#tbp23daytwo

Arena Day Two Update

Location: Blue Cabin

Allies: Only the Terrible Two

Weapons: Axes x2, Sword, Throwing Knives x6, Xacto Knife, Wrench, Scissors, Carving Knife

Items: Packs H & J

Injuries: Nothing physical.

Quinn takes the blanket and I pull my knees to my chest, feeling the bite of the winter air despite being indoors. They couldn't have picked a more fucking miserable arena to plop us in could they? Probably wasn't very exciting watching a bunch of kids shivering, not wanting to leave the safety of their shelters to hunt for tributes when they could just as easily get lost and freeze to death. Suddenly I feel the urge to scream to Panem, asking how much fun they were having watching their little show but I don't. It's no use and Harley would punch me if she saw me doing that. 

Suddenly the room smells very, very strongly of blood. The previously muted splatters are all I can see and it feels like the world is spinning around me. Closing my eyes I rest my head against my knees, hoping and praying it will stop as it's the only thing I can really do. How pathetic do I look? Curled up in a ball moping. Add another thing to the list for which she'd kill me if she saw me. I know people say that these kinds of things take time to sink in but truly I cannot believe she's gone. They're gone, I correct myself, eyes flicking to Quinn who's sleep doesn't look much better than mine was. At least it's something.

The hours tick by and I finish my last BLT sandwich along with the final capri sun pouch. Though it's not much it's all I can manage to stomach and enough to survive the day. My attention turns now to the extra pack I'm carrying, wondering what in it I can keep and what I don't need. With the room from the food gone I manage to stuff almost all of the items into my original pack, save the exacto knife which slips nicely into my boot and the goggles I fit into my pocket. Finally my eyes rest on the weapons one still stained with blood despite my best effort. The image of Farro, axe embedded in his shoulder and bleeding out in the snow flashes before me, making me freeze. It's only after a moment do I recover,. remembering what he'd done to Marcus then Harley. Neither deserved it and I spit on the ground, happy that he's dead and gone from the arena. 

After what felt like ages, I opened my eyes to see Juniper sitting on the floor across from me with our weapons laid out beside her. I hadn’t meant to fall asleep, but between the pain in my leg and the exhaustion of fighting off a pack of wolves, the idea of staying awake any longer was unbearable. With my newfound trust, I figured now would be the best time to rest. 

It was then that I smelled it. The scent was savory and rich, wafting through the air. At some point Juniper must have received food from a sponsor. My stomach twisted at that thought. She had gotten a sponsor and I hadn’t? Before I could feel the anger set in, though, she noticed I was awake. 

"My family sent it." She said, moving to sit next to me. I was surprised when she offered me a bite, but said nothing. The smell of food seemed to have awakened my system which had been in emergency mode. Now that I was out of danger, comparatively, it saw it fit to remind me that I had yet to eat. By the looks of outside, a few hours had past and it was already mid afternoon.

I gave a groan of pleasure as the flavors diffused in my mouth. It was sweet and savory and spicy and full. We went on, alternating bites of food until all that was left was a delicious looking piece of sweet potato pie. With reluctance, she wrapped it up and stored it away in her bag. Having thrown out all of our meat as bait, I knew the best thing we could do was save the pie, as we had no clue when we would eat next.

My leg was feeling better, or maybe I had just become used to the pain, and I let her help me up, using my spear like a walking stick. “We should move. With the door knocked down, this shithole isn’t likely to offer us much protection from the cold.” I grunted out. After reequipping with out weapons and our supplies wrapped into the sack Juniper carried, we began moving once more, away from the Cornucopia. 

As we walked, I felt the cold more clearly than ever as my once insulating coat had been pretty significantly shredded in the front. We walked for what felt like ages, seeing nothing but woods and I began to think we had reached the end of the arena when a building caught my eye up ahead. Moving quicker, we rushed towards the building, wanting to get in from the cold.

Titus woke to the sounds of the shabby wooden door of this and Juniper’s hut being smashed down. Scrambling to his feet, he grabbed his spear and yelled for her to wake up. “Eleven! Wake the fuck up!” He shouted, kicking the couch he had been laying on towards the door where four very angry, very hungry looking wolves stood, their sharp teeth bared. He looked over at June who was already wide awake, dagger in hand as she looked around at the wolves nervously.

Resting back against the wall of the cabin, Phoenix sighed and bit down in his lip to try and relieve some of the pain from his thigh. It wasn't a very deep wound but the bear's claws had stung like hell and having it bleeding all the time wasn't very useful. They'd wrapped one of the bandages from the first aid kit around it and the blood flow had slowed as they elevated his leg too, but he could see the red blood begin to seep through and he groaned. That was until there was a little, twinkling sound coming from outside.

Waking up next to Darwin was something Phoenix hadn’t expected and quite frankly wasn’t sure how to feel about. Just the night before, the taller boy had told him that they shouldn’t do anything between then and whilst Phoenix accepted it, it did create a little rift between them. He didn’t want Darwin thinking that there were any romantic feelings between them; it was strictly a sort of coping mechanism that was mutually beneficial.

Rolling his shoulders as he got up, Phoenix noticed how dry his mouth was and licked his lips to moisten it even slightly. They’d need to get some water soon and although they could eat the snow, Phoenix was a little wary that something could potentially be in it. He also didn’t trust how eerily quiet the cabin had been either and he felt on tenterhooks just waiting for something to happen.

Hearing the floorboards squeak under Darwin’s feet was enough to alert the boy from three of the other. Phoenix had been staring out of the window for a good fifteen minutes until he’d awoken and they soon got into a slow but comfortable discussion about where to move forward. That was, until they heard a roar from outside and both boys froze mid-speech, Phoenix grabbing onto the hunting knife near his feet and Darwin onto the cattle prod.

After waiting for what felt like hours, but had really only been about twenty minutes, Darwin got up, a little stressed.

"Look, maybe we don’t have anything to worry about," his voice comforting to Phoenix who’s jaw was as tense as it could get. "It could’ve been someone else getting att-AGH!" Darwin cried out as the door swung open and claw scraped along his forearm. Jumping to his feet, Phoenix groaned, he knew that this would happen somehow.

"You take that one and I’ll take the one outside," Phoenix shouted noticing Darwin zapping the smaller bear with the cattle prod and throwing punches here and there to attempt to get him to the ground.

Heading outside into the bitter winter air, the boy from Six sent the bear a calculating look as he worked out was his best angle would be. The hunting knife was large and perfect for something like this but the bear had something he didn’t have: motherfucking bear strength. Phoenix figured the best way to get the bear would be to trick it and so with a gulp and a tight grip on the knife, he ran towards the bear with full gusto.

Meanwhile back in the cabin, Darwin struggled against the smaller bear. It was nearly his height but it was still really strong and all Darwin could try and do was zap all the sensitive points he could. He was trying everywhere but the bear was swinging his arms like crazy and whilst he wasn’t getting hit, he also wasn’t hitting either. Finally getting an open shot at his neck, Darwin shoved the cattle prod there and repeatedly shocked him to try and get a reaction and soon the bear was on the floor. Attempting to punch him a little more until he couldn’t move, Darwin got up and grabbed a spare throwing knife from where it lay on the side and sliced the bear’s neck open with some weak protest. Letting out a long sigh, he cradled the arm he had a semi-deep cut in and rushed to the door to see how Phoenix was doing.

Said boy was currently hanging upside down from the bear’s right paw whilst the larger bear swung his left into Phoenix repeatedly. So far it hadn’t landed except for a cut running down his thigh but Phoenix was still running on adrenaline. Wriggling his legs from the bear, it finally let go and Phoenix could use the opportunity he’d been waiting for. Lying in the snow, the boy swung his knife towards the bear’s ankles as hard as he could and when it took the bear by surprise, Phoenix got up and shoved the knife into the bears arm swiftly before ripping it out and plunging it into the bears stomach. The whole method was based on shock tactics, something Phoenix had read about back in the previous games book and had been waiting to try out. The bear fell to the ground with a cry of pain and Phoenix huffed as he hobbled slightly over to the bear, slashing his neck and spitting some blood out into the snow near them.