Writer Games: Pending Secrets

Task Five - Restart - Entries

Peter Mask

Somehow, through all the terrors that Peter Mask had endured – the destruction of Thirteen, his girlfriend Melody's death, entering the Games, killing Aleck, then seeing Melody Rupert's face flash in the cold night sky – his mind was still oddly calm. As the ten remaining tributes began their slow descent onto the ground, he surveyed his two remaining allies around him. Caste Morea looked grim and determined, ready to fight for his life if needed. However, Shyen Ann Brooke was a whole other story. Her face was pale and ashen, her slender form quivering like a leaf with every passing moment. It was no secret that she took the news of Melody's death the hardest – after all, she was the one whom Melody had met first.

Yet, the painful truth was that Melody Rupert was dead – and she wasn't coming back.

He could see the other tributes tense as the pedestal came closer and closer towards the ground, and estimated that there was roughly a minute until touchdown. As the pedestals continued its gradual descent, Peter could see the haunting silhouettes of the zombie creatures wandering around aimlessly, paying no attention to the tributes above them. Some were so still that they looked to be part of the landscape, despite their bloodstained mouths and ragged appearance. Just looking at them made Peter shudder, recalling their narrow escape.

He turned to look at Shyen Ann, to see how she was dealing with being in back in the arena again, just in time to see her jump. His heart leapt into his throat and he nearly threw himself after her, only to be stopped by the fact that his pedestal was a few feet away from her's – way too far to jump. Instead, a strangled, desperate cry tore itself out of Peter's throat as he watched Shyen Ann soar towards a window ledge, "No!" So many words remained unspoken in those tense, nerve-wracking seconds as the girl jumped into the air. I can't lose her too. Not after everything we've been through. Not after losing Melody.

However, to Peter's utmost relief, Shyen Ann did not fall screaming to her death, and instead crashed through the glass, sending shattered fragments flying everywhere as she disappeared inside the room. He ducked as a particularly large piece of glass came flying towards his direction, but Peter needn't have worried – the glass shard did not even come close to where he was standing. Instead, it embedded itself into the neck of a certain Logan Hudson, who was standing the closest to the window which Shyen Ann had disappeared into. With a choking cry, his eyes rolled back into his head as crimson blood spurt out of the fatal wound, followed by a thunderous cannon boom. Peter turned his head away as his body fell onto the ground below, landing with a thump. The zombies who were near the place where Logan's corpse had landed immediately snapped out of their trance and launched towards his motionless body, their fangs ripping their flesh apart piece by piece.

God...he thought, as he caught a glance of a former tribute – Georgina, he thought her name was – tearing apart Logan's body. I hope Melody isn't there. I hope she hasn't been turned into a mindless killing machine. Though Peter had never met the girl, he knew that she was the one that had orchestrated their alliance in the first place, and their original escape from the building during the first Bloodbath. For that, he had her to thank, and as the pedestals shuddered to a halt on the ground, Peter had one goal in mind.

That Melody's death – both the tribute and his lover – would not have been in vain.

Immediately, like a herd of crazed horses, the tributes around his leapt to the ground. The zombies who were not feeding on Logan's body did not seem to pay any attention to the tributes, which puzzled Peter for a second, until he witnessed Caesar accidentally slam into one of them. Then, the zombies perked up and set after the startled boy, ignoring everyone else but the boy. So they don't notice anyone unless you touch them. Alright then. He glanced around, looking for Caste, but to his annoyance and also worry saw no sign of him. All around Peter, the tributes clashed with their weapons or fists, but strangely enough, no one seemed to notice him. Goddamnit, I need to find Caste and then we need to find Shyen Ann. Where the hell is that guy?