Author Games: Dacnomania Nexus Accourt

Task Four - Shiny Happy Tributes - Females

District Two - Bellona Blake

Four faces light up the sky. Two of them were my allies. I’ll be the first to admit the Careers aren’t doing so well this year. Shardonnay, Vilmos, Orchid and Sirena are all dead, leaving only Laurent, Lynx and I alive.

At first I thought Lynx was just a dumb airhead from the Capital. Now I see he may have inherited his parents’ clever brains, which will certainly come in handy.

Vinella appears on screen. She begins to talk and I listen carefully to the words that come out of her mouth. Every word a Gamemaker says is important.

The moment Vinella is finished, a wall of dust appears in my vision. Not just any wall of dust, no. A glittering way of dust.

“Run for the Cornucopia!” I shout at Lynx and Laurent, bursting into a run myself.

“You must be enjoying this,” I say to Laurent as I try to catch my breath once in the Cornucopia. “Since everyone knows District One loves their glitter.”

Laurent scowls at me. He opens his mouth to make a retort, but the sound of the dust fast approaching cuts him off. The dust reaches the Cornucopia, and I see, to my relief, that the dust does not venture more than a foot into the mouth.

But a clang from the back of the Cornucopia lets me know that something else has.

“Sounds like we have a little visitor,” I say softly.

I creep toward the back of the Cornucopia, Lynx and Laurent following behind. For a moment I stop. One boot there, one head there, one shadow there….Three tributes.

I can’t help myself. I laugh. “There’s three of you here,” I say. “Did you really think you would be safe here?” There’s a scared gulp in response.

With one small nod of my head to the left I gesture to Laurent, and with a nod to the right I gesture at Lynx. Then I nod once facing straight.

We rush into action. Laurent pins the girl from Three to the wall, and Lynx traps the District Five girl on the ground. I grab the District Three boy by the neck of his suit. I drag him toward the Cornucopia opening, and I can see the fear and panic in his eyes through his face mask. Two feet from outside I stop and let go of Luminios. Then I rear back my leg and give him a good kick in the behind.

Luminios falls to the edge of the Cornucopia floor. The dust swarms all around him. He struggles to get to his feet and move back into the safety of the Cornucopia, but the sharp glimmering dust has already poked holes in his suit. The radiation gets into him, and Luminos crumbles to the ground. A cannon fires.

I walk back toward the other five tributes. Rhea reaches up and punches Laurent in the face. She jumps up. I move to block her off as she races toward the exit. She slaps me and tries to dart around me, but I grab her shoulder and force her onto the ground.

“Stupid girl,” I hiss into her ear, “You could have gone out easy. Quickly. Now we have to do this the hard way.”

I pick up a nearby knife. I use the handle end of the knife to press hard into different spots on her arms and chest. I press hard enough to cause pain, but since I’m using the handle end, the suit doesn’t rip.

Rhea still tries to kick her way. So I move to a crouching position and step on first her right leg, then her left. Everyone in the Cornucopia can hear the loud cracks of bones snapping.

I move to her arms. First I snap her left arm right at the elbow. Next I use my body weight to shatter her right arm.

Now I pick up the knife again. I must be careful and fast. The suit I know will break and radiance will kill her in seconds.