A/N: Here's another character from the original THG trilogy. Not too much is said about him, and even though I'm including the nickname, in my version of events he doesn't pick it up until after the time of his Games.
Plus, I know that it's difficult to describe when the tributes won't have ever seen this type of landscape before, by this arena is set in a savannah, like those in central Africa.
I hope you enjoy the chapter :)
"There's no other way
All that you can do is watch them play."
- Damon Albarn, 1991.
The 16th Annual Hunger Games
Jacob 'Woof' Harley (16), District 8 Male
Blur - There's No Other Way (1991)
It's only just past dawn, and I'd be amazed if more than two of us are awake in the arena at the moment. Whilst most of the tributes are asleep, it's much, much easier to move through the arena without being noticed. Set in hot grassland, where trees are scarce and water is scarcer, everyone is on the move for sustenance constantly throughout the day. Due to the openness of the arena, it's incredibly easy to be spotted during the day. We've only been in the arena a week, and already there are only six of us left.
Of course, there's the usual Careers, who are now only represented in these Games by the boy from District 1 and the girl from District 4. Judging by the fact that last night the faces of three Careers were in the sky, I'd be tempted to say that their alliance has completely broken down, and that the two remaining Careers are working independently. However, I can't be sure; I haven't seen any of the Careers since the fourth day, when I narrowly evaded the males from Districts 1 and 4, who were on a patrol, searching for tributes.
If I've kept track of the faces in the sky correctly, the other remaining tributes are the girl from District 3 and the boys from Ten and Twelve. I doubt any of them are allying, but yet again, I can't be sure. Due to my operating at dawn and dusk only, I've barely seen anyone since the Games began. The last tribute I saw was my district partner Isabel, but she died two days ago. I think the mutts- a pack of super-strong, super-quick lions- must have gotten her. I only escaped by climbing a dead tree. They circled me for what felt like half an hour until another tribute, the boy from Five, came too close. Then they were off. I watched the feral creatures tear him apart.
Shuddering as the memories resurface, I force myself to focus on my current situation. I know where a couple of moderately-sized lakes are dotted within the area, which I use to maintain my water levels. As for food, it's either been what little game we can catch (I haven't caught any) or fruit dangling high in the air in the few trees we can find. But over the last couple of days, my fruit stores have grown to be plentiful, due to a bit of luck and a lot of good judgment, caused by timing my twilight raids for food to perfection.
I do have a small base within the arena. Where the endless plains rise slightly to form a small hill, I have a stash of supplies atop the hill. I keep half my supplies and my only weapon (a knife I found in a backpack at the cornucopia) within my backpack at all times. I've also got a torch and a small bottle of iodine solution that I was sent by sponsors two days ago, after I survived the mutt pack. The remainder of my supplies are at my base, so that if by some unknown reason I lose my backpack, I still have some supplies to return to, and not all will be lost.
And so now, as the sun creeps over the horizon, I am moving slowly and quietly through the chest-height grasses of the plains. But I must try to keep my speed up. Within an hour, the arena will be full of life. I need to be back at my base guarding my supplies by that time.
The possibility of running into other tributes makes me stop to take my knife out of my backpack and hold it readily in my right hand. I don't know what use it will be if I actually meet someone, as I've never tried to kill before, but it gives me confidence just by holding it.
I reach the nearest lake, which is roughly a mile and a half from my small hill, quicker than I thought I would. I waste no time in filling my two small metal water bottles and applying four drops of iodine solution to each one. But I don't wait around for the water to purify, I just stuff the bottles into my backpack and set off for my base again, knowing that the water will be treated by the time I return to the hill.
I increase my pace on the return journey, knowing that tributes will be slowly starting to rise from their dreams as the sun rises higher.
I'm only five minutes away from my hill when I reach a clearing in the grass, and immediately reel backwards.
It's another tribute. I think it's the boy from District 12. I don't recognise the face, but none of the other tributes that are left are this young, I'm sure of it. This boy must be fourteen at the very oldest.
And here he lies curled up on the grass, sleeping peacefully. I need to get back to my hill, but I don't want to risk waking this tribute. In reality, I know that my best option is to kill the boy in his sleep, but I can't bring myself to do it. I know that it would be an easy, and quiet, way to eliminate another of my opponents. Actually, the more I think about it, the more I realise that I need finish this boy while I can.
I crouch down next to the boy silently, holding my knife in front of me. How would I go about killing someone? I'd probably try to make a clean slit through his throat with my knife. Cut off his air supply. He'd be dead in minutes.
I move the knife about in my hands, considering my actions. If I kill this boy, and I could easily, then I have ended all the hopes, aspirations and memories of this defenceless child. Somewhere in District 12, a family will mourn him. I will be loathed by them, judged by people that I have never met.
And I will be a murderer.
No, I can't do it. Or, to be more accurate, the Jacob Harley that was reaped two weeks ago couldn't do it. But my time in the arena has led be to know that I won't be able to escape this place without killing. In the arena, you kill or get killed. There is no other way of surviving.
Blocking out my senses, I force myself to commit the deed. I stand over the body, shaking in shock at what I have just done. I'm already regretting it. But now is not the time for regrets. Now is the time to return to the hill. I wipe the blood off of my knife onto the ground, and place-
Bang.
The cannon-fire echoes around the arena, and I see a flock of birds take flight raucously nearby. I had forgotten there would be a cannon after I had killed the boy. Now the whole arena will be awake, and I am in the middle of nowhere. I need to return to the rest of my supplies before someone else stumbles upon them.
I turn and run from the scene, eager to put as much distance between the body and myself as possible.
The 16th Games were rather short, with just five tributes left alive on day eight; the boys from One and Ten, the girls from Districts 3 and 4, and Woof.
With the two surviving Careers working independently, they killed off the tributes of Three and Ten on the ninth day, and the Gamemakers brought the lion mutts back the following morning, forcing the final three into a confrontation. However, the boy from District 1 was killed by the mutts and both of the other tributes suffered horrific injuries, with Woof being slightly better off than his adversary when they finally met. That difference was all that was needed to see him kill the girl from Four, crowning him the victor of the 16th Annual Hunger Games.
A/N: Please review! Constructive criticism is welcome! :)
