Twenty-nine – The Song
The Sickle – Division Two (10.2)
We both slowly finish off Ryno's beef strips for the rest of the afternoon. Staying with Ryno for around five hours isn't as bad as I thought it would be. I very much have gotten used to his conversation.
"No tributes dead yet today." he mentions. "What is it, like twelve of us left?"
"Eleven." I correct him.
"Right." He says, and right when I think he will start talking about the remaining tributes, he asks if I have any talents.
"Uh, I can sing." I share.
"Really?" he asks excitedly. It surprises me how much people like music when they aren't that exposed to it. "There's this song that I'd really like to hear again but nobody in my family knows how to sing."
He clears his throat and attempts to sing. "It all begins with the seed-" his voice breaks. "See, I can't do it. Can you try sing it?"
"If you can help me with the tune." I say.
"Alright, so it goes like this: It all begins with fertile soil."
It all begins with fertile soil, I repeat.
"That's a great voice."
That's a great voice, I repeat.
"No, don't count that." he says. "Okay, next line is: To till and harrow with the rake."
I have no idea what he means, but I sing it anyway. He continues, and I eventually sing five verses of Ryno's wheat song. I shockingly learn that wheat is green most of the time, and Ryno makes fun of me for not knowing. Otherwise, the song is beautiful enough to inspire me to plant some wheat. I repeat the whole song to help me remember it.
It all begins with fertile soil,
To till and harrow with the rake.
Now the ground is good and ready,
For all the wheat that you will make.
Sow the seeds around the plot,
Rake it smooth, water and wait.
Watch for birds, weeds, and pests,
Then see the plants germinate.
From your feet to your hips,
Watch the wheat grow and grow,
The heads sprout, a beautiful green,
And in the gentle breeze, they flow.
When the plants turn golden yellow,
In the mouth, the seed is hardest,
The heads are dry, bending down,
The wheat is now ready to harvest.
Cut with the sickle, tie into sheaves,
Thresh the heads, a flail or with feet.
Winnow with the wind, bye to the chaff.
There you have the grain of your wheat.
"Basically it just tells me how to grow wheat without any machines, but it's a song my mother sang to me." he reveals. "None of us children got her genes unfortunately, so I don't want the song to disappear."
And now he is giving the lyrics to me to carry it on. That's a really big ask. Big as in, I'm not even close to Ryno's family and now I'm being passed on his mother's song like I'm the next in line to some sort of inheritance jewellery. I'm honoured, but I can't believe how quick Ryno asked me to take on that.
"Wow, are you sure you want me to sing the song?" I ask. "I mean, it's pretty special to you."
"Yeah, that's why I want you." he says. "You're my first actual ally in the Games and you can sing. You're special enough to keep the song alive."
I haven't even been with Ryno for more than six hours and he already feels so close to me. I'm honestly touched. And here I was, dismissing his humour and outward arrogance when he actually has a willingness to connect.
"Wow. I'll make sure to do that. I'll keep singing it when I can." I promise. "Now, what's your talent?"
"I can fit a whole banana in my mouth without biting it." blurts out Ryno.
I would have been slightly put off but knowing him now, I'm honestly impressed.
"That's actually, um, wow, have you always wanted to share that?" I stutter.
"Yeah, I'm proud of it." he grins.
I don't notice that we have been talking for so long that it's almost beginning to get dark. His conversations really do pass the time.
Before we get ready for the night, we both decide we have enough water for the both of us that filling the water now would be a waste of time. We set up some wire with a few band-aids at the windows and the doors to trip up any entrants. I get the sleeping bag ready.
"Looks like we're sleeping together." says Ryno.
I'm not too bothered. I've slept with Quentin before in the same bag, how bad could Ryno be?
We both observe no faces appearing in the sky tonight. Still the final eleven going into Day Six. I wonder if enough happened today to keep the Capitol engaged. I wouldn't want them to be restless. I want to stay relaxed.
Ryno and I climb into my sleeping bag which has turned into our sleeping bag. We put our pairs of night-vision glasses next to our heads in case we're awoken and we need optimal sight. I warn him that I toss and turn a lot, but he claims he does the same.
I think about today and how I've gained another ally in Ryno. Not going to lie, but I have warmed up to him dramatically. I thought it was going to be a nightmare being stuck with Ryno, but the cockiness and over-the-top humour that always put me off on him seems to just be a facade to the stress of the Games. I admit, I enjoyed talking to him, very happy to learn more about his life.
I am fully aware that we might not last. Not for more than a few days. He might have a similar fate to Radia and Magnus, or I will. I do trust that none of us would separate on our own accord now. Unlike Magnus, I have learned to really trust Ryno, and Ryno has been completely honest and trusting with me, too.
I'm now confident this will be a good path for me in the Games. I'm wondering whether my family and mentors think so, too. Beetee and Jovan are probably happy that I have found somebody I can work with. I think they would be fine with whoever I work with and I have found it with Ryno. Denary would probably be analysing whether Ryno is a good choice for me, but who knows how much she's seen of Ryno and I. The sickle to the throat is one of the warning signs, but since we're in a sleeping bag together, I think Denary is happy for now. Mother, a bit less happy.
Then I am hit with unhelpful voices in my head. Ryno is dangerous, and he could have killed me with his skilled weapon. He is unstable and probably will not like me the next day, and that is enough for him to kill me. I have only known him for a day and that isn't conclusive of his whole position. He has leeched off my supplies to weaken me and strengthen him. Have you seen his muscles? I will have no chance against him. He will dispose of me when he likes.
No, but I trust him. He would never do that. He's shared highly personal information with me. He's kind. For the whole day, I have felt he was genuine, even with his jokes. He would never kill me.
But he would fart. Shit, he farted right now. The stench is coming from inside the sleeping bag. I am suddenly missing Quentin as my sleep mate.
"Ryno," I begin to confront. "Did you just... pass wind?"
"I was hoping you wouldn't hear that." Ryno admits after a pause.
"I didn't hear it, I smelled it!" I exclaim, gagging. "That isn't good!"
"I'm sorry!" Ryno says. "Mom told me it's bad to hold them in! But I did, for you! I have actually been really gassy the last few days-"
"Yes, great, true, she's right." I say, blocking my nose. "But does it have to be this rancid! Did you eat something bad? Why can't you like, go to the bathroom or something?"
"I can't." claims Ryno. "I haven't gone to poop since I was at the Training Center. It just... won't come out."
"Oh no, that is not good." I say. "But don't the farts mean there you're getting better?"
Ryno groans. "I think so, but I still can't go, and it hurts."
"Okay, we can sleep it off. Hopefully you will feel better tomorrow." And hopefully I won't have to endure the odours.
"I'm sorry." he apologises again, but he didn't sound like it was the end of it.
It's not. He releases an audible one that he calls a "two-parter" but it makes me sure he's brought a trumpet with him in the arena. This is not normal.
"Ryno!" I shout, more in surprise than frustration. "Argh, I felt that one!"
Ryno just laughs now, like he has found a way to find joy into doing something that annoys me. I should have just left the sleeping bag. But it's too late to do it now, and I'm too tired, and it's too cold outside.
"Don't laugh, you're torturing me..." Okay, that fart was funny and impressive. What the fuck, Henry? No, it wasn't. I hate it, I hate it. I can't believe I'm conflicted over farts right now.
"If you think about it, what I'm doing is entertaining the audience." claims Ryno. "We'll get sponsors!"
"Really?" I ask, dumbfounded. "Are you kidding?" This is too unlikely to be true. The Capitol people seem to hate bodily functions, and I have never seen them show a tribute rip one in the arena before.
"Yeah, I mean you getting mad over farts is hilarious!" says Ryno.
I groan. "I'm not mad!"
Ryno shushes me. "Damn, be quiet! You're being loud."
"Says you!" I respond. "Your butt is like the loudest musical instrument I have ever heard. It's because of you we're going to die. We're literally going to die because of your farts."
Ryno just cracks up laughing. His laugh is contagious. I struggle to contain my laughter. Argh, okay, I admit it that it's funny. But this whole situation is just crazy! Never in my mind would I have thought I'd go into an arena to be farted on. I just hope it will be over by tomorrow. I bid him a good night to force us to sleep.
We calm down and fortunately, he manages to go to sleep. The bad news is that he's a loud snorer. So now, if somebody hears him, we're going to die by his snoring.
I can't sleep. I just think about tomorrow's plans. I think both Ryno and I can stay in this building, but what do we do if it does get destroyed? We could find another building, or head to the South Garden. But there's anxiety in both. The unknown is that which will be destroyed first. Will the explosions come first or a fire? I don't think this alliance will be as easy as it sounds.
For the first time in the Games, I don't sleep too well. Yet I'm still woken up early by Ryno stirring and yawning really loudly.
"Good morning!" he groans loudly.
"Good morning." I return. "Feeling better?"
"Not really." Guess I am just going to have to get used to it.
We both eat a bit of dried fruit and notice today's weather.
"It isn't that sunny." Ryno points to one of the smaller, higher windows. We check outside from one of the bigger windows, leaving the wires where they are, and check the sky. There are more clouds than usual, and the wind is much stronger today that the screens slam in our faces. We rub our noses, predicting that it will rain.
"Looks like we're not going outside today." I say.
"What if this building explodes?" asks Ryno worriedly.
It doesn't. We're in the west, and we hear one building get demolished further north, and eventually another in the southern region. At first I thought the explosions happened earlier in the day, but I realise we may have woken up later than usual due to less sunlight today.
"It's usually one building per area." I explain.
"We're safe at least." sighs Ryno.
Soon enough, it pours down hard. It appears to be like normal rain. We're lucky we have taken shelter under a building. The Careers probably found a building up north instead of the now inaccessible room at the back of the palace. If there are people in the South Garden without a shelter, they would not be spared from the rain. They could also be looking for a building to escape the downpour, but otherwise, it is unwise for anybody to be out today, so we should be safe from any visitors at least. We're also free to be louder than usual. It's such a weird change of pace without the sun, but the temperature doesn't change. It is humid, and Ryno and I begin to sweat like crazy. The rain does not seem to show signs of stopping any time soon, but at least the aqueducts get refilled to higher, reachable levels.
"So what's the plan to this stay-at-home day?" asks Ryno.
I almost forget. I need to show Ryno the explosives in the walls, which he trusts me with.
"Do you want to take a look at the explosives?" I ask him.
We walk over to an interior wall closer to the back of the building. I find a camera and stick a few holes in the wall above and below it, then I use one of the knives to scrape a lot of the wall off. It is a lot faster than the awl.
"This is going to take a while." I say. "And it's going to get messy. So do something or talk about... bread! What's your favourite bread?"
"Aw, don't get me started." says Ryno, rubbing his hands together. "Okay, out of the many bakeries in the district, there's one a few blocks from my home. They sell these beautiful, golden brown, oval rolls of bread that just smell amazing."
"It didn't smell amazing last night." I add.
"It's crispy on the outside," continues Ryno. "But just so super soft on the inside. When you break it open, it just goes crunch, and oh, the smell just infuses into your nose."
"I get that." I say.
"But my favourite part is when you put it into your mouth. It just melts and tastes so fucking good."
"Now, you're making me so hungry." I tell him. He is selling the bread so well, I want some of it now.
"Me too!" he exclaims. "But I love it so much because we rarely get to have it. We save enough money for special occasions, like birthdays, when we can buy and eat some of that good bread. But we just eat some of the bad, harder bread every day. Still bread at least."
He pauses. "I might not be able to taste some of that good bread anymore. Out of my siblings, it's my birthday next. In September. I could be eating some of that bread in a few months if I win." He smiles in contemplation. It's heart-warming to see it mean so much to him. "I like birthdays. When's yours?"
"July 17th." I say, then my face falls. It's in a few days and I completely forgot about it. Even Ryno appears to be figuring it out.
"Wait, that's in three days!" he exclaims.
"Two."
"Two!" says Ryno. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"I just did."
"We should do something to celebrate then!" says Ryno, then he scratches his chin. "Shit, but what can we do here?"
"It's alright." I tell him. "I already celebrated on the last day at the Tribute Center with my crew."
"Aw, without me?" groans Ryno. He is so willing to throw something for my birthday, that I have to help him celebrate. None of us consider whether we'd be killed before reaching day eight.
"We'll find something." I promise him.
Ryno beams. "Where's the other knife?" he asks. "I'll help you with the wall."
And so we work. Together, around fifteen minutes later, we uncover the same round, black explosive I have seen on the second day.
"That's crazy." says Ryno. "You're lucky it's explosives you're good with. I wish I could dig into the wall and find my favourite bread. So this can explode at any second?"
"In theory, yes." I answer. "They're wired to explode at a certain time, but the gamemakers might change it sooner."
Ryno cautiously looks at the explosive. "Can you check when it's going to explode?"
"I don't know. Maybe if I can open it up-" I tug onto the explosive and it comes clean off the wooden post and tumbles onto the floorboards. Ryno panics and screams and jumps away, causing me to scream and back off from the explosive as well.
"I thought we were going to die!" screams Ryno. "You were scared too!"
"Only because of you!" I retort. I walk back to the bomb. "It shouldn't explode from a small impact like that."
Ryno slowly joins me again. "Can you like, rewire it to stop it from exploding or something? I remember my mentor telling me about some District 3 kids rewiring some drones in the older Games."
"I might." I reply. Ryno just gives me an idea. I could rewire these to be booby traps instead. These could be my landmines after all. "Or I could use these as tripwires."
"Cool!" remarks Ryno. "I believe you can do that."
I stare at him. "That's it?"
"What?"
"I could die just looking at this thing." I say. "Rewiring takes a lot of work."
"Oh, but I don't want you to die." says Ryno.
I look at the explosive on the ground. I could open it up with a knife, and I do. Inside, I examine the product. The explosive material inside another protective layer. The detonator. The wireless sensor. The intricate network of small wires. I take it all in and plan what I could do with it. Ryno gasps at the open casing.
"Woah, that looks confusing." he says, approaching it.
"No, move back." I tell him. "I don't want you dying because of me."
"Aw, you care about me!"
"What?" I perk my head up. "Uh, no I don't." And I get back to the explosive.
I could disconnect the wireless sensor. Somewhere, this is connected to another device that sets and controls the exact date and time the explosive would detonate. I could easily stop it, but more work would be needed to keep the detonation intact. And it would be impossible to do here because I don't have the material. I just decide to disconnect the sensor to cease communication with the explosive, and it would stay inactive and useless.
Right when I sever the wire to the sensor gadget, there's a boom over the rain, but it's not because of the explosive because I would be dead. It makes me jump regardless.
"Sorry." jokes Ryno. "I've been having a really upset stomach the past few days."
"Somebody's dead." I ignore Ryno. "Who do you think it is?"
"I don't know." says Ryno. "Hopefully one of the Careers, but we'll see tonight. At least it's not one of us, hey?"
"We're in the Final Ten." I smile, but I still can't help feeling sad for every innocent death that happens. And I feel worse that I feel less and less sad for whoever dies. "Anyway, this is inactive now."
"Nice!"
/yce2p4r4
Next: 30 - The Snare; The Sickle Division Three (10.3)
