Day 4
It’s pitch black out and the Infinity Alliance are sleeping scattered throughout the Beach Huts. Mason Banner (D5) keeps watch for the fifth hour in a row - every time an ally wakes up and offers to switch he insists on staying up.
“I can’t sleep,” he explains to Gabriel Rose (D6). He sits next to Flint Cornelian’s (D1) badly burned body, protectively gripping the other boy’s shoulder.
“If you say so,” Gabriel shrugs and lays back down, quickly falling back asleep. Sometime in the night two parachutes descend, one for Flint, containing Burn Balm, and one for Waverly Aster (D2) with a Strong Healing Balm. Mason wakes the two up and, while Waverly puts her own balm on the still gaping piranha bites from Day 3’s Feast, Mason helps Flint apply his Burn Balm.
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The sun rises and The Outsiders are abruptly woken up by another landslide. Finn Cressy (D10), Meena Flammia (D9), and Aster Shay (D7) waste no time scooping up their supplies and weapons and running. The Western Mountains crumble around them as they flee, debris and rubble raining down and trees falling, blocking their path. They’ve just reached the base of the mountain when a nearby tree splits and falls on Aster’s left leg. She screams in pain at the impact, drowning out the audible snap of her femur under the tree’s weight.
“Aster!” Finn yells, running to the younger girl. She tries to pull Aster out from under the tree but her leg is pinned between the tree trunk and a large rock. “Meena, help me!”
Meena rushes to their aid and she and Finn, after nearly half an hour of struggling, are able to lift the tree trunk far enough to free Aster’s leg. She immediately falls, her own body weight too much for the injured leg to hold. Finn bends down so that Aster can ride piggyback the rest of the way and the girls make it off the Mountain just as the last peak crumbles into itself. Where the Mountains once stood there is now only a pile of rubble.
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“I’m so sick of eating trail mix,” sighs Jadette Topaz (D1), rubbing her nose. It’s definitely broken but there’s not much to be done in the way of rhinoplasty in the arena. It’s badly bruised and sits slightly skewed on her face.
“You’re telling me,” agrees Athena Wright (D2) as she peels a bite-size strip of jerky off and pops it into her mouth, making a disgusted face. “If I have to eat another piece of jerky after this I might die.” The girls laugh at the irony.
“We could always go hunting, I’m sure there’s plenty of stuff to eat in the Jungle,” offers Ashlynn Reid (D8). The other two Brutal Brunettes nod their assent and they gather their weapons before breaching the treeline and heading deeper into the Jungle. They agree to use hand signals so as to not alert any potential meals of their whereabouts. They’ve just set their eyes on a lone wild pig and Ashlynn is notching a dart onto her atlatl when the rustling of nearby foliage catches Jadette’s attention.
“Guys, don’t look now but The Outsiders are coming in at 5 o’clock,” Jadette whispers. The trio huddles together behind a large stump and watch and Finn, carrying Aster, and Meena walk through the Jungle. “What should we do?”
The Outsiders don’t seem to notice the Brutal Brunettes, so they decide to leave them alone and walk along the outer edge of the Jungle. They quietly stand and Ashlynn, with her atlatl armed and ready in case of a fight, leads the way to the outskirts of the Jungle. Their movement alerts The Outsiders to their presence, but with Aster injured, they decide to make a run for it, thinking the Brunettes are looking for a fight. After running deeper into the Jungle, Meena scales a tree and pulls Aster up after her, followed by Finn. The three girls sit perched in the tree keeping watch when three parachutes float down in rapid succession, all addressed to Finn.
“What’s this?” Finn can’t think of anything she needs but opens the first parcel to find a large, warm loaf of bread. Her eyes go wide as she breaks it apart and holds it up to her nose. “It’s fresh! Here, take some,” she breaks off small pieces for Aster and Meena while she opens the other two parachutes. One contains iodine and another two water bottles. The girls split the provisions, staying high up in the tree and safe from other tributes and the dangers of the Jungle.
In the meantime, the Brutal Brunettes continue on their way, walking around the outer edge of the Jungle until they reach what used to be the base of the Mountains in the Northeastern corner of the island. Ashlynn keeps her atlatl at the ready the entire time and only puts it down when they’re sure they haven’t been followed.
They set down their things and sit in the sand when Athena points out that they didn’t manage to catch anything to eat. “I can go try to catch some fish.” she offers, grabbing one of Jadette’s daggers and heading toward the shoreline. She walks into the water up to her knees and begins trying to stab the fish swarming her feet. Jadette and Ashlynn watch, giggling as she splashes around and makes faces.
Athena finally manages to stab a small, ashy-colored fish and holds it up on the dagger to show her allies, smiling. She starts to move back onto land when a jolt from where her tracker is located in her arm causes her to drop the dagger and fish into the water. “Guys, something is wrong,” she staggers back up the beach, grabbing at her legs, before falling to the ground. “My legs feel so heavy.”
Ashlynn and Jadette help Athena sit up and turn her over. “Athena, your legs are burning hot and they’re turning red,” says Ashlynn. She feels Athena’s forehead to check for fever. She’s ice cold. Athena begins to gasp for breath and then coughs. Blood droplets splatter from her mouth.
“What’s… happening?” she croaks, grabbing at her legs and chest and still trying to catch her breath. “It hurts.” She cries out in pain and coughs again, more blood coming up this time.
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” Jadette says worriedly, rummaging through their packs for something to help. “I don’t know what to do.” She and Ashlynn watch as Athena continues to struggle for air, coughing up more and more blood, convulsing, until finally her breathing grows shallow and her body goes limp. Her cannon sounds.
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The Infinity Alliance are all awake and gathered on the beach when Kai Albacore’s (D4) feast prize is delivered by a larger-than-usual parachute.
“What’s that?” asks Gabriel, studying the long, spear-like instrument.
At the same time, Ocean Simpkins (D4) exclains, “A harpoon!” Kai admires his new weapon and tests the weight in his hands. It’s perfectly sized and moves like an extension of his arm. Everyone watches in amazement as he skewers a fish straight through the eye from several feet away. Waverly and Flint’s wounds have begun to heal nicely; all of the wounds from the day before have all but vanished from Waverly’s body but Flint’s covered in new, sensitive skin where his acid burns were.
“I’m going to look for some plants for us to eat, who wants to come?” Kai asks, heading toward the Jungle. Ocean grabs her trident and runs after him, leaving Gabriel, Waverly, and Mason behind to care for a still weak Flint. They’re gone for nearly two hours and in their down time, Waverly shows Gabriel how to throw shurikens, using the door of a hut as a target. Mason spreads more Burn Balm on Flint’s face and Flint hisses in pain and pulls away at the contact.
“I’m sorry,” Mason mumbles. Flint’s head is cradled in his lap. “I didn’t want to hurt you.”
In the Jungle, Ocean and Kai find brilliant purple, sweet-smelling flowers that they think are edible. They discuss their lives back in District 4 as they harvest the plants and find that they have a lot in common, laughing at District 4’s inside jokes and the people they both know. They finally return to the Beach Huts, arms and bags loaded with the purple flowers, and drop their bounty in front of the alliance.
“Lunch!” Ocean calls, grabbing a handful of flowers and holding them out for everyone to see. Gabriel immediately recoils at the sight of them and Waverly picks one up, inspecting it.
“This is plumeria. We can’t eat this,” she says, dropping the flower onto the ground.
“They’re poisonous,” Gabriel agrees. Ocean and Kai look a bit embarrassed at their mistake, but the others assure them that it’s not a big deal. To make up for it, the District 4 tributes go down to the water and catch small fish with their hands to be cooked over a fire later in the day.
“We could use this poison,” Mason says, squeezing sap from the flowers’ delicate petals and studying it. He, Gabriel, and Waverly squeeze all the sap from each flower carefully into an empty canteen.
The group is collectively cleaning and gutting the caught fish when the jovial mood in the air suddenly and inexplicably shifts. Splashing from the water catches everyone’s attention and a pack of giant stingrays emerge. They walk on short, reptilian looking legs that are definitely not natural and whip their tails at the group. The tails are barbed and coated in a green, iridescent looking substance.
“Can’t we catch a break,” Waverly groans, grabbing her things and helping Mason pull Flint off the ground. They all follow suit, arming themselves and running.
“There, into that hut,” Kai instructs and they all run, piling into a smaller structure further from the water. This doesn’t seem to deter the muttations as they advance further up the beach. They’ve all reached the door of the hut and are scraping at it furiously with their tails when Mason finally comes up with a plan. He begins pulling material from the hut roofs and combining them with the leaves from the plumeria, creating tiny balls.
“Hand me the poison,” he says and Waverly retrieves the canteen from her backpack. Mason sets to work injecting the balls with the poison and the stingrays are beginning to climb through the open windows when he finally finishes. He hands a bunch of the balls to everyone and instructs them to throw them at the mutts, hoping they’ll act as poison grenades. Everyone begins launching the balls at the stingrays and the ones that were climbing through the window fall outside the hut, but other than being a temporary distraction, they don’t seem to have any long term effects.
“New plan, get on the roof,” Mason says. Ocean and Kai balance on the ledge of each window and pull themselves onto the roof. Ocean helps Gabriel and Waverly up after her and Kai helps Mason up. Mason reaches down to pull up Flint but he’s much heavier and his new skin is raw and red from being pulled.
“Help me!” Mason calls out desperately and the others scramble to help him, but Flint’s hands and arms sting painfully at their touch and he loses his grip on Mason’s hand. A bloodcurdling scream is ripped from Mason and the alliance watches, horrified, as Flint falls into the swarm of stingrays below.
Flint cries out for his mother, for his family, for Mason as he’s stung over and over by the stingray’s barbed tails. “We have to help him!” Mason cries, trying to throw himself off the roof too. Kai and Gabriel hold him back and Ocean cries into Waverly’s shoulder. “Let me help him!” Mason curls into himself and then feels the stake tied to his backpack. He unties it and drags himself to the edge of the roof, looking down at Flint’s disfigured form. He’s still alive and still screaming, albeit more quietly now.
“I’m so sorry,” Mason sobs, throwing the stake at Flint’s heart. It hits its mark and a cannon immediately sounds. The sound of the cannon seems to banish the stingrays and they scurry back into the ocean, leaving Flint’s body in full view. Mason chokes on his sobs and his allies try to console him until a hovercraft appears to retrieve the body.
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Claudius Templesmith’s voice fills the arena announcing the Day 4 Feast. The mood is somber at the Infinity Alliance camp and no one wants to go except Mason. Everyone knows that he’s on a suicide mission, most likely going with the intention of getting killed. They have to restrain him until it’s past sundown. The Brilliant Brunettes are also not in the mood to attend. Their trio reduced to two, they spend the night finishing their trail mix and jerky.
Finn Cressy is the only tribute at the Cornucopia Island at sundown. Claudius’s projection arrives and looks surprised at the lack of turn out. “Well, welcome back Finn. It seems you’re our Feast victor by default.” The projection looks dismayed. “There was supposed to be a duel today, but alas, you can’t fight yourself to the death. Congratulations! You’ve won 24 hours of immunity as well as something we’re doing for the first and only time in Hunger Games history. We’ve put out feelers, talked to the important people back at home, and we’ve got a letter for you. That’s right. We know there’s someone back home that you love and miss dearly, and per our request, they have written you a letter. It will be delivered to the arena tomorrow.”
Finn looks shell shocked. She’d come prepared to fight but no one else had bothered to show up. All the better, though, she’d just won immunity and a letter.
“Finn Cressy of District 10 is your Day 4 Feast victor!” Claudius’s voice announces to the arena.​
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END OF DAY 4 —
Flint Cornelian (D1): deceased, 11th place
Jadette Topaz (D1): alive, part of Brutal Brunettes
Waverly Aster (D2): alive, part of the Infinity Alliance
Athena Wright (D2): deceased, 12th 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
Aster Shay (D7): alive, part of The Outsiders, injured (fractured left femur)
Ashlynn Reid (D8): alive, part of Brutal Brunettes
Meena Flammia (D9): alive, part of The Outsiders
Finn Cressy (D10): alive, part of The Outsiders, gained 24 hours of IMMUNITY (safe from Day
4 voting) and a letter from home (to be delivered by midday on Day 5)