Author's Note: To Emily, Luka, Emerald, Marius, Thalia, Link, Carreen, Gabriel, Teagan, Veras, Mary, Eadem, Bri, Che, Parker, Yon, Jace, Noaa, Chantelle, Anderson, Caprice, Cameron, Riley, and Kirby,
By the end of this chapter, five of you will be dead. I'm sorry about that, I'm so, so sorry. But this is the story of the Hunger Games, and it cannot happen any other way.
Before I let you go off to your destinies, I just want to say that it has been an honor working with you, all of you. Thank you for sharing with me your thoughts, your lives, your dreams, your fears. Your stories will live on, I promise.
Goodbye, dear tributes, and good luck.
Fun Fact of the Chapter: How the Escorts Got Their Names, Part X. The District Ten escort who tries and fails to act like a cowgirl, Delia Dee, isn't really named after anything, except for the fact that "Delia" and "Dee" have the same vowel sounds. Coincidentally, she shares a last name with the District Eleven escort. I just decided they're cousins.
…..
Amata le Fay, Head Gamemaker
I glance down at the president's list again, her words still echoing in my head. Six tributes to be killed in the arena, given especially horrible deaths, because of the rebellion. Some of the names I could have predicted, others are a complete surprise. Well, if there's anything a Gamemaker can do, it's making sure the tributes die.
What were the odds of any of them surviving, anyways? Twenty-three to one, at best.
"60... 59... 58... 57..."
Fabian's voice rings out across the arena, cold and detached with a refined Capitol accent, counting down the seconds before the bloodbath begins. I shake my head and turn my attention to the giant screen at the front of the room that shows the live broadcast. Lysander and Helena, relatively new people, are in charge of the cinematography for this year; currently they're just going around the circle of tributes, flashing each of their close-ups in succession, nothing particularly noteworthy, as Mercutio and Liya provide commentary and statistic for those who are betting.
"Do an aerial view—of the—arena," I suggest. They do, and I am rewarded with the commentators' oohs and aahs about my design. From the sky, all you can see are the tops of trees, forming neat half-spheres with the spread of their leaves, all in full bloom. Mercutio starts up about how he hasn't seen a forest arena in a while and how I'm bringing trees back in style. I crack a smile and exchange a glance with Fabian. They haven't seen anything yet.
Lysander presses a button and the camera dives down, crashing through the canopy and making its way through the arena towards the center and the Cornucopia. The lighting is dim and slightly green, since the sun's shining through the leaves, giving the whole place an eerie air. Revir switches the soundtrack to an ethereal vocal song to match the mood. I grin and nod my approval.
"32... 31... 30... 29..."
The crowd outside our building is getting restless to see the tributes again, so Helena brings the camera into the center of the tribute circle, a clearing where there is full light, almost blinding when it shines off of the golden Cornucopia. They go back to showing the tributes' close-ups again, and I walk over to the holographic map in the center of the room. Idina, Claret, and Pericles have already gathered there; as their jobs aren't needed this early in the game, they're free to watch the bloodbath as any other Capitol citizen would, cheering on their favorites and relishing the sound of the cannons. Except not really. Once you become a Gamemaker, you never stop looking at things from a Gamemaker point of view. The arena is your whole world, and the whole world is an arena. I wonder how retired Heads manage to handle it, not being a part of the action. Not being able to control things.
I finger the list in my pocket again and try to dismiss the thought.
"18... 17... 16... 15..."
Idina designed the Cornucopia setup for this year, and I can tell by the smug look on her face that she knows everybody's impressed. In a reversal of the setups of previous years, all the weapons are scattered far across the clearing while the survival equipment is piled up in the mouth of the golden horn. Hopefully, this will lead to more bloodshed overall, as non-Careers will be armed but will have to fight their way to the center in order to get the basic supplies. The weapons are all buried halfway into the ground, though, so no tribute can get their hands on one too easily.
The bloodbath death count has been unusually low the past couple of years. Four years ago there had been no deaths at all. I don't know how I'm supposed to feel about that.
"10... 9... 8... 7..."
Everyone in the Capitol has started counting down along with Fabian. I glance out the window, taking in their eager, almost ecstatic faces. As long as the Games last, I am in charge of everything they see on their TV screens, and therefore everything they think about.
I will not—cannot—disappoint them.
"5... 4... 3... 2... 1... 0."
Each screen in the Gamemaking room splits into four sections as the cameras prepare to capture every battle from every angle. The tributes have had days to work out their strategies, but now is the time when the Games actually begin, and nearly everyone hesitates. Then comes a sudden burst of movement.
One thing Idina's Cornucopia plan has already succeeded in is leveling the playing ground, at least for a little while. Instead of dashing to the horn immediately, the Careers have to stop to grab weapons from the edge of the ring first, giving the other tributes an opportunity to attack them while they're unarmed—and the Careers also have to abandon their traditional method of fighting from the center of the circle. More dangerous for everyone involved.
My perception of time slows as I watch each battle, each movement of the tributes, my fist clenched and my breath held.
Luka Saroque is the first to dart out, quickly followed by Marius Sheer, Bri Geers, and Caprice Alexander. Marius tugs a spear out of the ground seemingly without any effort, glances around, and begins making his way around the circle with his back to the Cornucopia. Caprice concentrates solely on making it to the horn, leaping over the tops of weapons in her path. She's in an advantageous position, starting right across from the mouth of the Cornucopia and away from the paths of the more dangerous Careers. Luka and Bri are coming from opposite sides of the circle. The girl kneels down and pulls at a bow and quiver in the ground as Luka slides out some fighting knives and whirls around to face Emerald, who's grinning widely as she tugs a set of throwing knives out of the ground. They make their way toward the center, back to back.
By this point, most of the other tributes have begun to move. Teagan Status turns and sprints, trying to find the shortest path out of the clearing and into the forest. Emily Raine, Carreen Haggerty, and Gabriel Maddox all find weapons—a bow, some knives, and a sword, respectively—and make a dash for their allies. Emily spots Teagan running and shoots an arrow, but she's off by a few inches and her arrow flies into a tree. Teagan quickly pries the thing out of the bark and disappears into the forest.
Meanwhile, Marius has worked his way to the side of the Cornucopia and spots Kirby Knightly moving toward the horn. The Two boy strides forward and thrusts his spear into the boy's chest, almost right in his heart. The body falls; first death of the Games, maybe fifty seconds in.
Caprice manages to grab a medium-sized backpack from the Cornucopia, ducking as Emerald throws a knife in her direction. She locks eyes with Jace Latone, who is taking fighting knives from the edge of the circle near her district partner Noaa Carpenter. The two girls exchange a brief nod and then Jace glances toward Bri, who also receives the message. Caprice runs off into the area of trees behind the horn.
Bri frees her bow and turns to kick Eadem Ordinaria, who has gotten too close for comfort, out of the way. He stumbles back; she loads her bow and lets an arrow fly into his arm. He pulls it out as he runs off to the forest, taking the bloody spear out of Kirby's body as he goes.
Cameron Ray has circled around the side of the Cornucopia and grips a pack of hiking gear before being forced to pull back as Gabriel draws his sword and wounds Cameron's shoulder. Startled, the boy stumbles as he runs away and trips on the hilt of a spear, clutching his arm wound and trying to gather the strength to get up.
Parker Bates and Che Botill each grab the weapons nearest to their plates. Che heads for the Cornucopia and Parker begins to run across the clearing, eyes trained on Mary Telva, who is very hesitantly trying to pull a knife from the ground. Her path is blocked by Chantelle, who has a small backpack from the Cornucopia and two fighting knives that she picked up along the way. In the few moments it takes for the girls to realize what is happening and size each other up, Luka and Emerald have reached Mary in a few quick strides. They draw their knives as Mary struggles to get her out of the ground, and Luka says the first words of the Games: "Take your time, sweetheart. You've got the rest of your life."
The sounds of tributes fighting is quiet enough for the girl's allies to hear the Career's taunt. Parker looks up and runs toward Mary with a scream, but even as Chantelle moves out of the way she's too far away to do much good. Che turns and throws his boomerang at the pair of Careers. It bounces off of Emerald's arm, dislocating her shoulder, but Luka's the one doing the killing and he's already dug his knife into the girl's throat. She falls, blood dripping from her neck; death two, one minute forty-four seconds in.
While Luka and Emerald are occupied with killing Mary, Thalia Trinket sneaks around the side of the Cornucopia and snatches up a medium-sized backpack. She throws it to her district partner, Link, who is busy digging up a pair of twin katanas nearby. We put them in the arena especially for him.
Yon Trizzle yanks a handaxe out of the ground and begins fighting with Riley Rynne, who has a sword. Both of them have frighteningly blank looks in their eyes.
Chantelle has reached her district partner's plate, where Anderson has been standing there patiently, ignored by the rest of the tributes. She grabs his arm with her free hand and they run as fast as they can into the forest. Bri and Jace meet up near the center and run off in the direction where Caprice fled.
Veras Valdez, armed with a knife, runs into Cameron as he is making his way to the edge of the circle. He tries to grab Cameron's hiking pack, but the boy keeps his grip on it and pulls a knife from the ground. Veras in turn pulls harder on the pack and the two struggle for it for about five seconds before an arrow from Emily comes flying in their direction. Veras ducks and it grazes Cameron's forehead; as the boy assesses his wound Veras disarms his and slits his throat, taking the pack and heading for the trees. Death three, two minutes three seconds in.
I glance in Idina's direction. She's not looking at the screen but rather has a stopwatch in her hands. I know what she's thinking: at the rate they're going, this might be among the fastest bloodbaths ever. Everything's happening at once. Probably the Capitol audience can't even tell what's going on. But every second feels like five to me, and with the split screens I can see the expressions of pain on all the tributes' faces.
Link Anderson has finished digging up his katanas, and he and Thalia head off toward the forest. Carreen begins to chase them, pulling a spear out of the ground as she does so, and she almost manages to catch the boy, who is slower than his partner due to his prosthetic leg. But Link scrapes the Career's side with his katana, leaving her in enough pain to give him time to escape.
Carreen whirls around and pulls a spear out of the ground, making her way toward Noaa, who is sprinting into the trees with some throwing knives. Yon also detaches from his battle with Riley and heads after Noaa. An easier kill, I think almost glumly. Even though the others hate me for it, I don't regret what I said to him during his private training session. He needed directions, so I gave him some. All I told him was kill and don't get killed—practically the unspoken rules of the arena.
The camera follows Noaa as he runs through the forest, frantically checking behind his shoulder. He's pulling farther and farther away from Carreen, who is slowed down by her wound from Link's katana. The screen splits in half, one side showing the chase, the other side focusing on the Cornucopia clearing where Riley is heading toward the Careers with her sword in hand. One Twelve tribute against five Careers—that isn't going to work out in her favor, no matter how good at swordplay she is. Is the girl suicidal or just overconfident? Luka is smirking, as if he's amused by the idea; the rest of the Careers just look exasperated as they ready their weapons.
Carreen stops chasing Noaa, clutching her side as she prepares to turn around and join her allies at the Cornucopia. Noaa, glancing behind, notices that she's stopped and slows down his pace, thinking he's safe, when Yon comes crashing through the trees, blocking the Nine boy's path and bringing his axe down into Noaa's head.
Death four. Three minutes nine seconds.
Careen catches sight of Yon and lifts her spear in case he decides to go after her, but the boy just takes Noaa's knives and disappears into the trees just as quickly as he had arrived. Carreen takes in a breath and then heads back to the clearing.
Meanwhile, Riley has been fighting against Gabriel, deflecting knives and arrows coming from Emerald and Emily. Luka's been holding back one this one, probably watching to see if Gabriel could actually kill the girl—from what I've overheard during training, the Four boy's place in the alliance is being debated since he isn't actually a Career. Marius is also electing not to fight, instead going around the Cornucopia and picking up whatever weapons are left. He finds only a large battleaxe. The boy walks back over to his allies and says, "I'm going to go find Carreen."
The battlefield is eerily quiet, almost silent except for the clashing of two swords and Marius's comment. The other Careers nod their approval and Marius heads off in the direction Carreen went.
After another minute or so of battle, Gabriel manages to make a deep wound in Riley's hand, causing her to drop her sword. Gabriel kicks it out of her reach and presses the tip of his sword lightly into the girl's chest.
"Should have quit while you were ahead," Luka comments idly.
Gabriel turns to look at the rest of the alliance. "Whose kill?"
"You don't want it?" Luka asks.
"Not if someone else does." Gabriel stares straight into Luka's eyes, his expression cool and calm, turning what would normally be taken as an admission of cowardice into a forceful statement.
Riley closes her glassy eyes. She's already thought about possible escape routes and realized that there is no other way. Emily takes a step back, lowering her bow and shaking her head. Luka makes a "no, thanks" gesture, much to my surprise. Emerald steps forward, though, and says in an almost playful voice, "I could use a little target practice!"
Gabriel lowers his sword and steps aside. Riley is still standing there. Emerald narrows her eyes. "Well, go on, Twelve. Start running." Her tone is much nastier than it was a few seconds ago.
"Don't want to make this look like a public execution," Luka mutters, glancing to the side with a smirk.
A second passes, and then Riley begins to run for the trees. A hopeful expression spreads across her face—maybe she can outrun the Careers and live another day—but soon Emerald has a knife flying into her back. Riley falls to her knees. Emerald sends three more knives into the girl's neck, head, and heart, and the body slumps over. Death five. Five minutes fifty-two seconds.
Carreen and Marius emerge from the trees and the Careers begin sorting their supplies. I turn to Idina and Claret. "Is—that—it, then?"
"Six minutes," Claret says with a smile that contains no joy.
"Five tributes dead in six frickin' minutes!" Idina slams her stopwatch onto the table. It's hard to tell whether she's excited or angry.
Fabian starts firing the cannons. I turn away from the screen and look at the tribute list again. Two of the circled names are dead already, without any intervention on our part. But there are still four left, and fourteen others to kill in the days to come.
"Come—on—guys," I say to the rest of the Gamemaking team. "We've got—work—to do."