Sweetest Downfall

There were six faces in the sky that first night of Games. The anthem rang out and the Careers and I gathered up in our makeshift canopy to watch for the -now dead- faces of our competitors. To be honest, I was thoroughly surprised that the canopy could hold all of our weights but Micah and Jude had weaved it with only the strings leaves and vines. The anthem died down and soon the faces started appearing in the sky- the girl from six, both tributes from seven, the two from nine, including the girl I'd killed, but the most astonishing was the face of Herring. Herring, the tribute from District Four. Herring, Shay's partner.

I hoped for her sake that his demise wasn't my fault. Or maybe I hoped for my own sake. I now regretted not letting him slaughter Presh right before my eyes. In fact, that might have amused me. Instead, I protected her. I hated myself for it.

"Feelin' guilty?" Asked Micah after he and Nita were done giving each other high fives. They were celebrating the fact that they'd taken part in the deaths of the District Seven tributes. Somehow, that made me feel sick to my stomach.

"No," I lied through my teeth.

"Good," Micah said soullessly, his eyes never leaving my face. "A true warrior never feels guilt." Micah looked from Career to Career. "Does anyone know who killed the boy from Four? I know Cyrus slaughtered the girl from six and the boy from nine. I killed the boy from Seven and Nita killed the girl. Jude, did you kill him?"

Jude's long blond hair fell into her eyes and just as she opened her mouth to speak, I interrupted. "It was me."

"You?" Jude asked, venom on her tongue.

"I bashed his head with the hilt of sword," I muttered, recollecting the disgusting event. I felt more guilt for his death than for the girl who's spine I'd snapped. "Must have died from a concussion, I'd imagine." My voice trailed off but Micah hooted and hollered, clearly unafraid of any other tributes that might be around.

"That makes two for One," he winked at me, "Two for Three, one for me, and one for Nita." He grinned, counting them down on his long, beautiful fingers. Six tributes down. Eighteen left standing.

"So, what? We're keeping score now?" Jude asked, clearly upset that she hadn't killed a single tribute. She snarled at both Cyrus and I because we'd killed the most, but she wasn't happy with Nita and Micah either.

"Actually, yes. And since you have a score of zero, you get first watch."

Jude's mouth dropped open but she remained silent. Cyrus chuckled to himself, soon followed by Nita and Micah. Cyrus leaned back a little and closed his eyes, ready to get some shut eye. The others did the same, except for Jude and I. Her eyes were locked on mine and even though I closed my eyes, I refused to sleep. I stayed that way almost all night, not quite asleep, not quite awake. It was going to be one hell of a long day tomorrow.



The next morning we were woke by rustling. Micah was first on his feet, jumping from the canopy, grabbing his trident as he went down. Jude immediately notched an arrow and pointed it down at the supplies bowl. Nita, Cyrus, and I just leaned forward, trying to see who -or what- was trying to steal our supplies. When we couldn't see anything, but heard Micah's cruel laughter, we clambered down the tree and ran to his side. At first I couldn't see anything, but as I examined the hill, I saw it. There was a large hole there, covered cleverly by twigs and leaves and things. Micah grinned.

"I set that little trap up while you all were sleeping," he beamed. "Couldn't sleep."

"Glad it came into use," said Nita proudly. I examined the hill a little closer. There wasn't any more holes but I could make out the soft glinting of fishing line. It must have come from one of the packs but the way it was set up, they looked like trip wires. In fact, that's exactly what they were.

"Trip wires?" I asked him, just to make sure.

"Of course. I got nervous that one of you," he said, his eyes pointed up at Jude in the canopy, "Might get distracted or doze off while on watch and some tribute might get away with stealing our things. I booby-trapped the place."

"Not a bad idea," Cyrus admitted and I had to agree. We did need the assurance that our supply stash could be kept safe.

Suddenly, a brisk, short yelp rose from the hole and we all made our way toward it. I cautiously peered over the edge but it was so dark that I could only make out a shady outline of a tribute. As far as I could, the tribute was male. Micah crossed his arms.

"District?" he called down to the boy.

"Please, just let me out of here! I'm a good ally, I promise! I'm an excellent with chakrams!" His voice was very deep, but the pleading in it showed how desperate he really was to save his own life.

"State your District and maybe we'll let you live." Micah beckoned.

"Five! Five!" Called the boy. It was true that he could be a beneficial ally. His industry was power, though I wasn't sure how well we could utilize such a skill in the mountains. Then again, my industry was luxury, so I was pretty much useless in that department as well. But, we could use another tribute on watch, maybe to even run errands for us. Micah, however, was wearing what I'd already nicknamed his Satan Grin. He walked backward toward pile of a few large rocks placed near the hole. They must have been in the way his digging and had to move one. He lifted up one of the biggest and winked at me.

"We're lowering a rope now," Micah cooed to the boy as he poised the rock over his head, ready to toss it into the hole. I gulped, wanting to shout out to the boy- but I couldn't. For one, there would be no way to save him. Two, trying to save him would mean certain death from Micah's hand.

"Oh, thank you!" Five called up, his voice choked with sobs of happiness. He couldn't have been more mislead.

Micah dropped the rock then and it we all heard it smash against something -more than likely the boy- with a loud, thickened thud. The boy called out in anguish, his voice vibrating off of the walls of the hole. Micah started to laugh then and picked up another rock, tossing it down and getting another scream as an answer. It was his pattern then, picking up a rock and throwing it down against the boy. I groaned every time I heard his screams and my stomach felt queasy every time I realized Micah was still laughing.

Micah's laughing was only interrupted by one, lonely, empty cannon shot. He looked at each of us and started to laugh again. He enjoyed this, he loved this. I couldn't tell exactly what he was thinking but there was only one thing on my mind.

This is not the way to stay safe. I need to get away from them.

I looked over at Cyrus, his mouth open slightly in disgust. His blue-green eyes met my brown ones and in that moment, we had an understanding. First chance we got, we had to get away from this psychopath. And that chance had to come as soon as possible.

If it didn't... Well, we were both sure we wouldn't live much longer.