For a moment I'm back in the arena and another tribute just died. I sit up to check my surroundings, make sure their killer isn't coming for me and find myself fighting with a blanket. By the time I get free I remember where I am and at least I've been quiet about my sudden awakening. Three rows in front of me Tolby from Eleven is bellowing and flailing his fists at imaginary enemies while the rest of the room chuckles. By the time he calms down I can see that the deadly arena has claimed another victim: Jacklyn from Seven, this time from eating what looks like a large, ripe peach. More importantly her ally Aurora, the non-Career girl from Four and Maysilee the pretty blonde from Twelve see her die. The girl from Four scowls angrily and throws away their early morning foraging in disgust. The girl from Twelve, who had been raising her own identical fruit to her mouth for a bite from her hiding spot in a nearby tree-fork, lowers it slowly, hand shaking. Then, to the astonishment of the entire room, she pulls out a collection of darts from her pack and starts jamming them into the ripe flesh, carefully avoiding any of the running juice.
"Smart girl," Seeder comments to old Marcie, who grunts in reply. The old lady is still sitting in the same chair, and still doesn't look well.
After a few minutes of watching the ten-person Career pack argue I slip into our private cabin to check on Balia, though I know she must be fairly safe as she's not on the main screen. The pair of them are awake and arguing softly about a tree Oaklan found full of bright purple cherries. He's hungry and is certain that they are just over-ripe. She tells him over and over that she doesn't remember them as an edible plant from training, so why take the risk, especially since they still have some food from the Cornucopia and aren't exactly starving yet. Scowling, he eventually agrees.
They have the same argument on screen later that morning, this time over an orange-tinged pear. Balia actually takes it from his hand and throws it away, causing him to slap her. They both draw back enough to remember where they are and stiffly apologize. Olivia, the sane mentor from Seven also apologizes to me, since she knows my sister is right and is the only thing keeping her boy alive.
We both get called out to give a brief interview about our little alliance around mid-afternoon, which ends up with Claudius Templesmith, the snide new Games announcer rambling on about how underdogs like our tributes can't seriously be considered contenders when there are so many 'real competitors' around.
I'm shaking as we make our way off-stage and Olivia has a nerve twitching in her eye. We're told there's a fifteen minute wait on a car, so we are forced to watch on a screen in the ready-room as a third argument erupts between our tributes.
"I just think you're being stupid," Oaklan snaps. "What's your great plan, just sit here and starve because the food 'might be poison'? At least your sister had guts."
"My sister has brains. She knows with this many tributes that the arena would be more deadly than usual. It's too early to take stupid risks."
"It's not a stupid risk," he replies, rolling his eyes. "Why did I saddle myself with stupid little kids who want to sit around crying."
For a second she moves to hit him, but thinks better of it. He's a full head taller and three years older, and even with her little bit of training would probably squash her flat. He glares at her as he drains the last of the water from their bottle, tipping it upside-down over his mouth to be sure there's nothing left.
"I'm going to re-fill these at the stream. I know, I know you want to wait for the rain," he says, cutting her off as she opens her mouth to argue again. "Seriously Balia. It's. A. Stream. I grew up drinking from them and swimming in them at the logging camps. Perfectly good water."
Shaking her head she shrugs, defeated. "I guess," she says slowly and follows him meekly down the bank to the trickling, deadly water.
Olivia and I stare at one another in shock. "They can't…we can't do anything. They have us here…this isn't fair!" she yells, loud enough to bring a production assistant running.
"You have to stay quiet back here," the man chirps at us, gesturing to the stage where another interview is already running.
"But our…my sister…"
I gesture to the screen, where Balia is passing down the empty bottle to Oaklan, taking the full one in return. I sit down heavily as she starts to raise it to her lips. A loud bird-squawk distracts her and she drops it to pull her knife, wary for enemies. Oaklan snorts in disgust.
"Scared of fruit, scared of birds. What next, scared of water?" he asks as he takes a long gulp from his own bottle. "See, water. Nothing wrong with it at-"
He falls to the ground choking, clawing at his throat just like the boy from Five. The bottle drops into the stream and floats away as Balia grabs him and pulls him upright, then screams as his blood spatters her face. She drops him and climbs back up the bank as his cannon fires, swiping at her face with her sleeves. She crawls another ten steps then throws up violently as the hovercraft whirs in to take away my sister's only remaining ally.
I have to hope nothing happens during the short car-ride back to the Training Centre and I ignore the yells from the reporters as I charge through the doors to the foyer, where Cupros is waiting for me.
"She's fine!" he yells as he grabs me by the shoulders and shakes me gently to get my attention. "She's fine. Beetee's watching her now."
I join my mentor in the cabin, where he's thumbing through the price-list of sponsor gifts and shaking his head. "They doubled the price again," he says shortly as he points to the touch-screen menu. I nod dully. We couldn't buy her a new water bottle even if we wanted to.
"What happened to…"
"To the bottle she dropped? Rolled away. She won't trust it not to be contaminated. I know I wouldn't"
I nod. Neither would I if I was in the arena. But without water she will die. I trade seats with Beetee and flick through the sponsor-gift menu once more as my sister lies huddled in a shaking ball onscreen. Eventually I spot something that might work: a square of plastic tarp, barely big enough for a poor tent. She can use it to collect rain-water, though she won't be able to carry the water with her. Considering the prices on the bottles, jars and other containers, it's the best we can do. I send in the order, almost completely draining our budget and watch in relief as she uncurls herself to collect the parcel. She also keeps the parachute, though from what I've seen the cloth isn't waterproof. Still could be useful.
She forces herself to return to their little camp-site, the hollow tree where they sheltered the night before and packs up her new additions. "No point staying here," she says as she squares her shoulders bravely and starts walking through the woodlands.
~xXx~
The cameras mostly follow the Career pack through the evening and the night as they try (and, for the most part fail) to track other tributes on the mountain. Several heated arguments spring up about whether they are wasting their time and would have better luck in the grasslands or forests, versus those who saw tributes running towards the high ground and think that the lack of cover will make their hunt easier.
By sunset on the second day of the Games it's obvious that the Career pack has a clear split between three factions. The three remaining tributes from One are the loudest, with Amber Noble as their spokesperson as they complain constantly about scouring the steep, rocky mountainside. They are countered by the girls from Two and Four, along with big Uriah Gormett who all believe that the mountain is their best option. The remaining trio, Keston from Four, the outsider Trey from Ten and Caldinus, the smaller boy from Two are happy enough following the stronger members' lead. While the two dominant groups argue, the three boys get a campfire started and bond over a small blowtorch that Caldinus found in his pack. Trey, whose father apparently makes horse-shoes and does other metal-work, shows them how to start it and they use the controlled flame to melt chocolate over some crackers from their packs until Keston catches his sleeve on fire.
I nap periodically throughout the night as Balia takes shelter inside a fallen log draped with hanging vines and tiny blue flowers. It's an impossible angle for whatever aerial camera they have while she's curled up but the two times she crawls out to drink from her crude rain-trap I can see her shivering. I reach out and brush her face on the little screen as she collects her plastic the next morning, wishing that there was some way I could have taken her place. She continues her aimless wandering through the forest, now armed with a long sturdy stick that she occasionally uses to swat stinging butterflies. One does manage to land on the back of her neck and leaves her with a nasty welt. Wincing, she looks to the sky and I shake my head and whisper, "Sorry." I doubt I could afford any medicine even if they had some.
The Career argument ends the next morning when Caldinus, acting as a scout, finds a trail of footprints that leads them to a cave. The remaining kids from Eight, who luckily had already left to go find food and water spot the pack coming and run. The Careers follow, whooping and cheering, and the chase fills the screen for the rest of the morning, ending only when Indigo and Arren succeed in ducking behind a thin scree of rocks and doubling back up a steep path. By the time the pack realizes they've lost them the pair from Eight are well away. As they are in the foothills the group decides to roam down to a nearby stream to re-fill their spent water bottles, triggering a torrent of yelling from the watching victors.
Ophelia decides to test the water as the others dig out their bottles and dies bleeding while the pack looks on in horror. Belatedly a quartet of parachutes fall for Honoria, Amber, Felicia and Garnet with new, full bottles. The remaining volunteers look to the sky hopefully but receive nothing. When I stick my head out into the Lounge I see Arturus and Glory fuming and shooting dirty looks towards the Gamemakers' private rooms.
Balia and the girl from Twelve nearly cross paths in the afternoon, missing one another by a mere fifty yards through the trees. Shortly after, a majestic deer frolics past Maysilee, who immediately goes on the defensive. From watching previous Games I guess this is a tactic to turn her around and try to draw her towards my sister. Instead the girl draws a poison-soaked dart and loads her blowgun, though her first shot goes well wide. She fumbles a second dart as the deer lowers its antlered head and tries to charge her and by lucky chance connects her second shot. She dives backwards, rolling clear of the trampling hooves and doesn't waste time trying to use the blowgun as she drives a third poisoned dart into the nearby haunch by hand. The deer collapses with a shudder and the girl re-collects her weapons and finds them a new poisoned fruit to soak in with enviable poise.
The boys from Nine and Twleve are much less graceful when confronted by fluffy golden squirrels. Ulis squeals as the squirrel he tried to bring down with a simple sling dives for his face, sinking sharp teeth into his long hooked nose. A second beast starts gnawing on his ankle until his flailing kick sends it flying and he swats away a third and a fourth with a stick. By the time he detaches the creature from his face the tip of his nose is clearly gone and it and the three nasty gouges under his eye are pouring blood.
Haymitch from Twelve ends up with nearly a dozen of the little savages swarming him near sunset and he takes numerous small wounds, though is apparently quite capable with his two knives. The golden swarm retreats to the treetops after he kills six of them, leaving him swearing under his breath as he digs through his pack for bandages and ointment.
I retreat back to our cabin after forcing down some food, feeling guilty as I watch Balia gnaw on a single strip of jerky. I don't recall falling asleep, but end up waking on the floor as Gloria opens the cabin door noisily, calling my name. Apparently a prospective sponsor wants to talk over breakfast. Beetee, who follows her in takes one look at me and offers to take the meeting instead. Gloria sends him off then marches me up to our rooms and orders me to shower and change clothes in case anyone else comes calling. I rush through her instructions, leaving my hair wet and partially tangled as I hurry back down to keep an eye on Balia. I sit in our cabin with the door open so I can watch our private screen on two different angles and the main footage simultaneously. The latter follows Bluebell Smith, the beauty from Eleven as she stalks the girl from Twelve through a flower-strewn glade. Armed with a long, heavy branch the larger girl slides from tree to tree, slowly gaining ground on her smaller, apparently oblivious target. She pauses about ten yards away as Maysilee slows and reaches down to fumble with her pack as it appears to snag on some rose-bushes. Without warning the girl from Twelve drops her pack, spins and brings the now-loaded blowgun to her mouth, sending the poisoned dart flying at her hunter.
Bluebell staggers back, screaming in shock and falls face-first into a patch of deep red flowers. She coughs and gasps as a small puff of pollen rises and within seconds is dead. The rest of the morning is taken up with discussions about whether it was the poisoned dart or the apparently toxic flowers that killed her, and whether Maysilee would be excited to have removed one of her 'key rivals' in the prettiest girl stakes.
By noon I realize I've missed the death of the remaining boy from Eleven, another victim of the Career pack in the foothills of the mountain. The group of nine re-ignite their continued argument about continuing their hunt on the high ground or whether they've exhausted the tributes there and are better off heading back down to the meadow and into the woods. Uriah and Amber nearly come to blows but the cooler heads of the kids from Four prevail and the pack eventually agrees to split, with Honoria and Uriah from Two, Selena from Four and, surprisingly, Felicia from One remaining near the mountain.
The other five agree to head back to the Cornucopia to secure their remaining supplies now that they are aware of the dangers of the food and water in the arena, and will hold their fort for two days until the mountain group re-joins them. I doubt anyone inside or outside the arena believes that the two halves will actually reunite, at least as allies.
At first it seems like the group who stayed had the right idea as they find trail signs of Salley from Nine just in time for the afternoon mandatory viewing timeslot. She holds her breath and remains curled up, unmoving under a ledge as they walk past without noticing her, releasing her breath with a relieved sigh once they are out of sight. She starts to crawl free of her hidey-hole then frowns and rests her hand on the ground. At first I don't hear the rumble over the general murmur of conversation from the Lounge. As the deep, groaning sound increases and the picture starts to shake I hear Diya yell, "I told you so!"
The eruption of the snow-capped volcano is brutally spectacular. Aerial cameras show the birds-eye view as a column of seething liquid fire bursts through the white snow and cascades down the narrow, rocky channels that so many tributes had been roaming. The kids from Eight, Vonnie from Five and little crying Percy from Seven, who had all climbed high enough to collect snow for water are wiped out instantly by an explosion of molten rock. Salley tries to run but stumbles and falls painfully down a ten-foot drop. She clutches her leg in agony and tries numerous times to drag herself upright before giving up and trying to out-crawl the encroaching lava. She's covered from head to toe in jagged scrapes when it finally catches her and screams in agony as it slowly washes over her, igniting her clothes and hair.
The smaller half of the Career pack don't fare much better. They initially appear to out-run the oncoming lava but Uriah takes a wrong turn amongst the winding rocky gorges and accidentally leads them to a dead-end. They aren't able to backtrack fast enough and all four die in agonizing pain as a curtain of lava streams from a crevasse above them to pool around their feet and quickly starts eating through their legs. I step out of the cabin when I hear glass shatter and see Justus Nohvera standing beside the fractured main screen, fists bleeding. His son Arturus is curled up on the floor at his feet, eyes closed, hands over his ears, trying to drown out his sister's screams.
Both father and son are eventually led away by unhappy Games staffers who spend the next few hours repairing the main screen. In the mean-time we get to watch the one mountain survivor, an agile girl from Ten named Clover who manages to climb to a rocky outcropping that the lava doesn't reach. She lasts a few hours before the toxic gasses cause her to pass out and fall to her death in the liquid fire below.
Now we get to see replays of the other tributes' reactions to the unexpected destruction of a chunk of the arena. Most are shocked, though the remaining half of the Career pack quickly start making dark-humored jokes about their narrow escape. Balia, Haymitch from Twelve and Ytter from Five all nod knowingly and continue on with their own agendas. The boy from Five, who was clever enough to wait and raid the Cornucopia for extra food and water once the Careers left, has started constructing himself a tree-fort in the fork of a large spreading oak. In contrast the surly boy from Twelve seems determined to get as far away from the volcano as possible and continues walking day and night through the thick forest. Balia strikes as lucky as I could have hoped for when she stumbles across a run of familiar thorn-wrapped hedges, apparently the tribute to my Games. Adroitly avoiding a cluster of those horrid white flowers that damaged my brain, she wanders through the small patch of hedge-maze, letting the turns take her here and there. Already I can hear the Games announcer reminding viewers of my success in mapping my maze and mining the area around me with traps and snares for protection.
They assume Balia shares my gift of spatial awareness and memory, though I know for a fact she has no idea where she is going. When she settles down just around an arbitrary corner I'm forced to stifle a laugh as they begin discussing the tactical advantages of the position she has chosen and continue to ramble on about the different sorts of traps she can set up using her immediate surrounds. This is amplified when she mimics me and starts collecting the thorny vines, stripping them and braiding them for rope just as I did. I even smile when she jabs her thumb on one of the thorns and yelps. "Wiress was right," she mutters loudly enough for the cameras to hear. "These stupid things are sharp."
I rub my fingers over my hands, remembering all the little cuts and scabs I had by the time I escaped my arena. They all disappeared while I slept away my recovery. I have to keep up hope that Balia will get the same opportunity. She keeps herself busy past sunset, barely glancing up at the sky as the anthem plays. I look away as they show the horrific replays of the volcanic deaths. The mountain is still glowing, clearly visible against the twilight sky and only dims slightly when the evening rain passes over, cooling the waves of molten rock one little drop of precious water at a time.