Hello! The first chapter of the games. I hope you like it. Please don't forget to leave a review, I'd love to hear your thoughts and ideas! Hope you like this chapter
Sparkly She-Demon: Hope you like what happens
twinia1: Finally starting!
Taiya's head whipped around frantically as she surveyed the arena. They had a sixty second countdown until the games began. The Cornucopia consisted of a field of snow and surrounding the Cornucopia was a snowy forest. Taiya looked to her right and saw a pair of gloves laying on the ground. Looking down at her bare hands she knew these would be essential, you can't win if you lose your fingers to frostbite.
"Theo," she mutters to herself and looks around until she spots him standing about 5 tributes to her left. He's also frantically looking around. Neither of them had even seen snow until today. As soon as he looks in her direction he freezes. 'You wait there, I'll come to you,' he mimes with his hands and she nods numbly, not paying much attention.
The starting gong goes off and Taiya immediately sprints off her metal plate and towards the gloves. As she reaches them, she sees small hands grab them at the same time. She immediately looks up to see Cooper, the young 13-year-old boy from District 10. He looks up to see who else is at the gloves and immediately jumps back in fright as he sees her, a Career, staring at him. Taiya glances down at the gloves and then back at the scared boy in front of her.
"Here," she whispers, throwing the gloves at him, which he frantically picks up before speeding off into the forest. Taiya stood up and looked around, not being able to spot Theo immediately she began to panic. "Theo!"
Seeing the tributes from 1 and 2 already at the Cornucopia, she knew getting there was her best bet. She took two strides towards it before yelping as she was slammed to the ground. Spluttering snow out of her mouth she flipped herself onto her back to see the District 5 male, Eddie, clambering onto her. Taiya immediately noted that he didn't have any weapons on him and began to attack him. She jammed her finger into his eye and punched him in the ear with her other fist. He immediately grabbed at his face, releasing his hold on Taiya. She flipped them around and sat on top of him, holding him down as he groaned. She needed a weapon, anything to help her.
"Four!" she heard and looked over to see Hero had noticed her scuffle with the tribute from 5. He grabbed a knife and slid it over to her. She could see Eddie had begun to recover from her quick attack so she lunged forward to grasp the knife before quickly turning back around and shoving it into his head with a cry. She quickly pulled it back out and stood up, trying to look anywhere other than the body of the boy she had just killed.
Hero ran up to her, carrying a belt of knives for her. "Thanks," she breathed.
"Over there," he pointed out. The girl from 5, Nina, was still standing on her plate. Tears streaming down her cheeks. Hero fought with a sword, a close combat weapon, he wouldn't be able to take her out without running too far away from the Cornucopia. Taiya would need to do this, out of the two of them she was the only one who could do something about her from a distance.
Taiya buckled up the belt around her waist and pulled out a throwing knife and measured the distance in her mind before throwing the knife, sending it straight into the chest of the girl.
"Nice shot," Hero congratulated as he turned and slammed his sword into the chest of Sterling from District 8 who had been trying his best to sneak up on them.
Taiya quickly checked to make sure there were no other tributes about to attack them before quickly hurrying off to find Theo.
"What were you thinking!" she heard bellowed and sighed in relief as Theo ran up to her, pulling her in for a quick hug. "I told you I'd come to you and you just took off!" he scolded.
"Sorry," she apologised before quickly pulling away and looking at what had been going on. All the rest of the Careers were now engaged in their own fights that they were very clearly winning. Taiya spotted a tribute sneaking through the cornucopia and quickly threw a knife on instinct. It slammed into the back of the girl from 11, making Theo jump. Watching as red blood stained the crisp white snow, Taiya let out a shaky breath.
"Another one! Nice going 4!" Hero cheered as the rest of the Careers returned to the cornucopia.
"Another one?" Theo asked.
"She took out both the tributes from 5 as well," Hero told him and Theo's eyes widened as he looked at her.
"I told you on the train I'd be fine," she said bitterly.
"We should clear out," Calista suggested. "Take what we can and go. That'll let them come and collect the bodies."
Everyone agreed and they grabbed as much as they could from the cornucopia, shoving it into packs. "Here," Theo said, holding out a pair of gloves for her.
"Thanks," she smiles, slipping them on her hands. She felt better about allowing the boy to take the other pair now. "We need to find water," she said to the group.
"There's snow, can't we just eat the snow for water?" Cotton asked.
Theo shook his head. "No, you need liquid. Eating snow will just dehydrate you."
"Water it is then, let's go," Marcus agreed and they marched their way out of the cornucopia and into the woods.
They'd been walking for an hour when the cannons from the blood bath boomed. All 12 of them.
"Half down, not bad," Marcus smirked. Taiya shivered and pulled her coat tighter around her. "Come on Four, look at these coats, you can't be cold."
"Taiya's always cold even back home," Theo smiled as he rubbed her arm.
"Does it snow in your districts?" Taiya asked.
"Yeah it does," Marcus confirmed whilst Hero nodded.
"Does it snow in yours?" Hero asked.
"No," Taiya answered. "Theo and I have never seen snow before today," she smiled.
"There!" Cotton shouts as she spots a river.
"We should secure the area," Calista recommends. "We can set up camp here."
They had been relaxing by the river when night arrived. As soon as it got dark, the anthem rang out through the arena. They all sat up, eager to see who was left in the competition. The first face displayed is the boy from District 3. Then the pair from District 5 appear, making Taiya look down briefly. The girl from District 6, the boy from District 7, the pair from District 8. The girl from District 10 appears and Taiya leans forward eagerly, waiting to see if Cooper had made it. The next face shown was the pair from District 11, the girl being one Taiya killed. Taiya smiled slightly as the pair from District 12 appeared, Cooper had managed to escape the blood bath and survive his first day.
That left the six of the Careers, the girl from 3, the boy from 6, the girl from 7, the pair from 9 and Cooper from 10.
"Most of the threats are out," Marcus muses. "Who's our next target?"
"The boy from 10 should be easy enough to take out," Cotton sneers and Taiya tenses up.
"The pair from 9 is probably our biggest threat," Taiya said.
"Why's that?" Marcus asked.
"They're the only District pair left outside of us. If they've teamed up together that makes them a threat. And they're older. So they'll be a bit stronger."
"Good point," Calista agreed. "I think we should rest up tonight. We can hunt tomorrow. It's too cold at night to waste energy trekking around."
Taiya and Theo nodded their agreement, having no experience in the snow, their survival knowledge of this weather was minimal at best.
"I can take the first watch," Theo offered.
"Have at it Four," Hero agreed.
"Tay," Theo whispered a couple of hours later.
"Yeah?" she asked her teeth chattering. Everyone else, being more used to the cold, had well and truly fallen asleep, leaving the two District 4 tributes wide awake and freezing.
"Come here, we'll be warmer together," he said ushering her over.
Taiya picked up the blanket she'd been lying on and stepped closer to Theo, laying it on the ground before sitting down and curling up into Theo's side. "I think I hate the snow."
Theo laughed. "You and me both." They sat there in silence for a while until they saw a parachute come down from the sky. "Look," he pointed as it landed right in front of them.
Taiya scrambled forward and checked the note. 'Stay warm - F'. Eye's widening she quickly unwrapped the package to find an extra warm blanket. "Oh my god," she laughed as she grabbed at it. "Theo!" she exclaimed as she lay back next to him and flung it out over the both of them.
"That's so much better," Theo sighed as the icy edge was taken off them.
"We're already halfway through the tributes," Taiya said quietly. "There's only 12 left and half of that is here, in this alliance."
"I reckon we leave after 3 more dies," Theo said, answering her unspoken question. "That leaves them 3 more tributes to hunt down before they come for us. If we stay until everyone's gone… they'll turn on us the first chance they get."
"Did you…"
"Yeah," he nodded, knowing exactly what she was going to ask. "I got the boy from 3 and 12."
"You know, in a way I'm glad my mom's not here to see this," Taiya whispered. "I know that sounds awful. But she would have fully lost her mind. Me being here was always her greatest fear." The pair sat in silence for a while before Taiya spoke up, "do you want to wake one of them up? You've been on watch for a while."
"No, it's ok. You try to get some sleep ok? I'm not going to be able to."
Taiya looked up at Theo before nodding and resting her head on his shoulder as she slowly drifted off.
The Career alliance spent the next day trekking through the snow looking for tributes.
"How's it going back there 4?" Marcus yelled out to Taiya and Theo, who were travelling at the back of the pack.
"All good," Theo answered, tightening his grip on Taiya's gloved hand.
"I'm starving," Cotton groaned. "Can we stop for lunch?"
"This is the Hunger Games, Cotton, Hunger Games, that means you're meant to be hungry," Hero snarled.
"I don't need your attitude, Hero," Cotton sniped back. "We have plenty of food, what's the harm?"
Taiya reached up to Theo's ear and whispered, "this is what Tyler said would happen."
Theo nodded at her. "If any Career gets killed, we're out of here," he agreed.
"Alright, we'll stop for 10 minutes!" Marcus yelled, breaking up Hero and Cotton's bickering.
Theo sat down on a boulder as he brushed the snow off of his coat. Taiya paced around, too cold to sit down. She looked over at Theo to see him watching her, she shot him a small smile before her eyes narrowed. She adjusted her backpack and tilted her head before her eyes widened. She definitely saw a glimmer in the bush behind Theo. She quickly pulled out a throwing knife and held it in as non a threatening way as she could.
The bush started moving wildly as whoever was hiding in there clearly had thrown caution to the wind and decided to make their move.
"No!" Taiya roared as she hurled her knife towards Theo.
Theo, not understanding what was happening, yelped and jumped to the side. All the Careers froze to watch when they heard a resounding thump, followed by a crash. Taiya sped forward and ran behind the bush to see Aaron, the boy from District 6 groaning on the ground with a knife in his shoulder, his spear splayed out on the side.
"Oh my god," Marcus laughed. "Nice catch 4."
"How'd you see that?" Cotton asked in amusement.
Taiya ignored all of them as she ran back around the bush to check on Theo. "Are you ok?" she asked bending down to place her hand on his shoulder.
"You saved me," he breathed.
"He didn't get you?" she asked as they heard the cannon boom as one of the others finished him off.
"Didn't get the chance," he answered as he stood back up.
"Seriously how did you see that?" Cotton asked as the others walked back and she handed Taiya back the knife she'd thrown.
"I saw his spear reflect the sunlight," Taiya explained.
"That's damn good eyesight 4. I'm impressed," Marcus nodded as he pulled an apple out of the food backpack and threw it to her.
She turned to Theo and whispered, "5 left."
The Careers were camped back at their base by the river that night when the anthem rang out. The only death today was the boy from 6.
"Two days done and dusted, how does it feel?" Marcus gloated as he tossed a grape into his mouth.
Taiya ignored him as she tossed her knife up into the air and caught it over and over again.
"Ok, you're making me nervous," Theo smiled as he held her hand, stopping her throwing action.
"You nearly died today Theo."
"But I didn't."
"He had his spear out to kill you. I will not lose you, Theo, ok? I won't," she said harshly.
"You're going to have to Tay."
"Why are you doing this to me?" she asked tearfully. "You're breaking my heart," she cried.
"I care more about you living than I do about my own life," he tried to explain.
"You can't think like that Theo. That's not fair. You're not more important. We're the same. We had a plan."
"Plan?" he asked and she nodded making him smile. "Are you talking about 'Theo and Taiya take over District 4 and make Finnick our slave', the plan from when we were 9?"
"It was tracking along perfectly until you volunteered," she laughed.
Theo laughed along with her. "I almost forgot about that. We were going to make Annie the princess, she was obsessed with princesses," he smiled.
"Kenna wanted to be our royal guard," Taiya giggled. "We were going to let Finnick live in my dad's fishing shed and he could only come inside when we rang the bell." She abruptly stopped laughing, "now it's just a fantasy."
"It was always a fantasy Tay, do you think Finnick would ever have slept in a fishing shed?."
"Maybe if it had a mirror," she smiled.
Theo turned and kissed her forehead. "Go to sleep. Cotton and Hero are on watch tonight."
Taiya nodded and pulled out her blanket from her bag and threw it over them before allowing herself to fall asleep.
"Eat a fish cooked by Annie or one cooked by my dad?" Taiya asked as she and Theo played a game of would you rather as they walked along the river.
"Urgh Annie, every day of the week," Theo laughed. "Sorry, Tay but your dad was a terrible cook."
"Ok, ok!" she laughed bumping his shoulder. "Your turn."
"Ok, check the lobster traps with Kenna or check them with Finnick?" Theo asked.
"That's not fair. Obviously Kenna. She's never thrown me off the dock!"
"Are you guys talking about Finnick Odair?" Cotton asked, bounding up to them. "You guys are all friends right?"
"Um… yeah," Taiya confirmed awkwardly.
"Urgh, he's gorgeous," Cotton sighed.
"Finnick Odair?" Calista asked and Taiya nodded. "Super hot. I swear every girl in our academy is in love with him. Who knows, when I get out of here maybe he'll give me a shot?" she winked before bounding back to Marcus, oblivious of Taiya's glare aimed at her back. Cotton, realising very quickly that they weren't going to continue talking about Finnick, skipped off to rejoin the main group.
"That was awkward," Theo noted.
"Very," Taiya agreed.
"So where were we?" he asked, only to be interrupted by a scream. He immediately threw out his arm and pushed her behind him as they watched Marcus hit the ground. Bran from 10 had lunged out with a sickle and taken out Marcus straight away.
With the unofficial 'leader' of the Careers out of the game, the group was sent into a panic, not knowing which way to flee. Calista screamed as she ran to Marcus's body.
"Time to go," Theo said to Taiya, pulling her arm as he tried to drag her away. Bran was currently taking on Hero while Cotton was fighting Mazie, the girl from District 10.
Another canon went as Calista hit the ground, Bran had managed to break away from Hero long enough to swing back and get her.
"Yep, definitely time to go," Theo panicked as he tugged her arm. "Do you trust me?"
"What?" Taiya asked looking at him in panicked confusion.
"We have to get out of here quick Tay. There's only one way to do that," he said gesturing to the fast-flowing river.
Taiya reached out and stuck her foot in before quickly ripping it out with a gasp. "No! I can't. It's too cold, Theo, if I go in there I won't survive!" she frantically shook her head.
"We don't have a choice, Taiya," he pleaded. "If we run whoever wins this could catch us. This river is travelling fast enough, we can both swim, it will get us out of here faster than they can chase us. Taiya please!"
Taiya looked over at the tributes fighting only to gasp and duck as a knife came flying at her face. Cotton had realised what she and Theo were planning to do and had tried to take them out before they could flee.
"I'm sorry Taiya," Theo apologised before wrapping his arms around her and throwing them both back into the river.