CHAPTER 8

The Arena

"It's time, Olive," Cario's voice was decisive, though it carried a slightly sad tone. Everything was prepared for her to leave. After all, nothing she wore or had was hers. Even the clothes she wore to ride the hovercraft were specially given to her by the stylist.

Passing by the sitting room to go towards the door, Olive met her mentors, who seemed to be waiting for her to say goodbye. Librae was sitting peacefully, drinking from a cup, while the others got up to approach the two.

In the last hours she had been talking to Finnick, she had never said any farewell words. They were too busy talking about anything else. Fondness. Yeah, that must be what this feeling is. She thought, getting closer to him to engulf him in a hug. "I'll do my best."

"I'll be waiting, then," he whispered in a sad tone, although he tried to hide it behind a chuckle.

Mags smiled kindly at her, mumbling how important it was to stay clear from the Cornucopia during the first day. The bloodbath, as the mentors called it, was between the first ten to thirty minutes of the Games, where a lot of deaths happened. Usually, those from the Career districts would ally and kill the rest that went to get weapons.

"Alright, Mags, I'll do that," Olive answered with the same soft tone. Her eyes then landed on her other two mentors, Ron and Librae. "Any last-minute advice from you two?"

"As a good friend of mine once said, 'stay alive'," Librae said, a smirk forming on her lips as she folded her arms.

"Will try," Olive affirmed with a cocky tone, which made her mentor grin widely, almost as if she was proud of her. "Ron?"

"Do your best and don't do anything stupid out there," Ron spoke, receiving a nod in reply. While Cario took her away to get to the hovercraft, she noticed Ron discretely walking toward Finnick.

The doors were about to close behind her when Librae spoke up, saying the last phrase Olive was expecting to hear. "May the odds be ever in your favour, my ass."

After the ride in the hovercraft, Olive arrived at the Launching Room, where she would get ready before she got to the arena. Her right arm, where the tracker had been injected, still stung, but it wasn't nearly as bothersome as her own thoughts.

"Don't rub your arm, it will only hurt more," Cairo said. "And go have a shower."

She nodded and did as he said, coming out of the bathroom just as the clothes arrived. The same ones for every tribute, which would be designed especially for the arena they would be launched in. The stylists had no saying in whatever they wore, leaving the design completely to unknown Capitol people.

They were simple. A tank top. A plain shirt with loose sleeves. A jacket. Loose-fitting pants. And a pair of boots. From what Cario could deduct, all of them were made with lightweight layers, which meant it could be an extremely hot arena since heavy layers would contribute to dehydration while lightweight ones wouldn't.

"The last touch," Cario murmured, approaching her with the earring she had missed so much the past week. Before Olive placed it on her ear, she asked her stylist to have it in her hands to admire it.

"Be sure to tell my mentors that, if I die, they have to send a message to my family with my corpse. I want my twin to have this earring. Like that, she will never be alone. Mum and I will be protecting her . . . I don't want her to feel lonely. We'll always remain together. We're twins, after all. Not even death can do us apart." She stated, holding back the tears that were threatening to escape her eyes. "Her name's Annie. Tell my mentors to be sure to write about how much I loved and missed her and the rest of my family, please. My father, too."

"You can tell them yourself when you come back. Alive," Cario answered, though he raised a hand in front of her as he saw she was about to complain. "But if that impossible scenario were to happen, I'll be sure to tell them and get everything ready."

"Thank you," she breathed, closing her eyes to calm herself down.

Mum, please protect me. I do fear death, but it's not because I'm afraid of dying. I'm afraid of disappearing. Not seeing Annie, Theo, Gianna, dad, or even Finnick ever again. I can't accept death just yet. Please, protect me and help me survive this. It was one of the first serious prayers she had done in a while. Since her mother's death, everyone in their house completely gave up the idea that a benevolent God existed.

Now that her life could end at any second, she understood why many tributes were religious. Hope. It gave them hope to believe their own lies.

'I won't die.' 'I'll survive.' 'I'll go back to my family.' 'I'll be a victor'. How many poor kids thought that and died the next minute? Maybe the hour after, or even a few days later. Those who died at the hands of the victor. How would they feel? They were so close, yet so far from reaching their goal. She thought, eating some of the food that was set in the room for her.

"Can you talk about anything? Please, my thoughts are killing me," Olive muttered, glancing up at her stylist, who seemed surprised at the request.

"About the message that you wanted to send to your family. Do you want me to give one to any of your mentors, too? I know you said your goodbyes, but those never truly feel like the real last words." Cario suggested, giving her a glass of water as she sat right in front of him on the couches that were at the side of the room, far away from the metal plate that would launch her into the arena.

"Tell Mags that she's really sweet, and I've always looked up to her. Ron . . . that he should confess already to Librae, or I'll find him in my next life just to slap him," she chuckled, thinking of the many times she had caught him staring lovingly at Librae. "Also, that he's a good guy and I respect him. Librae, well, that I found interesting the way she analysed me with her eyes, and, if I hadn't died, I would have liked her to teach me to do the same."

"And Finnick?" he asked, leaning forward slightly.

"Finnick . . . he's a tricky one. I guess I should tell him he has been my first friend, and I appreciate every moment I spent with him, even though he thinks his intentions were bad." She smiled, looking up before adding. "And to Cario, my second friend, that I've loved every single one of the dresses he has done for me, and, if I hadn't died, I would have loved to keep wearing them."

A sudden female voice announced it was time to prepare for the launch, which made Cario blink his teary eyes a few times to not let tears escape. He guided Olive to the circular metal plate and said his own farewell words. "And I would love for you to continue wearing them. Good luck, Olive."

"Thank you, Cario." She exhaled just as the cylinder lowered, blocking her communication with her stylist. The platform began to rise, leaving her in the dark for a few seconds before appearing in the arena. The bright sun forced her eyes to close shut for a few seconds. Once she got used to it, she could finally analyse the type of arena she was in. Thus, she could create a plan.

A fucking desert!? Are you kidding me!? How am I supposed to survive this? I'm from Four, dammit. Water and plants are my thing. Not hot and horrid sand! Olive thought, looking around as she tried to find any small sign of a waterfall, or perhaps forest. Nothing. There were no clear signs of water or refuge anywhere in the arena. Just sand and mountains enclosing the arena.

"Ladies and gentlemen, let the Sixty-ninth Hunger Games begin!" The voice of Claudius Templesmith boomed around the arena, which meant the countdown would start immediately, giving everyone sixty seconds to figure out a plan before the gong sounded.

Olive looked at the Cornucopia, spotting a quiver with at least a dozen of arrows and a bow right beside it. How tempting. She thought bitterly, shaking her head to drive her attention to easier targets. There were a few bags in front of her. All horribly brightly coloured, which would be difficult to camouflage, since it seemed unlikely that there was water or trees around the desert. She couldn't use either mud or leaves.

Just as the countdown stroke forty seconds left, a high-pitched scream, coming from a few tributes to her right, startled her and most of the other tributes. A girl's wooden ball token had slipped through her fingers, falling outside her metal circle, and hence activating the mine. The explosion was such that the tributes at her sides had a hard time holding onto their own plates.

The scene was grotesque. The girl's plate's surroundings were covered in blood and parts of her body and flesh. The tributes at her side had the bad luck of being splashed with the blood too, which stunned one, while the other completely freaked out.

After the commotion, most tributes forced themselves to drive their attention back to their own survival. Twenty seconds left. They had to decide what to do, or where the weapons they wanted were.

Olive continued still, glancing at the girl's metal plate with pity. It hadn't even been the girl's fault. She was clearly nervous, which led her to have a shaky grip on her weird token. Couldn't the explosions be controlled manually by the Gamemakers to prevent stupid deaths like those? Well, why would they care? No tribute is too important to lose. No need to give themselves more work, right?

As the gong sounded, everyone stepped down from their plates to proceed with their plan. Olive doubted a second, but immediately composed herself, taking the first bag she saw before trying to run towards the mountains.

Running on the sand was difficult, to say the least. Even more, if there were small stones around, causing her to trip every few metres. One of those times she barely managed to continue standing, a throwing knife flew at least two metres over her head. Even if she hadn't tripped, that knife would have never reached her.

Rapidly, she took it and looked back, ready to encounter whoever was after her. However, as she glanced at the Cornucopia, the only person looking at her was a boy. She wasn't entirely sure which district he was from, and neither she cared at the moment. The boy didn't seem to be a threat, nor did he have any other weapons that could be thrown or shot.

Without much thinking, she turned back around to run for the mountains. Luckily, there were many rocks on the way where she could somewhat hide behind. Of course, if someone had already made it to the mountains, she could be easily taken out.

It took long hours to arrive at the base of the mountain she had decided to go, which was the furthest one from the Cornucopia.

By late afternoon, as she was halfway to the top, the cannons, announcing the first day's deaths, echoed around the arena. The bloodbath had to be over. After all, during the opening day, the cannons didn't fire until everyone dispersed. Otherwise, it would be hard to keep track of the fatalities.

"Let's rest," Olive muttered to herself, taking a seat between two rocks, which would hopefully conceal her a bit. She tried to catch her breath, taking a few minutes to compose herself. It was getting colder. Of course, it was a desert, after all. Extreme high temperatures during the day and extremely low at night.

I hate this. She thought, resting her head against a rock as her eyes glanced at the bag. There wasn't much time left of light. If she had to discover what there was inside, it had to be now. With shaky hands, she opened the bag and took out everything she found.

"Two packs of salted, dried fruits. A weird metal thing. Small coil of wire. A pack of salted nuts," she mumbled, encountering an odd black fabric right after taking the pack of food out of the bag. "A sleeping bag . . . oh, thank goodness."

There's, at best, just ten, or twenty minutes left of light. Continuing hiking is dangerous, I could fall or trip. But I can't stay here either. Olive guessed, glancing to her left and right to make sure no one was near. Perhaps if she continued for a bit, she could find a more suitable place to hide. There was nothing to lose. Staying would be as bad as trying her luck.

Packing up her things, Olive finally decided to continue walking. The odds seemed to be in her favour for once, as she found a gap while hiking. It was big enough to conceal herself. Just as she got in the sleeping bag, the deaths were shown in the sky.

From her position, she could barely see the faces. Not like she tried to, either. The only thing she counted were the people dead, and the districts left. Eleven deaths in just one day. Ten if she didn't count the girl, who was shown to be from Three, since she had died accidentally. That meant there were twelve other tributes still alive. No deaths from One or Two. Her district partner wasn't dead yet, so she probably had managed to get herself in the alliance with the careers.

Good for her, she'll have two or three more days until they kill her. I don't think these Games will last for too long. No signs of water, unless there's something beyond the mountain. No food or animals. There might even be mutts around, and where are the people going to run off to? There's nowhere to hide. Olive thought, shifting her position to look at the outside better from a more comfortable position.

I can already tell the victor won't win through killing, but through survival. She let her eyes close as a cruel nightmare took over her dreams.

She was back home. Her old, small home she so much loved. With the people she adored. Everyone sitting around the television for some reason she didn't remember. Her body didn't respond to her either. Not even a finger moved according to her will. It was as if she was a mere spectator of her own life.

Rather quickly, she realised she was indeed a spectator. A spectator for the 69th Hunger Games, in which little Theo was participating. I didn't volunteer? Why didn't I volunteer? She thought, fighting to regain control of her body. No luck with that. Instead, she was punished. The bloodbath, the moment in the Games where most deaths happened, had just started. Theo ran away from it, trying to get to the mountains as fast as he could.

However, the boy from Two was quicker, throwing a dagger at him and piercing his heart. Theo fell to the ground. Blood was all around his corpse. Not even his cannon fired as the fight was still raging in the Cornucopia. His body lay there, motionless, bloodied. He seemed to be just surprised. His mouth was agape as if he had tried to shout but couldn't. His eyes were wide open, the lively sea green they had completely vanished away as the seconds passed.

There was nothing to do. He was gone. The next day, they would receive his body, nothing else. Just a box with his remains and token. The funeral, if they could even afford it, would be entirely their responsibility. And, as many poor people did, they would have no better place to leave him rather than the backyard, or, in their case, the woods. What better place to bury a pure child than a wild habitat? Somewhere far away from the Capitol's unbearable heartlessness.

This can't be happening. Not Theo. Not my little brother. Please! I volunteered! I took his place! I'm the one that should die, not him! Olive tried to yell. However, she could barely produce a sound. Her body had been frozen a long time ago. And now her mind had joined in.

"Theo," she breathed, sitting bolt upright with a jolt as a cannon fired. She was in the arena. Theo wasn't there. He was safe. How uncomfortably calming it was for her to be in the Games for once. While that meant her family would be safe, she could endure it.

A cannon fired, so someone died. That means twelve dead and eleven alive, right? Olive thought, getting out of the sleeping bag the best she could without doing much noise. Dawn was breaking, the perfect time to continue going up without being detected. The temperature was still rather low, but it was nothing she couldn't take.

After leaving her hiding place, she clutched the knife in her hand as she tried to find any signs of another tribute anywhere around the arena. There was slight movement around a mountain far away. Still, it was so far away that she couldn't see properly what was going on. It could be the careers going after somebody or a mutt chasing its prey. Either way, it would be best to stay clear of that place.

Around eight in the morning, she finally reached the top. The surface was just as she had imagined, a rocky exterior that was connected with the other mountains surrounding the arena. That meant she had to be careful not to attract any attention, as getting to her from another mountain would be easy. At least there were countless hiding spots she could take advantage of, as some rocks were entrances to small caverns.

The morning was slowly shifting to noon when Olive spotted a lizard around the rocks. An animal. That means there must be water somewhere. She thought, desisting immediately on the thought of killing it, to focus on following it until the potential water source. Food could wait, moreover, when she still had two packs of food left to eat.

Without water in such an arena, she could last three days at best. After that, dehydration would kick in until someone found her, or she completely rotted away. What a silent yet painful way to die that would be. Even the freezing nights could end up being someone's doom. With no sleeping bag, or without being in a place protected from the icy breeze, hypothermia could soon take the person's life.

Who knows if that already happened? There was a silent cannon, after all. No scream or yell. It wasn't even morning, so maybe someone did freeze to death. She thought, watching the lizard maintaining its position between two big rocks, which provided shade from the blazing sun.

"Well, little guy, could you move, please? The shade is great, but if I don't drink something soon, I'll go nuts and become an easy prey. Just like you. Do you know how easy it would be to kill you right now?" Olive muttered, pinching the bridge of her nose while letting out a sigh. "And now I'm talking to a lizard. I've already gone insane."

As she let go of her nose, her eyes landed again on the lizard, which was going somewhere. Trying not to do much noise, she followed him around the place. Crawling through a small space between a couple of rocks. Encountering a cavern. Following it around. Am I for real, leaving my life in the hands of a lizard? I'm following it around as if I even knew where it's going. Good thing I've got a great sense of direction, or I would be doomed.

Just as her thoughts quieted down, the lizard stopped in front of what looked like the cavern's exit. It didn't even step into the light. Rather, it stayed far away from it, hiding on the sidelines as if it were scared. Olive didn't like that one bit. A frightened animal wasn't a good sign. There had to be a bigger predator on the other side for it to act that way.

However, if the Gamemakers had gone through enough trouble to put predators in such a remote place, it should be for a reason. There had to be some kind of water source there. Slowly, she made it to the exit, trying to distinguish what there was outside without being spotted by the predator.

Outside, uncovered and untouched, there was a perfectly set cactus field. It was suspicious, to say the least. But, it didn't matter how much she looked, she couldn't find any signs of danger. Perhaps other animals weren't the ones providing the danger, but the cactus field in itself.

"Little guy, for this present, your life has been spared," Olive joked, looking at the lizard as it disappeared the same way they got in. Looking back at the field, she felt tempted to try it out, drinking whatever those cacti contained. However, that wouldn't be a smart decision. It wouldn't be the first time the Gamemakers did something to the water, much less in an arena where it was undoubtedly needed.

Poison. Mutts. Other threats. There could be anything. And she wasn't desperate enough to give them free rein to prove themselves. Maybe I should take the chance to go back to the Cornucopia. If the water can be drunk, there must be iodine somewhere around there, and perhaps there's a bottle, too. I can't just drink it without at least the iodine. But going back would also mean at least two days out in the open. I didn't take long to get to the mountain yesterday, but I was also running at my maximum capacity. I can't pull that off for too long.

Walking back inside, being protected by the comfortable shade of the cavern, Olive let the bag fall from her shoulder. She sat next to it on the ground, looking for anything that could be of use to get the water from the cactus without making it too obvious someone had been there. As she took the metallic thing in her hands, the sound of stones colliding resounded in the place, causing Olive to get a firm grip on her knife while looking up.

She wasn't exactly cornered. The cactus field wouldn't be a perfect escape route, but it would be enough to flee. Silently, she hauled her bag over her shoulder and walked back towards the exit, while keeping her eyes on the entrance, where the sound had come from.

"You have a spile?" A voice asked. It was more like a comment out of amazement than an actual question. The shadows of the cavern covered the tribute's face completely, not letting Olive figure out who they were. Although, it wasn't as if she had paid enough attention to know, even if they were visible.