Chapter Text
11:37pm - 74th hunger games arena - clove kentwell
“She can’t stay in that tree forever” Cato's eyebrows are pinched, the tip of his sword turning ember by the fire wrapping around it, the little warmth we have as we camp under Katniss Everdeen, waiting her out as she tries to hide from us in a gigantic prop of a tree that the game makers have covered this arena with. The artificial bark of the tree stabs my back, and the dirt rubs into my shoulders, my hands fidgeting naturally with my throwing knives, a skill I had dominated back in District 2.
The air that circles the arena has the same salty smell of the blood from the blood bath that we still carry on our weapons and the sweat from the daytime that had immediately frozen on our red-stained skin once the gamemakers had transferred us into the night.
Everything in this arena is artificial, that has been carefully designed for the 74th games, where the capitol gets to watch in enjoyment as they encourage us to murder other children for their pleasure.
The games had always been viewed as a wonderful opportunity back in 2, a way to bring luxury and pride to your family and prove your worth to the entirety of Panem. In District 2 they trained us, preparing us to survive these games that they propagated as a wonderful experience. They tricked us in a way we don’t realise until we are standing, covered in sweat and blood, after the adrenaline of the blood bath wears off, in the middle of an arena where 23 of us are bound to die on national television.
“Can’t Clove take the first watch?” My name coming out of Marina's mouth intrigues me immediately. “Clove was the one who practically let Everdeen go during the blood bath! If she had actually used those knife skills, we wouldn’t be camping under this tree right now, she should be responsible for Katniss tonight as she's the only reason we are doing this in the first place!”
For such a useless person, Marina sure does complain a lot. Since she is from 4 and has also been trained for these games cato had immediately offered her an alliance with us. Being in the careers is an automatic way to place, the alliance is built of all the most promising people in the arena, most of whom have been training for years back in their district and some who are offered a spot due to us thinking they would be a threat.
“As if you could have killed her. You were barely doing anything during the blood bath. You should be glad we even let you in this alliance.” I retort, Marine rolls her eyes at my reply, her face contorting into an ugly grimace.
“Love boy should take first watch then.” Marvel interrupts the tension with a cocky grin. “I’m sure he wouldn’t mind watching Everdeen sleep.”
“As if we can trust him yet.” Cato says without taking his eyes off Katniss, who is using a rope to strap herself to the tree as she sleeps. “Glimmer will take the first watch. Keep your eye on Katniss and wake us up if any threats appear.”
Marine's dirty grimace doesn’t leave its spot on her face as I walk past her to get situated for sleep as far away from the tree Katniss is in. For safety reasons, obviously, I would be stupid to sleep directly under a threat. Marines' eyes follow me as I go past. I’m surprised they aren’t permanently stuck in an eyeroll.
She lets out a final sign of her annoyance through a sigh before she goes to get situated to sleep directly under Katniss Everdeen's tree.
***
1:13am - 74th hunger games arena - Thresh Morrowson
I lose sight of the red that was flashing in between the long wheat although the darkness of the night does little to conceal her bright hair for long periods of time as she attempts to run away from me.
She keeps disappearing into the field of wheat surrounding me, her hair reappearing every few moments through the grass, the night sky making it creepy as I navigate my way towards her with my sickle.
I had situated myself in the centre of this wheat that stretches out in multiple directions, making maze-like patterns through the fields with the wheat taller than any tribute here. I had situated here with the whole purpose being that the wheat was familiar for me from my work in 11 giving me enough knowledge to make my way around while other tributes would view this area as undesirable due to the complication of the wheat and would most likely stay away.
I had caught the tribute I am hunting, the female from 5, trying to steal some of the little supplies I have. She caught my gaze through the twilight haze and ran with surprisingly quickness as she now attempts to lose me in the familiar wheat.
The wheat stands tall in front of me, moonlight shining upon the golden locks and illuminating just enough for me to get around without losing direction or running into mutts that are stationed throughout the grass.
I can hear the rustle of wheat and fast footsteps behind me moving in a fast and diligent manner, the sound making me whip around in time to spot the red hair flowing behind her as she sprints away from me. She is only 30 feet away from me and is sprinting through a clear path where I can see her whole body as she bounds toward a large clearing.
My arms start pummeling and the distance between the girl and I become less and less the closer she gets to the clearing, her badly nourished body not being able to take her any further as her pace starts to slow.
Without a second thought I pounce towards her with my sickle in hand, my hands making contact first, grabbing her shoulder blades and flipping her around so dangerously quick that the speed of it all sends us both to the ground. I barely notice the fall as I am already focused on keeping her still and within reach, as if I'm not holding her tight enough for even a moment she will escape my gasp and disappear back into the wheat.
Her teeth make contact with the skin on the side of my neck, digging in to my skin in a desperate attempt to bring pain with her lack of weapons and surrounding items to use, relying on her own body to distract me from killing her for only a moment so she can escape my gasp and make a run for it.
Sweat and blood seep down my palms, I’m breathing heavily and grunting as I hold her down with a tight grip under me, her nails are scratching along my face, back, anywhere she can reach with her sharp, claw-like nails making blood trickle down my skin as she swipes her nails in every surface she can reach. She’s making small sounds of pain as I grab her wrist, twisting it as I slam it to the ground, tears are rolling down her cheek, catching the moonlight and reflexing tiny shards of colour as she worms around, wiggles her body as much as she can with me on top of her keeping her in place.
My sickle glistens in the moonlight glow in my hand, reflecting in her watery eyes as she kicks, bites and claws, anything to get my weight off her for only just a moment.
Then, it all happened at once.
The ground of the arena starts violently shaking, an earthquake with the capability of sending large trees to the ground. My sickle, that was once above my head, drops due to the unstableness of my body as the ground rocks underneath me repeatedly, my sickle lands beside the head of the female from 5, barely missing her as she flinches her head as far from it as she can.
The screams of other tributes are barely audible over the sound of the trees crashing and the ground cracking in half, long deep lines making patterns on the arena floor to stretch out for what I can only guess is miles throughout the whole arena although there is no way to be sure as the lack of light is making the arena almost impossible to see through the fog.
The cracks on the floor move rapidly, growing deeper and longer the more the earthquake goes on. I had abandoned the task of killing the girl under me immediately when the shaking had started, which was less than a minute ago as the rupture progressed quickly across the arena.
The second those cracks start spreading towards me I react immediately, using the hand that 1 minutes ago I was using to hold this girl down and still under my sickle, I now use that hand to push not only me but also the girl up from the floor and away from the ruptures spreading deep around the arena towards us.
Whatever is happening right now with the cracks and the violent shaking of the floor, it sets aside the task of killing this girl who I am basically holding to my chest, my hand tangled in her red hair as I hold her away from the growing cracks in the floor around us.
It sounds like a large glass breaking, echoing around the arena.
The large cracks that have been travelling around the floor of the arena have now started travelling up the force field, starting from the bottom where thousands of cracks in all different sizes make their presence known by loud, thunderstorm-like noises that repeat in the arena so loud we can’t hear anything or anyone else.
I subconsciously find the fox-like girl's hand, preparing to run as we now know that whatever is happening with the cracks in the floor and violent earthquake that had been thrown upon us was not planned by the game makers but is something more than entertainment.