Day 2
The sun rises over the arena on Day 2. The Outsiders and Brutal Brunettes (formerly Alliance #1) are both making their way up the Mountain, the Infinity Alliance is positioned on the East side of the island at the base of the Mountain and edge of the Jungle, and Rose and Helia are moving through the Jungle. The Beach Huts on the West coast sit empty.
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It’s early morning and The Outsiders have slowed their pace. They’ve struggled throughout the morning as the Mountain is unstable and several times the footholds and rocks lining their path have given way. The foliage, although beautiful, is obstructive and makes the hike harder. Finally they can see the top of the mountain and begin to pick up their pace. The sound of nearby chomping catches everyone’s attention and Indiana Rose (D3) points out the goat that’s eating some leaves close by.
“We could try and kill it for food,” she suggests. Meena Flammia (D9) nods in agreement and pulls out a knife, aiming it at its neck, but then the goat looks up at them and bares its teeth. They’re unnaturally sharp for a mountain goat and its horns are large and curved, oozing some kind of sickly looking liquid. The goat bleats and a few more congregate around it. Everyone in the alliance goes still.
“I think those are mutts,” says Aster Shay (D7), her voice faltering as she curls into herself. Finn Cressy (D10) wraps her arms around the younger girl protectively. She seems pensive.
“I think I have an idea,” Finn offers tentatively. “We learn back in Ten that goats are attracted to the salt in urine. Maybe… maybe if someone pees far away, they’ll leave us alone.” Everyone looks a bit put off by this suggestion, but Amaury Cohen (D6) quickly comes to her defense.
“I think that’s a great idea, Finn,” he gives her shoulder an affectionate pat. “And since I’m the only guy here, I guess I’ll get to do the honors.” He walks slowly over to a flat, barren patch of land about 50 feet away from the rest of the group and quickly does his business and then returns. The five tributes hold their breaths and watch as the small herd of goat muttations meander over to the puddle of urine. Sufficiently distracted, they pay no mind to The Outsiders as they slowly and quietly walk further up the mountain, rocks in hand in case they are attacked.
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On the other side of the Mountains, the Brutal Brunettes face a similarly difficult hike. It’s only made worse by Athena Wright (D2) and Ashlynn Reid’s (D8) injuries. It’s still quite early in the morning when they finally make it to a nice, flat area and are able to make camp.
“Amara would have loved the view from here,” Athena says, looking up at the fresh morning sky as she lowers herself onto the ground. The beeping of parachutes catches the girls’ attention as two float down, one for Athena and one for Ashlynn. Athena’s mentor has sent her a regular healing balm for her arm and Ashlynn’s sent a stronger healing balm for her shark bite. The latter sighs in relief as she cleans her inflamed calf, smothering the cooling cream on before wrapping it back up with her windbreaker.
With nothing else to do and exhausted from the hike, the girls decide to sit back and nap, taking turns keeping watch. Jadette Topaz (D1) offers to keep first watch and the other two girls graciously oblige. They don’t get much sleep, though, as a few minutes later they’re being roused awake by Jadette. She holds a finger to her lips for them to be quiet and points at a pig.
“What is it?” Ashlynn asks, beginning to sit up and gather her things.
“A pig… kind of?” Jadette replies hesitantly. The pig is completely black but its eyes are an unnatural yellow color and its snout seems longer than normal. It’s also much larger than any normal pig they’ve seen. More emerge from the greenery, some with large tusks, and begin to approach the camp.
“We should make our way down the mountain,” Athena whispers, and Ashlynn and Jadette nod. “I’ll help Ashlynn, you go on.” The girls finish packing their things, slowly and quietly so as to not enrage the pigs who now stand in a line, watching them and waiting for any signs of aggression. They back down the mountain from the way they came, holding their weapons defensively.
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Rose Hathaway (D7) and Helia Bitumen (D3) are trudging through the Jungle looking for a place to set up camp - a task that seems nearly impossible with the dense, uneven terrain. It’s mid-morning and so far, their excursion through the Jungle has been relatively uneventful. The girls share a pack of trail mix as they walk and barely notice the patches of green sliding toward them. Hssssssssss….. The low hissing noise stops them in their tracks.
Rose and Helia instinctively get back to back, weapons drawn to cover one another. There don’t seem to be any other tributes or animals around; nothing but trees and plants. That’s when Rose notices it.
“Is that green stuff moving?” she points quizzically at the patch of moss that slides down a tree adjacent to them. Patches of the stuff creep along the Jungle floor until one gets near Rose’s shoe. She tentatively sticks the toe of her sneaker out to touch it. Big mistake, she immediately thinks. The moss latches onto her shoe and begins to envelope her foot. It reaches Helia’s feet at the same time. A distinct sizzling noise and burning sensation indicates that the moss must be acidic, and not only that, it’s sentient.
“We need torches!” Helia exclaims. She wants to run, but where is there to go? Are there other plants waiting in the wings to attack them? Helia picks up a branch from the ground and tosses it to Rose, who retrieves her lighter and lights it on fire. Helia finds another similar branch and Rose makes another torch. The girls use the fire to ward off the other patches that are moving toward them, but it does nothing to the moss already attached to their bodies. They use their knives to scrape it off and then hobble to a nearby stream, submerging their feet and ankles in the cool water. Rose received the worst of it, though, and her right leg is covered in cuts and acid burns up to her knee.
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Back on the mountain, it’s nearly midday and The Outsiders are lounging around. Amaury managed to trap a small rabbit which now roasts over a small fire. Meena snacks on some trail mix from her Small Backpack while Indiana sits next to her, deep in thought. A single tear rolls down her face. Finn gives Aster a piggyback ride and the girls laugh as Amaury watches on, smiling. It’s about as normal as a day in the arena can get until a low buzzing noise puts everyone on edge.
Bzzzzzz…….. Bzzzzzz…… The sound is almost mechanical.
“What is that?” Meena stands up and looks around.
Finn’s face goes pale as the realization hits her. “The votes,” she says. “No one’s died yet today. At least I haven’t heard a cannon yet, and it’s almost noon.” She points at the sun which sits high in the sky, almost directly overhead. The buzzing gets closer until it’s so loud that Aster covers her ears and begins to hum to keep the noise out. Just then a swarm of small, silver and black things with wings materialize and descend upon The Outsiders.
“Run!” screams Finn, scooping Aster onto her back and making a run for it down the mountain. Everyone begins to run but slows to a stop when it becomes clear that the mechanical insects have only one target: Indiana. The alliance watches in horror as they set upon the girl, clicking and whirring and stinging and poking at her entire body. The insects seem to be biting and scooping out microscopic pieces of Indiana’s flesh. She falls to the ground, screaming and crying out for help, but the swarm will not let any other tributes near her. Finally, after what feels like hours, Indiana stops screaming and the insects begin to slowly disperse. Indiana lays in a pool of her own blood, her entire body picked raw. She’s nearly unrecognizable. The Outsiders wait until her cannon sounds before closing her eyes and clearing out for the hovercraft to come and retrieve the body.
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The Infinity Alliance sits on the beach near the base of the Mountains and listens to Indiana’s screams as they ricochet through the arena. Eliana Luxand (D11) begins to cry, holding her head in her lap and Waverly Aster (D2) puts a hand on her back to try and help her calm down.
“I just want to go home and we’ve barely been here two days,” cries Eliana as the screams continue. “It’s my birthday tomorrow, you know.” She sniffles. “I’m going to turn 17.”
Waverly smiles. “Well, we’ll have to do something special tomorrow! Right everyone,” she looks to the rest of the alliance and they all nod enthusiastically.
“Maybe our mentors can send us some cake,” Ocean Simpkins (D4) offers with a laugh.
The screaming goes on for nearly half an hour before the cannon sounds. With midday come and gone, everyone in the group knows they are safe from the voting death, which they conclude must have been what they were hearing.
The Infinity Alliance sits around, taking turns talking about home and their families, when Eliana notices that the sand is shifting around their camp. Click, click, click. A claw pokes out of the sand. And then another. And another. They keep popping out. And then Gabriel Rose (D6) sees the first full crab: it’s massive, roughly 20 inches from the tip of one claw to the other and standing almost 2 feet tall. Kai Albacore (D4) tentatively throws a large, thick stick from the nearby Jungle at them. One of the crabs promptly snaps the stick in half with its huge claw. It’s clear that fighting will be futile.
“To the Jungle, now!” Mason Banner (D5) shouts. They all grab their weapons and supplies and begin running as fast as they can toward the treeline. Flint Cornelian (D1) hesitates, having just woken up from a light nap he’s a bit confused. Mason knows that a moment can be the difference between life and death in the arena and he grabs Flint’s hand, pulling him toward the trees. As soon as they’ve breached the Jungle, Waverly, Kai, and Eliana pull their lighters from their backpacks and begin setting anything flammable looking on fire. Soon, there’s a wall of flame separating them from the crabs, but a few have managed to follow them into the Jungle. The Infinity Alliance continues to run from the remaining crabs, crashing through tree branches and vines, when a scream from the back of the party stops them in their tracks.
Eliana, who was a bit slower than the other tributes, has gotten tangled in a mess of vines and although the vegetation slowed the last few crabs down, they are able to catch up to the trapped girl. They begin pinching their gigantic claws into the girl’s arms and legs. Each time the others hear a bone break. Waverly tries to throw some shurikens at the vines, hoping to loosen them enough for Eliana to break free and Kai uses his trident to attempt shooing the crabs away but it’s a lost cause, Eliana has already started to stop struggling. Her body hangs limp, still tangled in vines, and a crab walks off with her right foot in its claw. Ocean doubles over and vomits at the sight.
“We have to keep going,” Gabriel urges, and the others know he is right. They continue running, even after they hear a cannon, and don’t stop until they can no longer see the fire burning along the treeline. Mason and Flint are still locked hand in hand. Mason pulls away, and Flint frowns.
“You saved my life,” he says.
“You saved mine first,” Mason replies with a smile.
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“Hello, tributes!” The voice of Claudius Templesmith booms around the arena. “I know what you’re thinking, a feast this early in the Games? Practically unheard of, but with our voting system this year, we wanted to give you a chance to beat the odds. This year, we’ll be having daily feasts, where you’ll have to complete a challenge should you accept our invitation. We promise we’ll make these worth your while, too: if you complete our challenge successfully, you will be granted 24 hours of immunity. This means that you will be safe from the vote tonight and tonight alone. We’ll also have other incentives, too, incentives that hopefully will be too good for you to pass up.”
“If you want to come see what it’s all about, head toward the Cornucopia at sundown. Don’t worry about getting back to your allies later, we’ll take care of that. We hope to see you all there!”
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Most of the tributes choose not to go. Why should they? It’s been a tumultuous day for everyone and it’s not like most of them need anything desperately. Sure, the immunity would be nice, but it won’t keep a mutt or another angry tribute from skewering them. But Waverly, always up for a challenge, decides to go anyway. She assures her allies that she’ll be back before voting and heads on her way, backpack and shurikens in hand. Helia, too, decides to go. She leaves Rose by the stream and begins the hike to the cornucopia, armed with a few good knives.
Finn wants to go. She thinks she can win, and Indiana’s death has, admittedly, scared her. She doesn’t want to be voted out. Amaury insists he come with her. “For protection,” he says. She agrees and they take an assortment of knives, leaving Aster and Meena up in the Mountains. They need to move fast if they’re going to make it on time.
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“Welcome, tributes!” A projection of Claudius Templesmith has appeared in the arena. Waverly and Helia stand at opposite ends of the Cornucopia Island, where instead of a Cornucopia there now sits a tall rock, about 25 feet tall, with an empty table and chair on it. Finn and Amaury arrive just as the sun dips below the horizon.
“First things first, you all need to forfeit your weapons and supplies temporarily,” the Claudius projection says. He points to a bin that has materialized next to him and the tributes reluctantly walk over and drop their things into it. The bin sinks back into the ground.
“You’ll notice that there’s a table up ahead on that rock, with only one seat. There’s four of you, which means three of you will not get a seat. We’ll release a backpack with a large meal, water, and chest armor inside for one of you once the single seat is occupied. But it won’t be that easy! You’ll also notice that there’s only one path to the table. The path is fraught with booby traps that will slow you down, at the very least. You’ll also have to scale the rock. The first one to make it to the table and sit in the chair after the gong sounds wins the backpack and the immunity. Everyone else gets nothing except for their weapons back. Good luck!”
The four tributes barely have time to process what’s happening when a gong sounds. They all stand there momentarily until Claudius urges them, “Go! That means you go!”
Waverly is the first to react, sprinting toward the rock. She’s followed closely by Helia who’s followed by Finn and Amaury. Waverly deftly avoids a wire trap but sets off a pressure trap in the process. A geyser of hot water blows out of the ground where she stepped, causing her to jump backward. The water burns her chest, neck, and right arm badly. She falls backward, screaming in pain and is overtaken by Helia. Finn and Amaury try to stay together, but Finn is marginally faster and manages to catch up with Helia. The two girls keep bumping into one another, eventually causing Helia to push Finn in a fit of frustration. Finn falls into a wire trap which activates, slicing into her ankle and causing her to fall over, bleeding and in pain.
Amaury, who was right behind them, stalls momentarily and looks at Finn worriedly.
“Keep going,” she says, and he nods, his resolve suddenly much stronger. Amaury musters all of his stamina and anger and catches up with Helia. They begin to scale the rock at the same time and it’s neck and neck, but Helia is able to make it to the top first. Amaury struggles to pull himself the rest of the way up and his fingers grip the edge of the rock. Helia looks down at him and then back at the table and decisively stomps on Amaury’s fingers. He falls and hits the hard packed sand below with a sickening crack. Finn screams, dragging herself over to his broken body. A cannon sounds as Helia sits at the table and the backpack appears, as well as her weapons.
“And there you have it ladies and gentlemen! Helia Bitumen of District 3 earns the Second Quarter Quell’s first ever Immunity!” Claudius Templesmith’s voice announces to the entire arena. A hovercraft appears overhead to collect Helia and return her to Rose. Three more hovercrafts appear: one for Waverly, one for Finn, and one for Amaury’s body. Finn screams, reaching down for Amaury’s lifeless form as she’s lifted into the hovercraft. The tributes’ weapons and supplies are returned to them once they’ve been dropped back in their original location.
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That night once everyone is reunited with their allies, fourteen parachutes float down to retrieve fourteen votes.
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END OF DAY 2 —
Flint Cornelian (D1): alive, part of the Infinity Alliance
Jadette Topaz (D1): alive, part of Brutal Brunettes
Waverly Aster (D2): alive, part of the Infinity Alliance, injured (severely burnt on the chest, neck,
and right arm)
Athena Wright (D2): alive, part of the Brutal Brunettes
Helia Bitumen (D3): alive, allied with Rose Hathaway, gained 24 hours of IMMUNITY (safe
from Day 2 voting) and a backpack with a meal (feeds 2, once), water (2 canteens / 3 uses
each), and chest armor)
Indiana Rose (D3): deceased, 17th place - VOTED OFF
Kai Albacore (D4): alive, part of the Infinity Alliance
Ocean Simpkins (D4): alive, part of the Infinity Alliance
Mason Banner (D5): alive, part of the Infinity Alliance
Gabriel Rose (D6): alive, part of the Infinity Alliance
Amaury Cohen (D6): deceased, 15th place
Rose Hathaway (D7): alive, allied with Helia Bitumen, injured (medium wound; acid burns and
Scrapes on right leg)
Aster Shay (D7): alive, part of The Outsiders
Ashlynn Reid (D8): alive, part of Brutal Brunettes
Meena Flammia (D9): alive, part of The Outsiders
Finn Cressy (D10): alive, part of The Outsiders, injured (severe wound, left ankle sliced to the
bone)
Eliana Luxand (D11): deceased, 16th place