Chapter fifteen

hide and seek

A quick note, this chapter isn't like the other ones. It is written in first person and they are a lot of explaining of how she does everything so not much happens.

"Come on Faye you don't stand a chance against me you know I am the master of hide and seek." A thirteen year old Finch calls out walking around the factory, checking every spot that her eight year old sister might be able to fit in, which is basically everywhere.

The eight year old puts her two hands over her mouth to stop herself from giggling as her sister was right beside her hiding place and was completely oblivious to were the girl was hidden. How much she wanted to beat her sister at this game.

As Finch walks away continuing her search for her sister, the little girl gets up and runs across the room to a new hiding place not caring if she was heard as they could never find her beside the risk was so much more fun than safety.

"I heard that little fox." Finch says her voice echoing around the large room. "I'm going to find you."

The girl remained in her scrunched up position, quiet proud of the fact that two of her older brothers, two twin brothers and her sister who claims to be the "master of this game" have been looking for the girl for ten minutes without finding her. She was called a little fox for a reason.

For the next half hour the eight year old girl ran around the abandon factory finding places to hide that where so unique no one had probably thought to try to hide in them before. Her family eventually gave up and she emerged victorious.

If only she could be the victor of the hunger games as well.

She played that game as if her life depended on it.

The only difference this time is that her life actually depends on it.

Little fox was one of the many nicknames Faye had earned over her life but it was definitely her favorite. When the careers referred to her as a fox it sent a chill up her spine. They were hunting for her and only her. Why her? They were much bigger opponents to fight.

She watched as they disappeared into the trees leaving her district partner Evan and the girl from district two on guard (Victoria). She was terrified but she knew the capital where watching her every move so she plastered on a fake sly grin. She knew this was her chance to steal some supplies to heal her ankle which is literally in bits. She pulls out her map to revise the plan she made an hour ago.

Faye jumps down from the tree and creeps to the edge of the forest looking nervously out to the cornucopia. She keeps telling herself that if they are hunting for her the last place they expect her to go is cornucopia.

She kneels down and grabs about five stones so that she will have them to set off some traps.

She sighs and begins phase one of her carefully crafted plan. She started the first bit of the plan which was to drag herself through the long grass, it would be impossible to see her in it as it was so tall. She wished it was like this the whole way around but sadly it was not. She would have to think of a more practical way to do it.

She slides onto the ground and drags herself along the ground trying to lie down completely flat. When she is at the end of the long grass she has to wait for ten minutes for something to happen.

When Faye sees Evan and Victoria are both looking the other way she runs up and voluntary slips into one of their traps. They had dug a deep hole that was so big that if you fell into it you would not be able to get out and make a reasonably loud thud. They had covered it with tarp and dirt so it wouldn't be so obvious. Faye had decide if she griped onto the edge of the hole and pulled herself along that she would not be seen as she would have tarp covering her, she also liked this plan as it involved using her hands more than her feet.

When Faye was under the tarp she grasped onto the edge with her hands and dug her feet into the wall of the hole to prevent herself from falling. She tried not to put too much pressure on her poor ankle but she also tried not to fall in. As she shuffled along the edge they where many moments when Faye was certain she would fall but by some she never did.

When she gets to the end of the terrifying journey she peeps out of the tarp to check if anyone is looking near her direction, sadly they are. The next part of her plan to the middle involves a few seconds of being in view range and she doesn't want to take any chances.

The next phase of the plan she has to jump over a large censored area and fall into a ditch dug by the careers and crawl around and face the next trap.

She is very nervous about jumping over with her ankle but she has worked out if she launches out from the right one and lands on her side in the ditch she won't hurt her ankle. Now that she is closer to the space she has to jump over it starts to look bigger than before.

This reminds her so much of hide and seek and running around the careers stack of supplies reminds her of cat and mouse next thing she will probably will be playing a deadly game of duck, duck, goose. Knowing the capital she is actually surprised that hasn't happened yet.

When Evan finally looks the other way she gets up out of the hole, being careful not to make a sound and jumps over the large mound of censored ground. One would be surprised by how high and far a girl of her height and size could hump, but then again she had been doing this all of her life.

One of the ten secrets she kept from Finch was that when she was younger she used to work for someone who taught her a lot of these skills, but that's a story for another time.

Instead of landing elegantly on the tips of her toes as she would prefer she must land on her shoulder in the soft muddy ditch dug out by the careers. She is lucky the ground is wet because if it wasn't then she would have probably have made a loud thud but she overheard when the careers where digging it that underground was wet. She crept along the mud ruining her trousers and top, although she could practically here the loud shrieks coming from her stylist team she could not care less as long as she was away from the careers.

The reason the first and second phase of the plan was done in front of the careers the traps where lighter there.

As soon as she was at the back of the cornucopia the second phase of her plan was complete. Sadly the cornucopia this year was a dome that you only had access to the inside on one side but Faye had worked out that it would be smart to climb over the cornucopia and sneak in from there. The two careers on watch where inside the cornucopia so they wouldn't be able to spot her. Although this may make her entrance harder but she already had that part worked out.

Faye begins to mount the cornucopia, trying to ignore the screaming pain from her ankle. When she is only half way up her hands are sweating and she is literally silently crying from the pain in her ankle. But she was determined and more so stubborn because if Faye Crossley started something she would get it finished even if killed her, which could literally be the case right now.

When the girl was half way up she could hear the screams of her family, her district and anyone that was cheering for her to turn back, she could hear the capital getting excited as this action filled day comes to a end but twice as loud as all these screams she could also hear herself and Roxie telling her to go on, telling to not give up.

Do it for the capital who want some action, do it for your family to show them that you are strong, do it for everyone who called you weak, do it for Finch who would never give up on you, pretend it's a small sign of rebellion but most of all do it so you can get some medicine for your bloody foot.

So she took in a sharp breath of air and continued up the cornucopia with such speed that it was terrifying a girl in that much pain could do. When she made it to the top she could no longer feel the pain in her ankle and she knew that was not a good thing. She lies down on the cornucopia exhausted from the trek up the cornucopia. She still had to work out how to get into the supplies but for now she just needed to rest, she would find a way.

Closing her eyes she pictured herself in a large factory holding nothing but a empty backpack, a building just waiting to be robbed by the most un lightly culprit. A sly grin was pulled onto her face.

She got up filled with a new sense of adrenaline, thrill. She got up from lying down and ran over to the edge of the cornucopia. She got down on her hands and knees so that she could peer over the edge.

She saw Evan and Victoria sitting beside each other looking at the book, that damn book. She needed that book, when where they not with the book. She retorts from her viewing point to avoid being caught.

The only way she would be able to get down there would be to do it when it was darker which would take another half hour. She needed to find somewhere to hide until dark.

The cornucopia was a dome shape so the logical choice would be to climb down and hide until then, but Faye didn't come all the way up to just goes back down. The only possible place to hide would be the big column where the Banshee was held. She could tell the column was hallow and she could tell that they where only one way in.

The column was tall and made out of metal but when the column ended they where three metal sticks that supported the banshees cage. If she could climb the metal column then they would be a entrance she could slip through so she would be inside the cage.

The only problem was that a massive metal column was basically impossible to climb without help.

Or a rope?

But it didn't even take Faye a second to know what to do. She took of the large coat she had, but she already knew that wouldn't be enough so she also took of the tank top she had on. She didn't care that all she had on the upper half of her body was a bra; she needed to get over this. She took of a boot and tied everything together.

Her plan was quiet simple really, obvious to. But then again not all plans have to be complicated. She would throw the long rope around one of the metal bars, the boot would probably weigh it down enough so both sides would be even, she would climb up enough so she could grab both sides and then use them to oull herself up the rest of the way.

If it made a sound they would find her because of the deafening silence that consumed this night, if she missed it would make a sound. Faye only had one chance. But that's all she needs.

She threw the boot from one hand and kept hold of the tank top in the other. The boot loped around the metal bar and she let go the top and the two sides weighed out. She cautiously ran up to the pole and began to mount it by grabing onto both sides of the rope. She pulls herself up using her hands to pull herself and her feet to walk up, just like them equipment in playground. Everything from childhood becomes a tactic.

Once she gets to the top she hears banging and screaming becoming louder and hears loud crashing. It takes her a few seconds to realize that it is the banshee and it trying o get out to kill her. She quickly slides between the cage and the banister, pulling in the rope with me and hitting the bottom with a soft bang. She knows the careers on watch will just think it's the banshee.

Faye tries getting herself comfortable in the small tight space, at least she is not claustrophobic. She can hear the voices of Victoria and Evan echo through the cornucopia.

"Do you think that someone died?" I hear Evan ask.

"We will see in a few minutes I guess." Victoria says.

"Do you think that they killed her?" Evan asks.

They're talking about me.

"We agreed not to kill her." Victoria says.

Why?

They were a long pause.

"What if she killed one of them?" Evan asks.

I stifle a laugh at this, like I stand a chance against them.

"I didn't think about that, I mean she could have." Victoria says. "What if she kills all of them?"

I can hear the anxiety in her voice. The careers really must not be bright they are three times the size of me.

"This is why we needed her on the careers but Marcus had too much pride to invite a thirteen year old in. But now he wants her with us and she has already stole from us and killed a thing five or six times her size. So we just thought we were against a smart tribute but know we are against a smart and strong tribute. Did I mention she is thirteen and looks about seven? All of us trained all of our lives for this Evan, you might not have but you would still think you could easily beat a child." Victoria rants loudly.

"And we wonder how she finds us, Vicky, shut up." Evan hisses.

"It is followed by other talking that I tune out, what where they on about. They were just joking; they are no way that they want me just joking." She thinks to herself, unaware of her own strength.

She sits in the crunched up position her only company is her own thoughts. The anthem comes on and she learns from Victoria and Evan nobody has died.

Half an hour later she has not moved at all, she doesn't want to leave. Scared of what will happen. But she made commitment so she would have to stick with it.

Faye pulls on her top and jacket and then begins her way back out of the column. Putting her hands on the wall behind her and one of her feet on the opposite side. Leaving her hurt ankle dangling under her she shuffles back up and when at the top she slides out and lands on the dome with a soft thud.

Standing up Faye feels a little stiff from being scrunched up for so long. She walks around a bit getting use to being upright and the sudden pressure on her ankle. When Faye is certain she can do whatever task comes next.

Her plan is rough. Distract the careers, clime along the inside of the top of the cornucopia to avoid censors and land on the top of the pile of the supplies and then hide out until all the careers are asleep and then turn of the censors, sneak out and then turn back on the censors. Complicated, but possible.

Shaking slightly she grabs a stone out of her coat pocket and heaves it over to the general area of one of the traps, they are a loud snap and then crack. The careers run to the direction of the sound but not before turning on the censors.

Faye runs to the edge of the dome where the doorway is. Grabbing the pole that hangs from the entrance. She dangles and swings herself back and forth and then let go and flies onto the supply pile without making too much noise.

As fast as she can she scrambles around. But is unable to find a slot where she can hide, She knows that the careers will be back soon so she opts to hide in a box. Faye scrunches herself up among the other supplies in the box which is just random supplies.

She hears Victoria and Evan return but their voices are muffled by the box. Faye knows it will be a long night so gets comfortable and drifts of to sleep. A sleep filled with a common dream.

Sometimes when Faye sleeps she has a dream where she is an avox. She doesn't look exactly herself but she has a slightly pointed face. I am always in a apartment staring out into the capital.

She finds this weird that it is always the same but convinces herself it is just her sub conscious.

When she awakes she peeps out of the box and sees that everyone is asleep. Faye does not know if she is ready for this.