Chapter 9
I tried my best to sleep through the night, but barely even got a wink in.
One of the ladies in the red outfits comes to wake me up at seven o' clock sharp and presents me with the outfit I will be wearing in the arena, which is just a plain black shirt, a pair of camouflage pants, and some brown boots. After I get changed, it's off to breakfast for my final normal meal.
Farley doesn't even look my way the whole time we're at the table. I feel awful about hurting his feelings last night. I really shouldn't, but I do, even though this was bound to happen eventually.
Mulvain and Hestia eventually join us at the table. "You ready, kiddo?" Mulvain asks me as he sits down.
"No. I don't think I could ever really be ready for something like this" I say. I have barely touched my food, as my stomach is knotting so much I feel queasy.
"I know. I felt the exact same way before my Games. All we can do is hope for the best, and try our best. Eat up to get as much strength as possible before you leave" he instructs. He's right. All I can possibly do is hope for the best, but I also need to try my best. I shovel down all of my food before Alaster comes out to say his final goodbyes.
"I just want you two to know, that it has been a privilege being your escort" Alaster says with tears in his eyes.
"C'mon Al, the last thing they need right now is the tears, we go over this every year" Mulvain says as he dramatically wipes a tear from his left cheek.
"Well I can't help it if I get a tad too attached, Mulvain! Besides, we've all had such good times together, it's hard to say goodbye to that!" Sure he's the epitome of your typical flamboyant Capitol citizen, but Alaster has been a really good escort. He always made sure we were where we needed to be on time, and was very good at mapping out our schedules everyday.
I give Alaster a warm hug, and thank him for being a great escort. He then wraps his arms around me in return.
"Oh, sweet girl. I wish you all the best in there, ok?" he says, and we pull away to look at each other one last time.
The car ride to the hovercraft that transports all of the tributes to the arena is too short in my opinion, as we seem to get there in the blink of an eye. Once we get out of the car, Mulvain pulls me aside for one final pep talk.
"I know for certain that they will be placing a crossbow in the Cornucopia for you. You're really fast, so if you really focus you can beat the Careers to it, and swipe it before they have a chance at the weapons. As soon as you do, grab a backpack, turn, and run. Backpacks almost always carry useful gear. If you second guess yourself even once, you immediately run away from the Cornucopia as soon as that horn goes off, understand?" I nod.
"Good. Just remember that you can do this. You have to be the fiercest competitor I have ever mentored in all of my years of doing this. Go out there and make our district proud. You've actually got a chance to win this, Katerina. Don't let the opportunity go to waste. I will be pulling for you with the sponsors as much as I can. Good luck, darling" he says before he pulls me in for one final hug. While we embrace, I feel him place a kiss on my head, which makes me smile.
Once we let go, they start calling for all of the tributes to get in the hovercraft, and I look back at Mulvain once more before turning around, ready for whatever this game has to throw at me…
The ride to the arena takes a while. I wonder what it will look like this year. The Gamemakers change up the location and weather conditions of the arena each year to keep things interesting. One year they used a dry desert, and about half of the tributes ended up dying from dehydration. Another year they used a ruined city, so a lot of the tributes ended up using pieces of the rubble as weapons.
I now regret scarfing down that entire plate of food at breakfast, as the anticipation is starting to make me feel nauseous. I gnaw on my hands for a while until the feeling goes away. That's a trick my father taught me when I was a little girl.
A lady comes out with a big needle, and the nauseous feeling returns as she starts making her way down the line. The District 3 girl asks what it is, and she says that it's a tracking device. Once she gets to me, she asks for my arm. I give it to her hesitantly, and before I know it the giant needle is inside my arm. I cringe at the pain and look away until she's done.
Once we land, each tribute is escorted by Peacekeepers to a different room to get ready. We must be underneath the arena right now, as I see camera crews bustling everywhere and people shouting directions at each other.
Once I am in my room, I see that Eviana is standing right in front of the elevator that will bring me up. I run to her, and we share a hug. I allow a few tears to run down my face as she rubs my back in comfort. Once we let go, she holds out a big white jacket for me to put on.
"They're thermal, and well insulated. That means it's probably super cold out there" she says as I turn around and put my hands through the sleeves.
I turn around to face her once more. "Hold out your hand" she says, and I do just that. She then drops something into my hand. I look to see the locket my father had given me before I left.
"How did you get this?" I ask, surprised that it's even back in my possesion.
"Demitrius coughed it up after the Tribute Parade. Each tribute is allowed one token from home as long as there's no hidden weapons inside it. The boy from District 4 already got his confiscated after they found a tiny needle in it" Eviana says. She then takes it from my hand, and walks behind me so she can secure it around my neck.
Once the heart-shaped charm falls into place, I grip it tightly in my left hand, and whisper a weak "thank you" to Eviana. We then embrace once more before Claudius Templesmith's voice comes over the loudspeaker, letting the tributes know that there's fifteen seconds to launch. I then let go of Eviana, and make my way towards the elevator.
Once I'm inside, the doors close, and I look back at Eviana one final time. She gives me a nod of encouragement, and the elevator starts to bring me up to the arena…
As I'm brought up by my platform, I look around and check out my surroundings. Well, Eviana was right about the cold part. We are in a winter forest, with snow and evergreens everywhere. The cold air whips my face as soon as I come out into the open.
The Cornucopia lies in the middle, with all of the backpacks scattered in a circle around it. This year, it is as white as the snow it's laying on. I look around for Farley, but can't seem to find him. He must be on the other side of the Cornucopia.
As the count down starts from 50, I look in the Cornucopia to see if there is a crossbow left for me. Sure enough, I spot one closer to my side, laying on some sort of big black box. On the side of the box stands a quiver full of arrows. I am determined to get to that crossbow before any of the Careers even have a chance to look at it. My mind then goes to my father, who taught me how to use one in the first place. I'm sure him, Aunty Petra, and my grandparents are all at the TV right now, their eyes glued to the screen. I promised that I would come home to them, and that's exactly what I'm going to do.
Once the countdown gets down to the final 10 seconds, I position myself on my platform and get ready to sprint. Just do what Mulvain said, focus solely on getting there first I think to myself as I concentrate my eyes entirely on the weapon. I mentally prepare for the final five seconds.
Five, four, three, two, one.
As soon as that horn sounds, I'm flying across the snow. The jacket weighs me down a bit, but I still manage to make it to the Cornucopia first. I grab the crossbow and quiver, and sprint towards the snowy woods.
As I go to quickly grab a backpack, I notice the girl from District 1 charging at me from my left side. Without thinking, I reach for an arrow, raise my weapon, and shoot her right in the forehead. She falls to the ground immediately, and before I have the chance to process what I've just done I grab the backpack and run as the rest of the Careers take over the Cornucopia...
I keep running into the forest of evergreens until the Cornucopia disappears from view. I find a log hidden behind a big group of trees, and sit down for a bit to catch my breath and gather my thoughts.
My encounter with the girl from District 1 keeps playing over and over in my head. We're not even a day into these Games and I've already had my first kill. I didn't necessarily mean to kill her. My mind just automatically went into survival mode, and before I knew it my arrow was in her head.
I knew coming into this that I would most likely have to kill at least one person if I want to win, but I don't anything could have prepared me for the guilt that comes after. Sure, she was a Career and completely full of herself, but she was also someone's daughter, someone's sister, someone's friend…
I'm forced out of my thoughts as I hear cannons go off in the distance. Cannon shots notify remaining tributes of someone's death. They usually wait until all of the chaos has died down at the Cornucopia to fire the cannons during the first few hours, as a lot of tributes die trying to get supplies when the Games first begin. This is what's known as the Cornucopia Bloodbath.
I count a total of 10 cannon shots, meaning that there's only 14 tributes left. Cesar Flickerman and Claudius Templesmith are probably raving about the fact that this is the first time in years that a Career was killed during the Bloodbath. Even more eyes on me I guess.
I look to see what's inside the backpack I picked up. I open it up to find a box of matches, a small loaf of bread, a wooly blanket, an empty water bottle, and a small knife. Looks like I managed to pick up one of the good ones. Some backpacks are filled with good supplies while some are filled with things that aren't necessarily useful, and others could be just plain empty.
I feel myself starting to get cold again. I have to keep moving to keep my body temperature up, so I fling my crossbow onto my back and keep walking south.
I take this as an opportunity to explore the arena, and see if there's any useful locations I should know about, such as a river. I pick up fallen evergreen branches along the way, as building a fire is essential to stay warm in a place like this. I also set up some snares, in hopes that I can catch some food for later.
I start to wonder how Farley is doing. Did he get away from the Cornucopia before the others could get to him? Is he alive? I know I shouldn't worry about him, but I can't help it. All I know is if I see his face in the sky tonight when the Gamemakers show who died, I will feel incredibly guilty, especially with how we left things last night. I didn't mean to hurt him like I did, I just didn't want to be a distraction to him. I just hope he's alive and unharmed.
Along the way, I manage to find a hare hopping near a collection of trees. I ended up shooting it down to cook later, and now hold its carcass in my hands. I keep going to find a river covered by a thin sheet of ice. I break the ice with my foot, scoop some up with my water bottle, and drink until I'm no longer thirsty. As I refill my water bottle, I notice that it's starting to get dark already, so I keep going to find somewhere to camp out for the night…
I found a good place to set up and sleep until morning. It's comfy, but it's also hidden enough that it would be hard for other tributes to spot me. I make sure to build my fire underneath a big tree so that the light it gives off stays relatively hidden. Building a fire out in the open is a good way to get killed in this game.
As I'm skinning my hare to cook it, I hear the Capitol's anthem start to play. I look up into the sky to see the Capitol crest as they start projecting the pictures of those who died today. The girl from District 1 is the first face, and I immediately feel a pang of guilt in my chest as I look up at her.
I check off each face in my head as they are shown to figure out who exactly I'm up against. The boy from 3, the boy from 5, the girl from 6, both from 7, the boy from 8, both from 11, and the boy from 12 are all shown in numerical order before the projection disappears. I inwardly sigh in relief when they did not show Farley's face among them. He's still alive. He's still out there somewhere.
As I cook my hare on the fire, I come the conclusion that the remaining 14 is made up of me, Farley, the remaining Careers, the girl from 3, the girl from 5, the boy from 6, the girl from 8, both from 10, and the girl from 12. I'm not shocked in the least that the District 10 girl survived the day. She seems to know what she's doing, and ranked among the Careers in training. The same goes for the boy from 6, who also got a really good score.
As I'm scarfing down my dinner, I hear a scream in the distance. It sounds relatively close to where I am too, and I start to worry if the Careers are nearby. They all probably formed an alliance like they do every year. It's custom for the Career tributes to work together to pick off the other tributes before they turn on each other at the end. This traditional tactic is another factor as to why they win so often.
As I finish up and discard the hare's bones, I am startled as I hear a cannon go off. I can only assume that whoever screamed just now was killed. I look to my right to see the light of another fire. The Careers must have seen the light from their fire and come to finish them off.
A little voice in the back of my mind starts nagging me to go check out the scene. While I am very tempted, I try and stay put as going over there could result in an ambush.
The longer I stay, the more I think about it. Someone could have left valuable resources behind, and this could be your only chance to spy on the Careers I think to myself.
Eventually, curiosity gets the best of me. I grab my crossbow and make my way over to the other fire. I crouch down and move very quietly as to not let anyone who might be there know I'm here.
As I get closer, I hear sounds of rustling coming from near the fire. I hide behind a big rock and carefully peer over to see what the noise is.
Horrified isn't a word to describe the scene I see in front of me. Wyatt is currently ontop of the naked dead body of the girl from District 3, shamelessly thrusting himself into her while grunting loudly. Her clothes are all around the campsite in tatters, meaning they were probably torn from her body after he killed her. He seems to have slit her throat, judging from the gapping wound in her neck.
Wyatt throws his head back in ecstasy as he starts going faster, and I have to look away before my dinner makes a reappearance. Completely scarred from what I've just seen, I start inching away from the fire in pure fear while swallowing the bile pooling in my mouth, and make my way back to my own campsite as quietly as possible.
Once I'm back near my own fire, I clutch my racing heart and try to steady my breathing. My hands are shaking, and my chest is tight, but I manage to pull myself together enough to pull out my blanket and rest against the tree behind me.
I always knew that there was something off with Wyatt, but I didn't think he'd be that demented. Never have I seen something that both disgusted and terrified me so much in my life, and I hope to never see something like that ever again.
Shaken, I set my crossbow on my lap and try my best to shut my eyes and get some sort of sleep. I eventually doze off as images of Wyatt staring at me after the interviews haunts my dreams…
