I wake up to the sound of my door opening. I see Portia calmly walking in and from the lack of light outside, I can tell it's before dawn.
She doesn't say much, just gives me a light robe to put on with a sympathetic smile. I mirror her expression as I put it on and we head to the roof.
I don't see any sign of Katniss. I was hoping we would get a chance to see each other one last time before the arena. We spoke a little before bed last night but our minds were too jumbled with emotions after the interview, just going over plans already discussed before separating.
As we stand on the roof, I see a hovercraft fly towards us. It positions itself right above us and drops a ladder down. As I go to climb the ladder, I feel a shock travel through my body and I'm paralyzed.
Why did my 6th sense not just go off? Does it not see this as a threat? I try to deal with the fact I've lost control of my body, but it's not something I'm very pleased about.
When the ladder is fully retracted, instead of being released from my paralysis, I feel my senses finally blare at me as a woman approaches with what looks to be a gun of some kind.
I try to move instinctively but it obviously doesn't work. It must show on my expression somehow because who I assume is the doctor says "Don't worry, just a standard tracker to monitor your location and vitals. It'll be over quick and be easier if you stay still."
'Stay still' she says, like it's a choice.
I feel my senses spike again at me but I manage to ignore the primal anxiety of death that comes along with it. After a quick injection that didn't hurt near as much as I thought, I was finally able to let go of the ladder.
An Avox approaches us and leads us to a room made of windows with a large table with every food imaginable on it. I don't really have an appetite but I know how precious food will be soon so I start to eat as much as I can.
I go to grab for the leaf pendant around my neck before realizing it's not there. I try to remember where it last was but I have no recollection of taking it off.
My grim mood just gets more sour as I think about forgetting the one thing I'm allowed to bring in that reminds me of home. I just got it and it already meant so much to me. I probably won't forgive myself if I manage to win and have to face Old Man Greg again. He'd probably not care, but it felt like a betrayal.
I just huff in slight melancholy and begrudging acceptance as we spend the rest of the flight looking out at the vast wilderness of Panem. It only takes 30 minutes for the windows to go dark, a clear sign that we are approaching the arena.
Pretty soon I can feel the hovercraft descending and the same Avox from before guides us through underground tunnels to a room with a glass tube that looks like an elevator and a table with a briefcase lying on it.
I take a deep breath when I fully enter. It's only a matter of minutes before the Games begin.
I am given leave to have one last shower and Portia takes the time to style my short hair for reasons I couldn't understand.
Maybe it's her way of supporting me one last time. She didn't get to pick the clothes I'll wear inside so this is probably the only thing she knows to do.
She opens the bag and lays my clothes out before me. It's a simple pair of black pants, blue longsleeve shirt, black belt, and a thin grey zip up hoodie.
"It's designed to reflect body heat. It'll probably get cold at night." She says.
I throw on the clothes and turn my attention to the black leather boots, new and nicer than any I've ever owned in my life. Putting them and the equally amazing socks on made me feel like I could run a marathon in them and not feel a thing.
I'm a little impressed at the quality of gear they've given us.
"And here, can't forget this." Portia says as she hands me my leaf pendant from Mr. Ferrero.
"The gamemakers almost disallowed it on the grounds that it was pointy enough to be considered a weapon, but since they let Katniss' pin pass, they decided to allow yours as well."
I almost tear up with joy when I see her holding it. "I was wondering where that was on the hovercraft…" I say, touched that she remembered to get it for me.
She just gives me another one of her caring smiles as she drapes it around my neck.
"Well… there's nothing left to do but wait for the call. Do you want to talk? Eat something?" She asks, clearly hiding her nerves.
I just smile and say "No I'm ok. Thank you Portia. For everything you've done this past week. You and Cinna. You've made this… chaotic experience a lot more tolerable. Maybe even enjoyable at some moments."
Her eyes swell up with tears and she turns away before any could fall. "Oh hush you, you're going to make me ruin my makeup."
While she's collecting herself, the mechanical voice telling us to step onto the platform chimes.
She pulls herself together and turns to face me, obviously still holding back tears. "It was an honor and a pleasure, Liam Blackstone. Show them what you can do." She says as she gives me a quick hug before gently pushing me towards the pad.
As I step on it, I receive one last nod from Portia before the glass doors slide closed and the pad begins to rise from the ground.
===
I shut my eyes as the daylight gets closer.
"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN. LET THE 74TH ANNUAL HUNGER GAMES BEGIN!" The robotic announcer's voice chimes.
I open my eyes and gaze out at the landscape around me. It's exactly the same as the book and movie. Good.
I look around at the other tributes and see Katniss standing on the exact opposite side as me. Perpendicular to us are Cato and Clove. A perfect 3, 6, 9, 12 position like a clock. They've obviously put some thoughts into our placements.
Marvel and Glimmer are conspicuously close to the other Careers as a subtle show of favoritism. No matter though, these fuckers are toast if they want to challenge me at the cornucopia.
I already had this talk with Katniss last night. She was to prioritize getting to safety. Maybe get a supply bag if the opportunity presents itself. I was to rush the cornucopia and grab a weapon and the bow if I could manage it.
45 seconds left.
I take in the supplies scattered around us and note that Katniss has a good line on 2 medium sized bags. Looking up I can see she also sees them. We make eye contact and nod.
I look again and see a route that might be good for me. Directly in front of me about 10 yards was a small fanny pack-like bag, at the mouth of the cornucopia was a bow and quiver along with many large backpacks, and deep inside I could see a wall with every melee weapon you could imagine. Including a hammer…
20 seconds.
My brain works in overdrive planning the route and calculating how much extra time my speed will really give me.
Grabbing the fanny pack would slow me down before I get to max speed and it's too small to be truly worth it in my opinion.
Picking up the bow and arrow before the hammer might cause me to have no free hand in case one of the tributes is faster than my estimates.
Going straight for the hammer would mean I have to pick between the bag and bow if I want to make a quick getaway. I'm not worried about fighting someone, I could take all of these kids in a 1v1.
What I am worried about is that if I do too much damage to the Careers early on, then I would have to hunt down all of the other weaker tributes in their stead. That would kill any goodwill I generated in the interviews and would also go against my morals.
Yeah, I'll probably kill someone here. Most likely multiple people. But killing someone defenseless without any chance of fighting back sickens me. Just the thought of having to kill Rue or the crippled boy from 10 makes my skin crawl.
10 seconds.
'Focus Liam'
I get back to planning my route and I come up with something that has the most potential with the highest reward. If I have to bash someone's skull in, so be it. You shouldn't have gone into the bloodbath.
5…
4…
3…
2…
I take my sprinter's stance.
1!
===
END OF CHAPTER!
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PSYCH!
===
My foot is touching the grass before anyone else's and I run with all my strength straight for the cornucopia, ignoring the fanny pack as I pass it. I don't take a second to examine the others around me but I can somehow 'feel' where most of them are.
It's a jumbled mess of intuition but I can tell the ones who should be Cato and Glimmer are the closest to me, yet at least 15 yards behind. A distance that is still growing as I get halfway to the feast of supplies.
Clover and Marvel are running together but one of them seems to suddenly split off, going away from the mouth of the cornucopia.
I don't give it much thought as I am quickly coming upon the mouth. Without breaking my stride, I bend over and scoop up a large backpack and fling it over my shoulders in a show of shocking grace as I keep heading for the hammer.
I reach it and with only one hand grab it by the handle and turn back to the mouth.
I 'felt' a body running directly for the bow and without really thinking, throw the hammer like I did in the evaluations right into their path.
I see it was Glimmer as she slams on the breaks and shows a face of abject horror.
'Not such a fun game now is it cupcake?'
She turns to face me with a glare but chooses to retreat when she sees me mid sprint gunning right for her. In reality I was going for the bow but what she doesn't know won't kill her… at the moment.
Seeing her retreat, I grab the bow and sling the arrows over my other shoulder. I don't have time to pick up the hammer though as I feel my senses blaring for me to dodge.
I do a quick sidestep and feel the wind of a spear pass me as it clangs off the metal walls of the cornucopia.
I turn to see Cato grimace at having missed me before bending down to pick up another one. Marvel just entered the cornucopia and I know he's going for the sword on the wall.
I better get out of here before it becomes a 4 on 1. Wait where's Clove?
That thought is accompanied by a faint feeling of dread as I 'feel' a confrontation going on at the tree line.
This sudden pull of my senses alerts me to everything happening around the cornucopia. There are at least a dozen tributes all either locked in battle or lying dead on the field. Some begin to retreat after seeing most of the strongest competitors already at the center.
Thinking quickly, I kick up the spear from the ground into my hand in a move that thankfully worked or else I would have died of embarrassment rather than a spear to the heart.
Using it, I focus completely on my 6th sense and when the moment is right, I bat the 2nd spear Cato throws my way out of the air.
Not taking any time to appreciate Cato and Glimmers look of disbelief and wounded pride, I step forward to pick up the hammer once again.
I realize my hands are full and, seeing an opportunity to make friends, I rapidly whistle the mockingjay tune "DoDoDoDOOO" and lob the spear in the direction of Thresh.
He had run to the cornucopia in hopes of stocking up but seeing 4 others beat him to it, he decided to turn around and fight for the outermost supplies. When he hears what sounds like a butchering of a song very recognizable to him, he glances back in our direction and sees a spear almost gently falling to the ground right in front of him.
I don't take the time to see if the spear made it to him or not, I know it did. I grab the hammer and sprint towards the earlier confrontation at the treeline without looking back. I feel my sense going off one more time but it's weak and I only have to speed up a little before I hear another spear land in the dirt right behind me.
Finally able to turn my attention to the treeline, I see a pissed off Clove staring at the back of a black blur with 2 orange backpacks, the young boy from 9 lying dead at her feet.
'Please be ok Kat.'
I'm too pissed at the thought of Clove injuring Katniss that I adjust my heading a little and hold out my hammer horizontally.
I'm gonna clothesline this bitch.
I must have been making too much noise because when I get close, she turns around quickly and does an acrobatic backwards roll to dodge. She's flexible, I'll give her that, but her technique is sloppy.
Seeing my target change from a face to a leg, I decided to adjust what would have been a definite concussion and possible 'face breakage' into something a little more serious.
Instead of clothes-lining her with the hammer, I wind back a little and slam it onto her left leg with as much strength as I can manage from this awkward position.
"ARRHHHGGGG!!!" She screams as I hear an audible snap and crunch.
'Strong enough it seems, hehe.'
"Clove!" Cato yells in anger, still at the mouth of the cornucopia, not having chased me.
'Pussy...'
"Better tuck in those knees next time princess." I say behind my back as I continue running in the direction I saw Katniss head in. My tone is dripping with condescension and I hear Clove give off another scream, this one filled with an ungodly rage instead of pain.
I keep running for at least 20 minutes, not stopping even if I feel my senses pick up no one in my general vicinity. I don't want to depend on just that until I figure out how to actually use it properly. There's obviously more to it than just danger sense. That's been clear since the moment the countdown hit zero.
I eventually come to a halt when I see a medium sized clearing ahead of me and hear the faint sound of falling water. I try to do a mental scan of my surroundings but I get nothing. Not like a 'no one's here' nothing, more like '404 Not Found' nothing.
Keeping that in mind, I sneakily make my way around the clearing and see a tiny stream of flowing water. Barely enough to count as a creek but enough to fill up a bottle.
Speaking of bottles, I should check if I have any. Now's not the time to check what's in my bag. I'll get somewhere safe and do that.
I take the backpack off my side and see a large 64oz bottle hanging off the side by a carabiner as well as a 40oz bottle in one of the side pockets.
I bend over to fill them up and when I do I feel my senses spike before I hear rustling behind me.
With my back turned to the potential threat, I take a knife I noticed strapped to the front of the pack and wait for them to make the first move while focusing as hard as possible on every sound.
It's almost like I can 'see' what's about to happen when the mystery figure makes the first move.
Out from behind the tree nearest my back, the boy from District 7 attempts to jump and grapple me from behind.
It's a decent plan, but he picked quite literally the worst target in the world.
I turn around when he's mid flight and hold my knife in position.
He can't change his trajectory and his face flashes with regret before he collides with my outstretched arm. The knife sinks into his heart without me really needing to do anything.
He takes a deep breath as the blood starts to escape his throat. I look him in the eyes with a solemn yet serious tone. "I'm sorry."
He looks at me with his fading consciousness and gives a shaky nod before letting out one final cough and going still.
The cannon doesn't fire yet. They wait until late afternoon on the first day to set them off or else the bloodbath would be even more hectic.
I sit there contemplating things for a moment before remembering I have to meet up with Katniss. I give one final look at the boy from 7 and close his eyes before giving a three finger salute to the sky.
As I run again in the direction I think Katniss is headed for, I think about what just happened. It was my first kill. In this life and the last.
I don't feel truly sorry for killing him. He was fully intending on killing me if given the chance. It was self defense in the most pure form. I just feel… dirty.
When I saw the blood spilling from his mouth all I could think about was his mother. The fact that he was only 14 years old and was already dead.
There have been moments I've regretted coming to this world. Mainly after seeing the horrors of life back in 12. Now though, I feel a smidge of regret but also like my decision was truly right.
I didn't come here with only the thoughts of glory and marrying the heroine.
I came with the full intention of tearing this shit to the ground.
I suppose now I finally see what it is I'm fighting for.
It only took killing a fucking kid for me to get that…
With this newfound sense of purpose, I once again put all my attention towards locating Katniss. I attempt to spread my sense out once again and this time it feels like it cooperates a little.
I can start to get a vague picture of the things in a 12 foot circle of me but everything else is too blurry to distinguish.
When I run for another 40 minutes, I find a large rock surrounded by a couple thick trees. Perfect for a rest.
I sit down and as I'm going to examine my pack, I hear mine and Katniss' predetermined signal. It's faint. Very faint. I only heard it because my hearing is dialed up to 11.
I decide against investigating my supplies and head straight for where I heard the call.
I finally see her scanning her surroundings with vigilance and we make eye contact. We both smile and run to each other. I have to take a few steps back as she slams into my chest.
"You're ok! I saw you fighting Cato and Glimmer. Then I heard a loud scream and thought… I'm so glad you're ok." She hides her face in my chest and hugs me with her life. I can feel her trembling in anxiety.
I squeeze her in return and rub her back as I say "Shh, shh it's ok. I'm fine and so are you." She's still shaking as I look down at her and say "Hey, look at me." When she looks up I continue. "We're fine. We're alive and we're here. Together."
"Together." She says quietly, gathering her inner strength to calm herself.
She finally gets a good look at me and sees the blood staining my hands. A look of shock comes over her face before quickly morphing into one of sadness and sympathy.
"Who was it?" She asked quietly.
I look down to my feet, but she grabs my chin to make me look her in the eyes.
"Hey, none of that! You did what you had to do. I… ... ...thank you." She says, a firmness that gives me confidence she won't start to see me any differently.
"Thank you?" I ask.
"For doing what you had to… to come back to me." She says in a whisper.
We stare into each other's eyes and I quietly say "the boy from 7… he jumped me when I was getting water. I heard him coming and… just held my knife up. He did the rest."
She takes my hands in support and we take a moment to appreciate the silence and each other's safety.
Deciding we need a quick distraction, I remember the bow around my hand and the arrows around my shoulder.
"Ah, and here. I managed to get this before splitting from the cornucopia." I say as I had both items to her.
She takes them and handles them with reverace. Now, she's truly dangerous. And she knows it. Just holding the bow seems to make her confidence grow and her shoulders square as she stands a little taller subconsciously.
I just grin slightly, my mood already improving as I say "We should try to find a good hiding spot before dark. No doubt the Careers will be out hunting then."
She agrees and we decide to split up while staying in hearing distance to look for both a hiding place and possibly some food. She'll be focused on hunting for now while I look for any good trees.
===
I don't find any trees that promise to provide enough cover to really be deemed safe. We'll either have to keep moving or settle for mediocrity. With that thought, I start making my way back to where we met up.
I hear Katniss give a whistle and start sprinting without second-guessing.
When I get to her, I can see her holding up 2 squirrels. She has a smirk of pride on her face as she says, "I think I found our hideout for the night."
"Really? Where?" I ask while looking around, not seeing anything worth getting happy over.
"Follow me." She says, leading me deeper into the forest.
I put all my focus on my senses as I follow. We walk in silence for only a couple minutes before she stops and points up while saying "Here."
I gaze up and see a tree no larger than the ones around us, except this one still has a majority of its leaves. Denser and more 'bushy' than its neighbors. It's not obvious. I hadn't deemed it anything special until Katniss pointed it out.
It was perfect.
We take turns climbing up its branches, making sure to test its ability to hold our weight after every step. When we get to around the midway point up the tree where its foliage is densest, we recline and exhale. Relaxing for the first time since this morning.
"We should examine our packs, see if we got anything good." Katniss says with tiredness.
"Yeah. Good job getting 2 by the way." I say with praise. She might have risked her life, but it says something that she even bothered to go for 2 packs in the first place. It meant she truly valued our partnership.
"Thanks. Here, let's start with the 2 small ones before looking at that massive one you're carrying." She says as she unzips the biggest pocket first.
We examine each of the 2 medium packs in depth and see that included inside was:
A spile and awl (tools used to extract fresh water from trees), a 50 feet spool of wire, a couple thing sleeping bags made of the same material as our jackets, 3 small bags of food (Dried meats and what looked to be hardtack), two 24 oz water bottles, a couple small knives, a pouch of iodine tablets, and finally a survival first aid kit.
We both had grins of relief when we saw the survival kit. That would be as important as a weapon down the line.
"Ok, good. At least we have a good supply of food and we can use the wires to set up snares before the sun sets." Katniss says with a small smile of satisfaction. We can't celebrate yet, it's way too early for that, but this is the furthest any tribute from 12 has made it in at least a decade. That's something to smile about.
I nod along and pull the backpack forward after handing my hammer to her to hold. This bag was well worth the effort apparently because within this one contains:
One large thick sleeping bag, a pair of gloves and beanie again made out of the same heat reflecting material, spare socks and shirt, a large bag of nuts and dried fruits, 1 dagger sized knife with a sheath, a small pack of matches, a pair of glasses that gets an eyebrow raise from Katniss but I know are for night vision, and finally, most surprisingly of all, a small metal tray that upon further inspection is a tiny campfire of sorts.
I see no fuel source, nor room to put our own. We both try looking at it closer before deciding to get to work on the snares before it got too late.
As we leave the packs strung up in the tree, we climb down and begin working together to pick the least noticeable spots for our traps. We've both had years of experience doing this at home. Gale might be the all time best at coming up with snares but we've learned enough just by being around him to know what to do.
It was at that moment the cannon signifying the deaths of the earlier tributes goes off. We both silently count off 12 booms before silence settles.
12 deaths, 12 tributes remain. They'll show the faces of the fallen when the sun fully sets.
After a minute of silence, either for respect or just to think for a moment, we get back to our snare work.
===
There was a moment when we were finishing up the third snare in which our hands met while reaching for the wire. We both froze and gazed at each other for what felt like hours but was probably seconds before snapping out of it and finishing up.
'That's probably already been clipped. I bet Flickerman is gushing about it at this very moment.'
We managed to set up 5 solid and obscure snares before deciding it was late enough. We decided against the risk of making a fire and cooking the squirrels tonight so we quickly made it back to our tree.
After getting properly hidden and set up we chowed down on a strip of dried beef and a decent helping of nuts and fruit while I continuously attempted to extend or clarify the range of my 6th sense.
How ironic is it that this is probably still better than a normal meal in District 12?
I make that comment to Katniss and she giggles in the most pure way. Like she's no longer a girl in a death-match. It was like that one joke broke the tension that neither of us really wanted to acknowledge.
It is then the anthem of Panem is played over the speakers and the Capitol crest is projected for all to see. The 'tribute to the fallen' begins with displaying the face of the girl from District 3.
Following her is the boy from 4 as well as the girl, shocking the both of us. It's rare for a traditionally Career district's tribute to die on the first night, much less both of them.
Quickly moving on, next was the boy from 5, and both boy and girl from 6.
When the boy from 7's face comes up next, Katniss grips my hand tightly in solidarity and reassurance. Knowing that she doesn't view me in a different light really helps me lose that last shred of guilt I had over his death.
I didn't put him here. We were both trying to survive.
After him came the face of District 8's boy, then came the duo from 9 as well as both from 10.
When the anthem played again to signify that was it for the night, Katniss breathes a sigh of relief at having not seen Rue's face.
Once it was over we got in our sleeping bags, preparing for a short and probably exhausting night. There was a beat of silence for a moment before I could feel Katniss shuffle a little in my direction.
I do the same and our heads and shoulders meet in the middle, gently resting against the other.
"I'll take first watch." I gently say.
"Are you sure? She mumbles, eyelids already drooping.
I just give a quiet snort and say "Goodnight Kat." in a whisper.
"Sigh goodnight Liam. Wake me up when it's my turn." She says already dozing off.
I just smile and kiss the top of her head.
Well, since I've taken first watch, now's the perfect time to explore this new evolution of my 6th sense!
===
CURRENT STATUS OF TRIBUTES (KIB = Killed in bloodbath, KAB = Killed after bloodbath):
DISTRICT. BOY(eval score) GIRL(eval score) STATUS OF BOY STATUS OF GIRL
ONE. Marvel(9) Glimmer(9) ALIVE- Healthy ALIVE- Healthy
TWO. Cato(10) Clove(10) ALIVE- Healthy ALIVE- Major Injury: Shattered left leg
THREE. Boy(5) Girl(6) ALIVE- Healthy KIB- BOY FROM 6
FOUR. Boy(8) Girl(6) KAB- GLIMMERKIB- GIRL FROM 7
FIVE. Boy(3) Foxface(5) KIB- CATO ALIVE- Healthy
SIX. Boy(7) Girl(7) KIB- MARVEL KIB- GLIMMER
SEVEN. Boy(8) Girl(9) KAB- LIAM ALIVE- Minor Injuries
EIGHT. Boy(5) Girl(5) KIB- THRESH ALIVE- Healthy
NINE. Boy(4) Girl(7) KIB- CLOVE KIB- MARVEL
TEN. Boy(4) Girl(4) KIB- GIRL FROM 6 KIB- BOY FROM 7
ELEVEN. Thresh(10) Rue(7) ALIVE- Healthy ALIVE- Healthy
TWELVE. Liam(11) Katniss(11) ALIVE- Healthy ALIVE-Healthy
Sorry to my mobile readers if the formatting of this is super off
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A/N: Well there you have it, the Hunger Games has officially begun.
Manged to crack 5k words with this puppy. Please don't start expecting chapters this long lmao! I write until I see a clear stopping point. This one was just so action packed and full of moments.
Do you love it? Do you hate it? What would you rate it?
Leave any critiques you have. I'm open to learning how to improve!
Thanks for reading!
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