Cultur Spring, District Eleven male (17)
It was a huge risk, staying close to the Cornucopia. It was a bit of reverse psychology- the Careers might think no one was dumb enough to do that- but it was also strategy. While the Careers immediately went out to comb the Arena, I'd have time to set up a camp before they got back. Also, it was unlikely many other Tributes would be here. And I wasn't right by the Cornucopia. I was technically in the same room but it was a really big room and it was really more of two separate rooms under one roof, one more rainforest-like and one more... "zen"-like? My area had more ferns and lotus flowers and fewer fat trees and vines.
I'd managed to get a few things at the Bloodbath, which was nice. I wasn't bold enough to go after the backpacks but I'd scooped up a big plastic bag and a knife. In the Capitol I learned that plastic bags could collect water if you put them over a tree branch- something to do with how trees breathe. I was nervous about marking out my location to the Careers but I needed to drink water. That was something I just couldn't avoid.
If it wasn't for the circumstances, the Arena would be beautiful. We had plenty of plants in Eleven but not so nicely cultivated as this, and not this kind. The light greens of the ferns and the glistening trees from all the mist in the air were like something from a storybook. The Capitol always kept the Arenas to have reenactments and stuff and if I was a Capitolite I would like to have my wedding here.
Wedding. My heart ached at the word. Summer and I had been so close. Just one more Reaping and we would have been safe. I could have gotten together a little money and surprised her with the ring she deserved, even if it was just a plain brass band. She would have loved it. She would have told me it was the prettiest ring in the world. If I got out of here I could get here a gold ring with diamonds and jewels. I would have rather just the brass one.
I jumped for cover when I heard someone moving. I dove behind a tree and peeked out to see which way I should run. Two eyes peeked back at me from some tall grass and I paused. It was Pell, the little boy from Eight. Just a little boy crouched in some grass peeking back out at me.
"Hey," I said cautiously.
Pell flinched at the noise but didn't run. "I have a stick," he said, brandishing the stick he'd picked up to defend himself in case I came over.
"Looks pretty scary," I said. "I don't think I want to fight, though."
"I would have run anyway," Pell said.
"You think this room's big enough for both of us?" I asked.
"I don't want to ally but I won't bother you," Pell said.
"Sounds good. I won't bother you either," I said. "Anywhere I should camp to not be in your way?" I asked, avoiding any questions about where his camp was exactly.
"Anywhere on this side, if you don't mind," Pell said, pointing to the right side of the room.
"Okay," I said.
"Good luck," Pell said.
"You too. Stay out of trouble," I said.
"If the Careers get me I'll try to yell really loud so you know to run," Pell said. I'd always thought of myself as kind of cold but hearing a little boy say that got to me.
"Me, too," I said. "For what it's worth, I hope they don't."
RJ MacCready, District Six male (16)
I wished I knew more about the people who made a garden like this. In Panem we weren't allowed to learn about other countries. I knew about ancient Japan but nothing about what they did for the last two hundred years. I didn't even know what had happened to the land where they were- were they still there? There might be a whole world outside of Panem, or maybe we were all that was left. What a way for humanity to end- spiraling down until there was just one debaucherous, decadent tyranny that ate itself away until there was nothing left.
Still, just the knowledge that someone in the Capitol made this place gave me hope. It might have been based on a template left behind by people long gone, but someone still thought it was beautiful. Someone in the Capitol had enough creativity and aesthetic appreciation to make something like this instead of an ugly or lazy Arena. There was still a spark in humanity to make things pretty for their own sake and to make things into something better than they were on their own.
Oberon and I were camped in a nook between some rocks by the river. There were a couple of pavilions but we didn't dare use them. The Careers would search the river, yes, but they would search the pavilions first. It was pretty uncomfortable at night but, well, sometimes you gotta make sacrifices so you don't get messily murdered.
"Pretty fish," Oberon said, looking at the koi swimming around in the river.
"Yeah," I said, knowing what he was going to say next.
"Let's eat them."
All we'd gotten in the Bloodbath was the knife Oberon grabbed. For the last four days we'd been living off the moss we'd been peeling off rocks. We weren't dead, so I guess it wasn't poisonous, but it wasn't going to last us forever. I already felt hungry in a way I'd never felt before. Oberon had gone without food before but I'd always had three meals a day, even if they were a little lean sometimes. Those pretty gold-and-white fish were looking better and better.
I picked up a rock and started building a barricade at a narrow part of the river. Once we'd built two barriers we started scooping out water. Our dams weren't perfect and a thin stream of water came through, even though a lot of it diverted around to rejoin the river downstream, but we were able to make slow progress until the water was shallow enough that the five trapped koi were flopping awkwardly and couldn't get away when I grabbed one by the tail.
"How do I even?" I asked.
"I dunno, bash it against that rock," Oberon said, pointing out a flat slab of rock. I swung the koi like a bat, feeling a little guilty when it smacked wetly against the stone. It didn't move after that so at least it looked like I killed it quickly.
"Just... raw?" I asked.
"They might have parasites," Oberon said.
"I would think so too, but this is a cultivated arena. I bet these fish came from a fancy Capitol farm," I said.
"I guess that's true," Oberon said.
"Maybe we can dry it?" I asked.
"Maybe we should take the skin off," Oberon said. I gave him the fish and he started scraping the scales off with his knife. I looked at his gut-covered hands and felt a little sick knowing we wouldn't really be able to wash our hands until the Games were over.
Oberon laid the fish out on a rock and we stared at it like we'd be able to see it visibly dry.
"You ever eaten a raw fish before?" I asked.
"What, because we're poor in Nine?" Oberon said, but he was just teasing. "No, I got most of my food from garbage cans."
"I haven't either," I said. I'd gotten plenty of blood in my mouth from unexpected mishaps in surgery but that was another story and it was already gross enough thinking about eating a raw fish.
"Hope it tastes like jerky," Oberon said. Hope the Careers don't smell it, I thought.
Gigi Sampson, District Five female (16)
So I was a Career's kept woman. After a few hours had passed and I was sure Dionysus wasn't going to kill me after all, I started scheming. Clearly my life was largely in Dionysus' hands. I had to see to it that there was a reason to keep me around. Which was why I was climbing a tree for the first time in my life to try to shake down some oranges.
"Oh yeah, I've climbed plenty of trees," I'd bullshitted to Dionysus. "I used to babysit this kid and I'd take her to the park." I'd never climbed a tree. Yeah I went to the park a few times with Adam and Foster but they didn't climb trees. They were two years old- they could barely draw a tree. But how hard could it be, right? The worst that could happen is I fell and broke my neck and slowly died in a paralyzed heap.
Oranges, oranges... I waddled out onto the branch and gave it a good shake. About ten oranges, some green and some ripe, plopped to the ground. I carefully shimmied back down the tree and gathered up the good oranges. I peeled them as I waited for Dionysus to come back from patrolling around and checking for any Careers coming for us. So far my luck had held and they hadn't come and killed me while looking for them.
I jumped up when Dionysus came rustling back through the greenery. "I made us a little camp!" I said proudly, pointing out the palm fronds I'd piled up to make somewhat soft beds in the tall grass that should hide us a little from the Careers.
"Wow, nice!" Dionysus said, like we were a couple of college roommates and not a Career and his prisoner. "I found dinner!" he held up a rat-looking thing he'd shot. I quickly hid my grimace. It's meat, right? Meat tastes mostly the same.
"Perfect. I'm a great cook," I lied again. I was an experienced cook, since Vida worked almost every day and I did most of the cooking and cleaning, but my experience mostly included spaghetti and mashed potatoes. We were not rich people.
All right, roast rat. How to make roast rat... With Dionysus keeping guard at least we could afford to build a fire. I was not going to eat raw rat. Also, Dionysus had grabbed a backpack in the Bloodbath. Along with the knife (which he'd used to kill Ceto so that was really gross and I washed it off as well as I could before I used it) we had a few packets of salt, probably for dehydration or something. I wasn't sure how it worked but I heard salt helped with that. And we also had some oranges. I squeezed some of them and smeared the juice on the... rat. Marinades, right? Marinades are fancy. I rubbed salt on it and cringed a little as I stuck a sharp stick through the skinless rat and held it over the fire, turning it now and then.
"Wow, this is even better than hanging out with the Careers," Dionysus said after we'd tried it. And it was honestly better than I was afraid of. It didn't taste like chicken- more like the almost-expired ground butcher's ends I got once in a while after a particularly good score- but it wasn't totally gross at least.
"Yeah. They missed out," I said, watching for Dionysus' reaction. I wanted to get on his good side but I didn't want to go too far and get outed as a suck-up.
"Bunch of losers," Dionysus said in a way that clearly indicated they were the ones who thought he was a loser and he was trying to compensate.
"So they were threatened by you or what?" I asked to maybe draw him out.
"They thought I was nothing but a partier," he said dismissively.
"Lame. What's the point of winning the Games if you don't party?"
"I know, right?"
TIMELINE: Fourth day EXCEPT Gigi's POV, which happened on the first day in the Arena.
Locations:
Careers: Hunting around
Japanese Gardens: Oberon and RJ
Rainforest Gardens: City Slickers, Omar
North Garden: The Rejects, Cheyanne
Pavilion: Pell, CULTER
Sunken Garden: Soleil
