>> Situation Two: Not All is As It Seams <<
To the North, some of the tributes ventured on in search of a place to make camp. They fear not only the mutts and terrain, but the inevitability of betrayal from their alliances. Most of the landscape there was a mix of lava rock and sand stone, but in the easter areas of the North, the land was fertile with white Birch trees. To the West, a few tributes found some makeshift shelter to rest amongst the enormous sequoia trees, intent on finding water sometime soon. In the East, several Tribtues clashed, as ready to spill blood as some of the fiercest careers in history. To the South, a pair of Tributes encounter the Capitol Games' first muttation, one that is best not to be trifled with.
Cool air enters Ariana's lungs as she enters the forest that looks so unnatural right next to the dry, cracked ground of the valley. She pulls her hood down, since the gargantuan trees provide more than enough shade. As she takes in everything this eerie forest has to offer, she hears a sharp snap. Her head jerks around, and she spots a squirrel latching onto a tree and it hurriedly spirals upward until it’s swallowed by thick mist.
“Just a squirrel,” she says aloud, which calms her. She presses deeper into the forest, picking some berries as she goes along. Then a certain plant stops her. Ariana recognizes the tall, tightly packed fronds and light yellow spores. ‘It’s a sword fern, Ariana,’ she remembers her mother telling her. ‘Find one, and you’ll find water nearby.’ She follows the huge trunk of the tree that the fern grows by and sure enough, there’s a small pond of water with a glassy surface on the other side. Cautiously, she dips her hands into it, wincing a bit at the iciness of the water, scoops some out, and lifts it up to her nose.
“Smells fine,” she says, and then drinks it. It’s so pure and so cold that she really can’t contain herself after the first drink. She leans in and just starts scooping huge handfuls into her mouth. There are a few more snaps of branches, but Ariana ignores them. Squirrels mean next to nothing when there’s a pond of water right here. But what she doesn’t know is that another tribute has found their way into the forest. The District One boy, Tanner.
He followed her right from the Cornucopia. Ariana was smaller and faster than he was, but he never allowed her to leave his sight. Tanner took the girl from District Eleven in. She was one of the sixteen year olds, like his partner Elisa. But this girl looked physically weaker than Elisa. Then suddenly, a bit of her interview came back to him. ‘I’m very fast, but not very strong because of my anemia,’ she had said. But as long as Tanner doesn’t allow an escape, her speed doesn’t matter. He grips the thick fallen branch he had picked up on the way to the pond and draws closer to the girl. She is still preoccupied with the water. Once behind her, he brings the branch back, and he swings.
But Ariana sees the boy’s reflection in the water. She rolls out of the way as his attack misses and stands. Tanner sees her eyes full of panic, but there is a determination about her. The two stare each other down in silence for a full minute. Tanner speaks first. “You’re not going to make this easy for me are you?” “Why would I?” Ariana sneers. Without warning, she springs for one of the huge tree trunks. She manages to find good footholds in the rough bark, and scurries upward. She’s from Eleven, Tanner thinks. Of course she’d know how to climb.
He knows he can’t lose her now. He backs up a few steps and then charges at the tree, and leaps. But the bark can’t hold his weight like it could Ariana’s. It gives away, and he falls back to the soft ground. Tanner is completely embarrassed. The entire nation saw that fall, and he won’t allow a sick sixteen year old make a fool of him. He’s infuriated, and the need to kill the girl is even stronger. She is out of his reach, so Tanner aims the stick and lets it fly. She scuffles quickly to the right and dodges the stick before quickly climbing higher up the tree. When Ariana thinks she's high enough to make the leap and also be out of reach from Tanner she moves jumps, landing swiftly on a branch in the next tree. Tanner watched helplessly as she made her escape, knowing now that it would be nearly impossible to get sponsors. He had made a mockery of his district and his-
Loud crashing noises coming from the trees before him interrupted his self-pit, the anger that had welled up inside of him disappearing for a moment. Just then, Ariana's body slammed into the ground with a wet smack. As Tanner approached her cautiously, her body began to convulse, foam spewing from her mouth and blood seeping from her ears, eyes, and nose. Her arms and legs were beginning to swell up like a balloon and the feverish look in her eyes begged for mercy. Tanner, confused and horrified by what he was seeing scrambled backward to pick up the closest rock he could find. The boy picked one up and approached the convulsing girl, raising the rock high above his head prepared to strike; a cannon sounded. Ariana's body lay still, and upon inspection, no evidence of harm from Tanner was evident. No, her death was brought upon her own assumption that the ferns of the forest were safe. The poison had acted quickly, making her suffer before rupturing some of her internal organs and killing her.
After hours of walking, Brian finally got to the edge of a Cliff, there he could see a rope bridge, but after a moment he saw that was not made of rope but steel cable. The idea of crossing the bridge quickly disappeared from his head. He has seen this kind of things before, things that look like they are normal and harmless are the deadliest ones in the Games. He had no weapon to fight with, so he would have to rely on his hands and some of the fighting techniques he learned back in his district.
The boy began to become dehydrated, his need for water growing ever stronger. While thinking about which direction to go, he saw white tipped mountains to the south. Where there was snow, there was water, and once he had taken care of his water problem he could then find something to fight with.
When he was ready to leave he saw both Nick and Casey getting closer. He quickly fell to the ground in the hopes that they wouldn't see him. He peered up at the nearby tributes heading his direction. Casey and Nick were getting closer to the edge of the cliff, but hadn't seen the boy who was on the ground yet. Brian couldn’t see well from where he was, only that they were holding something. What he could see was that Casey had a Silver Shield; two against one, the result of that was clear.
He pushed himself off the ground and ran to the south as fast as he could, his feet pounding the ground beneath him. Casey, the boy with the shield, was almost as fast as he was, though. He turned to see Casey behind him, giving chase with the shield propped neatly upon his arm. Casey, being the unrelenting and surprisingly athletic tribute that he was, knew wasn't going to be able to catch Brian while running with both the red backpack on and the Shield on his arm. He removed it from his arm, and with careful aim, stopping, he launched the shield towards the fleeing tribute as hard as he could. The shield collided with Brian's lower back, sending the tribute forward to the ground, scraping his face and cutting his lip. Casey's eye was fixated on the shield, however, which had landed near the edge of the cliff only a few feet away from the felled tribute.
The pain that shot through Brian's ribs was enormous, one his vertebrae fractured and pinching the nerves. It felt as if someone had beaten him with a bat. As he rolled over he found approaching him with his shield, intent on finishing off the Tribute with barbarian-like finesse. Casey knelt down over him, straddling his body with the intension of pinning Brian to the ground when Brian bucked hard and sent Casey toppling over to the side. Brian rolled over and pinned Casey down, his hands immediately going to work on Casey's face. Casey felt his nose break and blood gushed down into his mouth, a tooth coming loose from another oncoming blow. After a second of this Casey swung the shield as hard as her could using the momentum of hips and Brian's semi-sideways movement. The metal connected with Brian's head, sending him further off to the side and over the edge of the cliff.
Brian, at the last second grabbed the edge of the cliff and hung there, grasping on for dear life. As Casey shook his head clear of the beating, the boy from district two was trying to hoist himself up. Casey kicked at Brian's left hand, breaking the fingers and rendering him both useless and at Casey's mercy. "That was my favorite nose, you prick," said the boy from district twelve as he raised the shield up above his head. With all of his strength he brought the shield down onto where Brian's wrist, severing the hand from it's owner and sending Brian screaming down the cliff. It wasn't long before his screams were lost in the howling and the cannon fired.
Alex sat down, hidden by the long moist grass while the sun began to set over the breathtaking landscape. She reached down and picked up one of her blades, sucking the dew off of it. It's not much, but even just a taste of the sweet water helps soothe the burning that started creeping up the back of her throat. She watched her adversaries silently, curious as to what will happen next, finding a place to remain hidden from the others. Each time one of them approached her she retreated, sai knives drawn, and mentally checking exactly which spot she would need to throw one to make the kill. Then Brian and Casey broke out in a run almost simultaneously. She watched the scuffle with Casey and Brian, noting how the boy could throw the shield and listened grimly to the cannon fire. As she reached down to make ready the rest of her knives, Nick and Casey were obscured momentarily before moving carefully across the bridge. As they crossed the bridge, Alex took her chance, following suit quietly. As she stealthily crept up behind the two tributes, masking her foot steps with theirs, she withdrew two knives.
Close to Nick now, who was trailing Casey, Alex threw the first knife into Casey's back and watched as he fell face first onto the bridge. She didn't give Nick a chance to defend himself as she swiftly slit his throat with the second knife and sent him over the side of the bridge into the dark waters below. A small smile appeared on her lips as she walked forward, pleased with her performance. As she approached Casey's body, however, she noticed two things: there was a knife in his back and a knife further forward on the bridge, one that appeared almost identical to the knife lodged in his back. She frowned, looking up and around, back to the beginning of the bridge and then towards the first spire. Where were the cannon shots?
Then, just as the illusion faded and the fake hologram of Casey shimmered and then disappeared, Alex turned around on the ball of her foot. She thrusted her knife forward as hard as she could in the hopes that it would magically save her as these two tributes, who now stood between the cliffs and her had been saved. She looked down at Nick who was less than an arms length away with his hand clenched around the hunting knife that was embedded deep into her abdomen. Her knife had cut deep into his right shoulder, just missing his neck. A trick. How could she have been so unobservant? In the end, it had cost her her life. Nick pushed the knife upward and deeper, twisting it and severing her heart. When he removed the knife, her body fell lifeless onto the bridge and a second cannon boomed.
Kyle & Jamie vs. Silverback
As the two tributes trudged on in the frozen wastes left to them by the Gamemakers, the two talked idly to pass the time. In this place, they were sure that they would be safe from the attacks of other tributes for a while. Kyle's thought, that this territory contain the most appealing terrain was not ill-conceived. In the more lavish and livable areas of the Arena, there were sure to plenty of mutts. It was Jamie, however, who stopped first, no longer listening to Kyle's idle banter. He looked back at her with a questionable glance and asked, "What are you doing?" She put her finger to her lips and said softly, "Quiet. Listen—do you hear that?" As the wind blew gently past the tributes carrying the falling flakes of snow, a barely audible sound could be heard. Unconvinced, Kyle chuckled and turned to move forward, but was stopped by cold when he finally heard it. A cold chill ran up both of their spines as they realized just what they were hearing; something was breathing heavily. The tributes, now aware that they were no longer alone in the snow covered plains, readied themselves and began to look around in search of the source of the breathing.
As the wind picked up, they lost the direction, the breathing now all around them. The two tributes back up into each other, backs pressed up against the other's, unsure of what they were facing when in the distance, some fifteen feet away, the air was shimmering. Rising from the snow was a large bear, it's fur a shimmering silver, reflecting the light making it seem almost invisible in the snow. It's eyes were a deep, dark sapphire blue, and as it snarled it revealed it's blunt teeth. The beast that stood before the Tributes was none other than a Silverback, a bear mutt conjured up by the Capitol during the first rebellion to decimate rebel forces in the snow covered regions. It's claws were sharper than any sword, it's jaws as powerful as a crocodile's, and it was very, very fast and agile. The Silverback was three quarters the size of a black bear, though, and as it charged at the Tributes, they armed themselves.
“Well, we can’t just kill it with our bare hands,” Jamie muttered to Kyle. A smile appeared across Kyle’s face, and he chucked. “You said bare hands. Get it? We’re fighting a bear…” Jamie gave a smile, but realized the dangers of the situation. “Shut up and give me the bag,” she said to him as she grabbed it out his hands. He already had the blow gun attached to his waist, and the blow darts were in his pants pockets. The silverback started to charge at them, and at the last moment, they both jumped to either side as the bear mutt ran through the middle of them.
“Get it away from me!” Jamie shouted to Kyle as she started to tear the bottom of her cloak off. How the fuck was Kyle supposed to distract a mutt from attacking Jamie as she tried to devise some plan to kill it? He had to make noise. He had to sing.
While Kyle was singing, the Silverback, who was now more interested in Kyle’s sound, had started to run towards him. Jamie had finally torn parts of cloth off of her cloak and wrapped them around a stick. She took the oil out of her bag, and poured a little of it onto the makeshift torch. All she had left to do was light it on fire. She reached her hand into the duffle bag and felt around for the box of matches. Shit. Where were they? She thought back to the past few hours and realized that they had been put in Kyle’s pocket to make sure they didn’t get lost in the bag. “KYLE! THE MATCHES!” She screamed. Kyle turned to her, and reached quickly into his pocket. The silverback was now running towards him, and he had no choice but to quickly throw them in her direction and jump out of the way of the charging mutt.
The matches dropped a few feet in front of Jamie, and she quickly struck one lit; but the fierce wind blew out the flame, and she had to light it again. The silverback had already struck Kyle in the arm, but Jamie couldn’t waste the time to look. Kyle was screaming as his blood dyed the snow.
The second match was now lit, and the flame had already engulfed the top of the stick. Jamie ran towards Kyle, who was now crawling across the snow away from the silverback. The silverback now had its eyes focused on Jamie. It ran towards Jamie, stopping before her to stand on its back legs. Jamie swung the flame across its chest, setting some of its hair on fire. It whimpered, but some flames would not stop this Capitol muttation. It walked backwards, and started to charge towards Jamie. It jumped into the air, claws ready, teeth bared, ready to attack. When it fell on Jamie, she was saying her final goodbyes. To her surprise, though, it didn’t attack; it just sat there, lifeless and unmoving.
She pushed it off her chest and saw that Kyle was standing with the blowgun in one hand, and a dart was in the mutt’s neck. Kyle collapsed on the ground, ready to cover his bleeding wound. As he ripped part of his cloak off with his teeth and wrapped it around his arm, Jamie walked over to the dead body of the mutt.
Jamie placed her foot on one of the paws of the mutt and pressed down so the talons were revealed. She ripped out the claws one by one, making sure to do the same to the other front paw. “At least we can use these as weapons if we need to!” She shouted to Kyle. She wiped off Kyle’s blood off some of the claws in the snow. Kyle gave her the blow gun and the darts, and took the claws for himself.
Situation Three will be released tomorrow at 4:00 PM (PST).
Mentors may request a Map detailing their Tributes' positions and a list of basic items to send into the Arena, as well as consult the Gamemakers about items not found on the list >> here <<.
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