Author's Note: I would like to thank everyone who reviewed, favorited, and made Roulette a part of your Story Alerts. Y'all taking the time out to do that really brightens my day.
Chapter 12: Purple-Robed Cowards
Footsteps replace the expected amount of screams usually heard during the bloodbath.
They're smart. They're avoiding the Cornucopia.
Eventually, a high-pitched screech echoes from whoever was dumb enough not to run, but I'm too focused and absolutely terrified to look back and see who the victim is.
Gotta make it to the building. Gotta make it to the building.
Suddenly, rough hands hit my back and I meet the ground, hard. I look up just in time to see Koring sneer and raise a foot above my head.
No. I can't die. I thought my running improved! No!
"That building's mi-"
Black eyes go wide. Fresh blood squirts from his chest and spray all over me, the metallic bite seeping into my mouth.
A spear is lodged where his heart used to be.
The scream that shoots out of my mouth is louder than the bombs around us. The corpse from Eleven slams to the ground, still holding my gaze. A female voice swears from the distance, and whoever killed my would-be murderer is coming for her weapon, and to make a second kill.
With that, I jump up and make my race towards the Eleven building again, just in time to see Tottie slide her way into the entrance. I continue on anyway. Tottie made a two in training. Fat girl knows better than to not get into a fight, especially not this early in the Games.
Reaching the gigantic building now, the doors slam shut just as another scream is heard from outside. I go for the handle. Not even budging. Again I'm trapped. I don't like this feeling.
This blood is still on me and I got a few scraps on my cheeks. I spit out what got inside my mouth and used the clean part of my jacket to wipe the rest off. Wrapping my arms around myself, I tryto fight off the unbearable cold in here and calm myself from horror I just witnessed. Now I see why we have on these leather jackets and boots.
It's brightly lit in here, much more so than it is outside. Several pathways and doors make up the building, with a metal staircase to the side. Glass windows that I didn't see from the outside make up half of the walls in the further areas. This place looks like one of those factories in the textbooks back home, except deserted. I couldn't imagine being shut up in this cold coffin day in, day out and for the very first time I'm thankful I live in Ten instead of a higher-up district.
Or it could be the fact that I'm now in the Hunger Games. I'll never know.
Looking up, I have to shield my eyes from the bright light source from up top. This place must have an endless amount of levels because I see no end. What I do see and hear is Tottie's figure moving madly up the levels of the building. She must still be hyped up from the bloodbath.
I'm not gonna fight her, so I stay on the first level to explore. Might as well get to know the place I'll be staying in, however long that may be, and the door's lock shut anyway.
So what do we have in here? Hallway, doors, open, nothing. Hallway, doors, open, nothing. The pattern repeats until I finally give up and rest on the ice-cold metal walls. Where is everything? The supplies have to be hidden somewhere in this place. They can't hide all the goods…in…the…Cornucopia.
No. That would be crazy. That hasn't been done since the 50th Hunger Games, the Second Quarter Quell. And the only reason it was that way because there were double the amount of tributes. They want this season to go on as long as possible from last year's poor ratings.
Ha, Gamemakers! Thinking you can trick me again. Silly, silly men.
Strolling up to the next level, I don't bother to be quiet, hoping to find something, anything in this bare building. It takes me seven more levels and a very angry glare at the Gamemakers to finally stumble upon what I'm looking for. I can't seem to find it, but the aroma is unmistakable.
Running now, I giggle like a mad donkey as the scent gets stronger and stronger. When I burst open the door farthest to the staircase, what lies in front of me is more than I could ever imagine.
Food. Piles and piles of food just lying on the floor. Some I recognize, some I've never seen before in my life. For a split second, I'm paralyzed with pure confusion. Then I dig in. I'm pretty full from breakfast, but what the hell? Each and every bite is more delicious than the first and by the time I've gained some sort of self-control, I'm stuffed.
Gamemakers, I love you.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Only a pathetic three, Careers? You gotta step it up guy.
The explosions have slowed down now, coming every twenty, thirty minutes and go farther away with each drop. Crawling to the windows, I take a greedy bite of an apple as I look down on the hilarious sight below.
The hovercrafts carrying the dead away, the jack rabbits are still at the Cornucopia. It's clear that Domitia is the alpha female of the pack, her barking orders while the others struggle with the crates, her burly district partner included. How long will it take the wolves to realize all of their sheep have scattered? With each empty crate they smash open, their frustration becomes more and more apparent. The Gamemakers are really toying with the favorites this year. They've only been given an axe and a spear. No backpacks, fancy weapons, or food this time. Just two weapons to share between six bloodthirsty teenagers.
Not only that, but the Careers are at a huge disadvantage and they don't even realize it: they're completely surrounded. All 15 of us could take out the six biggest threats in the Arena right now.
It's a great idea. For someone else to do.
"Fuck this!" Penelope drops the axe on the metal floor, causing the others to glare at her for making the loud noise. The red tides must be coming in because the District Four girl has been scowling since the Games began. "We're wasting our time Domitia."
The giant ignores the annoying troll, not giving any hint that she heard her whines. Domitia's face, however, barely masks her rage.
Penelope has got to be one of the dumbest tributes in the history of the Hunger Games when she dares to approach Queen Domitia face-to-face.
Hands on her hips, she's just asking for it.
"Did you hear me? This is stupid. I'm leaving." Turning around, she calls for her less-than-happy district partner to follow, and the muscular beast does as he's told.
"Leave and I'll kill you both." Domitia's words have the pair locked in place before she can finish. District Four must be going nuts right about now. Even way up here, I'm on the edge of my imaginary seat. Will the Career Alliance be broken on the first day? It's not a first, but it's definitely not something that happens often.
Penelope and Creek give their leader a look of pure hatred, but know better than to do attack right now. They know where they stand, and it's not at the top of the food chain.
The wolves grow tame again, smashing empty crate after empty crate. The Four pair ignores their leader from Two. They must now get the hint that she could kill them both in seconds.
Eventually, Radiance drops her spear, giving a loud sigh. Besides Queen Domitia, she has done the least amount of work. But Alpha Female hasn't said anything to her. In fact, Radiance seems to have the best relationship with Domitia than anyone else, even Orazio. If Domitia has a soft spot for the sexiest girl in the Arena, I wouldn't blame her.
"Where is District Ten?" She glares at each seemingly windowless building, as if doing that will get us to come out. If she only knew we were all staring right back at her. What I'm more concerned about is her mention of my district.
Maybe she's talking about Sofia, if the rat is still alive.
"Who?" Valor asks confusedly.
"The Giovanni boy. The one who shamed me at the interviews."
Oh. So it is me.
"I swear I got him at the bloodbath, but it was the hideous creature from Eleven instead."
"Who cares?" Valor slams the axe down on the wood hard, shattering the crate into pieces. He growls when it's yet again empty. "He'll be dead by tonight at least. Get over yourself."
Radiance's head snaps towards her district partner so fast, it's amazing it's not rolling across the Arena's floor. "You know you don't disrespect someone's name, garçon. Even a gem grinder like you should understand that."
Valor only gives a devilish smirk at what I guess would be a big insult in District One because Radiance looks pretty satisfied with herself when she finishes. "So much mouth, ma fille. Come at me you little factory bitch and see if you'll have any more teeth to bite my ass with."
"Do you two wanna continue your girlfight or get back to work?" Orazio breaks up the argument with a harsh shove, almost laughing at the pair who look ready to kill each other already, even though one has an axe in his hand and the other only manicured nails as a weapon. The two from the masonry district look way more amused by their luxury partners than their other two tagalongs, who cower a distance away from them working quietly, too angry and terrified to say anything else after what happened earlier.
It takes a few seconds for Radiance and Valor to stop glaring at each other until Valor returns back to his duty, smashing a crate with enough force to make me jump all the way up here. Radiance laughs at the shorter boy's attempt at scaring her, lazily leaning against the Cornucopia a short distance away from her buddy.
Suddenly, I catch the glint of a knife whizzing from an opening in the Eight building. Orazio only has time to shout a warning before it embeds itself in Valor's shoulder, gushing blood the instant it makes impact.
Besides the Careers, only one person could have aim like that.
District Two immediately leap inside the mouth of the Cornucopia, arming themselves with the two weapons they were given. The others aren't so smart. Penelope doesn't stop yelping until her more sensible partner yanks her down behind the crates he's using as a shield. Radiance looks torn between helping the boy she was ready to kill and making a run for it, and does something worse than both. She stands completely still. It's not until another knife almost greets Valor to his end that she decides moving is the smartest thing to do.
Faster than my Lolita back home, the brown-haired girl disappears into the golden horn, leaving a very scared-looking Creek and Penelope and a very bloody Valor to fend for themselves.
He's gotten the knife out now, but the blood stain gets deeper and deeper on Valor's jacket. He screams at Domitia for help as he runs for the Cornucopia, more terrified than anything. I can't catch her response, but whatever it is makes him shout angrily at her then run off to the nearest building marked One. Everyone else quickly follows suit, Domitia more reluctant than Orazio and Radiance. It takes for the District Four outcasts to hear their supposed allies' sprint away from the shiny target to move away from their safe spot and make a run for it to the District One building too.
Before the door closes, I hear Penelope tell the wolf pack, amusedly and proud of herself, "Told ya we should've left."
The Capitol hounds must be lapping up this scene like thirsty dogs because I can hardly control my own excitement myself. A Career almost killed before the bloodbath clean-up is over. This makes for insane ratings. Like the Hunger Games don't have enough to begin with.
After that fantastic fiasco, things get boring again. I stuff my jack and pockets with more than enough to eat and pass the uneventful hours by exploring the factory some more. The higher up I go, the more food there is in each room. By the twentieth floor, nearly every room is filled to the ceiling with perfect-looking fruits and vegetables. Hm, no meat or anything else. A nice grilled snake would hit the spot right about now.
Stuff that can be used as weapons are thrown around a few rooms. The rakes and shovels would be too heavy to carry around, not to mention trying to attack someone with a shovel would be ridiculous. Eventually, I stumble across a nice sickle that was buried underneath a pile of corn. Hm, not too bad of a weapon. Would prefer a machete, but beggars can't be choosy.
The only drawback to this place is that the higher I go up, the colder it gets. Some rooms have ice covering the walls. Freezing to death would be a stupid way to go out, so I quickly head downstairs.
Suddenly, a loud bang from down below echoes throughout the building. I look down to see what, or who, caused it.
The front door is open.
Panic sets in. If anyone came in, I'm screwed. Just standing here in the hallway few levels above the entrance, I'm easy game. Running now, I stop when I look outside a window and see all the other doors for the other 11 buildings are open as well. The wolf pack are back again by the golden horn, yet separate this time, with Radiance charging into the District Ten building, just knowing I'm there waiting to be killed. The sigh of relief that comes out my mouth couldn't be any larger. Good thing I didn't go with my initial idea of heading to the Ten building.
None of the Careers choose the Eleven building, but standing in the middle of a hallway is just asking for something to happen. While running towards a door, I literally bump right into Tottie. The impact and weight of her knocks us both on the floor. I had forgotten all about the girl, and the look of pure dread on her face tells me she's thinking the same thing, if she even knew I was in the building to begin with.
"P-please don't kill me!" A bright object blocks the view of her face and I take a deep breath, until I realize what it is. Out of all the weapons she could have possibly pulled out, she threatening my life with a squash? Either she's dumber than a mule or hasn't had nearly as much luck as me.
Already, the Games this year is hilarious.
I clutch the sickle that I haven't let go of yet tighter. The dark-skinned girl yelps when she sees this, but is locked in place on the ground. I could end her life right now. I should actually. Tottie will die anyway, and it's better for it to be a quick death than for the Careers to find her.
But…I can't. I just can't. I don't know this girl, but I don't want her blood on my hands. All of District Ten is shouting for me to kill Tottie, I know it, but I've made up my mind. She will live. For now.
"We could b-be allies! I'd take watch every night and Imma…a good listener!" Between her District Eleven accent and desperation to come up with anything so her cannon won't be next, I'm starting to reconsider my decision.
"No," I shake my head furiously. I can see in her eyes that she doesn't know whether to be relieved or terrified by my response. "No alliance. Just go. Now. And don't get in my way again."
Looking like an overweight deer caught by complete surprise, she has the nerve to question my decision. "A-are ya-"
"Go!" I slam the sickle on the floor, metal hitting metal. That makes her get the hint. Still wide-eyed and shaking, Tottie leaps up, gives a quick nod, and I watch what should have been my first kill scatter up, up, up the stairway.
What I did was stupid. Maybe even fatal. But I just couldn't do.
Hours pass and the Arena darkens and yet, I still can't shake the feeling that letting Tottie go was a horrible mistake. Why didn't Esteban send a parachute down telling me what to do? He's supposed to be there for me and I got jack shit! Or maybe Picasso decided to get revenge by purposely not getting me any sponsors. I could see that happening. And it's not like Sofia's useless self would win any Capitolite over either. Being angry at everyone is stupid, so my thoughts wander off into a worse territory: my family.
I can't imagine what they're all thinking now? Is Papi proud of me for letting Tottie live or ashamed that I was so weak? And Mami. Oh, Mami must be devastated still. She didn't even get to say goodbye to her youngest. My siblings and Ivan are there for her, but nothing will do until I come home. If I come home.
Now that I think about it, my family has barely crossed my mind since the train stopped in the Capitol. I've been so wrapped up in strategies and winning the audience over to think about the reason why I'm doing all of this in the first place. I feel sick all of a sudden and tears I forgot existed almost, just almost break their way through. I've never wanted to go home so badly before, to just be around my family. They're the ones that truly love and understand me. Not Picasso, not Esteban, and definitely not Rhapsody.
There's no way to tell what time it is, but it has to be pretty late since outside it's pitch black. Only a sliver of moonlight peaks through the crowd, making me more than thankful I'm inside rather than out there, even if it refuses to warm up in here. With no footsteps or cannons blasting, I double check to make sure the door to the room I'm in is shut tight, since there are no locks on these damn doors. Just as I try to make the best out of this leather jacket and lay on the icy floor that's my bed for the night, Panem's anthem blasts throughout the Arena, making me alert and annoyed again for no reason.
The seal of the twelve-feathered eagle that's plastered around every building and TV in District Ten appears in the air. Time to see who didn't make it through the first day.
Wanda from Three appears first. Can't say I'm surprised by that one.
Nace's face takes me by surprise. He didn't seem like much, but I thought he'd last at least a little longer, with who was waiting for him back home and all.
Koring finishes out the dead and the Panem seal and music disappear as quickly as it popped up.
This is going to be a very long Hunger Games. Whenever the first day's death count is this low, it means the Games will last for weeks. The Capitol was unhappy with how short last year's Games were and the Gamemakers want to please them. Yet another thing the big bad city is punishing us over when it wasn't our fault.
The fact that I'll be stuck in this torture chamber and it's so unbearably cold that I can see my breath makes me hit the ground in frustration. And for some odd reason, I just can't seem to get the District Five boy out of my mind. His child, his newborn son won't even know his father. He'll grow up bitter and angry all because of something his father didn't deserve.
Fuck you Gamemakers! No, fuck you Snow. That disgusting man has been alive since the beginning of the Dark Days and he's still going on strong, still here torturing us year after year. Rumor has it that he didn't create the Hunger Games, but was the first politician to support it. After that, everyone else followed suit.
Curling up on the floor, I allow the sound of the bombs, which I've gotten familiar to, to lull me to however much sleep I can manage.
I open my eyes, then immediately close them back shut. There is a light shining right on my face, but it's not the ones in the ceiling. This one's bigger, and it flashes. No, glows. Opening my eyes again, I see what it is.
That's not light. That's fire.
The District Twelve building is on fire.
I don't think, jumping back and screaming at the sight in front of me. It's incredibly loud. In the dead of the night, the coal mining building has been set alight. By what though? A better question is, by who? The vibrant flames seem set on the Twelve building only. If this was a natural fire, all of u would be burning right about now. Or at least that's how it is back home. Those purple-robed cowards must have caused this.
The blaze lets me see everything in the building, and see everything I do. Clay from Twelve is fast, but he's struggling. From this distance, I can see the desperation and panic on his face, the gagging that's slowing him down, the long burn on his chest. I don't know why, but I'm rooting for him to live. I want him to get out of the Gamemakers' trap alive. He has to.
Wait, what am I saying?
When I look up, I scream his name. He doesn't hear me. He can't see it. Why doesn't he see it? Look up dammit!
But he doesn't. The gigantic inflamed piece of metal shatters through each level. At one point, Clay is there, almost there to the entrance. Seconds later, not a trace of him exists. I slump down in defeat and frustration as his cannon sounds.
Letting a tribute go and getting worked up over the death of one I didn't cause.
This is ridiculous.
Still wanna know what Giovanni did that was so bad during the Interviews? You'll find out. Later.
