For Survival's Sake

Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games or any of the characters. The character of Wiress intrigued me… it made me wonder as to the circumstances under which she survived her first Hunger Games.

Slap! Slap! "Argh!" Slap!

Bugs. Flying, biting, annoying bugs. The leafy, shaded areas of the oasis were full of them. This was an unknown factor… not considered into my decision making. Slap! Slap! Still… better than death.

It had been hours since she had stopped running. Her legs were sore from the exertion, and now she was laboriously making her way through the dense foliage. She yearned to rest, but knew that she couldn't. Not yet.

Mouth dry and cottony… she was thirsty. Thirst was currently an annoyance… but would soon become deadly.

Slap! Slap! She flailed her hands in a futile attempt to shoo the bugs away. Wait… are these venomous? No… doubtful. If so, they would have killed me already. … Probably.

In spite of her current discomfort, she was quite glad to be alive. Still… the insatiably curious part of her wished she could have seen what happened at the Cornucopia. She had no idea how many cannons had gone off… how many tributes had died. She'd heard two cannons in the last few hours, but had no idea who had died, and who she was still up against.

And a very large part of her wanted to know.

Then she heard loud rustling sounds, as leaves were pushed aside and branches snapped. She crouched down quickly, hoping that the tree trunks and the low-growing shrubs would conceal her. More commotion and pounding footsteps… and then a terrified young boy came into view. Sweat dripping down his face, his chest heaved as he gasped for air. He turned his head to glance behind him… and that was when he tripped.

As he sprawled to the ground and cried out in pain, two older tributes came into view, and caught up with him.

"Aw, running away?" the girl mocked. "What, couldn't find any rocks?" Her male companion just snickered. "Maybe your friend should have shared some of her tricks with you. You're from the same district, but she couldn't bother to help you? How sad!"

"I don't know her! I've never met her before the reaping! But… but…," the fallen boy's eyes darted around desperately. "We can help each other! I could… I could…"

"If we wanted a coward on our team, we would have gotten one of the kids from District 3," the male tribute sneered. He reached out and grabbed his prey by the throat. "Don't worry… I found a knife in my backpack. This is gonna be pretty quick for you."

Still crouched in her hiding spot, the girl clasped her hands over her mouth and clenched her eyes shut. I can't watch this! I can't watch! She hoped she wouldn't gasp and give herself away. She hoped her heart wasn't beating too loudly… that she wasn't trembling too much. She hoped that she wouldn't be seen.

She desperately wished that she was back home, safely watching the Hunger Games from a distance.

A cannon sounded. A girl laughed cruelly.

"Can you imagine, Athens? If we had become 'Team Coward'? We could have recruited that girl from District 3..." the hidden tribute stiffened. "Did you see how she ran? What was her name, anyways? Weirdness? Something like that?"

Coward… yes. But I'm also still alive!

"Quiet, Corral." The girl scowled, but obeyed. "What the hell happened back there? Why the hell are we stomping through the woods instead of sorting through supplies at the Cornucopia?"

Technically, these don't qualify as woods. A common mistake, as there are many trees, but woods are generally characterized…

Wiress' mind froze as the male tribute turned around, almost looked directly at her hiding spot. "I saw that girl from 7 take down Splendor and Marlin. I haven't seen Dusk around, don't know if she's hiding somewhere or dead." Athens turned his dark brown eyes to the sky. "I guess we'll find out for sure tonight. Dusk's probably not strong enough to get into a one-on-one battle with that girl… especially without a weapon. But she's probably stupid enough to try."

"Yeah, I figured she'd get killed by stupidity. I'd be kinda surprised if it happened so soon." Corral knelt down by the dead tribute's body.

"He's dead, Corral."

"I'm looking for supplies. Maybe he picked up something we could use."

"Unless it's water, I don't care much." Athens scratched his head, his fingers rasping against the short, bristle of his hair. "Seriously, though. How did the girl from 7 get the drop on us?"

"Well, she was ranked as an 8. I guess we shoulda figured she had something going for her, but, this?" Corral let out a whistle. "I think she was seriously under ranked." She pulled something out of the dead boy's pocket. "Hm… matches." After a quick examination, the matches ended up in Corral's pocket. "Look, she had a weird plan, and it happened to work. It threw people off, and that gave her just the edge she needed to get to the weapons first. After that… well… we saw that she can fight, too."

The young man glared at his partner. "Thanks for that assessment. And now she has almost everything. She's smart, she can fight, and now she has the Cornucopia."

"Still… there's only one of her, and two of us. Little miss lumberjack has no allies, and she's got to sleep sometime…" She stood up with a cruel smile on her face. "Let's pay her a visit tonight."

"She'll be expecting it."

"It's been a long day, she'll be tired. Better to hit her now than when she's had a chance to rest. Better to hit her now than after we've wandered around for a few days with no food and water. Better to hit her now, while there's still two of us."

Athens examined his knife. "We'll get branches, make wooden spears. Long ones. She'll have better weapons, but we'll have better reach. If we can't outfight her, then I can keep her busy while you sneak in and burn the supplies."

Corral's grin widened, she got an excited glint in her eyes. "Sounds like a plan to me."

As they headed off, Wiress was very relieved to see that they were walking in the opposite direction from where she was crouched, hidden. They slapped at themselves as they walked.

I guess the bugs are getting to them, too, Wiress thought. Too bad those particular ones aren't venomous.

Then her eyes widened in realisation. She hadn't had to slap herself for the past little bit. In fact… since she had run to seek cover. She could see bugs flitting about, looking for something to bite, but they weren't coming to bite her. In fact… the bugs were avoiding her area.

Looking around, Wiress could see nothing special about that area. No force fields, no electronic hum, no sign of a boundary. So why weren't the bugs coming here?

She broke off a branch of the shrub she was hiding in, and extended it towards a small swarm of bugs. They swarmed around the branch briefly, and then moved. She stood up, and waved the branch towards another swarm. Same result.

She hastily ripped leaves off of the plant, crushed them in her hands and rubbed them over her exposed hands and arms. As she extended her bare and biteable flesh towards the bugs, they were instantly repelled.

"Ha!" She clasped her hands over her mouth and then glanced around in fear. No one seemed to hear her. "Ha ha ha ha!" she whispered triumphantly. Ripping more leaves from the branches, she rubbed them over her legs, face, in her hair…on every bit of exposed skin and, for good measure, on her clothes. Stepping out from the safety of the shrubbery, Wiress sighed in contentment. Relief! Peace! The bugs were leaving her alone!

It would be a good idea to take more of the leaves, to reapply as required. But how to carry them?

Her eyes fell on the fallen tribute… the boy from District 7. A backpack had been left beside his body. Wiress swallowed, and pushed aside all of her civilized sensibilities. Stealing from the dead was repulsive, and, dear goodness, the backpack had blood on it. Still… it would solve her current dilemma.

Corral and Athens had taken everything of value from the backpack… besides an empty water bottle. Still, she now had more than what she had started out with. And, before long, Wiress filled up the pack with fresh, green leaves.

Wait! Are these poisonous?! Years of watching the Hunger Games had taught her that the Gamemakers could be cruelly tricky… and that seemingly innocuous items could prove to be deadly. Still… she was alive. She hadn't gotten any in her mouth. She would have to wash her hands well before she ate anything.

A small, frustrated laugh escaped her lips. Eat what? And wash her hands with what, exactly? She hadn't found food, she hadn't found water. The only thing she had found was a natural bug repellent! Nice to have, but pretty useless at keeping her alive.

Water was the first priority, food the second. And whoever was at the Cornucopia probably had plenty of both…

And is alone. Wiress sat down to rest, and to think. One person reportedly holds the Cornucopia… one person who has fended off, even killed, many of the most favoured tributes. This person is reportedly smart and strong… but cannot see and hear everything. Especially if distracted by two other tributes…

Alone in the oasis, Wiress planned and waited for the cover of nightfall.