When in Rome - HG Competition Entry

Task 3: Voices in the Night

Kills:
Valerie Golding
Eden Cole

Ballots:
Phaedra Wolfgang
Nixie Adams

----

Laying on the sandstone roof Jaiden found himself getting more comfortable than he thought perhaps should be considering the fact that he was in a very dangerous place. The structure had obviously been baking in the Mediterranean heat all day as the stone was still kind of warm to the touch.

It made him a little drowsy and he fought hard to stay awake. That was until a glint caught his eye.

Turning his head he peered at it curiously. There was an edge to this roof which hid him from view form down below. When he had climbed up here he hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary but now he spotted a small hole in one of the edges with something round and dark in there.

A camera, he thought to himself.

For a moment he just lay there, staring at it while wondering if anyone else was staring back at him. Most likely this particular scene, him just laying there, wasn't interesting enough to broadcast to all of Panem but one could never tell.

He considered moving away from it or covering it with the back pack, feeling a bit spied upon, but then wondered if he couldn't use it to his advantage. The Capitol, after all, loved a good show.

His previous plan had involved using his technological skills to outsmart the other contestants. This ancient village setting kind of slowed these plans down, forcing him to think of more elaborate traps involving ropes and pullies which were time consuming.

Flipping himself over on to this stomach he crawled over to the camera and tried to get back in to the mindset he was in during the interview. Apparently people liked the snide Jaiden better than the matter-of-fact one.

Maybe they would like him enough to send a bit of help his way.

If anything it would give him something to do to pass the night rather than just lay there, listening to the new sounds around him. One in particular struck him as odd; a low, almost rhythmic pulse, like the blades of a large cooling fan in the distance.

He assumed it was an animal of some description but failed to call to mind the type of animal that would make such a sound.

Pushing the thought aside he turned his focus to the camera, smiling at it as though it were Ruby up on the roof with him, wanting to know what he was doing there.

"You're probably wondering what I'm doing up here. To some it might seem like I'm hiding." he told the device with a hint of irony as though he were discussing a serious topic in a way that made light of the situation.

"This is decidedly not the case. I am, in fact, placing myself in a strategical position.

And..if I can work on my tan while doing so then that's all for the better."

Smirking at the camera he glanced up at the night sky, shrugging.

"The moon isn't exactly known for being great on the skin but I'll take what I can get. Oh!"

He half twisted his body and pulled the back pack up close, holding it up ever so slightly to make sure the camera caught it. Propping himself up on one elbow he worked on the bag's zipper while continuing his 'conversation' with the people at home.

"I'd like to share this with you. I got it today off of a lovely young lady. I haven't really looked at it's contents yet other than to note that it has a bottle of water in it.

Now we're going to find out what else is in here. It's a fairly light bag so I'm expecting one, maybe two more items. Let's see..."

He rummaged around in the bag, pulling out the bottle and setting it aside as it's presence was already known. When he continued to search the depth of the pack he found one more item, papery and flexible, at the bottom.