Barbed Wire

Written by Loverly Souris

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Chapter 5 - Alliance in the time of death

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Special thanks to motherbirdnerd for her support and kind words. :) Thank you.

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"Creever! CREEVER!" At Mr. Vieser's voice, Wiress snaps back to reality. "Why aren't you working?"

"I'm sorry, sir," Wiress mutters and turns back to the large stack of gears waiting to be sorted. She ignores the piteous looks from her fellow students sitting around her. It makes her want to cry.

The sound of the cannons is still echoing in her head. There were nine – nine tributes, nine children, nine corpses. And her best friend is one of them.

Wiress cannot see what she is doing through her tears, she is working like a robot on auto-pilot. Her mind is somewhere else, in a place where Lectra is not dead, where they are not imprisoned between barbed wire fences, where she smiles at her and asks her to start her cigret…

I hate you so much! Why did you have to die?

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At five o'clock, Wiress has to force herself to go to the dining hall for the recaps of the bloodbath. If they found her in her room, she would be punished – she wouldn't care about that, but after punishing her, they would drag her down to watch anyway.

Caesar and Claudius greet everyone in an annoyingly overexcited way. Wiress would give anything to be able to turn them off and hide from what is coming.

"My dear Claudius, you have to agree that this year's bloodbath was extremely stunning."

Claudius nods, "I agree. With the terrain combined with the ferocity of the Career tributes, it really turned out to be interesting."

"Also, some of our contestants are more cunning than we could have ever imagined," Caesar adds on a secretive tone as if he knew everything in the world. "But before we watch the memorable moments of the bloodbath, let's see what the remaining tributes are doing now!"

They show the survivors one by one. Both of the tributes from District 1 and 2 are in the small camp that the Careers set up next to the Cornucopia and they are having a dinner sitting around the fire. Their own boy tribute is curled up behind a boulder sleeping. Wiress is preparing herself to see the disgusting contentment of the Careers again, when instead of the District 4 boy, the camera is directed at a dark figure sitting on the edge of a cliff staring at the night sky with a tired gaze.

Lectra.

Wiress cannot believe her eyes and she has to pinch herself to check if this is not a dream, but the gasps of awe and the murmurs coming from the others prove that she is not sleeping. "How can she live?" "I thought she jumped off." "Wow, amazing…"

She's alive! Wiress thinks and nothing else matters to her. Even the hosts' voice doesn't annoy her that much anymore. Lectra is alive!

"Our angel had a very tough day today, didn't she?" Claudius says chuckling.

"Yes, her performance has put even the strongest Career to shame, I must say."

There is not much light, Wiress can't see whether Lectra has any injuries except for the wound on her neck from the bloodbath, but if she has, they can't be that serious. She could climb up onto that rock after all.

Just as she wishes she could watch Lectra forever, they switch onto the District 4 tribute boy by the Cornucopia. They leave out her girl counterpart though – and the lavender-eyed boy from District 5 as well. What could've happened to him? Wiress wonders.

On the other hand, the District 8 girl is still alive. She is sitting in a small crack between two boulders, her eyes are filled with tears as her hands are resting on her belly. She is doing something that probably no tribute has ever done in the arena before – she is singing a lullaby.

Starry sky, I beg you, please tell me,
Where could my only loved one be?
It's a dangerous road you are taking,
It's a dangerous road I am taking,
But you will find your way back home
And I will find my way back home…

Even Caesar and Claudius fall silent as they watch her. Her song is quiet, almost inaudible – still, it reaches everybody's heart and wraps itself around them like a warm, soft blanket. Wiress notices that she is surprisingly calm and peaceful. Everything will be alright.

"Sweet little Cecelia," Caesar sighs before they go on to the next tribute.

The last person they show is the girl from District 10, which means that both of the tributes of District 11 and 12 lost their lives in the bloodbath. Wiress remembers how tiny and young those two kids were, and she silently prays that they will rest in peace.

"And now, time for the best moments of the Cornucopia bloodbath!" Caesar announces excitedly, and the screen switches onto the well-known aerial shoot of the plateau.

They show each and every death, analyzing them in detail. Claudius tells the audience that Lectra's instrument is a so-called "nunchaku", an ancient weapon originating from an island called Japan – the place was destroyed by a tidal wave several centuries ago. According to him, it is not a popular weapon among the tributes, they underestimate its strength and power, even though in the hands of a talented fighter, it can become as lethal as a sword. Lectra proves this herself by killing the District 4 girl with it.

Meanwhile, Cecelia tries her best to escape uphill, and nobody really cares about her. Without a weapon, she means no threat to the Careers who are too busy slaughtering those tributes that are approaching the Cornucopia. The District 1 girl throws her spear into the heart of the boy of District 7 from twenty metres. The girl from District 9 blindly stabs a boy in the stomach with a knife, only to be practically decapitated by a Career lurking behind her. Another girl loses her leg in a fight and they leave her there to bleed to death. Wiress is starting to feel sick, especially when she sees the small District 12 boy on the ground struggling to keep his insides in.

"Oh, here's my favourite part!" Caesar exclaims happily as Lectra is on screen again, standing on the edge of the chasm.

Wiress holds her breath, and even though she knows that Lectra is alive, she slightly panics when she steps back. However, this time they show her from a new perspective, the whole screen is occupied by the wall of the abyss and the girl falling. It all happens very fast – Lectra tightens her grip on her weapons and slams the spikes of the nunchaku and the short sword into the soil.

She is gradually slowing down for a few metres before she completely stops falling, and Caesar lets out a triumphant cry. "Hah! I've always suspected that girl is something!" Although he already knew this would happen, he is still honestly amazed, and so is Claudius.

Wiress' heart is beating a hundred times faster and she is sure Lectra was just as nervous at that time. She watches her look up and yell at her pursuers after the last cannon is fired. "What now, guys? Are you coming to get me?"

While the Careers run back to the Cornucopia, Lectra starts to move very slowly by pulling the nunchaku out from the soil carefully and jabbing it back a few centimetres to the left. She repeats the process with the sword as well and she keeps climbing sideways. Wiress immediately sees her destination – a narrow ledge with a tunnel approximately a hundred metres away from her on the wall. It must have taken an eternity to reach it, Wiress thinks and shudders. One single misplaced step, a wrong movement and she could have fallen into the darkness.

In the dining hall, the air is frozen with anticipation. It's like everybody is holding their breath as one and when Lectra finally reaches the ledge and stops for a rest, someone behind Wiress claps his hands. She turns back and sees Leonard standing in the door – their eyes meet and a wide smile appears on Wiress' lips. He could be watching it in his room, but he came down. Maybe he knew Lectra needs some support from us. And it works, the other students join the applause that quickly grows into a genuine ovation.

Although nobody has ever liked her except Wiress, Lectra has just done something remarkable – she has unwittingly given them hope that even a Sector student can be strong enough to actually fight and survive.

The camera decides not to leave Lectra alone, so they show her gathering some energy, then standing up and entering the tunnel. It's her only way to continue.

"What can possibly make a tunnel like that, I wonder," Claudius says and Wiress rolls her eyes. Oh, you perfectly know that.

Lectra walks cautiously with her weapons ready and the camera following her. She is halfway, when the cannon is fired signalling the tenth death of the first day. Lectra stops for a second, probably to wonder who it could have been, when a devastating sound forces her to run once again – the tunnel is staring to collapse and crash down around her.

"Damn it!" Lectra yells in rage and almost trips over a rock. "Damn you all!"

She is just in time though, running out onto a clearing at the end of the now useless tunnel. Lectra sits down as she is trying to catch her breath, her head dropping back, but as soon as she regains the control over herself, she sniffles into the air and her expression changes.

She looks up and her eyes glue onto something on the other side of the clearing. The camera follows her stare and finally, the audience can see it as well. The guys making this programme really know how to build up the drama, Wiress thinks darkly and she shudders at the sight before them.

It is a muttation.

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From the back, the animal resembles a gruesome offspring of a mole and a bear, and probably it was the thing that dug the tunnel – it is large with a black fur and it is slouching over something standing on its hind legs, producing the most disgusting sounds Wiress has ever heard. When it notices Lectra's presence, it looks up and turns its head to the side. It doesn't have eyes – however, it has long teeth still dripping with blood from the remains of a body at its feet of which they catch a glimpse as the creature moves.

Although they all know that this tribute is for whom the latest cannon was sounded, the corpse is damaged so badly it is unrecognizable at first. Wiress doesn't want to know who it is, even if a very bad feeling is lurking in her. She is seriously in danger of fainting as she sees a nibbled human heart a few steps away from the Mutt. Instead, she looks at a small girl being lead to the bathroom by a teacher.

The Mutt finally turns towards Lectra with its full body, and another wave of shock hits the dining hall. It is holding a half-eaten head in its clawed paws.

And the lavender eye of the boy from District 5 stares back at Wiress.

For five seconds that feel like an eternity, Lectra cannot move. She is paralyzed with fear. Move! Wiress orders her through her mind immediately as she snaps back. Stand up, Lectra! Move and kill that beast! You can do it! Move! Fight!

As if her thoughts have really reached her, Lectra slowly stands up and prepares to attack.

"I'd say, Claudius, that she is very brave. Most of the tributes would have chosen to escape," Caesar says as the Mutt drops the boy's head and lunges itself on Lectra. Claudius nods.

"Yes, it would have been indubitably wiser. A muttation is not that easy to kill."

"Maybe our angel is fed up with running."

The fight between Lectra and the Mutt is long and tiring, but finally, the girl comes out as the winner with her sword planted in the creature's chest. On the other hand, Lectra also gained a long cut onto her stomach from its razor claws. "Fuck you…" she mutters pulling her weapon out and she leaves as quickly as her injury allows.

The camera now shows the other tributes scattered around the arena. The Careers are setting up their camp by the Cornucopia already clean from the bodies of the dead contestants. Their boy is still trekking uphill, while Cecelia is shown on another small clearing, gathering some nuts. She is humming a melody.

Meanwhile, Lectra reaches her cliff and drops down onto it dangling her legs over the edge. She groans in pain as she unzips her sweater jacket and inspects her wound which is deeper than she thought. "Damn Mutt," she fumes and leans back taking a deep breath. That is when she notices the silver parachute floating towards her.

"And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the very first sponsor gift of the 54th Hunger Games!" Caesar announces. "The sponsor is Lady Mirian Wellborough and the gift contains medication – a cream for that nasty cut, I presume."

Indeed, it is, and Lectra applies the cream generously onto her stomach and her neck. Her frown slowly disappears and after she finishes treating her injuries, she smells her hand with a smile. Wiress suspects there must have been some sedative or tranquillizer in it, because Lectra's eyelids are starting to droop. She can barely mutter a "thank you" before she falls asleep knocked out by the cream and the exhaustion.

And it is still only early afternoon.

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"Yesterday had many extremely exciting events, don't you think so, Caesar?" Claudius asks his host partner after they greet the audience the following day.

Caesar nods. "It sure did, Claudius. But today had plenty of excitements as well."

"Yes. The Careers have sprung into action and there is another new alliance that will probably surprise everyone."

"It's really interesting how that two ended up together," Caesar chuckles. "Let's see what they are doing at this very moment."

The Careers are sitting around the campfire, just like yesterday, but their mood is different – they are chatting pleasantly.

"Did you see that look on her face?" the boy from District 1 asks then starts to mimic a girl's voice. "Please, don't kill me! I beg you!"

They all laugh and Wiress rolls her eyes. Sick.

Their boy tribute is still behind his boulder, roasting a rat-like animal over some embers. Seemingly, he chose hiding for his method and somehow, even if he is Lectra's enemy, Wiress is relieved he is alive. He is from her district after all.

Lectra is sitting on a small clearing with her back leant to a rock, munching on some prunes she probably got from her pack. Next to her, there is another tribute tucked in a sleeping bag, deep in slumber with her head on Lectra's shoulder – the girl from District 8, Cecelia.

Wiress doesn't know if she should be happy for the alliance. Something tells her that Cecelia is trustworthy, that she won't kill Lectra in her sleep. A person like her, with such a warm and caring air around her cannot be evil and in Lectra's place, Wiress would want her as an ally as well. On the other hand though, the sour feeling of jealousy plants itself in her heart no matter how hard she tries to keep it away, because Cecelia is getting close to her best friend.

Don't be silly, Wiress, she chides herself. This alliance will benefit them both.

"Now, let's see the highlights of the day," Caesar says as the picture of the sleeping District 10 tribute girl disappears from the screen. It's morning again, and the Career pack is surrounding a weaponless girl whimpering in fear.

"Please…" she whispers, her tears flowing down on her cheeks. "I don't want to die…"

The boy from District 1 sends an arrow into her throat before she can utter one more plea and the others cheer around him as he shoots her in the chest as well.

"Ruthless and blood-thirsty as always," Claudius says, and then, the camera is showing Lectra as she is perching on a ledge, watching a distressed Cecelia on all fours leaning into a bare little bush, trying her best not to make too much noise with her retching.

While Lectra is debating whether she should help or not, she sees a boy slowly approaching the girl distinctly with the purpose of stabbing her in the back, since he has a dagger in his hand ready to kill. This makes the choice for Lectra.

She jumps off the rock and grabs her nunchaku. Too focused on Cecelia, the boy foolishly doesn't notice her, only when she speaks. "Attacking someone in the back, don't you think it's a bit unfair?"

At the same moment he turns around, Lectra's weapon crashes into his temple, and the second cannon shakes the ground.

As Lectra puts the nunchaku back into her belt, Cecelia scrambles to her feet in panic trying to escape, but another wave of sickness comes over her and soon, she is on the ground again, shivering with the nausea.

"Hey," Lectra says and walks closer to the girl, who startles as she feels her hand on her shoulder. "It's okay, no problem. I can understand you very well. This whole situation makes me sick, too." And with this, Lectra gathers Cecelia's loose brown hair into her hand to keep it from falling into the girl's face.

When Cecelia finishes vomiting, she sinks down onto the ground exhaustedly and starts to cry. "I miss him so much…" she whispers between two sobs and Lectra takes her dirty hand.

"Don't worry, you'll see him again."

"I want to go home to him… I can't take this anymore…"

Wiress watches Lectra doing the same thing to Cecelia that she used to do a lot to her as well – she gently grabs her chin and makes her look straight into her eyes. "Cecelia, right?" She nods. "Cecelia, pull yourself together! He's waiting for you at home, but if you give up, he's waiting in vain! You can't give up, understand?"

Lectra, you are amazing, Wiress thinks and pride fills her heart to have a friend like her. She knows Lectra probably has no idea who this guy is, but she speaks in such a convincing manner that Cecelia's eyes are immediately flooded with hope. This is something only she is capable of.

"You think so?"

"I know so."

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And thus, their alliance is formed.

With a partner, it is much easier to survive in the arena. Wiress watches them slowly getting to know each other while they are scraping up some edible things like nuts, bugs, roots and rats, searching for water and wandering around – and, however she still feels a pang of jealousy whenever Lectra says something to cheer Cecelia up, she is glad that she doesn't have to be alone.

The third day of the Games brings a change in the course of events though. It wasn't unexpected – even if the Careers are doing quite well by killing two more contestants, too much time has passed since the Gamemakers last played with them.

So as the evening slowly descends to the arena, the stream solidifies into a small glacier, the soil turns very hard and the tributes' breath is visible as it leaves their lips. The temperature drops even more as the darkness absorbs the arena, and Wiress watches their boy tribute hidden behind his boulder slowly and silently freeze to death.

The sound of the cannon wakes Lectra with a start and she frees herself from the sleeping bag. "Cecelia, are you okay?"

Cecelia who was supposed to be on the watch is sitting next to her with the night vision glasses covering her eyes, her arms wrapped around her stomach and shivering like a leaf. "I-i-it's v-very c-c-cold…" she mutters with clattering teeth. She can hardly speak.

Lectra doesn't waste any more time – she jumps out of the sleeping bag and practically tucks Cecelia into it. After that she runs to gather a few branches and lights a fire despite of the darkness, but it is like her fingers don't want to obey her so the process takes longer than it should. "Hang in there, it'll be better in a sec," she promises, although her own voice is shaking too.

As Cecelia's shivers are seemingly subsiding, Lectra is rummaging in their bag while constantly speaking to the girl. "It's alright, but don't fall asleep, okay? You mustn't fall asleep, Cecelia, you hear me? Why didn't you wake me that you're cold anyway? Cecelia! You know what? Tell me about that boyfriend of yours, who is waiting for you at home! Is he handsome? Kind? What's his name?"

"H-he's the m-most beautiful m-man I've e-ever seen… H-his name is N-Nathaniel… a-and he's m-my fiancé…"

Wiress can feel the rage that Lectra is feeling when she grabs a pack of prunes and throws it onto the ground in her helplessness. Her own mind is searching for a solution to save Cecelia, to no avail.

"He has a nice name. How do you know each other?"

"H-he used t-to be a supervisor i-in… the indigo d-dying f-factory where I worked w-when I was f-fourteen… O-one day I m-messed up the d-dye and the m-materials t-turned out to b-be black i-instead of i-indigo… N-Nat d-didn't let the b-boss fire me t-though…"

Finally, Lectra grabs their metal flask full of water and her face lights up with realization. She puts it into the fire and starts waiting while walking and jogging around in small circles to warm herself up as well. "It's a really sweet story. I wish I could meet him."

"I l-love him so m-much…"

"I know. If only I had a guy like him, but I don't have a fiancé waiting for me at home. You're lucky."

Cecelia is silent for a while, and Lectra is about to open her mouth when she speaks again. "I-I don't u-understand why… You're such a s-special girl…"

Lectra stops circling with her arms to stare at Cecelia in disbelief and lets out a snort. "Special? No, I'm not. Unless you mean "special" as the synonym of "difficult". Then, I have to agree with you."

She takes the flask out of the fire, puts it into the case of the sleeping bag and gives it to Cecelia. The makeshift bed warmer disappears in the bag and the girl sighs in relief as heat floods her from tip to toe. Lectra grins, righteously pleased with herself.

"And this, ladies and gentlemen, is what I call a true alliance," Caesar says and Wiress cannot disagree with him.

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The fourth day is no better either. Around noon, it starts to snow so heavily that Lectra and Cecelia have to stop trekking and find a relatively covered place to hide from the storm.

"I-I thought that i-it can't snow if it's this cold," Cecelia says while they are trying to make a fire from a few twigs.

"I-I bet the G-Gamemakers would be able to make snow even i-if it was as hot as in h-hell," Lectra mutters angrily and swears when a match breaks between her half-frozen fingers.

While Lectra and Cecelia are trying to survive the storm on the other side of the mountain, a serious problem arises in the Careers' camp by the Cornucopia. It is not because of the cold – they have everything to live through that. It is because of the girl from District 10 who decides to seek help in her desperation from her district partner.

She is terribly thin as she has bruises everywhere on her body. Also, she is limping – her leg has probably got frost-bitten. Wiress' throat tightens at her sight and finds herself wishing that someone out there helped her.

Unfortunately, the first one to notice her creeping towards the camp is the boy tribute of District 1, who immediately calls out to the others. The events are happening really fast from there on – they surround the poor girl just like they always do, while out of morbid cruelty the District 1 boy orders his ally from District 10 to kill her. He refuses and they start arguing which results in an arrow in the girl's chest and the first cannon.

Wiress watches the District 10 boy practically jumping onto the other who can barely lower his bow before he gets pinned onto the snowy ground. The blade of a knife flashes as it slits the blonde boy's throat open. The second cannon.

The girl from District 1 cries out. When she lifts her spear and throws it into the back of the tribute that killed her partner, it is like tears are flowing down on her reddened cheeks, but Wiress is not sure. Maybe it's just melted snow.

After the third cannon dies away, the Careers fall into silence.

Three hearts has stopped in less than a blink of an eye.

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Thank you for reading chapter 5! :)

I intended to upload this chapter much sooner, but a few unpleasant things came up – and I went on a vacation with no Internet :D –, so I'm sorry for the late update.

A wild familiar face appears – Cecelia! I just love underrated characters, and since, if I remember well, Cecelia didn't even have a speaking role in Catching Fire, I thought I must help people realize how awesome she is. :)

The little lullaby she is singing, by the way, is not my poem – unfortunately, I'm not a great poet –, it's the chorus of a real song, "67-es út" (Route 67) by a Hungarian band, Republic. My tiny translation is unremarkable compared to that wonderful song, but I tried to grasp the feeling.

So… *Yoda-face* what you think, let me know. :D