WINGS - Coriolanus Snow

EIGHT

IN THE MORNING, when all the remaining mentors were sat in their seats, including the terribly beat-up Coriolanus, Flickerman was ordered to craft a story to explain the mysterious dead tribute and the missing footage.

"Let's check in with the arena and show you all what you missed while you were sleeping!" The camera cut to Bobbin's body, slumped over with a blank expression on his face, and Aria's makeshift wooden weapon laying next to his body that she must have dropped during the fight from the night before.

"Seems like our Aria has discovered a taste for blood! How did she manage to do so much damage with just a piece of wood?" Flickerman questioned. Most of the damage was really done by Coriolanus, but luckily no one would ever know that. They'd carry on believing it was Aria.

This was the best thing to come from the previous night's events, as it could get Aria a lot more donations, now that people believed she was capable of getting her hands a little dirty.

Nothing else interesting was going on in the arena, but there did seem to be an alliance forming, with the tribute named Coral as the leader. Aria would have to avoid them as best she could.

Due to the lack of good footage, the mentors were just about to be released for a short snack break, however they were ordered to take their seats again when the camera panned to Aria fleeing the underground tunnels, unruly hair whipping behind her with Jessup running close behind.

Coriolanus was confused. From what he'd seen, Jessup had never really intended to hurt her so far, but he undoubtedly had a change of heart from the way he was sprinting after Aria like she was his prey, despite them being somewhat friendly just a few hours earlier.

The camera focused in on Jessup, and he looked even sicklier than before. One could guess from a range of maladies he might be infected with, but once Coriolanus spotted foam emerging from his mouth, it was clear Jessup had contracted rabies. It must have originated in the zoo, with all sorts of questionable creatures crawling over the tributes while they slept. Thankfully, these creatures had stayed clear of Aria during her time in the zoo. Coriolanus knew that if Aria were to die, she wouldn't want to do it foaming at the mouth like an animal.

Jessup relentlessly chased after Aria as she clambered up into the stands, hoping to escape from his insanity. The camera crew used this chance to get a close up of Aria's terrified face, and Coriolanus took notice of her cracked lips. She'd clearly not had access to any water since The Games started, and Coriolanus needed to take this chance to give her water before it was lost.  He sent in a drone for her, but unfortunately the bottle shattered after colliding with a wall. This scene sent the rabid Jessup into a frenzy, desperately trying to get away from the pool of water. At first, everyone was puzzled by this reaction, but for Coriolanus, everything had clicked into place. Of course, he thought, how had he not realised this before? Hydrophobia, the fear of water was very common in cases of rabies. The victims developed a terrible, irrational fear of water, even the smallest drop being able to drive them mad.

His fingers began to work his communicuff in front of him, the device used to send in drones, as he was about to send in more bottles of water. Perhaps enough of them would frighten Jessup away. He would drain Aria's donations if he really had to, but Lysistrata, Jessup's mentor, placed her hand on his, stopping him. Apparently, she'd become close to her tribute, similarily to Coriolanus, due to Jessup throwing his body over hers to shield her from the bombs that had previously went off in the arena.

"No, let me. He's my tribute, after all." She began to order bottle after bottle to drive Jessup over the brink.

"You don't have to," Coriolanus felt sorry for her after seeing a teardrop slide down her cheek, though she swiftly wiped it away.