Defeating Hunger
II
o0o0o0o
As soon as the countdown reaches zero, Seeder jumps off her platform and makes a mad dash for the bottle and rope, keeping an eye on the others – not so easy to do when moving so fast – and manages to grab it before making a sharp turn in the other direction. She sees that most of the weaker Tributes are making their way to the trees, including Emmanuel. For a moment, she considers joining them, but maintains her resolve to go the other way. She hears a scream as someone is killed. Not even five seconds in, and the Bloodbath has already begun.
Most of the Careers have headed in the direction of the forest to mow down the weaker Tribute, but one sees her and starts after her. Her heart pounding, she puts all of her energy into reaching the tall grass of the savannah area. She has no weapon on her, and there are none close enough for her to attempt to grab. All she can do is hope that the tall, muscular boy chasing after her trips. If she doesn't win this game, she at least hopes to survive past the Bloodbath to show that she can put up a fight.
Fortunately, her lean build, along with her determination, enables her to stay just out of the reach of her pursuer, and she does not slow down as she moves into the tall grass. She is well aware that there could be traps or dangerous animals lurking behind the deceptively peaceful brush, but with a bigger and more powerful opponent hot on her heels, she does not have much choice.
She has often played tag with her siblings in grass like this, so she is used to the way the stalks feel against her body and how she can move quickly, her feet negotiating the somewhat cushy ground. The boy chasing her does not have the same experience, so he is slowed down by a bit. It's not much, but it is better than nothing, and she moves further into the savannah, praying there are no snakes hiding and waiting to strike. All she can do is continue running, and hope that she can run longer than he does, but Careers typically go through endurance training, so she is not sure how much of an advantage she has in the grass.
The landscape stretches out before her, broken by a tree here and there, few and far in between, and peeking above the horizon, she sees mountains.
"Might as well give up, girl!" the boy yells from behind her. "If you do, I'll make it a quick and easy death!"
She is running out of strength, her throat getting raw from her ragged breathing. He has fallen behind a bit because of his inexperience with this sort of terrain, but she is tiring and he will catch up with her at this pace. She will have to make a stand sooner or later.
Suddenly, she crouches down, and the grass is so tall that it goes past her head. Her heart is pounding, and she can feel her fingers tremble. Quickly, she unwinds the rope from the bottle, and barely has time to wrap some of it around her hand before the boy is on her, and she sees the flash of the sun reflecting off the blade of a knife.
Her chance of surviving this attack is slim, but it is the best one she has. She doesn't have much experience fighting, but she has kept her ears and eyes open in the training arena, so she has learned a thing or two. As she sees the knife come towards her, she thrusts up with her hand quickly, and the blade impales itself into the bottle. The Career boy barely has time to notice this before she thrusts her head forward, smashing his nose.
In shock, he drops the knife, and she throws all of her weight at him, aiming her shoulder at his chest. Despite the difference in their sizes, she manages to knock him off his feet. She bas barely a second to try to wrest the knife from the bottle, and manages to do so just as the boy lunges at her. Instinctively, she leans to the left, holding up the knife, and it slices the side of his neck.
She's sliced the neck of animals before, goats and chickens, before helping her family prepare the meat. The cut she has just given out is not deep enough to cause an instant bleed-out, but it is enough to disable the boy, who screams and clutches at his neck. The way the blood is coming out from between his fingers, she figures she must have cut through part of his jugular.
Seeder quickly moves out of reach, starting to run again. She knows that running after her could be fatal to the boy in the current state he is in, and she has no desire to try for another blow, he is much better-trained in martial arts than she.
Her gamble pays off as the distance between them at first starts to close, but then grows wider as the boy loses a significant amount of blood. Finally, he collapses, and she slowly approaches him, ready to defend herself. She parts the grass, seeing him lying there, his face nearly white as his life drains away. Their eyes meet, and she darts forward to slice his throat open, quickening his already rapidly approaching death.
A cannon fires. She is not sure how many have died, perhaps eight or nine, she was so focused on staying alive that she did not keep track of the blasts. She sees with delight that the boy has a backpack, and from the lumps, there are several things in it. Unceremoniously, she takes the backpack, as well as the jacket, belt, and shoes. After a pause, she also takes the socks and shirt. The extra jacket can be used for warmth or collecting food, and the shirt and socks could be used as bandages if need be. The backpack contains some food and a canteen, along with a tarp. Excellent.
She turns away from the copse and continues in her original direction. If anything, she can let the other Tributes pick one another off unless the numbers become more manageable. Killing the boy brought her no satisfaction, but the fact that she managed to escape the Bloodbath gives her some hope. Perhaps she will last longer in this game than Tributes from her district usually do.
o0o0o0o
After the initial Bloodbath, three more Tributes die that day. That brings the grand total to nine. The boy she killed is the only Career to die so far. That night, Emmanuel's name appears at the top of the dome along with the eight other fallen, and she remembers what he said to Flavius after they boarded the train back in District 11.
Despite the poverty that pervades most of her District, she still feels homesick. She just wants to see her family again.
She has survived the Bloodbath, which is no easy feat in itself as her experience today has proven. There appears to be no one else following her. She has the chance to advance into the game and maybe make it into the final eight, even the final four. She has a backpack full of extra supplies, and she can forage for food and if she is so lucky as to catch an animal, she knows how to prepare it. If she can stay away from the other Tributes, especially the Careers...
"May the odds be ever in my favor." she says quietly to herself, wondering if there is a camera close enough to catch her words.
o0o0o0o
Despite the seeming peace of the surroundings, Seeder remains alert. Having watched every Hunger Games since she was a young child, she is well aware that the arena can have many nasty surprises in wait, from poisonous fruit to deadly mutant animals or plants. There are also the natural disasters – natural being a strictly relative term in the arena – that can dispatch an otherwise careful or hardy Tribute.
When she comes to a tree, she is careful to make a wide circle around it, to see if there are any animals lurking nearby or hiding up in the branches. She then climbs it, still proceeding with caution. Once she is near the top, she takes a look around. In the distance, she sees the very tip of the Cornucopia, glinting in the light of the moon. To the other side, nearer her, she sees that the trees get thicker. She has the option to stay here in this more open prairie-type setting and be able to see anyone coming for her, or risk the unknown dangers and possible safety that lie within the forest.
o0o0o0o
Two more days pass, and five more Tributes die, none of them Careers. The Games have lasted anywhere from just under a week to over a month. Seeder has stayed alive by carefully managing her rations. She has ventured to the forested area and found to her relief that it is a swampy area, which means she has a source of water.
What is more, the Zone she lives in has swamplands along one side of it, and she and her siblings have slipped through the fence to hunt for crayfish and other animals whenever it was safe to do so, it's easily done by burrowing under the barbed wire. Her parents would tell stories of the old days, hundreds of years ago when people made living off the swamps, collecting herbs for treatment, and animals for food. People would also hide in the swamps, and an entire culture flourished off swamp living before the world was ruined and the Dark Days. Though that culture is long since gone, her parents and many other people in the Zone are descendants from these swamp people, passing down their knowledge through the generations.
Three more days pass, and the Careers have managed to kill off all the other Tributes that haven't died through accident, being attacked by animals, or exposure. She is the only non-Career left in the game. She has never imagined she might make it that far, but then, luck has been in her favor. So far.
o0o0o0o
Seeder knew she could not hide forever. Weaker Tributes have tried to survive the game by hiding, and that can only take them so far. Eventually, when the number of Tributes drop to a handful, the Gamemakers manipulate the arena to flush out anyone in hiding and force them to face their adversaries. Her time is coming, she knows it. So she decides to go to the swamp. Although it is not exactly like the natural swampland in her Zone, it is close enough that she can navigate it comfortably, and she has managed to avoid the tracker-jacker nests, the brightly-colored snakes, and the mutated alligators. Her food stores have run out, and she is hesitant to try any of the flora here. She makes sure to always keep her water-bottle full, and in this swamp it is easy enough to do.
o0o0o0o
Before she survived the Bloodbath, her primary goal was just making it past that event. She didn't have any real expectations of winning the game itself, but as she counts the days she has survived thus far in this game and how few players there are left, she starts to wonder if there is a real possibility that she might end up as Victor.
She remembers a few years ago when a boy from her Zone had been reaped for the Games. She had not known him well, but she'd met him, and worked in the fields with him several times. When he survived the Bloodbath, her neighbors got excited. He managed to make it three days into the game, and for these three days, there was a glimmer of hope that he might win the game. Everyone always wanted a Tribute from their District to win, of course, but for the people of District 11, who had so little in life and so little to hope for, so the longer one of their Tributes survived in a Game, the happier they became for a little bit.
She knows that by now, having made it into the final six, the people in her District are really hoping she will win. Even being so far away from them, she can practically feel their hope and eagerness.
Being a Victor would being some much-needed help to her District. Parcel Day would not make a poor person rich, but it would make their lives easier for a year. Her family wouldn't have to live in that miserable shack. Her father could stop working, and spend his old age in peace and comfort. Her older siblings took care of her in the past, even risking themselves to feed her. She can repay the favor.
The more she thinks about it, the more determined she is to win not just for herself, but her District. She might not be that skilled of a fighter, but she was able to prove to herself that she could do what she had to do when someone was trying to kill her, and she has rationed her food so carefully that her stomach barely growls today. Her biggest issue though, is fatigue. She only sleeps in fits and starts, ever aware of the dangerous animals that reside in the swamp, even in the relative safety of the trees. She's seen what fatigue can do to players in the Games, yet she's also seen what happens to Tributes who think they have found a safe place to sleep.
o0o0o0o
The Careers have turned onto one another, she can tell when she hears the cannon fire twice in one day. It's inevitable when they're the only ones left, and since she's from District 11, she figures the survivors of the alliance can easily handle her later.
This is also the same day that the water drains from the swamp. She doesn't need to be told that she is being flushed out, and instead of returning to the savannah, she goes the opposite direction, to the rocky hills. She saves as much energy as she can, hoping for a gift from a sponsor. The hills have very few trees, but large boulders here and there offer her protection. It takes just two more days until the other players finally make it to the hills, escaping the fire that had started in the forest and moved across the savannah and swamp.
By this point, the water in her bottle is gone, despite her strict rationing. Still, all she can do is wait, as the hills lead to a sheer cliff drop. As she hides behind a rock, she hears bickering. There are just two Careers left now, and they're as hungry as she is, if not more, given that they're now talking about killing her and drinking her blood before a hovercraft can collect her body. Their hunger and dehydration only increases their irritation and desperation, and Seeder hopes that one will kill the other. She really doesn't want to kill more people than she absolutely has to.
When one of them starts looking around the hills for something to eat, he spots her. Her first instinct is to run, and she follows it. She comes to the edge of the cliff and quickly steps to the side, and the boy – once handsome and strapping, now dirty with gaunt cheeks – is unable to stop in time and falls to his death. She hides again.
The remaining Career, after less than half a day, starts ranting and raving, dehydration obviously making him delusional. Seeder herself feels rather light-headed, and knows it is only a matter of time before she will start to deteriorate. All she can do is hope that no one decides to send the boy a water bottle. At this point in the game, Flavius had explained to her and Emmanuel, even the smallest token would be prohibitively expensive. All she wants is for this damn game to end, so she decides to bait him. She steps into his line of vision, and he charges, but his movements are jerky and he is obviously disoriented.
She keeps stepping out of his way, conserving her strength while the boy wastes his, dehydration and starvation crippling his once-sharp reflexes. Finally, his body can take no more and he collapses.
It's hard to not appreciate the cruel irony of her victory. This event is called the Hunger Games, and she won by beating the Careers because her body was much more used to dealing with hunger than theirs were. The last cannon fire seems to explode through her body, and she leans against a rock, breathing deeply as she hears the voice of the announcer boom across the arena that she is the Victor.
At least, after this, she won't ever have to go hungry again.