Disclaimer: The Hunger Games and its characters are all property of Suzanne Collins. No profit is being made from this piece of work. No copyright infringement is intended.
10
The Tributes arrive the next day. I meet them, shaking their hands just as I had done with the soldiers the previous week. They all smile at me. I notice both 2F and Madison smile at me despite the soldiers supposedly being told to remain neutral.
2F is a slim girl with dark brown hair and wide green eyes. Her words flow together so quickly and easily it sounds as though she is talking faster than the rest of us.
Over the next week I oversee the training and watch as 8M breaks a board in half with his head; both 10M and 10F glide through swimming practice; 1F identify edible foods; 4F and 3M make friends despite the difference in words.
I like it. It takes my mind off having to see Britney every day. We now have to have a guard with us as she tends to my make-up. It's pointless. I wonder why Plutarch hasn't replaced her yet. By the way he lectured me after she'd been carted to hospital, I would have even gone as far as to say he had expected my reaction.
Britney has a bandaged nose but she keeps out of the limelight anyway. As far as the public know, we broke up after I became the face of the Games. Plutarch spun a story about me choosing work over her. It had enough drama to keep them happy.
So why is she still here?
"I don't want to be here," she tells me one day. She's in the middle of fixing me a cup of coffee during a break between the training. Her voice sounds funny due to the bandage. "I need to be here to keep my family safe."
I don't want to talk to her. I really don't. But now that we're in the same room and working together, it's hard to deny what Britney and I had.
"What is going on, Brit?" I ask her. The guard in the corner of the room looks up from his newspaper, no doubt hoping we were going to fight so he could break it up and have something to do.
"I told you," Britney sighs. "They took my brother. I had no choice but to convince you to sign up."
"So how is your brother?" I ask sarcastically.
"He's fine," she answers anyway. "He's at home with my parents. Or at least he is while I still agree to do this job."
I think about Britney's parents then, how they are from Tribe 3. They are Tribe's people yet they had Britney. Does that mean Britney isn't a person either? She looks like a person. She felt like a person.
I groan and throw my head back on the couch. It hurts to think.
"You've only got five more minutes," Britney warns me, placing my coffee in front of me. "It's the last day of training. They want as much footage as they can get."
I watch her clean up the small kitchenette in my dressing room. I think of how much she has changed since I last knew her. Or maybe that shy girl persona was all an act to get me to do what she wanted. Maybe I never knew the real Britney at all.
I don't think I'll bother trying to know her now.
(*)
The next day the Tributes are sent into the arena. I watch with the military team as eleven of them are taken down instantly at the Cornucopia. I try to distance myself from it all. In my mind this is nothing but footage they show in schools. This isn't happening right now.
But it is.
One by one I watch the soldiers of the deceased Tributes leave. They are to go to the Tribute's Village – a newly built area where the families of the Tributes can stay and watch the games – and inform the families of their losses. The families of the deceased will be sent home the next day as losers.
The Village is just more proof that the Capitol have been planning this for a long time.
2F is still going though and I sit next to Madison as we watch the girl make her bed for the night in a large tree. I had been right; Tribe 2's people are good at climbing trees. Madison had spent the past week teaching the young girl how to make a secure den in the tree tops and how to attack from above.
"She's doing well," I observe as we watch her sleep.
"She's done well to get this far," Madison agrees. "Thanks for the tip about them being able to climb."
"You're welcome," I say surprised.
"Seriously," she goes on. "I wouldn't have known otherwise. They don't speak the same words as we do."
I realize she is right. The fact that I could have potentially saved this young girl from death cheers me up a lot.
I want to stay with Madison and watch over 2F throughout the night but Plutarch has other plans. He sends Britney to collect me so I can get prepared for my first nightly interview with Flickerman.
Madison looks surprised when she sees Britney and me though she doesn't say anything, simply turning her gaze back to the screen.
"Well, Fin, where do we begin?" Flickerman asks me as soon as the cameras start rolling. Despite the audience being told to hush during the time we're on air, they can't help but murmur excitedly amongst themselves. "How about the very beginning?" he suggests. "Now, we all thought 4M's slaughter by 7F was a bit crafty don't you think?"
"The way she snuck up behind him like that?" I continue the conversation. "Very sly," I agree.
"And what about the alliance between 3F and 10F?"
"Well, we saw in training that they don't exactly see eye to eye," I say in a way that makes the audience chuckle.
Despite it only being a half hour interview with replaying clips from throughout the day, I feel drained by the time I get back to my dressing room. Britney's there with something a lot stronger than her tea and I drain the glass gladly.
"Rough day?" she asks casually.
"I don't want to talk to you," I tell her bluntly. She doesn't look surprised until I add, "Have you seen Madison?"
"You mean Soldier Hawthorne?" she asks. She sounds hurt but reluctantly informs me that she's still in the television room. I leave her without bothering to ask what's up with her.
"How's she doing?" I ask as soon as I enter the room. Madison is the only soldier left – the rest have gone for a rest – and she doesn't bother to look up to see who it is.
"Setting up camp," Madison explains. "A swarm of locusts ate the tree she was in first. She's got a few bites on her arms but it's nothing too serious."
"Nothing that needs treating?" I ask, knowing the soldiers are also acting as the Tribute's mentors.
"No point in wasting what little sponsor money she has," Madison sighs. She turns to me, "I didn't see your interview. How did it go?"
Surprised she is asking about me, I automatically say, "Fine." She raises an eyebrow at me and I sigh as I sit in the seat next to her.
The room is quite small and plain with just a cluster of metal chairs facing a wall dominated by twenty screens. Eleven have been switched off – those are the Tributes who have already died. I should really be watching the Games in the comfort of the conference room with Plutarch and President Paylor but there's something about Madison that draws me to her. I take advantage of the time alone I have with her to get to know her.
"How long have you been in the military?" I ask suddenly.
She tears her gaze away from the screens, surprised by my questioning. "Since I was sixteen," she answers. "I've wanted to do nothing else my entire life. You could say I was a bit of a Daddy's girl."
I smile with her. "What about your mother?" I ask. "Is she in the military too?"
"Oh, no!" Madison says quickly. "She doesn't like me and Dad being in it as it is. She works in a grocery shop. They met when Dad popped in to buy some food."
"That's it?" I ask, unable to stop myself.
"I know." To my relief, Madison doesn't look offended. She smiles knowingly. "It's not a romantic story at all. It's a bit dull but Mom loves to tell it to us over and over again."
"I don't know how my parents met," I find myself mumbling. "I wish I'd asked."
"Did your mother talk about your father a lot?" she asks. It's weird how she says it; like she already knows everything about me.
"Just his name made her go off in a trance," I tell her. "I tried to avoid it as much as possible."
"Poor Annie…" Madison trails off. She says it like she knew her.
"How do you know about my family?" I ask suddenly.
Madison's cheeks turn a slight pink. "I've read up on you," she says. "I used to be a big fan." An awkward silence fills the room. "When I say used to be, I mean because you're not acting anymore and…" she trails off, blushing even more.
"It's okay, I understand," I tell her before she can babble anymore. It's odd seeing her so flustered when her job requires her to be composed. She looks kind of cute.
"I'm sorry if I sounded like I was imposing," she tells me after a moment of silence.
"It's okay," I tell her again. "I shouldn't have been so surprised. You forget sometimes, when you're in the middle of it all, how much information about you is out there. It's surprising how much people want to know."
"I was only fifteen when you came onto the show," she says, sounding as though she is defending herself. "I was still a kid. At least I wasn't one of them older women who stalk you."
I burst out laughing at that. "Fair enough," I say.
"I also know when your birthday is," Madison goes on.
I frown, trying to count the dates. I haven't looked at a calendar in ages. It's been my way of avoiding the day the Games start. "When is it then?" I ask, testing her.
"Today," she smiles at me.
I look over at the clock on the wall – the only other piece of furniture in the room – and sure enough, I see it's three minutes passed midnight. My twenty-second birthday.
"Happy Birthday," Madison tells me, smiling.
Just then my eye catches one of the small screens on the wall. 10M is surrounded by the Tributes from 8. They've managed to get hold of some weapons from the Cornucopia. A spear is pierced through 10M's heart and he falls to the ground. The cannon goes off yet the two tributes don't seem to listen. They slice Aiden up, his blood staining the yellow grass of the corn field in which he'd been hiding.
I think of Aiden and how, just months ago, we had shared our passion for the sea. As the monitor fades to black I remember him laughing with me as he taught me to surf. He'd been the closest thing to a friend I had had on that 'tour' and he had almost made me forget what I was doing to him and all the other Tribe's people.
Now he's dead and his body will be shipped back in a sealed coffin to Tribe 10. Sealed because of the dismantled state in which it now lies though it doesn't matter; his family have probably already watched him die.
Happy Birthday indeed.
(*)
The following week continues in the same fashion; more deaths, more interviews. By the time the first week is over, only three Tributes remain: 9M, 6M and 2F. 2F has been hiding. She took down the two Tributes from Tribe 7 by distracting them with food and stabbing them in the back. But most of the time she has been hiding.
The public was especially happy when 10F turned on 3F though their fight proved to be nothing but a distraction before the two Tributes from 8 finished them off. The unlikely friendship between 3M and 4F didn't last long either.
I sit with Madison and another soldier, watching the Games play out. The soldier mentoring 9M has gone to the Control Room to send off some burns ointment which he needs badly after the Gamemakers sent fireballs down from the sky.
Madison is nervous. She wants 2F to make it. Like the other mentors she has grown close to her Tribute but the chances of 2F emerging as a victor are slim. She hasn't got the build to fight against the two young men remaining.
She's going to die unless I do something.
Thinking about 2F's ability to climb, I make my way over to the Gamemakers' Room where the controls for the arena are based.
"Sir," the Gamemakers all call out, getting to their feet and saluting me. I wonder where all this respect has come from. I am nothing compared to Gale and President Paylor yet I still get a lot of respect.
"The Games are getting a bit…dull," I say, putting on my best act. "How about we flood the arena?" I remember my mother winning her Games in a similar way. Maybe it's a sign.
"Flood the arena?" one Gamemaker asks in awe. "But they might all drown!"
"Leave the tree tops visible," I say it like an off-hand suggestion. "Surely, if they really want to live, they can climb to the top away from the water?" I'm all ready to go on and tell them how entertaining it would be to watch such a thing but it seems I've already won them over.
"It'd be a great finale," one of them muses. "Good idea, sir!"
"Oh no!" I say. "If anybody asks, it was all your idea." I point to the one who complimented me and he beams while the other two grumble. I don't want any part of this.
I leave the room and head back to the soldiers' room. Madison and the two other soldiers are watching the screen with open mouths. The Gamemakers work fast; the arena is slowly filling up with water.
I find myself watching the screens when the soldiers cringe and look away. Just as I had expected, 2F climbs to the tops of the trees as soon as the water hits. I watch 9M and 6M drown. I force myself to watch what I have caused. The streams of bubbles from their mouths cease before their panicked faces relax. They look almost peaceful.
The four of us are numb with shock. Even as the two cannons fire and the Capitol's Anthem goes off to announce the end of the Games, none of us react. Madison doesn't even look pleased.
Plutarch appears at the doorway in just a few minutes, beaming at us. His positivity meeting our negativity. "We have a winner!" he cries. "Fin, Madison, with me. You're going to greet 2F on camera as soon as the hovercraft returns."
The two of us follow him to a large room where he says 2F will show up soon before she's rushed to hospital. He leaves us after apologizing for not being able to stay. He says he has other business to attend to.
"You did that," Madison says suddenly, breaking the silence.
"What do you mean?" I ask. There is nowhere to sit in the room. It's just us until the camera crew and 2F arrive.
"You flooded that place," she explains. "Why?"
"I know I shouldn't be biased," I tell her. "But I've grown attached to 2F too." There's an awkward pause. "How did you know–?"
"Oh, please, I'm not stupid," Madison snaps. "You leave the room for a few minutes and all of a sudden the whole arena floods! It's a bit obvious."
I'm stunned into silence by her outbreak. After a few calming breaths she apologizes. "It's just everything," she tells me. "I know I'm supposed to be neutral but…" She doesn't say anymore after I pull her into a tight hug.
"I know exactly what you mean," I whisper in her ear. We stay like that until the doors we came through open, announcing the arrival of the camera crew. We pull apart instantly.
2F arrives shortly after, shaking but happy. She runs towards us, oblivious to the cameras. I can hear a news presenter speaking over us, announcing that 2F is happy and well. She sure looks it. She hugs both Madison and me tightly despite having lost a lot of weight. Though we can't understand her words, she seems thrilled to have won. She mentions something that sounds like 'family' and I assume she's talking about her family moving to Panem.
After just a few minutes, she's whisked away to the hospital for a full analysis. Once more, Madison and I are alone in the room.
"Maybe it's not so bad after all," I murmur aloud. Madison's head snaps up to me, her eyes venomous.
"What did you say?" she asks, her voice slightly above a whisper.
"The Games," I explain hurriedly. "Look at 2F, she's happy to finally give her family a better life. Maybe they're good for everybody after all."
"Are you forgetting the 19 people who have died over the past week?" Madison demands, her eyes brimming with tears though I can tell they are of anger and not sadness. "What has gotten into you?"
"I'm trying to look on the positive side!" I protest, holding my hands up. Madison is a lot stronger than me – she has to be to be in the military – and I know she could easily hurt me if she wanted.
"There is not positive side to this," she spits. "It's all wrong and you need to stop it."
"How?" I ask. "I'm just an actor for goodness sake!"
"You're the driving force behind this," Madison reminds me. "I bet if you talked to Paylor you could change her mind. Even I know she's not too happy about it all."
"She's not," I agree. "It's Plutarch who's so happy about it."
"Then go and talk to her," Madison urges me, grabbing my shoulders and pushing me to the door. "Go now whilst the attention is focused on 2F and the deaths of the Games are still fresh."
I do as I am told, running through the corridors to the office where President Paylor watches the Games in the television building. I hope she's there because I don't fancy getting through all the crowds of the Capitol to get to her mansion.
I burst through the door to find her sitting behind her large oak desk. Plutarch is behind her, hands gripping her hair as he drags a knife along her throat leaving a crimson line behind.