Author's Note
I do not own the Hunger Games.
District Six Male, Mercury Jezyk, 15
Atlas and Venus had wandered off by themselves, while Millie seemed to have joined forces with the loud girl from Five, which was all they needed.
Mercury didn't really know what to do.
There were so many kids in the group with the girls from Eight and Twelve, but he didn't want to end up alone.
Maybe he'd have to just go with things for now, and plan later. He didn't even know what the Capitol wanted from them all yet.
"I don't like it here!" complained a blonde girl in a jacket declaring her to be District Twelve.
"None of us like it here," said a boy from her District.
"Don't let yourself get left behind," whispered a girl.
Mercury spun to find one of the girls from Seven, painfully thin, with wicked eyes.
"You like him?" asked the boy with her.
The girl shook her head. "The coyotes like him. They're waiting."
Mercury decided to stick with the larger alliance for now.
District Two Male, Alexios Macedon, 18
Waiting for instructions was a frustrating experience, though it did mean they could get a better read on their new allies and a better look at the rest of the tributes.
Two of the girls, one from Eight and one from Twelve, seemed to have taken control of the situation, which was interesting, and were gathering most of the younger tributes around them, along with a handful of others.
The other big group, aside from them, was the District Ten alliance, which consisted of most of the tributes from District Ten, who had immediately banded together.
"District Ten is going to be the biggest threat," he said.
"They're the smaller alliance–" started the younger boy from Four.
Aelianna nodded. "Yes, but the Eight and Twelve alliance is all little kids. Easy targets if they survive, with a good enough chance that they'll just die to arena traps. Ten has older, stronger tributes. A fight with them would be a tough one."
And it would have to happen. The alliance needed to be broken up somehow.
"We could recruit the other girls from One–" suggested the older Four boy.
The One girl that had chosen to join them shook her head. "They're not trained. They're just… kids. And the Daisy girl, her family hold small-scale revolutions."
"Not worth it then." Alexios studied the other tributes. One of the boys from Seven was huge, a mountain of muscle. He indicated him. "What about him?"
"I'd be in," said the older Four boy.
His sister laughed. "Oh, I bet you would."
"Who's the girl he's with?" asked Aelianna.
Alexios frowned. The girl did look familiar, but he couldn't place her face.
"I'm not sure," he said, and removed the Sevens from their potential ally list.
On screen, the timer reached four minutes.
District Eleven Male, Dove Greenling, 14
"We see what they want us to do," Meredith was saying, keeping the bulk of the tributes gathered around her. They were the biggest alliance, which never went well in the arena, but Dove didn't know what else to do. He didn't want to be alone, the other tributes from Eleven were siblings and would be more loyal to each other than him, and the other budding alliances didn't look as friendly. Besides, Dove didn't want to see anyone getting hurt, and this could be the best way of achieving that.
"Then we decide on tactics instead of panicking."
"What if there's a time limit?" asked Fleur.
Worried whispers ripped through the rest of those gathered. Their alliance was so big that a time limit could be a death knell.
"Then we see what the time limit is as well, and decide who best to send first. Those that might be faster need to be first or last, to give slower ones more of a chance."
Dove could run well enough, but he'd never call himself fast. And if the challenge involved fighting in any way, he was almost sure to lose. The only thing he was quick at was stripping the apples from trees.
"Remember, our aim here is not to fight among each other, but to work together so more of us survive," said the girl from Twelve. "We can't let a time limit panic us."
Dove liked these girls. They were bolder than him to take the lead so quickly and smoothly, and they'd quickly thrown together a reasonable plan.
One boy, who had District Twelve written across his jacket and the same dark hair as the girl, flung his hand up.
The girl from Twelve sighed. "Greg, what now?"
"Are we going to fight the other alliances?"
That attracted some attention from said other alliances, who all turned towards them.
"Absolutely not. The aim here is to get as many people through alive as possible. Even if they don't want to ally with us." She raised a hand for the kids of District Ten, who had formed their own little group. "We're not going to fight with them."
The boy put his hand up again. "What if they start the fight first?"
The timer on screen reached three minutes.
District Eight Female, Meredith Singer, 18
A few smaller alliances had formed, but the bulk of the tributes seemed to have gathered around her. That might not be a good thing. None of them really knew each other, and a good few of them were young. She hated that most of all. Most of those that died during the simulation hacking had been older, but many of the kids gathered here looked younger than fourteen. They were going to panic once the knives came out.
"Do you really think we can do this?" asked the girl from Twelve. Other than the way she held herself, there was nothing remarkable about her. She had a similar look to the two boys from Twelve, with dark hair, slate grey eyes, and olive skin, though she looked slightly better fed than the two boys.
"I don't think we have a choice. They'll all die if we don't."
Meredith's attention lingered on the little boy from Eleven. No twelve year old had ever survived the Hunger Games. Her chances were slightly higher, but Victors from Twelve were rare too.
"What's your name, by the way?"
"Calida." The girl shrugged. "Cali."
Meredith stuck her hand out. "Meredith."
"Nice to meet you."
The timer on screen ticked down to two.
District Three Male, Toshiro Micron-Bundar, 13
He must be one of the youngest tributes in here, but he still wasn't the only one. There were a few younger kids from the outer Districts, including a tiny girl from Ten with cropped brunette hair. Did that give him an advantage? Statistically, no. Dozens of tributes both younger and older than him had died in the last two decades alone. His own mother had been one of them. And now he was going to follow in her footsteps. He would die here, and his mother's sacrifice would all be for nothing.
"You look like you're thinking," said the boy next to him. He looked about Toshiro's age, with District Eleven printed across his jacket.
Toshiro sighed as he snapped back into focus. "My mother died in the Hunger Games."
The boy's eyes widened. "I'm so sorry. When was that?"
"Thirteen years ago. I was just a baby."
"That;s awful. You don't remember her then?"
"My aunt has a few pictures. And I've seen– mom's Games. During re-runs."
He'd only watched it once. Then he'd decided he didn't want to watch her die over and over again. He didn't want to become so obsessed.
The boy looked to the two girls trying to organise the bulk of the tributes into something resembling a functional alliance. "You can live through this one. All we have to do is not panic, right?"
Toshiro managed a smile. "Right."
Though it felt like fake cheer. As though he were trying to lie to himself.
He glanced around the hall. " Have you seen the other boy from my District? His name's Andrew."
He hadn't liked Andrew very much on the hovercraft, but he was still District Three, which gave them some connection.
"I think he's off trying to bother older tributes for an alliance."
"Oh."
He shouldn't be surprised. Andrew had been bothered on the hovercraft that Toshiro was so much younger than him, even though they didn't even know what the Capitol wanted him for. He'd not even heard Toshiro out when he tried to explain his own skills with machinery and electronics. Of course he'd rather find an older ally, someone he thought was stronger and more intelligent.
"I think I'm going to be staying with this alliance. It… seems for the best. But we can stick together if you like?" said the boy from Eleven.
Toshio laughed. "I don't even know your name!"
"Dove."
"I'm Toshiro."
"Are we allies then?"
Dove grinned. "I think we are."
On screen, the timer reached one.
District One Female, Daisy Jetson-Brie, 15
Somehow, Daisy and Tatiana had ended up on the outskirts of the large alliance being run by the District Eight and Twelve girls. Daisy was happy enough with that for now. They didn't seem like they wanted to hurt anyone, and she could agree with that.
Prophecy had wandered off to join the tributes from Two and Four, who were forming an ominous group at one side of the hall. Every so often, Tatiana glanced at them. "Do you think we should join them?"
"No," Daisy said.
They were making a career pack, and she wasn't a career. She'd never set a single foot in either of the Academies. Besides that, her family's distaste for the Capitol was well-known. Even Tatiana, who had lived most of her life on the stage, knew who she was. Prophecy certainly would. Besides, if she became a career, she'd have to hurt someone eventually, and Daisy didn't know if she could.
Staying with this main alliance seemed much wiser for now. None seemed dangerous and most appeared to be friendly.
"I just don't want to let the District down," said Tatiana, tugging her sleeves down over her wrists.
"It's not about the District right now. It's not even about the Capitol. It's about us surviving this."
Daisy never agreed with the Hunger Games, but since it was an unshakeable institution, she never stood against them either. She should regret that now. If she was going to be punished, it ought to be for something more than once being friends with a boy who ran off to join the rebels.
Even the short girl from Five was speaking out more than her, extolling the horrors and sins of the Capitol to anyone that would listen.
"Tatiana?"
"Mm?"
"Why did your family serve the Capitol?"
"They were good to us. Kept my father in business. And a Capitol lady sponsors my dancing. Mom always hoped I could move to the Capitol once I turn eighteen." Tatiana sighed. "I guess I won't turn eighteen now, will I?"
"We don't have to roll over and die," said Daisy.
They could fight this.
On screen, the timer reached zero.