death valley

The Hanging Tree Games: Revisited - Task Six/Quarterfinals

can't have nice things.

"Panem!"

Leander kept running, scouring through a sixteenth of the Arena, barging through abandoned apartments and corner stores—but there was nothing. Nobody called back. No hint of movement. Then he heard it: Three cannons. Three distant booms. One after the other, the sounds erupted, and the moment the blasts reached his ears, Lee froze, realizing: Panem's dead.

Lee slid off his pack, both dehydrated and heavyhearted, but instead of grieving, he sighed and pushed the thought away from his head. Lee murmured to himself, rummaging through the backpack. He had gone nearly a week without water—two more days, and he'd die. When Lee first took the pack, he was sure that he'd heard sloshing deep within its contents—water, perhaps. Now, Lee was just starting to think that maybe he'd been a little too hopeful. Delusional, even.

Lee'd learned long ago not to set his expectations so high, but he couldn't help it. His shoulders slumped, his mood dampening at the thought of dying at the bottom of the food chain. With another sigh, he closed the pack, about to slip it over—

"Looking for something?"

That voice—it belonged to the weathered face that had once offered Lee a food. Lee swiveled around so fast that he nearly stumbled over his own feet and stared at the old man, his eyes widening at the sight of the Scrooge-like figure. There was the Miser, standing behind him quietly, with his cane and all. The fatherly smile had been wiped off the Miser's face, replaced by a stoic expression that rested upon his features. In his eyes, the kind glimmer was long gone, dulled like a sky before a storm. As if reacting to the sight of him, out of wariness, Lee felt himself begin to sweat a little more, worsening his thirst. As Leander rolled up his jacket sleeves, the Miser's eyes darted to his left arm, taking a quick glance at the deformations seared into his skin. Dryly, he commented, "Looks like Chael did more than just blind you in one eye, Leander."

Lee remained silent, slipping on the pack.

"No remarks? What happened to the witty Leander I met in my cabin?" the Miser scoffed, and Lee averted his gaze from the ground to glance at the old man, only for his eyes to be met with the sight of a silver flask flying straight at him. Lee swiped the rectangular container out of the air and stared at it in confusion.

"You're dehydrated; drink up."

Lee unscrewed the cap and took a sip, eyes widening at the ice-cold feeling that rushed down his throat, then emptied the flask. He finished the entire thing in one minute, and threw it aside; the metal container clanged against a stone and clattered off a few inches to the right. Leander roughly wiped away a drop of water trickling down his chin, looking at the Miser.

"Why are you here and what do you want?" Lee inquired rather harshly, knowing that, since this wasn't the same grandfather he encountered before, he could be as blunt with the Miser as possible.

"I asked for something in return for the coin, didn't I?" the Miser explained.

Later on, I'll come around and ask you for a favor in return for this act—nothing life-threatening—just a simple request.

Lee replied quietly, his tone hostile. "A simple, non-life-threatening request, was it?" he muttered as he held the Miser's calm yet angered gaze. "Bring it on. Who cares if you've changed this up? I'm not scared of whatever you'll throw at me."

The elderly man narrowed his eyes disdainfully, opening his mouth to reply—

There was lighthearted male laughter echoing throughout the open space, startling Lee the first time it burst out, but as the chuckling continued he recognized the voice. It was a charming melody, something that could make both men and women swoon—a sound that, when Lee started to listen closer, did the exact opposite to him. It was as if a skeletal hand had wrapped around the cervical vertebra section of Lee's spine, restricting only his back so that he stayed in place. Lee's heartbeat quickened out of fear, and every instinct in his body told him to go—run away and don't look back....