Chapter 28:
Day One
Amelia Fensa, 18, District Three
How could things have changed so quickly in a matter of hours? How could she have gone from the most alive she's felt in months to relieving her brother's death over and over in her head? How could she have been so foolish to think that one night spent with the son of a victor would suddenly change things? It didn't…all Argos' smooth words and soft touches did was put a temporary bandage over the pain in her, the pain she can't get past and doubts she ever will now that she is in the very hell that created it in the first place. She shouldn't have tried to be that bold girl that would flirt back to an attractive guy, even if she had felt alive for those few hours with him before she couldn't fight off sleep any longer. That wasn't her…she never would have done something like that back in Three or Six…
But does she even know who she is anymore? She thought she was finding herself again throughout the ridiculous show they made them put on in the Capitol. But all it took was a couple minutes to bring her right back to where she was before ever going to Three. Back to the broken girl who didn't know how to find something to keep living for after her brother's death… She doesn't even know what to find that will make her want to keep living in this hell.
Maybe she would have been better off just getting shot with one of those arrows the careers were firing at her.
No…Aero wouldn't want that for her… He didn't give up last year when he lost allies in the bloodbath… He kept going and even found a new ally. Until that ally didn't help try to save him. No…Amelia doesn't think she wants a new ally. How can she trust anyone else in this arena?
Amelia uses her arms to wipe at her tears, trying to see the door in front of her. She knows she has to get out of this long hallway…but she's scared of what – or who – might be behind any of these doors. But how long will it be until the careers come down here and start searching for them? She can't be out in the open like this.
Amelia hesitates in front of the door as she grabs harder onto the strap on her shoulder – or at least, she thinks she is – knowing that she doesn't have any weapons to help her fight if someone is inside this room. She doesn't even know what she has in the bag… With a quick glance down both ways of the hallway, Amelia crouches down to start rummaging through her bag. Her hopes quickly diminish as she pulls out first an empty water bottle. But the matches and compass could be useful, and one could never turn down bandages in the arena. She looks at the flashlight, turning it around to find the switch and accidentally blinds herself for a moment when she turns it on directed at her face. She quickly shuts it off, knowing she'll be seen instantly in this dark hallway with that light. Amelia stays still for a few moments, her eyes shut as she tries to get adjusted to the darkness once more, all while carefully listening around her for any sounds of tributes approaching her.
In that moment…she knows how lucky she got with the senses. It was terrifying at first to have lost her touch – and still is – but to have lost her sight or hearing…? She would be at such a disadvantage right now. But she still is, considering she has no food or water.
Looks like she has to go through the door.
Amelia puts all the items but the flashlight away, able to at least feel the weight of it and know that in a pinch, it would at least hurt a bit to get hit in the head with it. As she stands back up, she still hesitates as she stares at the door, a feeling of dread filling her stomach. She doesn't want to face any of the other tributes that could be down here. She's terrified by the thought of taking a life, even though she knows she has to if she wants to get out of here for Aero. Maybe no one will be in the room. It's possible, considering how many doors she has already passed…
A sound from across the hall behind her has her quickly pushing open the door and slamming it shut behind her. She stays pressed up against the door, breathing hard as fear overwhelms her. She stares around the room with wide eyes, taking in the details of what looks like…an office? A large wooden desk stands in the middle of the room, with chairs on either side of it. Potted plants line the edges of the room, along with shelves filled with smaller plants, some of which look to her like they could be edible… In the back, several shelves of damaged books line the walls, along with one weapon rack with a single rusty sword hanging from it.
Amelia stares at that sword, in disbelief that the Gamemakers would actually just leave that there for anyone to take. It has to be a trap…yet she's so tempted to go for it. She doesn't have an actual weapon to-
A head slowly peeks up above the desk and Amelia is instantly in motion, running over to the desk with the flashlight above her head as a much taller person stands up, his face full of tears and fear as she approaches. She swings the flashlight towards him before she has time to start doubting herself, knowing she can't take the risk of hesitating.
"Wait!" Fox yells as he catches the flashlight with one hand. Amelia holds onto it desperately, refusing to let him take it away from her, and she starts swinging her other arm at him, only for him to catch it too. She can't break free from him and she starts squirming. "Stop, I don't want to hurt you!"
"Let me go!" Amelia yells at him, desperation rising up in her when she can't get her arms free from his grip. She doesn't care if he's one of the tributes that barely wants to fight, they're in the Games now. And in that moment, she is afraid of dying. Amelia brings up her knee and slams it into him, making him let go of her arms instantly as he crouches over in pain.
"I'd like to have more kids someday," Fox groans in pain as Amelia takes a step back from him, holding her flashlight defensively in front of herself in case he makes any sudden moves towards her. "You're as stubborn as one of the cows on the farm."
"Stay back!" Amelia warns him as he tries to straighten up, using the desk to support himself. She takes another step back from him, eyeing the sword hanging on the wall.
"I w-wouldn't do that," Fox warns her, nodding his head at the sword as he uses one hand to wipe at the tears still pouring down his cheeks and using the other to hold himself from the pain of Amelia's knee. "Yo-you know how the Games are… And I also wouldn't try to eat any of the plants in here, almost all of them are toxic."
Amelia stares at him, her doubt growing with each passing second. No one is kind like this in the arena without an ulterior motive. "Why are you telling me this?" Amelia asks slowly, tightening her grip even more as he stands up fully. "Why not let me just get caught in a trap and die?"
"Because I don't want to hurt you," Fox tells her, shaking his head as new tears start forming in his eyes. "I don't want to hurt anyone in this arena…all I wanted to do was protect Adam but I couldn't…"
"You're not getting out of here without killing anyone," Amelia responds as she keeps staring at the broken man in front of her, knowing she could probably kill him if she tried. He wouldn't put up much of a fight against her…yet she still hesitates. How can she just kill him in cold blood when he isn't trying to kill her too?
"I know…" Fox answers quietly, clearly torn by this. "I just…I don't want to be alone in this arena. I'm scared of what might happen and I have nothing. No ally, no food, nothing…"
Amelia starts lowering her flashlight before even realizing she's doing it. But she can't hurt him…the immediate rush of adrenaline that pushed her to attack first without considering who it was has dissipated at this point, leaving her feeling disgusted in herself that she would have actually tried to kill this father in front of her. She was going to kill him when he just wanted to help her… "You know plants?"
"I do," Fox slowly nods his head.
"And which sense did you lose?"
"Taste," Fox answers her right away. "You?"
"Touch…" Amelia says slowly, looking down at her hands holding the flashlight and noticing how white her knuckles are around it. She eases her grip on it, not having even realized how tightly she was holding onto it. If she didn't even realize that…would she even realize how injured she is if she got hurt? And she doesn't know what plants might be toxic, not like Fox does…
And as much as she doesn't want to trust someone else…she really doesn't want to be alone in this arena…
"Sorry for kneeing you in the balls…" Amelia tells him, feeling just a little bad for that now that she knows he wasn't trying to actually hurt her. She slowly holds out her hand to Fox and he watches her carefully. "Look, I don't know about you, but I really don't want to be alone in this arena…and you have skills I lack. So…allies?"
Fox grins at this as he takes her hand, shaking it enthusiastically. "Yes, I'd like that."
Bellona Silvanus, 18, District Two
The career alliance was in good shape after the bloodbath. They had made all of the kills. Bell and Demarcus both made one, Delta and Major both made two, Odyssey injured another. Only one that didn't leave a lasting mark on the tributes was Anastacia, but she did most of the fighting before one of Major's kills. None of them were injured in their fights, aside from some bruises on Anastacia and Demarcus – but without their sight, Bell is sure there will be more. They have all the supplies they could need.
At least, on the surface their alliance looks great. But that was just appearance.
Two of them have lost their sight. Another has lost his hearing. And Bell can't feel a damn thing. If only taking away her sense of touch had also numbed the pain of heartbreak inside of her. And that's not even getting to the tension that sits between all of them, one Bell knows she is contributing to, but what is she supposed to do? She can't just go back to talking to Odyssey like nothing ever happened. She can't pretend everything is okay when it's not. It's better for her own sake to just ignore him and prepare her heart for what has to happen if she is going to win. After all, that's what Glacia and Darach told her to do.
Which is how she's ended up sitting with bags on her lap, slowly sorting out their food into six even piles, and avoiding Odyssey looking over at her with concern as he sorts through the survival gear. Delta keeps tossing aside weapons as she searches through the Cornucopia. Major leans against the outside of it, watching all of them as he holds onto a notebook and pen, bow still slung over his shoulder. Anastacia is trying to help out Delta, but with her being a lot slower to identify the weapons without her sight, Bell can tell Delta is getting impatient. And Demarcus sits off to the side, face turned towards his hands as if he can see the blood still on them. The guy from Four is probably the one most shaken up by the senses lost and making a kill in the bloodbath. But if he wants to get far, he needs to get over it.
They've barely talked since they first started sorting the supplies and Bell is starting to get tired of the tense silence. How have things already changed so much before the Games started? Back home, she would have been the first one filling in the silence. Now she's just contributing to it.
"Alright, when are we getting out there?"
Bell picks her head up at Delta coming out of the Cornucopia, finally reaching the limits of her annoyance at staying put here. Everyone looks over at her as she comes to stand in the middle of them, hands on her hips as she stares at all of them.
"What?" Major asks loudly, scowling a little that he can't hear what is happening in the conversation.
"She asked when – wait, never mind. Just give me that," Odyssey says, realizing mid-sentence that whatever he has to say is a waste of time with Major. He holds out his hands for the notebook and Major stares at him for a few seconds before pushing himself off the Cornucopia and heading towards Odyssey. He hands him the notebook with a friendly smile, but Bell can see his annoyance still in his eyes. Odyssey scrawls something out in the notebook and as he hands it back to Major, he looks around at the others. "So what are we doing?"
"Wasting time, that's what we're doing," Delta answers him.
"Well do you have an actual plan?" Bell asks her, annoyed at the girl sassing Odyssey, even though she shouldn't care.
Delta scowls at this and shakes her head. "We go out there and kill tributes."
"Great plan," Anastacia adds to the conversation, trying to look over in the direction of Delta but staring off to her right. "Let me just go right out into the arena when I can't see anything."
"We need to pair up," Odyssey suggests and those that can see look around at each other. "We can't let Anastacia and Demarcus be without someone that has their sight. And he has major hearing loss so he should have a partner too," Odyssey chuckles as he uses his thumb to point over his shoulder at Major, but he's the only one that laughs at his joke.
"Hello? Can someone please tell me what's going on?" Major lets out a huff of annoyance as he stares at them with his arms crossed.
"Someone please tell him so he shuts up already," Anastacia says under her breath, but all of them but Major hear her. Bell snorts a little at this comment, in agreement with her, and Anastacia tries to turn in her direction to give a small smile.
"So you're saying you, myself, and Delta should pair up with one of the others?" Bell asks Odyssey and he nods his head in agreement.
"I'm with Anastacia," Delta says quickly before moving over to stand next to the girl from One who has a look of approval on her face at this pairing.
Bell tries to avoid looking at Odyssey's face, not wanting to see him still giving her a look of concern. "Well since you're already helping Major, why don't you be with him? Demarcus, you cool with that?"
Demarcus nods his head, even if he doesn't look too thrilled about this. "We…don't have a leader…"
Bell shares looks with the others and she knows this should be her opportunity to step up and take control of the pack. It's what people will expect of her. And yet…she doesn't want it. All she wants is to be away from them so she can avoid constantly being reminded of the pain inside her. And how many times has the leader of the career pack actually won the Games? Not very many times. She doesn't want that.
Demarcus is surprisingly the first one to speak up. "I vote Maj-"
"No," Anastacia says immediately, interrupting Demarcus, and Delta nods her head in agreement. "Not Major. And it's not going to be me," Anastacia says, shaking her head at them. "I suppose it's fair it's someone that has both their hearing and sight."
"Odyssey?" Delta suggests and Anastacia shrugs, giving as much agreement as possible in a death match.
"Well who is going to ask Major?" Bell asks, trying to avoid looking over at Odyssey looking in her direction.
Delta looks over at Anastacia, ready to share a look with her, but realizes quickly that Anastacia can't do that. "Does it matter?"
"Helloooo, anyone want to tell me what's happening?" Major asks them, proving Bell's point about involving him. They can't just neglect him in the decisions, even if Anastacia and Delta seem to want to.
Odyssey scrawls out another quick note to Major, just the word 'Leader?' in big bold writing. Major stands up taller at this, smoothing out his toga and putting his signature smile back on. "Oh, well if you all insist on me being the leader-"
"No!" Delta yells while Anastacia quickly shakes her head.
Major's smile immediately disappears at this, being able to understand their body language enough to know exactly what's going on without hearing. He crosses his arms and scowls at Odyssey as he writes another note to him. Major reads it for a moment, contemplating his answer for a few long seconds, before looking at the others and forcing a smile. "Sure, Odyssey would be great."
Everyone looks over at Bell, her being the last one to give a response, but she doesn't know why they're bothering. She's outnumbered now. Bell takes as much time as possible to avoid looking in Odyssey's direction. But she can't avoid him forever. "Bell?" He asks quietly and she finally looks over at him and immediately wishes she didn't. How the hell is she supposed to prepare herself for his death when he is still so concerned about her?!
"Go for it," Bell answers quietly before standing up and turning away from him, wishing she never let her stupid heart feel this way. She wants to hate him…if only it was that easy to do. "You'll be a great leader," she mutters as she walks past him and towards the weapons, picking up a spear for herself. "Mind if Demarcus and I take first patrol?"
"I'm not staying here," Delta says quickly, glaring at Bell for even suggesting that she stays put here. Bell glares back at her, knowing she's not staying here longer than necessary with Odyssey.
"Well I suppose as long as two of us are here at all times…" Odyssey says slowly, looking between the girls from Two and Four as they stare each other down.
"Good," Delta answers right away before heading over to Anastacia and taking her by the arm. "Let's go, I have someone to find."
"Demarcus?" Bell asks him and he slowly stands up.
"Yeah, let me just get a spear," he tells her quietly and Bell passes him the one she picked up before taking another for herself.
"Can someone please tell me what's going on here?" Major asks them loudly, no longer trying to hide his annoyance that he is unable to fully participate in their conversations.
Bell shakes her head at Major, knowing she would be just as annoyed if she had lost her hearing, but also glad she doesn't have to be his partner. She looks over at Odyssey, finding him not looking annoyed at him and she again finds herself wishing it would be easy to hate him. "Don't hurt your hand by writing so much to your buddy."
Odyssey chuckles at this and shakes his head. "I won't, as long as you stay safe out there."
Bell quickly turns away at this, having no idea how to even answer him. "Of course I'll be safe. Demarcus will have my back. Right, Demarcus?"
"R-right!" Demarcus answers quickly and Bell looks over to find him being genuine about it. "Well…as much as I can without my sight."
"I think it's going to be the other way around."
Davy Emmerich, 14, District Five
Every rational part of Davy is screaming at him to keep moving, to find somewhere better to hide before someone finds him. Yet he's been petrified with fear ever since hiding in the wall as Amelia ran past him, unable to move from that small safe space he found. But how long until the careers start searching for tributes? If they see him, they won't hesitate like Amelia might have if she hadn't been blinded by her tears and had seen him. And he wouldn't even hear them coming…
The careers that took both of his allies away from him before they even got a chance to fight and would have killed him too…
Davy bites his lip as he holds in a sob, unable to know now how much noise he is actually making and terrified of bringing anyone to him. He couldn't do anything to help them…he didn't even try to help them when they looked to him as the leader of their alliance. And now he is all alone in this arena, too scared to even move to find a safer spot. He's so…so…pitiful.
Why would anyone want to root for him? He doubts anyone is rooting for him anymore…if they ever were.
Except…that's not true. There's at least one person rooting for Davy…the person he made a promise to that he would do everything he could to win. The person who is probably watching him right now and just as terrified as he is.
Davy doesn't know how, but he has to be brave for Leandro. He isn't going to break that promise to him.
Davy takes several slow breaths, trying to slow down his rapidly beating heart. He counts to ten, reminding himself with each breath that he needs to put on a brave face for Leandro. He can do this…maybe. With shaky hands, Davy tucks his knife for a moment into a pocket so he can slowly sign something to Leandro, hoping the Gamemakers will translate it for him to understand.
"I'm okay."
He knows he isn't really, but maybe if he pretends long enough to himself, it will start to be true. Physically, he's okay. Maybe a little bruised from being blown back…but no life threatening injuries. He hates the thought…but if Adam's mines hadn't gone off…he doesn't know if he would still be alive. Not with that terrifying look Major had in his eyes. It sickens him to be grateful for that…yet a small part of him is because he's still alive. He's still alive, while several tributes aren't. He has no injuries. He has a knife. But he doesn't have food and water…
One step at a time. He will find those things. But first, he needs to find safety.
Before what tiny bit of courage he mustered up can slip away, Davy takes out his knife and very slowly peeks his head out of the crack he's hiding in, looking both ways quickly and ready to hide again if he sees someone. His heart is racing as he looks up the hallway…but no one is there.
Davy lets out a small sigh of relief before putting a hand over his mouth, unsure how much noise he might have just accidentally made. He waits a moment, staring up the hallway, waiting to see if anyone heard him, but thankfully no one runs towards him. Davy pulls himself out of the crack, standing on shaky legs as he holds his knife defensively in front of himself, hoping it might make someone have second thoughts long enough for him to run away. But he doubts he is fooling anyone into thinking he'll attack them. Just look at him.
Davy glances down the hallway in the direction Amelia ran, before heading in the opposite direction. He walks as quickly as he dares to, only able to hope he is staying light on his feet. He keeps glancing back over his shoulder, terrified he won't hear someone approaching him… His eyes start watering as he thinks about how he has no one to watch his back. He would have if Eliot would have lived…
But he can't keep thinking this. He has to focus on keeping himself alive now and keeping that promise to Leandro.
On his right he passes the door he thinks Sky went into and picks up his pace, not wanting to run into her because he is sure she will try to fight him. He keeps moving quickly as he reaches a staircase and contemplates the door across from it, but glances back at how close by Sky might be, and decides to keep moving. Part of it is wanting to be far away from her, but he also knows it's partially because he's terrified of finding a tribute inside one of the rooms…
He keeps moving until he passes another room on his right and stops in front of a door opposite another staircase. Davy wants to keep walking around, but if he keeps doing that, he'll just end up right where he was hiding before. And the more time he wastes walking around…the sooner the careers might come down here and he is just making himself an easy target for them.
Davy takes a deep breath as he stands in front of the door, terrified of who could maybe be on the other side of it. But one of the other tributes is better to face than a career, right…? At least he knows where the one tribute he knows will fight is hiding and can avoid her. Surely the others will hesitate to kill him…
Only one way to find out…
Davy puts a hand on the door knob and tightens his hold on his knife in the other hand. He glances back around him again for another moment, before opening the door and stepping inside, turning back around to watch as he closes the door to make sure he doesn't slam it shut. He slowly presses it back and feels the click as it sets into place, before letting out a sigh of relief. His shoulders relax for a brief second before realizing he didn't look around in the room.
Davy realizes this mistake a second too late as he feels the hot breath of something on the back of his neck.
Davy starts shaking in fear as he slowly turns around and his eyes widen as he realizes he is face to face with a very large wolf mutt that has its teeth bared at him, only inches away from him. But it's not the only one in the room, Davy can see that now from the corner of his eyes, but he refuses to break eye contact with the abnormal sized wolf in front of him. It will view that as him being prey, right? Or is that some other animal? Is he making it worse by staring it down? Is it going to view him as a challenge?
Does it even matter? It's a mutt. If the Gamemakers want it to attack, it will.
Davy starts crying as he stares at the wolf, trying his best to be brave as he presses back against the door, trying to get as far from it as possible. His hands start sweating and he tries to move his knife to his other hand to wipe the sweat off on his outfit, but the wolf snaps its teeth in his face at the movement and he lets out a noise of fear as he drops the knife.
"I-I do-don't want t-t-to hurt you," Davy gasps at the mutt, desperate for anything to make it not attack him. "I don't w-want to die," he sobs. He never should have left that crack in the wall. He was safe there. And now…now his life is completely up to the Gamemakers deciding if they want him to live or not. He can only hope he didn't do anything to upset them…and that they don't want to have another death so soon after the start of the Games…
As much as he wants to curl up into a ball and cry, he stands straight as the wolf starts sniffing his face, its muzzle brushing against his hair. He has to keep pretending to be brave, even though he might just wet his pants in fear any second now.
The wolf moves its head away from his face and stares at him for another moment with its teeth bared, before its mouth relaxes and it gently head butts his chest. Davy blinks through his tears for a few seconds, confused on just what is happening, before slowly lifting up a hand, letting the wolf carefully watch each movement and see what he is doing. It sniffs his hand before tilting its head, offering the back of its head for Davy to pet. He slowly touches the dense fur, repeatedly moving over its head while his heart continues to beat rapidly out of fear that the wolves still might turn on him at any moment.
After a minute of him petting the wolf – and realizing just how bizarre this whole thing is – it steps back from him and lets him have some space. He slowly takes a step into the room and can finally get a good look around at the space. Standing in the room are five wolf mutts, all standing at his height or taller. One stands guard over an item in the corner of the room, too far away for Davy to see what it is. But relief pours through him when he sees that there is a small fountain in the room with fresh water pouring through it. As long as they let him…he has one need taken care of. He'll still need to find food…but water is a bigger priority.
Before Davy can move further into the room, the wolf who stared him down – probably the alpha – nudges him on the arm and looks up at the ceiling. He follows its gaze as a hole opens and a silver canister drops down right in front of him, a 5 written on the side of it, making there be no doubt in his mind that this gift is for him.
Once again Davy can feel his eyes watering, but for the first time today, it's not out of fear for his life or pain of losing his allies and watching so much death. He can't help the tears of relief that someone out there cares enough about him to send him something. He doesn't care if it's the simplest item because someone from the Capitol is supporting him.
"Thank you, Letha," Davy says quietly – or he hopes he said it quietly – as he sits down on the floor in front of the canister. The alpha wolf sits down with him and curls up around him, resting its head in his lap. Davy carefully reaches around the wolf, not wanting to do anything that could make it change its mood, and gently opens up the canister. Sitting on top is a note that he takes out first, and his tears only come faster when he reads the scrawling handwriting that he recognizes right away.
'I'll be okay as long as you're okay – Leandro'
"I promise I'll stay okay," Davy says aloud as he holds the note to his chest for a moment before tucking it into his pocket and making sure he won't lose it. He is going to hold onto that note for as long as he lives. He doesn't care what else is in that canister, that note alone is enough for him to be reminded of how needs to be brave and do whatever it takes to win.
But he is curious what they sent him and so he reaches back inside, finding something that looks like a watch, but…not. Davy moves it around in his hands, trying to figure out what it could possibly be. "I'm confused- oh!"
Davy figures it out right away as he watches lights appear on the screen when he spoke, not quite filling the line of lights halfway. He snaps his fingers and watches as more lights appear at the sound before quickly disappearing. He hums for a few seconds and a couple lights appear continuously, and disappear when he stops. A smile forms on his face as he slips the device onto his wrist, and even just the sound of him doing that makes one light appear and also a slight buzz against his wrist.
Davy has no clue how much this hearing device must have cost… Yet someone wanted him to have it. Someone just gave him a huge advantage to fight the Quell twist.
Maybe he's going to be better than okay.
Genesis Barrett, 17, District Ten
As the adrenaline begins to wear off, Genesis starts to stumble over her feet as they keep running, all to get further from the careers. Exhaustion sets in quickly, yet she forces herself to keep moving, hearing Elias just behind her. She knows it was a risky choice to head up the stairs and staying outside, but she wants that vantage point. She wants to be able to see the careers approaching them.
But when she finally trips and lands hard on her knees, she doesn't feel the pain she knows she should feel. Elias cries out at her falling and she brings up a shaking hand to her mouth, motioning for him to stay quiet. Her hand drops down though as she doesn't have the strength to keep holding it up for too long. It's then that she realizes maybe she was hurt more than she thought. But how can she tell when she can't feel pain?
Genesis is starting to understand just how dangerous losing the sense of touch can be.
"Y-your back," Elias says quietly, unable to hold back tears as Genesis tries to sit up.
Genesis reaches around to her back, trying to figure out how badly she is hurt, and when her hands hit the arrow, she can feel pressure deep in her back from moving it. That is not good… "Elias…I need you to help me with this."
"I do not know what to do," Elias tells her and Genesis tries to keep her face calm, knowing from being around young kids that showing her fear over injuries will only make them react worse, and Elias will surely react like her siblings. "I…I have never treated a wound like this before."
Genesis stares at her ally for a moment, terrified that her life is in the hands of someone who doesn't even know basic first aid. But what can she do? She can't exactly leave an arrow sticking out of her back. And…she's trusted him up to this point. What's the point of having an ally if she isn't going to let him help her? "Okay look at what we have in the bag," Genesis tells him calmly as she pulls herself over to the wall to lean against it, needing the support to stay upright. A bead of sweat drips down into her eye and she brushes her arm against her forehead to wipe away the sweat.
Elias complies with what she told him and starts carefully taking out the items in their bag, but he only takes out a small water bottle that is full and a loaf of bread. "That is all that is in there…"
"That's okay," Genesis reassures him, but she feels far from that. The food and water is good…if she can live long enough to need it. She tries to think about what to do now, but her brain is all muddled from the blood she must have lost. "Okay…we need to remove this arrow."
Elias nods his head, staring at her intently and paying full attention to every word she says. "I can do that."
"And then…" Genesis says before leaning her head against the wall, struggling to keep her eyes open. "H-hand me the water."
Elias quickly passes her the bottle and her hands shake so badly as she uncaps it that she starts to spill some of it over onto her hands. Elias reaches out and puts his hands over hers, steading the bottle as she takes a sip. "I am worried…"
"It will be fine," Genesis says, telling that to both herself and Elias. But she's not fooling herself. Odyssey hit her well, just as anyone would expect a career to do. But at least he didn't hit her in a fatal spot. She might survive this, but an arrow to the head? Game over. She lets Elias take the water from her hands and shuts her eyes for a moment. "Once the arrow is out, you're going to need to put pressure on the wound to stop it from bleeding. And then…then we figure out some way to bandage it…"
Genesis opens her eyes when Elias doesn't respond right away, finding him sitting in front of her and shaking his head at her. "I do not…" Elias stops talking and wipes at the tears in his eyes as he takes a shaky breath. He shakes his head at himself before meeting Genesis' gaze once more. "I will do my best. I…am sorry I do not know what I am doing. But I will try to do what Cecy would do. She takes care of me…and I will take care of you."
Genesis slowly smiles at him and he smiles in return, before she nods her head at him. "I believe you…"
Elias nods his head a few times and stares at her for a few more seconds, before moving to sit behind her. Genesis braces herself for the pain of the arrow being removed, before realizing she shouldn't feel anything. This might be the only time she's grateful for this sense being taken away. "Do I just pull on it?"
"Yeah," Genesis says quietly, shutting her eyes once more as it becomes too much effort to hold them open. Elias starts tugging on the arrow, pulling her back and she starts shaking her head at him. "Put one hand on my back to stop me from moving."
"I am sorry," Elias tells her and Genesis just waves her hand a little, too weak to care. Elias slowly places a hand on her back and all she can feel is the pressure, which she is glad about. If she had more energy to spend, she would have felt embarrassed for him touching her back, not having ever had someone touch her like that before. But being in the arena with an arrow sticking out of her back has made her only feel a slight blush of embarrassment that quickly disappears when Elias gives a hard tug on her back.
Elias sets the arrow down on the ground and Genesis glances over at it, her eyes widening and her stomach turning when she sees how far up the arrow her blood goes. "You are bleeding, what do I do?" Elias asks, panic quickly filling his voice.
Genesis tries to keep herself calm, but it's hard to when she is staring at an arrow that was just embedded a few inches into her back. "Put pressure on it!"
"Okay!" Elias answers right away and puts both hands over the wound, nearly pushing her over from how hard he is pushing on her back.
Genesis reaches out and braces herself on the wall, but the world soon starts spinning around her. "I need to lay down," she gasps out before starting to slouch forward. Elias stops her from slamming into the ground and she leans her head against the cool stone as he resumes putting pressure on her wound. "Just keep…keep doing that for a while."
"How long is a while?" Elias asks her and Genesis turns her head to look over at him. His white toga is now stained with her blood, bringing a chill of terror down her spine when she sees how much is there. She looks up at his face and knows right away she can't let her fear show, not when he looks so terrified himself.
"Until it stops bleeding," Genesis whispers to him before shutting her eyes to hide her fear from him. They fall into silence as Elias keeps putting pressure on her wound and her mind starts to wander as she thinks about how serious this is. She very well could die from this wound… They don't have bandages or anything to keep out infection or stitch it up. No one from the Capitol is helping them… She had started to think maybe the Capitol wasn't all that bad, but being placed in the arena and getting hurt has backtracked all of that. If they were good, why would they let her suffer like this?
Her father must be right about them…but unlike back in Ten, he isn't here to keep her safe. All she has is Elias.
"Thank you," Genesis mumbles to him, realizing she never would have survived this if she didn't have him as an ally. She wouldn't have been able to get the arrow out on her own, and if she somehow managed to, she never would have stopped the bleeding. But now…now she has a chance of living. She opens her eyes to look at him, finding her vision blurry from tears. "For helping me."
"You are welcome," Elias tells her, smiling down at her. He starts to hum a song, a soothing melody, and Genesis shuts her eyes once more as she just listens to the song. She almost recognizes it, but can't quite put a name to it.
"What is that song?" Genesis asks him softly and he stops humming right away, causing her to look at him once more.
Elias takes his time answering her. "I do not know the name. Cecy sings it when she fixes my injuries."
"From the fighting?" Genesis asks him.
"Yes…" Elias says slowly to her and from the conversation with the President, she knows the pain those memories bring him. She reaches out and awkwardly puts a hand on his knee, trying to give him a bit of comfort in return. But he doesn't look sad right now as he thinks back to his life in Six. "Her singing makes me feel…calm…as she helps. I like when she does that so I thought you would too. But I can stop…"
"No, keep humming," Genesis says quickly, seeing him starting to look upset about her response. "It is helping… You're helping so much."
Elias nods his head slowly before resuming his humming, and Genesis shuts her eyes once more, happy that she has him with her. She really doesn't know what she would do without him in this arena.
She might just make it with his help.
Seraphim Lukianas, Head Gamemaker
When Seraphim slowly comes to and he squints up at the blinding lights above him, a face quickly blocks the lights. A face that is the last person he expected to see right now.
"Wh-what?" Seraphim asks in confusion as Zephyr helps him sit up. Seraphim rubs his eyes, part of him believing that he's still knocked out and this is some dream. There's no way that his boyfriend is actually in the Games Headquarters with him right now. Unless they moved him somewhere else – but no, Laelia is looking back at him in concern, standing in the spot where he usually is to direct the Gamemakers. "Did you-?"
Laelia shakes her head at this, looking very concerned about him and not making a comment about Zephyr like she normally would. "No, I didn't."
"I did."
Seraphim blinks as he looks over at the President of Panem sitting in a chair nearby, watching him with concern as Rosabella paces behind him. Seraphim quickly stands up with the help of Zephyr, feeling uncomfortable sitting on the ground in front of the President. The President leans closer to Seraphim, "When it's a matter of health and safety, the partner should be informed."
"Thank you," Seraphim says quietly to him as Zephyr puts a hand on his shoulder and gives it a squeeze.
"But please don't pass out again," Zephyr tells him, his joking tone unable to mask the fear in his eyes. "Scared me half to death."
"I'll try not to," Seraphim answers as he puts a hand over Zephyr's, giving him a reassuring smile for a moment before turning back to the President and sighing. "But I'm guessing things aren't good if you are in here."
"The Games are running smoothly," President Xavier tells him and relief pours through Seraphim. "Miss Hyperion has done an excellent job stepping into your shoes and keeping things running."
"What did I miss? Did anyone die? Are we still on track for the arena event?" Seraphim asks quickly, looking between Laelia and the President. "And just how long was I out for?"
"Laelia will fill you in later," President Xavier answers and Seraphim looks at Laelia, wanting to know but also knowing he can't go against the President. "You've been out for a couple hours. And there are things that have happened that we need to discuss."
"Adam," Seraphim whispers and President Xavier nods his head. "Is my mom safe?"
"Theodosius is with Tara and Cain and has promised nothing will happen to them," President Xavier tries to reassure him, but Seraphim isn't going to stop worrying about his mother until he knows the rebel threat is done. "We have not found Adam yet…there's no clue about where they have taken him since his tracker has been destroyed."
Seraphim can feel the blood drain from his face at the realization of what the might mean for Adam. "But the trackers aren't just for knowing their location…"
President Xavier sighs at this and Seraphim looks around to see everyone else looking sad so they must have realized this already. "It's a sad consequence, but if he is alive, that is what matters at this point and when we get him back, we can try to figure something out."
"You said when…"
"I did," President Xavier nods. "Luciano is hopeful that they can find out what happened. They are heading out to Seven and are willing to compromise their position as a double agent to negotiate with them."
"We should probably try contacting them again," Rosabella speaks up and President Xavier nods his head in agreement.
"Indeed," he responds before standing up. "I'll keep you up to date if there is a major change but for now, please focus on the Games. Consider no news as good news."
"Okay," Seraphim says slowly, not sure if he'll be able to focus only on the Games. Not when his mother is at risk. The President nods at him before he heads out with Rosabella, and Seraphim watches the door close before turning to look at Zephyr and Laelia. "What has happened?"
"Uh, not too much in the arena," Laelia tells him, glancing over at the screens of the tributes. "No deaths, but Genesis is still at risk. If she survives the night, she'll have a lot higher chance of living. Careers have gone out but didn't find anyone yet. Amelia and Fox are now allies. Davy has found and befriended the wolves as per our discussion that whoever found the animals first would be allowed to stay with them, excluding Holly. And also, I didn't want to see him get mauled to death by a wolf mutt."
"How nice of you," Seraphim mutters sarcastically and Zephyr snorts next to him. He clears his throat when Laelia pouts at him, "Kidding, that was the right call. We can wait with other deaths right now and I'm sure the crowd likes it."
"Oh they do," Laelia nods her head. "He even got a sense item."
"Ah, so someone paid that hefty price," Seraphim raises an eyebrow at this as he had been unsure of anyone paying for one of the five items. "What about the other tributes? Anything notable?"
Laelia shakes her head at him. "Nope. All the others have stayed in the same spot."
"Good, I didn't miss out on too much."
"Oh you should probably go talk to Stefan," Laelia says to Seraphim casually and when he raises his eyebrows at her, she looks down at her hands. "He uh…came here after the bloodbath and tried to come in so he could ask 'what that fucking bullshit was'. His words, not mine."
Seraphim sighs loudly at this, honestly not that surprised by Stefan acting that way, and Zephyr laughs as he hugs Seraphim. "I can go handle him. You have your job to do."
"Thank you," Seraphim whispers to him and Zephyr leans over to give him a kiss on the cheek, making the Head Gamemaker start blushing immediately because he still isn't used to this happening. "He's just concerned about Adam…"
"I know," Zephyr tells him. "Trust me, I know more than you know what it's like being a mentor. Just focus on getting through these Games. I need you to stay safe, okay?"
"I'm going to," Seraphim reassures him, and also himself. Everything will be fine…right? Yet he finds himself rubbing the spot on his arm, all too aware of how things could go wrong. Hopefully Adam will be the last thing that goes wrong… But somehow, he doubts it will be. Not until the rebels get what they want.
He only hopes that doesn't include the death of him and his loved ones.
There we have Day One! Just a bit of calm after the bloodbath happened, but still lots of exciting things. We have our first sense item sponsored and there are still four more up for grabs! I wouldn't wait too long if you're thinking about it because things are going to kick into high gear...
So we have a look at some of the tributes! Do you think Amelia and Fox will work well together? Which pair in the career buddy system will be the most dysfunctional? Will Genesis survive her injury? And what was the item in the room with Davy that the wolves are guarding?
And of course, we had a little subplot update too... What could be the consequence with Adam?
Sponsoring is still open so get those items in! Also on my profile I have a poll up about who you think will be the victor. This is for me to judge who is the front runners from the audience perspective so please vote!
I will see you all hopefully soon with Night One!