In which sixteen-year-old Barley Miller from District 9 is thrown into an arena to fight to the death with not only 22 other children but with her younger brother as well, Barley has to figure out how she can keep both of them alive as well as deali...
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A TENSION FELL among the pack, as Treech, Tanner, and Barley began collecting the water bottles that the drones that attacked them brought. Barely immediately felt the change in atmosphere among the pack, Treech and Tanner slowly becoming more bothered by Coral and her attitude.
She decided to help the boys collect the water bottles as away to try and defuse the situation a little bit and to try and stop any violence between the pack.
Barley brought over the bottles she had collected and placed them in a pile with others, Coral and Mizzen began to approach the beam Lamina was on, the dark red-haired girl brandished her small axe and climbed to her feet. Barley, Adam, Treech, and Tanner all take different spots so they can watch the beam.
Barley watches as Coral and Mizzen scale a post on opposite sides of the beam, in a strategic move to corner Lamina and leave her nowhere to go. Coral and Lamina begin taking swipes at one another, both managing to avoid being hit much to Barley's happiness. Lamina was being pushed back on the beam to where Mizzen was waiting, his net wrapped around his shoulder and brandishing a small knife.
Mizzen screeched like a baby eagle as he swiped at Lamina. Lamina quickly moves back from Mizzen and Coral's trident enters her back with a disgusting squelch that makes Barley want to puke, a grunt escapes Lamina's lips as she falls backward, and she begins scampering back up the beam away from Coral who relentlessly goes after her.
Lamina looked over the beam and made eye contact with Treech, the boy in question's head dropped downwards unable to look at the girl he betrayed. Mizzen manages to catch the girl from Seven's axe rendering it completely useless and sealing Lamina's cruel fate.
Coral pushes forward, her trident pricing Lamina's stomach, Coral uses the trident to pull Lamina up she looks the dying girl in the face before moving her trident over the edge of the beam, allowing Lamina to simply slip off it and landing on the ground next to where Marcus's dead body lay.
Treech slowly walked towards her body, a look of guilt plastered across his face but Barley could understand why he did what he did, he made what he believed was the best choice for his survival.
While the pack is distracted by killing Lamina, Lucy Gray uses the opportunity to begin dumping out the pack's water and Coral catches her as she and Mizzen rejoin the group. "Wake up"Coral shouts annoyance in her voice she shoves Tanner out of the way and sets her sights firmly on Lucy Gray.
Coral and the rest of the pack chase Lucy Gray up into a vent, the Rainbow girl pulls on the vent door, slamming it onto Coral's fingers. A groan escapes the girl's lips as she looks at the rest of the pack who are standing watching her.
Embarrassment engulfs the redhead's face but pain and fear glistened in her bright blue eyes. Her face quickly hardened and she glares at the pack, pushing Tanner away from her as Mizzen yelped in surprise. "You're all useless!"She shouts angrily as she storms away.
Adam grabs hold of his older sister's hand and squeezes it in a comforting manner. "She'll calm down.... eventually,"Adam tells her quietly.
Barley pulls Adam into a tight side hug, the pack then beginning to follow after Coral.
A SHORT WHILE later the pack re-groups in the main arena area, Barley and Adam sit quietly on some rubble and watch as Tanner approaches the last bottle of water the pack has his thirst becoming too much for the older boy.
"Hey!"Coral shouts her anger pricing across the room, stopping Tanner from taking a sip of water. "You really think you deserve that water now, Tanner"
Barley and Adam begin to approach the angry pack members, Tanner grasps hold of his weapon tightly as he approaches where Coral and Mizzen are standing side by side, Mizzen pulls his small knife from his belt, and Barley notices how he's just as protective over Coral as she is of him.
"Look"Tanner spats anger and annoyance in his voice. "You just said "Watch the beam"
A snort escapes Treech's mouth, his head dropping to hide his laughter. Much to Barley's surprise a bout of laughter escapes Coral's lips a smile appearing alongside it. Coral places a hand on Tanner's shoulder and quickly brings up her trident before stabbing it straight through Tanner's chest. She then casually drops them both onto the floor, discarding them as she approaches the bottle of water.
A shocked expression engulfs Barley's face, she knew the pack would turn on each other eventually but she never imagined that Coral would be the one to cause it.
Just as she crouched down to pick it up, Mizzen and Adam both spotted Wovey hiding behind some rubble. "Coral! Barley!"Adam shouts gaining the two girls' attention.
"It's Wovey. The little one from Eight"Mizzen continues, Barley notices the way he deliberately deepened his voice to make himself sound tougher.
Treech removed the trident from Tanner's chest blood dripping off it. Coral quickly grabbed the trident from him. "This should be easy,"Coral says confidently.
The pair from Four quickly rush forward, and the pair from Nine and Treech hang back a little, they all look at each other before deciding to follow after and run to catch up to them.
The pack chases Wovey around the tunnels but soon gets lost not knowing the tunnels as well as she does, The pack breaks off into small groups staying nearby to one another, but far enough to way scout the tunnels properly. Coral is the furthest away, her leading the pack. Adam and Mizzen are together walking side by side a few feet in front of Barley and Treech with their tiny knives held tightly in their hands.
Barley and Treech are at the back of the pack the two walk silently side by side before Barley decides to break it. "I'm sorry about Lamina"Barley tells him honestly.
Treech looks up at her, he sees the honesty in Barley's eyes and knows she is genuine. "It's fine, we'll all be dead soon,"Treech tells her casually.
Barley looks at him closely and notices the guilt in his eyes. "You know it's not your fault right?"Barley asks and Treech looks up at her. "You didn't kill her"
Treech sighs. "I left her"Treech mumbles quietly.
Barley grabs hold of his hand and squeezes it tightly. "Yes you did,"Barley tells him bluntly, the boy looks with a shocked expression. "You left her, but you made the best choice for you as sad as it may be only one of us is getting out of here alive and you chose to bet on yourself and there's nothing wrong with that.
A small smile appears on Treech's face. "Thank you, Barley"Treech tells her.
Barley just smiles back at him, she understands how hard choices are when it comes to the games, she had to protect Adam with her life and that meant letting things happen to innocent people.
