Hunger Games 1. Chapter 1

The countdown has started, the kids on the platforms are taking in the arena, and my heart is in my throat. Bloodbath time. In less than a minute both of the kids that Beale and I are mentoring could be dead. I look around at what I can see of the arena, it's a forest, an older one with big hardwood trees and evergreens. Not huge trees, not like in 7, but a good forest. It's cold there, the leaves have already fallen off of the trees and the wind is blowing pretty hard judging by the swaying tree limbs. It's that part of fall when the cold bites your nose and freezes your hands but you don't need a winter coat yet, just a warm jacket. The last withering flowers of summer poke their heads out here and there beneath the carpet of brown dead leaves. I bet at least a third of these kids die from exposure if they don't find something to keep them warm at night. It's my favorite time of year at home, when it comes naturally; but this autumn is faked, it's really the end of June and most of Panem is experiencing the heat of summer. But it doesn't matter what the reality is because in the arena its cold and its autumn and I have two tributes in there to bring home. I strain forward in my seat as the clock counts down the seconds before the bloodbath. I'm so intent on the scene in front of me that I can almost smell the trees and feel the chill of the wind. The gong sounds, the tributes are running, the carnage is beginning. My eyes flit back and forth between the small tribute screens and the larger overhead shot that is being broadcast out to the rest of Panem. I nearly jump out of my skin when Beale reaches over and squeezes my arm reassuringly. I realize that I've been gripping the arms of my chair so hard that my knuckles are white and the checked pattern of the upholstery is imprinted on my skin. We exchange a look and I can see that he's feeling the same things that I am, fear, hope, sadness. No matter what happens at the cornucopia none of the children in the arena will ever be the same again.

Our tributes this year are named Calvin and Fern. He is fifteen and she is fourteen. They are also brother and sister. I thought I was going to be sick at the reaping when our District Escort Adele called two children up to the stage who had the same last name, the same brown eyes, the same smattering of freckles on their faces. I could tell that Beale too was trying to hold back any type of reaction but I could see his eyes mist up for a second before he gained control of himself. I scanned the crowd for their parents and saw a couple with two more children who looked be around eight or nine huddled together quietly crying. Factory workers most likely, they didn't look as if they had eaten well in a while. I looked at the two kids on the stage and then back at the two children who were most likely their brother and sister and thought how terrible it was that the two younger ones would have to learn about the realities of life and death so soon and in such a brutal way; they would most likely see one or both of their siblings slaughtered on live television. Their little faces brought to mind a song that I sometimes heard Beale singing under his breath; a song everyone in District 6 knows and the men sometimes sing as they walk to work in the factories. It's a song mothers use to warn their children about the evils of the Capitol and the Hunger Games. It used to be about something else, maybe even just a poem instead of a song, but when the Dark Days ended and the Capitol punished the Districts with the Hunger Games the song became about how the Capitol took our children away, how they lured them in with the promise of riches and glory and led them to straight to their deaths which in turn murdered the rebellious spirit of the Districts.

_Come little children  
I'll take thee away, into a land  
of Enchantment_

Come little children  
the time's come to play  
here in my garden  
of shadows

Follow sweet children  
I'll show thee the way  
through all the pain and  
the sorrows

Weep not poor children  
for life is this way  
murdering beauty and  
passions

Hush now dear children  
it must be this way  
to weary of life and  
deceptions

Rest now my children  
for soon we'll away  
into the calm and  
the quiet

Come little children  
I'll take thee away, into a land  
of enchantment

Come little children  
the time's come to play  
here in my garden  
of shadows

The creepy little tune starts to play in my head and I think how well the words of the song fit our lives in the Districts with a Capitol who takes our children and murders them and the passion of the rebels along with them. We tell our kids to hush their protests and cries against the Capitol because it will do no good, it's just how life is. Funny how a poem written hundreds of years ago so aptly describes life in Panem centuries later. They say that the man who wrote it was crazy and a drunk, but maybe he saw the future, maybe he saw the horror that was coming. I felt for him, the long dead poet. He numbed his pain with booze, I liked morphling better, the numbness lasted longer. The two kids on the stage would be thrown into the Capitol's garden of shadows in just a little over a week. If there was any higher power that had any mercy on people their trip to the calm and the quiet would be quick and relatively painless; but probably not.


	2. Chapter 2 Escape

Disclaimer: I do not own the Hunger Games, only my own characters!

The buzzer sounds and there are kids running in all different directions but most of them head towards the cornucopia and the supplies that will mean the difference between life and death. Calvin and Fern have formed an alliance with the girl from District 10, Karlina, and have worked out a strategy for getting out of the bloodbath with as many supplies as possible without getting killed. They are all to meet up on the back side of the horn, grabbing as many things as possible on the way there. They won't get any large weapons that way but they might be able to snag a backpack and a knife or two. Fifteen seconds have passed and Beale is sweating and shaking in his chair, caught in a flashback of his own games 25 years earlier. I reach out to put my hand on his shoulder in comfort but his arm shoots out and grabs my wrist before I can touch him. Those reflexes never leave you, especially in times of stress; it's one of the things you take with you when you leave the arena. Lightning fast reflexes, memories of death, and scars are what leave the arena with all Victors. I whisper Beale's name and he relaxes, realizing where he is and that I'm not out to kill him. He sighs and pulls a small box out from under the counter. It contains our syringes of morphling, the amber colored vials of oblivion that will get us through these games. I turn away and focus on the screen as he injects the liquid into his arm and sighs contentedly as the drug moves through his veins.

Fern, Calvin, and Karlina were spread out on different sides of the cornucopia, Karlina's metal plate being the farthest from their meeting point. When the buzzer sounded she jumped off the back of her plate and ran to the left behind the ring of other tributes. About a quarter of the way to the back of the horn she darted back into the circle where the other tributes were fighting and began scooping up supplies that others had run past in their haste to get to the best weapons in the middle of the ring. She grabbed a small pack, a loaf of bread, a foil package that probably held dried meat or fruit, and a blanket dropped by the girl from District 8 when she was stabbed by the District 2 boy. The boy was currently occupied looking for a larger weapon and had left his first kill lying about 20 feet from the opening of the golden horn. Karlina then turned and ran back towards the outskirts of the metal plates and around the back of the horn.

Calvin was already at the back of the horn, his plate having been one of the four on that side of the cornucopia. He had darted in and grabbed a knife, a pack of crackers, a water container and a coil of rope before heading back to the outside of the ring where he met up with Karlina. Fern had been to the left of Calvin about halfway around the circle from both her brother and Karlina. When the buzzer rang she stood on her plate for second, eyes wide with terror and then took off to her right towards the spot where she would meet up with her two allies. She stooped down to pick up a small pack of throwing knives and tripped, knocking over the girl from District 11 who was armed with a spear. They untangled themselves and Fern scuttled backward like a crab. The District 11 girl, who was older and larger than Fern raised her spear to drive it into the little girl on the ground in front of her but then stopped. She lowered her weapon and sighed, "Go," she said, jerking her head in Fern's direction. "Run, get out of here!" Fern didn't need to be told twice, she jumped up, gripping her knives in her hand and ran around the District 11 girl, which took her closer to the fighting going on in the middle of the circle and towards the back of the horn. That's when she saw it, a pack with a bedroll laying propped up on the side of the cornucopia. Fern stopped and looked around, no one seemed to be watching so she bolted towards the pack, grabbed it, and took off again towards the back of the horn. Her allies were waiting for her about 15 feet away just outside the ring of metal plates. Fern bolted towards them, handing Calvin the pack as she reached her two friends. He was the strongest of the three and he easily swung the heavy pack onto his pack, handing his own supplies to Fern to carry. The three kids took off into the hills that made up the arena which appeared to be mostly rocky hills covered in dark green grass and moss. In the distance a forest loomed looking like a dark line on the horizon from the cornucopia and that's where the three tributes were headed.


	3. Chapter 3 Alive

When Fern, Calvin, and Karlina were far enough from cornucopia that they were safe I let out the breath that I had been holding. They were alive; both of my tributes were alive! District 6 kids almost never made it out of the bloodbath alive but both tributes were alive at the moment! I could hardly believe it! I looked at Beale, who although he was a little zoned out was smiling none the less. "They did good!" he said and leaned back in his chair, the smile never leaving his face, "They got away."

"I'm going to go congratulate Hoster," I tell Beale and get up and walk over to the District 10 control room that's across the hall and four doors down from mine. Some of the other Mentors have left the doors to their booths open and I can see a range of emotions on their face as I walk by. In the District 7 booth I can see that the girl's screen has gone black, which means that she is dead. Johanna is furious and is taking out her anger on the furniture in her booth. Blight, her former Mentor and Partner, looks on and tries to calm her down. In the District 2 booth Lyme, Brutus, and Enobaria and cheering on their tributes who are no doubt busy slaughtering the others. Beetee and Wiress have already left their booth and are both sitting in the common room staring at the big screen on the wall. He is drinking and she is staring into space, seeing nothing. Both of their tributes must have died. Haymitch comes slamming out of his booth, kicking the door of the District 1 control room on his way to the common room. I look at him questioningly. "Boy's alive," he slurs, already drunk, "Girl's dead." I nod sympathetically and knock on the door of the District 10 booth.

"Come in," Hoster calls from inside. I open the door to find Hoster leaning back in his chair with is feet propped up on the counter. Both of his tribute screens are still lit up which means both kids from District 10 have made it out of the bloodbath.

"They made it!" I shriek excitedly making Hoster laugh.

"Hell yeah they did!" he drawled.

I look up at his screens. I can see Karlina, Calvin, and Fern unpacking their supplies. It looks like they did pretty well for themselves. The small pack that Karlina grabbed contained a second water canteen, iodine tablets to purify it, fever pills, a roll of bandages, and a small package of dried meat. The larger pack had the sleeping bag rolled up on the top of it, a second loaf of bread, a water bottle, more iodine, a hunting knife, two packages of dried fruit, matches, a pack of dried meat, a small, vinyl, waterproof backpack/bag, and a first aid kit. The kids sat down and divided everything up. The small vinyl pack was given to Fern and each tribute took a water container and iodine tablets. Karlina dumped the fever pills out of their plastic bottle and put a mixture of iodine tablets and fever pills back into the bottle which she handed to Fern. Calvin and Karlina then combined her remaining iodine tablets with is, divided them equally along with the fever pills, and returned them to their bottles. Good, all three tributes would have a water container and something to purify it with. Then Fern opened the packs of dried meat and fruit and divided up the food equally between the three bags and resealed them. Since both Calvin and Fern already had knives they gave the hunting knife and its sheath to Karlina. Fern took two knives out of her pack and tucked them into her belt, putting the rest into her pack. Thankfully some of the knives were serrated so they would be good for more than just throwing. The bread was split up between the three kids as well as the bandages that Karlina had gotten along with two other rolls that Calvin found in the first aid kit. The rest of the kit went back into the large backpack along with Calvin's share of the food and the bedroll. Karlina took the rope, using part of it to tie the blanket she found to her backpack like a bedroll. the rest she coiled up and tied to the top of her pack. Fern took the matches, her share of the food, water, and iodine along with the roll of bandages in her small pack. "We should find water," Calvin said, "and a place to camp for the night." The others agreed and they set off in search of water.

Hoster's other tribute screen is showing his male tribute running towards the forest in the company of the boy from District 12. It looks like both boys managed to snag a few supplies and the boy from 12 is carrying a hatchet. It doesn't look like either one of them have any water containers though, which will be a problem. They will have to stay near a water source if they don't have anything to carry it in. At least they're alive. I still can't believe that both of my tributes got out of the bloodbath alive! This will be one year that I won't have to go home and apologize to two families for not being able to keep their children alive for even a day.


	4. Chapter 4 Day is Done

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Hunger Games!**

I send Beale upstairs to relax; he's not in any shape to be supervising the only tributes from District 6 who have survived the bloodbath in the past 15 years. I settle into the second mentor chair in Hoster's booth since both of my tributes are with his I can watch them from here and I won't have to be alone. Haymitch wheels his chair into the room to watch his boy.

"Beale go upstairs?" Haymitch asks, taking a swig from a tumbler full of liquor in his hand.

"Yeah, he freaked out when the bloodbath started; something gets to him every year. He's upstairs resting."

"Floating is more like it," Haymitch says, smirking, "but hell, we all float down here. He raises his glass to us and we raise ours to his and drink. Everybody has a vice here in the Capitol. The citizens have an unlimited number of them, body painting, piercings, having jewels mounted on their skin so they can look like freaks. I think I'll stick to my morphling.

Calvin, Fern, and Karlina have packed up again and are moving towards the forest in the distance. Along the way they encounter a stream running through the rocky hills, its source is probably somewhere in the mountains to the north. The kids pause to fill their water bottles and take some time to wash while they wait for the iodine to purify the water. They decide to follow the stream into the woods where it widens into tranquil pools filled with boulders and smaller rocks alike. Up against the far bank of the stream there is an uprooted tree partially growing over a bolder. Its roots have grown over the top of the huge rock forming sort of an enclosed area. The kids decide to use it as a campsite. It can only be attacked from one side since a rock wall that rises behind the bank effectively provides a back wall for this little shelter. Fern, Calvin and Karlina run about gathering other branches and weaving them together to provide a better and more water proof roof for this little cave with a small hole to let the smoke out should they need to start a fire. Then they get to work making a blind for the front of the shelter out of fallen limbs, long grass, and dead leaves. I have to say it actually looks pretty natural. They go into the shelter for the night and start a small fire at dusk. It's a good time to have a fire because the dying twilight hides the smoke and the blind they created conceals the firelight from the outside world.

One of the branches the kids used to make a roof has a camera in it so all of Panem can see inside their shelter, they just don't know it. They have a dinner of bread and dried meat. The anthem plays and the kids look up at the faces in the sky through the hole in the roof that they made for smoke. All six careers are still alive, both tributes from 3 are gone, District 5 boy is dead, District 7 girl is dead, both tributes from 8 have died, The girl from District 9 is alive, their unfortunate male tribute is not. Tributes from 10 are alive, Boy from 11 is alive but the little girl didn't make it, neither did the girl from 12 which we already knew from Haymitch. I can see a few more alliances forming in my head but who knows if that will really happen. Even before the morphling I had a strong sense of things, my mother called it foretelling and she told me that my grandmother had it to but that I had to keep it a secret because the Capitol might take an interest in such a skill and then who knows what bad things would happen. I kept quiet. I liked my life with momma and daddy and Grandma Sue, who was my daddy's mother. I'm pulled from my daydreams by Haymitch who is watching his male tribute along with Hoster's male tribute as they drink from a stream, the same stream our other tributes are camped near, but about a mile down. "We got any money Hoster?" Haymitch asks.

"Yeah, I got some. You?"

"A little since the boy's alive. Let's send them canteens. That'll keep them from having to go out in the open to get water so often. Could keep them from dying if it came to it."

"Sounds good," Hoster rumbles. Haymitch gets up and goes over into the gift room and checks out what their money can buy. Hoster can afford to send his tribute a decent size canteen but Haymitch can only afford to send a smaller but durable plastic bottle. They both come with iodine tablets attached to the lids. Hoster takes his canteen to his booth, puts it in the slot where it is attached to a parachute with a little computer that receives coordinates as to where it should make the drop. In the District 12 booth Haymitch does the same thing. He comes back into Hoster's booth to watch the boys get their gifts. As the parachutes drift down both boys whoop with happiness and immediately fill their containers with water. They drop in the correct number of iodine tablets and wait for it to purify. It was a good thing Haymitch thought to send those today because by tomorrow the price will have gone up beyond what he and Hoster could have afforded.

The boys have decided to sleep in a tree. The District 12 boy whose name is Halvar, has chopped several sturdy limbs off of fallen trees and they boys have carried them up into a tall tree with dense foliage and laid them flat across three other branches. There was wire in the pack that the boy from 10, Jed, got and he is busy wiring the branches together and wiring the platform to the supporting branches and the tree trunk. They are a good 70 feet in the air hidden in some dense greenery; you can't see their platform from the ground. They bring up pine needles and leaves from the ground to use as insulation to cover the floor. Along with the hatchet Halvar had managed to grab a bedroll and some dried food. Jed's backpack had contained a thin sleeping bag that was designed to reflect heat, some dried meat and cheese, and a pair of night vision glasses. All in all they did pretty well for themselves. They boys spread out their sleeping bags, ate a light supper, drank some water, and snuggled down into the warmth of their makeshift beds and waited for sleep. They knew they were safe from other tributes where they were, they just hoped that the game makers didn't send out any mutts this early in the game. They watched the faces of the fallen in silence. Then Halvar rolled over and said "Jed, I'm glad you're here."

"I'm glad you're here too Halvar, because I don't want to be alone in this place," Jed replied. Then they lapsed back into silence and both boys finally drifted off to sleep.


	5. Chapter 5 The Hunt has Begun

The night doesn't stay quiet. The careers are hunting and this year's group seems particularly bloodthirsty. Their leader is a huge girl from District 2. She's a solid wall of muscle with none of the soft curves that would give an indication that she is a female. Her dark hair is cut off at the nape of her neck and sticks out in short spikes at the back of her head. Her name is Scoria and she scares me. Her district partner, Syenite, is every bit as big as she is, but he doesn't seem to have the bloodlust that shines brightly out of her dark eyes. The boy and girl from one are pretty typical; tall, well trained, good looking blondes named Flint and Ivory. The boy and girl from District 4 were both 17 with sun kissed skin and bronzed hair. The girl's name was Nereid and the boy was called Alecto. This pack was formed solely of traditional careers. Sometimes if another tribute shows promise with a weapon or a survival skill that the careers are lacking they will ask an outsider from another District to join. This pack of kids didn't seem to think they needed anybody else to join them, that they were just fine on their own. They are currently taking stock of their weapons and setting up camp near the cornucopia which they are using for shelter.

Haymitch, Hoster and I move into the common room so that we can watch what's going on all over the arena, not just in the small area where our tributes are hiding. Seeder, Cecelia, and Mags are getting the long dining table set up for first meal. It's a tradition that brings all of the mentors together to share a meal and talk. It helps us realize that we are not alone in this, we are not alone in our pain, in our anger, in our fear, or in any moments of joy that we may fleetingly experience. Avoxes begin to bring out covered dishes of food and Hoster and I start knocking on the doors of the mentor booths. Gloss and Cashmere look down their noses at me as they walk past, Gloss winks at me when his sister is not looking. He's not so bad, but she's an ice queen. Lyme and Enobaria come out of the District 2 booth and claim seats at the end of the table. Brutus is already whooping it up with Haymitch, Blight, and Chaff. Johanna Mason is sitting next to Finnick Odair towards the middle of the group with her feet propped up on the table in front of her. Mags bustles by and shoes her feet away, giving Johanna a reproving look and a pat on the shoulder. I call upstairs for Beale and he says he's on his way down. Beetee and Wiress walk out of the elevators and come to sit near me and Seeder, carefully avoiding being near Johanna. Hoster saunters over and plops down across from Johanna and next to Chaff who reaches over to slap his old friend on the back. Gaia and Skye from District 9 come and sit near Cecelia and Dahla and Gord from Five. Finally Beale steps into the room leading old Woof to his seat. Woof is drunk and is already singing a rousing drinking song about ladies of the night in the Capitol and how they have blue breasts. The drunks on the other end join in to finish the chorus and finally, first meal begins. I lean back in my chair and enjoy the usual chatter about how nice it is to see everyone, the quiet apologies to those mentors who lost tributes, the congratulations to those with tributes still alive and the toasting to the living and the dead. Wiress tells me that Beetee got her a cat. They live in the same house so really he got "them" a cat. It was a stray that he found scrounging through their garbage bins. Wiress shows me a picture and she's a pretty little black and white thing with long, soft fur. Beetee tells me that she is currently being spoiled by the Avox upstairs in their quarters. Wiress invites me to come by and see her later and I tell her that I'll be happy to.

All too soon the meal is over and people start to drift off either to the elevators so that they can get a few hours of sleep, to the mentor booths, so that they can watch their tributes in privacy, or to the luxuriously comfortable furniture in the common room. Woof is still singing as Cecelia steers him into an elevator and Gloss is egging him on. Woof spent part of last year's games thinking Gloss was an Avox and yelling "Where's my drink you son of a bitch?" every time he saw him. At least Gloss has fun with the old man's wandering mind unlike his sister who looks at him like he's a piece of garbage beneath her notice. She decided to go back up to the District 1 floor after Enobaria bared her teeth and growled at her. She does that every year, why is Cashmere so bothered by it? Seeder and Mags are heading upstairs for the night and so is Beale. He can have dayshift tomorrow. I settle down on one of the sofas in the common room with a pillow and blanket and hunker down for the night. Chaff and Haymitch are on opposite ends of a plush sectional while Johanna and Finnick have laid back in recliners that feel like they're going to swallow you. Hoster flattens out a futon and pulls a quilt over his bulky form so that all you can see are his boots next to the mattress and the two white pillows on the other end. Brutus is staying up for District 2 and he pulls an armchair like the ones Finnick and Johanna have over near his drinking buddies and snuggles down to watch the hunt.

The Careers have made camp and eaten a meal after the hour or so of fighting at the cornucopia. They leave the District 4 girl to guard the camp and then take up their weapons and walk off into the night. This too is a tradition, the Careers using the first night in the arena to hunt down those tributes who have not been savvy enough to hide themselves well. I glance up at the myriad of screens that surround the large screen showing the feed that all of Panem is watching and see that the girl from District 5 has started a fire, thinking that she is hidden behind the boulders where she is making camp. I'm sure that she won't last long if she doesn't put it out, the light is like a beacon in the night. The District 11 boy is hiding in a trench not far away from Halvar and his ally. He would be an easy target too if the Careers get too close, why has he not gotten off of the ground? Fern, Calvin, and Karlina have extinguished their fire and are bedding down for the night with Calvin taking the first watch.

Just as I predicted the Career pack spots the fire made by the District 5 girl. She hurries to put it out when she hears footsteps but it's too late. The five Careers surround the girl, who looks to be about 14 or 15 and move in for the kill. The boy from District 1, Flint, is given the job of finishing off the girl since he had the smallest number of kills in the bloodbath. He fights with a mace and her end is brutal and bloody, her screams cut short by the spiked ball slamming into her head. Her cannon fires and Dahla, who was on duty for District 5, gets up from the sofa where she had curled up to watch her tribute and bolts for the bathroom, trying to contain her retching and crying. It was a grisly scene and I had turned away, not wanting to see the girl's skull split open leaving the pulpy mass that was her brain exposed. I jump up from the couch where I am laying and hurry into my booth. I pull a syringe of morphling out of the box Beale and I have hidden there and immediately inject it into my arm. The results are almost instantaneous, a smooth, calming sensation flowing through my veins. It feels like being covered in silk, I can't think of a better way to explain it and it is a huge relief after watching that poor girl die onscreen. I can't even begin to imagine what her poor parents must be going through. I heard a woman once, screaming for her dead child, she sounded like a feral animal, wild with grief and disbelief. I imagine that this girl's mother is making a similar sound right now.

I return to the common room and see that the Careers have moved on, laughing and joking about the girl's last few seconds of life. Dahla is slumped on a sofa, her head in her hands. I walk over and put my arms around her. "I'm sorry," I whisper. She nods her head which is buried in my shoulder. We sit that way for a while and I whisper "Do you want some relief, just for night?" I ask. She considers for a moment and then nods her head into my shoulder again. I lead her over to the District 6 control room and gently inject the vial of amber colored liquid into her vein. She immediately relaxes, sighs, and then heads for the bank of elevators that will take her back to quarters in the training center above. "Thanks," she whispers as the doors close. I just nod in acknowledgement.

When I return to the common room I see that the District 11 boy is on the move, probably having been startled by the boom of the District 5 girl's cannon. He's looking for better cover and higher ground. He runs past a grove of trees and is suddenly on the ground, knocked down by a wild eyed girl with a bleeding wound on her arm. She pins the boy down with a long, thick stick that she has sharpened into a point. "Stop moving!" the girl grunts.

"Huh?" the boy responds, continuing to struggle.

"I don't want to fight you," she hisses, I want to be allies!

"Sure you do, the second I lay still you're going to stab me with that stick!" the boy says.

"No, I'm not ok? See?" The girl lifts the stick from the District 11 boy's chest. He looks at her suspiciously.

"Allies for real?" he asks.

"For real," she says. "My name is Amarette, District 9."

"I'm Kayle, District 11," the boy says offering his hand to Amarette. She grips it firmly and shakes it, then pulls him to his feet.

"Do you know who died?" Amarette asks, brushing the dirt off of her pants.

"Nah, but the Careers are probably out hunting, we need to hide," Kayle says, looking around nervously.

"Yeah, I've got that covered, come on. You're going to have to crawl to get in here ok?" Amarette said, walking into the trees and getting down on all fours. She got down on her belly and quickly scooted through a thicket of brambles. Kayle followed, grunting and complaining about the scratches he was getting. The two tributes emerged into a small clearing surrounded by brambles and dense bushes. A large tree had fallen at some point and was leaning up against one of the boulders that were prevalent throughout the arena and this created the break in the briars Kayle and Amarette used to enter the clearing. Once they were inside Amarette threw some branches that had come from the tree over the small opening in the bushes, making it look as if there was no break in the foliage.

"So how'd you find this place?" Kayle whispered.

"I saw a rabbit run this way and decided to follow it," Amarette replied.

"Let's just hope nobody else follows any rabbits this way," Kayle says, chuckling.

"Do you have any supplies?" Amarette asks.

"Yeah, do you?" Kayle answers.

Amarette nods. "I've got a knife, a water canteen, my spear stick, some crackers, and some wire. You?"

"I've got a backpack, a knife, a sleeping bag, some dried meat and some berries that I picked today. Oh, and a waterbottle and iodine tablets. Here, I'll give you some," Kayle tells her, rifling through his pack. "We can put them in the waterproof packaging that the crackers are in. Also, the sleeping bag is inside a fabric bag to keep it rolled up. Let's roll it up with the wire in the morning and then you can put your supplies in the outer bag. It has straps so you can carry it."

"Ok," Amarette agrees. Can we share the sleeping bag? Whoever is not on watch gets to sleep in it?"

"Sure" Kayle says with a grin. "Oh, I wanted to tell you, thanks for not killing me earlier and thanks for making me your ally, I didn't really want to be alone in here."

"Me either," whispers Amarette. "Who is going to take the first watch?"

"I will," Kayle says, "you get some rest."

"Ok, wake me up in four hours."

"How do I know it's been four hours?" Kayle asks.

"Ok, wake me up when you get sleepy!" Amarette giggles. She rolls the sleeping bag out on the ground and stuffs her supplies into the canvas bag that was meant to carry it. She snuggles down in the sleeping bag and pulls the hood of her parka up around her ears. "Good night Kayle," she whispers.

"Good night District 9," he says as he rubs his gloved hands together to get warm. Almost two hours later the Career pack, who is still hunting passes near to their hiding spot. Kayle leans over and puts his hand over Amarette's mouth and shakes her awake. It takes her a second to realize where she is and tries to pry Kayle's hand off of her mouth. He puts his finger to his lips and shakes his head and she relaxes. They both hear the footsteps of the pack of killers drawing closer to their hiding place, grumbling that they haven't found any other tributes to kill. The District 1 boy is busy reliving the incident with the mace and the others are doing their best to ignore him and talk over him. Kayle and Amarette appear to be holding their breath, frozen solid with fear. Finally the danger passes and the Careers move on, not having glanced once at their hiding spot.


	6. Chapter 6 Violet Haze

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games, only my own characters.**

The next morning after the Careers finally passed out, exhausted after a night spent hunting, the other tributes were up and moving. Fern, Calvin, and Karlina were looking for food since they had only the limited supply in their packs. After about half an hour of walking the trio came upon a spot where the small stream that ran past their camp was running down a hill between two boulders. They had refilled their water bottles and turned back towards their camp when Fern saw a patch of purple flowers. "Look!" she exclaimed excitedly, "Those are so pretty! We don't really see flowers back in District 6, there's too much pollution from the factories!" Before anyone had time to respond Fern was running towards the purple blossoms. I wanted to grab her, to tell her not to go near the flowers, anything that beautiful in an arena has to be dangerous; but there was no way for me to speak to her. Calvin and Karlina followed Fern at a slower pace so when Fern plowed into the patch of flowers they were about 10 feet away. Fern's naive mistake was immediately evident; as her feet touched the flowers a purple powdery substance puffed up from the ground. Whatever the flowers were they were releasing the violet colored stuff that swirled around Fern in misty clouds.

"Fern!" Calvin yelled, "Get out of there! Get out of there now!" I could hear his fear in the way that his voice rose as he ran towards his sister. Karlina's arm suddenly shot out and yanked Calvin back towards her, he tried to wrench away but she held tight. "What are you doing?" he asked, startled.

"Don't go near it!" Karlina shrieked. "Whatever it is, if you both have it on you then you could both be in trouble! You won't be able to help her if it gets you too!"

By this time Fern had run out of the patch of flowers and was heading towards the nearby stream as fast as her legs would carry her. She threw herself into the shallow water, rinsing the purple powder off of her skin as best she could. Calvin twisted away from Karlina and ran to his little sister, throwing himself down in front of her. "Fern, are you ok? Did that stuff hurt you?"

"No, I'm fine I think," she answered. "At least so far." That was my fear, that she was ok now, but for how long? Who knows what that powder was or what it does to a person?

Calvin pressed his lips together and glanced at Karlina. She shrugged her shoulders indicating she didn't have any idea what the effects of the powder might be either. "Let's just go back to camp guys," Karlina said in a shaky voice, "we can have breakfast." Calvin and Fern pulled themselves out off the stream and followed Karlina back towards their hiding place. No one said anything but everyone was thinking the same thing: "Is Fern going to be ok?"


	7. Death Comes With a Battle Cry

Beale

The numbness from last night is wearing off. I'm going to need some more morphling soon if I'm going to get through mentor duty today. I settle down in the common room after agreeing to keep an on Haymitch's tribute as well as my own. Mags has the job of watching out for Hoster's while he and Haymitch grab a few hours of sleep upstairs. Technically we aren't allowed to watch each other's tributes but what the Capitol doesn't know won't hurt them. The boy from District 12 and the one from 10 have just woken up in their tree and are wolfing down some of the food from their packs. After they eat they decide to go looking for more food since what they have won't last long. They found some raspberry bushes about a half mile from their hideout and set to work picking them. This they did wordlessly, not daring to speak until they got back to their hideout in the trees, fearing they might miss the sound of something or someone getting ready to attack them. They pick a decent amount of the red berries and load them into Jed's backpack and set out for the stream to refill their water bottles.

They don't make it far before there's suddenly a scream, more like a battle cry, and a form leaps out of a tree in front of Jed and Halvar. It's the boy from District 7 and he's armed with a spear. He's about 16 and his name is Cypress. He looks like a strong kid whereas Jed is little and skinny and Halvar isn't much bigger than him. Before either Jed or Halvar have time to react Cypress's spear pierces Jed's chest. His eyes widen and he emits a little cry, gripping the shaft of the weapon embedded in his body. Halvar's reaction is instantaneous. A look of rage transforms his face into a mask of hatred and he spins around, launching his hatchet into the boy from 7's skull. Blood splashes onto Halvar's face as Cypress's cannon booms. Jed whimpers from the ground where he has fallen and Halvar quickly turns to him. "He's dead Jed; I killed him for you, ok?" Halvar says to his dying friend. Jed smiles.

"Good, that's what he gets for throwing this thing into me," Jed whispers. "Thanks Halvar." Jed's eyes close and his cannon echoes through the arena. Halvar had been carrying the pack with the berries in it but without the hatchet that was in Cypress's head or the spear that had run through Jed he would be weaponless. I wondered what he would do, if he would have the stomach to remove the weapons from the boy's dead bodies. Slowly Halvar turned to Cypress and tugged on his hatchet. The axe was lodged deeply in the dead boy's skull and Halvar had to put his foot on Cypress's chest to dislodge it. Once the hatchet was free Halvar turned back to the body of his tiny ally. He grasped the handle of the spear, put his foot on the boy's stomach and looked down at him. "I'm sorry buddy," he whispered and then yanked the spear free. He stumbled backwards as he did so and fell to his knees. He sat there for a second before he began to wretch, throwing up everything he had eaten for breakfast. Poor kid just sat there for a while before he was able to pull himself to his feet and collect the spear and hatchet from the forest floor. He started to walk away but turned around, looked at Jed's body and whispered "Goodbye friend."

When he reached the stream Halvar sat down to wash the blood from his face and hands and his weapons as well. He filled up his water bottle and Jed's canteen which had been in the backpack and slowly made his way back to camp where he climbed up onto his platform and lay sprawled on the boards staring at nothing.

Shit. Now I was going to have to call upstairs and tell Hoster his boy was dead. I'd go up there but I can't leave our tributes with no one to watch over them. I get up and walk to towards the phone, patting blight on the shoulder on the way. "Sorry man," I say. He sighs and shrugs "That's how it goes. I'll go up and tell Hoster if you want," he offers. "I don't have anyone to watch now," he adds looking at the ground.

I just nod mutely and Blight turns towards the bank of elevators. I make my way into the District 6 mentor booth and shut the door. I just need to be alone in here for a while. I lean down and take a vial of morphling and a syringe out of our stash. As the chemical flows into my veins it feels like heaven itself is washing over me. I no longer have to feel the horrifying shock that comes with watching children die on television. I don't have to feel anything, just a nice, comfortable, numbness.


	8. Starving for Air

It only took a few hours to find out what the effect of the purple powder was. Fern started coughing in the early evening and by sundown she was coughing up blood. Calvin and Karlina put Fern into one of the sleeping bags and propped her up with the second one so that she wouldn't choke on her own blood. Calvin coaxed her into drinking a little water and eating some bread but both he and Karlina knew it was hopeless.

Fern knew too. She had to be in pain but she didn't cry or complain. She spent her last few hours talking with her brother and Karlina. The three friends told each other stories about their childhoods and laughed at the silly things they had done to their siblings. As the night wore on Fern started having trouble breathing. Calvin squeezed his little sister's hand and begged her to hang on but she just smiled and whispered "Its ok Calvin. Everyone knew I wouldn't make it out of here alive. It could have been so much worse. I could have been caught by the Careers. At least this way my last night was spent with you and Karlina talking about happy things. It could have been so much worse…" The girl was gasping for air at this point her mouth open and her chest straining with the effort required to breathe. Karlina and Calvin wrapped their arms around her and held her as she went limp. Her cannon fired. It was over.

"I'm sorry Fern," Calvin whispered. "I'm sorry I couldn't keep you safe. I'm so sorry," he said as he started to sob. After an hour or so had passed Calvin and Karlina carried Fern's body outside and gently laid it down in front of their shelter. They packed up their gear and headed away from their makeshift cave so that the hover craft would pick up Fern's body. Calvin stopped and looked back as the metal claw plucked up the body of his little sister.

"Come on Calvin," Karlina said quietly. "We have to get out of here, the hover craft will attract other tributes. They'll come looking for us." Poor Calvin turned around and followed his ally away from the spot where Fern had died. His face was full of grief that quickly changed to impotent rage. The Capitol had killed his sister. It wasn't as if she had been killed by one of the other tributes and he could avenge Fern with the blood of her killer; she had been killed by a game maker's trap and there was nothing Calvin could do about it.

Back in the viewing booth I watched the whole scene feeling numb and detached. I was glad I had an unlimited supply of beautiful vials of bliss at my fingertips; otherwise this night would have been hell. Time to go tell Sonia her tribute is dead. Nothing like hearing that right after you wake up.


	9. Alliances in Black and White

Sonia

By the time I get to the mentor booth I'm already flying high. Beale woke me up with the news of little Fern's death. Another one gone. Year after year they die and it never ceases to hurt. I immediately grabbed one of the vials of morphling I brought up from downstairs and a syringe and sigh as I feel it flowing through my veins taking all of my pain and misery with it. Now I could face the horrors the day would bring. After a quick shower and breakfast I found myself watching the games in the common room with Hoster and Haymitch. Finnick was up too and sprawled across one of the plush sofas. Cashmere and the District 2 mentors had gone down to the mentor's gym where they could work off some of their pent up energy and watch their tributes as the same time. I was relieved that I wouldn't have to deal with them for a few hours. I sat down beside Seeder who was curled up in a recliner drinking a cup of coffee. She reached over and squeezed my hand. "Sorry about the little girl," she said quietly. I nodded my thanks.

"I'm sorry about yours too. I knew Fern would never get out of there alive. She was too sweet and niave. You know, the way a child should be. Still, your girl let mine live another day. She could have killed her at the cornucopia, so thank you for that. I wish I could thank her in person. What was her name?" I asked Seeder.

"Hyacinth. Her name was Hyacinth and she was the youngest child in her family. This was her last year in the reaping. Just one more year and her whole family would have made it through childhood unscathed, " Seeder said shaking her head sadly. This time I squeezed her hand in comfort. None of us would be able to live through this without each other.

"I brought down a sketch book and some pastels, would you like me to draw a picture of Hyacinth? You could get it framed and give it to her family. Do you think they would like that?" I asked.

Tears sprang into Seeder's eyes and she nodded. "I think they would love that Sonia."

I started sketching after glancing up at the monitors to see what Calvin and Karlina were doing. They had found a new place to make camp which was inside the trunk of a hollow tree. It was an enormous fir tree with a hollow at the bottom . The space was just wide enough for the two of them to sit side by side and long enough for one person to lay down while the other sat outside on guard duty. Calvin was sleeping at the moment and Karlina was smushing some berries she had found between two rocks. Then she smeared the berry mush onto two slices of bread. She reached back and shook Calvin. "Breakfast!" she called, trying to sound cheerful. Reluctantly Calvin sat up and reached for the bread. He and Karlina ate in silence.

"I don't know what to do anymore," Calvin said suddenly. "I mean before my job was to protect Fern, to keep her safe. I didn't do very well with that. I don't know what to do now. "

"Now you need to start taking care of yourself. You need to start worrying about getting _yourself _home to your parents," Karlina said.

"But what if they don't want me back, what if they blame me for Fern dying? I should never have let her run off to look at those flowers!"

"You couldn't have stopped her Calvin. She was fast and was over in that patch of flowers before we even realized she had taken off. On the bright side we know the flowers are poisonous and we can use that. So today, even though we're both missing Fern we're going back to that patch of flowers and very carefully collect some. So let's go. Calvin stood up and trudged after her, his mind somewhere far away. Here's what we're going to do. We don't need the little bottle that Fern carried her iodine and fever pills in so we'll divide those up equally between the two of us and put the poisonous flower pollen in the empty bottle. You never know when poison could come in handy."

"Smart girl," seeder said to me and also to Hoster who had joined us in one of the fluffy chairs with the huge ottomans.

"She's got quite a fire in her that's for sure," Hoster said. But she's too practical to win the games. Everything is too black and white for her. I think when it comes down to it killing belongs in the black and that is not somewhere she wants to find herself. There are no grey areas for her, killing to defend yourself falls in the grey.

She might surprise you Hoster," Haymitch warned. " She's now got a knife and a bottle of poison as well as Ferns' belt of throwing knives. I'm telling you, that girls coming up with a plan.

On the other side of the arena Halvar, Haymitch's surviving tribute is sitting alone on his platform knowing on a piece of dried beef. He's running low on water even though he took the canteens off of Jed and the District 7 boy who killed him neither container was full. He had cried all night for his lost ally and friend. And he felt like he had no more tears left in his body. All he could do was sit and stare blankly into nothing. Finally he sighs deeply and starts making his way down the tree carrying the water containers. When he reaches the stream he sets the canteen s and bottle in to fill. He looks around; it seems pretty secluded and he pulls his shirt up over his head and begins to wash it in the stream. He wants all of the blood on it from Jed and the District 7 boy off of his clothes. He scrubs the shirt between two rocks and then bends over and tries to wash his hair the best he can and then he does the same thing with rest of his body and clothing.

Into all of this walks a girl. A girl with dark hair and piercing blue eyes and the number 9 emblazoned on her jacket. She sees Halvar and gasps with fright which makes him whirl around in an attack position. The girl is armed. She's carrying a lightweight sword and a slingshot. The girl begins to laugh; Halvar just remains confused. "You're not very scary in your underwear you know?! She jokes with him. "I could take your clothes and run off with them…"

"No!" Halvar sputters out.

"I won't". the girl says. I was hoping that maybe you would want to make an alliance."

Halvar grunts at this idea but appears to be considering it. "Why do you want to be in an alliance with you? You don't even know me. Well, I know you're strong, you're from District 12 so your family is probably poor like mine. I know you are genuinely sad about losing your other ally, "Jed," interjects Halvar "yes Jed. I know you are sad about losing Jed.

"Well what about you?" Halvar queried. "Where are you from and what can you do that's helpful to me?

"Well, my names Ilyn and I'm from District 9. I work in the fields with my family. I'm strong, fast, I know which plants are edible and which aren't and I can shoot animals with a slingshot. I used to have to do it to keep the groundhogs and rabbits out of the crops. I also know how to set snares for the same reason. So what you say allies?"

Halvar grunted but stuck his hand out. "Allies." He said.

Back in the mentor viewing area Skye is yelling out "Hey Abernathy, I guess that means we're allies now."

"Sure does man, just don't try and swipe my bottles ok?

"Deal." Skye said and stuck out his hand.

"Alrighty then," Haymitch slurred and shook Skye's extended hand. So now besides the Careers there are now two other groups of allies and I think they both could be dangerous. All 4 of those kids have brains and skills, now they just had to figure out how to those two things to use!


End file.
