I do very bad things and I do them very well.
Ezra and Griffin set up camp on the highest point of the valley while Clio and Cassia gathered sticks for a fire. It was odd, to be having a fire when that was one of the last things that a tribute would want to do. Making a fire was like asking to be killed. But since Cassia was part of the Careers, she wasn't too worried about the other tributes knowing their location. It was also the first night in the arena, so she doubted tributes would be eager to start killing each other again.
Clio stood watch, her machete out in case someone decided to attack them. She thought of the other tributes that had made it out alive from the bloodbath, the weapons they had procured. During training, she had watched tributes learn how to wield weapons they probably had never held before. The majority of them were kids from strict districts that made having any kind of weapon in possession illegal. Though, she knew that if their will to survive was as strong as her own, using a weapon would be as easy as breathing.
"You're interestingly dark-haired for someone from Four," Clio mused.
Cassia squinted at the short girl, making out her feline eyes and sharp smile. There wasn't a bone in her body that trusted Clio, but playing the Games forced her to do and speak about things she never would. "My mother's family was from Twelve." It was the truth. Some people from Four were not originally from the area, and it was easy to tell. Like her and Gia, both had recognizably, though different, dark features, while someone like Evelin had a more Four-like appearance. Cassia kept her tone clipped, turning back to continue finding sticks. She made care to look out for any more red lizards or other creatures. The last thing she needed was to be killed by a stupid mutt.
A loud noise broke through the unnerving silence of the arena then; the first note of Panem's Anthem. The music was official and boring, filled with the horns of brutal victory against the thirteen districts. There were only twelve districts of course, after the war. The Capitol had destroyed the other.
Cast in the sky, the seal of Panem floated, and then one by one, the faces of dead tributes stared down at them. Cassia gripped the bundle of wood in her arms at the sight of the two tributes she had killed during the bloodbath. The first tribute she had killed was from District Three, and the other, a young boy no older than fourteen, was from District Six. His picture haunted her the most. His shaggy brown hair, large doe eyes, and slender face would surely be the subject of her nightmares for a long time.
"Twelve dead." Clio sighed when the sky closed into darkness once more. "Not including us, there's eight tributes left. That's not too many."
Cassia nodded. "I'm sure we can handle it."
"Hey, look at that."
Cassia looked up to the direction Clio was pointing in, and there was no mistaking the bright flickering of fire in the distance, about forty yards to the left of them. Whoever lit that fire was an absolute imbecile. "What do we do?" She murmured. And despite knowing exactly what Clio was going to say, she had hoped for the opposite.
"Let's get the boys."
But her and death were not done yet.
With the wood they had gathered, they went back to the temporary camp. When they arrived, both boys were already standing.
"You see it," Griffin confirmed, his sword in his hand.
Clio and Cassia nodded.
"This is going to be tricky," Griffin pointed out, "But doable."
"How many do you think are there?" Ezra asked. "They are either asking for a fight or just plain dumb if they have a fire going."
Cassia stared at the little flicker of yellow and orange flame. The human part of her wished that whoever was there was gone by the time they ambushed them, but the part that wanted to survive and win, knew that only one person would be getting out of the arena alive. And it was going to be her.
"Who cares? The faster people die, the faster this is over with." Clio hopped back and forth on her nimble feet, machete swinging.
Griffin rolled his eyes and jerked his head toward the fire. "Let's go then. Try not to step on any branches, I would rather not mess this up."
They hugged the tree line of the valley, stepping on rocks and avoiding fallen branches that would snap under their feet. They assumed the order they had from earlier, with Griffin leading them, followed by Cassia, Ezra, and then Clio at the back. The closer they got to the fire, the stronger the scent of burning wood became.
Cassia saw two figures then, sitting next to the small fire, both girls. Cassia recognized one of them as the female tribute of District Five and the other as District Ten. The tribute from District Five had a nasty cut on her cheek. Cassia knew that without proper medication, the girl would die from infection in a few days. The girl sat in front of the small fire, her almond-shaped eyes partially open. The District Ten tribute was asleep on the ground, huddled in only the clothes given to her. Both girls did not fair well after the bloodbath; from what Cassia could see, there wasn't even a backpack around.
A snap echoed. Cassia whipped her head behind her to see Ezra grimacing.
"Sorry," he whispered. Clio laughed.
Cassia heard the tribute from Five waking up Ten before she turned around. She caught Griffin's intense gaze and pulled a throwing knife from her belt. The weight of the blade in her hand grounded her for a moment, a peaceful moment before all chaos broke out.
Griffin broke into the clearing just as the two girls started running, the girl from Ten shouting, "What's happened? What's going on?"
Cassia rolled her eyes, jogging as she watched Clio slip past her, humming a bright tune. Clio was fast and even with her small frame, managed to maneuver over the roots with grace only a trained Career could do.
It didn't take long for Clio to catch up with them. Running blindly in the dark, Cassia stumbled as she heard the girl from Ten screaming. Clio was cursing at the girl.
"Please, please!" The wail of the tribute was loud enough for the entire arena to hear. However, it was cut short and a canon boomed, forever silencing the tribute.
Cassia was close behind Clio, with Griffin and Ezra a few yards away. She could make it to the other tribute before Clio did if she ran fast enough, but then she stumbled over something and fell to the ground, her knees and forearms taking the blunt of the impact. Her head hit a root and she saw tiny bursts of light flare behind her eyelids. Doubt bloomed inside her, the throbbing pain on her skull almost too much to bare. But she knew what she had to do. Gripping her knife harder, she forced herself to stand, frantically surveying the area.
Even in the dark, she could still see the fate of the tribute from Ten. Slumped at the base of a tree, the girl's eyes were enlarged and her mouth was open, her bloodied throat indistinguishable as if an animal had ripped through the flesh with razor sharp claws. It was her leg that had tripped Cassia.
Keep moving, keep moving. She threw herself into a sprint, her heart racing from the image that burned behind her eyes and her head pounding. She hoped she didn't have a concussion, that was the last thing she needed.
Panem was surely watching her, the cameras trained on all of them to see if they would succeed in their hunt. If Cassia wanted to get sponsors, she had to do this. She had to prove she was worth the investment.
She jumped over roots that came out of nowhere, threatening to trip her. She finally saw Clio only a few yards away from her, and only a couple steps away was the tribute from Five. The metal of Clio's machete glinted red and silver under the moonlight.
Gripping the hilt of her knife tighter, Cassia strained the muscles in her legs, digging her heels into the dirt, running faster than she ever had in her entire life, faster than at the bloodbath, faster than when she had encountered an alligator in the woods when she was younger. Primal fear had her run fast, but she found that determination fueled her far more.
It was a dangerous thing to do, but she couldn't witness the same fate that had happened to Ten. Sweat dripping into her eyes, Cassia drew her arm back and threw her knife, hearing it zip through the air. There was a millisecond of silence, and Cassia was unsure if it had found its target or if she had hit Clio, but then she heard the familiar thunk of impact, and she knew her knife had landed its mark.
The sound of a canon boomed.
Cassia jogged to a stop, a foot away from the tribute from Five, to see her knife sticking out of their back. Ten left.
A/N: another chapter down! what do you guys think of clio? is she a bit luny? what do you think of cassia killing all of these tributes? do you think her reasons are justified? and lastly, do you think clio will be a problem in the future?
it really helps to write this while listening to Ruelle hahah. maybe that's why cassia has gotten more violent XD.
thank you guys SO MUCH for getting this story to 13k, that's insane! i'm glad you guys are enjoying this story, i really wanted to write something like this for awhile and it means a lot to see so much support. i would also like to say thank you for your support on my last authors note, it's so wholesome to see so much positivity, lord knows we need it hahaha.
i have decided to post a funny/wholesome meme at the end of each chapter from now on, only because the games are kinda dark and i'd rather leave you guys on a light note! so, enjoy this meme! (lmk what other types of memes you wanna see!)
(i found this on redpotato526 on tumblr, idk who made the original but if you know pls lmk!) xx