That night, Hebe was not blessed with a full night's sleep.
She was first awoken because of one of her typical nightmares, horrifying visions of her friends and family in the games, the recurring vision of Finnick on the sofa, Luca with a hole in his chest, Ampere being devoured by his district partner.
Sitting up sharply, she struggled against the confines of her sleeping bag, so used to sleeping in the open she had forgotten it was there. There were small ladders in the fabric where she had been clawing at it in the night, and the seams already looked tired from what was probably her constant thrashing. Eventually she calmed, turning her head and looking at Gaia, who looked almost serene. Hebe envied her ability to sleep so soundly.
She then returned to her horizontal position, zipping the sleeping bag down slightly on one side so she didn't feel so claustrophobic. It was like she was entombed in waterproof fabric, like she was already dead and prepared for her coffin. With that comforting thought flooding her mind, she closed her eyes, turning over.
Hebe then fell into a kind of fitful sleep, drifting in and out of consciousness for what felt like hours, meandering between the darkness of the swamp and her waterproof sarcophagus, and her visceral nightmares. Sometimes her dreams felt more real than the arena, so vivid and well-defined that she struggled to differentiate between fact and fiction.
Until she woke up fully, roused by a low clicking sound in a bush across the clearing. At first she brushed it off, returning to her new ritual of tossing and turning. Then it grew louder, moving through the undergrowth on the edge of the clearing toward where Gaia and herself lay.
Hebe sat up straight in her sleeping bag, grabbing the axe from beside her, fingers latching onto the familiar worn, leather handle. She attempted to inch her way from her sleeping back as quietly as she could, wriggling out just enough that her torso was free to move independently. Then she twisted herself towards the sound, prepared to throw her weapon at whatever may emerge, be it tribute or mutt.
The clicking turned to rustling in the bushes, and it grew ever louder, ever closer. Until it finally ran out into the clearing, squawking wildly. Without even thinking, Hebe threw her axe with pinpoint accuracy at the bird's neck, the blade sinking into it with one loud thud.
When she finally regained hold of her wits, Hebe realised that it was another pheasant, the same one that had emerged from the bushes when her and Gaia had been with the careers. It was like they were following them or something, tracking their every move. Maybe they were equipped with cameras in their eyes or buried in their feathers. It wouldn't be unheard of for the gamemakers to do such a thing.
She let out a cold, brittle laugh at the idea of the gamemakers having to deploy new cameras because she kept decapitating them. One of the few things that brought her a twisted sense of satisfaction in this place was messing with the Capitol. It was one of the only things left she had control over.
Hebe fully unzipped her sleeping bag, standing and walking over to the pheasant, removing her axe and picking up the carcass. Tucking the handle of her weapon into a mesh pocket of her suit, she brought her face down to inspect the bird's eyes. She wasn't entirely sure what she was looking for, yet was pleasantly surprised when she noticed the rings of the lenses in its black pupil.
Satisfied with her discovery, she took the bird by the neck and threw it unceremoniously into a nearby bush, watching as it sailed limply through the air and thudded into the brittle leaves.
Then she turned back around and strode the 5 paces back to her sleeping bag, nearly forgetting to remove the axe from her pocket before she slumped back down. Her eyes stung with sleep as she dragged her hand down her face, most likely covering it in even more dirt that she had just acquired from her midnight caper.
She looked up to the sky again, neglecting to zip the sleeping bag back up. Hebe tracked the moon's progress across the sky, estimating only a few hours before sunrise. It may be the last time she saw the moon. Or maybe she'd live to see it again the next night. Maybe she'd live to see it again in district 4. Then she'd see the real moon, watching as the waves lapped against the shore, sitting side by side with Annie.
She once again felt the pull of sleep threaten to drag her under, although this time it was much stronger, her head clouding as she held onto the image of her home.
Hebe awoke the next morning surprisingly well rested, it felt like she had the energy to move mountains. Gaia was already up, hair wild, nibbling on some of the crackers like some small rodent. When she noticed Hebe was also up she offered some to the girl, and they both sat there eating in silence, dropping crumbs all over their laps and in their sleeping bags.
Hebe was the first to break the silence.
"You sleep ok?"
"Yeah it was fine. You?
"It was horrendous." Hebe laughed, Gaia joining in.
"Seriously? What happened?"
"Well you'll never believe this but one of those fucking pheasants showed up again. Creeped all the way around the bushes from over there," Hebe pointed to the opposite edge of the clearing as Gaia gaped at her in horror, clearly not over her fear of birds.
"And then what happened?" She asked, nervous about the answer.
"Don't worry, I got rid of it. Although I did make a discovery. They're using the pheasants as cameras, they have those lenses in their eyes. It's probably why they're so weird and robotic."
"Huh. Well it does make sense, I'll give you that. Although I don't know why they had to make them so freaky. I think I'm more scared of the pheasants than the other tributes…" She trailed off, clambering to her feet and brushing off the dead leaves from her suit.
Hebe remembered the way their clothes had shone at the start of the games, shining beacons of liquid mercury. Now they were dull, torn, stained with blood and all manner of other things. She was glad for the damage though, it made it easier to camouflage, hide from other tributes in the dense marsh.
She followed suit and stood up, picking up her backpack, now laden with supplies. Despite the reassurance of having food to eat, Hebe wasn't so keen on the weight of her bag, missing when she could carry it around like it was air.
"So the plan is to find another tunnel entrance right?" Gaia asked, still looking to Hebe for guidance even though it was her own plan.
"Yup."
"And how do we, er, go about doing that?" She shot the other girl a bashful look, flushing slightly.
"I figure we head back out towards the edge of the arena. The hatches seem to be hidden in the middle of those clearings surrounded by the cliffs. Almost like an alcove."
Gaia nodded in understanding, "Oh yeah I remember it from when we lost those two from 3. You wanna lead the way?"
"Sure." Hebe turned on her heel, remembering the way they came into the camp, and began the trek back to the edge of the arena, in the hopes of discovering another of those hatches.
The weather that day was even more humid than usual. After the steady incline in temperature of the first few days of the games, it had appeared to have reached a plateau. Hebe had just about gotten used to the climate here when the gamemakers yet again decided to up the ante. Now she was forced to walk for hours through the wilderness in sweltering heat.
You would've thought that being from district 4, Hebe would be used to a more tropical atmosphere. And she was, certainly much more so than someone from dreary district 7 that was cold almost all year round. But she had always struggled with the heat, primarily from the amount she would sweat. She was surprised that she hadn't soaked through the entire suit.
Gaia seemed to be coping much better. Being from district 2 (which was effectively one enormous barren desert) she was much more at home in these kinds of environments, having lived in them her entire life.
They continued to battle through the forest, fighting against not only tiredness and slight dehydration, but also the despair of being in the games. Hebe wasn't sure whether it was her 8th or 9th day in the arena, all she knew was that it was much too long to still be here. And she felt there was still no end in sight. With Anise and Ash being such strong competition and the other three still nowhere to be found, she had a feeling she was in for the long-haul.
But her major concern was not with her own boredom, but that of the Capitol. They had enjoyed some drama yesterday with the death of the girl from 6 and the new alliance, but they hadn't been given anything truly exhilarating since Hebe killed the careers. Or maybe since she had gotten bitten by the bugs, but nonetheless that was over 3 days ago, and now they would be sick of the endless wandering through the swamp; Hebe knew she was.
She just had to pray that the promise of herself and Gaia re-entering the tunnels was enough to satiate them for now, and that the gamemakers wouldn't be forced to send some kind of horrible natural disaster spinning towards them, or that they wouldn't be mysteriously chased back to the cornucopia by a gang of mutts.
She was dragged out of her thoughts by a shout from Gaia.
"Hey, Hebe, take a look at this!"
Hebe whipped around and walked over to her ally, following her outstretched finger. She was pointing down a small path, the trees thickly knitted together, vines dangly down towards them menacingly. It looked just like the one her and the careers had raced down, as well as bearing striking resemblance to the one she had stumbled out of, covered in bug bites.
"Holy shit!" She exclaimed gleefully, clapping Gaia hard on the back.
Then she started down the path, beckoning for the younger girl to follow, hearing her footsteps thud closely behind her, snapping small twigs and brushing through foliage.
They followed the trail for a few minutes, Hebe becoming concerned that they had gone the wrong way, when the spindly trees turned to hard grey rock, the vines hanging giving way to mossy cliff faces. Then they arrived in the clearing, and Hebe had to refrain from giving a whoop of excitement.
She immediately noticed the metal glinting in the centre, kicking the branches covering it to the side, reaching down for the handle. Gaia stood beside her, watching almost mesmerised, as if she hadn't entirely realised what Hebe meant by a tunnel. She lifted it up, triumphant, letting it clash down on the floor on the opposite side.
Her ally peered down at the passage that had been revealed to her, staring in awe at the shiny ladder leading down into the darkness below.
"I never thought they would actually do something like this for the games. It's insane." Gaia murmured, Hebe just laughing as she watched the gears turn in the younger girl's head.
Then she dropped down, lowering herself onto the ladder and beginning her descent.
"You coming?" Hebe asked, stopping halfway down to look at her ally.
"Oh yeah, sorry. Got distracted."
Gaia crouched down and got onto the ladder, gripping on tightly with one hand as she pulled the hatch shut.
Hebe laughed again, tilting her head back to focus on where she was putting her feet, lest she slip and break a bone. Then she definitely wouldn't make it out of the arena. She'd probably ask Gaia to kill her there and then out of shame.
Thankfully they weren't plunged into darkness when Gaia shut the hatch, thanks to the small lights embedded in the walls. In the tunnels it felt like some kind of futuristic bunker. It was strangely reminiscent of the rabbit warren under the tribute centre. The Capitol sure did enjoy cold hard concrete.
Eventually they both reached the bottom, jumping down on the floor. It was then that Hebe noted just how long the climb down had been compared to the last two.
"That was definitely way longer than last time." She remarked absent-mindedly, only noticing the state her ally was in when she looked over at her.
Gaia was red in the face and panting slightly, sat on the floor looking like she was about to flop over in exhaustion.
"Yeah. You don't say." She replied between breaths and Hebe had to control herself to keep from bursting out laughing.
"Well at least it pretty much confirms my theory about the tunnels being situated at different depths?"
"That's true." Gaia sighed, "Help me up then." Hebe grabbed the younger girl's outstretched hand and pulled her unceremoniously to her feet. It was then that she remembered one other thing she didn't understand about the tunnels.
She walked over to the other side of the passageway, peering into what looked like an abyss, but was clearly meant to be the other side of the tunnel. But that was impossible, tunnel any further that way and you'd either hit solid rock or leave the arena all together. So how was this possible?
Hebe looked closer, leaning down and staring directly into the darkness. It was then she noticed a translucent shimmer, it reminded her of the sheen on the bubbles she used to blow as a child. Then an idea hit her.
She remembered the force field that surrounded the arena, and the one on the balcony of the training centre that Finnick had shown her. Hebe dropped her backpack on the ground and began to rifle through it, picking out a box of those disgusting crackers. She broke a small piece off of one and threw it at the 'abyss'.
To her surprise, she was right.
The cracker sprung right back at her, spraying crumbs all over her. Throughout this whole ordeal Gaia stood there, looking at her like she was insane. She was still doing so when Hebe turned back around to share her findings. Even more surprising than the fact she was correct was the fact that Gaia hadn't yet clocked on to what was going on.
"It's a forcefield. An illusion. The tunnels must not extend any further that way, meaning that there are probably only passages between one hatch and the next." Hebe explained.
Gaia nodded in understanding and moved forward to examine the forcefield; she seemed mystified by it. Hebe couldn't blame her. She found herself constantly astounded by Capitol technology, her own home now feeling like some kind of dingy cave in comparison.
Her ally seemed to have reached the same conclusion, straightening herself up and moving back towards Hebe, her face still painted with astonishment.
She then gestured her head in the opposite direction, and Hebe nodded. The pair of them then began walking down the concrete stretch they had been presented with. They once again fell into comfortable silence, both content with eachothers quiet breathes and heavy footsteps.
Yet Hebe couldn't help but feel a dull pain in her heart, her foolish mind wishing that it was Luca following behind her. She imagined turning around and seeing his face again. His skin would glowing in the dim light, that familiar mop of dark curly hair bobbing up and down as he walked.
However when she looked closer, his skin would always become grey, hair plastered to his forehead with sweat, eyes light with fear rather than joy. Then there would be the hole in his chest, blood blooming around it like a red rose, soaking through his silver suit.
But when she turned around for real he was gone, his small figure replaced by a slightly larger one, a new ally that she was destined to fail to protect.
Gaia's reply to the expression on the older girl's face was a look of curiosity, Hebe whipping her head back around to face forward. Then she heard the small patter of leather on concrete as the girl moved to catch up with her.
"You ok?" She asked, her face twisting in concern.
"Yeah. I'm fine." Her voice caught slightly in her throat as she said it, her mind flooded with more images of those she had watched die.
Gaia didn't seem to notice, apparently lost in her own tumble of thoughts and feelings.
"I'm sorry you know." She mumbled at last, so quiet that Hebe almost missed it.
"For what?"
"For knocking you out and stealing all of our supplies." Gaia laughed humorlessly as Hebe shrugged.
"It's fine, I already forgave you, remember?"
"Yeah I know. It's just… thanks for trusting me."
"No problem."
They continued to walk in step for another few minutes before their progress was halted.
Above them, in the ceiling was a hatch with a long metal ladder extending from the ceiling to the floor. One of the metal hatches they'd climbed through only 20 minutes beforehand. Hebe gaped at it in complete and utter confusion. Gaia seemed to have had a similar reaction, yet she was the first of the two to speak up.
"Didn't you say you spent hours walking through that tunnel?"
"Yeah, I mean, it definitely wasn't 20 minutes!" Hebe spluttered.
"Huh. Maybe the tunnels don't all go the same distance underneath the arena. Maybe they can go to the next hatch along or something. You must've just happened upon one of the larger ones."
"That could be true. But why would Lilac and Ampere be using a tunnel so long to spy on other tributes. Why not use one of these ones?"
"Hmm. Good point. Maybe they didn't know there were other tunnels, or maybe they got confused and went to the wrong one. Or maybe they're secret exits."
Hebe laughed at that. God could this arena get anymore confusing?
"Might as well go out of this one and see what we find. Maybe we'll even see some of the other tributes." Gaia continued, grabbing on to the first rung and beginning the ascent to the surface.
"Be careful what you wish for…" Hebe grumbled following suit and pulling herself up the ladder.
Then they were climbing again, their muscles barely having recovered from the last ladder they had climbed down. By the time they were pushing open the hatch, heaving themselves up and flopping onto the grass, they were completely exhausted. Every muscle in their bodies is burnt and sweat dripped down from their brow, droplets falling onto their chins.
The pair of them sat and rested for a while, neither of them having had to do so much physical exertion since sports lessons as a schoolchild. It was as if all the fatigue built up from the games had washed over them all at once, completely overtaking their senses with pain.
After a while Hebe groaned, lifting herself so she was sitting up straight. With some effort, Gaia did the same, the two then holding onto each other for support as they clambered to their feet, surveying their surroundings.
Unsurprisingly they were in what appeared to be the same clearing, greeted with the familiar site of the rock faces and tall trees hemming them in. Directly ahead was the small path leading back out to the swamp, long tendrils falling down from the intertwined trees overhead.
What was unusual however was the large bloodstain on the floor, and the small red handprint on the cliff face. Hebe felt a chill run down her spine at the sight, herself and Gaia making the silent decision to ignore whatever gruesome death had taken place here.
The pair of them began to make their way towards the path, but not before forgetting to cover the hatch in leaves and sticks until it was no longer visible under all of the mulch.
Hebe grabbed her axe from the side pocket of her backpack, slicing through the tendrils as they moved, through the natural walkway. She kept her weapon tightly in hand when she was done, determined not to let herself get ambushed and killed, the only remains left of her a bloodstain like the one in the clearing.
As they began to progress through the jungle, the air seemed to become even thicker than before. Hebe couldn't quite pinpoint whether it was the humidity or the tension; either way, you could cut it with a knife.
The pair of allies began to tread even more carefully than before, ever mindful of the brittle twigs beneath their feet. Then they heard a rustle, both of them stopping dead in their tracks, weapons raised, ears pricked.
They rotated their heads slowly, eyes peeled for a flash of silver in between the trees. It was then that Hebe felt Gaia nudge her, pointing at what looked like a figure in the distance.
Hebe nodded, and the two ducked down, darting into the undergrowth at what felt like lightning speed. They stared through the foliage at the person coming towards them, and what they at first had thought was one figure slowly morphed into two. Soon Hebe could make out their expressions, and then there was no mistaking that it was the pair from 7.
She tried to make herself as small and inconspicuous as possible, Gaia doing the same, and luckily they walked straight past them, far too busy looking surly to notice the two tributes spying on them right under their nose.
When they were certain they were both gone, Gaia and Hebe both let out a long sigh, they're previously shaking hands returning to their usual steadiness.
"Holy shit." Gaia whispered, having not yet lost the quiver to her voice.
"Holy shit." Hebe said back, grinning at the girl.
They exchanged excited glances for a moment longer, unable to contain their excitement at this new discovery. They had found Anise and Ash on their first day of searching, and they could easily travel from their own camp to spy on them.
They straightened up, dead leaves falling from the bush they had both just burst out of. They brushed off the mud from their suits and began making their way back to the tunnels, practically buzzing.
They were around halfway back to their own camp, Hebe slightly ahead of her ally, too happy to control her large strides. She was only stopped by a shout from behind her, her heart nearly stopping in fear.
It turned out to be a false alarm, and she noticed that Gaia was waving her over, pointing enthusiastically at something in the wall.
Hebe jogged over, curious as to what she'd found this time.
"You'll never believe this." Gaia said, eyes wide.
Before Hebe had a chance to respond she pressed a small panel in the wall, so tiny and shallow that Hebe hadn't noticed it even when she had been looking up close.
Then there was a small whoosh as a door slid open, revealing a tiny compartment. White gas spewed from the hinges and Hebe wondered whether there was any real purpose to it or if it was just more Capitol theatrics.
In the compartment was a square raised platform on the floor and a panel of buttons on the wall. Other than that it was completely empty, only one tiny light needed to brighten the whole thing. It looked like the elevator in the tribute centre but much smaller.
"What do you think it's for?" Gaia murmured, almost to herself.
"I have no idea. But I suppose we won't know until we try, will we?"
Grinning, Hebe leaned forward, peering at the panel of buttons. On further inspection there were only two buttons on it. One that said 'UP' and one that said 'DOWN'. She also noticed another button had been revealed, next to the one that opened the door. It said 'CALL'. She stepped onto the raised platform, continuing to ponder what to do. Then she slammed the 'UP' button.
Hebe flew upwards at lightning speeds, so fast she felt her brain had slammed up against her skull. Everything blurred, even her own body as she shot upwards like a bullet out of a gun.
Then it all stopped, and she was left with her head spinning. She felt like she was going to vomit all over the floor of the compartment. It was at that moment that the compartment doors whooshed open, and she was blinded by the daylight.
She was back on the surface, the familiar damp stench of the swamp filling her nostrils. Hebe poked her head out of the compartment warily, almost as if she was worried that the elevator would drop of its own accord.
It turned out that the elevator was inside a tree, the same buttons were engraved on the trunk as she had seen sticking out of the concrete. She couldn't help her astonished expression. She was once again floored.
Hebe just stood there for a minute, trying to work out how exactly it worked, yet she found she was unable to do anything but stare at the buttons, slack jawed.
At last she came to her senses, remembering Gaia down in the tunnels probably worried sick about the fate of her ally. She stepped back into the compartment, stealing herself for the ride back down, before tentatively pressing the 'DOWN' button.
Once again she shot downwards, and the force was so strong that she could've sworn her feet lifted off the ground.
The door slid open again, and she noticed Gaia's concerned expression.
"You look ill. What the fuck happened?"
All Hebe could spit out right now was the words 'elevator' and 'motion sickness' as she slumped to the ground, holding her head in her hands as the world spun violently.
Eventually her symptoms eased enough to deal with Gaia's frantic questions. She was just as amazed as Hebe had been when she stepped out of the compartment, and seemed way too eager to try it out for herself.
Hebe tried to discourage her, but there appeared to be nothing that could stop the girl when she had put her mind to it.
She returned some minutes later looking rather pale, and had apparently vomited when she got to the top.
Hebe chuckled at the girl and got to her feet, helping the girl stumble back to their camp.