Chapter 4: Let the Games Begin!
I woke up to Effie gently squeezing my arm.
"It's time to get up. I need to take you down to the aircraft soon" Effie told me. I sat up, rubbing my eyes, thankful my black eye had disappeared already. I had a quick wash and met Effie at the door.
"Where's Haymitch? I thought he was going to walk me down?" I asked, confused and still half-asleep.
"He asked me to take over. He was mumbling something about Lenore being his only girl" Effie replied, waving her hand as if this were normal. I frowned, thinking about the kiss in the bedroom, and his promise, him protecting me from Eaton.
"And Eaton?"
"Haymitch led him down. I think he's going to the bar after." I could feel my features hardening, he promised me. Well fine, I don't need him anyway. He's nothing but a drunk looser who lies! I sighed at my internal monologue, knowing in my heart that Haymitch isn't a bad guy, he's just in pain.
Trackers were injected into our arm, then we were deposited close to a facility where we were led underground and re-dressed in tight black pants and I was put in a bright yellow top, not good for camouflage. Kall led me to the tube that would raise me up into the arena.
"Good luck, Blue" he smiled, pulling me in for a hug.
"Thanks, Kall. I hope to see you on the other side of this" I smiled at him. I turned and stepped up into the tube where the door slid shut behind me, and the tube began to rise.
A gust of wind blew somewhere behind me as the tube reach the pedestal, and I braced myself, squatting down. I glanced around at my surroundings, forest. This was good, the forest was like home. I looked around for the friends I'd made at training, and for supplies on the outer side of the Cornucopia. Spotting a black backpack, I waited for the countdown to finish and finally, the horn blew, announcing the beginning of the Games. I raced for the bag, slid my wrist through the handle at the top and continuing into the woods. Once I was out of sight of the Cornucopia, I climbed a study tree and looked through the bag. There were a few basic items: empty water bottle, black tarp, a black jacket and a ring dagger. I slid the jacket on to cover the bright yellow top I'd been dressed in and put the ring dagger in the pocket for easy access.
"Come on, I'll go first" I heard someone say, Michael from 4. Michael was with Weaver from 8 and Sorghum from 9. The trio had rope strung up in a tree nearby. They were…no! I made my way down the tree I was in and raced over to the trio that were planning on dying by the noose they'd rigged.
"No, wait!" I called out. They turned to me and flinched.
"You scored a 12" Weaver noted.
"What are you doing? You can survive this, we can band together and-"
"Easy for you to say" Michael snapped.
"Girl from 12 who scored a 12. You'll be the one that wins, you'll kill us all" Sorghum mumbled. I flinched at the comment. I didn't want to kill anyone, just out-survive them.
"Did Ivy tell you what I want?" I asked her District partner. Surely Ivy had mentioned it. Weaver shook his head and I sighed. "I just want to survive the careers, then I'm laying down my weapon. The senseless violence needs to stop" I told them. Michael stepped forward.
"I'm not dying by their hands" he said firmly, his hand in the noose. He wrapped it around his neck and Sorghum helped him tighten the noose until he died. A canon fired in the distance and I closed my eyes in defeat.
"Fine" I breathed, "do what you think you have to, but I'm not giving up" I snapped, leaving them to their own devices.
Music woke me up from a restless sleep in my tree. Looking to the sky, I saw the pictures of the tributes that had not survived the first day: Luz from 3, Michael from 4, Sierra and Odysseus from 6, Weaver from 8, Sorghum from 9, Ram from 10, Demeter from 11…and Eaton…from home. I didn't think I'd care so much about the boy who had done nothing to earn my trust or respect. But he was still just a kid, eighteen years old.
"Are you sure 12 went this way?"
"Yeah, she grabbed a bag and went this direction." Looking down, I spotted the career pack: Roman and Goldinia from 1, Archer and Ketra from 2 and Alice from 4.
"We have to stick together. Whatever she can do, it impressed them Gamemaker enough to give her a 12" Alice reminded them. I scoffed, if only they knew that my 12 was only because I'd reminded Snow of Lucy Gray. They career pack continued walking, but my eyes followed them until they stopped, glancing to their left.
"Ivy" Goldinia called out, pointing to where I assume the girl was hiding. I was outnumbered, and I knew it. But I was smarter than them. I climbed quickly and quietly down the tree and darted to the left behind the career pack, spotting the younger girl. Ivy was only 13, and she was such a sweet, but determined little girl. I would protect her, I would keep her alive. When she was directly in my eyeline, I waved my hand in her direction, catching her attention. She smiled and raced toward me.
"Run, Ivy!" I called out, taking her hand when she got within reach and pulling her close as I ran back toward the Cornucopia. The Cornucopia had weapons and supplies that we could defend ourselves with. A knife whizzed past my ear and I gently shoved Ivy to the right, and toward a tree. "Up!" I told her, giving her a boost and then climbing up behind her. Once we were high enough, I looked down to see the careers watching us.
"There are eight other tributes that'll probably be easier to kill, let get them and maybe these two will fall from the tree and die before we finish the others" Goldinia suggested, her eyes never leaving mine.
"I'll stay and wait them out" Alice suggested.
"You wanna be outnumbered? Be my guest" Roman snorted, waving Alice toward the tree.
The next morning I woke up to see Ivy with her bow prepared, aiming at a sleeping Alice.
"Don't stoop to their level" I pleaded, her eyes remained on Alice.
"She wouldn't hesitate to kill us" Ivy argued.
"She's not worth it" I tried. Ivy finally exhaled and put the arrow away before looking to me.
"What's the plan?" she asked.
"We need food, there's bound to be something at the Cornucopia. We head there and then come back to the trees where it's safe" I suggested. I looked back to Alice, who was fast asleep at the base of the tree. I slowly made my way down the tree, helping Ivy once I reached the bottom. Alice never woke, she must be a deep sleeper. I took Ivy's hand and led her towards the Cornucopia. There were multiple bags spread out in the tree shaped area. Ivy and I split up to search, jumping when we heard a canon.
"Keep looking, we don't have a lot of time" Ivy said, continuing the search.
"What do we have here?" I spun to face the two tributes from District 5.
"Grayson, Reese, we agreed to be allies, right?" I reminded them, hopeful to get Ivy out of here. Reese and Grayson looked to each other and nodded.
"Come on 12, you and 8 can come with us" Reese nodded, waving us out of the Cornucopia.
"Do you know anyone else that may be able to help us overpower the careers?" I asked.
"Just the twins from 7, maybe Isaac from 3" Grayson shrugged.
"We need to find shelter for the night" I pointed out.
"The trees?" Ivy suggested.
"We aren't climbers" Reese pointed out.
We found a cave in the evening of that second day and took turns on watch overnight. By the morning of day three, we were hungry and anxious. The familiar beeping of a sponsored gift had us all looking for the source of the sound. Reese was first to find it, and it was bread and soup.
"Let's share" I suggested, reaching out to Reese who pulled away.
"I found it, it's mine" she snapped. I looked to the piece of paper in the container. Stay alive – H. Haymitch sent this. It was by all rights, mine. I snatched the bread and soup from Reese and pulled my dagger from my pocket when she reached for me.
"It's from Haymitch, it's mine" I snarled, "I'll share, so back off" I warned. She lowered her hand and nodded. I knew we were all hungry. I split the bread and soup as fairly as I could, and we ate in peace.
"Where are we going to get more food? We can't rely on your mentor to feed us indefinitely" Grayson grumbled. My head spun to the right when I heard leaves crunch.
"It's the careers" I hissed, grabbing Ivy's arm and running.