[location.] inside of cave, at the mouth. we set up a neat little fish-line trap to alert us if anyone comes.
[food.] pelican. very nutritious.
[weapons.] pistol crossbow (2 bolts), sling shot. noor is like a miniature suitcase she wants to carry everything else.
[items.] purple present. ½ meal. fishing kit (10 ft. fishing line, 2 hooks, can of bait). n’ a backpack.
[events.] helped kill a bird. essa stole from us. cleaned our wounds, took stock, and pushed everything we didn’t take with us int’a the water and let it sink. moved to the cave system we had entered yesterday to set up camp, and will move ‘round tomorrow. (everything noor said basically).
[injuries.] got some bad cuts on my ankle and wrist, but those are bandaged and stitched up. a bit of a terrible headache.
Kindle put the book down, opening his backpack and examining the tea leaves.
Green leaves increase healing…
Unfortunately he had no boiling water, and his water bottles were precious. He read that boiling water was what released the antioxidants the best, but it didn’t say anything about that being the only way.
He picked up a couple of the green tea leaves, put them in his mouth, and chewed. The taste was bitter and it made him shudder, but he could already feel his throbbing headache relieve a little bit. He sighed in the small comfort.
He took the last couple of green leaves and sort of crushed them in his hand, pouring them into one of his water bottles and shaking it up. It would make his water taste weird, but it would also help him get better and that’s what mattered.
He took the blue leaves next, examining them and wondering how something so simple could cause blisters on contact when they were in a tea. He opened his last water bottle and crushed the blue leaves, pouring them into it and watching the water tinge light blue. It would take a little longer for the water to be darker, but maybe he could use it as a weapon?
Next, Kindle grabbed 3 of the quills next to the parchment, breaking the feathers off as clean as he could. He carved the points sharper with his hatchet, and stashed them in his pocket for later.
Who knew a library could be so beneficial?
He sat back down, eating half of a peach and half of one of his baked goods, and taking a few swigs of his green tea water. The taste was a little weird, but the teas were still brewing. His blue water had already turned a few shades darker, but he knew they would need a little more time.
It was then he heard the door to the library open behind him.
“Well,” A voice Kindle matched to Scylla said. “Look what the fuck we have here.”
Kindle closed his eyes. He knew it was inevitable to hide from the tributes for too long.
Let’s hope I make you proud, Ember. He thought to himself.
Kindle looked down at the ground and blinked a couple times. Most people would have been freaking out, but at that point in the arena, Kindle was expecting anything really...
He looked out across the skyline of the arena. Killing and competition aside, it was kind of pretty. He looked back down and really saw how high up he was, sighing at the realization.
He could jump, but the likeliness of him surviving was really small. Even if he did, something was bound to break. His best bet was to crash the damn hut somewhere, and hope he didn’t get hurt too bad. That was when he remembered the animal feed he was ‘prized’ with. It was firm, but it would probably help with cushioning the crash.
He turned back to the dispenser, hatchet in hand. He could ‘win’ the game over and over again, or he could just be impatient. Kindle brought his hatchet down on the dispenser, large bags of feed popping out as quickly as they could. His arm ached, but he still picked up bag after back and made sort of a large bed with them. When he was finished he made his way back to the open door of the hut, taking a deep breath and climbing out and up to the roof.
Heights never really bothered Kindle, but slipping and falling to his death wasn’t exactly how he saw himself going out of this arena. He made it to the top of the roof and held onto the strings that attached the hut to the balloon. It was giant and red, an obvious foreign object in the sky. He wondered how long it took the other tributes to see his stupidity. Kindle just had to pick the hut.
He looked around to see where his best bet would be to crash the balloon. He didn’t get to spend a lot of time in the manor, following around the lovebirds didn’t warrant him a lot of exploration. It was probably a deadly idea to crash into the side of the manor, so he opted to crash next to it.
Taking his hatchet, he slashed a decent sized hole into the balloon, maneuvering it right to blow him toward the manor.
Kindle rushed back down off the room, winging back into the hut and diving into his bed of animal feed. He covered his body in a few of the bags for good measure and curled into a fetal position. Hopefully he made it out of this generally unscathed, but that wasn’t how the games worked.
It wasn’t the breeze or the sunrise that woke Izara, instead the high pitched screams of newly born demon birds. Though the effects of the mushrooms had worn off, it didn’t decrease the annoyance that burned through the victor. If only she had smashed more of the eggs while she was busy fighting off these baby’s parents.
Either way, she dumped out the contents of her backpack as the demon babies grew closer and picked up the crowbar that was coated in the blood of their dead parents. How charming.
The newly orphaned birds hopped on over, their beaks at the ready, and attacked the woman. Using her crowbar as if it were a baseball bat, she swung at the newly hatched chicks. A few of them went flying and their little spines cracked against the hard side of the dovecote before tumbling to the ground. However, they seemed to multiply with each swing of the crowbar and soon Izara’s arms grew tired from the sheer force with which she was having to fight off the demons.
They were so low to the ground it was nearly impossible to hit them without injuring herself, so she ended up with a few spots on her ankles that would definitely turn purple. The incessant chirping and screaming of the birds was beginning to die out as Izara’s ankles were turned into a battleground. Thankful these sons of bitches were the size of a fucking dime, they could only do so much damage.
What seemed like hours, but was probably only minutes, later Izara was free of most of the demon birds and decided to gather up a few of the carcasses and move on.
Quickly, she made her way to the other cylindrical building with her backpack full of weapons and chicken bodies.
Jasper couldn’t express how furious he was to see Kindle drop perfectly good books down the tower and into a the trunk of a poorly-made Capitol creature from the Pleistocene epoch. The royal treasured knowledge, and wouldn’t let go of valuable information so easily. Such a crime was as severe as scribbling on a dictionary or thesaurus. Someone had to be punished.
After climbing down the ladder and heading after the wholly mammoth, Jasper turned around to see Kindle heading a different direction. He worried about him not coming back, but perhaps it was for the best. Sooner or later they had to split up. A trio attracted more attention than a duo, and their alliance was the biggest one in the entire Game.
I sit outside of my home, watching as the sun rises above the arena. The sky is darker than papa’s own eyes, but it quickly lightens up with a soft, hazy glow. The sky fades into a variety of hues, and I wonder if papa and mama are watching the sunrise on the porch at home with mugs of tea in their hands, like they always do. But I realize that they mustn’t be doing such a thing, considering my predicament. I sigh, wondering if this is actually the same sky that’s back home.
I almost think that the orange blob is a cloud through which a fiery light from the sun is filtering, but I sense the heat that it throws off, and I instinctively step to the side, following the movement of this odd glob as it soars through the air, and finally lands on the ground, immediately incinerating the tall grasses.
There was lava in Lakota’s arena as well. It spurted from the volcano each and every day, I remember. Retracing the path of the lava, I keep my eyes peeled for any movement. I watch the grass sway violently, and suddenly I remember the centipedes that spewed hot magma at me before I dove into the river, as if they were little volcanoes.
They can’t be natural creatures. If they were, then they would have a drastic effect on the environment. Well, burning things does enrich the soil, but it does take quite a while for new life to take root and flourish again. I think that papa called it slash and burn farming, but I’m not sure if he ever used it. Maybe our ancestors did.
I can only imagine what would happen to all of these biomes if this centipede was able to roam freely. I’m sure they would all go up in flames soon enough, and hundreds of species would be affected. I always wonder if, after the games, the gamemakers do away with the force field so that the animals within can roam freely, no longer at the whim of humans. That would be nice, I think.
Now that my hearing has returned, I realize all that I was missing. The rushing water, the soft wind, the brushing of the grasses. But I hear something else, as well. Something swiftly crawling through the grass. Pinpointing where the noise is coming from, I turn my gaze to it, spotting a large insect slink through the clearing that it just created by spitting lava.
A few drops of lava fly from its mouth, landing on my side. I take a deep breath as the lava burns my flesh, turning to the west as I begin to run, spotting a river close by. Reaching the bank, I turn to face the mutt, splashing water towards it as it opens its mouth to launch a spurt of lava at me as I bring the sickle down on it.
This creature did not belong in nature, it only would’ve destroyed the wealth that the earth offers. And I did not wish to die. It is simply to forgive myself for this feat, but I wonder how I will be able to do so for taking other lives.
I turn back to the east, entering the hut to inspect it more thoroughly.
I wake to actual sunlight and survey the area around me. The waters around me are calm, eerily undisturbed. The abundance of shattered wood gone from the murky water. So i take this opportunity to organize my items. First I stuff the three parachutes i now posses into Ronan’s pack. I return my throwing knives in with of my pockets and the third in my boot. I slip the handles of the hatchet and the axe into belt loops on either side of my waist, and my swiss army knife find a home in the pocket on the side of my pack.
I stand and retrieve my naginata and begin my slow, light stepped, journey down the path. But as I move lightly, i notice the water around me begin to ripple. Small waves glide underneath me one after the other. I stop instantly in my tracks and peer around. I glance behind me and see what it is. Six giant bug mutts skate acroos the water. Pinchers snapping and dripping with salivation. Side to side they gain speed as the head directly towards me.
“Are you fucking kidding me?!! Y'all best leave my fucking eyeball on or I swear to FUCK!” I scream as I instantly turn on my heels and begin running. I leap on my toes, landing lightly to keep the bridge around me up. It leans fro side to side around me, and as I run, one of the mutts glides up right next to me. I leans close over the railing in the water and snaps its giant pincers at me. I feel the saliva shoot from it and spatter across my arm. “Fuck away from me!” I scream as I swing my naginata out aggressively. The blade tearing mercilessly through 4 of its many legs. It wavers to the side. Its balance completely thrown off. Its body smacks into the water sideways and it quickly sinks into the water as it momentum and source of balance escape it instantly.
As the one sinks, two more appear on either side of me, and a third slides under the dock beneath my feet. I feel it bashing its back upwards into the weak wood and its fracture the wood around me. I jump from side to side trying to avoid the eruptions of wood underneath me. I stay downwards as I do so, as i run. Over and over again my blade disappears under the dock, and soon I heard the seal of an ungodly creature. I slow my pace and swing to the side at another of the creatures, the naginata gliding between its pincers and slashing of half of its green skull.
But I still have three to handle. I attempt to swing my naginata at the other one to my left, but its pincers wrap around my weapon, I try to yank it from its grasp but then i feel water on my foot. The heel of my foot slamming into the dock to hard and my right leg crashes through the wooden surface. Scraping all around my leg and trapping my like a vice around my thigh. I feel the splintered wood digging into my flesh as I struggle against the force of the mutt. It still holds my weapon tightly, and I glance to my right down the dock to see one of them hopping over the railing and using its long skinny legs to quickly advance on me.
“What the fuck is this! WHAT THE FUCK! Stop fucking my my schedule.” I grit my teeth in intense anger and yank the naginata from the beast, aggressively. It tries not to give up too hard and one half of its pincers breaks off from its face. Its blood splatters all over my face and I smash a piece of railing out with my fist and smack the creature in the face until its bone stricture crumples and its long legs cease their scratching at my body.
But just as that one dies, the one advancing at me on the dock smalls its hard body into my chest. I cough out in pain in surprise and pain. My lungs still ache from trauma and water damage. Every deep breath causes sharp pains in my chest.But still, I feel enraged. I let my naginata fall to the dock behind me and brace myself for the beasts next assault, and just as it slams its body into my shoulder, i latch onto each of its pincers. Its strains to shut them on me, which would effectively sever my fingers from my body, but I pull them. I pull them open with all my strength light snapping sounds begin, followed by fractures of the joint structure. It lets out unholy sounds of pain and terror. Sounds that would never occur in any natural being. Soon its pincers crack and rip each half of its head away from the other. Its giant stick legs feel into the cloudy water.
But as I pull my leg from the hole its lodged in, the final beast reveals itself. It clamps down on the bright yellow hood of my jacket and yanks at my body. It pulls me down the dock and steps over me. Its head thrusts downward at mine, trying to catch my temples betweens it teeth, but as I dodge its attack, I drive the sharp pincer of its friend into its soft underbelly. blood pours down and coats my entire arm as it screams out, sounding like glass clogging its throat as it dies on top of me.
I push the bitch off of me and toss it into the water. “Seriously? You can't just leave me the fuck alone!?” I scream into the air, knowing that my face will appear on every screen at this current moment. Again, I grab the rest of my shit and continue down the dock. Concealing all my weapons and tying my nagainata to my waist with Ronan’s rope.
