When i was a teenager, the opportunity of a lifetime was stolen from me. Now, i have a chance to redeem myself. I won't let it slip from my fingers. I am the victor of the 25th Hunger Games: Klaus Traugott.
Slowly, I made my way down the rest of the stairs, every once in a while checking to make sure that the wooly mammoth wouldnât come stomping back, this time ready to kill me. As I set foot on the ground, I was tempted to kiss it. Never in my life had I been so happy to be on the ground again.
Gathering myself and my items, I decided to walk north.
As you walk north, a pelican flutters above you before diving down and knocking into your belongings. Â Several go sprawling, but the bird scoops up a switchblade and takes off into the sky. Â
Around you is tall climbable trees, the occasional prarie dog that pops out of the ground, and the sound of a struggling voice in the distance. Â
My arms fall to my side as I watch the pelican flies away, my newly acquired switchblade in its giant mouth. I was just... how did this happen? I canât stop thinking about how random and how pesky of an event that was as I pick up my fallen supplies.
Once I stand up, I notice what sounds like struggling. Turning to face the sound of the struggling, I arm myself and start to head toward the source. Using what I learned in tracking and stealth, I hide behind the trees and move silently, not wanting to alert whatever is making the noise, tribute or not, of my presence.
Slowly, I made my way down the rest of the stairs, every once in a while checking to make sure that the wooly mammoth wouldnât come stomping back, this time ready to kill me. As I set foot on the ground, I was tempted to kiss it. Never in my life had I been so happy to be on the ground again.
Gathering myself and my items, I decided to walk north.
When the first thump happened, I didnât quite stir. I thought it was apart of my dream, that damned thumping. When it happened again, my eyes opened immediately and I bolted straight up, looking left and right for the source of the thumping. Quickly, I gathered my belongings and started down the zip-line tower, not wanting to stick around to see what the source of the--
Oh.
I froze in place as I glanced to the side. I had almost made it down to the ground, but I stopped when I saw something out of the corner of my eye. When I had fully processed what I was seeing, my mouth dropped a little bit, the shock almost overwhelming me instantly.
There, walking towards the zip line tower, was a great, big, wooly mammoth. It stood about ten or so feet tall, but that wasnât the, uh... strange part. Itâs fur (hair?) was a bright red and curled at the ends. On its face was a pair of large, pink, bedazzled cats eye glasses. Atop its head, a piece of its hair stood straight up and, wrapped around it, and also the trunks, was three large, red bows. This... creature.... this, ethereal being, I should say, was headed straight towards me.
âShit. Shit. Shit.â I spat out as I tried to make my way further down the stairs, yet still keeping my gaze locked with the beast. As I moved again, however, the mammoth started to run at the tower. The thumping got louder and louder and, eventually, I had to stop where I was to keep from falling. The entire tower seemed to shake with each step the beast took. Truly, it was horrible.
Finally, it had arrived.Â
It stood, like I said, ten feet tall, watching me with its beady black eyes. As I looked at it, I swore I could actually see eye lashes on the beast-- no, no, now is not the time to think about such things. I have a threat to deal. God, help me.
âUh...â
Suddenly, the mammoth took its trunk and slammed it into the tower, shaking the entire thing. I grasped on to one of the beams that made up the tower, holding on for dear life. At one point, I thought the entire tower was going to collapse and I would die... killed by a woolly mammoth.
As I was internally praying and simoltaneously looking for a way out, I noticed that one of my books fell out of my bag. Just then, the shaking stopped and everything got deathly quiet. I looked up, staring at the mammoth who was staring directly at the book that was on the ground. Looking from mammoth to book over and over again, an idea crossed my mind. The glasses, the book, could it...Â
âHey!â I called out, picking up the book and holding it over the rail to the mammoth. âIs this what you want? You can have it!â The mammoth inched its way closer, its trunk extended. As the trunk got closer, my heart started to beat faster and faster. If I was wrong, then I was a goner.
When the mammoth gave a little toot and wrapped its trunk around the book, letting out a little sigh of relief, I almost shit my pants right then and there.
âHa-haHA!â I let out, amazed that that fucking idea had worked. Quickly, I scrambled to my backpack and yanked out the other two books, holding them out to the mammoth.Â
âTake these, too!â Just like I thought, the mammoth grabbed the books and added them to its little collection. When it leaned in this time, I caught a glimpse of a little, well, big, necklace dangling from its neck. There, on a golden plaque, was the name âMrs. Mammyâ with a little heart after it.Â
Just... oh my god.
She stood there for a few more seconds, still staring at me. For a second, I panicked. Had I not done everything? Had I not given her the books. Then, a thought crossed my mind. I knew where there were other books...
âHey! Uh, you know... there are a few tributes who went that way...â I said, pointing to the direction that Jasper and co. had ventured to via the zip line. âThey have some of your books, too.âÂ
With a toot, she turned around instantly, sharing with me a view of her giant posterior, and then went about her way. I watched as she left, probably headed straight towards the alliance of three that I had met earlier. With a great, big, heavy sigh, I collapsed against the stairs, my hand on my chest.
events - After killing farro and fabienne with my bare hands and then collecting a lantern, I escaped the bloodbath free of injury. Later, I explored a bit of the arena doing things such as: observing the change in the arena, killing a boa and taking a whip from the corpse it had just eaten, and fighting off a horde of mantid. I got a bit injured, but it wasnât anything too severe. A few hours later, I found a zip line tower and zipped my way over to the other side where some real confusing shit happened... but whatever. That was pretty much it for today.
weapons - hunting knife, switchblade, whip
items - walkie talkies, three books, contents of pack E (box of twelve matches, spile, remote control car, leather gloves, fondue and bread cubes, one litre of grapefruit juice, roll of antiseptic bandages), silver parachute [full meal, fishing kit, and first aid kit (two rolls of bandages, one tablet of morphling, antiseptic cream)], four spikes from mantids
location - zip line tower on the west side of the river
injuries - slash on arm (healing/healed), frostbite slash on arm and on leg (healing/healed and defrosted)
consumed - most of full meal, water that came with it
As I watched the trio leave, I couldnât help but cock my head to the side in utter confusion. What had even just happened? I rubbed my eyes, trying to see if anything was in them, and then just stared at the three as they vanished into the fog. Itâs such a shame⊠none of them even bared a remote similarity to Liucija. Oh, well.
Scooping up their items, I walked down the stairs until I reached about halfway. I was getting tired and, despite being uncomfortable, this was a decent place to stop. If anyone was coming, I would be able to hear from both sides. If someone came from below, I would hear. If someone were to come from above, I would hear them. For now, I was fine.
Taking a seat on one of the steps, I plopped my lantern to the side, placing my leg next to it so it could heal like my arm. Then, I grabbed my first aid kit, got a little bit of the bandages and a drop of the antiseptic cream and applied it to the cut on my arm from the mutt. Now that, too, would heal.
Staring at the books that Jasper had given me, I grabbed one of them and held it next to the lantern to see what it said. Seeing something about tea, Klaus opened the book and started reading, using the light from the lantern to aid him.
Once that book was pretty much done with, I grabbed the other two, eager to soothe my boredom and⊠thoughts about Liucija. God, why canât they just stay away. Whatâs the deal?
Once again, using the light, I read the other two books.
Me so thorny teaches you about all the nifty plants in the arena, while âSKELETONS? IN MY CLOSET?â tells you all the corpse locations in the arena.  How fun.
After finishing the books, I let out a large, loud yawn. Smacking my lips and staring at the empty air around me, I decide that for my first day in the arena, things havenât been so bad. I immediately regret thinking about that, though, because I know that now something bad is bound to happen tomorrow.Â
Taking out the meal that I got in that silver package, I eat the majority of it and drink the beverage that comes with it. I need to keep my energy up. I save any of the leftover food for tomorrow, though. I have enough, but you never know, I guess.
Covering my lamp to prevent the light from alerting any other tribute of my presence, I do my best to get comfortable on the staircase. As I drift off into sleep, the last thing I think about is Liucija.
I wonder how sheâs doing? I hope sheâs fine. I hope everything is okay...Â
As I watched the trio leave, I couldnât help but cock my head to the side in utter confusion. What had even just happened? I rubbed my eyes, trying to see if anything was in them, and then just stared at the three as they vanished into the fog. Itâs such a shame⊠none of them even bared a remote similarity to Liucija. Oh, well.
Scooping up their items, I walked down the stairs until I reached about halfway. I was getting tired and, despite being uncomfortable, this was a decent place to stop. If anyone was coming, I would be able to hear from both sides. If someone came from below, I would hear. If someone were to come from above, I would hear them. For now, I was fine.
Taking a seat on one of the steps, I plopped my lantern to the side, placing my leg next to it so it could heal like my arm. Then, I grabbed my first aid kit, got a little bit of the bandages and a drop of the antiseptic cream and applied it to the cut on my arm from the mutt. Now that, too, would heal.
Staring at the books that Jasper had given me, I grabbed one of them and held it next to the lantern to see what it said. Seeing something about tea, Klaus opened the book and started reading, using the light from the lantern to aid him.
Once that book was pretty much done with, I grabbed the other two, eager to soothe my boredom and... thoughts about Liucija. God, why canât they just stay away. Whatâs the deal?
Once again, using the light, I read the other two books.
As I watched the trio leave, I couldnât help but cock my head to the side in utter confusion. What had even just happened? I rubbed my eyes, trying to see if anything was in them, and then just stared at the three as they vanished into the fog. Itâs such a shame... none of them even bared a remote similarity to Liucija. Oh, well.
Scooping up their items, I walked down the stairs until I reached about halfway. I was getting tired and, despite being uncomfortable, this was a decent place to stop. If anyone was coming, I would be able to hear from both sides. If someone came from below, I would hear. If someone were to come from above, I would hear them. For now, I was fine.
Taking a seat on one of the steps, I plopped my lantern to the side, placing my leg next to it so it could heal like my arm. Then, I grabbed my first aid kit, got a little bit of the bandages and a drop of the antiseptic cream and applied it to the cut on my arm from the mutt. Now that, too, would heal.
Staring at the books that Jasper had given me, I grabbed one of them and held it next to the lantern to see what it said. Seeing something about tea, Klaus opened the book and started reading, using the light from the lantern to aid him.
Ok cool but as you begin to climb you forget about the silly mushrooms that shoot a cloud of pink dust at you. Â Suddenly you crave for affection though no one is around. Â Ignoring your sudden unsatisfiable lust, you climb the tower and see it is a zip line! Shakabrah!
The fog blocks the destination, but it seems to zip in a southwest direction. Â
Oh no, it would appear that mushrooms have sprouted out of seemingly nowhere! How dreadful! It would also appear that these random, totally not specific mushrooms that have randomly appeared, have decided to spray me with the ugly pink dust (found notoriously in cleoâs cavernous vagina).
How tragic.
As I climb the tower, I suddenly find myself thinking about Liucija. I wonder if sheâs okay. We never did clear up that little... incident of ours. With each step I take, I find myself thinking more and more about her. My mind actually drifts back to the time when she first got off that train, a newly emerged victor.
In my life, I had never been happier than in that moment.Â
A small smile appears on my face as I reach the top, but it vanished when I see what appears to be a... a zip line?
Making my way closer to it, I try my best to see where the zip line leads to but, alas, I cannot see anything. I step back, trying to see if I can see anything else. However, regardless of where I look, all I can see is fog as far as the eye can see.Â
Great.
Heading back to the zip line, I place my whip in my belt, securing it in place. I also take the handle of the lantern and place it in my mouth, biting down hard to keep it in place. Making my way over to the zip line I, now with free hands, grab hold of the handle and, well, away I go.
As you take your first steps, you can see the same foliage that has been surrouding you all this time, and also a giant tall tower with a series of steps leading up. Â Now what?
âWow...â I exhale as I tilt my head up to get a better look at the giant tower that stands before me. Not even the thick fog can prevent me from seeing any of this. Its silhouette is large and imposing, seemingly threatening anyone that dares to look at it.
Almost as if being drawn to the tower, I close the distance between it and I, noticing a set of steps that I can climb. Taking one last look at the height of the thing, I shrug my shoulders and begin climbing the steps.
i pray, i pray, i pray for a better day â post mantid battle
After delivering that corny little moment to the entire viewing audience of Panem, I go over to the corpses of two of the mutts and, using my knife, slash off four of those spikes on their legs. Once they are free, I take one and slide my finger along the end of it, careful not to prick myself, which is a pretty hard feat considering how sharp they are.
Once Iâm done, I slip them into my backpack, slip my knife into the back of my boot, and then arm myself with the whip. In my other hand, I hold my trusty lantern.Â
With that, I am ready to roll and, without a second look at the corpses of the dead mutts that lay littered around me, I continue heading south.
On one hand, I was extremely surprised, yet happy, at the sight of the whip becoming dislodged from the corpse... but at the same time, it was quite disgusting. As the whip flopped next to me, I could have sworn I saw some goop coating it. God, this is just so--
Suddenly, I became aware of the hairs on my arms standing up and goosebumps plaguing my skin.
Looking straight up, I saw movement in the bushes. Raising the lantern, I saw, horror struck on my face, as giant mantids appeared, their skin a light blue color and their eyes a blood red... eyes that were trained right on me. I took a step back instinctively, but stopped when I heard hissing. Slightly turning my head, I saw even more of the ugly mutts behind me.Â
I can hear their feet, er, well, claws? Whatever they have that propel them forward or backwards, I can hear them clipping against the mud, echoing all around me. Every second or two, I glance around at both the mutts and my hands. In one hand, I hold a lantern, in another I loosely hold both a knife and a whip. I wonât be able to fight like this and get away safely... thereâs just no way.Â
Glancing up, I stop when I notice a tree branch a foot or two above my head. It looks sturdy enough, I suppose. I wonder if I could...Â
Both slowly and with careful movements, I took my lantern and reached up to the branch above me, keeping my eyes locked with the mantids. After a few moments of fumbling, I managed to hook the top part of the lantern onto the branch. Letting go, I heard the lantern rustle for a bit, but stopped soon after.
Perfect.
Bringing my arms back down, I continued to move slowly... until I suddenly brought my whip into my right hand and left my knife in my left. At that sudden motion, the giant bugs hissed loudly, a sound that resonated throughout the trees and seemed to stop time itself.
Then, they started towards me.
Biting my lip, I gripped the whip and turned around, flicking it at the mantid that was directly behind me. Fortunately for me, it lunged just as I did that so the whip easily wrapped around its neck. Turning around again, I pulled the whip with all my weight and sent the bug that I had caught into the one directly in front of me. The two collided with a series of screeches and fell back, attempting to recover.
Before I could make my next move, however, I felt a stinging sensation on my leg. Groaning in pain, I turned to see one of the mantids attacking my leg. As it pulled out, I could see my skin starting to change color. I could also feel my leg getting a bit colder. Cursing, I turned and kicked the mantid into the ground with my other foot, stomping its head into oblivion.
I wanted to look at my injury more, but I knew that I couldnât right now. Still, the mantids were coming, and I needed to be able to react. Gripping my knife, I backed up as another approached me. I swung at it with the knife, causing a gash to appear across its eyes, blinding it. It screeched and swiped blindly with its claws. It managed to hit me, unfortunately, but at the same time I had managed to keep it from hitting my torso, letting my arm take the blunt instead.
âYouâre all really annoying.â I said through gritted teeth as another one came at me. I batted this one away, too, and then took a second to glance at the wound on my arm. It wasnât bad... it would heal with time. The only problem was that I had no idea if these fucking insects were poisonous or not. They had gotten my leg, but I have no idea whatâs wrong with it right now. I donât have the time to--
âUh, nope!â I let out as I heard the sound of two mantid approaching from behind. I managed to strike one down with my knife, embedding it into the muttâs skull, but the other one managed to strike my foream. I winced slightly before taking my whip and lashing at it a few times. Once it fell towards the ground, I hopped on it and delivered the finishing blow with my knife, effectively killing the last of the beasts.
With a slight pant, I took a moment to inspect my injuries under the dull light of the lantern which was, thankfully, still in one piece. The slash on my arm wasnât bad, but the two parts of my other arm and my leg that were feeling, well, extremely chilly... I was worried about that.
As I went to retrieve my lantern, however, I noticed something. As my arm got closer to the flame within the lantern, the semi-frozen part of my arm started to feel better. Smiling, I sighed as I gripped the lantern and kept it close to my arm. It would take a little while to defrost, but at least now I knew how to deal with these pesky wounds.
Glancing up into the sky, I assumed there were cameras nearby, so I opened my mouth, ready to speak:
âThose mantids really had me praying for my life, eh?â
In my head, I could already hear Liucija yelling at me for that disgusting pun once I emerged as Victor from the Games. She would never let me hear the end of it, would she? Nope. Not at all.
The body that spilled out of the snake gave you a familiar sense, one that had the same facial structure of a tribute you had killed just hours ago. Â Fabienneâs relative stared up with a set of stitches across their chest. Â
Klausâ upper lip immediately curled upwards in disgust at the sight of the body. At first, he thought it belonged to one of the other tributes. He felt a bit of pity as he wondered how on earth a tribute could be so stupid as to be eaten by a snake. On further inspection, however, Klaus noticed that it wasnât a tribute, but some random person... with a set of stitches across their chest.
Leaning in closer, Klaus, taking his knife, and with a somewhat sick stomach, and despite better judgement, opened the stitches on the tribute, curious to see what could possibly be inside.
A boa constrictor was waiting beyond the trees, but there was something off about it. Â Bloated and fat, the boa had clearly recently eaten something hefty. Â It was far too stuffed to move, but itâs eyelid-less eyes stared at Klaus nonetheless.
The moment he saw the snake, Klaus took a step back, his stance lowering and his knife held up, ready to strike. Upon further inspection, however, Klaus noticed that the snake was far too, well, full, to strike back. In fact, its eyes were staring directly into Klausâ, almost as if the snake was pleading for the release of sweet death.
Relaxing his grip on the knife for a moment, Klaus, walked a little closer to the snake, looking specifically at the large... thing... that it had eaten. Tilting his head to the side, Klaus moved a little bit further, but stopped in his tracks when he saw the snake try to snap at him. It proved fruitless, of course, but Klaus, at that point, knew that he could take no chances.Â
Taking his boot, Klaus stomped on the head of the snake. Itâs body quivered for a moment, but then stopped, signifying that it was dead. Still interested by the content that the snake had swallowed, Klaus took his knife and dragged it along the snakeâs length, ready to see what the snake had swallowed.
Those rollinâ eyes peered ahead as he continued furhter and further south, the foliage once again began to change, albeit a bit less subtly. Â The vine-ridden trees were replaced with ones with large black berries growing right out of the trunks. Â Long green stemmed plants divided with blue-ish stripes could be seen, along with prickly cacti with bright red flowers. Â Another type of tree held long tube-like white flowers upside down that hung over expanding patches of white mushrooms with pink spots. Â
Yet in addition to this new plantlife, there is a new sound of heavy strained breathing sounds in the distance. Â It is too far away to tell its source at the moment. Â
Klaus watched, wide-eyed, as he continued walking. The more he walked, the more things started to drastically change. At one point, he thought he had walked into a childrenâs storybook, it was just that strange. Still, this wasnât hindering him, so he kept walking.
He stopped when he heard the sounds of strained breathing. Looking around, Klaus stood silently as the breathing continued. After a moment or two, he found the general area that the noise was coming from. With a tighter grip on his knife, Klaus walked towards the source of the noise.
The only things that jumped out was a gecko, startled by the light. Â Other than that, the flowers remained unamused at the illumination.
Rolling his eyes at the sight of the tiny little gecko, Klaus straightens himself out and continues southward, still keeping an eye on the forcefield as he walks.
The only main difference you can notice, illuminated with your lantern, is large leafy green plants with small white thin petal-having flowers in the center. Â Another peculiar plant seems to have tubular yellow-green leaves, that look almost fuzzy. Â
While Klaus is, indeed, interested by the flowers, there is something gnawing at the back of his mind. These flowers are foreign to him. They are suspicious, just like the rest of this arena. Still, be that as it may, they are just flowers...Â
Making his way closer to the flowers, he reaches shines the light from his lantern further onto them, checking the area around to see if anything is hiding, waiting to jump out at him... or just hiding in general.
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