Fight 4: The Tunnels

^{H  E  S  P  E  R}

It smelled... cleaner than she would've imagined.

That's the first thought that surfaced, her head swimming with confusion. She must've fallen unconscious for a few moments, because shew as laying square on her back, her leg bent uncomfortably beneath her. There was a light above, slowly closing in and leaving her in the darkness below, one cage to another. Sewers. Sewers were supposed to smell awful, right? She couldn't smell anything other than the alarming scent of whatever chemicals were being pumped through. It smelled enough like ammonia to instantly give her a headache, but at least it beat anything else down here in the smell-department. She began to take stock of herself. Her palms still stung from impact but she checked and was able to make two fists. Her leg ached terribly just below the knee, but the material of her jumpsuit was too thick for her to hike the leg up and get a good look at it. When she tried to stand though, the pain worsened tenfold and she stumbled back down onto her knees, wincing in pain.

That wasn't in the plans! Or, rather, it wasn't in her plans. She was sure whoever was in charge had considered the possibility of broken bones plenty when deciding this course of action. Yet there she laid still, scrambling to figure out another plan as she looked around and noticed no one friendly. She shuffled forward on her hands and knees, her fingers closing around the hilt of a long spear which she used to prop herself up. Labored breathing already, she forced her shoulders to relax. She was on the verge of freaking out, and that wouldn't help her. She needed to find some place safe to take stock of her injuries, but right now there were others all around and it was abundantly clear now that the games had begun. Losing her cool would've only helped her lose her life quicker.

"S-Stay back!" She warned, footsteps in the dark, swirls of shadow shifting on the corner of her vision. There was a tingling in the back of her head that was growing, and she imagined that couldn't have been anything good. She propped herself against the wall, a cornered rat, half-drowned in the sewers more than a girl whose threat was worthy of respecting. Fun fact about a rat, though: if cornered, they'd just as soon chew through a predator before they'd lay down and die. She lashed out at the closest person to her to cement her point.

rolling for target bc fun!
1 - Lain
2 - Hafen
3 - Malachor
4 - Jackson
fwwurasj|G1-4

[Hesper attacks Jackson, Spear]
spear
[10.0]

l a i n

I was beginning to enjoy the nest I created behind bars. A delicate concoction of straws, twigs, and branches to make the shitty housing a little more bearable. Some of the other tributes paced and wandered… I stayed put. Conserve the energy if they weren't forcing me to use it just yet.

Of course, just as I was getting comfortable, the yellowish bed I rested upon rustled, and soon enough, the floor collapsed, and with it went my breath. Couldn't they have, like, forced us down a ladder? Or made a staircase for us to climb down?

I land on the hard concrete on my right side. Everything pops and aches upon impact, but my forearm takes the brunt of it. "Fuck. Jesus." Dazed, I clutch my side while the faint colors of our surroundings come to. "Fuck. Jesus." My words ricochet off the cold walls, mocking my pain for its pleasure.

A dim lime glow reveals the graffitied walls. I scratch my head trying to identify them. Snow Daddy? Mountain Dew? Thatcher-Thicket-Indigestion-something that I don't have wherewithal to make sense of. "Whatever the hell that means," I whisper as I move against the walls, toward the voices. Oh god, why am I moving toward the voices? I turn back to see my options. It's a straight shot down the tunnel toward a blank metal door. No telling what's behind it.

Forewarning voices it is.

"S-stay back!"

I grab for a nearby spear, going against her very words.

"Oh, shit."

I tug the spear closer to my chest as several bruised boys and girls are already fighting. Dumbest decision, if I had to give my two cents. We're in the… underground of the Capitol for the Hunger Games? Why not try to hide instead?

The leather of my shoe scratches the sewer floor, giving my presence away.

You know what, what the hell? Teenagers are known for their bad decisions, anyway.

Cannons shake the walls as I move in on the girl adorning a scarlet orange suit. A pretty aesthetic, sure, but it's a painful color when you're trying to slip under the radar.

"Well, shit." My shoes squeak as I step toward her, spear ready to attack. "Literally."

lain attacks hesper ; spear
c4HVs14BSnspear
[ 3101 -- Block -- 0.0 damage ]

^{H  E  S  P  E  R}

The tip of her spear pierced a boy through the neck, shoving him in the direction opposite of herself just in time for someone else- a girl from one of the upper districts- stabbed him right in the eye. His body fell limp at their feet, Hesper's lips pressing into a thin line because her mouth would've been hanging open in shock otherwise. It happened so suddenly, so quickly. One moment, a blur of pointed metal. The next, a puddle of what once was.

Her leg radiated pain as she forced it to keep her standing and she winced, dragging herself further down into the tunnels.

Ah, there was the smell. She pulled the collar of her jumpsuit up over her nose in hope that it would filter some of the awful stench that quickly took over her immediate surroundings, but it did little to help. The base of her tongue flattened and she could feel herself gearing up to gag. Horrible experience. Terrible in practically every way imaginable. Made worse still when one of the girls she'd tried befriending up above made herself present.

For a brief moment, she was stupid enough to think the girl was there to offer her a helping hand. There was a universe where she swept in and wrapped an arm around Hesper, aided her away from the growing cluster of tributes who were all so keen to kill so quickly. There was a universe where they escaped the madness and Hesper finally got those handcuffs off of the other girl's wrists. Maybe they'd call it even and go their separate ways, or maybe they'd try working together for even longer, building their numbers so their own chances were better.

This was not that universe.

"Don’t you know, no one ever survives by pleading for their life?"

The girl misunderstood her intention. Hesper's words hadn't only been a plea. They'd been a warning.

She lashed out at Hesper's bad leg in a flash. Hesper in turn, did everything she could to minimize the damage, meaning she toppled backwards and managed to move the bad leg out of the way, but only in time for the weapon to make contact with her other leg. She screamed, crumbling. The ground was slick with something slimy and damp- she could feel the few pieces of her clothing that was still dry absorbing the wretched liquid as she struggled to right herself, pulling herself further down the tunnels still.

She looked over her shoulder to see the group of them still standing around, while the dead boy continued to be dead. She supposed if this fight were over, the moment everyone went their separate ways had already come and gone. So more bloodshed seemed to be necessary. From the ground, she hefted her spear back into the air, swinging wildly to ward off any who dared to advance.

The injured wolf was so often culled by the pack, and if that was the intention here then she couldn't deny that her circumstances made her the most vulnerable of those she could see.

She still wouldn't go down without a fight regardless.

She spat.

"Don't touch me!"

rolling for target bc fun!
1 - Lain
2 - Hafen
3 - Malachor
B1tcj6M8HD1-3

[Hesper attacks Lain, Spear]
spear
[8.0]

l a i n

The coordination's all off in my swing. Missing? Embarrassing. Between the whiff and my words in this dim light and echoed chambers, I'm not even sure I made my presence known. In my normal life, I would've been so aggravated by the silence, the ignorance of my presence. But, hey, it's a fight for our lives. If they don't notice me or even want to acknowledge me, maybe that's for the best!

"Don't you know, no one ever survives by pleading for their life."

Oh, damn. That was serious. Another one of the tributes makes her way from the darkness toward the scarlet girl. Makes her hit, though. Good. Make her angry. Attack her, not me.

I lurk aside the wall, unsure whether to go in again. It's probably for the best to stay under the radar in this room, or make a break for the nearest exit. The guilt, though, of hiding forces me to lean further back in the room.

"Don't touch me!" The girl in scarlet yells, doubling down on her threat. I inch back but pull pieces of green ooze with me. The squelching ooze sticks like glue against the starchy fabric of my clothes.

It brings the girl's attention to me, and she cuts deep into my struggling side in reaction. "Jesus, FUCK!" I scream. If they didn't know I was here before, the other two girls, one in purple and one in blue, do now. "I didn't touch you, you fucking creep!"

The girl in purple, whose voice I have still yet to hear, doesn't heed scarlet's warnings. I join her, lunging with the tip of my spear toward her in retaliation.

lain attacks hesper ; spear
PPuh6wktcospear
[ 3150 -- Stabbed in Foot -- 8.0 damage ]

^{H  E  S  P  E  R}

The three of them took turns stabbing at her while she continued crawling further and further into the tunnels. As her situation became more dire, she was shocked at how fiercely her own will to live continued to grow. She kept waiting for the moment when she tried to pull herself along the disgusting, slimy floor, and her body refused to carry her any further, but she kept moving for now and that was somehow enough to keep her moving even further.

"I didn't touch you, you fucking creep!"

The boy said, moments after trying and failing to hit Hesper with the spear in his hands. Then, he proceeded to immediately attack her a second time when he was done speaking. Once, when she was only a little girl, one of the bloodhounds dug a hole in his pen and escaped. He ran straight to the rabbit cages, which luckily were up about four feet off of the ground, because the hound was jumping up at the bottom of the cages trying as hard as he could to catch the rabbits and pull them through the wire flooring. He wasn't able to succeed, but Daddy had him sent away the very next day regardless. Why? Because intention as the point. He hadn't succeeded in killing the rabbits, but it had been his goal to do so. She stared up at the boy, no more than a dog. Then her gaze fell to her injured leg, no more than a rabbit in a cage.

"Did the delusions just start when we got here, or have you always been unable to take any responsibility for yourself?"

It wouldn't have surprised her; from what she'd seen of District One over the past decade, there was perhaps no place better at producing entitled little psychopaths like this one. Cordelia Blake had been publicly tranquilized at least three times because of her bloodthirst. Hesper had even noticed immediately that October gave off a sort of sinister vibe when they met up above. The fact that this boy was from the same place as them made sense.

The girl who stabbed that boy in his eye a couple minutes ago stayed silent. Maybe because what they were doing was wrong and unlike the boy standing next to her, she couldn't find a way to justify it as fair. Maybe she saw how he was coming across and didn't want to come off similarly. Maybe she just didn't care. Hesper supposed it was the most likely of the options but the narcissism within her chest hoped that her life held at least some sway on these people and their decisions.

Finally making it to her feet, she toppled forward toward the girl, her spear drawn at the ready.

rolling for target bc fun!
1 - Lain
2 - Hafen
3 - Malachor
wKwRpqslnp1-3

[Hesper attacks Malachor, Spear]
spear
[3.5]

l a i n

Missing was not a consideration this time. The girl in scarlet looks at me as my spear meets the top of her foot, piercing through the leather footwear and pinching further. It's a consequence of war, according to the girl in blue. If I don't fight you, who's to say you won't fight me. Just speaking from my time in the exhibit, there's no way I could outrun all twenty-three of the other tributes without being caught at least once. Fighting, therefore, feels like the only choice. Past Hunger Games have shown that not fighting doesn't mean I'll be safe from death.

But fighting comes at a price. The girl in blue aims low against me, her chained weapon crashing against the side of my knee. Motherfucking– I slide against the wall, putting my entire body's weight against it to keep myself up. Oh, Jesus, that hurts so bad. Like, watching Charlie's friend, Drew, fall on the hard track field. Oh god, he broke his knee when he did that!

"Did the delusions just start when we got here, or have you always been unable to take any responsibility for yourself?"

This time, scarlet speaks to me about how I tried to strike her first. Which, fair, but how does she know the ooze leaking from the walls hadn't come alive and I was swinging for them, instead? Huh? It absolutely wasn't, but I could have been. Instead of keeping on me, she goes for the quiet girl, whose silence amidst the chaos only makes her more eerie in the greenish glow. The blood-drenched spear in her hands is evidence enough of her fight. I steer clear of her as she stabs for the girl in scarlet again, specks of blood sizzling against the dripping slime. Keeping a backseat perspective until it's time to fuck each other up… smart. I'll give her that.

"Everyone's got a pinch delusion knotted up in their brain chemistry. As for responsibility…" I pause. The consideration of guilt hadn't even crossed my mind until my words forced me to reflect. For years, I was held responsible for my craft, every plate and brushstroke was adorned with my family name. This place, though? This game? "…no, I'm not responsible for any of this."

I take another stab at her, more confidently after talking it through. Like the girl in blue said, they'll keep coming at you, no matter how "guilty" they should feel. Extenuating circumstances absolve any guilt or responsibility mid-air. If the people back home are mad at me for it, who cares?! Perhaps they should have won the war.

lain attacks hesper ; spear
cyTjg9b_FYspear
[ 3183 -- Deep Gash on Right Thigh -- 8.0 damage ]

^{H  E  S  P  E  R}

She tasted blood, spat onto the ground and groaned at the drip of saliva that dripped down her chin. Everything hurt so much, so quickly. Continuing to exist was becoming more and more difficult by the second. She kept willing herself to take deeper breaths, because her current capacity felt alarmingly low. She knew she needed to be taking in more air, but none would come. She howled and coughed, toppling back as weapon after weapon breached the surface of her skin, ripping through her, leaving gaping wounds as proof of the damage.

Her eyes flicked the girl with the cuffs. To the girl who’d killed once already. To the tall boy. Down at herself.

"I'm not responsible for any of this."

Hopeless.

She hated him.

She hated him.

She hated him.

She hated him.

She hated him, and his smug way of speaking, and his stupid haircut, and his audacity to survive better than she in this moment. Her rage overcame her for the briefest moment, the more important thing of the two only in that instance. Maybe it was the only way she could get through the pain: to not feel it as much as she could. Her against all three of them? Gritted teeth in frustration. She didn't even care that she died, she just wanted to know this sorry son of a bitch didn't go on to win.

War cry slipping forth from her like oil, like the blood and the drool dripping down her chin. Look at me, she thought, stepping forward towards him, I'm positively pathetic. Not to mention, half-mad in her delirious state. Her war cry slipped into a chuckle and then a laugh.

"What's the fucking point?" She asked. There was nowhere she could run fast enough. She wasn't strong enough to fight all three of them off, and clearly they weren't interested in letting her be. She started to drop her spear into the muck, but it was doing a more-than-fair amount of keeping her upright. A decisionl, she realized, had already been made. she'd already started stepping toward him. That would be her death, then: charging in, instead of running away. She stepped forward again, and again, her feet moving at a pace far too quick for her to keep up with, but that was okay, because she wasn't doing what she was doing with the intention of living.

She was doing it with the intention of killing.

[Hesper attacks Lain, Spear]
OHVlN62dyMspear
[9.0]