I never did get any sleep that last night
Portia comes with me to the Launch Room to help me prepare. As usual, her hair is styled so she looks as if she's just been shot up with electricity, and the spidery fake eyelashes do nothing to help. She doesn't even say anything to me as she helps me into my jacket, just sniffles. Portia knows the plan. They all do: Haymitch, Portia, Cinna…Everyone except Katniss. Katniss and the audience. Before I can pull away from her, Portia takes me into a big hug.
I'd really rather not even think about this. I've already accepted my death; that's what I spent all last night doing. That and trying to let go of Katniss. Letting go of her is arguably a more difficult thing to do than accepting my death. Finally she lets go. She opens her mouth, but I go on ahead without waiting for her to say anything. It's rude, but I know I need to focus. And that gets harder the closer the Games get.
I step on the cylinder and give a half-hearted wave to Portia, just so she knows that it's nothing she did. Then it starts to rise and I'm in darkness for a short time. The sunlight almost blinds me when the cylinder reaches its lock state. The smell of pine reaches me. I'm hopeful for Katniss.
"Ladies and gentlemen, let the Seventy-fourth Hunger Games begin!" booms Claudius Templesmith's voice. And then our sixty second countdown begins. My eyes scan the scene around me as quickly as possible. I only have sixty seconds. Sixty seconds to see where the Careers are. Sixty seconds to decide my path to the Cornucopia. Sixty seconds to decide how I will protect Katniss in this first bloodbath.
There are three areas in the arena, a downward slope diagonally from me, a lake behind me, and just ahead a pine forest. I look at the tributes around me. Katniss is about five tributes away and I notice her eyes locked on something in front of her. A bow. Her eyes flicker up to me and I give her the slightest shake of my head.
Haymitch said no. Run, Katniss, run. Don't even look back. I hope she sees me. We'll see when the gong sounds. But in these last few seconds before we are let go, I begin to set my course. The nearest Career to me is the girl from Two, just to my right. Beyond her are the others, far enough away that I shouldn't be a major distraction for them. I should have enough time, if only the girl from Two doesn't try to make me her first victim.
The gong sounds. I run towards the Cornucopia as fast as I can, looking up long enough to make sure that Katniss is getting away, that she's not going for the bow I know she'd love to take. But no, she doesn't go for the bow. She's headed for the wood, and so I look back, knowing she can make it. It's only my life right now that is at risk. And that doesn't matter nearly as much.
And luckily for me, the Careers don't choose me as their first target. I grab the bow; it's still a way from the Cornucopia and there's no one there to challenge me. I don't know how to use the thing, though, so I know I'll have to delve deeper into the Cornucopia. Around me the scene is already stained red with the blood of fallen tributes. I double-check to make sure Katniss is not one of them, but she's already disappeared. Safe. Safe for now.
It's while I'm checking this that the girl from One throws a spear at me. For a Career she doesn't have very good aim, though, and I manage to escape her attempt to kill me. But I don't move on, because I need this Career girl. I need all of them.
I turn to face her, ready to wrestle with the Career from One and I am pushed to the ground from behind. But Katniss was right about me. I'm much stronger than any of the Careers could have expected, and possibly even stronger than I realized myself. I grab the kid who has tackled me to the ground and roll us over. It's the boy from District Four. He grunts under my weight and I take the opportunity to wrestle a knife out of his hands. For a Career he seems awfully scrawny to me, but perhaps it's merely my vantage point.
He fights back and manages to throw me off, but now he's empty-handed. I am about to get up myself and grab him, perhaps to use as leverage against the other Careers, when something picks me up and slams me to the ground. My head is spinning but I catch a glimpse of the enormous boy from Eleven above me, a pack slung over one arm, and his right hand holding...what is that? Some kind of club? I start to crawl away, and I'm fast enough to avoid having my head smashed in, but not quite fast enough to avoid harm completely. His club bruises my shoulder and I fall again. He falls on top of my legs and I cry out in pain.
The boy from Four has recovered and he has a short sword in hand this time. Eleven scrambles to his feet and towers over Four, who is now just realizing his mistake. Four is dead before I'm off the ground. For some reason, Eleven doesn't turn back to finish me off, although now I could probably put up a good resistance since I'm on my feet. I'm not quite as big as he is, but now I'm facing him and I've got that knife in my hand. But no, Eleven runs off away from the lake and the woods. Perhaps he just got tired of the bloodbath.
While I'm musing over this, I can see the girl from One out of the corner of my eye. I'm ready now when she gets to me, a spear in hand. With just my knife, I fend her off, careful not mortally injure her. Not just yet. One Career is already dead and though two dead Careers might seem like a good idea short term, I know the others will be thirsty for blood and vengeance. There will be time for killing them later when I can be sure that Katniss is safe elsewhere.
A moment of wrestling and then I slice her hand, just to give her enough shock that she drops the spear and then I nail her to the ground. I glance up at the scene around me, ready.
Ahead comes the boy from District One, the girl from District Two behind him. I don't know where the boy from District Two is. Surely he's not dead, not out of these. I'm paying so much attention to figuring out where the other Careers are that I loosen my grip on the girl from One. Loosen it just enough for her to throw me off her and pin me to the ground instead.
And that's when I see the boy from Two.
"Looks like lover boy got himself into a little bit of a bind."
