Emily wasn't a morning person, even less so after a night of fitful, nightmare-ridden sleep – and she was never shy about letting everyone know. But this morning, during the hovercraft ride to the arena, she remained thoughtfully silent.
Garcia knew well how to read her by this point and she knew better than to disrupt Emily's overwhelmed brain. She said nothing the entire ride to the arena. She said nothing as she dressed Emily in the tribute uniform of loose durable pants – reinforced in the knees and stretchy enough to allow for easy climbing, a breathable form-fitting tank top for hot afternoons, and a plush down-filled jacket with a hood – capable of folding down into a built-in pocket – with the number nine stitched in orange on the back, and flexible rubbery soled shoes.
"I'm sorry the shoes are so ugly" she finally broke the silence. "I didn't have any say in the matter despite my numerous vociferous protests on the grounds of hideousness."
"They hurt my feet," Emily said quietly, thoughtfully.
Leaning close to whisper conspiratorially, Garcia told her, "You'll need them where you're going. Think about it."
Without another word, Emily sat down on the uncomfortable stone bench and scuffed her toe against a stone stuck in the hard-packed dirt floor.
Garcia sighed, then reached out to clasp Emily's hands. "Come home," she murmured softly, "I know how scared you must be, how you're going to somewhere dark, somewhere you're all alone...but you're not alone. We're all there with you and we're going to bring you home. That's all we care about. We're going to bring you home."
She was getting teary and Emily opened and closed her mouth like a fish out of water several times, struggling to find something to say. Before she could, a mechanical overly pleasant female voice announced that it was time to get into the tube that would launch her into the arena.
Garcia gave her a too-tight hug that forced the air out of her lungs in a comforting sort of way and Emily never wanted her to let go.
As her platform raised her into the Arena, she vaguely wondered if a tribute had ever been so anxious that they'd thrown up as they waited for the gong to sound. She didn't want to have to endure being the first...but she was having some difficulty keeping her stomach from turning. As it was, she was shaking violently and she really hoped that the tremors weren't visible to the viewers.
The platform raised her into what appeared to be a runoff basin, surrounded on all sides by mountains. A glacial river cut through the valley, flowing with what was sure to be frigid water. Vegetation was sparse and low to the ground, except for conifer trees that seemed to flourish in that environment, but even those became less common the higher the elevation, eventually petering out to nothing at all approaching the snow-capped peaks.
The sun glinted off the Cornucopia at blinding angles from where it hung high in the sky over the ring of mountain peaks. Climbing gear and ropes spilled forth from the mouth, along with the usual survival gear and weapons.
Derek had given Emily very specific instructions for the Cornucopia: she was to let him worry about getting them supplies, all she was to worry about was getting Matthew and Cindi as far from the bloodbath as possible and he would follow them.
Right now, though, the supplies were looking very tempting and it took her several moments before she had the wherewithal to look for her companions. Several platforms to her right was Derek who was frantically trying to get her attention before the remaining seconds ticked away.
Following his signalling, she found Cindi near to his right and, though she couldn't see him, Matthew seemed to be opposite her on the far side of the semi-circle of tributes. That created a bit of a dilemma for her – she had promised Derek that she would protect Cindi and keep her safe, but her promise to protect Matthew ran stronger and more deeply. And, while she didn't want to risk losing Derek as her ally, she was well aware that in the time it would take her to reach Cindi and then Matthew, they would be set upon by every tribute sticking around for the bloodbath. If she was lucky, she could escape the Cornucopia with one of them unharmed, but certainly not both. And her time to decide was quickly slipping past.
When the gong sounded, she was still struggling to come up with a win-win situation. Her heart reacted before the rest of her, hammering staccato against her heaving chest. By the time her mind caught up with her – only seconds in reality – blood had already started flowing.
The careers, as expected, were the first to reach the bounty of the Cornucopia and the boy from District Two drew the first blood from the frightened looking boy from Eight as he stumbled wide-eyed from his platform and into the fray where he was immediately met with the business end of a spear.
Startled into awareness, Emily sprinted forwards without second-guessing, making a beeline for Matthew. All she could do was hope Cindi thought to do the same and hope Derek understood in the end.
Halfway to the heart of combat outside the mouth of the Cornucopia, she stumbled on a boulder, narrowly avoiding the axe the girl from Seven had sent flying at her head. 'Great,' she thought to herself, 'Not even a minute in and I've already nearly died.' As she scrambled to her feet again, her would be killer had already grasped a second axe and was running in her direction with it aimed squarely at her.
With a yelp, Emily ducked behind a crate of supplies and groped blindly along the ground searching for something with which she could defend herself, but found only a rock. But as she peered out from behind the barricade, the point was rendered moot as the girl's axe found purchase in the skull of the girl from Six.
Emily was off running again, attempting to dodge unseen around the group of careers who seemed to have joined together to hack someone into a million tiny pieces, though she couldn't tell who the unfortunate victim was.
As she ran, she could see Derek stuffing everything within his reach into several packs he had managed to get his hands on, pausing intermittently to beat back the other tributes with what appeared to be a wooden club should they get too close. He seemed unharmed, at least from a distance; apparently his formidable size made the other tributes think twice before mixing it up with him.
Matthew was within her sight, hovering on the edge of a small copse of trees and she was starting to feel hopeful about her chances of actually surviving the Cornucopia when she felt a hand closing about her ankle.
She couldn't help the startled scream that found its way out of her throat as she once again fell to the ground. Hissing an expletive as she rolled over onto her back, she bent her free leg up towards her chest, preparing to smash her heel into her attacker's face.
But upon coming face-to-face with the tribute clutching her ankle, she again found herself screaming. What had once been the not-too-homely face of the girl from District Eight was now cloven nearly in two, half of her skull missing, blood cascading over her jaw and neck like a waterfall.
Emily's immediate reaction was to scuttle backwards on her hands, desperately kicking her legs in an attempt to loosen the girl's grip, all the while fighting the bile that was climbing its way up her throat.
The girl tried to mouth something – possibly 'help me' – but Emily's continued screams drowned it out as the waterfall of blood splashed back at her.
Then, seemingly from thin air, Cindi appeared sporting a split lip and a bloody nose, and kicked the girl in the gut, effectively freeing Emily as she reeled back, winded. Cindi reached out a hand to help Emily to her feet which brought her back to her senses as she continued to stare at the dying girl in horror.
Relieved to have found Cindi relatively unharmed, Emily made the final dash to the safety of the trees, then paused to check that Derek was following them. What she saw instead was him stopped to sling the packs over his shoulders when he witnessed the boy from Five stab the girl from his district. And Emily knew Derek, being ever the gentleman, wouldn't be able to just continue on and do nothing.
He was going to get himself killed.
Against all his orders, Emily found herself retracing her steps, running headlong towards the bloodbath. She still had no weapons, except the stone still clenched tightly in her fist, slippery with sweat and even less of a plan.
Seeing Derek coming after him, the other boy tackled him to the ground despite being at least fifty pounds lighter and threw a few punches before Emily was close enough to intervene. She threw the rock, hoping she wouldn't hit Derek by accident; she didn't stand there long enough to see whether or not she hit her target before taking off the way she'd come, shouting at Derek to run.
When she returned to where the others were waiting, she couldn't bring herself to look back for fear of what she'd see. Hands on her knees, out of breath, she managed to pant out, "Is he coming?"
Matthew opened his mouth to reply from where he was watching from behind a scrub bush, but before he could get the words out, Derek crashed through the trees and continued on running with a gesture for them to follow.