The 150th Annual Hunger Games

Death Toll (Day Two)

Janice Senn's P.O.V. (D3)

Steve and I finally drag ourselves onto the white, sandy beach of the tropical-looking island and flop onto our backs, exhausted.

Steve groans, "Oh man, I'm gonna be so sore tomorrow."

I hear footsteps from the jungle and tilt my head up. Because I'm laying on the ground, Harper appears to be walking upside down as he approaches us, an opened coconut in one hand and his trident in the other. He is smiling from ear to ear as he takes a seat on the sand between Steve and I. Both Steve and myself are too tired to even sit up, while Harper is sipping away calmly at his coconut. I almost envy him for being the good swimmer that he is. Since he's from District Four, he was able to swim to the island far quicker than us, and he's probably been waiting here for half an hour or so.

"Have a nice swim, you two?" Harper asks as he finishes his coconut and tosses it aside.

"Oh, shut up," Steve mutters as he sits up, dripping with water. Harper's hair looks only a little damp because he had time for it to dry.

"What? Can't I celebrate a bit for getting to do the Games in an arena that suites me?" Harper smiles, laying back on the sand, crossing his legs and folding his arms under his head as a pillow.

Steve rolls his eyes and pulls off his drenched jacket, tossing it on Harper. Harper sits up with a jolt, grabbing the jacket and throwing it back in Steve's face, "Seriously, man? I was just starting to dry off!"

"Oh, I thought you liked water," Steve shoots back with a little laugh.

I sit up before they can go on, "Where'd you get that coconut, Harper?"

He jerks his thumb towards the jungle, "I left two of them behind a plant on the edge of the jungle for you guys, since I had so much time to spare, waiting for you guys to finally show up. The packs are up there too."

I chuckle, "Thanks. I'll go get them."

I walk up to the jungle, hearing Steve and Harper start picking on each other again. Even though it's already getting dark, it's still warm out, so I take off my jacket and hang it over my shoulder. When I get over there, I can just put it with the packs. Since Harper is the strongest swimmer, we had him carry both packs with him, but he still managed to get here before us.

I find the bush Harper had pointed to and brush aside the big leaves. I immediately release a scream when I see a girl crouched there, going through our packs and holding the coconuts in her arm. She looks startled too as she jumps away from the supples, dropping the coconuts and trying to inch further away. I notice a maroon stripe on her jacket sleeve, with a noticeable '6' printed on it. Myx Averice...

"Please don't kill me..." she pleads, glancing nervously at the handle of my sword poking out of one of the packs, and back at me.

I relax, realizing she won't harm me. She doesn't have any supplies or weapons. But suddenly, Harper rushes past me over to Myx, trident raised and yelling. Myx curls into a ball on the ground, covering her head with her hands as Harper shoves her with his foot and raises his trident above his head.

"Wait!" I shout, grabbing hold of his trident.

Harper's head turns so he can look at me with a confused expression.

"What are you doing?" he demands, "She was stealing our stuff!"

"Only because she doesn't have any," I point out, "You would do the same if you were alone and had no food or weapons to protect yourself with!"

Harper glares at Myx and starts scanning the jungle with his eyes. He glares at Myx again, wrenching the trident out of my grasp and pointing it at her, "You are alone, right?"

"Y-yes!" Myx responds, teary-eyed, "I swear."

Harper tightens his grip on the trident, "If you're lying-"

"I'm not!" Myx confirms, holding up her hands, "I had three allies, but two of them died at the bloodbath and Cole was...he was killed by the Career Pack..."

"Cole? I didn't see him in the death toll yesterday," Steve says thoughtfully behind me.

"That's because it happened just this morning!" Myx says, "I'm really not lying, please!"

"Why would we trust you?" Harper asks, stepping closer.

"Harper, come on," I say, "Just let her stay with us. There's no reason why we shouldn't trust her either. I mean, look at her, do you think she'd kill us?"

After a moment, Harper finally lowers his trident and stomps away. Steve follows him to the edge of the beach, while I help Myx to her feet.

"Thank you...I promise I won't kill any of you guys. I don't think I could ever do that..." Myx says innocently.

"It's okay," I smile, handing her one of the coconuts, "I'm Janice, by the way."

"Thanks, Janice," Myx takes the coconut.

I point to Steve and Harper and tell Myx who is who as we walk back over to them. I bring the packs with me this time. We all sit down and eat the coconuts and go through our supplies again. A lot of the food was soaked with water, so we throw it away. Only the tightly-packaged food is okay. As for the weapons, I still have my sword, obviously Harper still has his trident, and Steve has his mace attached to his belt. Myx apologizes for not having any packs or weapons. She said she and Cole had stolen a few packs and weapons from the cornucopia earlier today, but that was how Cole was killed. She managed to get away with two packs and an axe and spear, but she lost everything when the arena changed.

"Real convenient of the Gamemakers to decide to change the arena like that," Steve mutters.

Harper remains silent. I'm surprised he didn't say something about how he loves the new arena because of all the water. He seems uneasy, and he is constantly checking what Myx is doing. I can tell he doesn't want her around. Maybe he doesn't believe her about Cole.

Suddenly the sky lights up, projecting the Capitol seal on the arena dome. We all look up as the anthem starts playing and the faces of the dead appear in order.

First up is Cole Winston, from Myx's District. Beneath his name is Ace Dawford's name.

Myx bites her lip, and Harper glances at her again. Maybe now he trusts her a little better, knowing that she was telling the truth about Cole.

Only one more face pops up before the sky goes dark again. That face belongs to Jordin Clouke, from District Ten. Jada Quinton's name appears below his.

When the sky turns back to normal, Harper stands up and starts walking towards the jungle. I stand up and follow him.

"Where are you going?" I ask, catching up with him.

"To get some firewood," he replies in a monotone voice.

I roll my eyes, "Come on, Harper, it's the Hunger Games! We need more allies if we want to get through this. There's power in numbers."

"Yeah," he turns to me as he picks up a stick and points it at me, "It's the Hunger Games! Which is exactly the reason why I don't trust her. She could grab our weapons at any time and kill us off in the night, because that's what anyone would do if they are willing to win. What I don't understand is how you can so easily believe that she doesn't have what it takes to kill. Anyone can kill when the time comes, Janice, they just need to have the drive to do it. And Janice, everyone in this arena has the drive...including Myx."

I keep my mouth shut. I feel like if I say anything else, he could get mad and possibly leave the alliance. I would rather have Harper with me than against me, especially since the arena has changed to a water theme, his speciality. I just help him gather the rest of the firewood and bring it back to the others on the beach.

We light a fire and get settled for the night. Of course, anyone could have guessed it, Harper volunteers to take watch, but he doesn't tell anyone else to takeover for him when he gets tired.

Nobody questions him. We just lay down in the sand and eventually fall asleep from the calming sound of waves crashing onto the shore and the chirps of various insects from the jungle behind us.