Ever since my alliance members left, I felt my attitude change dramatically. I put so much trust into people that just left me behind. Did they feel so strongly about Leo and I dragging them down that they had to abandon us? There was another possibility that someone killed them while my half brother and I were asleep, but with the Maze's walls causing so many echoes, we should have been able to know much sooner. No matter what their reasons were, I didn't care. We were supposed to stick together 'till the end and they all broke every one of their promises.
Ruby and Zale must have been closer than I thought. I was taken aback when he volunteered to go with her to look around the Maze yesterday. From what I got from most of our conversations about the alliance, Zale didn't know Ruby very well. I had to question if they were keeping any other secrets. Had something happen between them during their time together? I had to admit I was a bit jealous, especially since I really liked Zale, but I figured by then that the feeling wasn't mutual. I just wished I realized sooner so I didn't have to put in so much time and effort in getting even the slightest amount of attention from him. Maybe that's why I felt my heart beat a certain way for Nick. When we hugged, it wasn't just comfort that I wanted to provide, but care as well. His sanity might not be in the best condition, but he returned the compassion I gave him. Something Zale just couldn't give me.
I was mostly hurt that Nick left us. In one night, I managed to grow so close to him, compared to how much time I needed to gain Zale's trust and feelings which I didn't even know if I had due to what just happened. Nick was handsome and practically anyone could be smitten with his looks. I felt it in my responsibility to give him not only physical but mental comfort when no one else could. If only there were more chances for the two of us to create something bigger. I honestly wouldn't mind staying with him throughout the entire duration of the Games. Our last moments together would be painful but memorable, especially since we both would know that only one one of us will come out as a Victor.
Blood was thicker than water. That was all I can say when I was left with no one else besides Leo. Our bond as siblings, even only as half, was strong and kept us together this whole time. We were practically the only pair from the same District that got along besides the two girls from Seven. From the very start, he was the only one I was really close to, trusted, and felt safe with. If I had a choice to pick who to take in the Finale, it would be him. Thank the Gods and the Game Makers that we had each other.
Ambition was the dominant emotion inside me that toppled over all the others. I wanted my half-brother with me 'till the end, and I planned on taking down whoever stood in our way, even those we allied ourselves with in the beginning. We were pretty much the most powerful in the group, and I had no doubt that we could take them down if ever we needed too. My Career instincts started to kick in, and I all of a sudden craved blood in my hands or at least the knowledge that more people were declared as Fallen.
I followed Leo around, staying behind mostly because the heat was getting the best of me. So much for being the daughter of Hephaestus. I wasn't very temperature resistant. The burn injury from the Obstacle Course' Lava Wall was still in my arm. Leo on the other hand seemed completely fine, and it made me wonder if his powers had to do something about it. I still wasn't completely aware of what he could do. But he doesn't know about all of mine either.
Watching my half-brother do everything he can just to stay hydrated made me cringe a little. It was selfish of me to finish an entire bottle of water without sharing, but I knew from past Games that I had to put myself ahead of everyone. I finished the other half of the sandwich I gave to Zale and split another one to give to Leo. Benefit of being small, I didn't get hungry as much. We drank from the vines, having a bit more difficulty without Zale, but were quenched from our thirst nonetheless.
Animals or anything we could cook sounded good right about now. Leo and I went another day without much food, and fasting isn't going to help us if ever we ran into anyone. Our exhaustion finally got us to stop and we stopped at a dead end to rest. I sat right next to Leo, leaning against the wall. "I'm glad we're together..." I began. "If that big alliance didn't pop up in my mind, I would have been fine with just the two of us," I confessed. Leo and I would have performed well in the Arena, even without the Career Pack. I held onto his hand and entwined my fingers with his. I haven't done so for a long time, and I really missed his touch. We shared this superb heat that I didn't notice before, almost like we were powering one another.
"Speaking of that big alliance... I have to be honest and say that I used them as shock absorbers," I confessed. "I plan to stand behind them this whole time, let them attract all the attention and keep it away from us. In the end, I just wanted them to do all the work and take us to the end," I explained. Our well being was more important to me than my moral conduct. Most would probably admit that my strategy was brilliant. Let the strong fight for you and risk dying while you're in the back under their protection. It got Leo and I this far, with more than half of the competition gone.
The Fallen faces in the night sky assured me that my alliance members who abandoned us were still in fact alive. "I bet we'll run into Ruby, Nick and Zale soon..." I trailed, a yawn escaping my lips. "We can take 'em..." My eyes grew heavy and I fell asleep. I had changed after Day 1. I no longer am that bubbly and impulsive girl people thought I was, but instead someone who heavily thinks before acting and less trusting towards other people. My true Career instincts finally surfaced and I almost craved to kill someone just to get Leo and I in the end.
Although it wasn’t that late yet, the high walls caused the sun to disappear rather quickly. The shadow was a blessing after the heat of mid-day. I wondered whether that might exactly be why Gaby was seemingly lagging behind. I was after all pretty resistant to temperatures, so the heat must have been stifling to her. It would get dark soon enough, and then the temperature would probably drop. I hoped it wouldn’t get freezing, but more for Gaby’s sake than my own. “What do you think about finding a suitable place to camp?” I asked. Although we had walked quite far, it was not as far as yesterday. We had used a lot of time trying to double back, something that now appeared to be wasted energy. There was no going back, and we had reached a part of the maze that was completely unfamiliar. I didn’t want to cut up my fists like Nick, so I just hoped to memorize as much of the maze as possible.
Trudging on for half an hour I found a suitable dead end and decided that it was a decent spot and easily defended. I cut down some vines and peeled off the outer layer. Had it not been for the easily accessible vines we would have been a lot worse off… I threw some to Gaby with a smile, while I pulled the vine pack off my back to sit on it. We chewed in silence, none of us sure of what to say. I considered saying that this went better than expected, but I had learned from my mistakes. I would never take a single thing for granted.
Dusk fell and everything went silent. There was something eerie of how the maze seemed to swallow all the sounds. I had volunteered to take the first guard shift, and was currently scraping in the ground with the tip of my sword. There was no way that I would be able to sleep right now, so I might as well let Gaby get the sleep she dearly needed. With a sigh I forced myself to stop cutting the ground. I just knew too well how it would blunt the razor-sharp edges of the sword. A breeze was swirling through the corridor, and I closed my eyes as it ruffled my dirty hair.
Half an hour later I had decided that there was no imminent danger, and that I could safely take a walk. Nature was calling. Glancing back at Gabriella that still slept like an angel I turned the corner into another corridor. It was still light enough for me to see where I was going, but I hurried so that I would be back when the anthem started playing. Why did it have to be a maze of all things? I was a guy, but was a bush honestly too much to ask for? As I was about to unzip my shorts something extraordinary caught my eye.
On the wall in front of me was the letter C printed in big red letters. Curiosity got the better of me, and I decided to take a closer look.
Tired of roaming the maze I sat down to catch my breath. I wiped my forehead with my already soaked t-shirt in an attempt to wipe off some of the sweat. It was like being slowly boiled alive, and we had no protection against the blazing sun. Looking at my shirt I could not help but chuckle darkly. Camp-fucking-half-blood. The Game Makers must have had a field day while making them.
I still wasn’t too sure of exactly what had happened. When I woke up we had been separated from the rest of the pack. That much was obvious. But where were they? I had risked yelling, so that they would definitely hear me, but there had been no answer. Had they been relocated during the night? Or more importantly, had we been relocated during the night? If so, I had absolutely no idea of where we were. I shook my head in an attempt to clear it of the pessimistic thoughts. I just had to assume we were still southwest of the cornucopia and hope that I wasn’t too far off.
We had already tried to double back, but it seemed like the Game Makers were determined on keeping us separated. Every time we tried to go east, the passage led to a dead end. That only left us with the option of going westward. Now being separated from the Career Pack we had to figure out what to do. We could try to reunite, but at the same time I wasn’t too happy that they had left in the first place. You don’t know if they left voluntarily, the rational side in my head argued, but I stifled it. It was easier to let irritation fill my whole body from my toes to my head. It gave me some extra energy to fight my way through the endless corridors. The air was after all so moist that we might as well be swimming.
I had no idea whether I could trust any of them if we ran into them. They might jump the chance to kill us if they even saw us, but I could not help but hope otherwise. I still felt some sort of loyalty to our pack, but I had to remind myself that not everyone was as loyal as me. I slowly chewed on the vine that tasted like nothing at all. Gaby had almost caught up with me now. It would be cruel to walk on without letting her have a breather, so I decided to remain seated in the little shadow the wall provided.
And there was the whole Ayla matter. Frustrated I let out a groan and supported my head in my hands. Every cell in my body screamed at me to find her, and the logical voice in my head was wondering exactly why that was. I had no answer. The only thing I could think of was that we needed to strengthen our alliance, and Ayla would be the only tribute that wouldn’t jump on us as fast as we showed our face. At least that was what I was hoping, I could pay with my life if I was wrong.
One Thing On Top of the Other || Arena Day 2 || Solo Para
After napping for several hours from my encounter with the empousai, I awoke some time in the mid to late afternoon. The cuts and scratches I'd obtained still hurt, but when I unwrapped the bandages I was happy to see they'd stopped bleeding for the time being. I would just need to avoid too much physical output and they'd be healed in no time. Of course, this was the Hunger Games, and that was very unlikely.
Obeying my rumbling stomach, I ate a few more handfuls of carrots from my pack, then set off on my way, afraid that another mythical beast would sneak up on me this time around while I was stuck in a dead end. Before anything, though, I did the same as yesterday, hiding my belongings, then transforming into my familiar crow form and flying up to the top with my pad of paper and crayon. The maze would shift every night most likely, so I would have to repeat my ritual every day. Trying to take notice of the sun position and where I'd walked today, I mapped out north, south, east, west, as best as I could in my immediate surroundings, then flew back down.
I would head south. This would be safest, I decided, because as tributes moved they would most likely venture towards the middle to get these Games over with.
As I travelled, though, I came upon an etch on the wall. A large letter D faced me as I stopped for a second before continuing on.
I hadn't had time to react when the girl pushed me through the door. This was the last place I wanted to be; I had been about to turn to run away when she grabbed my arm with a vice-like grip and pulled me through. And now I could be dead.
The room wasn't altogether that dark, but approaching me were three tall women who walked with a slight limp but had bright flaming red hair. And then I remembered my studies, kicking myself internally for not seeing what exactly that girl was.
Empousa.
For a few seconds I had to wonder why they had targeted me specifically; empousas were known to hunt down men and suck their blood. Travelers, too, were fair game, which I supposed they must have counted me as. I was safer than if I were a man, but that didn't mean much. They were most likely programmed by the Capitol, anyway, so gender didn't exactly matter here.
I took a deep breath as I reached into my pack to crank the generator once more. The empousas were walking towards me now, and I had to make a move, so I took the knife back out of my pocket, cranking rapidly with my other hand.
As the first one lashed out, I depended on my training and aimed with the knife. Hoping to Athena that it really was her precision and war tactics I inherited instead of having just had loads of luck that day, I flicked the knife towards the creature. I held my breath as it sailed through the air, then a scream pierced the room. The empousa now lay on the ground, jerking violently with electricity from the knife embedded into her cranium. I pulled on one of my leather gloves, quickly remembering my token, and pulled the wire and dagger back towards me, avoiding electrocution.
Two left.
I backed up a bit, shoving the glove back into my backpack. Before I could think of another strategy, a second empousa lashed out, attacking me and screaming at me for killing her sister. I screamed back as she embedded her teeth into my arm. I tore my arm away, wincing from the pain, but the adrenaline was beginning to pump and I found myself able to shove that to the back of my mind. I tore at her with my dagger and dug the blade deep into her shoulder, deep enough for her to die of blood loss eventually, but I knew she would continue fighting. Plus there was her infuriated sister to worry about, but she was in the back, letting the ferocious first one do the job for now.
The struggle continued, the empousa scratching and biting at me and me retaliating with my dagger, stabbing her in as many places as I could while she attacked me anywhere she could hit me. Luckily with my shield I could fend off most of her advances, but she managed to tear one particularly painful scratch into my thigh before my dagger reached her neck. I finally had her pinned down under my shield, my foot digging into the shoulder wound I'd given her as I plunged the knife into her neck. And before I could watch her drown in her own blood, something heavy flew towards me and tackled me to the ground.
It was the third empousa, who was evidently regretting staying back while her sisters tried to take care of me.
"Stop!" I screamed as she tore at my clothes and bit me wherever she could find. I wasn't strong enough to push her off of my body; the shield was the only thing between us. "Get off me!"
But she wasn't listening, she simply continued clawing at me, biting where she could, yelling at me in disgust. It was getting infuriating, in fact. my vision was beginning to get clouded and my head was starting to pound. If I couldn't get out from under her, I would definitely die. I took a deep breath.
A roar escaped my throat as I bit at the empousa. Fear overtook her red eyes as she took in what I had transformed into and she quickly backed off of me. I snarled, a growl escaping my feline lips and I stared her down while I stood up, the shield and backpack falling off of my haunches. Trembling with anger and adrenaline, I took a few slow steps forward before I struck, running towards her and pouncing.
I tore at the creature with my claws and teeth, tearing limbs and skin and hair off of her before finally ripping her head clean off. I then walked around to the other dead empousas, taking their heads off as well for good measure. You could never tell with these odd Capitol mutts.
I shook out my honey colored fur before taking another deep breath and collapsing onto ground, taking my human form once again. That's when the gashes began to sting. I bit my lip as I picked up all of my belongings and ran back towards the door, taking several blind turns through the maze before finding another dead end. As I fell to the ground again, I sorted through my backpack and took out three bandages, binding up the worst wounds I'd obtained: the bite in my arm, the deep scratch in my leg, and a shallow gash on my hairline that was now beginning to bleed profusely.
Sitting back, I took a sip of juice and decided to rest for a while. I would need to find somewhere deeper in the maze to stay the night, but that task could wait until later. For now, rest.
The last thing on my mind before I drifted asleep was the faces that had lit up the sky. Resting on my newly made mat, slash backpack, I had stared at the stars, feeling almost giddy with relief. Not only had it felt like a heavy burden had been lifted off my shoulders when I found out Ayla was still alive, but the one person to die after the bloodbath was Arlene of all people. She had been a huge threat, but I could not help but wonder what could have killed her in this maze. Whatever it was, I had no intention of running into it.
Although the mat I had plaited was nowhere as comfortable as my bed, I was so exhausted that I did not notice the ground digging into my shoulder, and the aching of my bruised rib. Gabriella was sleeping close by, and for a moment I felt bad for not sharing my mat or body heat. She was bound to get cold, but I was balancing on the brink of conscious and unconsciousness, so the commands to move my limbs just didn’t create any result. As my eyelids dropped I smiled drowsily. I had survived my first day in the arena, and so had Ayla. We might have a chance to find each other,
I woke up as everything seemed to lighten up. I was feeling groggy, my shoulder and side aching, and I could barely open my eyelids. I let out a groan and rolled over on my other side, something that caused me to bang my forehead into the cold stone wall. Purely by instinct I jumped to my feet, drew the sword and backed away until my back was pressed against another wall. My pulse was throbbing in my ears as I let my gaze swipe the surroundings in front of me in search of danger. When I found none I let myself relax and step closer to the wall that definitely wasn’t there when I fell asleep.
My hands trailed over the smooth surface of the wall. There was no evidence of it being placed there over the night; it looked like it had stood there for centuries. In vain I pushed against it, but I knew that there was no use. I was separated from the pack and all by myself. Lovely. That was when I noticed Gaby, still sleeping, further down the corridor. Thank god I wasn’t alone.
“Gaby! You have to wake up!” I poked her shoulder “We’re separated from the rest of the pack!”. We had to get a move on, and figure out how to get back to the pack. This is your chance to go and find Ayla, idiot, a small voice inside my head argued. My resolve was swayed by it.
And the Walls Kept Tumbling Down | | Anatolia + Mallory | | Arena: Day Two
A tranquil sleep is what Hypnos gifts me throughout the night. I dream only of successful battles, triumphant conquests, and deserved survival. But, my dreams do fade away once the tendrils of reality pull me forth from my illusions of freedom and forests.
Whereas my dreams were only calm and serene, the scene I awaken to is nothing of the sort. Beams of support have been strewn about the room, the table holding the feast has been destroyed by debris, and the walls have inched closer and closer to the point where they soon will begin to destroy the beds on which Mallory and I lay.
As if it is a battle against a monster, I instantly leap up. "Mallory, awaken!" I command in a clamorous, sure voice.
I channel the ninja spirit so as to allow me to stealthily avoid pieces of the roof as the cabin threatens to collapse. I seize a chair, and, channeling the gladiator also, smash it so as to give myself a number of wooden beams. Working swiftly, I place them horizontally between the two walls to ensure that we will have a bit of time to escape before these walls suffocate us.
I woke up and stretched my tight muscles, feeling confused for a few seconds before being hit with the memory of where I was. The arena. That's right. I sighed and collected my wire, the pocket generator having run out of electricity not too long ago, and packed everything back up. Time for another day. I glanced at the map I'd drawn the day before, then looked back up at the maze. This didn't look familiar. Not at all. My heart sunk as I realized the maze must have moved over night. What a nightmare. I ripped the paper on which I had drawn the maze, crumpled it up, and dropped it on the ground before picking myself up to get going for the day.
Before I could get going, though, my vision focused on a woman blocking my path out of the dead end. And unless I was hearing wrong, she was telling me to go with her, to follow her towards victory.
I wasn't stupid. Far from it, I told myself. But there was no way to get out of this dead end without facing the woman. And I couldn't fly out without leaving behind my shield, which could turn out to be my most valuable asset. I drew out one of my daggers and gripped my shield tight, approaching her cautiously.
