Chapter Seven
Where the Games begin!
Nightmares leeched her brain, sucking out whatever glimpses of hope were left. Mostly, they were about having swapped places with Vance at the Reaping and watching him dragged to the stage and then through the interviews and in the Arena. Every now and then, Annie's mind brought her horrible hints at what her own Arena might be. She was being sucked up through the ground above as tributes were every year, screaming and reaching for the man that now represented her home.
"Please!" she whispered in her sleep, tossing and turning and tangling herself in her comforter. Annie's dark hair was splayed across her pillows, knotting with each thrash of her head. "Please don't make me go!" Her throat was hoarse from hours of screaming and was now scratchy and weak. "Finnick…"
Her eyes shot open, dazed. Annie was on her back, staring at the ceiling. Her mind was blank, but the terror of the nightmare remained coursing through her system. She shivered, her skin exposed to the cool bedroom. The blankets had been kicked to the foot of the bed or twisted around her legs during her sleep, and while Annie was freezing, she didn't try to cover herself. When she sat up to gather the blankets, she was somewhat startled by what she saw. Draped over the lumps under the sheets were her shins were, there was a blanket she had to squint at to see correctly. It was knit tightly and every few threads there were that of a blue or green, the traditional colors of District Four. The closers the colors were weaved, the more evident the diamond pattern they formed was. Annie had seen its twin before back home, folded at the end of her bed every night. It looked exactly like the ratty old thing she had kept since she'd been born. When it was pulled up over her shoulders, it even smelled of District Four, but nothing like hers did.
Annie drifted in and out of a light sleep for the remaining hours of the night, though it didn't leave her feeling any more rested. Her dreams were laced with dreams and nightmares alike, all involving the Games in some way shape or form. It was because things were particularly stressful that she was granted fantasies of returning home and seeing her brothers and moving into the lovely house in the Victors' Village. When she woke again, the longing for home was stronger than ever because her dreams had been so realistic. Annie stayed in bed for the longest time, unable to see past the drawn curtains to assess the time, assuming that she had nothing to get out of bed for.
"Good morning, lovely," Finnick said sadly as he stepped into the room. His incredible sea green eyes were glazed with sorrow, just as Vance's were when he watched Annie being taken away at the Reaping. Her mentor drew back the drapes, allowing light to pour into the room. The sky over the Capitol was grey and dreary; the streets were damp from the night's rain. It was strange to Annie that she hadn't heard the rain, since she was so used to hearing the patter of the downpour above her head during even the lightest rain at home. He stood at her bedside and wiped the sweat from her forehead with the back of his hand.
Annie just nodded, unable to manage words or even a smile. She could tell what was coming by the depression that had settled into his features. Finnick was normally so alluring, so cool, and now it was difficult to look at him because his beauty was tarnished with such sorrow. Why couldn't he stay as happy as he was yesterday when he read his poem? Annie sat up, watching him carefully.
"They cancelled the mentor interviews because of me," he informed, trying to smile. "President Snow didn't…enjoy what I said about you, to say the least." Finnick hid the rest of the story well, Annie didn't detect that there was anything else to be said.
She smiled as tears threatened to swell. Annie was more stressed today than the day of the Reaping, she could only imagine what it would be like during the transfer she was expecting later. "I thought it was sweet," she murmured. "I don't want you to get in trouble with President Snow…" Her eyes darted around the room in a panic.
Finnick shook his head. "I've been in trouble with President Snow for years," he explained. Annie had this awful feeling it was because of the Games, but she didn't ask. She balled up handfuls of comforter in frustration. "I don't think this is going to change things much."
Annie forced herself to relax a bit; she let the tension ease out of her shoulders. "I don't want you to be in trouble, though…" she tried to protest, ignoring the fact of his confessed love altogether. Annie felt so childish, so young and too naïve for him. Finnick glanced at her, shaking his head, as if to tell her not to worry about it. President Snow was not someone anyone wanted to deal with, she didn't know a single person that agreed with him in office in District Four. Several of Vance's passionate rants against the Capitol flooded her mind. "When are we going to leave today?"
"As soon as possible," answered Finnick. He read the lines of worry creasing her face like pages in a book. He wanted to hold her, but didn't want to make saying goodbye any harder than it had to be. The last thing Finnick wanted was to make it seem like a final goodbye, he had all the faith in the world in her to return. "But the train won't leave the station until everyone is there so I don't think we have much to worry about."
"Finnick," Annie protested. Her eyes were electrified with concern, they gleamed in the grey light that shown in. He caught her gaze. "I don't want to go."
For the first time, Finnick could see that she truly was still a child, that she was naïve and pleading like she had no other support. And she didn't really at this point. He dropped his head, unable to look at her anymore. He tended to forget that the worst she had been through was the Reaping; she didn't have true adult experiences – not like he did anyway. "I know," he whispered. Finnick shook his head, gulping down the bile rising in the back of his throat to keep from crying. "I know. But you're going to come out."
Annie couldn't believe his words. She began to reach for his face, as if to cup his cheek in her hand, but paused before brushing his skin. Her chest was tight. Her lungs were unable to be filled. She brought her hand back to wipe the tears dribbling down her own cheeks. Her heart was swirling with conflicting emotions like a whirl pool; was she supposed to tell him that she would try when she really didn't think she would make it through the initial bloodbath? Annie remembered his words from the Reaping. Just make it through the first night.
She had never sobbed harder in her life.
The train ride out of the Capitol consisted of long silences between the five. Mags would occasionally try to remind them of things she and Finnick had directed them to do through training or over a meals, where they spent so much time growing closer to one another, but her voice eventually gave-way to her swelling tears and she choked up. Annie kept her face buried against Rayne's shoulder as the pair of tributes grasped hands. She and Finnick still weren't looking at each other. Even Gossamer couldn't slice through the thick tension in the air, for she too was upset about the day as well. The compartment was uninterrupted the entire trip until a Capitol attendant informed them they had arrived at their destination.
The further that they traveled away from the Capitol, the sunnier it became.
It was strange, to say the least, when Annie found herself standing in utter darkness. Their group followed one of the attendants from the train until they were all crowded into a single space, cramped as they stood shoulder-to-shoulder. Her stomach sank as it did when she rode the elevator in the Training Center and she immediately knew that they were going underground. She jumped with a start when a hand grazed over hers, but the light of the Launch room revealed it was Rayne standing beside her and not Finnick.
The room was entirely made of stainless steel. It was filled with technology that she had no name for and there were plenty of attendants and even Gamemakers rushing around in preparation. Twenty-four transparent tubes shot up from the ground, placed equal distances apart to from one another to form an enormous circle within the Launch Room. Annie was intimidated as she saw the rest of the tributes standing before their centers, each assisted into changing into the uniform for the Games – a thin pair of pants and jacket, each with the district number on them, which reflected body heat and fit Annie like a glove.
Annie glanced from left to right as she was told to step up to her launching tube, as if looking for help. Rayne was composed and tense, wearing the face of a Career, whereas the boy from Five was quivering like a leaf. She didn't even want to know what she looked like.
"Wait!" gasped Finnick at the last possible moment. He may not have been able to look at his tribute, but he had stood beside her through it all. Her mentor took her hands into his and brought them against his chest. She could feel his anxious pulse. Annie shook her head quickly, refusing his touch, because she knew that she would break down. She was too emotionally exhausted for final goodbyes. "I want to give you your token, Annie Cresta."
Annie continued to shake her head, but the moment that she looked into his eyes, she froze entirely. She watched, wide-eyed, as he kissed both of her palms and then drew a small object from his pocket. Finnick placed it in her hands and closed them around it. She hadn't even caught a small glance at what it was. Annie, heart-aching, stared at him in confusion. She didn't want to go through this.
"You're not alone, lovely," he whispered, pulling her in and wrapping his arms around her. Finnick was tense. He kissed her forehead and let her fall away from him, gazing upon her sadly. "I love you."
An attendant threw her into the launching tube and closed her in. Annie pressed her clasped hands against the glass, screaming for him, panicking as the metal plate beneath her feet began to rise. She wanted everything to stop. As soon as he had escaped from view, Annie's grip around the tiny thing in her palms tightened. She was wailing madly, unable to think properly. She couldn't even see clearly to assess the arena she was now standing in.
Before anything else, Annie examined the token in her hands. Finnick had left her with a small ring, adorned with intricate carvings of sea shells and fish like in District Four. Her breath hitched in surprised. A small pearl was embedded in the band, gleaming in the sunlight. She slipped it on her ring finger, wiped her tears, and looked up into the Arena.
"Ladies and gentlemen, let the seventieth annual Hunger Games begin!" Claudius Templesmith booms. It made Annie sick to hear the smile in his voice.
A golden horn called the Cornucopia sat in the center of the tributes, its mouth stretching up twenty feet tall. Inside of it lay backpacks Annie could only assume had food and other supplies, as well as various weapons, and miscellaneous items that were scattered farther away from the horn with decreasing value. Beyond that, there were stretches of trees taller than she had ever seen at home and a strong river – looking to be about thirty yards wide from where she stood – coursing in the distance to her left. The rest was a plain, and it lived up to the name, without even a shrub in sight. Annie could feel herself shaking. The Arena was more intimidating than she had ever imagined, but somewhere she could imagine Finnick sighing in relief. The river had been put there for her. Things could be so much worse.
Hot sun beat down onto her shoulders as she stood out the remainder of the sixty seconds before the gong sounded and the Games officially begun. At first Annie wanted to compare it to when she spent time on the water and her burnt skin bubbled under her thin clothes, but it was not nearly as hot. It was bearable. She could see the other tributes already breaking a sweat, their foreheads glistening in the direct sun. The closer the clock ticked to zero, the more Annie felt her legs giving out from beneath her. She panicked; any wrong step off of her plate meant being blown to bits. Annie lost her footing just as the gong sounded, but she managed to turn her fall into a sprint forward at the last second.
Annie ran to the beat of her thundering heart. She scooped up two packs at the Cornucopia and slung them over her shoulder, quickly weaving between other tributes. Ignoring the fight for weapons, she sped up towards the river. She wasn't thinking at all. It was lucky that she escaped the bloodbath with only slices on her upper arms and a gash on her shin. There was no doubt that Rayne had stuck with the other Careers to fight out the first day, she couldn't help but wonder if he was the one who did this to her. Annie slowed as she approached the river, carefully treading down a sharp incline that she hadn't expected.
The girl dropped to the ground, exhausted. She had to thread her hands through the grass to reassure herself that it was really there, to dig her fingernails into the dirt to know that it wasn't an illusion. This was the Arena. This was where she was going to die. It amazed Annie that she had escaped the bloodbath that kills nearly half of the tributes each year. She stared, dumbfounded, across the plain to the Cornucopia. It was more than a mile away from her now. She was yet again surprised, never having covered that much ground so quickly before. Annie pounded her hands into the ground, forcing herself to choke back her sobs.
Her packs slipped from her shoulders. Annie knew better than to explore their contents now and hiked them back up. Instead, she crawled closer to the riverbank, knowing that she would only collapse again if she tried to stand. Annie peered into the crystal clear water, curiosity reflected back at her. She could see the smooth sand shaped by the gentle current no more than a few inches below. Minnows darted about beneath the surface. She could smell the water, clearly fresh and supposedly safe to drink, but didn't trust what her senses were telling her. She didn't want to fall prey to the Gamemakers' tricks when she had just defied the odds of survival a moment ago. Unsurely, she brushed her fingertips over the surface, washing away the dirt she had clawed up, and held them there. After a moment, she decided it was at least safe to touch. Annie hiked her backpacks up her shoulder again and dared to stand.
She acted as if she were taking her first steps, ever so slowly, as she wobbled downstream. Annie kept checking over her shoulder to see her footsteps washing away in the damp sand, the ebbing waves licking them clean like she did the food off her plate in the Capitol. It was minutes before she advanced any noticeable length, her legs were screaming at her in agony from her adrenaline-fueled sprint earlier, but soon Annie was following the river into the forest that it parted. She was concealed by the trees looming overhead, and even if anyone found her, she could always dive into the river and swim off.
Annie managed to laugh at herself, even if a few tears slipped out as well. Look at me! she thought, grinning madly. I'm already strategizing!
With that, Annie was determined not to let herself die off, and since Finnick would want her to at least try to defend herself, that left the Gamemakers as the only certain way she could be killed. Annie leaned back against the thick trunk of a tree and sunk to the ground, leaves crunching beneath her feet. She didn't want to die in the Arena, not with the world watching, but what good was she against a Career? The girl slipped the backpacks from her shoulder, rotated it to soothe its soreness, and them emptied the bags at her feet. She survived the bloodbath, she could do this – it was easier to tell herself this when she imagined Finnick smiling at her in approval.
She listens to the canons fire in the distance, notifying the other tributes of a death, and tries to count them. They are steadily shot off and are too quick for her to follow. Annie counts six deaths before losing track, but there are many more booms to be heard.
Annie began picking through the contents of her packs. Now that she was still, she could feel herself quivering and gasping for air. Once she had calmed herself down, Annie continued with the task she had assigned herself with and hoped that the cameras weren't showing her at the moment. There were a total of five knives – she was so disoriented that she had to count them out aloud several times, despite the dangers of being heard – packets of ready-to-eat meat and fish, a container of sliced apples, three water bottles, enough rope for a basic trap, and a blanket that was lined like her clothes to reflect body heat. Annie couldn't have been happier with what she had picked. There wasn't a single thing she could think of that she would want that wasn't in the backpacks. Of course, more rope would have been helpful…
She sat for what must have been minutes just staring at her new belongings, wondering what she should do next. Annie was no good at taking care of herself. While she was independent enough at home – cleaned up after herself, made her and her mother dinner every night when it was just the two of them, did chores without being asked, and such – she hadn't the slightest clue how to fend for herself here. While the river was a helpful touch, the rest of the Arena was beyond foreign to her. Her heart beat faster each time she dared to look around. It took several attempts to sort through her spent mind to think of something relatively smart.
Annie put the packs together again, gathered them on her shoulder, and moved about fifty yards again downstream. There, even further concealed by the trees, she burrowed at the base of a trunk, the roots jutting out the ground made for a cradle in the earth. Annie kept one pack slung over her and tucked the other beneath a root, hiding it from sight. She hoped that she would remember where exactly she put it later. With only herself to look out for, she assumed it would be easy to stick it out until the end.
For the first time since entering the Arena, Annie thought of her family. There was no doubt that they were in the market square, watching the broadcast that kept all of Panem glued to their screens. They must be so rattled, so worried, anxious to see her face again. Fletcher would be gritting his teeth, Vance would be comforting their mother, Nero and Pen shielding their eyes, and Spensa somewhere with their father. She wondered if they had seen her escape the bloodbath, she didn't want them to endear any unneeded stress as they waited the rest of the day for the recap and simply hoped not to see their daughter's face displayed with the rest of the dead tributes. Annie threw her head back, slamming into the tree trunk, and tried not to scream. She didn't want to think like that.
As hours pass, Annie hardly moves a muscle. She stays in her nest at the tree trunk, curled up uncomfortably with her head resting against a root. The longer she goes unmoving, the stiffer her body becomes, but it is never to the point where she is in pain. Annie keeps her mind preoccupied with little things like listening to the rustle of the leaves overhead as the wind picks up, watching animals such as a rabbit and a fox emerge from the trees to lap thirstily at the river, and see the sky darken to a shade of grey. The air smelled like summer to Annie, minus the salt water, and was just as warm. She could feel the still around her, the unnatural calmness, and knew that a storm was approaching. Annie felt that she could withstand this for several days, even with her stomach growling at her. Her plan wasn't turning out to be so bad after all.
Annie held her hand up before her face to further inspect the ring. She had gotten a fairly good glance at it before, when the clock was ticking down, but now that she didn't have to worry about staring her potential murderer in the face, Annie could take a better look at it. It was gorgeous, to say the least. It was a taste of home wrapped around her finger. It brightened her outlook to know that Finnick was thinking about her, willing to do this. She was already in the Games so she might as well wallow in her happiness while she has it.
Drowsiness was settling in. Annie pulled her blanket from her hidden pack and wadded it up to rest her head on as a makeshift pillow. Despite hardly doing anything, she was emotionally drained and drifted off almost instantly after closing her eyes. She even managed to remain calm through her nightmares; she didn't thrash or call out in her sleep.
She woke with a start at the sound of staggering footsteps. Annie found it to be hours later and much darker outside, as well as raindrops sprinkled on her face. Quietly, she rolling over, ducking down behind a wall-like root. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the darkness, but soon she could see the lumpy, distorted figure faltering to move smoothly. After another minute of watching, Annie could see that it was Hollis carrying another limp body on his back. She cringed, retracting back down into her burrow. It couldn't be a dead body, the Gamemakers wouldn't allow that, but the thought of someone that injured was difficult to process.
The smaller figure groaned in pain as Hollis slid it off of his shoulders onto the ground. He leaned the younger against a tree, propping him up for support. The smaller, Annie could see a boy now, howled in agony again. "Hollis!"
Annie shrank back into her hiding place, eyes straining to see through the rain that had begun to pour. The dull roar of the storm in the leaves overhead hid her movements so she went unheard. Her heart was aching as she watched Hollis crouch down before the boy, examining his abdomen in the cool rain. The younger flinched away from every touch. Annie wondered what had happened to him, but she couldn't reveal herself to ask, even though she thought Hollis being there meant it would be safe. She curled back under a thick tree root to shield herself from the rumbling storm, running her fingers over her ring to distract herself from his cries.
Finnick stood, wide-eyed and distant, before the large television screen in the cushy broadcast room set aside for the mentors in the Launch Room. He began to shut down starting the moment that he watched Annie rise into the Arena; he was no longer functioning properly. He had stopped breathing altogether until Mags shook him from behind.
"She'll be alright," the woman reminded him in an unmoved tone. She hobbled around to stand beside him, resting her weight on her cane. "It's you that you've got to worry about. She won't make it out unless you focus."
Finnick's mouth hung open but he didn't say anything, his green eyes swam as they tried to focus. He managed to nod at her. "Yes, Mags." He turned back to the screen, watching in pure terror. Every fiber of his being told him to look away as soon as Annie took off for the Cornucopia, expecting her not to make it out alive, but he didn't even flinch. Despite the fifteen-plus other mentors in the room, Finnick dropped to his knees in shock and relief when Annie scooped up her backpacks and made a dash off screen. He knew what she was running for, the river. His sigh of relief quickly turned into him cheering her name. "Annie!"
After a shot of Annie darting across the plain, the cameras shifted back to the Cornucopia where the bodies were literally being piled to the side by the Careers. Anyone smart enough to run had by now, and the Career pack was finishing off the injured and collecting the rest of the supplies. Claudius Templesmith was saying something over the footage, but Finnick's thundering heartbeat drowned out the commentary. Annie was at the water by now, safe and sound.
"I saw that you gave her the ring," smiled Mags, reaching for his tense shoulders again when he had realized Annie was safe. Her speech was slurring, her tongue was too fat for her mouth. "Did you ask?"
"She's sixteen, Mags," Finnick reminded her, voice barely more than a whisper. He kept his mother's ring on him at almost all times; he needed the reminder of District Four when his fame in the Capitol was seeping into his head or when he felt utterly disgusting and torn apart by his 'lovers'. He cursed every one of them under his breath and looked back at the television, hoping to see Annie. "She is sixteen with the Arena to worry about. I gave it to her, but I couldn't bring myself to those words."
"It's got to be the first thing to say to her when she gets out." Mags struggled to pull Finnick back on his feet; her frail arms shook with each tug. He hated watching her strain herself and forced himself up. Even with Rayne to worry about, Mags seemed to believe that Finnick could help Annie return home. She knew that she made him happy.
"Yeah," Finnick grunted. "First thing."
The mentor from District Twelve, a drunk who always seemed to draw attention to himself at the Games, stumbled over to stand beside Mags. "A little young for marriage, wouldn't you say, Odair?" He sounded so sober that Finnick hardly recognized him.
"Not marriage." He was too anxious to be shocked at the question. Finnick's eyes darted back and forth from the television screen to the unkempt alcoholic.
"What then?" This man was obnoxiously nosy. "A ring, Odair. I saw a ring."
He rolled his eyes, ignoring the man's presence entirely. The mentor kept pressing him for an answer, though, and since Annie wasn't being broadcast he decided to answer him just to shut him up. "I was going to ask her out, Haymitch," Finnick spat. "You're forgetting we're still teenagers."
"How sweet," slurred Haymitch.
Mags patted Finnick's shoulder and the pair turned back to the television set. Still no Annie. Or even Rayne, for that matter. The cameras had focused on the body count now. Finnick shivered.
I cannot believe the number of reviews/followers/favorites I got after the last chapter! I love you all so much and appreciate everything! However, I hope that you won't mind when I decide I won't be replying to every review now, I only will if you have questions or such~
Anyways. I hope that you enjoyed this chapter. I felt I did a much better job of writing it than I ever expected to. I also hope that you won't mind the next chapter will be from Finnick's point of view - just forewarning you. Please review and let me know what you think!