Chapter 7: Countdown to Death
We were woken up early and ate breakfast quickly, with a few last tips from our mentor.
''I know that I already said this, but when that timer ends, high tail it out of there,'' she said with a mouthful of eggs, seasoned with expensive spices. ''The only exception being is if you have a strait shot to a backpack, because they can mean the difference between life and death.''
Assuming that she would follow her usual speech pattern, I was almost surprised and relieved when she didn't say ''life and slaughtering''. At that meal alone, she had already said the word three times.
Then she added as an afterthought, ''Well, life, and your inevitable slaughtering.''
I ended my last thought abruptly.
From there, we got ourselves ready and left our quarters with our mentor and stylists. She guided us through the halls and to an outside airpad where a Capitol ship stood in preparation. Tributes and their mentors gathered by it, with the tributes filing in.
We stopped by the hanger door, where our mentor took Andrew aside and talked to him in a hushed voice. Our stylists continued on. My brow furrowed and I crossed my arms, irritated by her rudeness. She was probably giving him a game plan which did not include me and gave him a shot at winning. Why should I be offended? As a guy, Andrew was naturally stronger and bigger; he had a better amount of odds in his favor and our mentor knew it. Why would she waste her time on a 5 foot tall, 17 year old girl with only a few skills?
She nodded to me to go on, and I tersely walked over to the hulking ship with revving engines. Without a second look at the guarding peacekeepers and working avoxes, I entered and took my seat at the end of a row of parallel seats. The District 12 girl, Mira Everdeen, was on my left, and Lemongrass from District 4 sat in front of me, her hands folded. In a few more minutes, Andrew came in with another tribute and filled up the last seat, right between Hawk and Amber. I felt sorry for him, but at the same time I felt like he kind of deserved it.
As I felt the ship take off, I made light conversation with Myra for a while. It was never bad to get on people's good sides, and Mira, being a year or two younger than me, was obviously joyed to have some companionship. She had a gentle spirit, and the thought came to me that, if it was my strategy, I could easily use her trust to kill her. I desperately hoped that no one indeed would do that, although I knew already that she was going to die, like me. She had no skills, and I remembered that she had only scored a 5 in the pointing session. Even though she was tall, she had little muscle, and no body fat. 12 must be a hard a district. That, or she was not fortunate enough to be in a high place in society. It could be a combination of both as well, I reminded myself.
After a time, the windows of the ship were blacked out so that we could not see where we were going. I had stopped talking to Mira a while ago and was now sitting back with my eyes closed, unable to clear the blood ridden images from my head as we rode.
It wasn't long when I could feel the hovercraft begin descending and the smoothly light down. We were directed out of the ship and to the sides of our stylists.
My flutter brained idiot Max Cruise sat down at a food laden table and constantly glanced at me pacing the room. His twiddling thumbs were brilliant at design, but not so much at compassion or comforting gestures. Then again, neither were mine. If I wasn't about to be thrown into a bloodbath, I would've felt sorry for him. Andrew's designer was more normal, but almost all the Capitol's people were off.
The room we had been directed to was long and rectangular, with one end holding the door, and the other, a human sized tube that reached floor to ceiling. Along the sides there were empty shelves and a clothes rack with a lone jacket hanging on it. I went over and slung it on, my arms shivering from the cold air and anxiety.
Pacing kept me from thinking, so I continued. However, I suddenly thought, what is my strategy? Our mentor had laid out many and expected us to choose whatever we thought best, and I had kind of thought that Andrew and I would run away with each other from the start. If he had a new plan, how would I know? We couldn't exactly ''take T'' and talk when the games began. It would be a war zone! If he did anything besides bolt, what would I do? I needed a weapon and supplies. Spears were common, but grabbing a backpack as well might not be and option. I would have to assess what to do when the countdown began.
''Five minutes,'' a loudspeaker crackled. My heart began to pound and I became frantic, pacing even faster. Max looked uncomfortable and finally got up and walked over to me.
''Hey, calm down Shae. You'll wear yourself out!,'' he said in an unsure Capitol accent.
''I can't,'' I said, my body shaking uncontrollably and tears running down my face. In a hopeful manner, he slowly took my hands to steady me.
''Three minutes,'' said the speaker. I looked at Max, terrified. His knuckles were turning white from my grip.
''Shae, you'll do this. Take deep breaths, deep breaths,'' he said. ''There you go, steady yourself.''
I inhaled deeply and then wiped away my tears. For a minute and a half more, I looked into Cruise's gray eyes and breathed. He didn't say anything, and that was okay. He pulled me through, and, at the 30 second marker, he gave my shoulders a final squeeze. I smiled at him and then slowly walked over to the elevator tube.
When I stepped in, a slide cover slid over the opening and sealed me in. I pressed my hands to the glass and gave my stylist a final, desperate look as I was elevated by the floor and cleared the ground ceiling. I squinted in the sunlight and shielded my face to see my surroundings. A meadow. A forest. The ring of tributes. Supplies and weapons. The cornucopia.
There, lying together, was a spear and a pack. They weren't at the edge, although they weren't in the center either. I could get them, I thought as the clock ticked down from a minute to the ending buzzer. Get them and leave.
''5,-4,-3,-2,-1.''
BEEP!
