Chapter 25
I watched as the silver parachute floated towards Coral, and she opened its pouch to reveal the contents. She read the tiny slip of paper and quickly shoved it into her pocket without sharing the contents of the message with her fellow tributes. Good. That message was for her – and only her. She carefully counted the bottles of water and quickly made the connection between the number of bottles and her alliance.
"Hey, guys!" she yelled, and when she had their attention, she tossed each of them a bottle of water. "Courtesy of District Four," she added as she cracked into her own bottle.
"How do you know it's from Four?" Clove asked. Coral shrugged.
"We have a saying back home. 'Water is life.' A gift of water from Four means that they like us, and they want to see one of us survive," she explained. The anthem started to play, and the familiar screen hovered in the sky. The alliance paused for a moment to watch.
"No!" Synch wailed as the face of the female tribute from Three graced the sky.
"Don't be a baby. Most of us in here will die; get used to it," Glimmer said callously. I cringed in my seat. She was right, but I knew from experience that the night you see your District partner's face in the sky was the roughest. Like Synch, it had happened on my first night, too. Her face was followed by Hunter's. I hated seeing that one because, once again, I felt responsible for his death. Coral bit her lip. I knew she had grown attached to him too, but she was smart enough to keep her mouth shut. Hunter's image was followed by the boy from Five, both tributes from Six, both from Seven, the boy from Eight that Coral had taken down, both from Nine, and the girl from Ten.
"Looks like Club Foot made it," Glimmer stated. "He shouldn't be too hard to take care of."
"We should start hunting," Cato said, taking command of the group. He pulled several torches from the supplies, tossing one to each tribute around him. They each prepped a pack of food, water, and weapons, and lit their torches from the campfire.
"Synch, stay here and guard the loot," Cato told him. "If anything happens to it, there's a wooden box with your name on it."
"But what if…" Synch started. Cato drew his sword and held it to Synch.
"Your Games can end now, if you prefer," Cato said. Synch swallowed hard.
"I'm good. You guys be careful out there," he said. Cato replied by sheathing his sword, but I caught the look on his face before he turned back to the group.
"We'll do a systematic sweep of the arena, taking out whoever we happen to run into. Our primary goal is to take out Thresh and Katniss before they can do too much damage to us, understood?" he said. The rest of the alliance nodded.
The group worked their way through the woods. I kept an eye on Synch, stationed alone with the loot by the lake.
"Qwerty," I hissed.
"Yeah?" she said, without pulling her eyes away from the monitor.
"They left him totally out in the open, with a blazing fire," I told her.
"It's the Career camp. Everyone in there knows that going in there is suicide," she told me. I shook my head. If Coral was the one there by herself, I would be a wreck by now, trying to come up with some sort of way to help her.
"And what if another tribute decides to risk it and marches in there? He's defenseless," I said.
"What do you want me to do?" she hissed at me, finally pulling her eyes away from the screen.
"He's unarmed. You figure it out," I snapped back.
"Not all of us have the money Four does," she rebutted. Oh. She couldn't afford to send him anything. I considered using my own reserves to at least let Qwerty arm him, but quickly decided against it. It was one thing to cooperate with the enemy, but it wouldn't help Coral, so I let it go. I wasn't sure if I could live with the guilt if the same weapon I bought and sent into the hands of another tribute was the one that killed Coral.
Snap! A sound broke through the relative quiet on the screens. I scanned the bank of monitors in front of me. Snap!
The girl from Eight was bent over a well constructed fire, trying to get it going. I covered my face with my hand. This was going to be too easy…
When the sounds began, Coral shushed her group and listened closely. They waited until smoke wafted through the trees and used it as a homing device, leading them straight to the lone girl's camp. The girl from Eight giggled gleefully as the warmth penetrated her body. I watched as the girl from Eight made herself comfortable by the fire. The dots on the map showed that the Career alliance was fairly far away from her, but when you're walking towards a light in the middle of the night, it doesn't matter how long it takes. She curled up next to the fire, and eventually, began to doze.
It took a while, but I could see the glimmer of the flames on Coral's monitor, indicating she was close. I glanced around for the mentor from Eight, only to discover that she, too, had opted for rest. She was sound asleep on one of the cots in the back of the Mentor's Box, that existed specifically for that purpose. I guess she was operating alone this year, because no one bothered to wake her.
The Career alliance broke out into a run, with Cato taking the early lead. He pounces on her before she wakes. Suddenly, she's awake to a blood-thirsty Cato, who has been itching for a kill all night long.
"No! Please, don't!" she pleads. "Please don't kill me! I'm not ready to die!" I hate when they toy with them.
Just do it, Cato. Put her out of her misery, I think to myself. What I really want is to turn away, but I can't. I know the girl is going to die, and I don't want to watch it, yet, I can't turn away either.
"You should have thought of that before you were stupid enough to light a fire," Cato says before thrusting a sword into her gut. The rest of the pack with him cheers and they congratulate each other on their first kill since the Cornucopia.
"Twelve down and eleven to go!" Coral cries out, to which everyone else cheers. I want to vomit. They root through the girls supplies, finding nothing of interest. All she had on her were some matches and the clothes assigned to her.
"Better clear out so they can get the body before it starts stinking," Cato says. They all reluctantly agree and continue on their hunt. I look at the dots on the map again. They're practically on top of Katniss strapped into a tree. I hold my breath, hoping my message to Coral was clear enough. I can see from here that Katniss herself is practically defenseless. Suddenly, Coral stops them.
"Shouldn't we have heard a cannon by now?" she asks.
"I'd say yes,. Nothing to prevent them from going in immediately," Marvel replies.
"Unless she isn't dead," Coral counters.
"She's dead. I stuck her myself," Cato says, throwing it off as if Coral's just said something idiotic.
"Then where's the cannon?" Coral argues back.
"Someone should go back. Make sure the job's done," Glimmer chimes in.
"Yeah, we don't want to have to track her down twice," Clove adds.
"I said she's dead!" Cato snaps. The argument escalates quickly.
"Whoa!" Peeta says, throwing himself in the middle and calming the group down. "We're wasting time! I'll go finish her and let's move on!"
"Go on, then, Lover Boy," Cato tells him. "See for yourself."
"So, what's her secret, Haymitch? How'd she get an eleven?" I asked, leaning over to Haymitch. His lips narrowed into a thin line and he shook his head.
"No," he said softly.
"Oh, come on, it's over. They're in the arena. What harm could possibly come from telling me what her secret is?" I asked.
"I can't risk it. When she's ready to show what she's got, then you'll know," he said. Damn. I hated when he got like this. He was so distant during the Games. Then again, I suppose I probably was, too. I heard a cannon go off, and I figured Peeta must have done away with the girl from Eight. Yep, her monitor was dark now.
"Cecelia Weaver, please report to the green room," the announcer said. I stopped my conversation to glance back at Cecelia. She seemed out of it, so I went back to help her wake up.
"Come on, Cecelia," I said, leaning over her. "You fell asleep. They need you in the green room."
"Whaaa…but, I just laid down for a minute…" she stammered.
"Your tribute's out. They need you to do your interview," I said. She looked from me to the monitors. Her jaw slid open as she realized she had fallen asleep instead of watching her tribute.
"How…?" she tried.
"The Careers. Now come on, up you go," I said, helping her to her feet. "You'll see it on the replay outside."
"Cecelia Weaver, please report to the green room," the announcer said again. Cecelia splashed water on her face to wipe the sleep from her eyes before disappearing for her interview. I tried to stifle a yawn, and failed. We had been cooped up in the wretched room for well over a day, and I still hadn't slept.
Sleeping wasn't an option. It never was. Not here.
I stepped out of the private entrance in the back of the room where an Avox was standing, waiting for instructions from any of the mentors who might require something.
"Excuse me, could you have a stimulant sent up here? The good stuff, not the crap that wears off in two hours," I said. The Avox nodded and disappeared. I kept an ear on the monitors, listening for any sign of distress. The Avox soon reappeared with a tablet and a glass of water.
"Thank you," I said, swallowing the pill. The effect was almost instantaneous. The fatigue slipped from my body as I resumed my vigil over Coral.
Twelve down, eleven to go.