Run, Annie. Finnick thought to himself, standing in front of the screens in the Victor's lounge.
He watched as the countdown reached one, and bit his lip furiously. Gerald got off to a good start, he was directly beside the cornucopia. Annie was in front of it.
Both of them began in a dead sprint, as many did. As all the careers reached the cornucopia, the bloodbath began. Sapphire chased after the girl from district seven with a sword, stabbing her in the heart. Ruthless.
Sahar shot down two tributes with a bow. The pair from two were hardly doing much besides chasing tributes off.
Meanwhile, Annie went through the materials in the backpacks, and Glenn guarded her with an axe.
Within two minutes, three tributes were dead at the hands of District One. It was clear they didn't plan on stopping. Finnick lowered his head as he counted the delayed cannons.
Scratch that. Eight were dead.
The cameras must have missed those other five, but he was sure they would be featured in the recaps tonight.
The Victors lounge filled with grunts and arguments, as the ones with fallen tributes felt anger. It was hard to lose a tribute, Finnick knew that. He also knew that if he lost his tribute this year, he would lose himself, too.
The main screen in the victors lounge showed what the audience saw, which was slightly delayed from real time. There were twenty four other screens, twelve on either side of the larger one, one focusing on each of the tributes. Those were all real time.
Once a tribute was dead, their screen went black.
Finnick's eyes were focused on Annie's screen, and her screen only. He folded his arms over his chest as he watched, critiquing her every move.
"Look, Al... There's some medicine in this bag." Annie said, continuing to organize all the items they had. Saphira and Sahar started making their way back to the cornucopia, wiping the blood off their weapons. They were laughing about something, but Finnick was unsure what.
Casifer, the male from District Two, made his way over to Annie. He seemed nervous as he squatted down beside her, looking down towards the ground. "How are you holding up, Annie?" He asked.
Annie shrugged, not looking up from her work. "As well as I can."
Finnick smiles to himself. Hearing her voice brought him comfort, and all he could do was hope.
—————
The first night in the arena was calm. Annie had finished sorting the supplies, filling bags with specific items. She told everyone around her which bags they needed if they had to run, and made a special bag for just her and Gerald, filled with the best items. Just in case.
Gerald has started a fire, and then sat close to Annie beside it.
"Goddamn it, why is it so cold?" Saphira grunted, throwing herself to the ground beside Annie. "You know, Ive never had to deal with the cold. Except in my house. My Dad sets the thermostat down to sixty five every night. Ridiculous, right?"
Annie pushed a strand of hair behind her ear, looking at the girl. "We've never had to deal with cold, either." She confessed, laughing.
Gerald leaned back to get a better look at Saphira, "I don't even have a thermostat in my house." He laughed, throwing his head back to look at the stars. "Sometimes I wish I did. I think I prefer the cold."
She frowned at him, "How could you possibly prefer the cold?"
"Well, when you're cold, you can always put more things on to warm you up. But you can only take so much off if it's too hot." He replied, laughing, looking towards Annie. "Which do you prefer? Now that you've experienced both."
Annie sighed, looking into the fire. "I like when it's warm." She said, quietly.
Michaela joined the group, bringing over an apple for each of them. "There's not much food, so Casifer and I figured we could ration it out. Who knows how long we'll be in here..."
Saphira glared her way, "We're the Careers. We decide how long we stay in here." She stood up, looking at the girl from two. "So, you can have your apple, I'm going to have something with more sustenance."
"I'll take the apple," Gerald said, "I'm sure Annie will too."
Annie nodded, reaching her hand out. They ate in silence, listening to Saphira argue with Casifer, and Sahar attempting to calm them both down. It felt reassuring to know she was on her good side.
The sound of the Capitol anthem broke up the fight. All of them looked to the sky, counting the number of tributes lost.
Annie whispered the names of the fallen underneath her breath, and nobody paid much attention to it. She felt her stomach sink, though, when it hit her that all those people were dead. She was saying the names of the dead.
She felt dizzy.
Soon enough, they all decided to go to bed. Saphira assigned Casifer and Sahar to be the first watch, then Annie and Gerald would take over after a couple hours.
Annie laid down beside Gerald, shivering as he put his arms around her. She felt horrible, knowing Finnick would be watching. He would understand, thought, right?
The night passed slowly, every second seemed to drag. Annie knew she wouldn't sleep, even though everyone else was. She continued to shiver, losing feeling in her toes. Don't let me die because I'm cold, she begged, I want to be remembered.
It had only been an hour, when Annie heard rustling around her. She sat up, looking around. It took her a second before she saw Casifer and Michaela standing above Sahar. She just looked in horror, noticing the blood pool below the pair. It was a slow death. The cannon hadnt gone off. Poor Sahar, she thought.
Annie kept her eyes glued on them, reaching her left hand to Gerald, silently shaking him. He sat up quickly, and immediately saw what was happening.
Then Casifer turned around, now noticing they were awake.
Gerald moved his face close to Annie's, whispering. "When I get up, run. Grab whatever bag is important. Keep going in one direction. I'll find you."
Her face went white as she grasped the severity of the situation, breathing it all in.
Casifer spoke first, "We don't want to kill you. We really don't."
"Good." Gerald said, and he moved so fast, that no one could keep up. All in a second, he stood, grabbing his axe, and launching it at Casifer.
Annie was frozen in her spot, and she watched the axe lodge itself in Casifer's skull. She watched his body fall over, landing on top of Sahar. Two cannons erupted, and so did Saphira.
This was the second bloodbath.
Michaela screamed, throwing one of the knives at Saphira, hitting her knee. Gerald looked to Annie, "Run." He yelled, going to retrieve his axe.
She stood, and began to sprint. On her way, she grabbed the backpack. Annie didn't know where she was going, but she was terrified.
Shit. I don't have a weapon.
That thought sent a chill down her spine. How could I be so stupid?
As she ran, she felt nothing but paid. Her feet throbbed, and her fingers felt stiff. The cold was getting to her. Maybe it was getting to everyone else, too.
She made her way into the forest, breathing heavy and hard, unwilling to stop. She felt a sob enter her throat, and she let out a scream. It was involuntary, clawing it's way out of her. Nevertheless, she continued.
Then the cannons went off.
Annie stopped running for a second, hoping to only hear one, maybe two.
She stood and counted.
Three.
Three cannons went off.
Gerald.