Chapter Ten
We have to stay on our pedestals for sixty seconds. If someone steps off the circle any earlier, they are blown to bits by bombs buried around their platform. I use this sixty seconds to take in my surroundings. I see a lake and a steep drop-off into who knows what. But most of the arena is dense, green forest. Katniss will be good in this. She knows the woods.
I look at the ring of tributes, trying to find Katniss. I see her and she looks like she's about to run straight to the Cornucopia instead of away from it. She glances over at me and I shake my head at her, trying to tell her not to go to the Cornucopia. It is always a bloodbath at the beginning of each Games. People fight over the weapons and then kill as many people as they can before they have the chance to run and hide, and Katniss is enemy number one for the Careers, and the bloodbath is the perfect opportunity to kill her early.
The gong sounds, signaling that we can move off of our platforms and I run straight for the woods, deciding to hide in the tree line until the bloodbath is over so I can confront the Careers. I see Katniss fighting for a backpack with a boy. I glance over and see Clove has noticed Katniss out in the open. She throws a knife into the boy's back and aims another one right for Katniss' head.
I'm about to run out to help her but she stops the knife by using the backpack she grabbed as a shield and she runs off into the woods. I wait in the tree line, watching the horrifying scene before me. The Careers, who are made up of the tributes from Districts 1, 2 and 4 are mercilessly killing everyone at the Cornucopia. We have always been required to watch the Games every year on television, but seeing this happen in person is so different. I can smell the blood, hear the screaming and pleading. But the Careers continue to murder everyone in sight, using knives, spears, and any other weapon they can get their hands on.
After what seems like forever, the bloodbath is finally over. The Careers sit down in the Cornucopia, taking a break before sifting through all of the supplies.
Now or never. I slowly walk out of the woods with my hands raised to show that I'm not armed. Cato is the first to notice me and alerts everyone else. They all stand, but I'm surprised to find they don't immediately try to attack me. They just watch as I make my way over to them. I notice the boy from District 4 isn't there with them. Did he die in the bloodbath?
"Well, well, well. Hello lover boy," Cato says, amused.
"What is this?" Clove demands.
I take a deep breath. "I know you want Katniss out. I'm sure everyone does. You all are clearly the strongest. You are the only ones who can take her on, and I'm the only one who knows how to find her. She and I trained together, and I know her pretty well," I say calmly.
"What happened to being madly in love with her?" sneers Glimmer.
"She laughed in my face. She even pushed me and I landed in broken glass. Look," I say, showing them my hands, which aren't completely healed yet.
They all laugh and Cato shrugs. "Okay. You help us find her and we won't kill you. Deal?"
"Deal," I say.
Cato smirks and sets down his weapons. He stands up and casually walks over to me then punches me in the face. I stagger back, completely caught off guard. I try to punch back but he deflects it and kicks my leg as hard as he can, knocking me to the ground. He punches me in the face over and over until I think I'm gonna pass out. The others are laughing and cheering Cato on, and he continues to punch and kick me.
Cato starts laughing and grabs a knife. He presses it to my forearm and slides it across, opening a gash. I grit my teeth, trying to hide how much pain I'm in.
Cato stands up and wipes the blood from the knife. "That is a warning. If you try to kill one of us or if you're lying to us, I WILL kill you. Slowly and painfully. Got it?"
"You could've just said that instead of beating the crap out of me," I mumble angrily. I stand up and feel blood trickling out of my nose. The girl from District 4 gets a first aid kit from the Cornucopia, bandages my arm and looks me over.
"Your nose isn't broken, and neither is your leg. But you're going to be very bruised and very sore," she says and leans in towards me. "I'm sorry about that. He's a scary guy," she whispers.
I shrug and wipe the blood off my face. I can already feel that I'm gonna have a nice collection of bruises.
"Okay, that part is over with," Clove says, annoyed. "You should've saved your strength for a bigger threat, like Katniss or Thresh."
"I have plenty of strength to go around," Cato jokes, flexing his arms.
"Anyways," Marvel says, rolling his eyes. "What weapon do you prefer?"
"Knife. I'm pretty good at hand-to-hand combat," I say.
The girl from District 4 grabs a knife and hands it to me. It's sturdy, made of steel with grooves on one side and a smooth blade on the other. After sifting through the supplies, we each grab a bottle and walk over to the lake to fill them while the hovercraft comes and collects the dead bodies. After they're gone, we walk back to the Cornucopia and divide some of the supplies among the six of us.
We each get a backpack, weapon of our choice to use, and some food. We each get our share of crackers, dried beef, dried fruits, rolls, and fresh apples. We put our supplies into our backpacks and get ready to head into the woods to try to find some tributes who haven't hidden themselves yet.
"District 12 and I can stay and protect the supplies," the District 4 girl says.
I nod in agreement. "Yeah, I'm a little banged up," I say angrily, looking at Cato. He rolls his eyes and scoffs. The District 4 girl and I sit next to the supplies as the others head into the woods. Cato is armed with a sword, Clove has throwing knives, Marvel has a spear and Glimmer has a bow and a sheath of arrows. As they're heading in, the cannons start to sound, signaling each tribute's death so far. I count them, and after eleven, the cannon stops. That means there are thirteen tributes left. I silently hope Katniss hasn't died already, though I doubt she has. She knows the woods like the back of her hand. And she can hunt.
"Thanks for the help earlier," I say after the others are gone. "You didn't have to do that."
"Well, Cato didn't have to do what he did either, but look what happened," she says, kicking at a mound of dirt.
"What happened to the boy from your district?" I ask her.
"Took a knife in the back. I think it was Thresh. He got up here pretty fast and grabbed some decent stuff. I guess Kane got in his way," she says, trailing off at the end. "Your name is Peeta, right? I haven't really gotten the chance to hear your real name. Everyone I've been hanging out with has called you Lover Boy."
"Yeah, my name's Peeta. What's your name?" I ask.
"Lenore. But everyone calls me Lenny," she says.
"Well, Lenny. You seem to be slightly more friendly than a Career tribute is known to be," I say.
"Yeah, well I don't like seeing a kid who is just trying to help us get the crap beat out of him. I'm sorry she turned you down. You seem like a good guy," she says.
I feel a pang of guilt that she is being so nice to me based on my lie of wanting Katniss dead. We sit in silence the rest of the time, watching for anyone coming out of the woods.
After about an hour, we see Cato, Clove, Marvel and Glimmer come back out of the woods. Cato is pulling a boy alongside him by his arm. He pulls the boy over to one of the pedestals. "If we were to dig these mines up, would you be able to reactivate them?" he asks.
"Um, yeah. I think so," he says.
Cato jerks him and gets in his face. "I need you to be sure, or you're useless to me," he growls.
"Okay, okay. Yes, I can," the boy says shakily.
"What's going on?" Lenny asks.
"This guy is from District 3. He says he can reactivate these mines around the pedestals. That way we can put them around our supplies to keep them safe from anyone wanting to steal anything from us," Clove says.
We start the tedious task of digging up all of the mines surrounding the 24 pedestals and setting them next to the Cornucopia.
"Okay. Now move all of the supplies over here, in a pile," Cato orders.
We do as we're told and about an hour later, the supplies are neatly stacked into a mound about twenty yards from the Cornucopia.
"Dig holes around the pile where I've placed markers," Cato orders.
We look around, noticing he has placed pieces of an extra backpack that he cut up around the pile, in a seemingly random pattern. We obey, and we all dig the holes. After we finish, we go over to Cato and the District 3 boy, who are working to reactivate the mines. One by one, we walk a mine over to a hole we dug, set it in the hole, and he reactivates it. Then we carefully cover the mine with dirt.
"I found these while we were moving the supplies. They'll help us see in the dark so we can hunt at night," Marvel says. "There are only two pairs, so we'll give them to the two strongest people on our team." He hands them to Cato and Clove, who both scored a 10 in training.
"You're sure those mines will protect our supplies, kid?" Glimmer asks.
"Yeah. I'm sure. Anyone who doesn't know the layout of the mines will definitely step on one and they will get blown sky-high. I told Cato where to put the mines, and they are far enough back that if someone were to set one off, the others would not go off and the supplies would be okay," the boy explains.
"Stay here. Just in case," Lenny says to him.
"Yeah," Cato agrees, nodding.
We get our packs together, refill our water bottles, and wait for the nightly death recap. As soon as it gets dark, the anthem begins to play. The pictures of the deceased are shown in the sky.
The girl from District 3. The boy from 4. The boy from 5. Both from 6 and 7. The boy from 8. Both from 9. And the girl from 10. All of those people are dead. They never get to live another day... I'm relieved, though, to see that Katniss is still alive. Hang in there, girl on fire. Stay alive.
We comb through the woods, with everyone holding a torch or flashlight except for Cato and Clove, who have the sunglasses on that help you see in the dark. I'm so tired, cold and sore but I try to block everything out. I can't seem weak, especially to them.
It's just before dawn, and we're about to head back to camp when we see a fire spark. It looks to be about half a mile away. The Careers laugh and break into a run towards the fire, and I follow closely behind. We get to the person who started the fire. I think she is from District 8.
She pleads. Begs for her life. Cato stabs her right in the chest and she slumps over. Clove laughs and yells, "Twelve down and eleven to go!" Cato, Glimmer and Marvel cheer and clap, and Lenny and I follow suit. I hate celebrating someone's death. It's disgusting. But I have to. I need to keep their trust.
"Better clear out so they can get the body before it starts stinking," Cato says. We all agree and walk away so the hovercraft can come pick up the body.
We wait a few minutes, but we don't hear a cannon signaling her death.
"Shouldn't we have heard a cannon by now?" Glimmer asks.
"I'd say yes. Nothing to prevent them from going in immediately," Lenny replies.
"Unless she isn't dead," Marvel says.
"She's dead. I stuck her myself," Cato snaps.
"Then where's the cannon?" Marvel asks sarcastically.
"Someone should go back. Make sure the job's done," Clove says.
"Yeah, we don't want to have to track her down twice," Marvel says.
"I said she's dead!" Cato yells, annoyed.
They all start to argue on whether she is dead or not. I start to get nervous that we've been in the woods for so long. I'm sure Katniss is around here somewhere and I don't want the Careers anywhere near her.
"We're wasting time! I'll go finish her and let's move on!" I yell.
"Go on then, Lover Boy," Cato says. "See for yourself."
I walk back to where the girl is. She is lying in a pool of blood, barely alive, sobbing.
I kneel down next to her. "I'm so sorry... I'm so, so sorry..." I whisper to her, pushing her hair behind her ear. I stab her in the neck, remembering someone saying how fast that can kill someone. I wait until I'm sure she is dead, and then make my way back to the Careers.
"Was she dead?" Cato asks impatiently.
"No. But she is now," I say. The cannon sounds, signaling the end of her life. "Ready to move on?" I say, trying not to show the devastation I feel over killing an innocent girl. Everyone nods and we run back towards the camp.
We get back to camp, where District 3 is sitting in the Cornucopia, watching the pile of supplies.
"Nobody came that I saw. I thought I heard something but I never saw anyone," he says.
"Okay. Let's take turns taking a quick rest and we'll refill our supplies and get back out there," Cato says.
"Let Peeta rest. He has some injuries that need to heal," Lenny says, giving Cato a disapproving look.
Cato rolls his eyes. "Whatever. I'll stay up and you guys get some rest. Precious little Lover Boy can sleep the whole time while the rest of take turns being on watch."
I don't protest, because I am pretty sore from my injuries and I'm exhausted from walking for hours. We each grab a sleeping bag from the pile of supplies, being careful not to step on one of the scattered mines.
I lay down in my sleeping bag, noticing that I've significantly warmed up. It must reflect body heat like my jacket does. After about ten minutes of tossing and turning, I finally drift off to sleep, hoping that one of these people doesn't kill me in my sleep.
I wake up, sweating. I look around me and see that everyone is awake. I get up and go over to the group, who are getting ready to go back into the woods.
"Well, look who decided to wake up," Clove says menacingly. I can tell she is completely against me being there with them.
"Heading back out?" I ask. They nod. "I'm coming. Give me a minute."
I refill my bottle of water at the lake and put more food in my pack. We all ate the food we put in our packs last night when we were in the woods. We should probably conserve our food in case we run out before the end of the Games, but I don't want to say anything to help them unless it has to do with helping Katniss. We head back into the woods. It looks to be mid-afternoon based on the sun.
"The only person I want to find today is Katniss. Everyone else is weak and will die off on their own. Except for Thresh, who I saw run towards the drop-off. I walked over there during my watch to see what it was. It's a huge field of grass taller than any of us. It's too dangerous to go out there, so we'll wait for him to come to us," Cato says. "So, Lover Boy. Where should we look?"
I have to say something convincing. Some kind of truth and hopefully Katniss will be able to stay away from us. "Well, she hasn't come out of the woods, so she's probably been looking for a source of water," I say.
"She got a backpack. That might've had some water in it," Clove says.
"Well, it's a better lead than nothing. Let's go," Cato says.
I won't tell them that she's good with a bow and arrow. And I won't tell them the woods are her second home.
We scan the woods, looking for any signs of water and Katniss. We go deeper and deeper into the woods, but we can't find either one. Cato suggests we loop back around and we all agree. We turn back around and continue to comb the woods, but there is no sign of her or any other tribute.
Cato sighs angrily. "Let's just go back to camp. I'm hungry and bored."
We head back to camp and they all go straight for the food. I sit down, wondering what their plan is when their food supply runs out. They haven't been rationing it at all since the Games started. Probably because they're used to having as much food as they need.
"I can't wait until I win," Cato beams maliciously.
The others laugh, rolling their eyes.
"I'm going to buy the nicest clothes money can buy. I'll look like a king!" Cato says, pushing his chest out.
"Who says you're going to win, Mr. Ego?" Clove says, annoyed. "It could be any of us. We're all pretty strong." She glances over at me. "Well, most of us."
I ignore her, looking down at my pack, zipping and unzipping it, wondering if Katniss is doing okay.
The Careers get into a heated argument on who is going to win.
"I'm a pro with the spear. One good throw and I could take out three people at once!" Marvel boasts.
"What are you going to do if you miss? I have a dozen knives I can throw, one after another. And I never miss," Clove says, smirking.
"Oh, please. Nobody is going to win without a lot of sponsors, and since I'm clearly the most attractive person here, I'll get loads of gifts," Glimmer says, flipping her hair.
They continue to argue, each person convinced that they could easily win the Hunger Games. Even after the sun sets, they are arguing on who is the prettiest, strongest and fastest. I roll my eyes, tired of all of the egos, and go lay down in a sleeping bag, hoping that I can separate myself from these lunatics soon.