Interactive Hunger Games 4

Day 3: Compounding

~ You've made it this far? Impressive. For this, you will gain a hint.
Use a Cipher Identifier by Boxentriq to determine which ciphers you should use. It isn't just one cipher and one key. ~
Oh yeah, OctoberTwentyOne.

- P O S E I D O N -

     "We need another kill!" I hear Mason exclaim to the rest. "Ya boy is thirsty again."

"I'm with you on that one." Valerie responds, throwing her hair back.

I follow behind the rest at a short distance. It was something that I wasn't entirely sure why I did. Part of me felt like trusting them was the best option, but the other part felt that they were unstable. I mean, they were my group, but I just heard Mason. They're totally unhinged. I decide in the end to play along.

     "Who would we go for, though?" I ask. Enrique shrugs his shoulders, and we keep walking.

     "Well," Valerie starts. "We need to know who's alone. Who all has died so far? Has anyone kept count?"

     "I did." Enrique says. He lists off all the deaths, and Mason goes into thought. That's the only way you could convince him of comprehension - death. It was sickening, but it was better that he was a friend and not an enemy. I hope that doesn't change anytime soon.

"I'm telling you." Mason begins. "We need to find that Kable fucker. He's the biggest threat, and I'd love to slice his throat wide open."

"I Second that." Enrique mentions, and Mason smiles sadistically.

- S A R A H -

"I'm glad you guys got out of there okay." I say, sitting with Maddox and Lennox, with Hansen attempting to calm them down.

     "As much of a butt that she is.." Maddox starts. I hold back a giggle. "She didn't hurt either of us. She could've easily hurt Lennox, but he's good."

     "Yeah.." Hansen begins. "I still wouldn't trust her."

     "Can we not talk about something nice?" Lennox says. "Literally anything but death."

"Story time!" Maddox exclaims, smiling and hopping up.

"Ooh, ohh!" I say, raising my hand. "I've got one! I've got one!"

Hansen laughs. "Alright, storytime. You start, Lennox."

"Aww." I mutter.

"Then I'll ask." Lennox says, leaning in his chair. "Why do you all have last names?"

"Why do you not have a surname?" Hansen asks. "Fletcher is a trade, that's where mine is from."

"And VanHolt was.." Maddox begins, gulping. "Vanessa's.. last name." He stutters, and I can tell he wants to get off the subject.

"Silverclaw was from my dad." I say, breaking the somber. "He had a gambling problem. It didn't help much."

"Well." Lennox says. "I wonder why I don't have one."

"The gambling problem?" Hansen baits.

"No, the.." Lennox begins, seeing the smile on Hansen's face. "Haha. Very funny."

"Gotcha." Hansen replies, laughing. "I don't know about you guys, but staying here seems like the best option."

"Same." I say. "We need to watch out for Dawn, though. She's really sneaky."

"Agreed." Maddox chimes in.

- C A S S I U S -

I exit the hangar, well rested and ready for anything. I figure that living off of the airport supplies could last for a while, as long as I'm not pushed out by the Capitol. They had an ugly history of doing that.

     I push open a creaky door, wondering how Emily was doing. She was still alive, I knew that much, but was she being hunted? Or was she free from danger for the time being? I had no way of knowing, but the second option was much more appealing.

     I rustle through a cabinet, finding a small tub of airport food. It was.. oh yeah! Cookies! I open the bag and take a monstrous bite if one of them, tasting immediate chocolate chip bliss. Such a nice find.

     It was the little things that I had no choice, other than to enjoy them. Even if I died here, I'd go out like a king. Heh. Maybe I should focus on getting out alive, should I? Right, yes! Alive is best.

     I put the cookies in my pocket and continue through the building. I don't find much else other than useless keys and expired cheese. It smells really disgusting, too.

- B A I L E Y -

"Wait, What?" I hear Quinn says, responding to the announcement. I was frozen in fear, wondering what the hell swarm meant. Nothing good, I suppose. I hear a sound of something breaking and buzzing somewhere in the building, and I stand up.

"Run!" I yell to her, and we rush out of the building quickly. I could hear the sound of something flying around behind us, like a buzzing. I tell myself not to look, but for some reason, I do.

There was a.. swarm of bees after us. It was a cloud of Black and yellow, rushing straight for us. The whole street was taken up, and I couldn't believe what I was seeing. My mind started racing to find options out of this, and I remembered the City was adjacent to a sea of some sort.

"Quinn, the lake!" I yell, turning my head back to see the bees. Just then, my foot feels something hard hit my toes. I scream in pain as my body slams into the ground, eating dirt and concrete. I hear the buzzing approach, and I scream.

But I don't feel any pain. They glide over me, buzzing filling my ears. I turn my head up, seeing Quin running to the sea with a cloud of bees behind her. I guess they were programmed to track someone down. At this point, I wouldn't be surprised.

I can't see Quinn, but I can see the cloud of bees rushing down the road. I'm scared as hell. My fingers are trembling as I stand up, still unable to see her.