Firecracker: The 99th Games Book One

Arena, Night 1 Part 1

It seemed likely that most of the tributes would be heading for the ruined buildings for safety. After taking time to rest, Piero, Marco, and Fuyuko debated the best place to settle.

"I don't feel safe in the thick of the jungle," Piero muttered. "Too many chances for mutts. You guys remember the 95th Games, the one Mercy Crocker won?"

"Swamp, right?" Marco confirmed.

"They had mosquito mutts in there that could drain all a person's blood in minutes," Piero continued. "I highly doubt the Head Gamemaker is opposed to reusing sh*t like that in the jungle."

"But the Careers are definitely in the ruins," Fuyuko pointed out. "We don't wanna run in to them right away, right?"

"Not right away," Piero agreed. "Look, Adel is good but she's scrawny. I think if it came down to it, I could beat her. But I definitely can't beat her if I'm also balancing protecting the two of you and fighting three other people, who by the way got 8s and a 9. If we're gonna fight those guys, we're gonna need a plan. I'm not brute forcing my way through that obstacle."

Fuyuko was starting to realize how important Asahi's advice had been. Finding strong allies was one thing, but if Piero was the kind of person who thought with his muscles, they all would have been dead by now. She had allies who were strong and smart.

"I can handle the plan," she offered. "I got these bombs now. Asahi killed three people with these things just by bein' clever about it. Just...gotta wait to get sent tools."

"And you think you'll get tools?" Piero asked.

"That'll prolly be the first thing Asahi sends me," Fuyuko said. "He knows I'm a tinkerer."

Marco examined the surrounding trees, frowning. After a moment, he scooted a bit closer to Fuyuko. "Could...could you explain how you plan on breaking us all out?"

Fuyuko shifted, biting her lip. "...U-uh, okay, here's the thing..."

Piero laughed dryly.

"No, I--the arena is a computer," Fuyuko said, keeping her voice low. "But I need somethin' with a lot o' processin' power to figure out how to shut it down. If I can get there, then...I can turn off their cameras, shut down the force field, stop them from bein' able to add anythin'...I-I'm still workin' on a plan. But--but it is possible, th-theoretically..."

"And if it doesn't work?" Piero asked lowly. "What's your plan then?"

"...Go home to Mama," Fuyuko muttered. "That's it."

Piero frowned. "...I can't let you do that if it means letting Marco die."

"I knew you'd say that," Fuyuko sighed. "I guess we'll...cross that bridge when we get there."

"...We still don't know where we're going to stay," Marco pointed out.

"Let's just go exploring for now," Piero suggested. "We'll see what the layout is like and pick a spot to make camp. We should see if there's any water sources."

Fuyuko nodded, standing. She opened one of the backpacks and shoved two mines into it, stowing the third one in another backpack. She tried to lift the one with two mines and realized it was now incredibly heavy.

Grunting, she put it on her back anyways, already anticipating sore shoulders. Marco took the backpack with one mine, along with one of the emptier ones, eyeing Fuyuko worriedly.