The night was spent sleeplessly as the reality of what would take place in the next few hours dawned upon all the tributes. Ash, Joanna, Sam and Dean silently made their way to the living room in the middle of the night, sitting on separate couches and exchanging no words for the longest of times. Their fear and concerns were silently understood and reciprocated by the others. They knew that words wouldn't fix anything so they said nothing. At first it was in darkness, the only source of light coming from the city lights piercing through the curtains. However, as the sun slowly rose from the horizon, light began to flood the room and before they knew it Azazel and Bobby were walking about.
"Up already?" Bobby said sounding genuinely surprised.
"Of course they are." Azazel said, "They couldn't sleep because they were terrified."
Bobby glared at him but didn't engage in further conversation. He let them be, opening the door to allow the catered food access to the apartment and helped himself. He decided he would only speak to the others until it was absolutely necessary. Until then, he only hoped they would find the courage and necessity to eat. The Games were incredibly physically demanding and they would need a lot of energy to make it through the first few hours and the night.
Still, as it was, none of them had the appetite for anything. It was a bit like the first day they had spent with Bobby. Their minds were running through horrific scenarios of what would inevitably happen, inspiring the deepest of fears and thus disabling their appetite. Though one could argue that what was passing through their minds at the current instant was far worse. All four of them had made the mistakes of making friends with some of the other tributes. Even if they had met but a few weeks ago, terrible events had a knack of creating tight bonds between those who experienced them together.
"Hey." Joanna finally said. Her voice was so quiet that the others almost missed it. "Remember the plan."
They nodded after a moment, "Screw the center." Dean said, his voice as silent as hers had been, "Meet up in generally the same area."
"Right." Sam and Ash mumbled.
"And don't die." Joanna finally added. "No matter what."
The request seemed a bit dumb to everyone and yet it meant the most.
And so they remained seated, trapped in the horror of their own minds before Bobby eventually shoved a plate of food before all of them. "I know you're not hungry." He said, "But you need to eat. Trust me, you'll thank me la—" Bobby interrupted himself. He mentally cursed at himself for having said such a thing so insensitively.
None of the tributes took it personally and still did as he bid them. Each made an effort to finish the plates placed before them but none managed to get farther than half. When they were finished Bobby sent them off to get changed into the clothes left on their unused beds.
The clothes were relatively the same for everyone. A black, skin tight shirt and pair of pants as well as a dark green coat. Bobby explained to them the reason for their shared outfit, summing himself to: "You're less likely to die from a stupid way." The skin tight clothes assured that they wouldn't get stuck anywhere. The fabric was also aerodynamic which meant they would find running around to be easier and more fluid. The coat on the other hand was expressly made to shelter them from the rain if need ever be. They didn't know what terrain they would get and so the coat was just a necessary precaution.
Then they waited for another moment until the guards came up to their apartment, ready to escort them to the arena. They had taken a tramway all the way to the airport where they embarked on a jet plane with the other tributes. Castiel and Gabriel were the first to spot them as they always were and stayed next to them. Garth and Kevin joined them soon after, expressing worry and anxiety whereas the others tried to remain strong but felt that their façade wasn't as convincing as they thought it was. Nonetheless, they embarked on the machine and sat next to each other, exchanging no particular word during the flight.
When they landed an hour or so later, they were escorted into a nice building surrounded by trees. Most of them thought the arena would then be in a forest or something of the like but would soon be surprised. They went to the basement of the building where they were then separated individually and brought to their pods. Sam found that he had walked a considerable distance to get to his location, finding it odd until he remembered the amount of tributes were participating in the year. He was then left in the room with his pod alone and waited for he had been told Bobby would visit him.
Sure enough, some twenty minutes later, Bobby opened the door to his room and greeted him with a half-assed smile and a nod. Sam returned the gesture and they remained in silence for a minute. "How are you feeling?" he asked.
"Strangely calm." Sam answered.
"Don't worry, you'll be panicking when the counter starts going down." Bobby replied and Sam wasn't sure if the comment was meant as a joke or not.
"Hey um…" Sam paused, feeling awkward about bringing it up, "Did…did you ever know a John Winchester…?"
The name made Bobby flinch and his expression drop. "Yeah you're…" his voice trailed off for a moment before he focused, "You're…don't tell me you're his kid."
Sam nodded and was surprised to see Bobby lose his composure.
"So that means that the man who was killed…" he concluded, gritting his teeth in anger, "Son of a fucking bitch."
A guard knocked loudly at the door, most likely signaling Bobby to move on to the other tributes. Bobby barked at the man rudely in response.
"Some shit luck you had." Bobby growled, "You know I went into the Games for your dad?"
"No." Sam said shocked, "I mean, dad talked about you but he never mentioned that."
"He was probably ashamed or something." Bobby deduced, "I mean, he felt so guilty for not stopping me. He probably thought I was going to die."
"But you made it out." Sam stated and paused before adding: "And so will we."
Bobby smiled fondly and placed a hand on his shoulder, "If you're as tenacious as your dad then I have no doubt." Bobby said, "You got to do what you got to do."
The angry knock from the other end of the door returned and Bobby barked at the soldier once more. He embraced Sam, wishing him the best of luck before leaving him to go see the three others. And so he waited for nearly thirty minutes before the green light next to his pod was illuminated, signaling him to board. He hesitated for a moment up ultimately went anyways after building up the courage to march to his death.
Once inside the pod, the glass doors shut abruptly and seconds later the platform was rising. Bobby had been right about panicking later for as soon as the room Sam had been standing in was gone, his legs started to feel weak and he had trouble breathing. He braced himself against the cylinder walls as it continued to climb upwards and calm down but he found it nearly impossible. By the time he had regained some of his mental capacity, Sam had been nearly arrived the top of the elevator but thought it was rather strange that it had taken so much time for him to reach the arena from bellow.
Everything made sense as the pod stilled and Sam was able to gaze out of the glass doors keeping him in place. He was in an abandoned building. The area was rather dark and littered with plant life that had fused itself with the structure over time. He quickly found a broken window to stare out and saw large holographic numbers hanging high in the sky. Sam then tried to peer around the room, looking for Dean or any other tribute but found no one. Then the speakers went on.
"Ladies and gentlemen," a woman calmly said, "Since this is the hundredth Hunger Games, more than the rule has been changed in order to maximise the enjoyment of the event. For the first time, tributes will start from the edge of the arena separated by twenty miles from the others. The weapons typically found in the center will be there as per usual however, there will also be bags and other goods stashed around the arena. Once the counter above the center of the arena counts down to zero, you will be let out of your pods and will be on your own. Whenever one of you dies, a canon will be fired. At midnight, if the Games are still unfinished, there will be a tally commemorating those who gave their lives to the Games. May the odds ever be in your favour."
Suddenly the timer began to count down with large beats as the numbers changed. Overcome by anxiety and fear, Sam struggled to think and ready himself. He watched the numbers with utter horror as they approached zero and desperately tried to think of a course of action but the only thing he could process was: "I have to find Dean."
Finally, the doors slid open as the buzzer sounded exceptionally loud upon hitting zero. Sam ran out of the pod almost as though it would have blown to bits if he hadn't, which it might as well have. Seconds after leaving its comfort, the thing descended back down to the basement and closed the hole it left behind with small metal doors. He swallowed heavily and looked back out the window.
He was alone and afraid and the only thing he really wanted at the given moment was to find Dean. Slowly, he approached the window of the building in which he had been left to gaze out at the terrain. He hoped to get an idea of what he was dealing with, maybe to help think of a strategy of the sort, but his viewed was covered by the leaves of abnormally large trees. Thus Sam decided to climb to the rooftop and found that he did, indeed, have a far better view of everything from there.
The arena was a large and abandoned city. It had evidently been abandoned for some time seeing as large trees had managed to pierce the concrete of roads and grow from there. The streets themselves were covered by grass and moss and some roots of other plants had managed to tangle themselves around most of the buildings, piercing the windows and bricks. Though the sight was desolate and rather grim, Sam found a certain beauty and wonder in it and would have enjoyed wandering around the area if he didn't have to kill people who threatened to take his life and his brother's.
So for a minute, Sam decided to forget a bit about everything and think of a course of action. The woman over the intercom had told them that the center of the arena held all of the supplies everyone would need but also that there were a few extras stashed around. Heeding Bobby's advice, going to the center was generally a bad idea seeing as most of the other tributes would likely head in that general direction. A bloodbath would inevitably ensue and he would likely perish if he wasn't one of the first ones to arrive and arm himself. And so, deciding not to risk anything, Sam decided he would stay around from the center and try to find provisions elsewhere.
And just as the thought crossed his mind, Sam noticed something strange in the tree that had been blocking his view from where he had been dropped off. Whatever was in it seemed like a duffle bag or something of the like. Feeling that his bad luck had finally come to an end, Sam decided to grab it and look at its contents before making his way around the perimeter in search for Dean, Ash, Joanna or whoever else he had made friends with over the week.
He climbed back down the stairs and peered out the window, trying to find a way to access the tree. To his luck, some of the thick branches had pierced through a neighbouring building and seemed steady enough to cross on and make his way to the bag left behind. And so Sam did just that. It had taken him a couple of minutes to find a proper entry to the building he had to access and a few more to reach the given tier since the stairwell had crumbled and rendered the task a tad more difficult than it should have been.
Nonetheless, he made it and sighed contently as he readied himself to climb the large branch. Before doing so however, Sam peered down to investigate just how high he truly was. He soon concluded that it was in his best interest not to fall and took in a deep breath before he climbed into the tree. He was pleasantly surprised to find that the tree was far more stable than the buildings he had been in a few moments ago and found it rather easy to climb and move around. Thus he climbed the branches and tried making his way to where he had thought he had seen the duffle bag and quickly caught a glance of it. Stretching as much as he could, Sam managed to snatch the edge and yank it from where he had been placed. However, what he had thought was a duffle bag was actually the corpse of some person and Sam nearly fell from where he stood upon being horribly surprised.
He quickly steadied himself and cursed. Of course he wasn't going to be that lucky right off the bat.
Sam then climbed down the tree, deciding to travel the perimeter any but needing to find a suitable weapon before. He walked around the area a bit, entering every building he crossed in search for anything that could be useful to him. Eventually he came upon an area with pipes sticking out of the wall and one was loose enough to be pried from its location. He tested his swing and, generally satisfied with what he had managed to find, continued on his way.
Sam decided to stick to his left in the hopes that any other of his allies had chosen the right and they would soon meet. He walked for about an hour in a half, finding no one when a cannon suddenly went off, marking the death of one tribute.
"Forty-nine left." Sam said to himself.
Another soon went off after. "Forty-eight." He corrected.
He quickly continued walking, hoping that Dean hadn't been involved in the deaths in any way. About another hour later, Sam began to feel exhausted and wished for water but, having found no bags and refusing to travel to the middle, found himself with limited options. Thus he decided to retreat into a building and wait for a moment in order to regain his strength. Not a second after having found refuge in a shaded area, an alarming snap sounded far too close for comfort. Sam braced himself for a confrontation, clutching the pipe in his hands readily and cautiously approached the general zone from which it had come.
Seconds later, he was jumped by a woman who punched him at least twice before stopping herself. Sam was about to retaliate and slam the pipe solidly on her head when he saw who it was that had managed to best him. "R…Ruby?"
"Sam?" She returned and immediately got off him. She helped him up as she said: "Jesus, you scared me!"
"Same here." He responded with a sheepish laugh.
"So I guess you were one of my neighbours then." Ruby concluded. "Do you know who died?"
"No idea." Sam affirmed. "We'll figure it out if we make it to midnight."
"If." Ruby repeated morbidly. "So are you going to kill me? Should I be worried for my life?"
"Well," Sam said slowly, taking a step back, "Not unless you want to kill me."
"I just want to find my sister." Ruby said.
"And I just want to find my brother." Sam affirmed as well.
"Then how about we stick together for a bit?" Ruby suggested, "We'd have a better chance finding them by working together."
Sam smiled, "Sure." He said, "But you need a weapon or something to defend yourself with."
"Yeah…" Ruby smirked, looking at her hands, "I didn't really know what to take."
"Well anything solid will do." Sam said and gestured the rusty pipe in his hands, "So far this is the best I could do. I think we can find you something like that."
Ruby nodded and they quickly began searching the premises for a pipe or something just as useful. Sam eventually found a shard of a metal frame with a pointy end about the same length as a knife. He offered it to Ruby and when she accepted it, they were on their way. They decided to continue wandering in the direction Sam had chosen since Ruby hadn't actually taken the time to look around and scavenge the place.
They had barely taken a few steps out of the building when a tribute surprised them. She had made the idiotic mistake of shouting before swinging thus warning Sam and Ruby to her presence and allowing them to dodge the attack. The tribute had found one of the stashed goods and was wielding a machete though it wasn't much of a threat in her hands seeing as she only swung it around frantically without any real tactic in play. Sam quickly managed to disable her by slamming the pipe he held onto her wrist with enough strength to fracture the bone. While the tribute howled in pain and held her wrist, Ruby took the opportunity to lodge her knife-like weapon into the girl's head, effectively killing her.
Sam and Ruby watched the body drop lifelessly to the floor, the former experiencing more horror than the latter. Seconds later, another canon went off, announcing the death of another tribute.
"Forty-seven." Sam and Ruby mumbled at the same time.
They exchanged glances before Ruby picked up the machete and the sheath. She strapped it around her waist and slipped the machete in place, "Next weapon we find, you can have." She said.
Sam nodded and grabbed the bag the tribute had been carrying. Though it was empty Sam figured it would obviously come into great use much later. And if they ever found any fruits from the plants that had taken over the city, they now had the means to carry them around. Thus they continued their journey quietly and pondering. The death of the tribute he had witness had made the reality of the Hunger Games all the more real and, at the given point, Sam wanted to find Dean as soon as possible.
Don't die on me now…he thought to himself.