Author's Note
I do not own the Hunger Games.
District One Female, Daisy Jetson-Brie, 15
She was tiring. Daisy had never swum for exercise or so long. She'd never trained this way. And even the supplies cut loose from the bottom now felt so far away.
She waded over to Meredith, who was trying to organise the kids into two groups, one for herself and one for Calida. With the panic in the hall, she wasn't having much success.
"How many keys do we have now?"
"I need one more still. Cali's got four. Some of the other kids have some as well – can anyone with a key come to me so you can group together!" she shouted, struggling to be heard over the splashing of water and shouts from other kids.
"I'll see if I can get you another," she said. She wasn't sure where Tatiana had gone, and Meredith needed another key for her plan to work.
"Thanks." She turned away. "Guys! Can we please organise ourselves! I know we're all scared–"
Daisy plunged beneath the water.
This time she had to find one of the holes in the glass, rise for air, and then dive again. She was one of the few doing so. Everything felt so deep now, it was almost inaccessible.
She grabbed the first bauble she saw and rushed for the surface. Another kid, a boy, rushed in to wrestle out from her. She struggled to hold onto it, but he wrenched it from her hands and fled across the hall.
Daisy dove again, grabbing for another bauble. Down below, the District Four tributes were looking at something on the floor. Daisy treaded water, straining to get a look. The floor seemed to be moving… or opening up. Parts of it were sliding apart to reveal a grid underneath. Beneath it was a pit of darkness with only a pinprick of light inside. A webbed hand poked through the bar.
The District Four tributes cut free another three baubles and raced four the surface. Daisy clutched the one in her arms and rushed to beat them.
They were letting mutts into the arena so early.
District Four Female, Nixxie Cascade, 16
She might be able to make one more dive to the bottom. Maybe two. Then the water would be too deep, and she'd be stuck doing what the District One girls were doing and retrieving items floating in the water.
Though even that might not be an option soon.
The thing under the bars might have once been humanoid, having a head and two arms, but its skin was a greenish grey, and it had a long fish tail, not legs. Its eyes were too large and black, fish-like, and its nose was nothing but a flattened slit. As Nixxie passed over its cage, it opened its mouth, revealing a gaping maw filled with fangs, and hissed.
Tristan pointed questioningly towards the surface.
He was a loyalist bastard, but he might be right.
Nixxie shifted the trident in her hands and swung it round, fighting to sever some of the bonds holding baubles and supplies to the bottom of the tank. She only succeeded in freeing a few, but as she did so, the cage cranked open half an inch.
They didn't have enough time to stay down here.
Nixxie grabbed the bauble nearest to her, wrenched it from its base, and raced for the surface.
She came up with a gasp for air and tore her bauble open. It contained only one item, a single bracelet with a key attached. Nixxie waded her way over to Cali and presented it to her.
"Perfect, thanks. Are there any more down there?"
Nixxie shook her head. She didn't know the sign for 'mutt,' and so painstakingly spelled it out letter by letter.
Cali shook her head. "I'm sorry, I don't– Hang on– Kai? Kai!"
A boy that held a vaguely similar look to her, with the same dark hair and slate grey eyes, paddled over to join her.
"Do you know what she's saying?"
Nixxie spelled out 'mutt' again and pointed at the bottom of the tank.
The boy, Kai, nodded. "She says there's mutts down there."
District Twelve Female, Calida Blackwell, 17
It should be too early for mutts to be released into the arena.
But this wasn't any normal arena, she could see that, and the addition of mutts might add some excitement for whatever sick Capitol audience was watching.
The District Four girl's key brought her county up to seven, as two of the other tributes had reluctantly surrendered their keys to her. The Four girl nodded and told Kai she was going to search for an eighth before diving back beneath the glass. If she found one, that would give them two shots at getting doors open. Two chances to get as many kids out as they could. Three, with the keys that Meredith held.
Cali only hoped it would be enough.
Meredith had finally managed to divide the other tributes into three groups, and the water level was almost high enough now for them to reach the doors. If they did some climbing, they might get there, though Cali didn't want to waste keys that way.
"Why aren't we getting out of the water?" called one of the younger tributes, clutching a small backpack and clinging to the wall.
"We're not close enough yet! We'll only have thirty seconds; we need–"
"To get out my damn way then," grunted the boy from Six, shoving her aside and reaching up to grab the ridge under the door. Cali spluttered as she splashed under the water for a moment before surfacing.
The boy from Six half climbed, half pulled himself up the wall and set about shoving keys into place. One of the girls from his District propelled herself forward and spotted after him to help her up, but he ignored her as the door clunked open. The pipe to the left clicked, and the water pouring through intensified. A red light flashed above the door.
The Six boy flung himself through the door as his District partner struggled to climb up beyond him. Several others rushed forward, some grabbing for the ledge, others trying to use the Six girl as a climbing frame. Only one, a small boy from Three succeeded before the door slammed closed again.
And then the panic in the room renewed itself all over again.
District Nine Male, Jarrod Palash, 16
Panicked cries echoed through the hall, kids clawing at each other in an attempt to shove their way closer to the walls and get up higher to access the doors.
"Everyone calm down!" shouted the girl from Eight, to very little effect.
"There's mutts down there!" shouted one boy, which only drove the panic further.
"They'll tear us all apart!"
"We're all going to drown!"
"We're all going to die!"
"Let us out!"
"Yeah, stop holding the keys back! Let us out!"
Across the hall, the careers were boosting each other up to access one of the remaining unopened doors. Already they had three keys in place.
"Listen to me! We only have enough keys for about three openings, and if we open the doors now, we won't be able to get everyone through!" shouted the girl from Eight. "We just need–"
"Bad move," muttered Jarrod.
"What do you mean we can't all get out?" cried one of the boys from Eleven.
"We're all going to die!"
"They were always going to kill us all!"
"She's probably a Capitol spy!"
"Please, listen to me!"
"Jarrod?" whispered a voice to his right. Turning, he found it was Amarine, trembling, her eyes bright with tears. "Do you think they're right? That we're all going to die?"
He looked up at the roof above them. "We've got time yet."
"What do you think's worse? Drowning, or mutts?"
"What sort of question's that?"
"Drowning, because the weather won't make us of your body."
Jarrod muttered a curse. "I assume you think you're funny."
"What did the mutt say to the other mutt?"
"Don't know, don't care."
"Nothing, neither can speak."
"For fuck's sake."
District Eight Male, Judas Ranaad, 18
The District Eleven boy was floating in the water, blood spreading around him.
God, the power that must have given those kids. Judas wanted to hold power like that in his hands. Cut someone's throat and watch the panic in their eyes as they knew they were lost.
Not yet. The kids in this too-small room with him might all be younger than him, but he was outnumbered by far, and even the little girl from Nine was bigger and fitter than him, despite being several years younger.
No, he'd have to wait and bide his time. Wait until he got one of them alone. Then he could strike.
Maybe he'd even make it the girl from Nine.
Meanwhile, he worked on helping Meredith keep the younger tributes calm and grouped together. For now, he'd help. Integrate himself. The more they trusted him, the more likely it was that one of them would agree to be alone with him.
"We don't have as many keys as I'd like," Meredith said, clumsily treading water.
"The girl from Four won't keep going down?"
Meredith shook her head. "She's scared of the mutts."
Down below, the pit containing the mutts was almost halfway open now.
"And she says she can't keep diving."
"Bitch," muttered Judas.
"What?"
"I'll mind the kids here. Go see if you can grab some more baubles."
"Thanks." Meredith dipped beneath the water, clumsily swimming for the glass floor.
Judas hoped she drowned.
District One Male, Marcellus Pontmercy, 17
Daisy had given up diving to fetch supplies and keys, now simply helping some of the smaller tributes stay afloat. Tatiana was still trying, though she was having to grab the glass and bounce off it in order to get anywhere, costing her valuable time. Even the District Four tributes, now the only ones diving to the bottom of the tank, looked to be tiring.
Marcellus followed Tatiana down, staying as close to her as he could. At the bottom of the tank, another mutt had appeared alongside the first, and the grate had slid back slightly over the pit, creating a gap through which one of the creatures had stuck their arm.
A chill ran through him. How easily could those things drag them to the bottom if they got free?
Tatiana hacked open another bubble, but the key inside slipped through her fingers. Marcellus grabbed it and pointed upwards. Tatiana nodded. They hurried under the glass divider, now forced to find the holes in it themselves. Tatiana found one first and waved him over before throwing herself through it and shooting for the surface. Marcellus was close behind.
They broke the surface with gasps, gulping in air. There was maybe ten feet between them and the ceiling now, with water continuing to pour inside.
Tatiana paddled over to him. "We should pass the key to Meredith. She might know who still needs one."
They were the ones risking themselves to fetch it. But pooling their resources was the logical thing to do, and it would be ungentlemanly to start an argument over something he couldn't use by himself anyway.
He scanned the tributes bobbing in the water until he found Meredith, the District Eight girl organising the chaos, holding the wall with one hand and a smaller tribute with the other. He swam over and held the key out. "For you."
She smiled. "Thank you. That gives us eight then."
Enough to get the door open twice. Would that be enough for all these tributes?
Screams broke out at the other side of the hall. Marcellus spun round. At his side, Tatiana was gaping.
Blood stained the water red, drifting down into the depths below.
District Seven Male, Micah Bradley, 14
He could swim, which gave him the advantage over many of the other tributes, but even he, the brave and benevolent King, was struggling to continue diving to fetch supplies. There were only a handful of tributes managing that now, all with DISTRICT FOUR printed across their jackets.
"You can stop diving. We have enough keys," said the girl from Twelve.
"It'll be good for us to have more."
That meant if the door closed, they'd be able to get it open again.
"This is about getting as many people out as we can. Drowning yourself won't help us."
"I'm not drowning myself. I'm helping my people. It's my duty."
Good Kings took care of their subjects. Good Kings didn't let them drown. Good Kings helped them get supplies when they couldn't reach any longer.
"And that's kind of you, but we've got enough. Only the District Four kids can get down there now."
"I can do it!" Micah protested. She was wrong, anyway. He'd just seen a pair of tributes from One surface, and the girl from Seven that had been helping everyone had gone under again.
"I can swim; I can fetch more keys–"
Screams echoed through the hall. Micah spun round. If help was needed, the Harvest King should–
There was so much blood in the water, spreading out from a dark-skinned boy lying face down in the water.
A girl in an orange jacket ripped a knife free from his back.
"Murderer!" Micah shouted.
District Nine Female, Wren Willows, 18
Four keys.
And enough height to reach the door.
Wren played with the knife she'd taken from the bottom of the tank. It wasn't fire, but it was sharp, and would hurt.
It would hurt.
"Wolf," she whispered, scanning the other tributes around them. So many, and so loud. "Wolf, I want to see one of them bleed."
It had to be them that got out. They needed to be together.
"I know."
"Can we? Can we now, can we?"
They'd been sent here because the District hated them. Blamed them for a crime they hadn't committed. Even though she'd wanted to. But in here, they could. All these kids, the way they screamed. They could end them.
"Which one?"
She chose one of the boys, splashing and flailing around as though he thought the water might suck him in. Wolf grabbed the boy and dragged him from the gathering of other tributes.
Wren buried her knife in his back.
He wailed, only once, hot blood pouring over her hands. She wrenched her knife out and let his body slip into the water.
Screams went up from the other tributes.
Wren only watched the blood unfurling like fire as Wolf clambered up the wall to force the keys into place.
The door clunked open.
"Wren!" Wolf shouted.
She swirled a hand through the fiery water and turned to scramble up behind Wolf.
Beneath them, the screams echoed through the hall.
They were still too loud.