Kat:
After the interview, I went to the training arena, to train and then receive our scores. I practiced for a while sprinting and climbing, and then I went to throw knives. I got up to the knife throwing platform, everybody was watching me. My hands began to shake. I grabbed a handful of knives, and threw one. I completely missed the target, and it lodged itself into a wall. The others laughed, except Jasper. I stopped shaking, and used all of my force and threw the next knife, and it ended up dead center, and all you could see was the hilt of the knife, because I threw it so hard. The others then looked at me impressed, and I could tell I was a target then of the careers. The archery section was next. My heart fell. I had never tried archery. District 12 was up first, it was in descending order. Both of the tributes were excellent with a bow and arrow. I gulped in nervousness. The other districts weren't as good, then my turn. I took the bow and arrow from the District 5 male, and tried the best I could. I shot the target in the knee. Well, at least I could stop them from moving. The others didn't laugh, they weren't good, either. I gave it to Jasper, who got the targets all dead center. Where did he learn to do that, I thought. 1 and 2 were okay with it. Then it was scoring time. After 10 minutes, I was up. I had to make an impression. The trainers looked at me. I saw weights, they had to be 100 pounds, at least. I was 98, so I chose them to show I could throw something heavier than I was. I picked up a 105 pounder, and threw it at a dummy. They were impressed. They muttered excitedly. I picked up the throwing knives, and threw them at a canvas dummy, getting bulls-eyes every time in the head and heart areas. There was a trident hidden in the corner. I sprinted towards it, stayed where I was, and the dummy was about 90 feet away. I threw it, and it decapitated the dummy. I grinned. The people watching were cheering, and dismissed me. In the training room, we got our scores. "District 4 female, 12!" Everybody gasped. The careers looked at me with deadly eyes. Jasper picked me up and shook me gently, and I laughed. I think I can do this.
After training, I was once again let to be styled for the arena. They did my hair in the intricate braids again, on my request, so it would stay out of my face. Then they removed all of my makeup. Then Tenney took over. He put me in my arena outfit, then let me to the room with the cylindrical elevators leading to our platforms. He wished me luck, and pointed to a small pocket on my waist with a zipper, and I unzipped it and grinned.
"I made that pocket especially for your token. Didn't want you to lose it."
I gently touched the fish keychain, and thanked him. I hugged him, "Thank you for everything. This may be the last time I see you, and your last time to see me alive. I wish you luck in everything."
I entered the elevator, and it began to rise. We smiled at one another, and soon he was out of view, and I saw a vast grassy arena with the giant Cornucopia. I spotted a set of throwing knives. They're mine, I thought. After thinking out my plan, I looked at the clock. 5 seconds. I got into running position. Time to go. I took all of my energy inside my body and flew off the platform, my slim and small frame allowed running position. Time to go. I took all of my energy inside my body and flew off the platform, my slim and small frame allowed me to get an excellent head start. I was by far the fastest. I swiped up the throwing knives and a medium sized backpack, and the others were still only halfway to the Cornucopia. I pulled out a knife, threw it, and it buried itself in the temple of the girl from District 6, and she fell dead to the ground, no cannon, I suppose it's because we were in the bloodbath. I ran into the woods, and scurried up a tree. I looked into my backpack, hoping for something useful, and found trail mix, matches, a blanket, and an axe, with the blade separate from the handle. In the distance I saw a boy with short dark blonde hair. Jasper, I was sure of it. He was coming closer. When he finally reached me, he sat at the base of the same exact tree I was in. I watched him for a bit, then I saw a pack coming, and he wasn't paying attention.
"Hey guys, look at this one, it's the boy from 4! Who wants him?" Asked the boy from 10.
Jasper looked up in fear, and tried to run, but the boy from 7 grabbed the back of his jacket, and pulled out a knife. I jumped out of the tree, and landed on my feet. I guess my brother doesn't call me Kitty Kat for nothing. I had already a knife out, and slit the neck of the boy from 7. The boy from 10 looked me over carefully, then suddenly and arrow came from the distance and shot him in the head. I spun around, and saw the boy from 2. Taking this golden opportunity, the girl from 11, who was with 7 and 10, got me in a headlock. The boy from 2 shot her as well in the knee, then the heart. He scooped me up and started running. I kicked against him, but he was too strong. Jasper was running after us, a sword in hand. He went to a camp with the other three careers. I wailed. 2 clamped a hand over my hand. The boy from 6 came running, but Jasper whirled around and slit his throat. 2 threw me down in front of the other careers.
"Look what I gathered, you guys! Little Miss Odair, who claims she's 'dangerous' because of what she learned," he laughed.
"Roman, can I please kill her, I've always wanted to kill somebody who scored high," said the girl from 2.
"Rissa, you're joking, right? She is the most valuable ally in this arena! She scored 12, we want her on our side!"
"You're not doing a very good job of making allies. Usually you make friendships, not capture them and force them into it," I told Roman.
He smiled. "I saw you run at the Cornucopia, 4. You would've escaped me. And we don't want that, now do we? I know I should've been less aggressive, but it's in my blood, being a career, I suppose."
"What about Jasper?" I asked pointing at his direction, "Sure, him sitting at that tree after the Bloodbath wasn't very smart, but he is strong. And he can shoot well, like you."
Roman looked up and down Jasper, and nodded. He walked behind him, which made Jasper tense up. Roman then looked up wide eyes, and pushed Jasper to the ground, and ducked himself. A throwing axe came from the distance and struck the skull of the girl from 1. Soon after, cannons went off, finally, and pictures showed up. It was evening. Boom, girl from 1, both from 3, boy from 5, both from 6, boy from 7, girl from 8, boy from 10, girl from 12. That would be ten in all, 14 left. We saw the girl from 7 run off, as she was the one who killed the girl from 1. The boy from 1 held the girl from one, and shook her.
"Blossom, wake up, come on," he removed the axe from her skull, leaving a giant gash. The blade had cut through her skull.
"Reuben, she's gone, stop it. She won't come back. This is the Hunger Games, this stuff is supposed to happen. People die, we move on," says Rissa.
He looked up and nodded. "We should move on, 7 knows where we are, she may be in a pack. But what about the fours? How do we know they won't kill us during the night?"
Rissa smiled. "We never leave them in charge, problem solved."
"How do we know that you three are trustworthy? You're careers, and I don't really trust Rissa and Reuben." Roman looked up at me in a puzzled look, probably wondering why I trust him, and I didn't know myself.
They didn't answer me, and we began packing up camp to leave. I found some vines, and began cutting them with one of my knives, on our way to another camping place. The careers looked at me strange, but Jasper knew exactly what I was doing. I began weaving them together, creating a net. "We could use this in trapping somebody, or fishing."
"Thank you district 4!" said Rissa, "I'm starving!"
We heard a rustling sound, and I grabbed a knife. I saw the district 7 girl behind a tree, I threw a knife, and it got her in the arm. She let out a small whimper, grabbed the knife out of her arm, and ran off. "We missed her."
Roman waved his hand, "We'll have plenty of time to get her later. Meanwhile, I'll go hunt, you guys find another place to camp out."
I ran off in another direction, and Rissa was yelling at me, wondering where I was going. I had the net in hand, and was running to find a source of water. I found one about 10 minutes later. I looked around, seeing if there was and looked around, seeing if there was anybody else around. I didn't see anybody. I went towards the lake and started to fish. I heard a scream in the background, and the cannon went off. It was very dark out by now.
"Hey there, 4." Somebody whispered besides me. I grabbed a knife, and they held my wrist. It was only Roman. "Slow down, there. It's okay. I wanted to meet you." He smiled
"Everybody knows me already, because of my brother."
He laughed. "They think they know you, because of him. I want know the real you, the real Kat. See if you're as great as you seem. Because you truly do seem great, you know. I'll start. I'm Roman Carrigan, I'm 14, from 2. I have a little sister, who's 6, and a little brother, who's 12. I begged him not to volunteer for me if I got reaped, and when I did, he tried, and he even said he volunteered, but I wouldn't let him. I told them to ignore him." He looked at me.
"Well, I'm Kat, and I'm 13 from 4. I have an older brother, who I care a lot about, and he seems to care about me. People seem to read me like an open book, so I try to throw them off a bit." He laughed at that.
"And that you do really well, 4." I hugged him, and we sat by the lake together. We ended up falling asleep by the lake, not even thinking about the others in the arena. I dreamt that night about all of the fallen children in the arena. I woke up, still hugging Roman. I smiled a bit, imagining what Finnick must think, his little sister cuddled up to a boy a year older than her. The supposed enemy. I escaped his arms, and began to fish, finally catching one, then two, then three. I caught about 11 fish when I finished. Then I collected some water, in mine and his bottles. We were probably gone for a while, Rissa probably thinks we left them completely, which could be bad, as she could think we're the enemy. Roman soon woke up, and looked groggy, and smiled. "Breakfast?"
"Unless you like your fish raw!" I giggled.
We started a small fire with my matches, and cooked them and got out of that area. We looked all over the arena, then finally found the new career camping ground, with Rissa, Reuben, and Jasper all around, talking about strategies.
"Food for all!" I said, so if they heard us, they wouldn't think we were somebody else.
Rissa had an upset face. "Well, it's about damn time, 4! We were about to starve out here! And I think your boyfriend was about to die from dehydration." She pointed to Jasper, his lips chapped, and he looked weak. I handed him my bottle, ignoring Rissa's snide comment. I saw something off-white behind our pyramid of items at our camp. No, not white, blonde. I held up a finger and snuck around the back of the pyramid, to see the back of the girl from 10. I grabbed her hair and she screamed, and I cut her throat. Boom, her cannon went off.
Rissa cheered. "Great job, 4!" I guess when we get high scores we can be loud.
"Did you hear that, there's somebody around, and they're with one of the fours," whispered somebody, who was very close.
Jasper got up to his feet, and held his sword. Roman got his bow and arrows, Rissa, the axe that killed Blossom, and I got a knife out. Reuben looked up, confused, not hearing them. The boy from 8 was grouped up with most of the remaining survivors. He looked in shock at us, not wanting to take on a group of careers and both the fours, who got high scores. I still didn't know who died the night before, while Roman and I were at the lake.
"Who died last night?" I asked.
The girl from 11 laughed. "Jayle killed the girl from 5." She high-fived the boy from 8, who I guessed was Jayle.
Jayle grinned. "Yeah, and Serida almost killed the girl from 7, but she was too fast. She has a knife wound in her arm, any of you do that?"
"Guilty," I said, guessing Serida was the girl from 11.
Serida guessed that we were distracted, and flung her axe at Reuben's head, and he caught it, and threw it right back at her, killing her. Boom. Jayle just stood there, realizing our strength. He got to his knees, his head down. "I surrender." Roman shot an arrow into his skull. Boom.
Rissa shoved him. "Roman! He surrendered!"
Roman pointed at Jayle's right arm, and Rissa looked confused. I saw it too, so I went to Jayle and pulled his head back, and opened his hand, and he was concealing a knife, tricking us.
"Dirty punk, tricking us." The others with Jayle and Serida were standing around us, not knowing what to do. "Get out or we kill you!" Rissa yelled. They ran, due to the fact that we killed two of their group already. There was one of them, who ran towards us, and Jasper impaled her. Boom. I think she was the girl from 9.
Rissa grimaced. "We made a mess here, and plus, four's fish supply is almost gone."
"I'll go out and get more food, and some water too. May I have your bottles?" Reuben and Rissa didn't have bottles, so we agreed to share.
"I'll go with you, never venture off on your own in the Games," says Roman.
So we're at the lake again, and after five minutes of fishing, Roman asks an odd question. "Do you have anybody special back home?"
"I have my family, and I have Annie and," he cuts me off.
"No, I mean, very special. I don't know how to ask without sounding like a complete moron."
"Like, am I in a relationship?" I ask with a smile.
The air seems to heat up around us, and I think he's blushing, but it's too dark to tell. "Yeah. Is that too personal?"
"No, and no. I haven't really felt anything for anybody like that. Sure, I've liked boys, but never so much as to have a relationship with them. And it's not like boys don't like me, it's just, just.." my voice trails off. I don't know why.
And all of a sudden, Roman takes me and kisses me, full on the lips. At first I don't respond, but then I kiss him back, everything erupting inside of me. I've never kissed anybody, but this is everything I think a kiss should be like. I kiss him awkwardly, not really knowing how to do it properly. I pull away gently, afraid to go on, because of my extreme inexperience. "Sorry."
"Sorry? I'm the one who should be sorry. I shouldn't of been like that. My feelings got the best of me."
"What a cute little couple," somebody said scornfully.
We got up to our feet, and saw the group that attacked us earlier, minus three. I finally saw everybody who was in their group. The girl from 8, the boy from 9, the boy from 11, and the boy from 12. The girl from 7 wasn't with them, she was to clever to join a group of scum.
"Roman, you decided to have Pipsqueak as a lover? She'll be dead in no time." Said the boy from 9.
In no time, Roman pulled an arrow out of his quiver and shot the boy from 9 in the head. Another cannon went off.
The boy from 11 started backing off, but the boy from 12 leaped forward and got me in a headlock. "Shoot me, 2, and she'll die as well." Roman pointed an arrow at the girl from 8.
"If you don't let her go, I'll kill 8," said Roman, drawing back the string.
"Fine, kill her then, I have no use for her. If she's gone, more chance of me winning,"
The girl from 8 screamed, and the boy from 12 dropped to the ground, an axe sticking out the back of his head. Across the water, Rissa was grinning. Roman released the arrow, killing the girl from 8. Boom, boom.
Boom. Rissa dropped to the ground, her throat slit, the girl from 7 standing behind her. Roman cried out, and shot an arrow towards 7, but she dodged it and scurried off. Roman and I crossed the river, and reached Rissa, her eyes blank. I shut them. "Bye, Rissa," I started to cry. I never trusted Rissa very much, but she was nice enough not to kill me. I got up to leave, but Roman was still sitting by her.
"Are you coming?"
"No, I'll stay," he was crying.
"Are you going to come back to camp?"
"I don't think so."
I walked over to him and hugged him, and kissed him on the cheek. "Bye then, Roman. It was great meeting you, and good luck."
I returned to camp, alone and teary eyed. Reuben and Jasper looked at me. "Who died?"
"The girl from 8, the boy from 9, the boy from 12, and Rissa."
"Who killed Rissa?"
"The girl from 7, Roman tried to shoot her, but she got away. Roman stayed behind."
"Is that the end of our alliance with him, then?" asks Reuben.
I shrug. "I guess."
Since I forgot to bring back any food, I share my trail mix with them. I filled up the bottles though, and since Rissa's gone and Roman left, there's 4 bottles for 3 people, more than enough. I start crying again, over Rissa and Roman.
"Kat! Kat!" I hear a male yell, it has to be Roman, even though our alliance is over, it breaks my heart to hear his struggled yells. I drop everything and run towards the voice, and Jasper follows. I reach him, and a cannon goes off, but it's not him. The footsteps behind me cease, after watching the girl from 7 shoot something, and it flew past my head. Jasper. "Jasper! Jasper!" He lies on the ground motionless, an arrow in his heart. Another cannon goes off, but Roman seems to be alive, and so is district 7. So it was either Reuben or district 11. I shut Jasper's eyes, and go to attack district 7, but she dodges me, and shoots me in the abdomen. I fall to the ground. "Roman." I lay there, waiting for my cannon, but it doesn't come. Roman goes over to me, and carefully removes the arrow. I see the boy from 11 join the girl from 7, and they high-five. That only means one thing. "You killed Reuben, the boy from 1."
He grinned. "That's right. Now for another kill, I'll end your pain, Odair," He pushes Roman back and leans over me. Roman tackles him, and he drops something and I pick it up without looking at it, and it's small enough to go in my small pocket with my token, so I put it there, and I throw a knife at 7, and her cannon goes off.
Then I hear another cannon, and I look over, and see the boy from 11 stand. My heart absolutely sinks. "Roman!" I'm shrieking, "You killed him! You, you're, you.." I clutch my abdomen, pain in shooting up my body.
I grab a knife and throw it as hard as humanly possible, and it strikes him in the center of his forehead. Boom. Trumpets go off.
"We'd like to congratulate Katherine Odair, from District 4, for being the winner of the 73rd Hunger Games!"
I'm shrieking, and I crawl over to Roman, a knife in his heart. His eyes are already closed, and I just cling onto him. A hovercraft begins to descend. "No! No! He's not gone! Please, don't let him be gone. Roman, don't be gone. Please." A group of Peacekeepers separate me from him, and I'm kicking and screaming. "Roman! Roman! No! Let go!"
They take the girl from 7, the boy from 11, and Roman into a separate place on the hovercraft as me. I just lay on the floor sobbing, hoping to wake up, or to die myself. "Roman." I moan, my sobs get louder. I open the zippered pocket and take the two items out. My keychain, and a necklace with a small lump of graphite connected by some steel wire. Graphite, District 2's export. Roman's token. I slip it around my neck. And wait for the rest of my life without him.
Okay guys, Roman became like, my favorite character, and I actually started to cry when I killed him off. The next chapter is going to be the 3rd Quarter Quell, 2 years later. Stay tuned! Maybe a few strange twists up my sleeve will appear involving Roman. Hmmm..