Deceived: The 500th Annual Hunger Games

Chapter 52 - The Arena: Day 2

FLUX VIPOINTE'S P.O.V

"Alix!" I scream. "I can't do this anymore. It's all too hard!"

"Man up, baby, life is hard." Alix pushed me to the floor.

"Why do you bully me so much?" I yell, tears welling up in my eyes. "What have I done?"

"It's all your fault. It's your fault mum dad and Thalia's mum all died. You," Alix yelled.

I grabbed the knife on the kitchen table. "Is it?" I whisper. "I didn't know."

I went to draw the knife across my throat. I pierced the left side of my neck with the tip of the knife. Alix screamed and grabbed the knife from my hand.

"If you hate me so much, why are you saving me?" I ask, my neck stinging.

"So I can kill you myself."

I woke up, drenched in sweat and shivering.

"Flux?" Auricula crouched down beside me. "You were screaming. What's wrong?"

I panted and continued to shiver. "Nightmares," I say. No, memories.

"What happened? Who's Alix?" She said, patting my back. "You can tell me."

"My brother," I whispered. "He, that monster, he-" I screamed again, the thoughts flooding back to me. My mind felt like it had a knife through it. Like my neck did. Like my heart almost did.

"Don't you want to tell me?" Auricula said. I bowed my head and rocked back and forth, scared she would see the tears.

"I don't know how." I say.

"Take your time," she replied.

"Thalia's mum and my parents all died one night. A burst has pipe. It was my fault. I broke something on the pipe and I didn't realise it would kill anyone," I whimper. "My brother, Alix, bullied me to suicide point." I knew the Capitol would love a little sob story. "I tried to kill myself, hence the tiny scar on the left of my neck. He tried to kill me himself."

If I hadn't've kicked Alix in the face, I wouldn't be alive today.

"Get off of me you bastard!" I screamed, scratching at his face. It wasn't hurting him at all. "You should be in the hunger games, you sick son of a-"

The knife was right next to my chest, lodged into the faded carpet. As Alix tried to free the knife, I took my chance.

My foot smashed his nose. The noise of the bone cracking was the worst thing I've ever heard. Blood gushed from the broken mess on his face.

I grabbed the loose knife and made off into the poorest part of District 7.

I almost ran into a girl. She was crying on the floor. It was Thalia.

"What's up?" I ask her, the knife still in my grasp.

She looked at me, her face stained with tears. "Today it's the first day of the 499th games. The one month marker since our parents died."

I breathed heavily, Auricula still by my side. "It's been a year and a month since Thalia's mum and my parents died. And now Thalia's up there with them." I pointed to the sky.

"I guess the games makes you remember things you want to forget," Auricula said. "Like the day where I watched the three boys emerge from the exploding factory. One of them is dead, the other two are in the Games."

Arlu and Bramble.

"Speaking of them boys, have you seen Gauis and Bramble?" I ask.

"Not since the bloodbath. They literally grabbed a backpack and a few weapons and swam. They swam before anyone else. They're probably on an island," Auricula replied.

Arlu came back from where ever he had been. "Where you been?" I ask.

"Would you like some fish?" He asked, throwing a stinking creature at me. I caught the slimy meat, scrunching up my nose. The smell is vile.

"Let's cook," I reply.

"They can be eaten raw," Arlu replied. Auricula and I looked at him as if he were mad. That is revolting.

We all decided to cook them instead, knowing that they would taste five times better that way.

"Who's left?" I ask, biting into a cooked fish.

"Let's go in district order," Arlu said. "From 3 there's us two, Theta, Gauis and Bramble."

"Theta's still alive?" I say. "She must be on her own. Didn't her entire alliance die?"

"I think someone else got out," Auricula said. "Who's left from 7?"

"Me, Vibia, Briar and," I say. "No, that's it."

"From 11 there's Skene and Persei, Violetta, Ogilby and," Auricula said, scratching her head. "Whoever Theta's with."

"Orchid?" Arlu chirped in.

"Yeah, most likely," I say. "That leaves," I count on my fingers. "Thirteen."

"Are we staying here?" Auricula asked.

"Well, I'm not tribute hunting," Arlu said. "We could go and practice with our weapons, killing fish."

We pick up our weapons and head to the sea.

"I see something in the distance," Arlu said. "It looks like a person." He paused. "Two people."

"Who's there?" A girl yelled.

"District 3 and 7!" I scream back. "Who are you?"

"11!" A male screams. It has to be Persei and Skene. "There's three of us."

"But didn't Ogilby follow Violetta?" I ask. I then think back to yesterday. Briar's tears fill my mind with memories. Mizar's suicide. Thalia's death.

"You, who are you?" I yell.

"Ogilby, Persei and-"

"Skene!" I yell.

"Flux?" He yells back.

I grab my weapon and dive into the water, ready to pursuit my enemy. "You killed Thalia!" I screamed. Alix will probably me for her death too.

Skene and his allies began to turn back to where they came from. This is the middle of the ocean.

"No where to run you monster. Or should I say, swim!" I screamed. I finally caught up to the panting boy and lashed out.

He fell back into the water, a deep scar on his chest. "What are you doing?" Ogilby screamed.

"He killed Thalia!" I yell back. "My girl." I turn to Persei. "How would you feel if I killed Persei, Skene?"

"It would be like having my life ripped away from me." His long black covered his eyes, but I could tell through his voice, it would be painful.

I slapped Persei around the face and he screamed. "Leave her alone!" He grabbed his mace from his bag and swung it over his shoulder. It hit the water, creating a loud splash.

I swung my sword at his throat. "You've killed me already. I may as well be dead. I'm nothing without Thalia."

Skene floated on his back. Persei screamed at the boy, trying to keep him alive. Ogilby took the chance to swim off. He won't make it far.

BOOM!

Persei let out a roar of hatred. She grabbed me by the neck and shoved my face down into the red water below. I swallowed the sick forming inside of me. Skene's blood filled my nostrils.

I closed my eyes and flailed. This was the end. "You're a monster." She took the sword from my hand and drove it down.

I screamed into the water as I felt the metal blade come out through my stomach. A mixture of mine and Skene's blood choked me. No one could hear me.

I begged that Auricula and Arlu could come and save me.

My lungs were on the edge of exploding. I can't do this any longer. I can't go on.

I hope Alix is happy now I'm dead.

"See you in hell," Persei yelled. I watched her swim through the blood with Skene's belongings and my sword before my vision stopped. I took one last breath and gave into the darkness.

BOOM!


VIBIA BALLANTYNN'S P.O.V

Since the cornucopia, all I've done is swim and sleep. Jesus, they didn't make tribute hunting easy.

My ally, Indigo, fell during the bloodbath. We escaped together, but only one of us ended up on this island. It was probably bigger than the cornucopia's area.

I sat by the fire I had made and sharpened the end of a stick with the axe I had. I hadn't seen anyone since, other than a head in the water. I didn't chase it. I can't swim well. I learnt that yesterday.

I need to find Briar though. I hope no one's killed him yet. Two cannons just fired. I bet it was Theta and Ogilby. Or Orchid. Or someone strong but without allies. Maybe Violetta or Flux.

"Tributes!" Phillipe's voice boomed. He sounded upset. "There are two Capitol Catches in the arena." It sounded as if he was reading from a card. "See who can find both of them first."

I wonder what they are. Knowing this arena, something will change the water or the islands.

Speaking of water, I haven't had a drink for hours, and that isn't good. I finished the water I found in my pack last night. God, this arena has water everywhere and none of it is drinkable.

Maybe if I boil water? Doesn't that make it good or something?

I rummaged through my pack, looking for something that I could place over the fire. My bottle? No, the metal will get hot and keep the drink hot. I want cold water.

What if I boil the water in the bottle and then stick the bottle back into the water? Will that work?

I jumped to the edge of the island and filled the bottle without a second thought. I wonder how much blood as been shed in the water.

I made a little nest out of the sticks and placed the water bottle in the middle of the flames. I watched them flicker around the bottle.

I thought of Katniss, the girl on fire. How she nearly took the Capitol over. I admire her so much. She was a few steps away, but District 13 screwed up, big time.

I thought of Johanna Mason, the girl from District 7 who helped her. I entered the games because I wanted to do what Johanna did - surprise everyone. We were both seen as weak and stupid. Look at her now. One of the biggest martyrs around.

I think about everything I've ever done with my life. From my first few steps and words to now. Being in the games as a volunteer from 7.

I saw a figure in the distance swimming towards me. "Girl!" It was a girl themselves. "Get off of the island!"

"I'm not falling for tricks," I tell her as my bottle turns a red colour. I threw my bottle into the water and it sizzled as the heat decreased.

"Rhino!"

I turn behind me to find a purple rhino staring at me. I walk silently across the sand to my pack. Can rhinos swim? I know I can't.

Two more joined the rhino that stared me down. "Jump into the water. It's Violetta!"

Violetta? Can I trust her?

The first rhino starts charging and it's friend copy. The rhino's horn pierces my foot as I roll off of the island into the water.

I scream in pain as my bleeding foot touches the water. A weird purple coloured liquid oozes from the wound and I begin to feel kind of nauseous.

"They're injected with poison!" Violetta said as she approaches nearer. She isn't holding a weapon or charging at me like a rhino.

Once we reach each other, she shows me her stomach and arm. Both are suffering the same symptoms as my foot.

"You tribute hunting?" I ask.

"Briar and Persei hunting," she replied.

"What do you think Briar's reaction was like when Vanity died?" I ask.

"He screamed at me for killing her. She told Persei and Skene I was after them," she said.

"You killed Vanity?" I say. I high five her. "Let's hunt, but slowly."

We bob in the water for what feels like hours before we reach an island so small that two rhinos wouldn't fit. It had blood on it.

"This is where I killed her," Violetta said. "My second kill."

"Who else?" I ask.

"Kid from 3. He could swim so I took him out. He drowned at my mercy. I almost accidentally killed myself though," she replied.

My skin began to grow hot. "Hey, I'm going back into the water, my skin is burning."

"Is that a poison side effect?" Violetta questions.

"I don't know, but I feel like the sun is ten times hotter than an hour ago." I think for a second. "They did say there were two catches this time. Poisonous rhinos and something to do with heat?"

"Look around!" Violetta said. Around the island, almost invisible lasers pointed from the sky. Are they burning us?

I reach my hand under one and shriek. "That's it! Lasers and rhinos!"

We hear a noise. The sound of bells.

I look up to find a silver tin floating down from the sky. I open the tin like a kid opens presents at Christmas. "There's a note!" Violetta picks it up.

Congrats, Vibia and Violetta! You found the Capitol Catches first. Here is the antidote for the poison. Jarrett x

"We got antidotes?" I say, rubbing the blue-grey ointment onto my wound. I let a moan escape my mouth as the wound stops swelling. "Thank you Jarrett."

We see a figure in the distance. "Get off of Vanity's island!" A man. It's not Skene, you can see the blonde hair from here.

Only one other person knows who killed Vanity.

Briar.

I dive into the water, my axe in hand. It feels so much better already. I glide through the water as if I've lived in District 4 my entire life. Violetta follows me in, her dagger in her hand.

"Let's tussle!" I yell at a drenched Briar.

He brings his whip out and lashes it against Violetta's face. The mixture of the crack and the scream threatens to burst my eardrums.

I go under the water and chop at his legs. He roars in pain as the axe gets stuck in his lower leg. I try to pull it out, but I'm desperate for air.

I return to the surface to receive a punch from Briar. He then brings his axe out and drives it into Violetta's head.

BOOM!

"The way Vanity died," he muttered.

"I hated her. She took you away from us." I spit at him. "You can still join me though."

"I hated you from the first day," he yelled. I felt something pierce my stomach. His hand pulled a blade from my body.

I feel sick. Numb. Lifeless.

"Just because I'm not winning, it doesn't mean you are," he drove the dagger into me again. This time, there was no pain. Not for me anyway.

I looked into Briar's golden eyes. They were filled with pain. I've never seen him look so weak.

"I'm sorry," I choke, my own blood seeping out of my mouth.

He forced himself to float next to me. "Don't be."

The next thing he did was traumatising. He stuck the dagger into his own body. His lung.

"If I go, I'm taking you lot with me," he breathed. He sounded weak.

"The best man didn't win after all, huh?" I said.

"I won," his voice was hard to hear. "I'm seeing Vanity again. I'll be with her soon."


ORCHID JARVIS' P.O.V

BOOM! BOOM!

"Who do you think that was?" I ask.

"It's hard to predict, if you think about it. I'd say we're the weakest here, so everyone else will think it's us," Theta said.

I sat and continued to cradle her. Billee's death had really hurt her yesterday. After the bloodbath, she attempted to drown herself. A cannon had sounded and I thought she was a goner.

Turns out someone had died later in the day. She told me it was Vanity or Indigo, seeing as she saw all the other bloodbath tributes.

We saw too much. We saw Mizar split into hundreds of chunks of flesh. We saw blood flow from our friends' insides. We saw Billee tackled at the bottom of the ocean. We're scared for life.

And life may not be very long.

"We didn't see the Capitol Catches," she whispered.

"Shhh. They'll make us if we say another word." I stroke her hair and she smiles. She comforted me the entire time before her attempted suicide. Wyatt's screams.

"I hear him," I say, the same, one-note scream playing over in my brain like a broken record.

"Wyatt?" She says. "I hear him too. At least Billee couldn't make a noise."

"If we get out alive," I say, repositioning my legs. "We'll never forget the noises. Nightmares will forever haunt us. I'm twelve!"

"You shouldn't have come here. You're too young," she said. "Scarring teenagers is wrong. We have our lives to life."

I pull out my sleeping bag from my pack. "Scarring anyone is wrong," I say, undoing the zip. "No one deserves to die other than the wretched people running this."

"Phillipe and Fione don't. They're having a baby soon," she said.

"I guess." I don't say anything else. I know they hate the games, but if I say that, they could be killed. Theta knows what I'm thinking and decides it would be best to keep her mouth shut and move onto a new topic.

"What was life like in 11?" She asked.

"Hard. We're such a big district, so when someone is reaped, you're even more disappointed than before," I say. "We get sent to work at an early age in the fields. Well, I don't. I'll take over my father's engineer job."

She sat, trying to imagine the fields of 11. "3 is one of the smallest, it's only bigger than 12 and maybe 8."

"What was your life like?"

"Boring," she pulled a face. "All I did was revise for tests I didn't even end up taking. These games made me realise that every kid should live their life like they're going to die tomorrow."

"That will be broadcast all over Panem," I say. "Yes, any kid watching, go and do something fun. You could be like us this time next year."

The anthem starts playing around the arena. Theta and I jerk our heads towards the lot up dome.

Briar. Vibia. Flux. Skene. Violetta.

"All of 7 are gone," I say, surprised. "Who took down Briar?"

Theta just stared ahead. "Bramble and Gauis."

I stared into the water to see one ginger kid and one brunette swimming towards us, weapons and backpacks dragging them down.

We help them onto the island as they splutter and cough up blood and water.

"You look exhausted!" Theta said, throwing her arms around Bramble and Gauis. "You're still alive!"

"We're not dying," Bramble said.

"Can we camp with you guys?" Gauis asked. Theta agreed and I shrugged it off. "Go ahead."

The four of us settled into our sleeping bags, totally exposed. There is no where to hide in this arena.

"Did you see the sky?" I ask. Bramble shakes his head.

"We were swimming. We heard the anthem though. Tell us," Gauis said.

"All of 7 are gone. Skene and Violetta from 11 too, leaving Persei, Ogibly and myself," I say.

"Guys," Theta sounds wary. Something in the water. A boy. He wielded a trident.

I turn around to see another face. This face belonged to a girl with dark, long hair and a crossbow.

These were the kids from my district.

A trident was launched. Theta flew back onto the sand bed, silent. I ran over to her and gripped her hand. Her temperature was dropping.

"Ogilby!" Persei screamed. "What are you doing?"

"Killing." He swam onto the island to reclaim his trident.

"No, we are killing Arlu and Auricula you idiot," she yelled.

"Why?" I ask.

"Their ally killed..." She didn't say the name. She couldn't. It was too painful.

"It hurts to lose your best friend, huh?" Theta croaked.

Persei stayed silent. Gauis and Bramble looked at each other. Oh how lucky they are. Theta mourned Billee. I thought about Wyatt. It was obvious Persei thought about Skene.

Ogilby never had a best friend here. "Lets make it even then. No friendships."

"Ogilby, you're mad!" Gauis said. "We are your allies!"

"Allies don't run from each other."

"We ran from the bloodbath, you moron!" Bramble screamed. "I didn't want to die."

BOOM!

"Theta!" I cried out. All of us other than Ogilby, crowded around her dead body. "She was a good friend."

"Let's make it even," Ogilby muttered again. He grabbed his trident from the floor and swiped Bramble's neck.

"Don't say a word," Bramble whispered. What?

Ogilby leapt into the water before I could hunt him down and kill him.

"You're not dying," Gauis said.

"I am, Gauis," Bramble said, a tear spilling down his face. "I am."

"No, you're not. You're going to a new life," I say. "With your friend." Gauis looked at me, weapon ready. "I'm not killing you. I'm talking about Mizar's friend."

"Marius!" Bramble cried.

"Yes," Gauis said. "You're joining Marius. Don't ever forget me if I don't get to see you again Bramble."

"I'll never forget the only one who stood by me."

BOOM!

"He's gone," Persei whispered.

"I'm gone too," Gauis replied. "Emotionally, I have no feelings now. None at all."

"No anger towards Ogilby?" I ask.

"No. Although, maybe if I kill him, I'll feel better," he said.

"Then let's abandon the friendly team thing and go and kill Ogilby," I say. No one objects.

We pay our emotionless goodbyes to our close friends, retrieve their packs and dive into the water.

These games are ending with us three going home.



FIONE LICKPRIVICK'S P.O.V

"Good evening Panem," Phillipe announced. "We are here with the day 2 recap." He sounded emotionless, as if he had placed a mask over his sad face just for the cameras.

Wish I could do the same.

He nudged me under the table to say my line. "Our first victim of the day was Skene Chaffee from District 11," I say. I liked Skene. "He received a cut across the chest from Flux Vipointe's knife."

"Flux was shortly killed after that," Phillipe says. It pains him to sound excited. "Persei, Skene's ally, drowned him in an act of revenge."

"The next deaths were between a rivalry of people striving to be the best," I say. "Violetta Santolina was killed by Briar in the exact same way as Vanity died last night."

"Vibia Ballantynn and Briar Spottiswoode - both from the same district - had a fight in the water," Phillipe exclaims, forcing a smile. Tears welled in my eyes. "Neither of them won."

"Well," I say, "Briar could've won, but he stabbed himself so he could be with Vanity. I must admit, I cried when I finally realised how much he loved her." I forced the tears back, but at least now I didn't have to look sad for 'no reason.'

"The two of them - both wounded by Briar's dagger, died by side by side in the water." Phillipe tensed up. "We then saw Ogilby take out District 3's Theta Herriot and Bramble Selkirk. It was a pretty emotional sight watching Gauis and Bramble separate."

"Tomorrow's Capitol Catch will be quicksand, and we think it may be the end of minigame three tomorrow, considering there are now a few tributes left," I say.

"Yes. We have Arlu, Auricula and Gauis from District 3, absolutely no one from District 7, and Persei, Ogilby and Orchid from District 11," Phillipe says. "Six tributes."

"Well, I've been Fione Lickprivick."

"And I've been Phillipe Honeyman, thank you and good night Panem."

The cameras switch off and the two of us run off of the set. As soon as my trailer door closes, the two of us bawl our eyes out for the new fallen tributes.

I am so glad that I'll be finishing this job after these games.

But Phillipe? "Phillipe, you need a new job. You need to get away from this life," I say. "You're going to kill yourself if you don't."

"You and the soon-to-be baby are the only things keeping me alive right now," he said. He kissed my lips before walking into the bathroom and locking the door.

And Phillipe and the baby are the only things keeping me from killing myself too.