I warn you. This chapter is still about Scarlet and her lonely self. Her seriously lonely self and her lonely monologs.

'Thoughts are written in these inverted commas'

"Speech is written in these double inverted commas"

Survival Chapter 2: Even in Middle Earth, the Hunger Games reigns.

She had to find the Cornucopia, and Hansen, and fast.

Scarlet paused to assess the situation. She was in the middle of a forest with no way to gain her bearings. Ideally she would be headed towards the Cornucopia, where the weapons and supplies would be. But where in the heavens was that?! Which direction was it in? Sure she could choose a random direction and walk but there was a high chance that she would be heading towards the perimeter of the arena and further away from the Cornucopia rather than towards it.

Scarlet raised her eyes to the 'sky' and muttered to herself, "Game-makers, this curveball is seriously not cool."

Knowing she wouldn't actually get a response, she huffed and started to mentally catalogue her resources and consider her options; all she had were her clothes, her windbreaker, boots, gloves, hair-tie and snowflake pin. Taking in her surroundings, Scarlet observed tall dense trees, large fallen branches, bushes of various sorts, calls of several animals, and the faint rustle of a river of some sort.

With her lack of resources in mind, Scarlet started to try and recall lessons from her father's training.

*Flashback*

"In the Arena you will be without a weapon to start. You and most of the other tributes will run to the Cornucopia for weapons and supplies. This is when the bloodbath will begin. As a career the most important tactic is to take control of the Cornucopia and supplies. To do that, you need to reach the weapons before any others and kill all other non-careers in the area. Thus, you must be fast and agile."

Scarlet recalled her sitting on the grass at the edge of a training forest as her father paced before her, imparting his pearls of wisdom.

"However, there is no guarantee that that plan will always work out well; we must prepare for all possible scenarios so that you survive. This is why, you will learn the way of the staff."

That was when Scarlet received her first bo staff.

"Why the staff? The Arena is a forested area. Anything you need must be obtained from the Arena itself. In such a place, the only easily available weapon is wood and stones. With the staff, if you hit the right places hard enough, you can break bones, dislocate limbs and fracture skulls; hence killing the enemy. This is now your weapon. You will learn to make one, use one and care for one."

Knowing that her first plan of action was to equip herself with a weapon, Scarlet began to search the forest floor for a suitable branch that was long enough and sturdy enough to be used as a weapon. She considered herself lucky in that the woods she was in had many fallen branches to choose from and most of which were already fairly smooth to begin with.

After much searching, Scarlet found an ideal branch that was just lightly shorter than her. It was not as long as her usual staff and slightly heavier on one side but it felt sturdy, flexible and was mostly smooth except for a few bumps and notches that she would have to smooth down before use.

Scarlet reached for the knife that should have been at her waist only to grasp air.

She groaned at the realisation that she had no knives. Yet. She had trained with her knives for so long that it was instinct for her to use them. Sighing, Scarlet racked her brain for an alternative tool to use to smooth down her staff. Recalling the river she had heard earlier, Scarlet headed towards it to look for rocks and running water, whilst hoping that they would be suitable substitute tools to craft her staff.

A couple of hours later, Scarlet was done with her staff but the sun had risen high. It was already midday and yet Scarlet had neither heard nor seen any other tributes. It was strange and disconcerting. Never had she heard of a Hunger Games where nothing happened in the first few hours. It created an uneasy feeling and set her on the edge. Scarlet felt as though she had entered the calm before the storm and her trained sense of suspicion could not shake of the feeling or paranoia that something was going to happen. Nothing felt right.

Yet Scarlet could do nothing to change any of that. It was already noon and she had not eaten since early morning. She may have been trained for the Hunger Games by her father who made her survive for weeks on little sustenance but hunger was never a comfortable feeling and she would never turn down food if she had a choice.

Scarlet watched the fish in the clear river that swam by.

'Lunch! Perfect!' she though as she once more reached for her knives… which were not there. Yet.

Grasping air once more, Scarlet made and unpleasant face; she was really getting irritated by the lack of her knives and she was truly beginning to curse the game-makers for doing this to her by changing the setting of the games.

'Why,' she thought. 'Why did my year have to be THE year that the game-makers decide to scatter us randomly away from the Cornucopia. WHY! Urgh.'

Rubbing her face with her hands, Scarlet tried to think of an alternate method of fishing since she could not just throw her knife at the fish. Taking stock of her resources again, Scarlet finally had a plan in order.

She took out her hair-tie to use as a fishing line. She had contemplated using her bootlaces but decided not to risk it as having improper footwear was dangerous if she had to run on an instant's notice. She then took her snowflake pin and though to use it as a bait or hook. Originally she was reluctant to use it and risk losing it as it was precious to her but she figured that it was more important for her to make sure she was alive rather than hold on to useless sentimentality. The snowflake pin would work fairly well as a hook for it was made of metal and had sharpened edges. It was almost confiscated at the Hunger Games inspection but was finally allowed though.

After preparing her line and digging around for some bait, Scarlet felt ready to fish. Throwing in her line, Scarlet only had to wait a few moments before she felt something catch on her line. Giving the line a quick yank, she was very displeased to find a clump of river weeds on the end of the line.

Grunting in frustration, Scarlet tried again.

And again.

And again.

Until she saw that there was not point trying again and her patience had gone up in flames.

By then it was early evening and Scarlet knew she had to move on for she could not stay out in the open river bank for too long. It left her vulnerable as others could spot her from afar and creep up on her. She also could not stand the idea of waiting around for the games to end.

Giving up on feeding herself for the day, Scarlet moved back into the safety of the woods and trekked a path parallel to the river till the sun had set and she begun to tire. At night, Scarlet picked a fairly dense tree and climbed up. It was not safe to rest on the ground. Using her belt to secure herself to the trunk, she leaned against the tree and watched the night 'sky' waiting for the nightly count of the Fallen.

Something was wrong. Scarlet had waited for what felt like hours and yet there was no news of the tributes, no projection of any Fallen in the night sky.

'This is strange,' thought Scarlet. 'Nobody? Absolutely nobody has died? Are we that scattered? This means that I am unlikely to bump into anyone for quite a while. What exactly are the game-makers up to?'

Scarlet frowned at the thought. Nothing was going to way it was planned and she was becoming seriously concerned. There was a high chance that the other tributes had also formed an alliance which might explain the lack of deaths. Were that the case, Scarlet would be in serious trouble if she met them alone. Part of the career's advantage was their combined strength from the start that could easily overpower and oppose the scattered tributes from other districts who were unlikely to form alliances so easily.

Suddenly, for the first time in hours, Scarlet heard the sounds of people moving through the forest and voices.

Instantly becoming alert, she tucked herself further into the tree and looked around. Down below some ways off in the dim moonlight, Scarlet started to make out human-like figured in the undergrowth.

'Other tributes! Finally, something I know how to deal with.' she thought.

Yet as the figures got closer, Scarlet began to realise that they did not look like tributes at all. In fact, the figured did not even look human.

Unbeknownst to her, the figures were indeed not human. They were a band of orcs. But being not of middle earth, she did not know that.

'They look like mutations… with weapons. But that can't be right. Mutations are usually animalistic creatures created out of the Fallen. Yet there has been no Fallen shown tonight! Unless the game-makers have decided to do away with the screening of the Fallen tributes? Why was everything different this year? And these mutations look much more dangerous than the usual ones. This is too many changes! The uncertainty is going to drive me crazy.'

Scarlet counted a total of 7 mutations. Assuming those were tributes from her games, then there were still 17 tributes left. Yet she could not quite tell if the mutations were even the tributes from her games. They did not even resemble the tributes she had met prior to the commencement of the games. If they were tributes, Scarlet sincerely hoped her fellow careers were not amongst them. Yes if they were, it no longer mattered. If they posed a threat, they had to die.

Scarlet decided not to risk confronting them even though she was in desperate need of a weapon and the mutations possessed several. However, the arrival of the mutations was a clear indication that she was not in a safe area and had to leave the vicinity soon. They also meant that she could not rely on the assistance of the other careers any longer. She had only herself. Almost immediately, she felt it a heavy burden to bear.

For the next two days, Scarlet continued trekking a path upriver so as to remain close to a water source. She had tried fishing several times more but again reaped nothing from her efforts.

She was getting more tired, hungry and frustrated as the days went by. Her dependency on her knives was also a very sore point for her. Several times Scarlet spotted some bird or rabbit that she could have struck down with a single throw of her knife and yet, she did not have them.

The most frustrating moment was when she had stopped to rest against a tree and directly across her, slightly more than two meters away, out hopped a rabbit from the undergrowth. It was white and cute and fluffy and edible and so close but yet so far.

Scarlet had instinctively reached for her non-existent knives and once again, grabbed thin air.

Groaning in frustration Scarlet thumped her head back against the trunk behind her before glaring at the rabbit again. It was just sitting there to innocently, watching her whilst happily chewing on grass.

"You're mocking me. The universe is mocking me." Scarlet scolded the bunny.

At that instance, her stomach decided to growl and the bunny hopped one foot closer.

Scarlet considered taking it out with her staff and so raised her staff in preparation. Waiting patiently, Scarlet silently prayed for the rabbit to inch a little closer as it was just out of her staff's reach.

Just as the rabbit looked as though it was about to take one more hop forward, it looked up at her, then turned and ran back into the hidden undergrowth.

"Come on!" Disbelieving her bad luck, Scarlet threw her staff away in the direction of the rabbit in frustration and huffed.

And with impeccable timing, her stomach chose that very moment to give a loud growl of disapproval.

Scarlet narrowed her eyes in frustration. Her dependence on her knives was really starting to irritate her. She had always considered herself fairly well prepared for the Hunger Games. She had the requisite training in weaponry, and outdoor survival skills. Yet for all that her father had prepared her, it seemed that there was a flaw in his training. It rested on the flawed assumption that she would easily obtain her weapons from the Cornucopia at the very start. All other training and planning and strategy was built and developed based on post bloodbath game play. This was the very moment when Scarlet swore to herself that if she ever survived this Hunger Game, she would strive to reduce her dependency on her knives.

After that incident, Scarlet tried to refrain from stopping too often and restricted herself to eating nuts or fruits that she could find; things she half-guessed-half-hoped were edible.

In the two days she met neither persons nor mutations. She did not allow her mind to stray far and concentrated on covering ground in hopes of putting distance between her and the mutations and perhaps trying to find the Arena perimeter or Cornucopia. If she were to hit the perimeter, at least she would know which direction was the centre and hence the Cornucopia. Though several times she had the depressing thought that perhaps she had passed the Cornucopia and nearest perimeter and was in fact trekking a very long route towards another perimeter. Also, several more times she still wished for her knives but was forced to adapt using other materials she had with her.

On the third day, Scarlet was getting more paranoid at the lack of fallen tributes. She was also beginning to tire physically and mentally as the silence and loneliness begun to play tricks on her mind and the voices in her head begun to overwhelm her.

'Okay, Scarlet, there is something seriously wrong here. Oh? You don't say. Yes, yes. I know. Oh heavens, I am talking to myself in my head. Yes. Yes you are. Okay shutup. I'm hungry. I'm hungry. I'm hungry. Scarlet, remember to always be on your guard. Sometimes the game-makers like to manipulate circumstances to make things harder or easier or more entertaining. Yes father, I'm trying. Try harder.'

Suddenly, Scarlet sensed something that put her mind and stomach on alert.

She smelt the faint scent of smoke and roasting meat. Someone very nearby had started a flame upwind. Instantly, she headed towards the direction of the source in order to investigate. It did not matter if the person who started the flame was friendly or unfriendly. If friendly, she had found one of her allies. If unfriendly, she would simply eliminate the threat and steal his resources; especially the food.

This was the way of the game.

AN: Uh yes, I know there were a lot of references to the hunger games in this chapter but that's mostly because this chapter was about Scarlet and her suffering. So naturally she would be making references to her universe. But see! There was mention of orcs! So yes, more Lotr references to come.

I actually wanted to make Scarlet suffer more. Starve, get poisoned from eating the wrong food, hallucinate, go a bit mad from the silence and the complete shift in her expectations, etc etc. In the end I decided not to because I didn't think it would be very interesting for fans of lotr and I also don't really want to write a super long story. I do hope I managed to bring out how stressed she was though. Imagine being trained for something and then being thrown not one but several bell curves. No weapons, no allies, no direction, no food, no news. I think that would have made her initial time really sucky.

Anyway, please R&R.

Up next! Who started that fire? Hobbit? Man? Elf? Orc? Wizard? A fellow tribute?