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.
And, I just realized how short most of my other chapters are. This one is a bit longer.
A thump, a crash, a harsh curse. These were the things that woke Wiress up. The sun was starting to rise, already the landscape was staring to take form. She looked over towards the source of the noise, and saw her ally dragging items around, making piles.
"Is there anything I can help with?" Wiress sat up, rubbing her eyes. Aspen's head whipped over to look at her.
"Ah… I'm sorry I woke you. Now that the sun's rising, I figured I'd start sorting through supplies." The girl from 7 actually looked a bit sheepish. Would wonders never cease?
Wiress stood up and stretched. "Well, I guess that is something I could help with."
"After breakfast." Aspen tossed her a ration package.
Wiress opened the package, and nibbled on the dried, bland contents while surveying the piles of goods. "Do we have any sort of a plan?"
Her partner sighed, and ran a hand through her short, black hair. "The strongest remaining tributes know that we're here. And there's always a chance that some of the weaker tributes may get desperate enough to form their own alliance and try to take this place. There's only two of us keeping guard… we're at a disadvantage. This place, and the items here, are a prime target for attack. And I don't like the idea of spending the rest of the games worrying about trying to fight off people. Especially not 2 and 4."
Wiress let out a snort of laughter. "Me neither. And there were no new cannons last night… so there's still eleven people in the game. I guess whatever bit the girl from 4 wasn't poisonous."
"Bit? I heard someone screaming about something, but I don't know what it was." Aspen smirked. "I was planning to stab first and ask questions later."
Crumpling up the empty ration package, Wiress started sorting through supplies, and putting them in the piles that Aspen had already started. "2 and 4 crawled past me last night as they were heading to attack… and then ran past me as they retreated. The girl from 4 was saying that something bit her. Well…" Wiress grabbed a water bottle, heard a splooshing noise. "Ooh… water!" She looked at her partner. "May I?"
"Yeah, of course. We'll just have to be careful with the resources we consume. But… continue."
Wiress gulped a mouthful of water. "She didn't say what had bitten her… based on the terrain, I'm guessing a spider, snake or scorpion. But, since there was no cannon, I'm assuming it wasn't venomous."
A cannon suddenly sounded in the distance. Both girls looked up in surprise. After a moment, 7 chuckled. "Well, it that was for Girl 4, that would be a stroke of good luck. Somehow, I doubt it. We'll find out who that was tonight. The bottom line is, 3 and 8 are the only districts that still have both tributes on the ground. As far as strength is concerned, the toughest candidates are 2, 4, me, and maybe that kid from 10. I've been trying to think of a way to hold this place, but it doesn't seem very defensible to me…"
"Defendable," Wiress corrected. She concentrated on bundling foodstuffs together, and didn't look up until she noticed the silence dragging on. Then she saw her partner looking at her in disbelief. "Defensible generally refers to a course of action or concept…" she explained. "Defendable is used to describe a physical area."
Aspen rolled her eyes. "I know you're smart, and it's a trait I find useful. But how about you focus your brains on things that will save our lives, and not worry about my vocabulary?" Wiress blushed, and Aspen shot her a wry smile.
"Come on, Three. Let's work on our plan. Can you think of a way of defending this place? I've put all of the electronic-looking things over in that pile."
Wiress took a few minutes to sift through the pile, then shook her head. "There are some things that would be useful if we had a power source… but nothing that is immediately helpful. I'll take a few of these with me, anyways… they may become useful later. And based on what other supplies we have… I can't think of a way to set up any traps or anything useful. I'm sorry, I can't think of anything that will protect us if we stay here."
"Don't worry, Three. I figured we'd have to go on the move sooner or later."
"Oh, my name is Wir…"
"Names don't matter here," Aspen cut her off, and turned from her. "Nothing personal, Three. We're allies now, but that doesn't change the fact that only one of us goes home. If one of us doesn't die first, then we just end up planning to kill the other."
Wiress hung her head, and choked back her pain. Her partner had a point… Wiress couldn't be angry or hurt at the girl for not wanting to get attached. This was just a stark reminder of the terrible situation they were all in. "Right. Sorry…"
"Weapons… light ones. You should be able to handle these." Aspen laid out a sword, a couple of daggers, a long, sheathed knife, and a belt. "The sword will give you reach, but will be difficult to manoeuvre. If you find yourself in a closed-quarters fight, try to remember to go for the daggers or knife." She motioned back to the pile. "There's a bow and arrow in there… can you shoot?"
Wiress shook her head, and grabbed the weapons on the ground.
"Yeah… somehow I didn't think so. Neither can I. But one of the others may be able to… I suggest we destroy the bow and arrows. We should carry as much food and water as we can, blankets, containers, and I'll load up on some weapons. Whatever we take will be better than what anyone else has."
"I just remembered… the boy from 2 has a knife. And they were talking about making wooden spears as weapons." Wiress struggled to deal with her own weapons as she talked.
"Good to know." Aspen walked up to her. "Belt on first," she looped the leather around Wiress' waist. "The sheath clips on like this… daggers slide in here."
They worked for the rest of the morning in silence, sifting through all of the items at the Cornucopia. Everything they couldn't use got placed in a low, wide pile… weapons that they couldn't carry were smashed with large rocks, and made useless. Then the pile was set on fire.
"We've got enough food and water to last for a few days," Wiress calculated. "If we find more food and water along the way, we should take advantage of that. But I didn't find anything yesterday in the oasis."
"Good. I'm thinking we should avoid the oasis, anyways. Everyone's in there, and there are more places for 2 and 4 to hide. I'm guessing that's where they ran back to after their failed ambush."
"That's likely…" Wiress was hesitant. The oasis did look so inviting. "That's probably where most of the remaining tributes are. I ran there yesterday, because that seemed the best choice for shelter and provisions. That, and it meant running away from the Cornucopia. Hiding in the hills meant I would have had to run past the Cornucopia."
"And someone probably would have gotten you. I say we head for the rocky hills, and go from there. Stay away from other tributes… for now. If they want to get us, they're more than welcome to leave the oasis and come looking for us." Aspen settled her backpack on her shoulders, and started heading to the north.
"W… would you have gotten me?" Wiress asked tentatively. She wasn't sure she wanted to hear the answer.
"Honestly, I had other things to worry about. Not to mention a few people who were actually trying to kill me. I don't think I would have worried too much about someone who was running away from me. Can't speak for the others, though. Once some of them had given up on trying to take the Cornucopia, they started killing the stragglers."
"So… you didn't kill all of those tributes yesterday?" Aspen just scoffed and shook her head. "Well, how many did you get?"
"Um… two or three? Maybe? Or maybe a couple more than that…" she wiped a bead of sweat off her forehead.
Wiress' eyes widened in disbelief. "You don't actually know how many people you killed?! How is that even possible?" She shrank away as Aspen glared at her.
"Look, you got off easy yesterday. All you had to do was run, and it saved your life. Got you to this point. How many people did you run past? How far did you run? Do you even know?" There was no answer. "Once I got my hands on weapons, I didn't have a chance to look around and see what was happening… I didn't get to stop and think. I just acted. I just stabbed and sliced and hacked anything that came near me. It's all a hectic, bloody blur. Sure, I killed a couple of people outright. I know for sure that I'm the one who got the girl from District 1. And I think I injured a few people… don't know who, and maybe that was enough for somebody else to finish them off. And that's what worked for me. That's what got me to this point."
"I'm sorry," Wiress mumbled. Tears pricked at her eyes. "I can't imagine…"
A scream rang out… the girls looked towards the oasis. Another cannon.
"I don't enjoy killing people," Aspen continued. "Some of the careers actually seemed excited about being able to go into the arena… to fight and hunt people. I'll do it because it's my best chance of getting home… but I'll never enjoy it."
Long, silent moments passed. "I don't know if I can kill anyone," Wiress confessed. "I… just don't. I'm not strong, I know I can't fight. Even if I could… I don't know how I could kill someone."
"Well, lucky for us, that's my contribution to this alliance," Aspen said wryly
"How… how did you get past all of those people? How did you get past the careers?" That question had been burning in her mind ever since she had learned that one person had come out on top of the bloodbath.
"Hah! Years of jacker-dodging have come in real handy." Wiress just looked confused. "What… don't you know what jacker-dodging is?"
"I can't say I've ever heard of it. I deal with electronics… I don't do much dodging."
"Right… of course." Aspen chuckled. "Well, as you know, District 7 is the lumber district. Lots of trees… and tracker jackers love the trees for building their nests. They especially like mahogany trees… well, mahogany wood is one of our main, luxury exports."
"Oooh… that must be problematic!"
Aspen continued. "Well, we have ways of dealing with that. Machines to blow smoke at the nests, fast-acting pesticides that basically kill tracker jackers mid-flight. The thing is, in order to use these things, we have to get the nest on the ground. Best way is to throw heavy, rounded rocks at them. If you hit a nest just right, the whole thing falls and people on the ground can douse the angry 'jackers with the pesticide."
"Isn't that dangerous?! What if you get stung?"
The other girl shrugged. "One sting hurts like mad, might leave you a bit brain-addled for a few hours, but it's usually not going to kill a person. Now, if they get you in a swarm… then you're probably dead. Besides, the point of jacker-dodging is not to get stung at all. You take your stone, throw it at the nest and then run like mad! A really good jacker-dodger can actually run, throw their stone, knock down the nest and not break their stride, and then run on and get another nest. And I've actually gotten pretty good at it."
"But how does that help in the arena?" They had reached the rocky, hilly portion of the desert, and now had to climb the difficult terrain. Wiress marvelled at how her ally could manage the task and still talk.
"Pelting the other tributes with rocks threw them off balance, and it messed up their game. It gave me an opportunity, so I took it. I got to the weapons first, and I can fight a bit… and the training I took before the Games really helped. Thankfully, it all worked out well."
"I'll never get an opportunity like that," Wiress lamented. Then she hastily looked up at Aspen. "But… well… I guess I did get a pretty good opportunity of a different sort. I just wish… I wish…"
"That we weren't here?" the older girl scoffed. "Don't we all?"
"Well… that too. But I was going to say I wish I had a skill like that. All I know is how to wire things and put electronics together. Well, and I like to run."
"Patience, a steady hand, analytical skills. Yeah… too bad those won't come in handy in the Games." Aspen's voice was dripping with sarcasm. "You've got skills, Three. Not the same as me, but skills nonetheless. You just have to figure out how to use them to your ad… OW!" She gasped and hastily shuffled backwards. "Damn! Damnit, damnit…" Aspen grabbed her sword and glared at the place she had just been crawling.
"What happened?" Wiress fumbled with her belt, struggling to pull out her sword.
"I put my hand down, and a big, black scorpion came out and got me." Aspen put her hand to her mouth, sucked on the wound, then spat. "Damn!"
"Are you okay?" She twisted around as she tried to get her sword.
"Eh… doesn't hurt as much as a tracker jacker sting… still, I'm kinda worried. What if that thing was poisonous?"
"Well, we learned last night that not everything here is venomous…"
"What are you doing?" Aspen's head was tilted, and she was frowning at the other girl. "Are you trying to use your sword to protect me?"
Wiress flushed, looking around. She stopped flailing and put her hands down. "Well, something was happening! I thought I might need to defend us." She bristled as her partner burst out laughing. "Well, I tried to help."
Minutes went by, and still the laughter continued. Finally, the laughter died down, and Aspen stood up.
"Thanks for trying, Three. Maybe next time, you should try going for a dagger. Hm… thirsty." She pulled out a water bottle, drank, and then handed it to Wiress. "And when we find a spot to rest, I'm going to get you to practice unsheathing your sword."
Darkness fell, and once again, the anthem played. The boy from 6 and the boy from 10 had their pictures in the sky.
"Huh… a pity 4 isn't up there. Well, and a good thing I'm not up there. A day that we're still alive is a good day in my books."
Wiress stretched and looked to the sky. "I'll have to agree with you there. How is your hand?"
"Cold, like the rest of me. Other than that, I'm good. So, Three, do you have any ideas on how to protect ourselves from critters while we sleep?"
She looked around. "Normally, I'd suggest smoke from a fire… but given the circumstances, starting a fire doesn't seem very logical."
"Mmm… not if we want to survive. We might as well make a big bulls eye around us as we slept."
Wiress sighed. "The bugs in the oasis were annoying, but at least I didn't have to worry about being stung to death. And they weren't even a problem once I found that plant… oh!" She reached into her blood-stained backpack and pulled out a handful of leaves. They were still rather fresh.
"What is that?" Aspen scrunched her brow.
"I don't know what kind of plant it is… but I had rubbed crushed leaves all over myself, and the bugs left me alone after that. I wonder if it will work for the scorpions." She crushed some leaves and rubbed them over her body.
"Oh… I'd wondered what that smell was." Wiress' head shot up. Amber shrugged apologetically. "Look, I didn't want to say anything, but almost ever since I met you at the Cornucopia, I thought you smelled kinda funny. Now I know it's the leaves."
"Well, it's worked for me," Wiress huffed.
"Yep, and I'm not going to argue with success. It was smart of you to figure that out. May I have some of those leaves?" Still fuming, Wiress placed some leaves into her partner's outstretched hand.
"There. Now we both smell kinda funny." No response. "Look, Three," the older girl sighed. "I'm not teasing you, I'm not trying to make fun of you. I'm sorry I mentioned anything about the smell."
"No, that's fine. Not only am I useless, I'm smelly. And I'm terrible with a sword." She laid out her bedroll and crawled inside.
"The leaves are smelly… you're the one who still saw their value and brought them with you. Yeah, you're terrible with a sword. You've said it yourself, you're not a fighter. And I'm sorry I laughed at you for trying. As for being useless… you know that's not true. You're watching my back, and your brains are definitely handy." Wiress heard a second bedroll being placed on the ground. "Of all of the people that are left, you're the first one I would choose to have on my side. Honestly."
She turned her back. "Why are you being encouraging? You know how this is going to end."
"I'm sorry… would you rather I say 'Muahahaha! I'm probably going to kill you!'"
Wiress sat up, glared at Aspen as she crouched over to straighten her bedroll. "That's not funny!"
"Look," Aspen sighed. "Yeah, I know that only one person goes home. Best case scenario for this alliance? It's down to you and me, and one of us kills the other. And, yeah, I've got a better chance in a physical fight. And that's the best case scenario. Something could happen to one of us… heck, that scorpion could have killed me. Something else could happen to me, and then you'll be on your own. And I still think you'd have a decent shot against a lot of the tributes because of your intelligence. Heck, you've even got the rest of the games to plan out how you're going to deal with me."
"I don't want to think about that," Wiress whispered.
"Well, do yourself a favour, Three. Start thinking about it. Start planning things… even if they're horrible things. Start planning to be the winner of this game. 'Cause, even though I've gotten to appreciate having you around, I'll still kill you when it comes down to it. Sure, I'll feel bad about it. But I want to be the one who gets to go home. And I won't apologise for that." She dusted off her pants, and then slithered into her sleeping roll.
Wiress cleared her throat. "I'm sorry I snapped at you."
"I'm sorry I laughed at you with the sword, Three. I just couldn't help it… that was one of the funniest things I've seen in a long time."
Wiress chuckled. "I hope I provided some entertainment for the folks back home."
"I bet they loved it. The Hunger Games may be the big entertainment event of the year, but don't usually offer many laughs."
"Well, I knew I could never hope to be seen as impressively dangerous. I guess I'll just have to make do with being pathetically endearing."
"Hey, don't knock it, Three. Work with what you've got." A few silent moments passed. "You know, if the guys back home are watching now, they're probably placing 'Will they' bets."
Wiress turned back to face Aspen. "What bets?"
"District 3 doesn't have 'Will they' bets, either?"
"Um… not that I've heard of," Wires confessed.
"Well, when you throw a bunch of teenagers into a closed quarters, with a lot of adrenaline and stress, it does funny things to emotions. I'm sure you've seen that before in Games."
"Oh, yes. Sometimes causing misplaced feelings of heightened sexual tension or romance."
"Ah… right. Well, whenever older tributes form an alliance, or are thrown together for long periods, some of the guys back home in 7 start placing 'Will they' bets. You know… 'will they do something together'?" Aspen explained.
"Oh, so they're betting on Athens and Corral? From the way he talks to her, I'd say the safe bet is 'no'."
"Well, I'll take your word on that one. But I'm pretty sure they're not just betting on those two."
Wiress frowned. "Well, who else is there? Some of the other tributes are pretty young… I don't know of any alliances out there. Well, other than us… but we're both girls. They can't bet on us." She heard laughter in the darkness. "Can they?" More laughter. "Are they?!"
"Sorry, Three. I didn't mean to make you panic. I was just thinking out loud about home. Sorry. Let's get some sleep."
"I know you can't see my face, but imagine I have a very concerned look right now."
Aspen sighed. "Yes, they will bet on girls. If anything, that just makes the show a little more exciting for them. But don't worry."
Wiress sat up. "I formally request to amend the terms of our alliance. Your word that I will not be killed, kissed, or otherwise molested as long as there are any other tributes. No! Wait! Poor wording. Your word that there will be no kissing or molesting, under any circumstances. "
"My word… yes. Agreed. It wasn't going to happen, anyways, I was just talking. Now calm down, lay down, and go to sleep."
Wiress still kept one eye open until she was certain her ally was asleep.