Chapter 32
NARRATOR | Corbin Woodward, District 10
TIME | Day 5
TRIBUTES REMAINING | 15
I try my best to hide my fear as Judah approaches the cliffside in front of us. It took us all morning to get here, and there's no guarantee that our plan will even work; still, if we can pull this off, none of the other tributes will stand a chance against us.
Judah got very excited yesterday when we were looking through our bags - this whole time, he's been carrying four objects that look like suction cups, and we've been stumped on how they're supposed to be used. Now, Judah thinks he's figured them out.
"They have to be for climbing, right?" he says, slipping the cups from his bag and tossing me two. "It's the only thing that makes sense."
Judah attaches the cups to his wrists; they have straps on the back that make it seem like this is the right thing to do.
"Okay, let's see..." Judah mutters, stepping up to the rocky wall. "I don't know how these are supposed to work, but let's just try..."
Judah raises his hand and places it against the rocky face. As the cup in his hand approaches the cliff, I watch as it's pulled forward by an invisible force, sticking with a thud.
"It's magnetic!" Judah gasps, glancing at me with excitement. "I knew it!"
"Well, let's go," I say, smiling as convincingly as I can. Judah wants to climb up to a low outcrop of the cliff where a waterfall seems to intersect; that way, we can clean ourselves and get water to drink. Part of me wants to send Judah on his way alone - I can't trust him as far as I can throw him, and I have a feeling that he'd kick me from the ledge without a second thought. I can't let him know that I don't trust him, though, so I slip my two cups onto my wrists and follow Judah up the cliff.
It's a difficult climb. The magnets are very strong, so it's a struggle to lift them from the rock. We quickly realize that the four magnets are meant for one person; if we attached one set of magnets to our knees, it would make climbing much easier. We only have one set, though, so we do what we can. Judah and I are both very strong, and we eventually make it up to the outcrop.
"We're not gonna be able to climb all the way up without another set of magnets," Judah says, lying against the grass to catch his breath. He glances at me, and I just nod, slipping my set of magnets into my bag.
"This is perfect," my ally laughs, looking at our ledge. It's much larger than it seemed from the ground; the waterfall trickles into a deep pond, and there's enough grassy space to sit comfortably away from the edge. Mist from the falling water drifts around us, and I can see flashes of rainbows in the air.
Judah sets weapons down first - nobody else will be able to get up here, so there's no danger - and I'm finally able to let my guard down and do the same. We fill our canteens in the fresh water before stripping down to our underwear and taking a dip in the cool water.
"I'm glad it's not too deep," I admit, my feet gripping the rock beneath me. "Never learned to swim."
I expect Judah to contemplate drowning me, but he just looks at me, surprised. "We used to swim all the time back home," he says. "Me and my brother, Pollux. They prepare you for all types of stuff when you train for the Games, so we were bound to do it anyway, but we mostly did it for fun. It was his favorite thing to do."
I hardly know what to do with this information. I've known Judah for nearly a week now, and I find it hard to believe that he's starting to open up to me now. We've always been on a just-allies basis, and that's been fine with me. I've learned after Otto's death why you shouldn't make any friends in the Hunger Games. Still, the benefits of gaining Judah's trust outweigh the risks.
"Is it hard, training for the Games like that?" I ask, lifting myself from the water and pulling my hair out of my eyes. "People expected things from you and Safira right away."
"It's not hard," Judah frowns, thinking about my question. "Not if you work hard. All the training, all the preparation, it's the easy part. You can get better at anything if you practice. Once you get to the Capitol, that's the hard part. That's when the expectations come into play, especially your expectations of yourself. I've worked a long time to be here and to bring honor to my District, and my biggest fear is that all of that work will be for nothing."
Judah's eyes widen - I can tell that he's said more than he wanted to. Recovering quickly, he pulls himself from the water and sits next to me on the grass.
I know that I need to reassure Judah - he's just opened up, and I need for him to not feel threatened.
"That's how I felt in wrestling," I confess; I need to convince Judah that I won't take advantage of this new vulnerable side. "Sometimes you train all year, and you get knocked out in the first round because one matchup doesn't go your way. It's hard, but we've all been there."
"Yeah," Judah sighs. "Like Safira."
I can tell that Judah has plenty more to say about that - Safira's hard work certainly went to waste - but he keeps his mouth shut, and I do the same. This is the first time he's mentioned his District partner since she died, but I can tell it's been on his mind. Safira was the strongest tribute out of all of us; in Training, I considered her even more threatening than Judah. She was physically among the best, but she also had the Capitol in the palm of her hand, and that's the most important factor at the end of the day.
Judah felt the same way about Safira, I think. He had a respect for her, and I'm sure he expected to face her one-on-one at the end of these Games. But she didn't even last a single day.
Safira's death just shows how unpredictable these Games can be. One day you're on top, and the next you're flung from the peak. As we say in Ten, the higher the birds fly, the farther they fall...
As Safira has fallen from grace, Judah has risen in her place. In his eyes, nobody, not even Violet, poses a threat to him. But soon enough, he'll have to be toppled... soon enough, I'll have to rise in his place. When the time is right, Judah will have to die if I want to win these Games. The only question is when.
A/N - For those who may be confused, I have undergone a minor username change since the last update of this story, but yes it is still me :) Hope you enjoyed this little pit stop with Corbin and Judah, the Games are going to heat up very soon!