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KILL FOR YOUR LOVE.

act one. 

(chapter eleven, the remains of carnage)

the arena, 72 ADD.

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"NOW THAT I THINK about it," Cedar said. "We don't have that much supplies."

It was day three and early in the morning once more, the four of them leaping from land piece to land piece. No cannons had gone off and they hadn't seen any tributes, footprints, or mutts. They had access to clean water and had some reliable food. But they all knew that two packets of crackers weren't enough. 

"Yeah." Justice nodded. Juniper looked at the back of his head oddly. "I mean — two packets of crackers ain't gonna last... so, what do we do?"

"I'd ask the Clairvoyant." Cedar smirked as she punched Ash in the arm. "Come on, oh greatness, what should we do?"

Despite the teasing, Ash replied, "Well, if you lot want more supplies, I'd suggest going back to the Cornucopia. Maybe there's extra food there, better supplies. Hey, we might even get a few more weapons."

"And if there's tributes there?" Cedar asked. 

"The Careers' won't go back there. They'll be hunting for tributes in the outer swamp regions," Ash told her. "District Three boy will be hiding somewhere. Dallas will be playing it safe most likely. Wing and Hermes are smart enough to not go back to the centre of the arena. And if they did, they would have done it yesterday. All kills came from the outer area and hence, unsafe."

"But today?" Juniper asked. She wanted to run into Wing and Hermes. "What's today like?"

"I don't know." Ash shrugged. "No cannons. And didn't I say no-one is going to die day three?"

"Oh, yes, don't disagree with the Clairvoyant." Justice shrugged as he peered at a multi-colour butterfly that fluttered past him. "You know, despite this whole Hunger Games thing and mud, this would have been a nice location."

"Just wait until the tourists come in here afterwards," Cedar said. "They'll be all over this, taking selfies next to blood patches where their favourite tribute died."

Juniper gulped. After every Games, the Capitol opened the arenas up as tourist attractions. They always advertised it on the television, footage of people posing with their cameras next to the spot where a tribute died, taking photos of where the final two fought, or petting the mutts in that Games that the Gamemakers had sedated just for tourists. It was sick and cruel. It was inhumane. 

"Hey!" Ash laughed. "I can imagine that... you know, someone could die right here" — he kicked the root of a tree that they were passing — "and some silly Capitol person comes by a few months later and takes a selfie with the blood patch."

Everyone laughed and for a moment, Juniper felt at peace with Justice, Cedar, and Ash, but at the sound of a boy yelling, they were all reminded of the situation they were in. Since the child's yells sounded so young, they could only imagine it was the tribute from Three. But no cannon followed and the only sound was the flock of birds hawking as they flew away from the disturbance. It looked to be on the other side of the arena.

"No cannon," Justice said. "That's odd..."

"Maybe the boy got scared, encountered a mutt," Cedar said. 

"No." Ash shook his head. "I know mutts are scary, but no boy would scream at that. It has to be another tribute he's seen."

"Well, it can't be the Careers' or there would have been a cannon," Juniper spoke up. "If it is another tribute and the boy screamed at them, it has to be Dallas."

"What would have he done for the kid to scream like that?" Justice murmured. They all continued walking. The boy and his attacker were on the other side. There was no way they would encounter them.

"Injure him." Cedar shrugged. "Torture him... I take Dallas as one to let his victims suffer..."

"Lord..." Ash grumbled as they leaped from one piece of land to another, all trying to shake the boy's screams out of their heads. 

And that guess from Cedar must have been true because no cannon echoed around the arena, even an hour later. Juniper started to think that the boy got scared, but what would scare him that much to have his screams echo around the entire place? But the only answer she had was Dallas. Dallas with his grey streaked hair, his malicious eyes, his sinister face. He would kill anyone and feel no remorse. 

But any thought about Dallas disappeared when Juniper remembered Wing and Hermes. They were awfully quiet, Juniper not even sure that she saw them at the bloodbath. But oh, they were out there and if it weren't for the alliance with Cedar and Ash, she would be down to find them. But she did have an alliance with Cedar and Ash and she was sure that her, somewhat, attachment for them would be her weakness. She couldn't stay with them because they all made a great team, because their jokes and bickering distracted her from the harsh, cold reality that she was going to die. 

But Justice. 

Justice and her had no conversation on what to do. He had been so focused on surviving that it most definitely caught onto Juniper's mind. But no. They had both made a promise, an agreement, to die together. And Juniper mentally smacked herself for ever believing that Justice would betray her trust because he wouldn't. That was something she had decided last night. 

"Here we are..." Ash whispered. Juniper hadn't even realised that they had made it to the Cornucopia. "The horn of death."

And it was the horn of death because even though they were a little distance away, crouched behind the tree they had met at after the bloodbath, crimson liquids were smeared everywhere. The silver sides of the Cornucopia was dripping with dark, thick, chunky blood. The mud of the island was sludgy as bits of human remains laid in it, pieces that the hovercraft's claw wouldn't be able to get. The moat was stained with purple and red. 

"Animals..." Juniper murmured. "What absolute animals..."

"It's called a bloodbath for a reason..." Cedar whispered. "... is it clear?"

"I'll check."

Ash got up from his crouched position and leaped over to some land pieces, hiding behind trees as he tried to get a better view of the mouth of the Cornucopia. Cedar, Juniper, and Justice waited in anticipation for a while before the boy could wave them over, nodding. They joined him at the tree he was at. 

"No-one's there," he mumbled. "But somebody's definitely ransacked the place... they've taken a whole heap of things."

"Couldn't it just be from the people at the start?" Justice asked.

"Maybe." Ash shrugged. "But only nine people died in the bloodbath. And half of the tributes don't even go near here at the start, they run away. Someone has definitely come here recently and I'm calling bets it's Wing and Hermes."

"All right." Cedar sighed. "What does that mean for us?"

"There's gonna be limited stuff, but it'll be better than what we already have."

Cedar nodded, as did Justice and Juniper, and before they knew it, they were sneaking towards the Cornucopia, creeping along the land as they reached the pedestals and the moat. With a deep breath, they all quietly stepped into it and slowly waded through the water.

Juniper felt air being trapped in her lungs as she did, feeling the tadpoles swim around her, the baggy pants weighing her down, and the slimy, slippery algae at the bottom that had her and the others nearly falling if they didn't grab onto each other. And still, despite the carnage that had happened at the location two days prior, toads still leaped from lily pads to lily pads, egrets still soared overhead. But when they reached the little island that the Cornucopia was on, all beauty disappeared. 

It took some effort for all four of them to lift themselves up onto the dirt, feeling the mud soak into their palms and underneath their fingernails as they did. Juniper shuddered when she heard the sludge squelch underneath her boots once she was up. 

"I'm starting to hate mud," Justice mumbled once all of them were on the island. 

"You can say that again..." Ash said. 

"I'm starting to hate mud—"

"Okay, I wasn't being literal."

"You said you can say that again—"

"Bro, shut up."

Juniper waved their bickering away as she focused her attention on the supplies, wiping her muddy hands on her soaking trousers. Ash was right, for someone had definitely ransacked the place as bags were strewn open, containers laid empty, and half of the weapons on the racks were missing. 

"All right, there's not much," Cedar started to say as she bent down a pile at the mouth of the horn. "But try looking for anything useful."

And so, they did. Cedar was at the front of the Cornucopia with Juniper whilst Justice and Ash were at the back. The two girls focused on trying to find food in the packs whilst the boys were collecting weapons, Justice pocketing a dagger he had taken off a shelf, Ash testing out some of the other swords that looked more deadly than his current one. And while the teenaged boys were having fun with the weapons, Cedar's nose turned up in disgust.

"I found food," she announced and everyone turned their heads, but all groaned when she revealed two loaves of bread that were absolutely covered in the mud. "Muddy food."

"Oh, lovely." Ash walked up to her. "We can always clean them with water—"

"You know how many diseases are gonna be in that?" Juniper asked him as she continued to search through a container that hadn't been opened yet. "Like hundreds. Don't eat that."

"Fine." Ash rolled his eyes. "But don't come complaining to me when we starve to death."

"Don't be dramatic—"

"Ah, June, he's Clairvoyant." Justice smirked as he interrupted her. "It would be wise to not disagree with him."

"Oh, I forgot." Juniper chuckled as she turned to Ash. "My sincere apologies, oh great one."

"Apology accepted, peasant."

Juniper chuckled slightly as the boy waltzed back into the heart of the Cornucopia, shaking her head as she continued to look through the container. It was medium-sized and had nearly looked through everything and was about to give up when suddenly, she noticed multiple packets of dried beef strips stacked on each other. The laugh she let out was enough to gain the attention of the other three.

"What?" Cedar asked as she tried to peer into the container. 

"There's like eight packets of dried beef in here!"

At that statement, Ash and Justice came running down to them, practically seething at the mouth and Juniper hadn't even realised how hungry she was too. The crackers weren't that filling and tasteless and she longed for something else and so, when she handed two packets to everyone, they all dove in, eating like monsters. 

"Save... some..." Justice said in-between bites. "Don't... know... how... long—"

"Dude... shut... up," Ash responded. 

But the Hale boy had the right mindset, for Cedar had to eventually calm everyone down and they all reluctantly put their packets into their bags. And in the end, the scavenge was successful for they had found food, new weapons, and additional resources like a box of gauzes and a bottle of iodine. Cedar held the former and Ash the latter.

So, all feeling a buzz of joy after a successful raid, the four of them began to exit the Cornucopia, leaving the small island and treading through the moat, going to the tree that they were at before. When they checked everything, they started to head off deep into the swampy lands. 

Everything seemed peaceful. There were no mutt alligators as they walked. There were no poisonous Cane Toads. There were no tributes. Everything was quiet except for the chirping of egrets that lounged on branches above, the fluttering of butterflies as they chased after each other in the air, and the soft, gushing sound of the water lapping over itself. But the four of them were incredibly silent as they walked through the swamp and waded through the murky rivers and lakes. 

"Okay, let's play a game." Ash sighed as he tightened the straps on his bag. 

"A game?" Juniper furrowed her brows. "Right now?"

"Yeah, why not?" Ash shrugged as he looked up at the sky. "It's still day. Everything is going well. It's a good way to kill time."

The other three looked at each other with raised eyebrows before staring at Ash like he was ridiculous, but in the end, Cedar sighed as she said, "Well, go on then."

"Okay... I spy with my little eye... you guys know how to play I Spy?"

Everyone rolled their eyes. 

"Lord, it was just a question." Ash scoffed. "Anyway... I spy with my little eye... something beginning with... 'M'"

"If it's mud, I'm going to push you into this river," Justice threatened playfully with narrowed eyes. 

"Oh, my, how did you guess it?" Ash said with a deadpan face.

"Lord..." Justice shook his head. "Okay, fine... I spy with my little eye... something beginning with... 'E'."

"Egrets," Juniper said. "That's too easy. Be creative."

"Well, you go then, June."

"Fine." Juniper rolled her eyes. "I spy with my little eye, something beginning with... 'B'."

Everyone looked around, brows furrowed as Juniper smiled to herself. It ended up with Justice guessing, "Bird."

"Nope."

"Branch." Cedar raised a brow. 

"Good, but no."

"Bush?" Ash asked. "Wait, no. Bark."

Juniper shook her head, causing groans and after five-minutes of everyone guessing wrong, the girl sighed as she said, "Damn, you're all terrible at this. It was blade. As in the blade of Ash's sword or the blade of the dagger you're holding, Just."

"I don't like this game," Ash announced. 

"You're the one that suggested it."

"Doesn't mean I like it, Juniper."

They all fell back into the silence after dropping the game of I Spy, still treading through the swamp. It was bound to be night soon, but knowing the past two nights, it could fall any minute. There was no evening, no warning except for the fade of the sun and the welcoming of the full moon. 

"Okay, how about we ask each other questions?" Justice asked. "Get to know each other."

"What's the point in that?" Cedar questioned.

"Well, we're in an alliance, aren't we?"

Cedar and Ash both glanced at each other whilst Juniper, once again, stared at the back of her brother's head. In the end, the two from Seven agreed. 

"Okay..." Cedar shrugged. "What's District Ten like? Is there a lot of cow shit?"

"There is a bunch of cow shit." Juniper nodded. "But Ten is... decent."

"Decent is being too generous," Justice mumbled. "It smells of manure, and hay, and raw meat depending on where you live. You see, there's different sections of housing. Where we live, it goes our strip of housing and then in-front of that, there's something called the Milking Station where our dad works. Then there's more housing and then something we call the Barn of Death, which just holds all of the meat and where cows go to die. And then behind us, it's the Breeders, and then a strip of land, and then the Justice Building."

"Are you named after the Justice Building?" Ash laughed after Justice finished explaining the layout of Ten. "Holy shit, you're named after the Justice Building."

"I am not named after the Justice Building," the boy said before turning to his sister, whispering to her, "I'm not right?"

In the end, the four of them spoke about different stories from their childhood, like how Cedar broke her arm climbing a tree whilst her father was working and how Ash's sister made the best apple pie. How Juniper and Justice always took walks around the town, skipping school because they didn't like the teachers or subjects they were having that day. And then Cedar and Ash explained how they were science partners for every year in school, explaining their bond that was between them. 

And when night suddenly came by, the stars flashing in the sky as the trumpets started, the seal being projected, they all felt... closer... as they settled down at a tree surrounded by tall bushes. But no faces were showcased. No-one had died and so, the music cut and the seal disappeared. There were still twelve tributes, including them, eight not. 

And Wing and Hermes were still alive. 

⇢ ˗ˏˋ matz 🎧 !

— everything changes in the next 2 chapters