Author Games - Ghost Town

Task 3 - Male Entries

Clement Janwerd Jr

 Okay, I'll admit it. I dozed off on duty. I'm only human, okay? Gimme a break. The Bloodbath succeeded in killing enemies and depleting my energy entirely; I've no clue why I volunteered for guard duty.

Clara shook me awake as the sun hit the horizon, casting a dim light over us. "Wh- what's goin' on?" I yawned, stretching my arms above my head. I vaguely noticed I was sweating, probably a sign of a change in the arena. Clara fanned her face, sweat dripping down her cheeks. The heat is getting stronger, and the air is beginning to feel humid.

I turn my face, gazing out across the ruined city- no- arena. Fog lazily drifted over cinder blocks, padding closer to us. Glancing to my ankles, I note the proximity. Forget it moving closer; it's already surrounding us, and it's growing. The air around us smells slightly earthy, with a tinge of something undefinable. A cannon goes off, alerting us of a death.

Something is off; this isn't quite right. I glance worriedly to Clara, furrowing my eyebrows. Another cannon explodes in the distance.

"We need to-," Clara starts, but is interrupted by a coughing attack. "We need to wake everyone up!" My throat begins to ache terribly as the fog lifts it's way up to face height. Inhaling the fog seems to be deadly, or at least very harmful.

By the time we shove awake our alliance, the sun has risen in the sky. I estimates it's about 9 AM back home, where they still have working clocks. As we stand around coughing and fanning our faces to clear the smoke, I try to think. We can't just stand here forev-

"Guys!" Clara shouts, running to the crates of supplies. "Guys! Take apart the boxes to fan away the smoke!" Clara begins to feverishly  try to rip apart a box. I quickly jog over to her, simply lifting off the lid. She grins sheepishly, accepting it from me as she begins to fan. The smoke almost immediately begins to clear, allowing us to breath clearly. I sigh in relief as my throat clears, the deadly smoke disappearing. Suddenly Caella points out into the distance, where the silhouette of a tribute is approaching though the sense smoke. It separates into two, and they begin to look vaguely familiar. The larger, menacing one must be David, and the other takes the form of Blake, a guy I sure as hell did not get along with in training. You could say I have a grudge. I would say that as well. What, did you think I would disagree?

Backing up to Clara, I take the fan for her, preferring distance rather than the action. Besides, if we let the fog come back, we'll all die anyways. Clara pulls out her spear, and Winter and Aero mimics with their weapons. Vernetta seems to have disappeared, oh well. Winter draws an arrow and notches it, raising the bow in warning to the two far-off tributes. David acknowledges it, trying to make Blake stop; he refuses, stubbornly limping past the older boy and towards us. I was just about to suggest that maybe they want an alliance- or something- but Clara coldly snaps, "Kill them."

Before I can react, Winter has shot David in the eye, and Aero launched a spear that lodged itself in Blake's neck. There's nothing I can do now but continuously fan. The smoke isn't relenting; in fact it has grown thicker, and harder to fan back. Flora grabs a lid to match mine and fans away the poison as well, as if she had read my mind. The whole alliance takes turns after an hour of fanning, making sure to keep the deadly fog at bay.

At around sunset, the poison begins to slowly decline until there is nothing left but the rubble that stood before. I sigh in relief, dropping the fan; my arms are aching terribly from all the fanning. The anthem clicks on overhead, display the dead tributes of the day. As I expected, Blake and David looked down upon us. Two more faces shone as well: Aspen and Alex, the male twin. I wonder what his sister is thinking. Probably relief; Alex seemed crazy, evil, and just plain ol' messed up. Why would he want to go in with his sister if only one of them can come out alive, unless it was to kill her? Like I said, messed up, right?