Chapter 8: Let The Games Begin
Clove
Before I knew it, I'm already in the launch room, standing on the circular metal plate, with Lance still clenching my hands
"Remember what Enobaria said," he said to me. "Kill as many as you can during the bloodbath. Don't hesitate." I nodded determinedly. "Good luck Clove."
And then a glass cylinder is lowering around me, breaking our handhold, cutting him off from me. The cylinder begins to rise. For maybe fifteen seconds, I'm in darkness and then I can feel the metal plate pushing me out of the cylinder, into the open air. For a moment, my eyes are dazzled by the bright sunlight and I'm conscious only of a strong wind with the hopeful smell of pine trees. Then I hear the legendary announcer, Claudius Templesmith, as his voice booms all around me.
"Ladies and gentlemen, let the 74th Annual Hunger Games begin!"
Sixty seconds. That's how long we're required to stand on our metal circles before the sound of a gong releases us. I find myself positioning my feet to run, toward the Cornucopia. Moments later and the gong rings out. I run towards the Cornucopia as fast as I can.
I have spotted Katniss Everdeen fighting for a backpack with the boy from District 9. As soon as I got hold of a pack of knives, I threw one through the boy's back and then he coughs, splattering Katniss' face with blood. She staggers back and the boy slips to the ground. She spotted me as I run towards her. I can see fear in her eyes. She's scared of me. She immediately slings the pack over one shoulder and run full-speed for the woods as I threw a knife towards her. She reflexively hikes the pack up to protect her head. The blade lodges in the pack. I didn't continue pursuing her and participated instead in the massacre.
Cato
After the bloodbath, I met up with the others, which includes Clove, Marvel, Glimmer and Rica. Kevin was unfortunately killed during the bloodbath, along with less than a dozen tributes. Rica is still looking down on Kevin's lifeless body on the ground.
"I'm sorry about him," Marvel said as he patted her on the shoulder.
"We need to go," I said to them. "So that the hovercraft can collect the bodies."
"Unless you want to follow him wherever he is now," Clove said.
"No. Not yet," Rica said.
We made our way to the woods, hunting for victims. Hours have passed and we got exhausted. We decided to take a rest and sat on the floor. But of course we're still alert. Minutes later and I saw someone running away from us. He probably sensed our presence in this part of the woods while traveling on his own and decided to run for it. I quickly stand and pursue him with the others following me. We managed to reach him in time, with Clove pinning him on the ground, and recognized him as Peeta Mellark. We didn't kill him immediately.
"Please, don't kill me yet," he pleaded. "I can help you."
"Really? How can you help us? Tell me, lover boy," Clove asked him dangerously, still pinning him on the ground. I can see hatred in her eyes. Of course, she hated District 12 from the start.
"I can lead you to Katniss," he answered. I looked at Clove and the others.
"Are you sure?" Glimmer asked him disbelievingly. "You're going to let us kill the girl on fire?"
"And how can we be sure that you are up to that task?" I asked him.
"I know her well," he answered. Clove gets off of him at once.
"Let's keep him," Clove said. "The most important thing is that he can lead us to fire girl. Once his task is over, we'll kill him, he doesn't stand a chance against the five of us, the odds will definitely be in our favor." We looked at each other for a while and agreed to it.
It's late afternoon when we begin to hear the cannons. Each shot represents a dead tribute. One… two… three… on and on until they reach eleven. Eleven dead in all. Thirteen left to play.
Night has just come when we hear the anthem that proceeds the death recap. I can see the seal of the capitol, which appears to be floating in the sky. The anthem fades out and the sky goes dark for a moment. Then the faces of the eleven dead tributes begin to show up.
We continued hunting for victims during the night when we decided to take a rest and sleep a little. Marvel volunteered to take the watch. I lie down on the floor using my backpack as a pillow. Glimmer lie down beside me, Rica lie down close to us and Clove sat beside Marvel. I just closed my eyes and didn't bother looking at the two of them. I want to sleep beside Clove and wrap my arms around her. I want to protect her, keep her alive only to die by my hands. I want to hold on to her but now she's holding on to someone else.
I was woken up by Marvel after a few hours of sleep. The sky is still dark, but I can feel the first signs of dawn approaching. We ate a little bit of our food before hunting for victims. As we combed the woods, we spotted a small fire not too far away from us. We made our way towards the fire starter as fast as we could. We're on her before she can escape. We recognized her as the girl from District 8. She pleads and pleads but I stuck my sword on her stomach which earned me an agonized scream from her.
"Twelve down and eleven to go," I said to the others which gets a round of appreciative hoots.
"Let's check her for supplies," Clove suggested and checked the girl for supplies. "Nothing good." She said moments later.
"Better clear out so they can get the body before it starts stinking," I said and we walked on.
Clove
"Shouldn't we have heard a cannon by now?" Marvel suddenly said as we stopped walking.
"I'd say yes," I agreed to him. "Nothing to prevent them from going in immediately."
"Unless she isn't dead," Marvel said.
"She's dead. I stuck her myself," Cato said fiercely, looking at Marvel.
"Then where's the cannon?" Marvel asked him. They're looking fiercely at each other right now.
"Someone should go back. Make sure the job's done," I said as I looked at the others.
"Yeah, we don't want to have to track her down twice," Glimmer agreed to me.
"I said she's dead!" Cato said fiercely to us.
"Cato, are you an idiot?" I said loudly to him. "If she is then we should've heard a cannon by now." He's looking at me fiercely. "Cato, grow up!"
"Clove, how dare you say such mean things to him?" Glimmer said to me, holding one of Cato's arms, the latter still looking at me fiercely. "Considering the fact that you're district partners."
"Come on. He deserves it," I said to her. She glared at me and I glared back at her.
"That's enough," Rica said. "We're not supposed to fight with each other yet, right?"
"We're wasting time! I'll go finish her and let's move on!" Peeta said, silencing us.
"Go on, then, lover boy," Cato said. "See for yourself." Peeta made his way back to the girl.
We stayed silent until Peeta gets out of earshot, and then we used hushed voices.
"Why don't we just kill him now and get it over with?" Glimmer said.
"Let him tag along. What's the harm? And he's handy with that knife," Marvel said.
"Besides, he's our best chance of finding her," I said.
"Why? You think she bought into that sappy romance stuff?" Rica asked.
"She might have," I said. "Seemed pretty simple minded to me. Every time I think about her spinning around in that dress, I want to puke."
"Wish we knew how she got that eleven," Glimmer said.
"Bet you lover boy knows," I said.
The sound of Peeta returning silences us once again.
"Was she dead?" Cato asked him.
"No. But she is now," he answered. Just then, the cannon fires. "Ready to move on?"
We set off at a run just as dawn begins to break, and birdsong fills the air.
Cato
We continued hunting for victims in the woods. But we haven't found a single one ever since the girl from District 8. We decided to go to the lake and refill our water bottles. It's late afternoon when we reached our destination. I am sitting in front of the lake, adding droplets of iodine in my water bottle to purify the water inside it when someone placed a hand on my shoulder. I looked around and saw Clove.
"Cato, I'm sorry about earlier," she said softly as she sat beside me. "I shouldn't have said those things to you. I just…"
"I know," I interrupted. "You just want to back Marvel up."
"That's not what I'm trying to say," she said. Before she gets to say anything else, I stood up and walked away from her. I don't want to talk to her right now. Maybe some other time.
Night falls, the anthem plays, and high in the sky I see the picture of the girl from District 8. We set a camp some place near the lake and I volunteered to take the watch.
Once again, we combed the woods for victims the next day. But no luck, we haven't found a single one. We decided to take a rest and sleep a little before night falls, with Clove taking the watch, and continue hunting for victims at night.
I'm still fast asleep when I felt someone waking me up. I open my eyes to see Clove.
"What's wrong?" I asked her, sitting up, gathering my supplies.
"Smoke," she said as she and the others gathered their supplies as well. After that, we run.
The heat is horrible, but worse than the heat is the smoke, which threatens to suffocate me at any moment. I pull the top of my shirt up over my nose for protection. I know this is Gamemaker-made. Things have been too quiet today. No deaths, perhaps no fights at all. The audience in the capitol will be getting bored, claiming that these games are verging on dullness. This is the one thing the games must not do. This fire is designed to drive us tributes together.
We managed to get away from the fire after minutes of running to safety. But we still haven't met any other tribute as night begins to fall. We set another camp and sleep for the night with Rica taking the watch.
Clove
We woke up the next day and ate some of our food before going to the lake and refill our water bottles. As usual, we combed the woods for victims but it's not until late afternoon when we heard sounds of someone splashing on the water. We followed the sound and we spotted her, Katniss Everdeen, making her way out of the pond and running away from us. Finally, she showed up. Now is the time to kill her. We pursue her until she picks a high tree and begins to climb. She's fast. By the time we've reached the base of the trunk, she's twenty feet up. For a moment, we stop and survey one another.
"How's everything with you?" she called down cheerfully. This takes us aback.
"Well enough," Cato said to her. "Yourself?"
"It's been a bit warm for my taste," she said. "The air's better up here. Why don't you come up?"
"Think I will," Cato said.
"Here, take this, Cato," Glimmer said and she offers him the silver bow and sheath of arrows.
"No," Cato said, pushing away the bow. "I'll do better with my sword."
Cato begins to climb the tree and Katniss begins to climb again. Moments later and I hear a crack and Cato fell down the tree. Glimmer then scales the tree until the branches begin to crack under her feet and then has the good sense to stop. She tries to shoot Katniss and it's immediately evident that she's incompetent with a bow. One of the arrows gets lodged in the tree near Katniss. She seized it and waved it teasingly above her head. I really hate her. She's making us look foolish.
"Let her stay up there," Peeta suggested. We looked at him. "It's not like she's going anywhere. We'll deal with her in the morning." We looked at each other and just agreed to it. We set a camp under the tree where Katniss is.
Night falls and we gather around a fire. Cato and Glimmer sat beside each other. Glimmer is holding one of Cato's arms and resting her head on his shoulder. Cato looks as if he's enjoying this moment so much. I just looked away from them and examined my knives. I'll be more than willing to throw these to the two of them.
Cato
I see Clove examining her knives while Marvel is looking at her admiringly. She looked at me and I quickly looked away from her though I want to be with her right now.
"Clove, what's that on your neck?" Marvel suddenly asked her. I looked at them.
"I don't know," she answered, placing her hand on her neck.
"Is that a bruise?" Marvel asked her again.
"Maybe," she answered. "Maybe it got scratched when we were chasing fire girl."
"Here," Marvel said as he opened a small container where I'm sure medicine is placed. He dipped his fingers inside it and coated Clove's neck with the medicine. He's looking at Clove's neck with desire. Right now, I want to kill him. And then I saw Clove, her expression tells me that she's enjoying his touch. "There."
"Thank you," Clove said to him. "Wait, Marvel. You have something on your forehead as well." she dipped her fingers inside Marvel's medicine container and coated Marvel's bruise with the medicine.
"Thank you Clove," Marvel said to her.
"No problem," she said. I was so angry I clenched my fists, suddenly realizing that I'm holding one of Glimmer's hands.
"Ouch," she said as she lets go of my hand.
"Sorry," I said to her.
I was raging inside and I couldn't control myself. I want to be with Clove. I want to be where Marvel is right now. I have to admit that I'm jealous, really jealous, right now. If I have the chance, I will kill Marvel right before his eyes.
Clove
We decided to sleep for the night and Glimmer volunteered to take the watch this time. I fell asleep quickly because I was so tired and fatigue overcame me.
The next day I have woken up to a full-scale tracker jacker attack. Someone must have dropped a nest right at us, and I'll bet anything it was Katniss.
"To the lake! To the lake!" I shouted at the others. We made our way to the lake as fast as we could. I can hear Glimmer shrieking, calling to us for help but, of course, no one returns. The poison from the stingers makes me wobbly. I've been stung many times but I still managed to go to the lake. I submerged myself in the water, just in case any wasps are still on my trail. Moments later, a cannon fires. I'm guessing either Glimmer or Rica has just died. Then a second cannon fires. Maybe both Glimmer and Rica have just died. Only me, Cato and Marvel have made it here. How about Peeta? What happened to him?
I saw Cato making his way back to our camp. It's either to go back to kill fire girl or get our weapons or both. Be careful Cato, I don't want to lose you, yet.