"Ladies and gentlemen, let the Seventy-fourth Hunger Games begin!"
I blink hard, trying to clear my eyes of spots as the bright sun blinds me. When my eyesight finally returns to me, I survey the area as fast as I can, knowing that the sixty seconds that we're required to wait on our metal plates will be gone in no time.
I'm part of the circle of metal plates holding the twenty-three other tributes surrounding the golden Cornucopia on an open area of hard-packed dirt. On my left is a lake, and trees make up most of the area in front of me, telling me that most of the arena is made up of a forest. I turn my head slightly and see a wide area of tall grasses ranging in colors spread out behind me. Before I can study the arena more, the gong rings, telling us the minute is up and we can go, and my body is moving before I know it. I'm sprinting toward the Cornucopia, my eyes trained on the valuable goods at the mouth of it. I turn my head and see Glimmer, my other district partner, matching my pace. She gestures with her head toward the Cornucopia and then she splits off, toward a bow and its quiver that are on a blanket roll nearby. When I turn, I see a familiar silver spear lying on top of a container. It's the same spear I had used often in the Training Center. Thank you, Gamemakers.
My hand closes in on the spear, and I immediately thrust it into the gut of the person that materializes next to me. I look up, hoping to death it's not a fellow Career, but I don't recognize the boy as he slumps, lifeless, to the ground.
I spin around, looking for my next target. I don't need to look far; a girl is rushing toward me with a sword, but I can see how she handles it clumsily. She's expecting this fight to be short, since I'm probably about a year younger than her, but the look of shock on her face is no surprise to me when her sword falls to the ground and a bright red spot blooms on the front of her green blouse.
I pull out my spear and scan the clearing, watching my fellow Careers mow down tributes left and right. Clove throws a knife toward a tribute that is sprinting away toward the forest, but she hikes up her backpack at the last moment, barely saving her own life. Cato is practically just swinging his sword around and tributes fall to the ground around him, dead. Glimmer is shooting with her new bow, but alas, some of her arrows miss, sparing a few tributes from death as they scurry into the forest or the field. I turn my head just in time to see Mitch stab his spear into the chest of a tribute, and Finn whips up behind the bleeding tribute and finishes him off with a knife to the head. Just as the now-dead tribute drops to the ground, Finn suddenly shrieks, "Look out!"
Mitch prepares to duck, but it's too late, and the knife lodges in his back, causing him to fall to the ground. Furious, Finn screams, "Jerk!" and she hurls the spear Mitch had been holding toward the tribute that had thrown the knife, spearing him right in the heart. She drops to her knees, checking to see if he can be saved, but I know it's too late.
I turn my head and see the crippled boy from District 10 struggling to bend down to pick up a loaf of bread. Should be easy to get rid of; he's not going to live long anyway. He notices me, and ignoring the bread, suddenly starts running toward the forest. I start sprinting after him, but he's unnervingly fast, even with his leg. I chuck my spear at him, but it narrowly misses him, and he retreats into the safer haven of the forest.
Angry, I scoop up another spear lying on the ground nearby and am about to throw it again when I realize there's nobody alive left except for me and the other Careers. We study one another, my eyes shifting from Glimmer to Cato to Clove to Finn. Five Career tributes. We all pant as we stand still and listen for the cannons, each representing a dead tribute.
"You guys have to disperse before they'll fire the cannons, you know."
We all spin toward the sudden voice, our weapons up. A figure is standing a distance away from us, half limping as it starts heading toward us. We don't take our eyes off of the figure before he finally appears close enough for us to recognize him.
"Peeta Mellark?!" Finn gasps, but Cato is already running toward him, knocking him down. At this, we all run toward the commotion, eager to see Cato slit the boy from District Twelve's throat open.
Peeta writhes on the ground, struggling to get Cato off of him, but it's no use. Cato lowers his sword until it just barely touches Peeta's throat. Clove laughs evilly. "You should've just followed your girlfriend when she was running away, Lover Boy."
We all laugh at the nickname, Glimmer even high-fiving Clove. Peeta coughs and clears his throat, which shuts us all up because we do want to hear this pathetic boy's last words.
"I… I can help you guys."
Cato laughs at this, but doesn't move. "Oh? What can you do, Lover Boy?"
"I can help you guys find Katniss Everdeen."
Silence ensues. He knows we all want to get our hands on and kill Katniss Everdeen, the girl that's been stealing all of our glory, with her stupid fire costume and her eleven in training.
"How are you going to do that?" Glimmer asks after a moment.
"Katniss and I were talking, you know, and I managed to get what she was going to do the instant she got into the arena out of her."
More silence. We don't know whether to trust this boy or not, but the story seems believable.
Cato digs the sword a little bit deeper into his throat. "How do we know you're not lying?"
"Because all of it, the romance thing… it was an act."
The silence is almost hurting my ears now. We're all staring down at Lover Boy in complete and utter shock, including Cato.
"You're lying," Clove says finally.
"Nope," Peeta states, looking us each in the eye. "Why would I lie to you guys? Strength in numbers is what's going to bring her down."
We all look at one another: should we let Lover Boy live? Cato glances back to us, and we grudgingly nod our heads.
"What's Katniss' plan?" Cato asks harshly when he turns back to Peeta.
"She's going to hide out and hunt and look for water, first."
"And then?"
"Oh, you're going to have to let me go first, Cato."
Cato growls, and he slowly gets off of Peeta. But just as Peeta sighs, Cato suddenly slams Peeta to the ground again, making Peeta wince.
"But the instant we find out you're lying…" He digs the sword into Peeta's side, emphasizing his point. Peeta nods, and Cato finally stands up. We all watch Peeta warily as he dusts himself off.
"She'll probably be in the woods," Peeta says at last. "She feels better in the woods because then she can hunt and hide at the same time."
"All right. But first, we have to gather up all of the goods," Cato prioritizes. We spend the next few moments gathering up all of the dropped supplies, taking backpacks from fallen tributes. We all pile it deep in the Cornucopia, unsure where else to put it, and grab a backpack to take with us, as well as stuff we want. As the others pick around at the supplies, I stuff some knives in my backpack, as well as two spare spearheads in case my current silver spear (which I retrieved) breaks, a flashlight, a small pouch (for some reason, I don't know), and a first-aid kit. At the last moment, I take a pack of dried fruit — just in case I'm on the run from the other Careers later on. After we take what we want, we all start heading for the woods, and soon the cannons start sounding when we're a distance away from the clearing.
"So what's your plan? Why do you suddenly want to kill Katniss?" Finn asks Peeta as we're walking through the woods in the diminishing daylight, long after the loud booming of the cannons has faded.
"Get this: even though I try to act nice to her, she rejects it all and only acts mean toward me." As proof, he shows us his bandaged hands, which none of us had noticed before. "She did this to me yesterday."
"What a bitch," Glimmer sympathizes.
"So anyway, I just want to… extract revenge."
"Wait," I interrupt, realizing something. "How did you get Katniss to tell you her plan if she's 'mean' to you?"
The whole Career pack actually stops, and we all face Peeta, waiting for his answer. His face shows no emotion as he answers.
"Well, I told her that I would probably die in just a few days in the arena, and that it wouldn't hurt to tell me what she would do. Besides, I told her my plan—which is just to survive—so it was a fair trade." He shrugs.
We all jump when we suddenly hear a loud burst of music. We look up into the sky and see the seal of the Capitol floating in the sky on a holographic screen. The death toll. After the music of the Capitol anthem dies down, the head shot of a dark-haired girl appears in the sky, with the number three next to it — the dead tribute and her district number. ("Killed her myself," Cato says braggingly.) Then the picture of Mitch appears, and I feel Finn stiffen beside me. We watch nine more tributes float in the sky before the seal of the Capitol returns and another loud burst of music finishes up the death toll.
As soon as the sounds of the forest return, we all begin walking again, the tall shadows now stretching out in front of us. We begin digging into our backpacks to find flashlights or matches to guide us through the approaching night. But as the shadows get longer and darker, the more impatient we get.
"Okay, game's up, Lover Boy. Where the hell is Katniss?" Cato snaps when the shadows are no longer distinguishable in the jet black of the night.
Peeta puts his hands up. "Hey, hey, don't blame me that this forest is huge and Katniss is small. Hell, she could even be up in a tree right now." The instant he says those words, we all crane our heads up to look at the overlapping branches above us, shining our flashlights above us and holding torches higher. When we don't see anything that could resemble a girl, we look back at Peeta accusingly.
"As I said, this forest is huge," Peeta says helplessly.
We're about to start cussing at Peeta when we hear the faint crackle of a fire. We whip toward the sound and Clove cries out, "There! I think I see the faint light of a fire!"
We all give a whoop, and we start running toward the fire. When the firelight starts becoming distinguishable, we slow down to a trot and sneak toward the fire.
"Turn off the flashlights and blow out the torches," Peeta advises in the front. "That way, she won't see us coming." We oblige, and we are cast into darkness. We sneak even closer to the fire, and Cato groans quietly when we don't see Katniss by the fire, but another girl holding her hands out toward the heat. But hey, we might as well finish her off while we're at it.
"Let's wait until she falls asleep to ambush her," Glimmer suggests in the dark. We nod in assent, and we retreat to watch at a distance out of her earshot.
"Ugh," Clove groans, sinking to her knees. "I really thought we had Katniss there."
"Cheer up, Clove," Cato says, patting her shoulder as he sinks down next to her. "I bet we'll have her by tomorrow."
"Definitely," Glimmer agrees as she sits down as well.
"Any of you tired?" Finn asks, stifling a yawn.
"We can take turns keeping watch," Peeta suggests. "While we're at it, we can bandage up our wounds."
At this, we all look at Peeta. Really, he's the only one who actually has injuries, while the rest of us are virtually unscratched.
"Here," I say grudgingly as I pull the first-aid kit I had taken with me out of my backpack and hand it to him. He opens it and pulls out a roll of a bandage. As he bandages his arm up, I take back the kit and cram it back into my backpack.
"We'll need to get water when we get back to the lake," Glimmer says as she leans against a tree.
"Yep. I have a bottle of iodine in my pack to purify the water," Finn says sleepily from the ground.
Now I'm yawning. "Someone take the first watch," I say before slumping to the ground, hiking my hood up to use as a so-called "pillow".
It seems like I've just closed my eyes when Cato is shaking my arm. "Come on!" he hisses. "The girl's fallen asleep!" We quickly break our small camp, and we start running toward the girl, not caring if she wakes up. There's nowhere else for her to run, anyway.
We're on her before she wakes up, and she shrieks in surprise when she see us standing over her, blocking all escape routes.
"N-no, p-please—" the girl stutters, trying to find some way out, but she's completely surrounded. Cato steps forward and steps on her arm, causing her to whimper.
"Nowhere for you to run," he says, confirming her thoughts.
"Please… please s-spare me!" The girl yelps. Of all the things to request, she requests that. Cato puts more weight on his foot, and the girl screams.
"Sorry, little girl, but that's something I can't do."
"N-no—" Her plead turns into a scream when Cato thrusts his sword into her back, twisting it savagely. Blood bubbles out of the wound, staining both Cato's sword and her black jacket, which is of no use now. Blood leaks out of her mouth, making her gag on her scream, and she slumps to the ground, convulsing.
Cato begins laughing, and we all join in without hesitating.
"Yeah, Cato!"
"You really showed her!"
"Twelve down and eleven to go!" I chime in, and the others give a whoop.
"Let's see what she has," Peeta suggests, reaching for the black backpack sitting nearby. He opens it and rummages through it.
"Nothing special," he decrees, and holds it out toward us so we can survey it. Clove grabs it, and we all surround her as she rummages through the bag. A few matches — which she must've used for the fire — an empty water bottle, and a blunt knife.
"Boring," Glimmer sighs, and we all murmur assent. We take the matches and water bottle though, just in case they turn up handy later on. We drop the backpack next to the girl's corpse.
"Better clear out so they can get the body before it starts stinking," Cato suggests. We turn and start walking in a random direction, away from the girl and forward in our search for Katniss. We've walked quite a way from her before Finn stops.
"Shouldn't we have heard a cannon by now?"
"I'd say yes," Clove agrees, nodding. "Nothing to prevent them from going in immediately."
"Unless she isn't dead," Glimmer pipes up.
"She's dead. I stuck her myself," Cato says indignantly.
"Then where's the cannon?" Finn asks.
"Someone should go back. Make sure the job's done," Clove says, scanning us all.
"Yeah," I agree, "we don't want to have to track her down twice."
"I said she's dead!" Cato yells at us, pissed that we don't believe in his ability to kill.
"Alright, maybe she is dead, but there hasn't been a cannon, Cato! Someone has to go back to check!" Clove yells back.
"Yeah, it's not going to take that long! Go back, check, if she's not dead, then kill her!" Finn says, siding with Clove.
The mention of the girl possibly not being dead makes Cato start. "She's dead! We don't need to check!"
Suddenly, a new voice slices through the argument.
"We're wasting time! I'll go finish her and let's move on!"
We all look at Peeta, momentarily surprised since he hadn't spoken in a while. Cato sighs.
"Go on, then, Lover Boy," Cato growls. "See for yourself."
We watch silently as Lover Boy follows the path we had just taken back to the girl's camp. The instant we know he is out of earshot, Clove speaks up, but in a hushed voice, as if he was still in vicinity.
"Why don't we just kill him now and get it over with?"
"Let him tag along," Finn says. "What's the harm? And he's handy with that knife. I saw him occasionally during the Bloodbath, and he was pretty good. Besides, he's our best chance of finding her."
We all know whom she is talking about. Katniss Everdeen.
"Why?" Clove snaps back. "You think she bought into that sappy romance stuff?"
"She might have." Glimmer suddenly pipes up before Finn can. "Seemed pretty simpleminded to me. Every time I think about her spinning around in that dress, I want to puke." Glimmer makes a face afterward. I remember Katniss's interview: when the crowd went crazy over Katniss's dress, Glimmer had been extremely annoyed, always wanting to have the spotlight on herself. She had been the same way back home, always clamoring for attention. And now that that Katniss girl had managed to outshine her…
"Wish we knew how she got that eleven," I mutter, half to myself.
"Bet you Lover Boy knows," Clove answers, a sneaky smile on her face.
Suddenly, we hear the rustling sound of footsteps. We fall silent and wait for Peeta to come back in view.
"Was she dead?" Cato says to the darkness.
Peeta appears from behind a tree. "No. But she is now." A cannon fires right then, backing him up. "Ready to move on?"
We all nod, and without hesitation, we all run into the darkness, at exactly the same pace.
fin
Note from the author: Wow, I actually wrote this story a long while ago, and I'm really surprised I didn't publish it yet because I really liked it back then and even now. So, another story featuring the Careers – I really should just combine all of these fics into one huge story. ;_; Anyway, I always like writing from the Careers' POV (especially from Marvel's, haha), so hope you enjoyed it!