Oh my gosh, I am so sorry. I haven't been updating because of a stupid thing called school. I'm sure all of you know what that is. ANYWAYS, without further ado, What If Chapter 3!
Diclaimer: Nope, I am not Suzanne Collins
Chapter 3: "The Arena"
The early afternoon light bathed the silver Cornucopia, throwing iridescent light over the tributes. It was fall. The leaves on the trees were naturally colored orange, red, and yellow with some brown sprinkled in. This arena was modeled to look like Upstate, in a place once called "New York".
Silk, one of Katniss's female tributes, looked around and spotted a belt of throwing knives 3 feet away from the mouth of the Cornucopia. Unfortunately, A male tribute from Train had his eye on them. Silk was faster. She bolted toward the belt, skidding away as she grabbed it to dodge the tribute who threw himself towards it.
"That's mine!" He growled, inching forwards. He lunged at Silk, hands toward her waist, aiming to rip a knife off and kill her.
Silk ducked, but right when he seemed to crush her, a whizzing noise sang in her ears.
Train froze. The tip of an arrow poked out of his chest. Silk barely had time to scramble out of the way before he face planted on the ground
"SILK!"
"Copper?"
A trio of tributes walked towards her. Copper, named for his bronze hair. Gold, eyes like, well, gold. And Shine. Shine was Silk's best friend. The four tributes had decided to ally prior to the Games, despite Katniss's warnings that alliances were dangerous.
"Watch out!" Gold called, eyes widening in alarm. He pushed the group to the ground right as an axe whizzed over their heads, missing them by centimeters.
Shine took this as an opportunity. She sprinted towards the Cornucopia, picking up packs as she went. Two tributes went after her, swords slicing a backpack on her arm to shreds. "Shiz." Shine was a very clean person. She never cursed if she could avoid it.
The odds were playing in her favor. The crowd of tributes had more or less moved away from the Cornucopia. Shine quickly started filling the empty green pack on her shoulder with food, purification tables, canteens, knives, medication, and anything she could think of.
CRACK.
Shine ducked low. A foot had stepped on a stick, and it cracked. She desperately held her breath, her silvery blond hair sticking up.
"You sure we got all of them?" an unfamiliar gruff voice said.
"Yes! How many more times do I have to say it?"
A group of five- no, six, tributes climbed in the Cornucopia. Shine crouched even lower, hiding behind three crates. A beam of light swept above her head, narrowly illuminating the sprig of hair poking out above the crate.
"No one here. Supplies are fine", a male voice said, his shadow towering over her.
She hardly dared to breathe.
"Alright, Kace. Come help us start this fire."
Shine crept behind a box, picking up an aluminum bow, complete with a quiver full of arrows. Better take this, she thought. Who knows when we might need it.
Shine carefully started crawling towards the Cornucopia's mouth. She stuck to the shadows, barely making any sound. Finally, she reached the mouth. Then Shine started to silently panic. They're right there! Three feet away- no, two- I can't even move! If I do, they'll see me! Oh, god, where are my allies?
Up in the sponsor room, Katniss was starting to breathe in and out, deeply, but not obvious to the other victors. She had to get those tributes away from her's. She ran through her options: Encripted code. No, too much. Wait a second! Maybe this... Katniss scrolled through her gift catalog and found... a rock. Obviously the most inexpensive item on the list, only 10 dollars, which compared to other items, was extremely cheap. She targeted the tracker of the tribute farthest away from Shine, and the parachute clunked against the outside of the Cornucopia.
In the arena, the tribute said, "What was that?"
"Better check it out. It may be a tribute returning for supplies", said another, arming herself with two jagged hunting knives.
The tributes left, all except one. Shine considered her choices. She could throw a knife into his back, but then he'd scream, alerting his fellow allies to her presence. She could run while his back was turned, but then he hear her. Fight? Or flight?
Shine quietly slid a knife out of her belt, in case she had to fight. She slippednout of the Cornucopia, into the midmorning sunlight.
"UGH! IT WAS JUST A STUPID ROCK!"
Shine slid around the side of the Cornucopia, heart racing.
"I can't believe we were stupid enough to actually leave the safety of this place, just for a stupid rock a stupid sponsor sent us!" the female voice practically yelled again, dangerously close to Shine.
"Calm down, Flora. Maybe we can do something with it."
"Oh yeah? Like what?"
"Turn it into a weapon. Put a hole in it, tie it to a string or something, and use it like that."
"Yeah, yeah. Okay."
Shine decided it was now or never. She had three backpacks of stuff, a belt of knives, and a bow and quiver on her back. She ran.
"HEY!"
Shine's adrenaline kicked in faster as a small knife thrown at her grazed her sleeve.
"After her!"
"Jas, no! It's too dangerous! FALL BACK!"
Shine turned around just as the male tribute, Jas, turned and faced the scared boy, axe in hand.
"So, too dangerous? I'll show you dangerous, kid!"
Jas shoved the kid to the side, and threw his axe with deadly accuracy.
Shine knew this was the end of her. She dropped to her knees, waiting for it to come.
And the axe sailed over her head.
"WHAT?!"
Shine took this as a blessing. She ran into the safety of the woods. Halfway in, a hand grabbed her shoulder.
"You idiot! What were you thinking?!"
"Good to see you alive too, Copper."
Shine's allies stepped out of the darkness of the shadow of a big tree. Silk held a jar of liquid in her hand. Shine could see she had either grabbed it from the Cornucopia, or got it from Katniss.
Gold held a sword, already stained red.
"Did you-"
"No, I stole it from a tribute who had already died."
Copper held a bow, a quiver of arrows slung across his back. Shine handed him the extra bow and quiver, which he slung on his back, smiling gratefully.
BOOM
The four tributes whirled around toward the Cornucopia.
BOOM
BOOM
BOOM
BOOM
BOOM
BOOM
BOOM
BOOM
BOOM
BOOM
Eleven cannons sounded, seemingly, from the Cornucopia. The Bloodbath was officially over.
"We need to leave. Now that the Bloodbath is over, those six tributes will be fanning out to look for victims", Copper said, remembering the Hunger Games he had watched as a kid. "I think they're called Careers."
"Well, whatever you call them, they will be after us."
The four tributes fled into the deep woods, safe for the time being.
Well, that's the end of Chapter 3! I hope y'all enjoyed, specially with the Bloodbath. Please leave a like or a review if you want to see more. Also, if you have any pairing suggestions or questions, feel free to leave them in a review!
~Winter
