A/N: Thanks to Vykktor, Klicker'andKash, Ways and mangesboy01 for reviewing the last chapter! As ever, the support is appreciated :)
Part II - Resurgence
Chapter Ten
POV: Alec Flood (18), Male Tribute, District 4
The City Circle, The Capitol
9.40 pm, Saturday 20th July, year of the 67th Hunger Games
After my own interview, I find myself experiencing a strange warmth, a sense of pride in myself, as I watch my fellow tributes blunder their way through what may well be the most terrifying experience of their lives, up to this point. Of course, it will have nothing on what they will face in the arena tomorrow morning. I navigated through the waters that others are battling against so easily, merely improvising answers for most of the interview. I was honest, I was confident, and most importantly, I was likable. Ludo may have thought that I needed more help, but Harrow's training helped me get the best training score in the field, so why should I have had to change tactics now? But I didn't, and it worked out fine. I've debatedly had the best crowd reaction all night so far, and with all the Careers having had their turn on centre stage, I doubt that will change any time soon.
I don't pay much attention to the timid, whimpering tributes of Districts 5 and 6, and before I really know what's going on the shortish girl from District 7's on her way back from the chair and Vincent's striding confidently to sit with Caesar Flickerman. I have to say, he's got a naturally amiable style of talking and he goes down well during his three minutes, laughing and joking along with Caesar. I'm not sure whether that's a good thing or not. For now he's proving to be a formidable ally, but there will be a time when he inevitably ends up becoming a formidable enemy instead.
After, Vincent, I can afford to lie back in my seat and take little interest in the following interviews, as there's nobody left to keep an eye on. I listen anyway, but it offers little benefit as the evening drags on. Harold from District 9 does well in his interview, pleasing the crowd, but after his training score, nobody will take him seriously. The opposite could be said for the boy from Ten, who despite scoring a seven in training, made a complete mess of the interview and got barely any support from the crowd.
The final few interviews seem to drag on for ages, and even the crowd begin to lose interest as the two tiny tributes from District 12 take their turns with Caesar Flickerman. But then it is all over, with Caesar promising for this to be one of the greatest Hunger Games ever when we enter the arena tomorrow. the anthem plays, and we are escorted together from the City Circle and back into the Training Centre for our final night in the Capitol. I stand silently at Marline's side until we reach the elevators, where Gabriel strides over to me.
"Nice showing out there," he says, and I can't tell how much he means it. Part of me tells me he's a nice guy, but part of me says he's just trying to ensure we're still allies for tomorrow. I know that although our relationship is forged out of respect for each other's abilities, deep down we're both afraid of what the other may be capable of.
"You too," I reply confidently, although Gabriel's interview feels so long ago that I can only remember small parts of it. "Good thing we'll be allied in the morning," I add, and I see the beginnings of a smile form on Gabriel's face. I notice that Marline has abandoned us to talk to Ashe, so I decide to leave her behind and ride the elevators back to my floor with Gabriel and the two tributes of District 5. They both shy away from us in the lift as we travel up to our rooms, huddled together and talking in hushed tones. Gabriel and I lean against the glass, our arms folded across our chests. Strong, confident, imperious. I only hope that the rest of the field are as terrified of us as these two from Five are.
Gabriel leaves the lift on the first floor, and I quickly find myself back up on my own floor. Nobody else has managed to get back here yet through all the chaos of the City Circle. I walk through to the sitting room, demand a drink of fresh apple juice from an Avox and sprawl myself across a sofa. I relax for possibly a couple of minutes before Marline arrives and sits down opposite me silently. We make no attempt to talk to each other until the rest of the support team return to our floor. When they do after about ten minutes, I find myself in the middle of a whirlwind of hugs, kisses and congratulations from everyone. Everyone from Flavius to Finnick, from Ludo to Octavian is pleased with our contrasting but powerful interviews. Everyone is certain that we'll be well-supported this year by sponsors. However, the excitement quickly begins to get tiring and as I notice the time approach eleven in the evening, I excuse myself from the group, knowing that I've got an early start for the arena in the morning. I'm halfway along the corridor to my bedroom when I notice that Ludo is calling out to me. He rushes up to me from behind and puts a hand on my shoulder, stopping me. I turn around to face him.
"What is it?" I ask tiredly. I'd rather not have any distractions at this stage. The best thing for me now is a good night's sleep. Ludo sighs, as though collecting his thoughts before beginning to talk to me.
"Look," he begins. "Tomorrow, you leave early for the arena with Bella, so tonight is my last opportunity to talk to you before you step on that pedestal at the start of the Games. I know that you feel well-prepared for the Games, and rightfully so after your years of training, but there are a couple of pieces of advice that only I can really give to you."
"Go on, then."
"I understand that this year, the Career Alliance has been a mess," Ludo admits. "And that's why you're one of three in a smaller alliance. But it's because of the events last summer during my Games that this has happened. You might have all the skill in the world, but it is still difficult to successfully negotiate your way through all the alliances in the Games. It's all very well being in an alliance, but what you need to make sure of as soon as you can is that you chose the right alliance. I'm sure you understand that your main threat at the start of the Games is the alliance between the Career females, right?"
"Yes, I'm aware of that," I tell him. "Amethyst. Ashe. Marline. That's who I need to watch out for."
"Yes," Ludo agrees. "They must go down first. But don't discount Orion from raising hell, too." I'll admit that I haven't really given Orion much thought after that first day in training, but I know that he's trained and most likely enraged since we snubbed him. Maybe he should be the one to watch.
"Once your rivals are out of the way," Ludo tells me. "You need to make sure to choose the right path within your own group. Know who is supporting who, and judge when best to break off the alliance. The last thing that you want is a group of tributes hunting you down for revenge. It is as strong a motivating factor in the arena as any. I'll admit that last year, I found this out the hard way."
"I'll be sure to keep an eye out," I reassure my mentor. "I'd be a fool not to." He smiles at that.
"Good," Ludo adds. "I know that you've probably had a ton of training in the last few years so your techniques and strategies within the arena should be sound. I'll trust that Harrow has done a good job with you in that sense - you won the trials, after all - but you need to make sure that you keep a level head. The arena changes people; it breaks them. I'm sure you've seen them, those like Chaff and Haymitch, who may find victory in the arena, but they lose themselves along the way. You're a good lad, Alec, and I don't want you to go that way. Stay vigilant at all times, and make sure you've got the measure of Gabriel and Vincent from the start. The last thing you want is to be stabbed in the back." I chuckle slightly at that.
"Good luck tomorrow, Alec," he says, holding out a hand for me to grasp, and as we shake, he adds, "and may the odds be ever in your favour." We both laugh at that, and we turn to go our separate ways; Ludo back to the sitting room, myself to my bedroom. I'm almost at the door when Ludo calls out for me from the other end of the corridor.
"Alec!" he calls, and I turn to face him. "Never before have three consecutive victors hailed from the same district. When you step into the arena tomorrow, you've going to make history." Then he turns into the sitting room, and he is gone. The next time I see him, the Games will be behind me. There's a strange feeling in that, to know that everything that my life has led towards these past ten years is only twelve hours away. The arena. The Hunger Games. This is it.
Well, there's nothing else to be gained by staying up late tonight. I'm going to need all the sleep that I can get. I open the door to my room, strip off my outfit from the interviews and collapse onto the crisp white bedsheets. I'm surprised when I manage to fall asleep almost instantly.
The next thing I know, Bella's bursting through my bedroom door, hurriedly trying to drag me out of bed, slip on some bland, meaningless clothes over me, to drag me to the elevator that transports the pair of us to the roof.
We step out onto an empty rooftop, orange in the early morning sun. It's cool but not cold, and there's a slight, pleasant breeze. The sun shines across us from an almost cloudless sky, casting long shadows across the rooftops. Not a bad sunrise, for my last before the arena.
Bella and I stand together in silence for a couple of minutes until a hovercraft appears out of nowhere above us, dropping a metal ladder for us to grab onto. I step up to it first, placing my hands and feet onto the rungs of the ladder. From there, I'm lifted up motionless into the hovercraft.
Once I'm inside the hovercraft, a young Capitol man in a white coat approaches me with a needle and presses something into my left forearm. "Your tracker," he explains when I raise my eyebrows at him, and I nod in understanding. Every tribute is given a tracker to display their position in the arena to the Gamemakers. The worst thing for them would be to lose a tribute in the vast expanse of the arena.
I watch from above as Bella is hoisted into the hovercraft along with me, her long hair fluttering in the breeze. When she's beside me once more, an Avox comes to escort us to a dining room on board the hovercraft. I make the most of breakfast, making sure to give myself plenty of staying power for the arena. Any advantage that I can get before standing on that pedestal in just a couple of hours' time, I'm going to take. As I eat, I watch the hovercraft soar over the Capitol,. that gleaming multi-coloured city that is the height of Panem. Such a wonderful place, capable of such terrible things. Then the city is behind us, and we're flying over wilderness for possibly ten minutes before the windows black out. I presume that we're approaching the arena, so d be unfair to look down at it from above.
Then the hovercraft lands and we leave via the same ladder that we entered it, only this time it transports us underground, into the maze of tunnels beneath this year's arena. Bella leads me alone through the catacombs towards our Launch Room using a map that an Avox handed to her on the hovercraft. There are all sorts of people milling around down here, making last-minute checks on various things before the beginning of the Games. It would be a disaster for the Capitol if anything were to go wrong now.
After a short walk, we arrive at the Launch Room, which is where I will remain until the Games begin. It's a smallish room with brilliant white tiles on the floor and walls, a pair of wooden benches down one wall, a small room off to the other side with a toilet and shower. At the far end of the room is the column that will transport me up into the arena, the metal pedestal that I will stand on buried in the floor, ready to lift me to my fate. It's a simple room, but functional, and that's all it ever needs to be.
I take a shower as Bella goes to fetch the uniform clothes that I will have to wear into the arena. As I wash myself slowly, I begin to feel the first signs of nerves. I know that right now, many of the less capable tributes will be absolutely terrified of what is about to happen to them today. But I know that if I can keep a cool head, I should be fine, at least through the early stages of the Games, until the pool of tributes has been cut down to size, the weaklings filtered out. What worries me today is the uncertainty of the arena; that I have no idea what I'll be facing once I stand atop the pedestal. As Ludo said yesterday, I need to keep my thoughts collected. No time for consideration; I need to react quickly, especially during the first few minutes in the arena, when probably a third of the tributes will be eliminated almost immediately. To make sure of that, I need to be confident that I have a good measure of the arena, the only completely unknown variable in the Games, before I step off that pedestal.
Bella returns with my clothes for the arena just as I step out of the shower, setting them down on the benches in the Launch Room. Aside from simple underclothes and a thin vest, the only attire I have is a sky blue jumpsuit and sturdy black leather boots that a high-topped and extend a third of the way up my shins.
"The thick tread suggests rocky, firm ground," Bella says, inspecting the boots. "Doubt you'll be in a swamp this year," she adds, which makes me feel relieved. We're overdue a swamp arena; there hasn't been one in decades. I know that if I were to chose my own arena, a swamp would be near the bottom of my list. I'm a strong swimmer like most of District 4, but my real strength lies on land.
"Could you make anything out from this?" I say, gesturing to the jumpsuit that I'm trying to get myself into.
"I doubt it'll be cold," Bella deduces. "This material won't offer much by means of insulation, and the boots would be poor in snow or ice. I doubt you'll be in cold terrain this year." Good. There's another possibility I can rule out. "Unless," Bella adds. "A lot of clothing is provided in the arena to keep tributes warm. So that coats and shelter become a valuable commodity." Or maybe I can't rule that out yet.
"Anything to say about the colour?" I ask, noting the sky blue once again. "I doubt it'll be much use by way of camouflage."
"Unless it's a water-based arena," Bella shrugs. "Which I'm sure will be no issue for you, right?"
"I guess so," I say, as although I'll be at a slight disadvantage fighting in water, I'm sure everyone else will be troubled by it far more than I will.
"Good," Bella smiles. "Unless, of course, they just want to make everyone stand out in the area. Kind of like some sort of anti-camouflage, so to speak." I'm not sure what I think of that theory; stealth would play a huge part in any Games like that, and it's by no way my forte.
"Let's say we stop theorising," I say, at least now having a vague idea of what I might be up against in this year's Games. I'd rather go into the arena with a clear mind than anything else.
As I tie up my boots with firm double knots Bella goes to fetch me some food, but I decline it. I've enough already this morning. However, I do take a glass of water. Keeping hydrated in the arena is even more important than keeping fed.
We sit in silence on the benches for ten, maybe fifteen minutes before I hear a pleasant female voice come through the speakers in the corner of the room, telling me to prepare for launch. I rise slowly, handing my empty glass to Bella who then pulls me into a long, firm embrace.
"Good luck, Alec," she tells me, smiling bravely. I know that she's worried for me.
"I'll be fine," I tell her. Surely this should be the other way round? I almost laugh at the irony.
"I'm sure you will," Bella adds. "Ludo and Finnick will be looking out for you all the time. You've got the best support that a tribute could wish for." I smile at that. I know that I'm in a strong position at this stage, even before I enter the arena.
The female voice returns, telling me that there's just ten seconds until launch. Bella hugs me again, planting a kiss on my cheek before backing away as I walk over to stand on my pedestal. She calls out to me - presumably further words of luck - but I don't quite catch it before the glass cylinder descends around me.
This is it.
I'm stationary in the tube for two or three seconds before I'm slowly lifted upwards and Bella and the Launch Room disappear from view. Then there is just myself and the darkness, and the faint feeling of being lifted upwards. Now all connections with the previous world, District 4 and the Capitol, have been cut off from me. Only the arena remains.
Just as I'm beginning to become accustomed to the darkness, I'm thrust into the arena and instantly blinded by the bright light of day. My hands go over my eyes to shield them, and the first coherent sense in the arena is my hearing, as I pick up the legendary voice of announcer Claudius Templesmith resonate out over the arena.
"Ladies and gentlemen, let the Sixty-Seventh Hunger Games begin!"
A/N: If you enjoyed this chapter, please review! As ever, constructive criticism is welcomed :)
P.S. Any predictions for the Games? (Don't answer this if you know the result from 75 Games, 75 Victors, 75 Oneshots - I don't want any spoilers in the reviews.)