HEART OF GOLD | CORIOLANUS SNOW

𝘾𝙃𝘼𝙋𝙏𝙀𝙍 101

The food had not helped. Lilith's head still throbbed, and when she couldn't deny her discomfort, she resigned herself to going home. It wasn't really a party, just the gang gathered for dinner and to test out Regulus's newly acquired pool table. They had set the date thinking the Games might be over, and though they weren't, no one had seen the need to reschedule. If she wasn't feeling so unwell, Lilith reckoned she would be enjoying herself, too, and the idea of anyone missing out on her account was grating—she was already ruining all the plans.

She declined both Athena's and Archie's offers to drive her but accepted a ride from the Kingsleys' chauffeur so that she didn't have to wait for Mars, which saved her all of five minutes. Regulus likewise volunteered to take in Athena and Olympia, who were supposed to stayover at Lilith's for the weekend, in addition to the guys, who already had plans to spend the night. With an advanced text to Mae, Lilith arrived back to a warm bath, flu medication, and a cup of honeysuckle tea laced with sleep syrup awaiting her.

After a dreamless and tearless night, Lilith awoke feeling finally rested and drastically better. But it all felt like a waste. By Sunday noon, with no new developments in the arena after more than twenty-four hours, Snow had no other choice.

Lilith didn't think goldilocks was their official name, but the scientists didn't use any other label to refer to these genetically-modified squirrels. When she had first been apprised of their capabilities, she had marveled at the level of engineering involved in their creation. Cross-breeding with prairie dogs resulted in their to attack in packs. Manually editing their DNA produced their golden coats—hence, goldilocks.

Other features were derived from past inventions but still just as brilliant. Their appetite for flesh and capacity to hunt humans were extracted from a previous reptilian project. Their ability to hunt specific humans, targeting disturbers more viciously in particular, however, was gained from tracker jacker technology. Most impressively, the possibility to switch these unnatural aspects on and off at a click of a button originated from the jabberjays, but with an improved transmission system that enabled a remote activation.

In summary, these fluffy, adorable-looking rodents could indeed be fluffy and adorable one minute, and a carnivorous menace the next, which was exactly how it happened. Once launched, the goldilocks already planted in the arena amidst regular squirrels first swarmed the tributes from District 12, who had inadvertently snared, skinned, and eaten some of the mutts. Their deaths were expectedly gruesome, but Lilith didn't realize how long they would take, as if the goldilocks were deliberately drawing out the torture as revenge.

No one was spared, though Oliver's demise was more immediate. As a contingent looking like a golden carpet surged toward him and Poppy, they automatically made to climb higher in their tree. In his panic, Oliver lost his footing and plunged to the ground, landing face-first onto a protrusion in the roots. His vitals had terminated before the goldilocks feasted on him—but not all of them.

Half of the group kept themselves on Poppy's tail as she leapt through the branches. Her birdsong defense was ineffective, with all the warblers squawking in fear rather than mimicking her whistle, and the goldilocks bore down on her just before the clearing. Her screaming was the first thing that disrupted Otho's trance. He had not moved from his plate since he'd reached it yesterday, not even to relieve himself, and still, he did not move now. His face was still too pale, his lips too cracked, but the bloodcurdling sound had revived expression in his eyes.

He stared in the direction of the cry, then looked confused when no apparent threat emerged. Although his state of alertness was fleeting, the adrenaline burst seemed to have sapped all his energy, because he didn't react to the second shriek. He sat in a daze even as Leigh exploded out of woods, chased by an army of tracker jackers because she had dislodged a nest while trying to escape the goldilocks, which had since fled in the presence of the lethal wasps and been turned off.