sinner's prayer | DAGA vs P&C vs CR vs HeiHei {day 3}

Breakfast fluttered in his backpack. Despite Glacia’s wounds and the silent mourning for Basil thrashing in their hearts – save for Kaiser’s, which remained as cold and barren as an empty prison cell – they all managed to catch a meal. Convenient messenger birds snatched out of thin air, who knew it would be so easy? He decided to leave the creature alive in his bag, because fresh meat was the finest. Every career knew how long a human being could last without food and water. It was drilled into the mind like his own name so nobody would forget that the Hunger Games could live up to its true name. Who wanted to be the idiot that starved to death?

He listened to its distant chirps as they walked away from the beloved hot springs. One last bath was all he needed to wash the blood off of his chest. It reminded him again of today’s disappointment; losing a number instead of stealing someone else’s. Lorenza was still out there, barely alive but probably still kicking. Next time, he promised he wouldn’t be so unintentionally lenient.

In the meantime, he decided to dwell on the other possibilities. The anthem brought little updates as they positioned their boat in the rocks. Basil was up there, beautiful image in display rather than the one left near the water, bones and blood crushed into the earth. It was always a shame when pretty people had to die, especially basket cases. He liked to imagine her head was filled with vines and liquor; that would explain everything, behavior included. Maybe he would miss her after all.

A fleeting thought.

He briefly glanced at the projection in the stars. Some other girl with a fucked up name – Reddit or something – also died today. Only two deaths meant more hope for tomorrow. There was still plenty of time to spare, and plenty of bodies to pile up. Two days of disappointment in a row was enough; tomorrow had to be an accomplishment. That was a fucking promise.

He settled next to Titus and slept soundly. Nightmares hadn’t plagued him in years. Scout’s death was an unpleasant past memory, not quite a haunting but a stinging reminder of how bullshit the Capitol could be. It was a nice place, he couldn’t deny that, but those Gamemakers had fucked her over somehow. And that Mortuus bitch.

He didn’t have nightmares about that day, but he certainly thought about it.

The sunrise led them to new beauties. An ocean of black rocks expanding over the horizon, jagged edges scratching the underside of their new boat. The irksome sandals on his feet were not built for climbing this type of terrain, but that was no reason to stop. Exploration was necessary to find resources and unsuspecting tributes.

They happened to find exactly what he was looking for.

The girls from yesterday were here. He had something sharp on the tip of his tongue – a snarky comment before the inevitable swipe of his sword, but someone unexpected beat him to the punch. Or the crush, he should say. Titus charged forward without an inch of restraint and bashed his barbed baseball bat into that punny girl’s skull. It was like a flashback of yesterday, except Basil’s head had been replaced by Aline’s.

”Nice one!” He shouted. Fuck, that was awesome.

More trespassers approached from the rear. He recognized one of their cute faces – ”Nice to see you again, Kaiser.” Good ol’ Teddy was here to say hello, but now was not the time to be picturing him naked. ”Hey there,” he replied with a wink. He didn’t know who the hell Teddy’s allies were, but they all seemed to march with a purpose.

Now tell me, who killed Basil?”

Ugh. Another reminder. ”My district partner did.”

Maybe they could all hunt her down.

The obsidian sheen at his feet suddenly vanished, replaced by a coating of blood. One blink and he had nearly missed the knife cutting across the pretty girl’s throat – spraying the air with mists and fountains of red. He paused and stared for a moment, transfixed. He couldn’t help his fascination with blood, the tang it brought to his nostrils. Sickly sweet.

He had nothing to say; this day was promising so far. The real bloodbath had finally arrived.

He thirsted for more and gripped his sword firmly. A premeditated pounce underway, he almost missed the shadow looming over them, shrouding every rock and body in sight. Wait a minute –

What the fuck?

”A giant fucking chicken?”

What the hell kind of –

He sighed.

Oh well.

Maybe he could eat it.

[ dars ]

You'd think, given the constant, sticky heat of the arena that it would be a terrible idea to snuggle. You'd be wrong. After dragging our canoe away from the Hot Springs to safety, Aline, Dandy and I all but collapse into it. Aline sleeps first. Dandy and I squeeze onto one of the planks, our hips smashed together in the narrow interior. I repaint her wards, trying to draw the same lines, but the creases of her skin had obscured some and made the paths untenable. "Always making things difficult for me, aren't ya?" I ask in the middle of a flourish and then smile at her to show that I mean no harm.

Later, while Dandy sleeps and Aline stares at the sky, I re-ink hers as well. My henna supply is running lower and lower but I keep supplementing it with the water we gathered at the hot springs. It makes the ink more orange than earth toned. I wonder if it looks too much like fire. When I'm done, I blow gently on the markings. "You'll watch my back, right?" I wink and settle down in front of her, leaning against her and fall fast asleep, my arms wrapped around Dandy in front of me.

Our morning routine is quick and painless. We move east, away from the blazing son. Soon the foliage around the waterfall gives way to black rocks and abruptly to something else. Something none of us have a name for. It is almost mud-like in appearance but solid, enough to take our weight and the canoe. It stretches on and on and there's nowhere to hide. My stomach churns. "Ever onward," I whisper and it becomes a mantra. I know what I've left behind: time and misdirection. I don't know what lies ahead but it must be better than a ticking clock and a ravenous stomach.

We drag the canoe and ourselves so far that we hear voices. At first it is only a whoosh, whish, roaaaaaaaaar but soon conversation filters in. They are coming for us. "Steady, girls. Nob, stay in the canoe."

"Aren’t ya that Wendall’s sister? He really made me angry and I don’t like getting angry.”

"Wendell, the boy who's always hungry?" I can see him at the edge of the springs, ready to gobble up anything that moves. I blink. The vision clears.

A baseball bat.

A bereaved boy.

Aline's clever head.

Titus' empty forehead.

Perhaps he meant to transfer the baptism.

Aline crumples.

My sunburned cheeks are dappled with salt and water of my own making. "That's not how it's done," I whisper. "But it is done." My sword is at my side, still sheathed. I wrap my arms around me to keep myself from keening. The orange henna turns red and black with her blood.

"Looks like your message was too late."

My sight, blurred. I finally blink enough tears away to focus on Teddy Ursa. "Yes. Too late, far too late." Words that aren't my own. I can hardly think to speak; I think only of mastering my body, of staunching the flow of tears and shivers that rattle my vertebrae. There is a sound, another conversation. The whoosh, interrupted violently by a squelch.

In the span of a moment I watch the murders of Aline Larkin and Dandy Gordon, whose lives I was destined to witness. The hiss that comes out of my lips is more despairing than threatening. I still haven't reached for my weapon. Dandy's throat is a bloody smile. I step to her and the boy doesn't challenge me. I strip her shirt and wrap it around her neck. My whisper is so soft, "remember what I said about pain? Hold this and hold onto yourself. Do not give in to the darkness. I'll see you at the canoe."

I'll see you, but will you see me? The tears come back with a vengeance as I push her back. Her wound, like Aline's, is fatal and I am all alone. Kaiser Fray has set his sword to a - a giant bird's? - leg. Teddy's ward is plain as day in the unfiltered sunlight.

It’s all sunshine and rainbows until you drink a poisonous draught to prove yourself, and only end up proving yourself a fool.

"Wash that off! Now!" I yell at him and finally draw my weapon. In a few steps I am beside Kaiser, back to the others. If the Fates want me, they have made it abundantly clear they will take me, just as easily as they have stolen my allies. The tears fade, numbness washing over me, calming my racking sobs.

To Kaiser I say, "if you're hungry there's easier pickings. I've some plants." I reach for my pack as I study the chicken. Surely the Gamemakers didn't mean for us to eat it. Surely they - has it fixed its beady little eye on Aline?

I glance back. Or on Dandy?

I flash my sword above my head. "Go on! Get lost! WE DON'T NEED YOU!"

The Gamemakers had fucked up imaginations.

Of all the beasts he expected to encounter, an enormous chicken was not one of them. Its beak was a mountain’s way away from him, sword, but it was sharpened like a dagger. One thing was for certain; he did not want to go down in history as the career who was murdered by an oversized rooster. There was nothing ferocious about such a creature. In fact, it almost seemed like its eyes were staring in two different directions. Ugly thing, it was. What a joke.

He heard Teddy speak up about his district partner. ”I’m going to kill her.” That was not the Teddy her sparred with in the training center, but everyone had to break out of their shell sometime right? The arena was the finest place to do it.

”I’d pay to see that.” He grinned. He wanted Lorenza for himself, but watching Teddy try to skewer her with a spear would also serve as some fine entertainment. If only she was here now…

His brief fantasy of skewering a corpse was interrupted when the hulking beast chicken reared its head down. He didn’t feel the urge to leap out of its path because it hadn’t aimed for him – or anyone for that matter. It speared the ground and sent a ripple through the earth, shaking the bones in his ankles. For something so ugly and stupid looking, it was strong. Strong enough to lift up a piece of obsidian and gulp it down like a cracker. Great. The thing was literally eating rocks. Did it even have an intention to hurt tributes?

Suddenly this all felt like a waste of time.

Adelaide was by his side now. Having lost both of her allies in less than a minute, it was fascinating to her sanity still intact. Very admirable. ”If you’re hungry there’s easier pickings,” she said, handing him a bundle of edible plants. A lucky snag. Basil had been the only one in his alliance with any knowledge of plants. Not that he needed plants to survive, but free food with no effort was not something he would turn away.

Everyone began to direct their attacks toward the giant idiot. Even Titus and Glacia had followed his lead, trying to gash the bird as hard as he had. What as a man to do?

”Ah, fuck it.”

Time to kill the damn thing.

[ dars ]