Okay, people! First: Thanks for reading and reviewing! Second: I'm greedy, so the more reviews I get, the faster I will post a new chapter. Third: This story will continue after Annie wins. Actually, I think it'll go until the beginning of the following Games. Finally: I might write a version of Finnick's Games depending on whether or not you guys think I should. (I don't want to write something if nobody's going to read it.)
First Kill
(ANNIE)
One single, lonely, isolated minute.
That's how long we have to stay on our plates. Move, and you're blown to bits by mines.
A minute isn't that long. But when you're about to enter a bloodbath, it's a lifetime.
I look around. Weapons, water bottles, cups, utensils, clothes, and medicine lie all around us. Orange packs hang off of the building before us, threatening to fall and crush the lifesaving supplies within.
The closer you get to the Cornucopia, the more valuable the supplies are. If there are half-gallon bottles of water, burn cream, and rope three feet away from us, it makes you wonder what the Cornucopia holds.
Tachs meets my eye and winks. Gad doesn't even pay attention. Shine nods at me.
Shine is your ally, I remind myself. She'll help you and you'll help her.
I look around and catch sight of a shiny bit of gold on the roof of the building before me. I think it's the Cornucopia.
Are we expected to scale this building to reach it? I guess so. That explains the grippy-shoes.
The gong sounds and we collectively surge forward, leaping onto the cold limestone and clawing our way up.
Tachs calmly grabs the supplies around our plates and moves west, humming some obnoxious song as he moves.
I have to keep moving.
The other tributes are not having as much luck as I am on their way to the top: Gad takes his time and it becomes obvious that he may be strong and huge, but he's very slow. The girl from 11 is nearly as fast as I am. I've lost track of the boys from Districts 6 and 8, but they can't possibly be ahead of me.
Keep moving.
I slip up a few times and nearly fall off the structure at around the sixth story. Falling to my death is definitely not the way I want to die.
Keep moving.
When they're at the fourth story, Shine gets in a fight with the boy from 3. They claw at each other's faces for a few moments before Shine manages to grab him by the collar and rip him from the building. He falls to the unforgiving street below.
But he's not dead. He is writhing in a pool of his own blood, whimpering and moaning and I can't stand it.
Keep moving.
By the time I reach the building's roof Asper, the pair from 5, and the girl from 7 – Anglica – are already there.
Anglica tries to grab Asper, but he's too quick. He manages to climb up the Cornucopia before she gets within a foot of him.
Keep moving.
When he catches sight of me, his eyes widen. He raises his hand and points to something above my head. "Annie, watch out!"
Something hits me from behind and I black out.
I don't know how long I've been out. When I wake up, I have a splitting headache. I reach out with one hand, then the other and slowly pull myself forward on my stomach.
Have to keep moving.
What happened? I ask myself. In my head, Finnick's voice responds: You were hit in the head, Annie. You have to move now, Annie.
"ANNIE!" yells Asper. It's something between a cry for help a cry of joy. Either way, it's a cry for me.
Somehow, I pull myself onto my feet.
Keep moving.
Gad has gotten his hands on a double-sided ax and is swinging it at Asper. Asper dodges it, and the ax lands in a mess of pipes. Gad rips it out, leaving the pipes sharper than spears.
They continue this little dance of sorts. Their steps are: swing, dodge, rip, swing. It's fairly simple, but the pace they're going at is making my head spin.
There's a dead body beside me. It's the girl from 11, with a knife stuck through her heart. It's sickening, but I rip it out and run towards Gad.
Keep moving.
I launch myself at him, jumping onto his back as I sink the knife hilt-deep into his right shoulder. I drop off and step back.
Unfazed, Gad turns to face me, holding the ax in one hand. He rips the knife out of his shoulder with his left hand and tosses it aside.
I did not think this one through . . .
"Asper! Weapon!" I yell.
Gad raises the ax above his head and I think I'm going to die. Yep, definitely going to die.
"ASPER!" I shriek.
Asper pries up one of the pipes that was broken and tosses it to me. I catch it along the side and position it against the ground.
I'm still not totally sure what I'm doing, but I guess that's natural in a situation like this. At least, I hope it is.
Gad advances a few steps before I jam the pipe into his chest. His ax falls to the side as he gasps for air. I twist the pipe in a clockwise motion and plunge it in farther.
Move back.
He wraps his hands around the pipe and pulls it out with a sharp cry. Slowly, he moves towards me, but I shove him down, right over the edge of the building.
By the time Gad hits the ground, he's dead. He lands in the thick crimson pool beside the boy from District 3.
Their corpses will keep each other company until the hovercrafts come for them. The Capitol will put them in pretty white outfits and mail them home to their families.
In a matter of days, 23 of us will go through the exact same motions.
"Thanks," says Asper. I'd forgotten he was there.
"No problem," I say. But I'm panting like a dog and my head hurts. "Did you see what hit me?"
Asper nods. "Gad got you. With his fist."
"Then I'm glad I got rid of him," I say.
I'm not glad at all. I'm not . . . anything.
This doesn't feel like it's happening, just like it's part of a dream. A dream that I may never wake from.
Asper and I slowly move over to the Cornucopia as the cannons start. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six.
Six? The bloodbath usually wipes out half the tributes. Six doesn't sound quite right.
Egma mirrors my thoughts, asking "Only six?" as she emerges from the Cornucopia. "That's so weird . . . Who were they?"
Talon and Balinor grab bodies by their arms and legs and toss them over the side of the building. They're both laughing slightly, but I don't know why. I catch sight of Shine, who is wiping away somebody else's blood with her sleeve.
"I took out that boy from District Three," Shine says. "And I think that dude from District Seven killed Annie."
"I'm right here," I snap.
She whips around. "I thought you were dead!"
"Nope. I killed him," I say, flopping down on the ground.
Asper helps Egma sort supplies into packs: medicine, food, water, etc. while I gently poke at the lump forming on my head.
"Who else is dead?" I ask.
"The girls from Ten and Eleven," says Talon. "And Balinor shot the boy from Five."
"Shot?" Asper asks.
"With a bow and arrow," says Balinor. "Sadly, they don't allow guns. That makes five. Who else?"
"Probably the girl from Twelve," Talon says after much thought.
Egma looks at him. "Probably?"
"I strangled her pretty bad . . ." he says, rubbing his neck.
We break out in uncomfortably laughter.
I look around the arena and see a randomly placed river that slices the arena in half. When I look up, I see that we're enclosed by a smooth stone wall that must be twenty stories high.
We divide up weapons: Egma gets the two spears, Balinor gets the bow and arrows, Talon gets two swords and a knife, Shine gets a very intimidating mace, Asper gets a blowgun complete with razor-sharp darts, and I get these weird metal four-finger-rings that end in spikes.
I'm not sure what it is, but the spikes are sharp enough to leave holes in the Cornucopia. I decide to call them "knuckles" for lack of a better name.
No sooner have we settled in to eat than a silver parachute comes floating down at my feet. Inside is an orange pill bottle with a white lid. The label reads: ANNIE CRESTA. DO NOT TAKE MORE THAN TWO EVERY FOUR HOURS.
I guess it's for my head, which is killing me. I drop two of the yellow capsules into my palm and swallow them.
"Thanks, Finnick," I say to the sky.
