"I never shall yield 'til we come face to face."
-Alain Boublil. "Les Miserables"
Terry Kartcher (18) POV
District 10 female
The dollhouse was a bust. We thought it would be nice to have a solid shelter, and there were even beds inside. But everything, from the couch in the living room to the beds in the bedroom to the table and chairs in the dining room were all made of thick blown glass. The sinks and toilet don't work, either. The only useful thing we could find was that the kitchen cabinets were filled with glass plates, cups, bowls, and silverware, so Penny, Dustin, and I took as much as we could carry back to the Cornucopia.
This morning, the six of us are sitting around a fire that Penny built, eating a wild turkey that Alecto shot with an arrow, I gutted and cleaned, and Julius roasted. While we were working on the turkey and the fire, Dustin, rounded up some apples and a loaf of bread from the Cornucopia, and Topher purified two gallons of water. Overall, not a bad meal for the arena, and I'm pleased that we genuinely worked as a team to make it happen.
"So, I was promised I could go hunting today," Penny says. "Dustin hasn't gone either."
"I could go too," I offer. I don't especially want to go hunting for tributes, but I'm already getting antsy at the Cornucopia. I need to go for a walk.
"Like you could-" Penny starts. Dustin cuts her off.
"Terry, maybe you should get a little more practice with weapons before you go hunting," he says. "Alecto, would you be willing to help her out with a bow?"
Alecto nods, and I'm grateful. Her weapon of choice is those little throwing knives, but she's a great archer as well. Not to mention, if we're going to practice with a bow, we'll probably be hunting animals. I'll get to go on my walk, and I won't have to kill any more humans.
"So Dustin and Penny will go hunting," Topher begins. "Alecto and Terry will work on archery, and Julius and I will stand guard. Does that work for everyone?"
Everyone agrees, so Alecto and I each grab a bow and a quiver of arrows and head out. The thick trees don't start for another couple of miles south, but we've still seen our fair share of squirrels, turkeys, and rabbits around. Suddenly, there's a rustle in some bushes and a raccoon comes out. Alecto raises a finger to her lips.
"Like this," she says. She pulls an arrow from her quiver and aims. She releases the arrow and it hits the raccoon in the neck. After a moment of it not moving, I go to pick it up.
"Safe?" Alecto asks.
"To eat?" I ask. She nods. "Yeah, you can eat raccoon. It's not very good, though."
Her mouth twists into a half smile. "G-give it to… to the boys."
I can't help but laugh. "You think they'd eat it?" She nods, smiling. "Maybe I could convince them it's some District 10 delicacy."
Suddenly, a squirrel catches my attention out of the corner of my eye, and I look to Alecto for guidance.
"Your turn," she says.
I try to hold the bow like she did, pull back the arrow, and let it fly at the squirrel. I brace myself to miss completely, and for Alecto to make fun of me for it, but that doesn't happen. I hit the squirrel! It wasn't a clean shot in the neck like Alecto did with the raccoon, and the meat isn't salvageable to eat, but it's definitely dead.
"Hey, I did it!" I exclaim.
"Pretty good," she says. "Need practice."
So practice we do. We keep going at it for about two hours until my aim improves and we have a small pile of meat. I'm nowhere near the expert level of Alecto, and I don't think I ever will be, but it's a start.
Tessa Ray (15) POV
District 12 female
I wake up to Rowan gently brushing my hair out of my face and giving me a gentle kiss on the cheek. I find myself desperately wishing that he really cared about me as much as he was pretending to. Hell, I wish I cared about him as much as I wish he cared about me. I wish we weren't pretending. I wish that if I'm going to die, I could die hopelessly in love, but it's just not in the cards for me.
"Good morning," he says, handing me some food. "I saved you some strawberries. We have to finish them today. They're already starting to go bad in the heat."
"Okay," I say, sitting up. "What time is it?"
Stupid question. How is he supposed to know what time it is? All I know is that I took the first watch last night and woke him up in the middle of the night so that I could sleep.
"The sun's almost straight up, so almost noon," he says. "So, what do you want to do today?"
"Take a bath." I pout. 24 hours in the arena and I already feel even grimier than I did in District 12.
"No bathtubs here," he offers. "But if you want, we can wash our hair and face in the river."
"It's a start."
We pack our bags and take them with us to the edge of the river, each of us holding one of Rowan's daggers the whole way. We both lean over the water, splashing and scrubbing our faces. The water underneath turns red, and I panic. Why am I bleeding? Then I remember that horrible red blush. It must finally be washing off. I do my hair next, dipping my head in and scrubbing my scalp before brushing it out with the hairbrush I brought as my token. When we're done, we sit next to each other with our bare feet in the water, and I rest my head on his shoulder.
"Tell me about District 10," I say, desperate for something new. I'm so sick of this arena.
"It's beautiful," he says. "Well, my part of the District is, anyway. My dad was actually born in District 6. But right when he was 18, he joined the Peacekeepers. He got stationed in District 10, and when his 20 years were up, he married my mom and they adopted me and my sisters. But Peacekeeping made my dad kinda rich. We have a big house and a big yard, and my bedroom window faces east, so I can watch the sunrise every morning."
"That sounds nice," I say. So it's true that everywhere else in Panem really is better than District 12.
"What's District 12 like?" he asks, seeming to read my mind. I consider lying, making something up about how it's beautiful and whimsical, exactly the place for me. But something comes over me in the moment, and I feel the need to be more honest with Rowan than I ever have in my life.
"It's awful," I admit. "Everyone's so poor, and everything's so dirty. My family runs the apothecary, and people are constantly coming in sick from exposure, or starving, or injured from mine accidents, and they can never afford the right medicine. But we can't give it to them at a discount, because then we lose money. And my parents… I don't know, I just always got the feeling they'd be better off without me."
"Tessa, that's awful," he says, with sincere apology in his eyes. "No one should have to live like that. Especially not you."
"Really?"
"Really. Tess, you're wonderful. You deserve all the best in the world, and I wish I could give it to you."
I look up at him, he stares straight into my eyes, and that stupid flutter in my stomach is back. Without any further warning, he places a cupped hand on my cheek, and pulls me in for the most hesitant and gentle kiss I've ever had from a boy in my life. It only lasts a moment, and when I pull away, I can see the worry in his eyes.
Against my better judgement, I wrap my arms around his neck and kiss him again.
Edison Burt (12) POV
District 7 male
Late afternoon on the second day of the Games, and we still don't have any water. I get that we probably shouldn't have left camp last night while the Careers could have been out hunting, it's just as likely that they could be out hunting right now, and now I'm thirstier than ever. Besides, death by dehydration would be a long and slow four days. If I'm killed by another tribute, it's probably just going to be a quick spear to the neck, like what happened to Cyno.
36 hours without water has already taken its toll on me. I can't turn around too quickly without seeing stars, and my mouth has never been dryer. While District 7's water isn't always on, there's always creeks and streams to drink from if necessary. I've never been so thirsty in my life.
"Do you even know how to find water?" I ask, after several hours of wandering.
"No," he admits. "But I'm trying my best."
"Well, if you were trying your best, you'd know that you're supposed to get on high ground first," I say. "What we should have done was climb up a hill or a tree to see as much of the surrounding land as possible."
He stiffens. "You knew that this whole time and didn't think to mention it?" he asks, incredulously.
"You didn't ask." I shrug. "Besides, usually when I try to tell you something you didn't already know, you get mad and call me a know-it-all!"
"That's because you're usually a know-it-all!" he shouts. "But if you have information that could actually help us, you should have said so!"
"My information can always help us!" I rebuttal. "You should have thanked me for telling you that squirrels can be-"
"I don't care that squirrels turn into cannibals when there's not enough food around!" he yells. "Why would anyone care about that?"
"There are squirrels in the arena!" I explain. "Therefore, any knowledge on squirrels is useful."
"I don't want to fight anymore," Brian says. "Let's just focus on finding water, okay? Help me find a tree to climb."
"You can climb trees?" I ask, raising an eyebrow.
"I'm sure I can figure it out," he says, exasperated for some reason.
We walk together for a few minutes until we find a sturdy tree, and I tell him he should climb that one. He goes up shakily, and I'm afraid he might fall down. After a couple moments of climbing, he settles on a branch and looks out as far as he can.
"I think I see something!" he calls. "But it's far!"
"Okay, come down!" I say.
He makes his way down the tree and comes back to me. "There's a stream or something way off in the distance. It's doable, but it'll take us probably until sundown to get there. We'll have to move our camp."
"Then I guess we're moving," I say with a sigh. I hitch my backpack up on my shoulders and prepare myself for a long, thirsty journey.
Conn Rainier (17) POV
District 8 male
Waking up on the first full day in the arena was surreal. It was one thing to land here on the first day, but after spending a night here and waking up shivering on the ground, it's harder to pretend that this might just be some bad dream that I'll eventually wake up from. Before the sun goes down, I've already gone through the remainder of the water that I got yesterday. It's warm by now, but warm water is infinitely better than no water. I figured I could just fill up again when the Careers went hunting today, but they're more organized. The pair from 4 went off in one direction, and the girls from 2 and 10 went in another direction, but the boys from 1 and 2 have been standing at close attention, holding a sword and a spear respectively. If I come out from my willow tree, they'll definitely notice, and I'll be dead before I know it.
It's going to be a thirsty day.
My mission for today is to find food. I still have most of my dried fruit and popcorn from the bloodbath yesterday, and my stomach is definitely growling, but I want to save my food for a time that I might not be able to find any on my own. I definitely don't want to come out of my hiding place in the direction of the Cornucopia, but I figure I can come out of it quietly on the opposite side without being seen by the buys with the weapons.
As quietly as I can, I come out from my tree on the opposite side of the Careers' camp, careful to not be seen. If I can't see them, they can't see me. I vow that I won't go too far. I need to keep my camp in my sight.
Looking for food without an ally is really hard. I knew that eventually, at least one of us was going to die, but I wasn't expecting it to happen so soon, and truthfully, I wasn't expecting it to be Marsellus. In all of my dreams about the Games before landing in the arena, I always thought that it was going to be me dying, possibly to save him. I knew as soon as my name was called at the Reaping that if I was going to die, I wanted to die with honor. I wanted to die so that my death could help someone who needed it. Without someone to protect, it's going to be hard for me to die a hero.
Pretty soon after leaving my tree, I come across a bush of blackberries, and fill up my now empty pot with them. It's not the most filling food in the world, but I'm able to collect a lot of them, and they'll do a good job of keeping me hydrated while I don't have water.
Not wanting to press my luck, I close the pot of berries and retreat back to my camp. I'm proud of myself for finding blackberries, but I know that I'm not going to be able to live off of berries for very long. In the very near future, I'm going to need protein and an actual source of water. But for now, I'm okay. I'm not going to put myself at an unnecessary risk, because right now, things are alright for me.
Penny War (18) POV
District 4 female
I've walked for miles with Dustin and still haven't found a single tribute. It's making me antsy. It's almost sundown on the second day, and Dustin and I each only have one kill. What does that say about me? What does that say about District 4? I need to find another tribute to kill. I will not be the laughing stock of the District 4 training academy. If I can't win this thing by a landslide, they'll all think that they were right for wanting Elle Maults to volunteer instead of me. I need to prove them wrong.
"Where's everybody hiding?" I ask. Even I pick up on the whine in my voice, so I try to quickly counter it with something witty. "Is it possible that this year's tributes are actually competent?"
"I wouldn't go that far," Dustin says, pulling a scrap of paper out from his pocket. "Ten of them died yesterday. The only people in the whole arena that we're looking for are the girls from 5, 8, and 12, and the boys from 6, 7, 8, and 10. That's seven people in this whole arena."
"Could be eight if we got rid of Terry already," I grumble. I still don't understand why she's with us. They said it was to get us sponsors since she's friends with the last victor, but it's not like we're going to struggle with sponsors. And even if we have no sponsors, we have all of the supplies in the arena, so we're set. So aside from sponsors, all Terry brings is a pretty face who's incompetant with weapons.
"Can you give it a rest?" Dustin asks, clearly annoyed. "She got a bloodbath kill, same as you and me. She deserves to be with us."
"What, are you in love with her?" I ask, sarcastically.
"No, I'm just trying to treat her with basic decency."
"Basic decency when you're in a match to the death?" I ask, my voice raising. "You have no allegiance to her! No one would be upset if you killed her! No one would call you a traitor. No one would boo at you on your Victory Tour. People would just say 'Yup, that big, strong guy killed the girl from District 10! Just like he should!'"
"I'm not going to fight you on this, Penny," he says. "Terry's one of us. That's it. If it bothers you that much, you are more than welcome to go off on your own. But no matter how much you complain, we're not getting rid of her just because you feel threatened by her."
"I'm not threatened!" I scream, sending birds flying out of a tree. "I just don't get it!"
"I'm sick of trying to explain this to you," he says. "Let's just turn around. It's almost dark."
"Fine," I say.
We start heading back to camp, and we finally get there after what seems like full days of walking. We sit down without speaking, the absence of the sound of cannons today telling the others all that they need to know. Soon after our arrival, it's completely dark and the anthem plays. The sky shows no faces of fallen tributes, boasting our failure to everyone in the arena. When it's dark again, I grab a sleeping bag and go right to sleep, trying to forget about this failure of a day.
No deaths.
1. Whose POV was your favorite?
2. What do you think about Alecto and Terry? Rowan and Tessa?
3. Who (besides your own tribute(s)) are you rooting for?