Firecracker: The 99th Games Book One

Arena, Day 7 Part 3

Aoi clutched her kids close, panting with exhaustion. Their alliance had just barely managed to escape from under the collapsing ruins when the earthquake and its ensuing aftershock struck, but unfortunately, they'd left all of their supplies behind in the rush. How were they going to survive the end of the Games with no food, no water, and worst of all, no weapons?

"Sh*t," Aoi whispered.

"Language," Cerys muttered from a few feet away, gently stroking Madoka's hair.

"Sh*t f*ck," Aoi deadpanned. Naoki huffed. "...Okay, it's settled down. Right? Let's go see if there's any way to get to our stuff from outside the ruins. Stay away from the cliff, we don't know what's going to happen next."

Cerys nodded, carefully inching around to the wall of the ruins that had been closest to their room. Aoi followed him, shaking, as Naoki took up the rear of the group.

There was a small opening in the collapsed stone. It was narrow from top to bottom, just barely large enough for a small person to slip through. Precariously perched fragments of walls leaned into each other and criss-crossed with other beams and rocks; it would be a maze to get in and out, but it was doable.

Frowning, Naoki advanced to the front of the group and crouched down by the opening. He tried to fit through and was stopped at his broad shoulders, retreating. "...Well, this sucks."

"Let me try," Aoi decided, ushering Naoki aside. Oni gripped her arm, eyes wide with fear; worried, Aoi gave her a quick hug. "Oni, it's alright. I need to try and get some of our stuff, or we're going to get killed out here. Okay?"

"...I-I don't think you should do that," Oni admitted. "I-it's too dangerous."

"Well, then, what shall we do?" Cerys asked. "We have no food, no water, no method of purifying water, no weapons...perhaps we can survive on plants and using rocks for combat?"

"No, there's no way," Aoi muttered. "Especially with Careers in the caves. I need to get our stuff."

Oni shook her head stubbornly. "Captain, th-that's a bad idea."

"Look, Oni..." Aoi took her ward's shoulders, smiling sadly at her. "I know it's risky, but we have to try. We're in even worse trouble if I don't try to go in there. So..."

Carefully, she detached Oni's hands from her arm and crouched by the small opening. Taking a deep breath, she started to squeeze her way through.

"Captain, b-be careful!" Oni warned.

"I am, I am..." Aoi assured.

She felt herself get stuck right at her hips. Aoi froze, quiet for a moment.

Flustered, she tried to force her way in. The stones creaked eerily above her.

"A-Aoi, stop!" Naoki warned. "If you jostle the structure too much it's going to collapse!"

"Are you kidding me?" Aoi hissed. Grumbling, she shimmied her way back out of the opening, Oni scurrying over to help carefully pull her out. Who would have thought her body type would be this dangerous in the Hunger Games? What kind of messed-up karma was this? "Okay, great! Cerys, any chance you can fit?"

"I...c-can certainly try, darling," Cerys said hesitantly. Clearly nervous, he joined Aoi by the opening and started to try and squeeze himself in, but once again he could barely make it to his shoulders before having to retreat. "...I-I'm afraid n-not."

Aoi groaned, running her hands through her hair. "Fine, I guess we're surviving on plants and rocks after all!"

"...I-I can try," Madoka offered quietly. "I-I'm very small."