Rick Riordan's Hunger Games [PJO AU]

Ep 12 - "Survivor"

President Clair was watching the Games when he came into her viewing room, and she turned and frowned, "Get back in the control room, Richard."

"Nothing's happening right now," Rick assured her. "President, it'll be twenty minutes before anyone makes it to the feast. You make me work the craziest hours and I'm exhausted. I need coffee."

"Didn't I tell you about Nico di Angelo? I don't care that he's the Capitol favourite and everybody wants to sponsor him. Whatever happens, he does not make it out. Do you hear me? Pour all your attention into him. If he wins, you are done."

"Fine. And if you hate my methods so much, you shouldn't have appointed me in the first place."

◼▲◼

"Instead of food... we offer you a gun."

For a brief moment, Nico's only emotion was surprise. A gun? In all twenty-three of the previous games, there had never been a gun in the arena, and he thought there never would be. It granted too much of an advantage, and it wasn't great for entertainment since it killed so quickly.

And then came a second surprise: a parachute. Inside was a white pill with a snowflake etched into it. For treating hypothermia, he guessed. It was almost like his sponsors were encouraging him.

Venus continued in that sickeningly sweet voice of hers: "It fires real bullets just like any gun. It's fully-loaded with a very simple design. All one has to do is pull the trigger, and put a bullet in when it runs out."

Nico squared himself and looked towards the centre of the arena. He vowed to kill Bryce, and he bet everything that the Career was going to the Cornucopia. It was his last chance to force the odds to finally be in his favour.

"Hurry, tributes," Venus chirped. "If you are the first one there, the gun is yours."

Yes, it will be.

◼▲◼

Bryce was chasing mirages. He shattered one after another until he found a real one. The acid rain was coming, but he needed a kill.

It was the girl who had set off the bomb just before the bloodbath. Calypso, wasn't it? Honestly, mad respect to her, but now she had to die.

Her eyes widened when she saw him coming, and she sprinted away. He thought she'd be starving and slow, but she was obviously neither. He could barely keep up, but luckily the meadows seemed to be guiding him by bending the grass in her direction.

Swinging weapons was the one thing he was good at, and it would kill him if it failed him. The grass moved on its own, entangling their legs. The acid rain was getting louder. Either it was getting close on its own or they were running right to it.

Bryce swung his axe too far, but he managed to snag the side of her ribs and yank her back.

Calypso tripped and fell. She was quickly on her feet, but Bryce had both his axe and dagger to her throat.

Calypso held up her hands, one with a hunting knife in it. "Let me talk," she blurted, cheeks flushed with exertion. "Before you kill me, let me talk."

Bryce frowned. That was a strange request. He kept careful watch of the knife she held, but his curiosity was brimming, and it would be nice to catch his breath before he properly killed her. "Drop your weapon first."

Calypso swallowed, and she slowly put the blade in her belt.

"No. On the floor."

She looked around once and then did as he asked, and he jutted his chin at her.