Know Your Enemy - Chapter 6
Peeta awoke with a start, sweat sticking his clothes to his body unpleasantly. His eyes blearily took in the early morning sunlight streaming in from the window. It was the morning of the Games already.
He got out of bed quickly, not wanting to waste a single moment of the precious time he had left. For all he knew, he could never see a sunrise again. At the thought of this, he practically ran into the breakfast room where food was only just being lain down. Effie sat there, prim and proper as ever, conversing with an Avox until she noticed Peeta. Stopping mid-sentence, she gave him a sad smile, gesturing him over. Without hesitation, he ran to her and hugged her tightly.
He could feel himself shaking, so he breathed deeply in attempt to stop it. Effie stroked his hair and shushed him, treating him like a little boy. He didn't mind. He could use a little affection before he was thrown into an arena to fight to the death. He gulped and tears threatened to spill out of his wide eyes, blown open with the fear he was feeling.
"Effie, I'm so scared," he muttered, letting her pull him closer, cuddle him tighter. "I… I don't want to do it. I can't, I-"
He choked back a sob and she shushed him, pushing him back slightly so that she could look him in the eyes, taking his chin into her hands. "Peeta, you can. You can do this, I know that you can. You just have to believe in yourself, mister." Smiling at him, she ruffled his hair. Peeta could tell she was keeping her emotions in check in an attempt to make him feel a little better. The thought touched him, and he tried to calm down for her sake, repeating the words 'I can do it' in his head like a mantra. He was just trying to make himself believe it.
After a couple of minutes, he disentangled himself from Effie's arms and offered her a smile. "Thanks Effie." He couldn't deny that he felt slightly better, but nerves were twisting and cutting into his gut like sharp weaponry. The reality remained that in a couple of hours, the sharp stabs of pain in his stomach could well be from real blades, not just metaphorical ones.
Shaking his head to rid himself of these thoughts, he began to scour the dishes in front of him in search of something he could eat for breakfast. He felt sick, but knew that he could only work well with a full stomach - if he didn't get in with the Careers for whatever reason, it might be a while before he got another proper meal.
With this thought in mind, he sat down and began to load up his plate. Effie smiled at him again with another touch of sadness then started to babble to him about the grandeur of the foods on offer: trying her best in her own ditzy way to comfort him.
Effie couldn't accompany him to the hovercraft, so he had to say goodbye to her before he was sent to see Haymitch. They embraced tightly once more.
"Good luck, Peeta." She smiled at him, pretending to be cheerful but there were tears sparkling in her eyes and the trill in her voice was ringing a little flat. "Thank you for being the best tribute I've ever had the pleasure to accompany." The arms around his shoulders held onto him tightly, as if she were reluctant to ever let him go. "Now!" She wiped her eyes and asserted herself. "You wouldn't want to be late now would you?" She ushered him toward the door.
"No, we simply couldn't have that!" Peeta rolled his eyes affectionately. "Good-bye Effie."
"Good luck, Peeta. I'll see you after the Games." Effie quipped and smiled at him widely one last time. Then she stood on the other side of the doorframe, waving to him as the wooden door between them gently swung shut, closing the bridge between their two worlds all-too suddenly.
Even Haymitch was slightly sentimental when they parted, offering him a gruff "You'll be fine, boy," before enveloping Peeta into his arms for a brief hug. When they pulled away from each other, his mentor's eyes were definitely a little redder and his tone was a lot more urgent.
"Just remember everything that I told you, and keep in mind that you haven't had any acceptance off them yet. If it seems like they're not going to give it, run like hell. You haven't got any other choice. Sure, stick around for a few minutes, but no longer than that, okay? Oh, and if you're ever desperate for an ally, Katniss wouldn't a bad choice. I know that is worst-case scenario, but she could get you food - it would be an easy alliance, at least."
"But the Careers might accept me yet."
"That's right, kid." He inhaled deeply, steadying his shaky breaths. "Good luck."
Peeta found it hard to part from him with anything other than an uneasy smile, but there was no time like the present to practice his confidence. After all, he was only a few steps away from the hovercraft that contained all of the other tributes. "I'm sure I'll be fine."
He smiled at Haymitch a little more readily this time, setting a mask upon himself to cover up quite how terrified he was. He patted the older on the arm affectionately, who in turn did the same to him. "Thanks for being a brilliant mentor."
Haymitch smiled at that. "Thanks for being a tribute I actually could mentor."
They both exchanged a small laugh and, with that, Peeta walked away. He had to force himself to stand straight, chin up, like he wasn't afraid of anything. He couldn't look back. He wouldn't.
Peeta gulped, swallowing his fears as he walked over to the hovercraft, making an effort to straighten out his knees so they weren't knocking together. When he began his assent of the metal stairs that lead up and into it, he noticed the only empty seat was sat next to Cato. Of course it was, that was just his luck. This made him somehow more nervous than ever - he had never had this much of a hard time trying to mask his feelings.
He walked over casually and sat down without making eye contact with anyone. He wanted to put his head in his hands, cry and scream all at the same time but instead he held it together as the Capitol assistants milled around, injecting something in their arms. Katniss asked what they were, sounding worried. Trackers. So the Capitol could always have their eyes on them. Well, they wouldn't want to lose a tribute, would they?
He lifted his head to stare at the other tributes. Now was not the time to show his weakness in facing them. He felt Cato's eyes on him before he saw them, and when he met them Cato simply made a face as if Peeta wasn't even good enough for him to pay attention to and turned away. He was now trying to intimidate him in a totally different way, and Peeta had to admit this way was probably more effective.
Cato knew that he was completely reliant on allying with the Careers. They were his best bet for survival and, no matter what alternate solutions Haymitch had offered up, Peeta wasn't prepared to accept them. None of them would work. The more he thought about this, the more he felt his palms begin to sweat. He took great care to ensure nobody saw him wipe them on his pants.
At least the other tributes looked just as worried as he did, except for the Careers, of course. Glimmer was giggling away at some joke Marvel cracked, and Cato was oozing self-confidence. Clove caught his eye as he turned to assess her. They both looked at each other for a while before she nodded imperceptibly, after checking to see if Cato was looking. When she saw he wasn't, she mouthed "Allies?" at him.
Peeta couldn't believe it. She was asking him to be part of the career pack: he felt dizzy and light-headed with gratitude and relief, even if Cato clearly was either not in on this arrangement or didn't agree with it. He nodded sharply and enthusiastically. Maybe a bit too enthusiastically, he chided himself, as Clove turned away and grinned out of the window.
Portia had become a friend to him in the Capitol, probably because Peeta didn't have the same qualms as Katniss when it came to people from the Capitol being 'evil'. It's not like it was their fault they were all so shallow headed - it was just the way they were raised, and many of them were some of the nicest people he'd ever came across, Portia being one of them.
She greeted him cheerfully before cracking a few jokes to settle him and make him feel at ease. It was a tough job, but somehow she managed it.
"So, you're in with the Careers?" She grinned.
"Well, I think so." He made a face. "Still not so sure about Cato's feelings on that one." She rolled her eyes before offering him the jacket, which he tugged round his shoulders impatiently.
"He'll soon see what he's missing," She comforted him. "As soon as you get into that arena, he'll be eating his words." Peeta thought that she didn't seem the type for teary goodbyes, and he was right. "Listen, Peeta. I fully believe you're going to come back and then I can make you a lovely outfit for your final interview. But if you don't... Thank you for being the first and the best tribute I'll ever style."
They hugged, and it was easy, and not loaded of emotion like Haymitch's and Effie's goodbyes were. Peeta was glad.
From the corner of the room, the autocom announced it was just thirty seconds before he had to be in the arena. He took a deep breath in, then nodded at Portia. "I guess this is goodbye."
She smiled. "Goodbye, Peeta. Remember, keep that head of yours held high. You're not weak."
The glass door closed between them and Peeta felt the familiar stirrings of fear build up, but schooled his expression into one that held an aggressive sort of excitement. Portia nodded in approval as Peeta was raised up from the floor.
Light streamed in from the outside world and for a few seconds, Peeta was momentarily blinded. The countdown began as Peeta surveyed the arena desperately. Woods, lots of woods and the glistening gold of the Cornucopia, sat right in the middle of the podiums. There was a lake to his right. He felt a pang of jealousy - the arena could have been designed just for Katniss.
He turned to look at the other tributes in attempt to unnerve them further. He caught the eye of the girl he'd intimidated by the combat station in training and laughed at her, then looked up to see Marvel eyeing him. His lips were moving, and Peeta had to squint to see the way they formed the word "Allies?"
Trying to contain his excitement at this, Peeta just nodded quickly, turning again to Clove who was staring ahead at the Cornucopia with a sense of greed.
"3, 2, 1!"
This was it. Peeta ran off his podium.
Peeta didn't even think about it as he surged forwards, his heavy footfalls flattening the green grass underfoot. He didn't stop to pick up a pack or spare a glance behind him. There was no time for that. He had to get to a weapon now, before anyone else did. He could pick up other supplies later when he was firmly with the Careers.
Despite the fact that he was a fast runner, he wasn't the first to reach the Cornucopia. Marvel and Cato had both made it there before him, arming themselves quickly.
Thresh had already left, making his way towards the tall grass with a machete in one hand and a long dagger in another. Peeta found himself surprised when Thresh drove the sharp metal straight through one of the smaller girls, one that he'd never taken the time to get to know. She fell to the ground, lifeless, a steady stream of red blood oozing out from her body and staining the green grass red. Thresh didn't even look back.
Looking around him, he noticed that the Careers were already armed and fighting outside of the Cornucopia, easily picking off any Tributes that attempted to come near. Peeta still stood frozen in the mouth, unarmed, watching as the people were slaughtered. They weren't test dummies this time, not targets to practice with. This wasn't a trial run. This was real life with real people and real blood being shed.
For the first time since his name had been picked out of the bowl, Peeta realized that he might not be able to do this.
Suddenly a broad shouldered girl ran towards him, brandishing a dagger in her hand. Her eyes were murderous, reminding him that in this competition, there was only one rule. Kill or be killed. It's not like he had a choice about it.
There was no time for him to grab a weapon before she pounced, brandishing the knife clumsily as she tried to stab at him. Luckily her movements were so frantic that they missed each time. He grabbed her wrist with one hand, snapping it easily between his fingers. She screamed out in pain, dropping her weapon. Quickly he twisted her into a headlock, a death grip around her throat.
The girl's eyes bulged as he choked her. In that moment he knew that he could easily strangle her, watch her body suffer from lack of air then break her neck, make it slow and painful. He didn't, though. Reaching for the dagger, he drove it straight into her jugular, bursting through the vein there and killing her almost instantly.
Maybe he couldn't spare her life, but he could spare her horrible pain when it wasn't necessary. Besides, he didn't have the time to spend on her.
Letting her limp body fall from his arms, he quickly turned to arm himself with a longer sword and several smaller knives that conveniently fit into his pocket. By the time he'd turned around, most of the fighting outside was done. Cato and Clove were collecting packs, as Marvel finished up the last of the survivors with his spear while Glimmer loaded her bow with an arrow.
The ground was littered with broken and bloodied bodies.
Out of the corner of his eye, Peeta caught a glimpse of a boy crouching beside the Cornucopia, almost concealed from sight by the golden walls. He was watching Cato carefully, eyes narrowed like he was focusing on a target. He drew his hand back, and only then did Peeta notice that he was armed with a dagger, one that was on course to drive its way straight into Cato's heart. No, Peeta thought. No way was this kid going to kill off his strongest ally.
Well, almost ally.
Lunging forward in a panic, he drove his sword into the boy's chest, watching as an expression of horror and terror crossed his dying face. Withdrawing his bloody sword, he bent down to wipe it clean on the younger boy's trousers. It's not like he'd need them. He was dead.
Suddenly something heavy hit him from behind, spinning him around and pinning him to the side of the Cornucopia. He could feel the cold, sharp edge of a blade digging into his neck, one small bead of blood trickling downwards from the point that had pierced his skin. When he looked up, he wasn't surprised to see that his captor was Cato.
"What the hell are you still doing here, twelve?" he shouted, slamming Peeta back into the hard wall. There was a loud thump as his body collided with the metal. His vision blurred where he hit his head. The only thing he could focus on was Cato. He made an effort not to look as scared as he felt. "Do you have a death wish or something? You knew that I was going to kill you!"
"Cato, let him go." Clove's voice rang out from not far away, cold and authoritative, but Cato's vice like-grip on Peeta didn't loosen. He turned to glare at his district partner incredulously. She shrugged back at him. "What? He's our ally."
"What?" He looked completely bewildered. "No he isn't. I told you he isn't!"
"And now I'm telling you that yes, he is." The girl smiled at him coldly. "Marvel agrees with me. We need him. Let him go."
"Wait, you mean that you two agreed to take him on as an ally without consulting me?" Cato was fuming as he turned his accusing eyes onto Marvel. The boy looked nervous suddenly, bringing his spear up into a defensive position.
"It's not like we didn't try to reason with you," Clove pointed out, rolling her eyes. "If you hadn't been so stupid back then, we wouldn't be fighting over this now in front of everyone. Stop being so childish and just admit he's more useful to us alive than he would be dead. I mean, he just saved your life! That one was aiming at you." She nodded toward the dead tribute on the ground and Cato narrowed his eyes suspiciously.
Glimmer, who had been quiet up until now, looked deeply conflicted.
"Maybe you should just let him go, Cato." She mumbled, and everyone turned to stare at her disbelievingly. "What? I am allowed to have opinions, you know, and I think he'd make a good ally." She smiled at Peeta warmly.
"You just want to flirt with him!" Clove accused her furiously, and the blond girl scowled back at her just as angrily. It didn't matter that it was the truth; she still held the right to be offended by it.
"You know, it's three against one here," Marvel piped up from the corner. At this, the boy sighed, knowing he was defeated. Dropping the blade from its position at Peeta's throat, he grudgingly stepped back.
"Fine, but I'm not happy about this."
"Really?" Peeta pretended to look shocked. "I would never have guessed. To think, here was me thinking you wanted to be my best friend forever. Oh, how my heart is bleeding!"
"Shut up." Cato looked ready to throttle him. "I can still kill you."
"I don't think so," Clove intervened, and Peeta smirked. "Stop wasting time and just deal with it. We can't afford to be distracted by your petty arguments, not when we need to round up the supplies and set up a camp."
They had set out to organise supplies, but all they'd managed to do so far was sort out the weapons from the food. Peeta had expected to find some sort of deep sorrow and regret at the two tributes he'd killed, the two lives he'd ended. Instead he just felt relief. He'd counted the cannons. Twelve more to go.
Peeta was just setting up an fire when to his left came the sound of a branch snapping.
"Who's there?" Cato demanded, and jumped up to head towards the slight rustling in the trees, Marvel and Glimmer close in tow. He growled in the vague direction of the noise and pulled out his sword, poised to attack.
A small squeak came from the trees as the boy revealed himself.
"Please don't hurt me," the little boy whimpered. All of the Careers laughed, Peeta included. This boy was just asking for death, a humiliating one at that. Showing your fear just meant showing your weakness. Cato ignored his plea, raising his sword higher and laughing.
"No!" The more panicked the boy got, the higher pitched his voice and the more garbled his words became. "I can help you! I'm from District 3 and we do electronics and I can - I can set up the mines!" Cato stopped in his tracks to allow the information to digest.
Encouraged by the sudden lull in the Careers advances, the boy continued quickly. "I know how to deactivate and reactivate the mines and I thought - I thought that we could be allies and I could... I could do it for you..." The boy looked terrified out of his wits as Cato considered him with narrow eyes.
Glimmer and Marvel hovered behind Cato, unsure of what to do until their leader gave them direction. Peeta and Clove remained on the ground, which seemed to represent to Peeta at least who were the most intelligent of the four led by Cato.
The silence stretched for several moments, the little boy visibly beginning to sweat, before Cato nodded curtly. "If you can do it, get a move on and do it. Set them up around our supplies." His face then twisted into a positively murderous expression. "But…" he snarled "If you screw up, or try anything funny, you're dead."
Having issued his warning, he threw his sword down and flung himself to the floor after it, allowing himself to relax. His two followers mimicked his actions and Peeta caught the ghost of a smirk on Clove's face, which she didn't quite fight down quickly enough, at their dependancy on the other boy to tell them what to do.
The hunger games weren't a team game. They'd both need to learn to think for themselves if they wanted to survive.
Conversation between six people who are plotting each other's deaths never exactly flows easily, meaning that dinner was slightly awkward. They sat around a fire, eating away at their supplies quietly until they found a topic they could all talk about (well, apart the boy from 3 who hadn't quite managed it): the people that they had killed earlier.
"Twelve dead!" Clove cheered, and the rest of the Careers laughed along with her. "Isn't that some sort of record?" Of course, it wasn't. The tributes nearly always halved after the initial scramble at the Cornucopia.
"The best one was the girl from 8 - did you see her face?" Marvel laughed cruelly. "Hey, Peeta, wasn't that the one you made cry in the training center?"
Peeta smirked and let out a mean snigger. "It sure was. I did tell her that she wouldn't get two meters from the podium." This made all the Careers laugh, even Cato. Well, he chuckled a little before reining it back in and putting on his blank mask once more, but as far as Peeta was concerned, that still counted.
It was almost a relaxed atmosphere for Peeta as the others (with the exception of Cato) had taken to him easily, already regarding him as one of them. He was secretly glad that they picked up the District 3 boy... apart from the benefit he'd bring them in terms of keeping their food safe; it made sure that Peeta wasn't the outsider. He was more one of them than the District 3 boy would ever be, and even Cato must know it.
He looked up at the sky to survey the stars, which were just coming into sight, blinking back at him somewhat unnaturally. Were the skies here fake as well? He pondered this for a second. Probably, he mused, but then suddenly a plume of smoke caught his eye, curling upwards into the dark like a signpost reading 'I'm over here, please come and kill me'. Was a tribute really that stupid? He sighed, knowing that he didn't want to go and hunt this teenager down, but perhaps they deserved it. How much respect would he get for earning his allies another kill?
"Look at that!" He exclaimed, making his mind up now before he talked himself out of it. "Some idiot over there lit up a fire" He pointed upwards at the trail of smoke in the sky. "Anyone up for it?"
Peeta waggled his eyebrows at them, knowing full well that they were all still feeling up for a fight, if not bloodthirsty for one. He was pleased to note that he still had a piece of morality still intact, that he wasn't desperate for the kills or the fights but he did not dread them either.
Clove smiled at him wider than he'd ever seen, a genuine one with a touch of malevolence. "Good spot Peeta! Now let's go and show this stupid little kid exactly why they shouldn't draw attention to themselves." The others jeered along and stood up quickly.
Cato threw his head back and laughed, a deep booming sound that sent chills down Peeta's spine. They really were twisted. "Let's go. Three, you're staying here. If any of our things are gone when we get back..." He bent down and hovered over the cowering boy menacingly. "Then you are dead. And I'll make sure it is particularly horrible."
The boy nodded quickly to show his understanding, clearly terrified, but the others didn't notice. They were too busy excitedly making their way over to the tribute with the fire.
On the way, they were making so much noise that every tribute within a thirteen-mile radius could probably hear them. Buzzing with the adrenaline of the first night of the games and the prospect of getting yet another kill, the Careers were cheering and whooping as they went.
If they carried on like this, the tribute would have heard them coming and just run away, having been forewarned by their (especially Marvel's) incessant screeching. Peeta felt a twitch of irritation at this. He didn't tell them of the fire for no reason.
"Guys," He looked at them with a hint of exasperation. "If we carry on being this loud, they'll be no tribute waiting there to kill. Maybe we should quiet it down now that we're a bit nearer, okay?"
He made sure to use 'we' instead of 'you', though he hadn't made a noise the whole way here. Marvel looked slightly affronted and was beginning to oppose the idea until Cato agreed. "Lover Boy's right, you should shut up."
Everyone fell silent at Cato's demand, which made Peeta even more irritated, but not as much as Cato's use of that nickname did. He made a mental note to assure them all that he wasn't in love with Katniss as soon as possible.
A few minutes later, they finally got in sight of the girl. She was rubbing her hands desperately over the fire, trying her hardest to warm up. She didn't even look up when Marvel stepped on a twig, causing a loud crack to reverberate around them on this silent night. Peeta and Cato both sent him a disapproving look, and then Cato swaggered forward, gesturing for the others to follow. As they obliged him, Peeta set an arrogant smirk on his face to match that of the others.
"I'd say lighting a fire is a bit risky, what with these clear skies." Cato smirked at the poor girl, who looked absolutely terrified. Who wouldn't be when confronted with the Careers - all five of them had proved to be of deadly skill. She whimpered, seemingly unable to coerce any other sounds out of her mouth.
Peeta led the laughter this time, the others falling into step with him. Even Cato gave her a cruel bark of a laugh. "Now who should we have kill her...?" He surveyed the others. "What about you, Lover Boy?"
Peeta somehow knew this was coming. He'd only killed two of the twelve tributes at the bloodbath, and they weren't particularly brutal or unpleasant murders either. So this was Cato's initiation for him, was it?
He stepped forward, his cruel smirk firmly in place. He twirled a knife he had picked up earlier around in his fingers. "With pleasure." He knelt down at the girl's side, clamping a hand over her mouth to muffle her screams. He was surprised when he looked up to see that Clove was also crouching.
"Do you mind me getting a piece of the action?" She winked at him, and he returned it with a sense of relief. At least the blood wouldn't be entirely on his hands. He kept up the cruel facade though, and both him and Clove picked away at the girl with their knives, dragging her death out until finally Cato got bored.
"Alright, hurry it up already." He growled, and Glimmer simpered at him again for no apparent reason.
"Cato's right." She smiled. "He always is." Peeta smirked to himself at the disgusted look Cato had shot her before he spoke to the girl.
"I'm so sorry that the odds weren't in your favour." He laced the statement with a sugar-sweet smile, before plunging his knife into her neck. It would be a matter of seconds before her life gave out.
Sure enough, there was the cannon. Clove gave him a high-five and grinned at him. "I'm so glad you're part of the team, Peeta!" She exclaimed, earning a mutter of assent from Marvel and even a nod from Glimmer. Cato simply stared at him before telling them all to head back to camp without saying a word to Peeta.
It wasn't like he was going to praise the kid or anything.
A/N: Hello everyone! We'd just like to say how lovely it is that you're all reviewing so often and that you're as excited about this story as we are! It would be great if you'd carry on reviewing, we love to know that you guys like the story so far, and we're working on getting the next chapter to you as soon as possible! Thank you!
