smoke bomb to roll away to the corner of the room.

Fox stalked forward, her machete raised when suddenly her leg was pulled out from under her. She had accidently stepped into the noose that Joule had laid on the ground, and with one hard yank, she was able to catch Fox off guard and send her tumbling to the ground as well.

Staggering to her feet, Joule armed herself with her axe in her left hand and her dagger in the right. Her head ached and she was white stars littered her vision, but with the pain came the rage. She would never have had to experience this kind of pain if Fox would just GO AWAY.

Joule swung the axe high into the air, before slamming it down, catching nothing but the dirt floor as Fox rolled away. She turned her head, searching for the other girl, but it seemed that Fox had figured out her whole right visual field was dark. Swinging her weapons through the air, she searched through the dark for her opponent, careful to turn her head to compensate for her blind eye.

She felt the dagger dig into her shoulder before she saw it and gave a blood curdling scream as she spun the blade twisting before it finally was torn away, digging her own dagger into Fox’s side, once then once more, before her grip gave.

“I told you to stay fucking still,” Fox hissed, jerking Joule’s head to the side, causing the girl to whimper. Joule slashed her dagger backwards and it sliced Fox’s hip, which Fox retaliated to by driving her dagger hard into Joule’s ribcage, giving it a little twist and hearing the girl cry out. Fox threw Joule down by her hair, the younger girl stumbling a bit before regaining her footing, clutching her side. In the dissipating smoke, Joule had difficulty seeing given her lack of eye protection and her previous injury to her eye, which Fox just now noticed. Fox smiled a little- a weak point. In the brief point of Fox’s distraction, Joule lunged forward and smashed her golf club directly into Fox’s nose, breaking it. Blood poured as she shrieked. “What the fuck are you doing? I’m not the killer!”

Drawing her swiss army knife, Fox lunged after Joule who had found Fox again through the smoke. The light was filtering back into the darkened tunnel and Fox took the opportunity to slam the head of her shovel hard into Joule’s back, knocking the wind out of her as she stumbled forward. Fox approached on Joule’s right side, taking the corkscrew section of the swiss army knife and driving it hard into Joule’s eye socket, twisting her fist to embed the object deep within the girl’s eye.

The girl screamed violently, the sound ricocheting off the walls and Fox began to panic. She had to end it soon, she knew somewhere behind her mental deterioration that she was causing pain, and couldn’t bear to live with that on her conscience. Now, Fox knew she had to end it, to euthanize Joule like they did the cows and horses who could not go on any longer. Joule could not go on any longer as a killer. Fox would make sure of that.

With the corkscrew still in Joule’s eye, Fox wrenched her arm down and took Joule to the floor of the cavern. Ripping the corkscrew from her eye socket, Fox brought her shovel down hard over Joule’s head, hoping for a kill, but Joule moved just in time to only have a severe headache from the impact. The girl shrieked and flailed, reaching for her dagger. She grasped it and tried to slam it into Fox’s kneecaps and calves, but the older girl smashed her shovel hard into Joule’s hand and disarmed her, breaking her fingers.

“Stop it! Stop struggling!” Fox shrieked, lifting her gas mask from her face now that the smoke had dissipated. “You deserve this! You fucking deserve this!” Fox threw herself on top of Joule, pinning her arms down with her knees. There would be no more escaping. Fox grasped her pouch of nightlock berries and fished around for the ones she needed.

“What the fuck is wrong with you!” Joule spat, jerking her head forward to try and unseat Fox. She wavered a little bit but got her balance back, using one hand to shove Joule’s head back and the other to try and get her mouth open. Joule struggled, snapping and screaming and flailing under Fox’s weight. The older girl nearly was thrown off a couple times before she had it. “Stop it!” Fox leaned down and screamed in her face. “You’re a murderer, you deserve this! I’m doing you a favour! I’m doing everyone a favour!”

Fox brought her dagger down, narrowly missing Joule’s skull from the girl moving again but leaving a long line down her cheek. The weapon, having been tipped with poison, left an extra sting and Joule, knowing she didn’t have much time left, lunged up, slicing her own dagger farther into the wound across Fox’s left hip. She cursed loudly, landing a punch to Joule’s mouth.

Now unable to fully control herself from a few missing teeth that were rattling around her mouth and inching toward her throat, Fox used her thumb and forefinger against the sides of Joule’s cheeks to force her mouth open and force the thread of nightlock berries she’d strung together earlier in the caverns into the girl’s mouth. Joule struggled and cried and tried to move, but the poison on the dagger Fox had cut her cheek with had started to cause her body to slow down and grow weak. Her fight was lessening, and Fox kept a grim line on her face as she worked. Fox used the needle and the little bit of remaining thread that were left out of Joule’s mouth to seal her lips shut, preventing the berries from being spat out.

Fox shoved her jaw upwards hard with one hand, forcing her to break the berries with her few in-tact back teeth and making the juice run down her throat. Joule shook a little, tears running down her cheeks as she tried to be brave, but soon her body stopped moving altogether. As they say, nightlock kills the victim as soon as it hits their stomach: and this was an intense version of the familiar euthanization Fox had performed only a few times.

A cannon fired, but Fox wanted to make sure it was the right one, and that Joule would not rise to murder again. Grimly, she stood, and brought the shovel’s head down hard, the blade cutting into Joule’s throat messily. It didn’t decapitate her, but left her bleeding out on the floor. Fox could see, within the wound, five messily chewed nightlock berries and some bright white thread mixed among the blood and the flesh. Fox quietly stared at her as she bled out, entranced and trapped inside her own mind. Fox waited for a while before she knew it was the right cannon, before gathering Joule’s length of rope from around her waist as well as her remaining smoke bomb before working on bandaging herself up.

[apieceinourgames]

Pre-Finale: Jeremiah vs Delilah

A cannon fired across the arena and Jeremiah shot his head up looking around. The cannon seemed to have triggered what happened next. As he walked across the green alongside his allies, the ground began to shake. The dirt beneath his feet pulled apart, opening up a huge opening. Jeremiah glanced to his left to see the same thing happening to Joule and Kineos.Soon he was free falling and surrounded by darkness. The feeling of weightlessness overcame him which was quickly cut short by the ground smacking against his feet. He bent his knees and rolled out onto the floor. “Shit!” He shouted forcing himself to stand. He looked up at the only source of light coming from the top of the hole. He quickly felt for his flashlight and switched it on. Turning around he saw only a long tunnel and no other way to go. “fuck” he mumbled before starting down the tunnel, with his flashlight in one hand and a hand axe in the other.He was forced to walk through the tunnel hunched over and occasionally crawling on his hands and knees to squeeze through tight openings. He continued on through the winding tunnels for a couple minutes. He entered a large underground opening, dirty with mud. As he looked around with his flashlight confused, he heard the sound of feet crawling through mud in the distance. A plan formulated in his hand, as he drew the golf club holding up the flashlight in his opponents face to use her newly found blindness against her. Waiting while the steps drew closer, Jeremiah felt his beat beat faster. He hoped it wasn’t Joule or Kineos. He didn’t know what he’d do if it was.

As Delilah approached the final corner she heard footsteps approaching. Footsteps were never a good sign and she gripped the hilt of her sword tightly, anticipating the fight. Walking slowly she was greeted by an intense light that after being submerged beneath the earth was blinding. Reactively, she put her hand up to protect her face from the bright light and felt something blunt sink into her stomach. “You’re going to regret that.” She growled as she doubled over. “Whats the matter Deli meat? Did that upset you?” Jeremaih teased with a condescending tone. Delilah still couldn’t see a thing but slashed forwards with her sword and felt contact.

“You little bitch.” She heard a male voice grunt from in front of her and the light pointed at her face fell to the ground. It rolled, casting its light on the tiny room and illuminating her opponent. She had forgotten his name but recognized the boy immediately as the smoker from Six. The two had never met in training and his score had been forgettable so the only thing that stuck out about him was the image of him lighting up a cigarette on stage at his reaping like the arrogant prick he was.

Delilah was still trying to catch her breath after being hit in the gut giving Jeremiah the opportunity to strike again. “Fore!” He yelled, charging forwards and swinging for her head with the golf club. She ducked it but Jeremiah’s momentum carried him forwards and he slammed his shoulder into Delilah’s midsection as they both collided with the wall. Delilah dropped to the ground, gasping for air as Jeremiah surveyed the girl below her. “So you’re the feisty little bitch everyone has been afraid of? Don’t seem like much to me.” He taunted at her.

He held the golf club precariously above Delilah’s head but she didn’t flinch. Delilah spat up at Jeremiah, landing on his face. He wiped his face with a smirk, everything he did oozed attitude and it made Delilah sick. His two hands wrapped around the golf club and prepared to swing but this time Delilah was ready. She rolled to the side and brought herself to her feet but found there was little room to escape to in the tiny chamber. By now Jeremiah had recovered and was advancing on Delilah with golf club raised. She raised her sword and the two of them met in the middle, their weapons coming together with a clash. The sword was much stronger than the golf club and sliced cleanly through the thin metal.

Jeremiah’s eyes glanced down at the broken weapon then back up the Delilah who was quickly closing the distance between the two of them. “Shit.” He muttered before swinging the broken club into Delilah’s head temporarily stunning her. She blinked at the stars collecting in her vision trying to get them to disappear and did so in time to see Jeremiah’s spear thrust into her wounded shoulder. Her scream reverberated off the walls of the small chamber and she dropped her sword to the ground with a clatter. Jeremiah twisted the spear in the wound earning another scream from Delilah. She swung a fist but the spear kept enough distance between them that she couldn’t reach.

Gathering all her strength, Delilah waited for Jeremiah to pull the spear from her body. He did just that, wrenching the spear out of her shoulder and preparing to skewer her through the chest when she pounced. Without a weapon in hand Delilah’s fist connected with his jaw nearly knocking the boy to the ground. He steadied himself as Delilah clawed at his face. Four bloody red lines appeared as Delilah dragged her nails down the right side of his face and catching his eye. Jeremiah let out a guttural noise and swung the shaft of the spear into Delilah’s legs sending her sprawling to the floor.

Catching the fall with her hands, Delilah had no time to breath as she rolled to avoid getting pierced in the back with a spear. Drawing one of her knives she slashed his achilles tendon and pulled on his leg hard bringing him down to her level. The impact jarred the spear from his grip and before he could recover it Delilah had kicked it away. “Not so cocky when we’re up close and personal are you?” Delilah purred, digging her blade into Jeremiah’s thigh. She slithered on top of him, dragging her blade along his skin while his hands searched frantically for another of his weapons. Seeing what he was doing Delilah jabbed the blade with all her strength into his hand pinning it into the dirt.

Jeremiah let out another scream of pain and thrashed underneath Delilah which got him nowhere. “Time to say goodnight Jeremiah.” She cooed, preparing to bring her hammer down onto his skull.

“Not today bitch.” He spat as he headbutt her in the face. Delilah reeled back and Jeremiah took the knife from his hand, flipping the pair over so he was on top and holding her blade. Her hammer arm was pinned by Jeremiah’s knee and she couldn’t reach the pocket with her other blade in it. “Time to see if your blood matches your hair.” Jeremiah pushed the blade into the hollow of Delilah’s throat and she gasped as a single ruby-red pearl of blood sprang forth. Her hand closed around the loose dirt and as a last ditch effort she threw it into Jeremiah’s eyes.

She grabbed a hold of him and the two tumbled across the ground fighting for dominance.They came to a stop close to where Jeremiah had dropped the flashlight and without hesitation Delilah grabbed it and smashed the butt end into Jeremiah’s head. The sudden loss of light was startling and gave Delilah the advantage to climb onto Jeremiah, her hands ghosting along his chest until they found his throat. His hands caught hers just as they were about to squeeze and kept her from digging in enough to choke him. All the tumbling had displaced items from their pockets and as her eyes adjusted to the half darkness Delilah spied Jeremiah’s lighter and a smoke bomb. Abandoning her plans to choke him she scooped them up and punched Jeremiah in the chest forcing him to open his mouth. She lit the smoke bomb and shoved it into his open mouth, clamping a hand on it to keep him from spitting it out.

It took all of Delilah’s strength to keep him from thrashing about and unseating her. Jeremiah’s eyes bugged out of his head and smoke began to billow from his nose. Delilah plugged that too, giving the smoke nowhere to go except into his already weak smokers lungs. He tried to scream through the smoke bomb which only quickened his asphyxiation and soon enough his eyes rolled into the back of his skull. Delilah stood up and brushed herself off, picking up his remaining smoke bomb and leaving the rest of his weapons to be taken away with Jeremiah’s body. A fitting end for the smoker to be killed by smoke.