Bargaining
A/N: This is the third part of my five-part one-shot series. Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance. This is Bargaining.
I've always been a coward.
Yeah, no one likes to admit that about themselves. But it's true. I am a coward.
However, in my experiences, cowards are usually the last to die. At least, if they have something to hide behind
When I got Reaped my first thought was Fuck, I'm gonna die. I mean, how can I win? I'm not strong or fast. I'm not even that good looking, which actually counts for a lot more than people would think in these Games. Sure, I'm smart. But how far can that take me. What can I do with brains?
"Traps," Beetee, my mentor, tells me. "That's what you can do with brains." Then he goes on to tell me about his Hunger Games experience. He had made some kind of electrical current that electrocuted all the remaining tributes. He probably made that the quickest Hunger Games ever. Course the Capitol wasn't too happy about that.
Now, that got me thinking. I'm not an electrical genius like Beetee but back in District 3 I was an explosives specialist. Yep, I worked with bombs. Big bombs. I made them. If I could somehow get my hands on materials to make a bomb I could eliminate a lot of tributes. Hell, maybe I could even win.
But cowards' never win...Unless they have something big to hide behind.
I'm mulling this over as I recline against a tree. I think of settling in for the night as I hear the anthem play. There were no cannons that I heard of today. And, yep, there's no faces in the sky. The audience must be so bored, watching us all die from starvation. The Gamemakers will have to do something soon.
No sooner do I think this then the trees in the distance burst into flames.
Fuck.
I stand up and run back toward Cornucopia. Sure, I know that the Gamemakers are trying to force us together, but the way I see it, it's either get caught in the flames and burn to death or fight a tribute and possibly win. At least I can hide from the tributes.
Hm, maybe I won't die tonight.
As I run, I start to pray. I'm not at all religious, but my mother was. She prayed every day for God to deliver us from the slums of District 3. But it never worked. I never said anything to this because praying gave her hope. Hope that things would get better.
I wonder if she's praying for me now...
God, I pray, I know that you probably don't exsist. I also know that you probably don't regularly answer prayers but I'm running from certain death towards certain death. Can you help a guy out here?
I'm not really sure if it works but something does happen.
Smack.
I run right into the boy from District Two. And then I fall down.
The boy- should I say man, he's freaking HUGE- staggers back, a bit surprised. I use this moment to scramble back up and turn to run...towards the fire.
"Damn." We both say. Both of us turn and run to Cornucopia. Sure, I'm aware he can kill me at any minute but all we're concerned about is running from the flames.
Suddenly, I feel others following us. His alliance. I'm so dead. Think Chase, think dammit!
We all run into Cornucopia and fall to the ground, coughing and wheezing from the smoke. The fire seemed to stop at the closest metal plate. It fades away.
As soon as the District 2 guy recovers, he grabs my throat and lifts me up. I flail around, trying to dislodge myself and kick him in the crouch. Surprised, he pushes me away and sinks to the ground, holding the part I had kicked.
I fly through the air and when I land my head hits a metal plate. My vision blurs and my head starts to hurt.
Next thing I know the girl from District 2 has a knife at my throat.
"Don't even try to move. Don't try to fight or run. I'll kill you even then." She says to me, her lip curling into a sneer. I stay still, my mind racing.
Think dummy! How can you escape this one?
"Hey Cato, he ran into you. You want to end him?" The girl shouts. The District 2 guy stands.
Ah, so his name is Cato. File that piece of information away for later...if there is a later.
Cato looks at me. I stare back, my eyes betraying the fear I feel. This is the guy I wish I was like. Good-looking, tough, strong, a leader. Damn him.
How the Hell are you gonna get out of this Chase? Use that piece of meat you call a brain and DO SOMETHING!
"Go ahead Clove. Make it quick. The fire can come back at any moment." Cato tells the girl-Clove.
Clove's face brightens as she receives permission to kill me. She's such a lovely girl.
Dammit! Stuck between a metal plate and a Career!
Clove raise the knife-
Metal plate! There's you escape route! Use it!
"I can help you!" I squeak out before Clove brings the knife down. For some reason she freezes and stares at me.
I take a breath realizing I'm not going to die quite yet. "I can help you." I repeat, saying it louder so all of the group can hear.
Clove snarls. "How can you possibly help us?"
"I can make sure that you don't have to bring your camp with you when you hunt tributes." I say quickly.
Clove rolls her eyes. "Puh-leaze. How are you gonna do that chump? Scare the other tributes away with your ugly face?"
"Wait Clove, let's hear him out." The District 1- Holy shit! She's hot!- girl says.
Clove looks at Cato, who nods. "Fine." She says, clearly disappointed. She sheathes her knife. "Get up!" She barks at me.
I stand up, tripping over my feet and face Cato, who I can tell is the leader.
"What can you do help us?" He asks me in an authoritative voice. I quail a bit under his gaze.
"I can-I can reactivate the bombs under the metal plates." I say trying to sound less frightened then I really am.
Cato blinks and looks at Clove. They seem to communicate silently for a couple seconds. Then Cato faces me again.
"How?" He asks.
I shrug. "I'm from D3, we learn how to build bombs when we're seven years old." Lie but it makes me sound more impressive.
Cato looks at me considering what I had said. "Show me." He finally says.
That means sacrificing a plate, but if this works it'll be worth it. I start to walk toward the center of Cornucopia,where the pile of supplies is but Clove stops me by putting a knife to my chest.
"And just where do you think you're going?" She asks coldly, her eyes piercing my skin like the knives she carries.
I feel like curling up into a little ball but I stand my ground. "I n-need to get t-tools." My hands are shaking. "Do you want me handling explosives with my bare hands?"
Clove looks at my hands and I see the realization that her life would also be in danger as I work with the explosives. She lowers the knife and I walk on, quickly before I succumbed to fear.
"Marvel, Glimmer, watch him." Cato says to the two tributes from 1. They both nod and follow me.
I try to ignore them as I look through the pile. They aren't as scary as the pair from 2, but Marvel handles the spear with ease. Though the hot girl-Glimmer- doesn't seem to be handling that bow right. Hmm...
I find there isn't much in the pile, not even a pair of pliers. I sigh and look up at the sky.
"Little help?" I whisper, hoping Beette will hear. But of course nothing comes down. I must have little or no sponsors.
I turn back around to the tributes from 1. "So, there's nothing here. Do you think you could ask your mentors to send down some tools for me?"
They exchange a look then look back at me.
"What do you need?" Marvel asks.
Surprised by this, these two are much more friendly then Clove, I list the tools I need and almost immediatly a parachute falls into Marvel's hands. Then another into Glimmer's.
I look at what's inside each one. Gloves and a pair of pliers. Just fantastic.
Seeing my fustrated expression, Clove says, "If you can't do it, chump, you know what will happen."
My knees shake at this. I have to do this or I'll die. But this isn't the kind of equipment I usually work with. I realize that the mentors might be testing me. Trying to see if I'm good enough for the Career pack. Well if the Lover Boy from District 12 can get in so can I.
"I can work with this." I say and walk back over to the plates. I choose the one farthest away from the supplies.
"I need someone to lift this." I say knowing with shame that I am not strong enough. The blond boy- Lover Boy- from 12 walks over and lifts the plate out from the ground. I'm not only surprised at his strength but the kind expression he gives me which I know none of the others can see. Strange.
I kneel down on the ground and get to work.
The Careers don't bother me while I work on the plate. They don't seem to want to get within arms length of the boy who could at any moment blow them all sky high.
I try not to think about my situation while I work but as I wipe the sweat from my brow the thoughts come. I prayed for God to deliver me from the fire and He ends up putting me in Hell. I prayed for an escape, now I'm busy bargaining with the devil for my life. My situation is the definition of 'damned if I do or damned if I don't'.
"What's taking so long?" Clove shouts at me suddenly. I almost drop my pliers into the metal plate but I manage to grip them more tightly. I decide not to answer her, not even telling her how close she almost came to death. But they're all far enough away. The explosive would have just blown me up and what do they care about that? One less weakling tribute to deal with.
Then Cato says. "What's that?" I look up. There is a fire once again, but this time it seems to be only concentrated in one area.
"Let's go. There must be a tribute there." Cato orders them. "If it's Fire Girl, leave her to me." His alliance nods (though I can't help but notice a flash in Lover Boy's eyes) and they start to leave.
"You," He says pointing at me, "Stay here." I nod, quick little jerk of my head and he leaves, followed by the District Four girl and Clove, who gives me a look of pure hatred.
I sit back on my haunches, breathing heavily. Half-an-hour ago I was pretty sure I was going to I'm in the Career pack. Who says cowards can't get far?
It's takes them hours to return. In fact they don't return until the day after, at noon. I had already finished rewiring the first metal plate and had decided not to do the others until the Careers returned since I couldn't lift them out of the ground anyway.
I actually was munching on an apple from the supply pile when three of them, Cato, Clove and Marvel burst through the bushes and ran into Cornucopia.
They were all breathing heavily and had-
I almost started to laugh. Almost.
They had huge bee stings all over their bodies. They were all puffy and the stings were oozing green.
"What happened?" I ask, withholding the smirk I felt.
Clove just glares at me and snarls. Marvel doesn't seem to be able to speak. So Cato tells me the whole story. About how they had found Fire Girl and she had climbed up a tree and escaped them. How they decided to wait for her to come down and she had dropped a tracker jacker nest on them. How Glimmer and Melody- the District 4 girl- died in the attack. And most surprisingly (or in fact un-surprisingly in my case) how Lover Boy had betrayed them and fought Cato and told Fire Girl to run.
"I know where I cut him though." Cato concludes. "He'll be dead within a day. And it's all Fire Girl's fault. I swear nothing would please me more than to get my hands around her neck." He makes a squeezing motion with his hands. I gulp and almost throw up my breakfast.
"So, did you finish?" He asks me.
"Yeah I did. Are you ready for the demonstration?" I ask him.
"It depends on if it will blow us up or not."
"If we're far back enough we won't have to worry about that." I tell him my knees starting to shake again. I'm sweating like a pig and I feel like I'm about to wet my pants. It's do or die time. Literally.
"Okay. Let's back it up guys." The three of us follow his orders and we back up to what I can judge is a safe distance.
"Uh, Clove," I start to say, deciding to not make eye-contact with her glare instead looking at her shoulder. "Think you can throw one of your knives all the way into that plate? Please?"
Clove smirks. "In my sleep." She already has thrown the knife before I could say 'Go'.
As soon as the knife hits the bomb goes off. It's much smaller then what I'm planning on but it's still a pretty big explosion. We're all far enough away not to be blown up, but close enough to see (at least for me) the details of the explosion.
I turn to the other Careers. Cato and Marvel look impressed, Clove looks a bit put out. No killing of a certain scrawny District 3 boy for her.
"Can you do that to the other 23?" Cato asks me. I nod, still shaking, still sweating, still feeling like I'm going to piss my pants at any minute.
Cato grins, even more scary than Clove's grin. "All right then. Let's get to work."
So that's what goes on for the rest of the day. Cato lifts the plates out of the ground, I rewire them and direct Clove and Marvel where to put them.
When we finish, Marvel drops to the ground, completly exhausted. I'm about to pass out any second but I need to make sure of something first.
I turn to Cato. "So, just to be clear, I'm in?"
Cato considers me. "You're in." He finally says. "For now." He gives me an ominous look before grabbing an apple and devouring it.
An alarm goes off in my brain. Safe, for now. But when the other tributes are dead, I'll be the one to kill.
I need to make sure that doesn't happen.
No matter how tired I am, I stay up and wait to make sure Marvel and Clove are asleep. Clove has a knife in her hands and looks like she's cuddling it. Maybe she once had a knife as a teddy-bear when she was little. I don't know.
Finally I approach Cato again.
"Hey." I say not sure how to begin.
"Hey." He says to me.
"Listen, Cato, I know how this works. I know you guys just let me in cause I'm good with my hands. I'm smart enough to figure that out. And I know what will happen to me when the other tributes are dead." Or, God forbid,the bombs go off and they don't need me anymore, but I don't mention that.
I lower my voice to a whisper. "But I think that's a mistake. Cato, we all know you're the favorite to win." That's right, butter him up a bit. "But you got some serious competition. Fire Girl, I hear she's good. And Lover Boy-"
"Is as good as dead." He says stiffly, he did not seem to like my mentioning of Fire Girl.
"Right, but Marvel is good with that Clove is a wiz with knives. Do you really want to take the three who could possibly be your competition to the end?"
Cato regards Clove's sleeping form. "No, not really." He doesn't sound quite convinced yet.
I sigh. "Look I didn't want to say this, but when you were resting Clove was complaining that you were an unfit leader and she couldn't wait to kill you and win." Yes, I am lying. What do you expect a coward with no options to do?
Cato's eyes flash. "She said that?"
"Yeah." Does he not believe me?
Cato grits his teeth. "Everyone's out to get me in these games. Sure I'm the biggest and strongest and that immediatly makes me a target. No one's on my side." He sounds a little sad when he says this.
That's my cue. "I'm on your side Big Guy."
Cato looks a bit confused. "You are?
"Yeah." I hang my head. "I mean there's no way I can win. I'm not big, or strong, or fast. I'm just smart and that can only get you so far. I've already accepted I'm going to die and I'm good with that."
I'm lying through my teeth here. There is no way I'm giving up. I just rigged 23 bombs. CAPITOL bombs. I can do anything.
But this coward still needs something big to stand behind.
"Hey Cato. You know what I just thought of?"
"What?"
"What if you take me to the end? No I'm serious." I say when he gives me the this-kid-is-crazy look. "Once all the other tributes are gone, you and I can arrange to have Clove, Marvel and even Fire Girl if she's alive to have an "accident" with the bombs. Then you can kill me and win. It's a win-win situation Big Guy. I'll be at peace knowing that I was in the Final Two and you can win and be Victor and bring glory to your District." Pretty savage of me I know. I don't say that I'll also be arranging Cato to have an accident with the bombs as well.
Cato seems to seriously think about my offer. "But what if your bombs don't work?"
I shrug. "Then you can just kill me. I won't be of much use to you." I can't believe I just said that! Well, I'm pretty confident that my bombs are flawless.
Cato takes a long time to think. Then he looks at me, that scary grin on his face. "Deal." He says. I hold my hand out and he grabs it and shakes, almost breaking my hand.
"But Fire Girl," His smile disappears. "If she survives, she's mine. Got it?"
I'm glad that Cato's looking away so he can't see me shaking and sweating. "G-got it."
"So...uh, I don't think I ever got your name."
"Chase."
"Okay Chase, I can finish this watch. You lie down and get some sleep."
"Okay." I say uncertainly. I don't recognize the look on Cato's face. It looks...almost manic. Insane. I have a funny feeling he's fantasizing about killing Fire Girl by the way he clenches his hands.
Jesus, I've bargained my life with a madman.
No, not mad necessarily. Just at the end of his rope. He's bound to snap soon. Hopefully I won't be near him when he does.
A/N: That was longer than I thought. I couldn't think of anything else for bargaining. And as we all know Chase wasn't around for much longer. He actually was within reach when Cato snapped.