Geofrey Santer's P.O.V. (D5)
I sprint through the trees, attempting to escape the view of my pursuers- Ace and Elsa. I can sense the gap closing between me and them.
I pull out my dagger as I continue running, hurdling over a log or two. Unfortunately, and typically, I miscalculate one of my jumps and my leg collides with the log, sending me flying forward. Ace and Elsa are on me in no time.
Elsa raises her sword above me, but I swing my leg, taking hers right out from under her. She lands flat on her back with a yelp as I scramble to my feet.
I don't make it far before I feel something sharp hit my side. I wince through the stinging sensation, but keep running. My side and leg is wet in seconds from what I can only assume to be my own blood. Which means I should try to get as much distance as I can between myself and them before I can't walk from blood-loss. I need to find somewhere safe so I can fix myself up.
Eventually, I pull out the object that was thrown into me, only because it was cutting in deeper as I run. As I suspected, it's a throwing-card. Specifically, the ace of clubs. I grit my teeth as I remember that Jada was also hit with an ace.
I can hear footsteps crashing on the leaves not far behind me, and I realize they're getting closer awfully fast because I'm slowing down.
I clutch my side and stumble into a tree, hugging the trunk. Somewhere back there, I dropped my knife and I lost my pack. Besides, I couldn't do much with my arm in a sling and blood pouring out of my side.
Ace reaches me and cautiously approaches. I breathe heavily, trying to fake looking worse than I am, seeing if I can get him closer. It works.
Ace creeps closer and closer, until he's finally in range. I let go of the tree and slam my fist into his jaw. Then I throw myself at him, tossing in a few more punches to his face.
The next thing Ace does takes me off guard and brings me to my knees. His hand latches around my arm injury and squeezes tighter than I could imagine. I let out a scream of pain as I feel the blood thumping in my arm under the pressure and my ears start ringing until I feel light-headed.
My good arm reaches up weakly, trying to push his hand off, but his grip is tight. My eyes are drooping from the blood-loss and the excruciating pain in my arm that feels like it's spreading through my whole body.
Ace's fist smashes into my temple as he releases my arm. I fall on my stomach, black spots appearing all over my vision, eating away at my surroundings.
I see Ace's feet in front of my eyes. I look up at his face, which is suddenly covered up by the bottom of his boot hitting my head.
BOOM!
Janice Senn's P.O.V. (D3)
The explosion of a canon ricochets off the cliffs causing a repeating echo. Two deaths already today...
Once the echo finally cuts off, we are left in a moment of dead silence. Then a low rumbling sound starts to build up in the distance. I look at Harper, who looks at me with an equally curious expression. He steps forward and pushes a branch aside, peering into the horizon.
"What do you see?" I ask.
"Not sure, but I think the arena is changing," he answers as the rumbling amplifies.
"Again?!" I exclaim, "I was just starting to get used to this!"
Harper's assumption is proven to be correct when a glowing, white wall materializes and commences it's sweep over the arena, heading toward us.
Instead of running away or waiting for it to come to us, we start running towards it, eager to see what is in store for us.
The wall comes closer and closer, tearing apart the ground to make room for its replacement.
Harper dives into the wall of light, probably hoping for water on the other side. Another water arena would be nice, I suppose. I smile and chase after him.
I pass through the wall and am immediately met with a blinding light hitting my eyes. I squint and hold up a hand as a shield, trying to adjust. A warm sheet of breeze attacks me, and I can hear what sounds like sand or dust being blown about.
When I can finally open my eyes to slits, I see Harper on his stomach in the dirt. I guess his wish didn't come true after all. No water arena for him.
"You good?" I ask, helping him up.
He brushes the dust off his sleeves and jacket, muttering a barely-audible, "Yeah."
I hold my hand over my eyes as protection from the extreme sun beaming down on us as I scan our surroundings.
Harper and I appear to have wound up in a desert of some sort. I slowly turn around, making a full circle. For most of it, all I see is dirt, sand and an occasional cactus plant. Then I spot something through the clouds of unsettled sand being blown around us. It looks like a cluster of houses grouped together about a mile away. It's like a town or something.
"Harper!" I call, pointing towards the cluster.
Harper raises his arm to keep sand from being blown into his eyes, "We should go there before this sandstorm picks up. It's getting worse by the second." I can barely make out what he's saying over the howling wind.
"Okay then! What are we waiting for?"
Fynn Salasi's P.O.V. (D7)
"What the actual heck is wrong with the Gamemakers this year?!" I hear a familiar voice approaching the cornucopia.
Kara.
I peer outside the horn and see Kara's small figure marching towards me through the strong wind. She storms into the horn, tearing off her jacket and tossing it on the ground carelessly.
"Where's Elsa and Ace?" I question as she gulps down half a water-bottle.
"Oh, I split up with them somewhere. I'm sure they're gonna have so much fun finding their way back in this storm. We might not see them until tomorrow," Kara replies, screwing the lid back on the bottle and throwing it into an empty bin.
"So did you make a kill?" I ask, changing the subject, "I heard two canons go off."
"I don't know who the second canon was for, but the first one..." Kara pauses to smirk, "That was me. It was perfect timing too. Dylan was just talking about how he wanted to propose to his stupid girlfriend, but then I dropped in and planted a knife in his gut. Thanks to Wesley, I didn't get to stay around to watch the show."
I remain silent, trying to imagine how awful that must've been for Emma to see. Kara is such a twisted little psycho, it makes me angry just to be in the same vicinity as her. I wish I wasn't alone with her either. I feel vulnerable, but I keep trying to remind myself that she's just a twelve-year-old girl, and I'm sixteen and can use an axe. I can take her down if I wanted to.
I notice her looking at me weirdly. She raises an eyebrow, "What's with you?"
"What do you mean?" I ask, trying to act natural.
"You look like you're scared or something," she says, glancing at a rack of weapons.
"No, I'm not," I insist, "Why would I be scared."
"Because you should be..." Kara replies, sending a chill tingling down my spine.
I stare at her for a second, but shake my head and casually walk away. I walk over to a crate that I left my axe on, just in case Kara tries something stupid.
Kara let's out a short laugh of amusement, "You're funny."
I glare at her as she smirks back. Then she lies down on a sleeping bag and closes her eyes, but it feels like she's still watching me through her closed eyelids.
Unsettled, I walk to the mouth of the cornucopia to see if Ace an Elsa are back yet. Unfortunately, I don't see a thing. Just a dense wall of sand that drowns out everything else.
I frown and turn around to head back into the shelter of the cornucopia. Before I get the chance to fully turn around, something hits me on the head, stunning me. I fall forward on my hands and knees, surprised and confused.
A kick to my ribs knocks me onto my side, the air knocked out of my chest. I cough for air, looking up at my attacker.
"Kara, what are you-"
She kicks again, "What do you think I'm doing?"
She laughs like a maniac, as if she's enjoying this moment. I hear something snap as she performs another swift kick to my ribs. I cry out and clutch the area of impact.
"You know, Fynn, you should've seen this coming," Kara says as she walks over to the rack of knives she was eyeing before, "You knew I was going to kill you all along. All of you. It's really too bad Scarlett isn't here too. She would've been equally entertaining for me."
My jaw clenches and my ragged breaths become heavy with anger. My fist closes tightly until my knuckles turn white. Kara slowly starts approaching me with a knife as I attempt to crawl to my axe.
"You never could've saved her," she rubs in, "Scarlett's death was inevitable, like everyone else's. You just didn't know it would end so soon. You would've expected more from a volunteer, like herself, am I right?"
"Stop..."
"Why? All I'm doing is pointing out the truth that you clearly couldn't see," Kara sneers, "You couldn't save her, and now nobody can save you either."
Kara's feet stop directly in front of my face. She looks down at me with a sadistic smile. My axe is so close, just a few feet away.
"And now it's time for you to die."
Kara raises her foot, but before she can do anything, I scoop up a handful of dirt and throw it at her face. She shrieks and desperately rubs her eyes.
I take this as my chance and stand up, still clutching my ribs as I dash over to the crate which my axe is resting on. My fingers wrap around the handle, but Kara suddenly yanks it out of my grip and tosses it out into the storm.
I throw myself at her, maneuvering her into a headlock. She struggles and growls in my hold. My cheek explodes with pain as she head-butts her head into my face, and she slams her elbow viciously into my cracked ribs. I yell, gritting my teeth and staggering backwards.
Kara massages her neck, laughing, "I'll hand it to you, you sure can put up a fight. But it won't be long before you'll be on your way back to your District in a body-bag. I'll make sure of that."
I yell in anger and run at her suddenly, landing a punch on her stomach. Her eyes widen in surprise as she hunches over. I swing my leg at hers, causing her to loose balance and topple over. She grunts as she makes contact with the ground, her knife dropping out of her hand.
She reaches for the knife, but I stomp my foot over her hand before she can get it. Kara screams, but it turns into a laugh as she suddenly grabs the knife with her other hand and plunges it into my foot.
I immediately take the pressure off her hand, drawing in a sharp breath as I fall backwards. I have a feeling I won't be able to get back up. My ribs are on fire and my foot pulses and throbs as blood seeps into my boot.
Kara stands above me, shaking her hand and wincing, the knife in her other hand. She shoots me a deadly glare, murder in her piercing blue eyes.
"You'll pay for that!"
She jumps onto my stomach and lands a solid punch on my jaw to stun me. I blink repeatedly, trying to break out of my daze. Kara roughly turns my head to the side and holds it in place. Then I feel a sharp sting on my cheek as she digs her knife into my skin. I scream and try to push or punch her, but she pins one of my hands down with her knee, and the other with her boot.
I struggle and kick as she continues carving away at my face, a wide smile forming on her lips. I yell and scream, but that only seems to please Kara even more. Blood is streaming down my face by the time she's done. The taste of blood fills my mouth and I spit it out on Kara's face, which contorts with disgust and rage.
"Why, you little-"
She sends a crushing punch to my jaw again, causing blood to splatter onto the ground and stars appear in my vision. My life flashes before my eyes as Kara delivers punch after punch.
I can see District Seven, I remember the beauty of the forests when Spring brought life to it. Delicate buds of every color bloomed on every tree day after day, waking up from Winter's cold sleep. And I remember when the leaves transformed to their magnificent Fall colors. I remember the good times Scarlett and I had when we played in the woods, climbing trees and enjoying their beauty.
And I remember Scarlett. My beautiful little sister who could make a stormy day sunny with her bright smile and fiery red hair. Even though life wasn't fair, we still got through it because we had each other...
Kara finally cuts back on punching and just sits there, staring at me and breathing heavily. Her knee and foot finally pull away from my hands, but everything is spinning so much that I can't even seem to lift my arms.
My leg erupts in pain as Kara slowly sinks her bloody knife into it, but I can't seem to do anything about it. My arms refuse to move, and my ribs hurt too badly to sit up. So I can do nothing but lay there as Kara stabs her knife into my stomach before slashing it across my throat.
My head rolls to the side as blood pours out onto the ground and splatters Kara's clothes and skin. A drop of blood trickles down my chin as I close my eyes.
BOOM!
~~~~~
Sooo...rip Fynn? Sorry about that... I hope it wasn't too sad or gory for you guys, but let me just say that it wasn't an easy chapter to write. I was literally cringing through most of it.
Bleh!
So on a lighter note, what do you think of the new and last arena change? Obviously, you'll get more details in the next chapter, and you'll find out what the special attraction is for it soon enough.
(Unedited version)
~MK