Writers Games; Alliances

D10 Male - Tobias Haycraft - Task 4 [unobtrusive-]

“ – noticed by now that you’re handcuffed to each other.” Her dull string of words entered my mind, coaxing it awake, coaxing me to open my eyes but I didn’t want to just yet; the sleep, I felt, was just getting good. I couldn’t be asked to leave its comforting darkness just yet. Unfortunately, Occisora’s voice would just keep droning on, even if I did remain here with my eyes shut, her voice echoing through the chambers wouldn’t stop. I might as well wake now.
    I felt the cold of metal underneath my back, and shuddered. A strange sensation was running through my chest, one which I could only describe as tingling or itching. I managed to forget about it as Occisora continued speaking, though her words were confusing since I had missed a great many of them.
    “Perhaps you’ve noticed an itch in your chest,” My brow furrowed as I wondered how severe the itching was. Perhaps she poisoned us? Poison ivy might be the cause. She may just want to see us all scratch ourselves into oblivion. “Perhaps you’ve taken a look under your shirt...” she trailed off suggestively, and the ruffling of clothes ensued as curious children raced to be the first to discover what lie beneath their garments. I attempted to bring my arms up to gaze beneath the warm protection of my own shirt, however something smooth and metallic around my wrist prevented me from doing so. I gazed down and gasped, trailing my eyes along the silver bracelets linking me to another human being. I felt a rush of terror slide across my heart before I met his eyes, and relief flooded me. At least it was one of my allies, I was safe from potentially being stabbed in my sleep, should the cuffs remain on our wrists for a very long time. Miles Wilson had been my assigned cuff-buddy. Lucky thing too, out of all the allies I had been acquainted with, Miles was the only one I felt comfortable being allies with. I’m sure if he had to as a last resort he would kill me to take the crown, but for now, it felt like we were friends.
     “Dude.” Miles muttered after taking a quick peek under his shirt. As his face drew out it seemed to turn white almost instantly, like he’d seen a ghost.
   “What?” I questioned fearfully. He didn’t speak, only gestured to my shirt. Taking caution, I tugged at the fabric of my black tee shirt with one finger, bringing it out just far enough to sneak a peek. What I saw terrified me. I wondered if they played the surgery footage in the districts; I hoped that Caira hadn’t seen. Of all the friends who waited for me back there, I hoped at least she had been spared the torture of watching me be operated on inside a death trap. I was sure that would drive her to do something she’ll regret, and the thought scared me out of my mind. Bold, pitch-black stitches formed a line right up the middle of my chest, following the sternum, up to a spot just below my collar bone. Back at home I had anatomy and biology books, those were the two I studied the most, and found the most interesting. I’d successfully memorized all two-hundred and six bones making up the human skeleton. After studying medicine in yet another book in my collection, I began to run through the section on heart surgeries, desperately trying to come up with whatever procedure would fit the Gamemaker’s agendas. What exactly did they do to us? There were so many possibilities, it would be pointless to run through them all.
    Our heads raised and our necks craned as Occisora resumed her speech, leaning on the guard rail of a balcony just out of our reach. “I’m sure you’re all furious with me right now. But we’ll get back to that in a moment.” Furious? Was furious even a strong enough word to describe the emotions I felt toward her right now? Let’s just say, it was enough to make me wish I had taken that knife to her chest last night.
    “Through those doors there is a forest,” her long arm stretched to her left – our right – and her finger pointed to two large oak doors painted red. Miles and I were not too far from it; with just a few hospital beds to maneuver through, we’d make it out fairly quick. “A forest in which all of you must survive until noon tomorrow. Once the noon hour arrives, you will gather at the flag for the next part of the Games. If, however, you do not arrive within the hour...” Again, her voice trailed off, it was like she had memorised the speech and knew exactly at which intervals to pause for effect. “...well,” she resumed. “Let’s not be too concerned for our future, shall we?” At this Miles leaned over to me and pointed out two young girls in the vast sea of bodies.
   “I found Seaver and Mira.” He whispered. I nodded in response, ignoring Occisora’s speech to find the others. Thankfully, Seaver had been paired up to a fellow ally as well, Lumen. I looked to Mira, however, and noticed she was paired with a stranger. She looked a little younger than Mira, as well as harmless in comparison to some of the others. Her white hair stood her apart from anyone else in the room, her height making it difficult to see her beyond the taller tributes scattered everywhere. Deciding that Mira was going to be just fine where she was, I began scanning the room for my other allies. Miles again pointed out one of our allies – Amabel – with an older looking boy who, with white hair ironically, was very tall. This boy seemed a bit wary; his eyes bore a look of complete hatred boiling within them. Whether that was aimed at Occisora or the fact that he was forcibly attached to Amabel was unclear. I just hoped Amabel was as strong as Careers should be, and that she could take care of herself. That concluded our search for the other allies, all that remained was a solution to one problem; how would we consult with them if two extra, unwanted peers were always hovering over us?
   The answer seemed distant, buried within my subconscious. I couldn’t focus knowing what the next few hours meant, death seemed right around the corner. I hated being trapped in a room with all these killers. It intimidated me a little, made me feel inadequate to deal with the hand I was, in turn, dealt.
   With little confidence or room for it, I pretended to be deep in concentration, when in reality I resolved to listening to Occisroa’s speech as it came to a close.
    “In closing, I’d like you all to know that the key to solving each of your problems is within reach.” A murmur spilled throughout the crowd at her words, while I was left to wonder what parts of it did I miss. “Remember when I said we’d be getting back to the stitches in your chest in a moment? Well, that moment has come.” She grinned with satisfaction. “Listen carefully, I do not like to repeat myself.” She ordered harshly, and then a riddle came pouring from her lips. “To find what you seek, you mustn’t look far. Some say it may even resemble a scar. Remember, the heart is the key to happiness, to take it takes a degree of madness. Reaching your goal won’t take too much labour. Happy Hunger Games Tributes, may the odds be ever in  your favour.” A look of malice lit up her features as she finished her crafty riddle, sweeping out of sight the next instant. We were left confused, to solve this riddle she’d given us. Miles, I’d come to understand, was not the most patient of guys. Without much time to waste, he pulled me along behind him, heading straight for the door.
    “Wait, Miles!” I shouted at him as we neared the exit. “You heard the riddle, what if the key is in here?” I asked hesitantly. Without stopping Miles pressed past the beds and other tributes who still sat, as if in a daze, atop them, and replied: “Then we’ll come back. For now, we are getting out of here!” Without much cause for protest, I followed blindly through the crowd. At last it seemed we had reached the doors, our destination lay just beyond. Miles’ hand had reached for it, our hopes were slightly lifted, and then a hand slammed against the door, preventing us from passing through. It seemed hopeless once again as we stared into the eyes of a male tribute handcuffed to another.
    “Nobody leaves until the riddle is solved!” The boy announced to everyone. “I’m Jet Flash, this is Jay Calder. We’ll be guarding these doors until someone gives us an answer.” With that the two boys piled against the door, arms crossed over their shoulders, and they waited for people to start talking.
     “What if we don’t want to sit around in here all day?” Someone from the crowd, a girl with hair the color of ginger, retorted. Her cuff-buddy backed as far away as her chains would permit, hiding behind her long locks of dark hair. Clearly she wasn’t OK with what the other girl was doing.
    “And who are you?” Jet viciously addressed her, looking her up and down as if discerning the limit to her boldness.
    Very arrogantly she swished her long hair back over her shoulder, seeming on part to be attempting a seduction. “Axis Rose, District One.” She said confidently.
    “Well, Axis.” Jet blundered. Miles and I moved to the wall by the door, hoping to stay out of the eyes of those looking for a target. “You’re free to fight your way out.” Jet extended his arms outward on either side, the general gesture for her to come up and challenge the boys.
   “He’s right.” We heard people murmuring throughout the crowd. “We need to figure this out.” Some other persons murmured as well. It seemed Axis was outnumbered and outranked. With a look of disdain written across her face, she huffed and folded her arms, bringing her cuff-buddy’s arm up with hers. Awkwardly she threw her arm that was chained to the other girl’s down, and walked away with her buddy following close behind.
   “This is lame,” Miles whispered close to my ear. “We don’t have to stay and figure it out ‘together’. They can if they want, but we’ve got you and Lumen, we can figure this out on our own. They should let whoever doesn’t want to stay go.” I nodded in agreement, hoping that he was right, that Lumen and I could figure this out on our own. But what if he wasn’t? What if someone else held the answer right here under all our noses, should we just pass up an opportunity like that and take the chance that we might figure this out all on our own? Our alliance was fairly big, with all that brainpower put together we just might pull it off. But then again, with the extra brainpowers of everyone in this room, figuring out Occisora’s riddle would be a synch.
    “I think the part about what we seek is important. Like, what do we seek? We need to figure that part out first.” A young boy from the crowd – I recognised him as District Two’s tribute – began voicing his opinion. His cuff-buddy was a petite, redheaded girl about thirteen with shimmering green eyes. I could see the colour only because they stood no more than a couple metres from us, the closest couple to Jet and Jay.
   “Okay, there’s a start. Let’s see, what is it we all want? A common goal pertaining to each one of us?” Jet asked the crowd. It was amazing to watch how quickly things started to come to life; how, once Jet finished his question, the crowd began to interact, voice their thoughts, talk about the question together in order to find a quick answer. It was a miracle how so many people whose goals were to slash everyone else’s throats suddenly cooperated so well under the right circumstances. I was amazed, at least. I doubted Miles was, he was too busy looking for another way out. He really, really didn’t like this whole group assembly thing.
     “I guess the key to our handcuffs?” District Two – oh what was his name? – called out again. Jet nodded slowly, thinking this information through before making a verdict. “Alright, that sounds about right. Now what about the next section?”
    “To find what you seek, you mustn’t look far. Some say it may resemble a scar.” Two quickly shouted again. It seemed the crowd had silently elected him their spokesperson.
   “Scar, scar, scar....” I heard Jet mumbling to himself. Scar, I thought. Scar? We all had scars running down our chests. Could that be the scar she spoke of, or was it more of a metaphorical scar? It seemed worth mentioning, at least to Miles anyway.
    “Miles,” I whispered. “Scar, as in the scars on all our chests, or different scar?” Miles thought a moment, then nodded. “Sounds about right.” He replied in a very low tone, not wanting Jet or the others to hear us. If someone was going to find the answer, it might as well be us first. Perhaps there is only one key we all had to fight over. If that was the case I’d rather go along with Miles’ plan, keep our revelations quiet until we know for sure. Out of the crowd we saw Seaver heading toward us with Lumen trailing along behind her.
    Once they reached us, Seaver casually slipped a tiny black ball of fur into my hands. Overwhelmed with joy at seeing my dog, I nearly came to tears as I held him and nuzzled him.
    “Where was he?” I whispered so as not to disturb the quietly chatting crowd.
     “Looking for you. I’m guessing the Gamemakers decided to let him stay in the room with you, he just wandered off before you woke up.” She replied. I felt a stab of guilt, knowing I hadn’t thought of Buck since I woke. But so much had been happening when I did, it’s not as if I forgot about him, just that I was distracted by more pressing matters.
     “Anyway, Lumen is pretty sure the scar part refers to these –” Seaver pulled the already-low collar of her shirt down even further to reveal her surgical scar, also revealing just a little portion of her breasts. Us men couldn’t help but stare at them, they were right there in front of us. However, I did notice Lumen didn’t seem to care; he just glanced at her scar and then off again, as if he didn’t even notice what else she revealed.
    “So, got anything to add to that?”
    “Hmm?” Miles jerked his head up to eye level, completely oblivious to Seaver’s question. She pulled her collar back into its place so there was no more reason for Miles to stare, and he shook his head, not because he remembered what she asked, but because he was faintly aware that it was a question and didn’t know he knew the answer. Honestly, I wouldn’t have been able to answer Seaver’s question either if it hadn’t been for the fact that I knew to take my eyes off her breasts when she was speaking to me. Miles was just the type of person to focus on one thing at a time.
     Unable to stop grinning, I replied truthfully to Seaver’s question. “We came to the same conclusion. But we haven’t shared our thoughts with anyone else yet, we wanted to be sure.” I lied, winking to her so she knew my true intentions. She grinned and nodded understandingly. “The next part though, is a little tricky. ‘Remember, the heart is the key to happiness, to take it takes a degree of madness.’ Is she talking about killing?” I posed the question, index finger subconsciously rubbing my chin, as it did whenever I was deep in concentration. 
   “Maybe....” Lumen wore a look of contemplation as he squinted at the floor, trying to retrieve whatever thoughts lay just beyond his grasp. Then he snapped his fingers and promptly raised his head, glancing around us in every direction to be sure no one was eavesdropping. “The heart is the key? Come on guys, the answer is so simple.” He stated. Without another word he began heading for the doors, dragging a baffled Seaver along with him. Miles and I shared a momentary look of utter bewilderment, before shrugging our shoulders and following our companions.
     “Excuse me,” Lumen said to Jet. Jet looked down at him from his soapbox. Someone must have retrieved it for him to stand on, since he deemed himself chairmen of the committee.
    “We’d like to go now, please.” Nobody knew quite what Lumen was doing, only he had the slightest idea. I felt a tap on my shoulder and glanced behind me, finding Amabel standing behind us and smiling her greeting. I returned to watching Lumen work his magic.
    “Hah, no way we’re letting anyone out. So unless you’ve solved the riddle, you best get back to your place.” Jet replied irritably. Lumen shrugged, glancing at Seaver, sending some sort of message to her. She seemed to get it, and grinned wildly as Lumen spoke again.
    “Alright, I said please.” With that Lumen feigned walking away, before turning back and sucker-punching Jet. As Jet bent to clutch his aching stomach he pulled Jay down with him, thus rendering him temporarily useless. Lumen then swung his handcuffed arm forward, Seaver going along with it as they planned. The chain was pressed to Jet’s trachea, being shoved firmly against it as Lumen and Seaver wrapped their wrists around his neck. I was terrified at that moment; I was watching two of my allies work together to kill someone; to kill. While it stunned me only temporarily, I was forever scarred by that scene. I’d never trust either of them again.
    As Jet took his last few breaths Jay tried to stand, but the arm he shared with Jet was tightly gripping Lumen and Seaver’s chain in a vain attempt to loosen it. Jay was unable to stand without bending over, thus he could not fight. Seaver kicked him in the face, sending him back to the floor. The rest of the room was in chaos; tributes were screaming, running, or fighting their cuff-buddies for freedom. I frantically searched the premises for Mira, but she was nowhere in sight, neither was her cuff-buddy with the white hair. Surely they were here somewhere – perhaps hiding? I wanted desperately to find them. I couldn’t stand to see Mira die so soon.
    “Let’s go!” I heard Lumen yell. Looking back I saw Jet sprawled on the floor, his limp form pinning Jay down under him.
     “What about Mira?” I asked hesitantly as he pushed the doors open.
    “We have no time, we gotta go.” Lumen replied. I froze; was he suggesting we abandon her in this mess? I couldn’t do that. I just couldn’t.
     “But, Lumen she’s – ” before allowing me to finish Lumen whirled around, catching Seaver off guard, nearly knocking her down. “She’s gone.” He said coldly. We looked back; sure enough, there was no sign of her. Perhaps she lay with the pile of children on the floor being trampled on; perhaps she was with the pile of dead ones the others were throwing out of their way. Wherever she was, she was nowhere to be seen. Sadly, I turned on my heel, pressing Buck close against my stitches and pressing my nose into his furry neck for comfort. He whined, and scooted closer as we all ran outside, into the cool breeze.
     Miles repeated the riddle under his breath so as not to forget it, Amabel and her unknown cuff-buddy ran alongside us, Seaver followed close in step with Lumen who led us all the way out and into the wilderness. Everything seemed to be working out for us, but Mira’s absence struck a chord within me. I felt, even though we didn’t know each other well, like a little piece of me had broken off and drifted away in the wind. How would I ever get it back?
   As we ran I tripped on something, forcing Miles to fall down with me. We hit the ground with a huff, and Buck yapped, wandering off from my body. I groaned, pushing back on my elbows to see what I tripped over. It was a slender pack of sorts, black with pockets all over. I got the strangest sense that I’d seen it before. The only thing I could compare it to was a quiver – yes! That was it! This was my quiver, the one I received after not killing Occisora in that strange little room. Excitedly I reached over to pick it up, but Miles had not yet moved from his place, and kept me from reaching it.
     “Dude, careful where you walk.” Miles groaned, wiping off his knees.
    “Sorry, I will next time. But look! It’s my bow!” I was now able to reach it as Miles sat up beside me, extending our reach. I snatched the quiver and pulled out the crossbow, earning a gasp of awe from Miles. “Wow, bro...” He murmured, reaching for the bow, just to feel it. I grinned, letting him hold it too.
    “You’ll have to let me shoot this sometime.” He said, still grinning with pleasure as he handed the weapon back to me. I placed the bow back in its holder, not really able to load and shoot it with Miles practically clinging to my hand. It really was troubling to have someone attached to you, I hoped we’d be set free soon.
    “Oh dude look!” Miles suddenly yelled, tugging at our joined wrists. I shuffled along the ground in the direction he was aiming to go, curiously watching as he picked up a small pack shoved under a bush. “It’s my stuff! My pastries!” He shouted in glee.
    “Pastries?” I questioned, glancing to our other allies who stood around gawking.
   “Pastries!” Miles confirmed, pulling several of the delicious treats from the pack and waving them in front of us. He returned them to the plastic bag they were in, stuffing them back in their pocket as well. Miles began searching the bag, pulling out an ax, a dagger, and a belt of throwing knives. He strapped the belt to himself, placing the ax in one of his belt loops by his right hip, and putting the dagger inside his pack.
    “You two finished?” Amabel demanded drowsily, gripping the chain linking her to a boy. I looked at his head of white hair, immediately reminded of Mira’s cuff-buddy, and my heart sank. Miles stood, helping me to my feet, and slung his backpack over his free shoulder.
    “Buck!” I called, watching him scurry over from the shadows. I scooped him into my arms, placing him inside my quiver in just such a place that none of the arrows poked him, and he could look out.
     “Mira!” Somebody yelled, directing our attention to the approaching ally behind us. Immediately I threw my arms around her, jerking Miles to the side by accident.
    “We thought you were dead!” I yelled, releasing her to look into her eyes, confirming that she was alive.
    “Wow, I didn’t know you guys cared about me that much.” Mira replied, brushing hair behind her ear. “This is Ki, my, uh, partner I guess.” She laughed nervously, gesturing to the girl standing by her side. We all awkwardly waved a hello to the shy little thing, who smiled in response. I wondered if the others wanted the two extra allies. Well, it wasn’t like we could just send them on their way I guess.
    “Hello, pleased to meet you. I’m Tobias, and this is my cuff buddy Miles.” I gestured to Miles. Ki smiled at him, and turned to each one of the others as they introduced themselves and gave them the same treatment.
    “Well, as long as we’re introducing the newbs, this is Jasper.” Amabel droned, raising her chained arm to raise his as well.
    “Hi Jasper.” Mira, Miles and I said in unison. We began to chuckle and grin before Lumen interrupted us with some pressing matters.
    “We better go find shelter.” He said. We looked around us; all there was were trees and bushes. The trees were of the coniferous nature, the bushes like any other one would expect to find in the woods. A couple of them even had berries, but, we couldn’t trust that they weren’t poisonous.
     “What’s wrong with right here?” Miles challenged, rolling his  bright green eyes.
   “I don’t like it. It’s too open.” Lumen retorted. I gazed around us; he was right, we were just at the edge of the forest, not too deep. I supposed we should move deeper in search of shelter, as he suggested.
   “He’s right. Let’s move.” Seaver urged, scratching her wrist right where the cuff was locked.
   “Of course you agree with him, you’re stuck to him!” Miles shouted, bringing the two of us closer to the two of them. “We’re a team, don’t the rest of us get an opinion?”
    Lumen glanced around at the others, who shrugged. “I think Lumen and Seav are right, we should head deeper into the woods.” Amabel agreed, glancing at Jasper then me. I nodded, as did Mira.
   “Well,” Miles stuttered, sighing in defeat. “Fine. Deeper into the woods it is then.” He finally caved. All of us gathered our things – Miles’ backpack, my quiver, and Amabel’s knives – apparently, though, the others didn’t get any weapons. We learned this as Seaver enviously watched us pick up our things.
   “How come you guys got weapons?” She asked in as casual a voice as she could muster. I shrugged, along with Miles and the others.
   “It was a test I suppose, after Occisora left the room one of the Peacekeepers told me to pick out a weapon.” I replied. Miles nodded in agreement. “Me too. They said since I didn’t kill Occisora – ”
    “ – then we could pick a weapon.” I joined in, to finish the sentence at the same time, so she would know I got the same message. We began walking and Seaver nodded slowly as she began to understand.
   “Well, I failed that test then. I killed her.” She said bluntly.
    “It must have been a simulation of her. She couldn’t have visited us all at the same time, and it was mere seconds after we were separated and in the rooms that she appeared, so she couldn’t have visited one right after the other. And if you really did kill her, as you say –” I was cut off by Seaver’s sharp tone, “I did.” She snapped, as if she needed defending. I didn’t mean for my words to come out as accusing, but I supposed they had, and there wasn’t anything I could do now except apologise.
   “Sorry. Since you killed her,” I rephrased. “And she’s obviously still alive, that’s the only explanation.” I finished, and Mira agreed. We walked in silence for awhile, chained to each other like criminals, until finally one of us remembered that Lumen had seemingly solved the mystery before breaking us out of there.
   “Hey, Lumen.” Miles shouted, as we were quite a ways from him and Seaver.
   “What?” Lumen inquired as we approached.
    “Did you solve the riddle? Back there, in the building?” We held our breaths as his response lingered in the back of his throat for awhile. It was as if he were considering giving us the answer. As if we didn’t want it.
    “Yes.” He stated, though unsure. “I think.” He added. We waited patiently for the answer. Miles pinched the bridge of his nose when it didn’t come soon enough. But Lumen just kept walking, considering the information only he seemed to know, and deciding precisely how to word it.
    “The heart is the key to happiness, what would make us more happy than freedom?” We glanced at each other’s handcuffs. “I think...well, I think these scars,” he pointed to his chest. “I think they put keys inside us. The keys to our cuffs.”
    “No, that means – ” Mira froze mid-sentence as the realisation struck her, as it did all of us.
   “We have to cut each other open if we want to be unchained.” Amabel completed her sentence, rendering each one of us silent.