We finish looking through the rest of the train to get most of the backpacks, and at first, I feel bad because the rest of the tributes are going to die a slow, painful death without the backpacks, but then I think of getting home. It would be better for them all to die without actually having to kill them, and then I wouldn't have it on my conscience if I get out of here.
There are seventeen backpacks, one for each of the tributes, I assume. In the backpacks, there's water, food, first aid, even sleeping bags and such. Even tents, or something what I think is a tent. It's odd that the Gamemakers are relying on the tributes getting to the train to be able to survive. I mean, a lot of them aren't going to make it. I bet that the Gamemakers are going to be kicking themselves after this idea blows up in their faces. If it does, I mean.
Once we have all the supplies from the train, we get off of it as it stays docked by the building. Cato makes the point that there could be tributes hidden in the building by now, and he makes Glimmer, Naomi and I bring the backpacks back to camp. I try not to let my irritation show. Glimmer doesn't even try to stop herself from snapping at him. I sense that she's losing it too. So, the three of us drag most of the backpacks back, Glimmer and I carry most of the bulk, while Naomi just carries three, claiming that it's too heavy and she's not cut out for it.
"I can't carry all three of these!" She complains, over and over again.
"Shut. Up." Glimmer spits out, purposely kicking sand back in her face and Naomi complains some more. Glimmer gives me a look and I retaliate by rolling my eyes. If anything, Glimmer is the only half-sane one in this little group, while the rest of them are only focused on killing. It's clear Glimmer never trained in the Training Centers in District 1, as she has no clear talent. Marvel, Cato, and Clove have obviously trained, though. Clove with her knives, Marvel with spears, and Cato just about everything else.
By the time we get to the small camp where Marvel is, Naomi is on my last nerve. She's been complaining, and attempting to give me or Glimmer another backpack every ten feet, and keeps babbling on about something that I tuned out after about ten seconds.
"Do you ever shut up?" I ask her and she giggles quietly.
"I did in my private session!" I grimace. I really didn't need to know details. Conversation forgotten, she drops the three backpacks and jumps at Marvel, who pulls her into his lap and starts kissing her passionately.
I groan and drop the backpacks I had as Glimmer does the same. "Might as well set up camp." She grumbles and I nod. So for the next hour, Glimmer and I set up the tents as Naomi and Marvel play some more tonsil hockey. Glimmer says that she's never set up a tent, and neither have I, so it takes a very long time for us to even get one up.
I figure out that I've been watching Glimmer set up a tent. She looks like Madge. Wait, no, Undersee. Did I just..? I shake my head to get the thought out of my head and drop to the ground before drinking some more water. I hate the desert. I hate the sun. I hate everything right now. Finally, Cato and Clove come back, and announce that no other tributes were in the building. When Clove gets sight of marvel and Naomi, she rolls her eyes and her fists clench.
"Can I kill her now?" She spits out, clenching one of her knives, one of the curved, lethal looking ones.
"Feel free," I grunt, "she's gonna die anyways." Cato, who I assumed would be all for killing Naomi, tells Clove to wait on that. I'm ready to kill her now. As much as I don't want her on my conscience, I want her gone. And, as much as it's frowned upon when you kill your own District Partner, people have to realize that this chick is not someone you want to keep around for longer than a couple of hours.
When we decide to take a break from the heat and disappear into some tents. Naomi tries to follow Marvel into his, Cato pulls her back roughly and shoves her into a different tent. We can hear her complaining that she's lonely.
"Is she ever going to get over herself?" Cato grumbles before disappearing into his tent as the rest of us go into ours.
I find it impossible to sleep. I fiddle with the backpack that I got. Finally, I decide to actually go through it thoroughly and see what the Gamemakers deemed important enough to put in a backpack. There's two bottles of water, both have water in them, some dried fruit and beef packs, a fist aid kit full of bandages, fever reducing pills, antiseptic, even some needle and thread for stitching. A sleeping bag, some extra socks, and some weird bottle of something are also present. I pull the top off of it and sniff it. No smell. Maybe more water? I stick a finger in the bottle and taste it. No, definitely not water. There's also a syringe. I finally put two and two together. Either this is morphling, or it's poison.
I know what morphling is. It apparently eases the pain when you're in serious pain. I think Mrs. E back home has some hidden in her cupboards for the more serious mine accidents. And as for the poison, well, that's a quick way to kill someone, or yourself. For one, you could pour the poison in the person's drink or something, or you could inject it in yourself, as a quick death. But, if you're in serious pain, you're gonna have to take your chances on using it. 50/50 chance. Either you're dead, or you're knocked out for hours, days even.
From what I've heard, an overdose of the stuff could also mean death. When Mrs. Undersee died, it wasn't exactly kept quiet. The rumor is that she died from a morphling overdose. Or, the fact that the president thought it was a great idea to kill her after Ma-Undersee refused to be prostituted. If I get asked, or well, forced, to do that too, then I don't know how it would go. I mean, I made it clear in my interview that my family was important to me. President Snow wouldn't hesitate to kill one of them if he didn't get what he wanted.
Quickly, I shake the thought out of my head and lay down on the blanket, head swirling with thoughts I don't know what to do with. Too many filled with Undersee. Not as many as I would like filled with my family. I really do wonder what they're doing right now. I'm pretty sure Vick and Rory are at school, waiting for the lunch update on the Games. Back home, they only have viewings when there's either a really big fight, or some important thing coming up. Maybe they'll have one tonight because of what we figured out about the train. I don't know.
I bet Posy is still at home with my mom. No, they're both probably doing laundry to keep the family's funds up. Posy would sometimes help her with the laundry, and now that I'm not there to hunt, I can't trade for stuff we need at the Hob. Katniss better help them through this, until I get back. If I get back, that is. There is a chance I won't, but if I do, they'll be set for life, and that's all that matters to me. Sure, I'll be an emotional wreck after the Games, but if they're fine, I'm fine. Ish.
Finally, I realize that sleep is going to be impossible and my stomach grumbles. But, I can't eat all of my food now. Have to ration it. I can survive for a while without food, so I should be good until I start passing out. Just to be save, I eat a small piece of beef and a piece of fruit. I think it's an apple slice, but I'm not sure. Doesn't taste like an apple though. Doesn't even taste like fruit, for God's sake.
I drink a sip of water before putting the bottle back in the backpack. I really have no idea what to do next. There's obviously no animals to hunt, or at least I'm not sure. There has to be some sort of animal for me to hunt. I'm going to get restless just sitting here, unable to hunt or anything. I mean, I could hunt, but there's no place that I ould hide it tributes came after me. Though I could kill them in a heartbeat with an arrow.
Shaking my head to clear the thought of killing someone, I lay down and rub my eyes. Sleeping is impossible in this arena. I can hear the whistling of the wind from outside and the sand hitting the side of the tent. The Gamemakers are planning something. Maybe a sandstorm. Maybe they'll change the arena over night. Well they've done that before and it backfired on them, so I doubt it.
It's absolutely silent outside of my tent, besides the wind and sand hitting the tent. I'm assuming the rest of my "alliance" is asleep. That is, until I hear something fall outside. I act on instinct, immediately jump up and grab my bow. otching an arrow in the bow, I silently move out of the tent to find a boy, rummaging through the supplies we left outside.
Before I know what I'm doing, the arrow releases from my hands and plunges into the boy's arm. He moved at the last second, causing the arrow to notch in his arm. He lets out a shout of pain, which hopefully wakes up the rest of the group. Marvel comes out first, holding his spear, a vicious look on his face. As much as I hate the guy, he's pretty good with a spear.
"Wait!" The boy shrieks as Marvel jumps at him, tackling him to the ground as Cato and Clove come out, charging at Marvel and the boy. "Wait! I can help you!" The boy gets out right before Marvel plunges his spear into his stomach.
"I.. I can help you."
"Bull. Kill him, Marvel." Clove snarls, her knives twitching in her hands.
"Wait. Maybe he can help." Glimmer muses, pulling Marvel off of him.
"How is he going to help? He's a puny fourteen year old." Cato growls, before turning to him harshly. "What district are you from?"
"T-t-three." He stutters out before regaining his composure and standing slowly, slightly shielding his stomach, as if we were going to kill him now. "I-I can deal with bombs. With the bombs that were deactivated after the countdown finished."
It clicks inside. He's asking to reset the bombs, so they'll blow up anyone who gets near them. I glance at Cato, who has his jaw clenched, but if softens after a few seconds.
"Tell us what you can do."
"I can reset the bombs and dig them up. We can bury them again around your supplies pile." The boy is probably starving, dehydrated. He just wanted a little food, or something. I would think that at this point, without food and water, that death would be the best option. Instead, he decides to bargain with his life. Yeah, that's definitely the better option. I know that I would've just given up if I was from 3 and didn't know what to do in a desert.
Cato pulls Clove aside and they converse in low voices, occasionally glancing at the boy, or me. Maybe it's because I'm the outsider of the group. District 12. Normally, our tributes don't make it exactly far in the Games. We've only had three victors, some guy who's already dead, Haymitch and Undersee. Only two are living, out of the three. Maybe if I get out of here, it'll be four Victors, and three living.
But my chances of getting out are slim, I'm assuming. I mean, with four ruthless Careers surrounding me, watching my every move, sizing me up in case I make it to the final fight.
Finally, Cato and Clove come back and welcome the boy. His name is Gadget. I guess it's a District 3 name. Immediately, Cato sets us all to work, digging up the bombs before dragging them over to Gadget. He's very smart, I know that. Like Beetee, the other District 3 victor. He won his Games by wiring a motherboard throughout the arena, and then essentially burning everyone to a crisp. No one knew what had happened, until he came out of his hiding place, thin and practically dead.
Within the rest of the day, with the sun high in the air, we keep digging up all twenty-four bombs. Gadget keeps working on the bombs. He seems different. I don't know. Something about him bothers me. I don't know what.
There's something I do know, though. He's up to something. No one purposely wanders into the Career camp, unless you're asking for immediate death. No, he wants something. Something in specific. Maybe it's a chance to live longer, to get home. Maybe it's a chance at revenge. I don't know. I wonder, though.
A/N: Sorry this took forever. I have exams this week, so I'm sorry if this is jumbled and confusing. Oh, also, I know there isn't much Madge in it yet, but as he's still in the Games and she isn't, well I don't figure she'd be there. I wish she could, but then it would defeat the purpose of having a mentor. Hope y'all enjoy! Thoughts?