Riordan was enraged, "You told him to make them his first targets? You're interfering in my Games. Their story would be so fascinating. The Capitol would love it. Ratings would soar!"
"I am the president," Clair shot back. "You answer to me, and I want those two dead by the end of the bloodbath. If what we think is true, it could cause chaos..."
◼▲◼
Venus Aphrodite's perky voice rung throughout the Arena, "Tributes, let the countdown for the Twenty-fourth Hunger Games begin!"
Directly after her words, the tributes internally counted the 60 seconds until the gong would sound. Step off a second before, and the mines underneath would blow them sky high.
The tributes were on a grassy plateau on top of a small hill. From the centre of the Cornucopia, a good thirty meters of running would take the tributes down the slope, and in another half of that distance, into the rest of the Arena.
Around the hill were four types of natural environments split into equal quarters. Meadow, desert, rainforest, and frozen wasteland.
The sky was a brilliant blue, not a cloud to be seen. The sun shined down on the tributes, and they were already feeling the heat.
The tributes, as usual, were standing on platforms all around the gold Cornucopia, 10 feet apart from one another.
The Cornucopia, or the "horn of plenty," was filled with all kinds of supplies. Food, backpacks, weapons, medicine, clothes, fire starters...etc. Strewn around the Cornucopia were other items, their value decreasing the farther they were from the horn.
The Careers and Luke had their sights on the mouth of the Cornucopia and nowhere else.
Jason was eyeing a bright blue backpack ten paces away. Thalia and Annabeth had similar targets.
Octavian positioned himself to run for a fancy knife by the horn's opening.
Leo and Travis gave each other a cryptic look. Travis indicated his head to his right — the split between the forest and meadows, and Leo nodded to show he understood, then focused on minor items scattered nearby. Matches...rope...
Bianca searched for her brother. He must've been on the other side of the Cornucopia, because she couldn't see him. She spotted a nearby sleeping bag. It wasn't very cold now, but hot days almost always meant cold nights in the Arena. She found Will three tributes away on her right, and pointed towards Nico, mouthing that they should go that way — to the forest.
Will nodded, and he waved at Nico and passed on the information. In the process, Will caught sight of his district partner and her mischievous expression, and rapidly shook his head at her, seeing what her plan was.
In her skilled fingers, Calypso turned over the little pouch she'd weaved in the Training Centre. She'd filled it with coffee beans, so now it was like a sort of beanbag.
The closest malicious tributes were Octavian and Perseus. The latter was a Career, but he didn't seem very harmful to her...
She smirked at the sky, then hurled her token at Octavian's feet.
He only had time to let out a high-pitched shriek when his platform exploded.
Dirt and gore rained upon the plain, and the tributes gawked at Calypso in shocked silence. She only calmly brushed the dust off of her shoulders.
Gong!
There was no time to waste. Twenty-three teens leaped to action. Calypso and Katie retreated instantly, grabbing the supplies nearest to them. Katie to the meadows with a bundle of thin clothes, and Calypso into the forest with a roll of twine.
Leo grabbed an empty water bottle and matches, then bolted in the direction Travis had told him to go.
Rachel had her hands on a thin green blanket and a loaf of bread, and nimbly evaded Nyssa, disappearing down the slope to the woods.
Thalia and Jason each had a backpack, and turned to race for the woods. Annabeth followed, holding a box of basic medicine and a small plastic bag full of grapes. Jason was delayed by Meg, who grabbed for his pack.
Nyssa and Ethan fiercely grappled over an all-weather tent, with Ethan chucking a nearby thermos at her so she let go.
Nico went for a small paring knife laying on a black jacket halfway to the Cornucopia, but he got knocked down by an eager Bryce. Nico's token fell out of his pocket, and he dazedly got to his feet.
By then, the Careers had made it to the gold Cornucopia.
Piper burst out armed with a shiny dagger between her teeth and hands full of four throwing knives each. Clarisse was right behind her, wielding two spears.
Bryce snatched up a long knife and an axe, instantly going for Bianca, who was running past the Cornucopia with her sleeping bag.
Ethan had almost made it down the hill, but looked back just in time to get a dagger through the left eye and another in his lower back. Piper's next blade sliced a line in Thalia's shoulder.
Jason had decided to take off his backpack, letting Meg have it. Thalia gestured for him to hurry, and he followed her, "Go first! I'll catch up!"
Clarisse hurled her spear, and its point sank between directly Jason's shoulder blades, and he hit the dirt face-first.
"JASON!" Thalia howled. Annabeth's face was aghast, but she yanked at her friend, and they barely stumbled away to safety, Piper's fourth knife sailing over Annabeth's head as she ducked.
Bianca spotted Nico's toy figurine in the grass and bent down quickly, "Nico, you dropped —"
Bryce slashed Bianca in the back with his knife, and she fell hard on her side, crying out. He cackled aloud, stepping on her face as he sunk his axe into her chest.
"NO!" Nico screamed, stumbling towards her.
Clarisse made for Will Solace, who'd picked up a camo jacket. She struck him on the head with the butt of another spear, and as he flopped facedown into the earth, she stabbed downwards. He rolled out of the way and she missed his spine, but the javelin entered and exited his forearm, cracking through bone, and he shouted in pain.
She only had time to jerk it out — nearly taking his arm with it — when Frank tackled her. The bloody spear went flying, and they rolled and fought fiercely as Will got to his feet, awkwardly running off and trying to wrap the jacket around his arm. He stopped halfway down the hill and scanned for Nico, but he spied Piper aiming a knife at him and had to retreat into the desert.
Frank began running to Hazel. Clarisse held her ribs, one of them fractured, but she grunted and picked up her weapon.
Meanwhile, Meg was downed as Silena slammed a spear through her heart. Then the Career hesitated, walking backwards. Frank shoved her to the ground and took the lifeless Meg's backpack. "Hazel! Come on!" Silena moaned on the grass, holding her head.
Hazel had a medicine kit clutched to her chest, and she yelled that she was coming, but was stopped by something she saw.
Bryce was wildly swinging his axe at Nico, and she dropped the kit and rushed to him, protectiveness flaring up in her.
"Hazel!" Frank shouted again. He was about to follow only to be blocked by Clarisse, who brandished her blood-soaked spear at him.
Nico ducked as Bryce's metal blade swiped over his head, and continuously took steps backwards. Hazel grabbed Bryce's arm, by some miracle restraining him. "Go, Nico!"
He looked back at his sister's body, whimpering, "Bianca..."
"GO!" Hazel screamed, not hearing him. Bryce yelled in rage, and headbutted her, though she didn't release him.
Frank grabbed onto Clarisse's spear and pushed her aside, barreling towards Hazel. Bryce saw him and panicked, throwing Hazel off him in a burst of strength and slamming his axe into Frank's head.
"PIPER!" Bryce roared, turning to her as Hazel staggered away. His expression was feral as he pointed at Nico. "SOMEBODY GET HIM!"
Nico was fleeing towards the forest. Piper flung back her throwing arm and let the knife fly. Clarisse's spear landed between his legs and he tripped over it as Piper's blade flew past his skull. Her next one lodged in his side, only missing his vital organs because he'd rolled himself to the left.
"KILL HIM!" Bryce continued to bellow, flinging Frank's corpse aside, but Nico was already stumbling away from the hill and out of view.
"You idiot!" Bryce hollered, waving his axe at Clarisse.
Clarisse glowered, fists clenched and shaking, "Why are you so upset, Lawrence?!"
Piper snatched the long dagger from her jaws. "Stop it, you morons!"
Regardless of her orders, the two were sparring, spitting insults like white fire.
All the while, Percy guarded the opening of the Cornucopia with a bronze sword with Luke, not letting anyone besides Careers inside. Beckendorf was nearby, though his help wasn't really necessary, and Percy sensed that he didn't want to help anyway.
He watched Silena chase down Nyssa and skewer her neck as she tried to run with a med kit. Hazel escaped soon after, having to zigzag to avoid stepping on Jason's and Travis's blood-soaked bodies.
Percy stared at his spotless sword and sighed.
◼▲◼
The bloodbath ended with seven sounds of a cannon.
Piper and Percy had broken up Clarisse and Bryce's brawl, and the two stood five feet apart, seething.
Luke's sword hung at his side. He'd snagged a sheath and belt in the Cornucopia. "Let's clear out so the bodies can get cleaned up."
Piper plucked some of her throwing knives out of various corpses and followed Luke out of the clearing, cleaning them with a handful of grass.
Clarisse took the javelin out of Jason's back, then stabbed him again for good measure. She yanked it out and the seven of them disappeared into the forest.
Travis relaxed, listening intently for any sign of the Careers returning, but there were none. He got to his feet, wiping Jason's blood off his face with disgust.
Faking his death had been easy enough, but he wouldn't forget having to place his fingers on Jason's bleeding back to get the blood.
Travis quickly found a large brown duffel bag, and he filled it with as many supplies and weapons as he dared, before quietly disappearing down the hill to find Leo.
◼▲◼
"Who gets to go hunting?" Bryce asked.
The Careers glared at each other. They were fully armed and back at the Cornucopia, without all the bloody remains.
"Fine, I'll guard," Silena said, though she'd already been planning to. "My head is hurting anyway. Luke can stay with me."
Luke nodded, giving her a secret smile. Still, she wondered if there was more to his plan than he'd admitted.
The rest exchanged glances. "Sounds alright with me," Clarisse said, examining the blood on her spear. "I can't believe I only got one kill."
"It's because we have a lot of cowards this year," Bryce said, bad-tempered. "So many were running off before we could get our weapons."
"I wonder why," Percy snorted. Silena wanted to slap a gag over her district partner's mouth. Bryce was in a terrible mood and she didn't want to delay things with another quarrel.
Bryce grit his teeth, "You didn't kill anyone. We could've gotten more than a dozen kills if you and Luke had done more besides defence. Same with you, Beckendorf."
"Defence is just as important," Silena spoke up, wanting to shield the three from his wrath. "They were the reason why we didn't have to worry about anyone else getting weapons. In fact, no one but us got any."
Piper shrugged. "She's right about that. I mean, except the boy from 12, who has a knife in him."
Bryce rolled his eyes. "Of course you'd agree. You scored an eleven but didn't match up. Why didn't you kill more?"
She scowled. "I was busy breaking up your fight with Clarisse, idiot!"
He shrugged. "Fine, whatever. Anyways, we're leaving. Beckendorf, you stay too. You need enough people to have proper sleep shifts." He slung a full backpack over his shoulder, "Let's go. We'll be back in two days, tops. Then some of us will switch."
Clarisse, Percy, Bryce, and Piper marched off. Silena looked at Luke urgently, but he mouthed, it's fine. His plan would still work.
The two of them walked away from the entrance of the Cornucopia while Charles flipped over a plastic bin and sat on it, biting into an apple. "Where are you guys going?"
"Bathroom break," Luke said casually. "I'll be behind the horn."
Silena indicated her bleeding head, hoping Charles wouldn't find them suspicious. "I'm going to find some bandages."
"Alright," Beckendorf said, propping his sword across his lap.
Luke led Silena out of earshot, "Thanks for helping me. You're an angel."
"It's no problem," she blushed. He's so charming, she thought helplessly. Though she'd begun to develop a crush on Beckendorf, it was hard to let go of Luke's handsome face.
In silence, the two gathered supplies into the biggest backpack they could find. Food, clothes, an extra bag, weapons, medicine, and other tools.
In minutes he'd disappeared from the Cornucopia, towards the forest.
Silena opened a med kit, and was treating her wound when she heard the cannon, and then rustling grass.
Had her allies already found someone and took their life? She returned to the Cornucopia's opening, wrapping a bandage around her head.
She screamed upon seeing Beckendorf face down, bleeding from his throat into the grass. There was only one explanation.
Luke.
The sight of her slain teammate made her nauseous, and she crumpled to her knees, the bandage slipping from her grasp.
Silena suddenly did not want to kill another human. She'd slaughtered the girl from 3 and a 12-year-old kid and now Charles was dead at her feet. Perhaps she deserved it.
Maybe she even deserved the icy blade that entered her back, followed with Luke's whisper, "Goodbye, Silena."
◼▲◼
"Did you see where Katie went?" Travis asked, late in the evening. He and Leo were concealed halfway up a leafy tree. They were half a mile from the Cornucopia, well-hidden among the leaves.
Leo nodded his head, filling a small backpack Travis had picked up. "She went to the meadows. Are you sure you want to go after her?"
Travis sighed, "Not if she went there. Not much cover, and despite our best efforts, we aren't plant experts."
Leo tapped something into the bark. "I hate that Nyssa died...She didn't seem to like me, but I wanted her to win."
"Hey," Travis gripped his shoulder, "don't blame yourself. I know you also feel guilty about something that happened with your mom and dad, but don't. You're this remorseful, so there's no way you meant for it to happen. It's not your fault."
"I guess," Leo said, unconvinced. Then his tone turned hopeful, "At least Calypso got away. I don't know where she went, but she might've ended up in the same place as Katie, and they could form an alliance."
Travis covered his lips, speaking quietly so the cameras wouldn't pick up, "I don't think the Gamemakers would want Calypso to win."
Leo frowned, "Why?"
"She's too openly angry at the Capitol. And after that stunt she did with the bomb, there's no way they won't ensure her death."
Travis regretted saying it, because his ally looked guilty again. He had been the one to give Calypso the idea.
"There weren't a lot of deaths at the bloodbath this time," Leo noticed, changing the subject.
"Yeah," Travis agreed, "that means the tributes are smarter this year. We need to be careful."
"Earlier I heard two cannons," Leo added. "Do you know who they were?"
"I heard a scream after the first cannon that sounded like Piper or the girl from 4. Someone must have ambushed the people guarding the horn. Maybe it was Luke. I always suspected that he'd joined to betray them."
It was cold, so when Leo shivered Travis wasn't sure of the cause. "That's a brutal plan," Leo remarked.
"It must've worked though. Get some rest — I'll keep first watch. Right now it's too dangerous to be walking around, and we need the energy to find water tomorrow."
He'd looked through a lot of the crates and bins at the Cornucopia, knowing the hovercrafts wouldn't appear until after he left, but the waterskins and water bottles were all empty. He hadn't come across any trace of a water source either.
Leo nodded. He slid into his sleeping bag and leaned against the trunk. "Got it."
I'm coming back to you, Connor, Travis thought to himself, surveying the forest floor and turning the dull silver ring below his knuckle. Bet on it.
◼▲◼
In a small cave deep in the forest, Annabeth gazed at their supplies. It was dark, and the anthem would play soon. Thalia sat huddled in the corner, sobbing with rage and sadness. Annabeth had tried to bandage her cut shoulder, but Thalia had angrily shaken her off, making the blood well up faster.
"It's not fair," Thalia gasped, tearing her hand through her short black hair, "these Games aren't fair. If I was determined enough to do something, shouldn't I deserve to succeed? How could the world just take him away from me? Just like that?"
Life isn't fair, Annabeth's mother had said once, when she'd been very very young. It does not owe you anything just because you're a good person, or because you work hard.
It was sad and discouraging, but it was true. She didn't feel like it would help Thalia's situation though, and neither would saying sorry, so she kept quiet.
The anthem played, and Annabeth went out to see today's deaths. The opening of the cave was narrow, so she had to turn sideways to get through.
To her surprise, the boy from 2 was the first to be shown. His name was Charles, she remembered. Next was the girl from 3, then Silena Beauregard.
Annabeth swallowed. Luke must have killed her and Beckendorf. She'd been on the fence about this part of the plan, which had been Luke's idea.
She wanted him to just knock out Silena, but she also knew he'd be making a huge enemy out of her if he left her alive. She told Luke it was his call, and he'd chosen.
On one hand, there were less Careers to deal with. On the other, the rest of the Careers would now be running back to the Cornucopia to find out what happened, and would instantly begin tracking down Luke, decreasing his chance of survival. And murdering people...that was something she'd wanted to avoid.
And the second part of the plan was dangerous. She wondered if Luke had decided to do it. She wanted to go out and climb a tree to check, but it wasn't worth the risk.
After Silena came Jason's handsome face, and Annabeth's heart fell at the reminder of his death. It truly was unfair, and she felt so terrible for Thalia, who'd volunteered for the Games for the sole purpose of protecting her little brother.
Then it was the young girl and skinny boy from 9. Throwing your token at another person was a clever idea, but also a stupid one. She doubted the Gamemakers had appreciated it, and she was surprised Calypso was still alive. Waiting until the countdown was almost up was a good call on her part, otherwise she would've been blown up as punishment.
She saw the stocky boy from 10, then the boy and girl from 11.
That made a total of 9 dead on the first day, and 15 remaining.
Thalia's cries had hushed somewhat, and Annabeth went back inside to comfort her friend.
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