Chapter 2: Flat on My Back

A cheer goes up from my colleagues as another tribute meets a gruesome end. I just frown and take a sip from my beer. At least it wasn't mine...

Day 10 of this year's Games. As of right now, only five tributes remain. Alexis is among the survivors. She managed to procure a backpack from the Cornucopia right after the gong went off. Striking out on her own along the island arena, she has hid amongst the palm trees, foraging for food. John also survived the Bloodbath, at least at first. As I predicted, he proved his worth enough to get in with the Careers. On Day 4, however, the leader of the pack - the girl from District 2 - betrayed him, stabbing him in the back with her knife.

As for the five who are still living, the resources have gradually been depleted, both from use and the Gamemakers' manipulation. There is very little fresh water left. Drinking from the sea around the island is out of the question, as it is salty and will only dry out the body faster. And right now, Alexis looks parched. She needs water - and quickly.

I check my funds. It will be expensive. Prices for sponsor gifts go up the longer the Games go on. What buys a whole meal on the first day buys a cracker two weeks in. Even the water that my tribute so desperately needs costs more than the money I currently have on hand. Just then, a Peacekeeper guard approaches me.

"Miss Everdeen, there is a sponsor who would like to see you."

It's like someone read my mind. I follow the guard out of the Mentors' Bar - the place where all previous Victors hang to watch the Games - and a brief hovercraft ride later, I am in one of the Capitol's immaculate hotels. The Peacekeeper leads me to a suite. Inside, the sponsor waits for me. He is well-built, has a handsome face... except for the arrow that pierces through his nostrils and his orange skin. The Peacekeeper leaves us alone.

The sponsor stands from his perch on the couch and approaches. "Miss Everdeen," he shakes my hand. "It is wonderful to finally meet you in person. I have heard... wonderful things about you." He does not elaborate, but I can only imagine what these 'wonderful' things could have been. He continues:

"I have seen your tribute shows amazing promise. But she is thirsty. I am willing to provide whatever funds are necessary to send her fresh water."

"Thank you," I say quietly.

"Of course, there has to be a small... concession on your part," the sponsor continues.

I have to refrain from stiffening. There's the catch. There always is one. "What?"

The sponsor suddenly takes me by my waist and pulls me flush against him. He brazenly begins to grope me. I want to deck him, shoot him through with my bow, but to do so would ruin any chance I have to get Alexis out alive. The sponsor places his face really close to mine. "Kiss me," he whispers huskily.

I try not to retch. "Is that all?" - my most diplomatic way of acknowledging that this man is literally pawing my ass.

"Kiss me as I fuck you in bed," the sponsor amends. "Kiss me as you would kiss your lover."

"I don't have a lover," I frown.

"Well, then, there shouldn't be any conflicts of interest."

I have to do this. It's a part to play, and it may all be fake except for the physical sensations, but this is for Alexis. I have to.

Framing the sponsor's face in my hands, I kiss him with all the tenderness I can muster. We get involved very quickly, the kiss becoming more heated - certainly not out of passion, but out of the understanding that this is just business. Nothing more, nothing less. At least it is for me. The sponsor, I am not so sure. He gropes me further along my ass before squeezing my breasts. His one hand even audaciously grabs at the space between my legs.

Breaking the kiss briefly, I remove my top to reveal a white silky bra. The sponsor lets out an aroused moan, and he seizes me, kissing me so sloppily that his tongue slams down my throat. Repulsed as I am, I close my eyes and let out a fake groan of pleasure. Even I don't buy it though - it sounds pathetic, even to my own ears.

The sponsor throws me down, face-first onto the bed. On my hands and knees on the mattress, I can hear him de-robing behind me. I can feel his hands touching what garments I have left on, pushing my pants down to my ankles. I refuse to cry, or show emotion of any kind. It is both the easiest and yet the hardest part of this disgusting performance I must conduct. Poor little wretch. Doesn't he know he's making love to one already dead?

Hands suddenly spin me around, pushing me down into the mattress. I am now flat on my back. I cannot help but have my eyes betray a deep-seated terror as the sponsor settles on top of me. As I let him take me.

"Mmmmmmm... Uhhhhhhhh... Hmmmmmmm!... Huhhhhhhhhh!" He is not gentle about it, sliding in and out of me violently. His thrusts are jumpy, humpy, frantic; it is as though he has never bedded a woman in his life. I do not look at him, do not kiss him or caress him. I only hold his body close to me, my arms draped across his rippling back, making sure our bodies stay united. I say nothing, staring at the ceiling and counting the tiles until this task is over. It only just dawns on me that he refused to wear a condom. Thank God I keep myself religiously on the pill during Games season! Indeed, at that very moment -

"Guhhhhhhhhhhh!" The sponsor lets forth a noise like none I have heard from man nor even beast as he ejaculates inside me. He wilts like a flower onto my naked, sweaty body, with his head flopping in between my bare breasts. For a moment, he moves no more.

At last, he pulls out. He rises, cleans his member, pulls up his pants. I hear the flutter and jingle of a few coins and bills landing on the mattress near my hip. They are tossed there almost flippantly, discarded just as much as I am now. A piece of trash. A toy that can be thrown away once this child of a man has had his fill playing with it. I hear the door to the suite close, leaving me by myself.

I lie there for a moment - the first moment that I allow my eyes to prick with tears. I wipe them away quickly, though. What's done is done. I have what I need. Alexis's survival ranks higher than the respect I still feel I am due. Despite being a Victor. Despite being a slave. Because even winning the Hunger Games confers on you little respect. No respect at all.

Hurrying back to the Mentors' Bar, I add the sponsor's funds to my pool of cash. Using the key-touch holographic computer, I purchase several bottles of water and send it off into the arena. A few minutes later, I watch as a parched Alexis sees the silver parachute floating down to her. She has to climb a palm tree to retrieve the thing, knocking loose a few coconuts along the way. The milk from them is the only liquid sustenance she has managed to subsist on. Milk is healthy, but it does not beat the cooling power of water - water that Alexis now gulps down. Half of one bottle is gone before she stops, probably remembering to preserve this precious gift as long as she can. The cameras capture Alexis's face looking skyward.

"Thank you, Katniss," she whispers. I smile and relay a silent You're Welcome.

The water keeps my tribute alive for a while longer. The next morning, parrot mutations beak the boy from District 8 to death. The girl from District 10 falls in combat against Alexis.

However, here is where Alexis's luck runs out. She has reached the Top Three when she faces off in a climatic battle against the District 2 girl. Both sustain heavy injuries, but Alexis tragically succumbs to her wounds. It looks as though the Career will be crowned Victor.

That is, until the boy from District 6, who has been hiding this whole time, creeps out of the shadows with a knife and finishes her off.


A/N: Like it so far? Review on every chapter, please. I want to hear what you all think!