A/N: Hello everyone and Merry Christmas from Phuket! I know I said I might not be able to post more during the holidays, but I got this part done and had internet so I just had to... Sorry it's only the first half of the chapter!
Please review, etc. etc. It really does help me write! Might even track down wifi in Cambodia next week if you all make me really excited about posting more :)
Hope you're all having wonderful holidays. Enjoy!
The sunlight blinds me for a moment as the metal plate on which I am standing screeches to a halt. I blink rapidly to clear my vision, straining to take in the landscape around me. Slowly, my world starts to blur green until the thick, vast forest of the arena finally comes into focus. Off to the right, in the distance, I see a sparkling body of water - a lake, probably. To the left of that, the open field on which the Cornucopia stands drops off into nothing, and strain as I might, I cannot see what reaches beyond.
Katniss will head directly for the woods; I know that much. She'll have an advantage there, having become so accustomed to the woods outside the fence of District 12. But I won't possess the same advantage, so I need to come up with a plan for myself. My first instinct is to run towards the lake, to get water, before going off to find Katniss. But something tells me that could be suicide. The Careers might head there instantly. As I scan around, trying to decide what my first course of action should be, I finally spot Katniss, her intense gaze fixed on a point on the ground between herself and the Cornucopia.
I follow her gaze and find that it has locked upon a gleaming silver bow and sheath of arrows, placed on top of a stack of blankets a little more than thirty yards from where I stand. It is still a good distance from the mouth of the Cornucopia, making it very tempting to snatch up, and I realize Katniss must be planning on doing just that.
My purpose in the arena suddenly becomes crystal clear. Katniss may be quick and able to reach the bow before me, but she said it herself - I have a far better chance at surviving when it comes to hand-to-hand combat. If she runs in for the bow and gets cornered by anyone, she will be dead. I, on the other hand, have a good chance of fighting almost anyone off. I don't stand a chance against the Careers, of course, but they will be headed straight for the mouth of the Cornucopia, where the finest weapons, food, and shelter that the Capitol has to offer will be plentiful. The bow is, I think, far enough away from the mouth that I could snatch it without catching their attention. Then I can deliver it to Katniss, and the Games would be all but over once she has possession of that weapon. Haymitch would kill me for even thinking about it, but he isn't here, and this is the best way I can think of to help Katniss.
My eyes fix on her, willing her to decide against sprinting for the bow as the seconds before the gong sounds to signal the start of the Games whittle down. Finally, as the clock reaches 8, her eyes lift from the field to meet mine. I start shaking my head, trying to wordlessly tell her to get out of here, find a tree, and wait for me there. Her face registers a brief moment of confusion before the gong sounds and I react as fast as I can, hopping off the plate and running for the pile, losing sight of Katniss completely.
The moment I reach the pile on which the bow is resting, I begin to scramble up them. It is unsteady, however, and I topple off before obtaining the gleaming weapon. I scramble to my feet as quickly as possible, and see one of the other male tributes - from District 5, 6, or 7, though I can't remember which one - start trying to leap up the mound. I reach my hands and grasp one of his legs, pulling him to the ground as I use his momentum to launch myself forward. Even as I begin to climb, I feel another presence at my feet, though I don't bother to look at who it might be and simply hope that he or she isn't armed. Finally, after a few long moments of pulling myself upward, my fingers find the sheath of arrows and close around it, quickly slinging the strap over my shoulder, quickly followed by the bow. Just as I grasp the metal, I feel fingers close around my ankle and try to pull, but they are weak, and I pull away easily and leap to the ground, ready to take off. In front of me I find a boy and a girl, both from District 6, I think, looking both confused and frightened as they eye the bow cautiously, wondering whether I will shoot.
"Get out of here," I hiss at them. I wonder why they would have bothered to come into the Cornucopia at all, neither of them has much chance of fighting their way out. Neither do I, for that matter, if I don't start moving soon, and I don't want to kill these two in front of me. It seems so unfair; they're both so small and helpless. The girl nods gratefully and begins to turn away from me before letting out a shriek as a spear emerges from between the boy's ribcage and he collapses to the ground. Her scream is cut short, though, as a knife finds her neck and she quickly goes down, too. As she falls, I see the figures of Cato and Clove - the District 2 tributes - bowling towards me, both with malevolent grins on their faces. As Clove pulls another knife from her jacket - which I see is now lined with them - and begins to take aim, my mind races to find a way out of this. Only one solution presents itself, though I may be dead either way, so I take a chance. I drop the bow and sheath on the ground and throw my hands up in a sign of surrender.
"Wait!" I shout, waving my arms. "Hold on, don't throw." Clove pauses and glances over at Cato, who smirks at me.
"Why shouldn't she kill you now, Lover Boy?" he jeers. I pause, trying to come up with a reason. There is only one that I can think of.
"Because I can take you to her," I say, pointedly, knowing he'll understand what I mean. Again, I imagine how furious he must have been to see that Katniss beat him in training, and I know that he is going to want her dead as soon as possible to turn the attention back to him. He pauses in his approach, now just two yards from me, and considers me carefully.
"And why would you do that?" Clove asks. She's still clutching her knife, but seems to also be considering me. Again, I'm forced to pause and stumble over my words as I think of something.
"Be-because I... I," I begin, and instantly know this isn't going well. With my stuttering, both Cato and Clove have instantly recovered their murderous looks and are again stalking towards me. Before they can do anything, however, something Haymitch had said echoes in my mind. "Because I changed my mind. I want to live." I hang my head, acting as if I feel slightly guilty having to admit it. Clove sneers and begins to ready her knife again, but Cato holds up a hand, staying her.
"So you're coming to us?" he laughs. "Explain that. We'll just kill you in the end." I shake my head, adopting a confident air.
"I'm not going to be that easy to kill, Cato. I figure I stand a better chance against you than her, anyway. She did beat you after all," I prod, and immediately know that this was the wrong move as Cato's face darkens. I backtrack. "And you want her dead badly, now. Well you're going to have a much easier time finding her and killing her with me around." Cato looks thoughtful again, but is quickly distracted by the noise of a commotion. I glance about ten yards to my right, near the mouth of the Cornucopia, just in time to see the boy from District 5 get stabbed by the boy from 4, before he immediately takes an axe in the back from the boy from District 7. The girl from 4 screams in frustration and buries a sword in the boy from 7's chest, and he immediately falls. She then turns and rushes to the boy from her own district, checking his wound and pulse. She looks up from his body and meets Cato's eye, who turned at her scream to watch the proceedings. Breathing deeply, she shakes her head, indicating that the boy from 4 is dead. Cato laughs.
"Looks like you're in luck, Lover Boy. A position just opened up for you!" he jeers before stalking away. Clove allows her murderous gaze to hold me for a moment longer, before turning to follow him. I let out a long but quiet sigh of relief, blinking to get the haze of bloody murders out of the forefront of my mind. This day has not gone as planned, but at least I am safe. Now I just need to come up with a plan for what to do about Katniss.
It's not difficult to find time to think, as I quickly just busy myself with the task of gathering the goods strewn about and consolidating them into one pile, while the five remaining Careers run about, whooping as they take out the few remaining stragglers around the Cornucopia and staking their claim to this land. I taste bile at their joy, but swallow it quickly and try to keep my mind focused.
The girl from District 1, who introduced herself to me as Glimmer, quickly took the bow and arrows from me after Cato explained our alliance to the rest of the Careers. I glowered after her as she stalked off with the shining weapon. But Clove spotted my sour stare and slipped a knife from the inside of her jacket, grinning maliciously at me, making her meaning very clear - step one toe out of line, and I'm dead. From that moment on, I keep my mouth shut.
As I busy myself with moving the goods from the Cornucopia, except for those that the girls took in order to set up a makeshift camp, I'm surprised to find the boy from District 3 moving about as well, inspecting the metal platforms that brought us into the arena and muttering to himself. Finally, he approaches me cautiously.
"Hi, I'm Buzz," he says, helping me to steady a heavy pot full of various foods on the pile. I grunt in acknowledgement. "I'm sorry if this is a lot of trouble, but could we possibly move this pile over there?" He points to a spot about thirty to forty yards from where I am now. "I want to keep it a little further away from camp, and Cato told me to move this rather than the camp." He responds to my unasked question. I grimace; Cato is the unquestioned king amongst the Careers.
I spend the next hour moving the pile to where Buzz wants it, while he hands the boy from District 1 - Marvel - a shovel and asks him to help dig up the mines surrounding the metal platforms. Marvel shoots a contemptuous glance at Cato, who has taken to hurling spears at a nearby tree, before obliging. I snort to myself as I realize that Cato could win these Games simply by making his strongest opponents - those at the Career camp - too exhausted to fight back. Except for Katniss, over whom he holds no control. I suddenly realize why he must be so desperate to find her. He needs his unquestioned control in these Games.
Finally, when the pile has been moved, the mines dug up, and a camp established, we move ourselves away from the mangled and bloody bodies strewn around the a Cornucopia, and allow the Capitol hovercrafts to move in. As they descend upon the scattered bodies and the cannons begin to fire, each indicating a tribute death. I look skyward, counting off the shots. Buzz, Clove, and Marvel seem to have taken interest in the cannons as well. Glimmer starts taking aim at nearby trees, practicing her archery. Cato, alone, seems completely indifferent to the sound, as he continues picking through the pile of gleaming Capitol weapons that we have been provided.
Eleven. Eleven cannons fire into the sky as the hovercraft collecting the bodies from the Cornucopia finishes its duty and disappears into the sky again. Despite my confidence that she is okay, I can't help but be anxious that one of them may have been for Katniss. After silence falls again, it is a few moments before anyone speaks. To my surprise, it is Cato who speaks first.
"Was that the right number?" he demands. Marvel nods.
"I counted eleven bodies at the Cornucopia. Everyone else escaped somewhere," he tells Cato, who proceeds to pick up a large, terrifying sword. I try hard to disguise my relief at the confirmation that Katniss is alive.
"Well, that's that," he says, before turning his hard gaze on me. "Ready to hunt soon, Lover Boy?" He smirks as he utters the nickname he gave me, which makes Clove and Glimmer giggle.
"I..." I stammer. "Ready to... What? When?" I suppose the idea of hunting shouldn't shock me, but for some reason I hadn't considered what I would do when it actually came to hunting, knowing that they would be looking fervently for Katniss.
"Hunting," Clove enunciated, sarcastically. "Don't tell me you've lost your nerve. You can always tell us you don't want to help." She holds up her knife as she says this. I quickly regain my composure.
"Not good with the veiled threats are you?" I joke, which actually coaxes laughter from most of the camp. "Sorry, I just figured we would wait until first light tomorrow to head out."
"No, we hunt at night," Cato snaps. "Tributes will be asleep, unguarded. They'll be dumb and light fires. Now the question is where did she run off to?" He seems unwilling to acknowledge that she is a person, or anything more than an obstacle to be tackled. I open my mouth, thinking to mislead them, but am cut off.
"I saw her running off into the trees, after she managed to block my throw," Clove says.
"Losing your touch," Marvel mocks. Clove narrows her eyes.
"Trust me, it won't happen again," she seethes. I don't question this; if she encounters Katniss again, there is very little chance Katniss will win without the bow. My job now is to make sure she gets that weapon, I just have to figure out how.
"Enough," I interrupt them, clearly surprising a few of the Careers. "Yes, she will be in the forest, who knows what is over that drop. Clove, you'll have to show us what direction she went in. I know how to find her after that." Most of the Careers look to Cato, defecting to their clear leader. Cato nods, his gaze never straying from my face, though he seems less on edge when he looks at me. It seems this last statement has helped me gain his trust.
"Do what he says," he commands, and then starts barking orders to prepare for our departure. "Finish setting up the tents and get working on dinner, everyone make sure you have whatever weapons you want, Buzz - get to work on those mines, I want then up and running when we get back, the rest of you, look through the pile for anything especially useful that we might want to carry. We'll leave after the seal and tributes' pictures go up." Once he has finished, he proceeds to start burying his sword in the side of a nearby pine, leaving deep marks with each blow.
Buzz suddenly appears behind me and presses a knife into my hands while everyone else is distracted.
"Here, take this," he murmurs. "You know, just in case." I stiffen as I realize that he knows that I am not entirely on the Careers' side, but just as quickly realize that he wants them dead nearly as much as I do; he is only trying to save his skin. I'm briefly comforted by the idea that someone at this camp might have my back, even if it is only a 13 year-old from District 3. But that thought is darkened by the realization that, if Katniss is to live, even he has to die.