Chapter 5

“Grab the first thing you see. Don’t go to the Cornucopia. Leave it. Find water as soon as possible. Your costume is thin, so it is highly likely the arena is going to be very hot. At least during the day. If you can’t find water, keep looking, but don’t stay in one place for too long. Always move. Don’t make fire- the smoke might let other tributes know your whereabouts.  Be careful with the berries you find -- and don’t eat mushrooms.  Even if you think you know them. Lay low. Don’t jump into battles. Don’t pursue others. Be careful of your allies, you never know when they’ll decide to turn on you. Careful of caves, especially dark and long – never go deep into them. Beware of poisonous insects. Sleep little, it’s better to be aware at all times, and- ”

“All right, Hot, this is getting ridiculous. I’m her mentor, not you. So shut your trap, you’re making me look bad.”

Hot shoots me a ridiculously pained expression and turns to Aileena. “Well, I don’t hear you giving her any pointers.” He runs a hand through his thick dark hair and looks back at me, his brows settling into a deep frown. “You have a crappy mentor.”

“You think?” I give him a nervous smile and try not to meet Aileena’s angry eyes.

My mentor lets out a loud huff and stalks off, calling over her shoulder. “The crappy mentor is going off to talk to your possible sponsors. Good luck in the arena!” She doesn’t even bother to give me a proper good-bye before she leaves the room, leaving me and Hot alone. I try not to take it to the heart. Aileena is not a warm person; I shouldn’t have expected her to suddenly have a change of heart. But I still feel my throat tighten.

“One minute left.” The robotic voice, coming out of nowhere, says, and I and Hot look at each other again. He takes a step closer to put his hands on my waist, his eyes running up and down my body,  now clad in a dark, skin-tight black jumpsuit. It clings to my flesh like a second skin, but it’s surprisingly comfortable, and very, very light.

“I think you’re good to go.” Hot says, giving my sides a slight squeeze. His eyes move up to meet mine, his expression hard. “The costume’s fastened properly, your token’s in place, it’s all set.”

I nod, resisting the urge to swirl my mother’s ring, now resting on my finger.

For a few moments we just stand there, looking at each other. I take in his features, wondering if I’ll ever see him again. It could be my last time seeing anyone but the tributes. If I leave the arena, it will only be as a victor. And that sounds too good to ever come true.

Hot shuts his eyes and raises his hands, putting them on my cheeks. “Be careful.”

Despite the black hole in my stomach, I can’t resist the urge to giggle. Though it comes out more like a choked sob.  “I don’ think that will help.”

Hot’s expression only darkens. He shakes his head, eyes still closed, and he slowly lets his hands slide down my face and drop onto my shoulders. ”Hold yourself together, Saejin. I haven’t expected to grow emotionally attached to you, but I guess that’s not something you can control.” I notice his neck muscles tighten more and more with every word he utters. ”I didn’t tell you before, but you’re only my second tribute. My last year’s tribute, District 4’s girl, died even before the Games started.” I still, and he opens his eyes looking at me with his dark eyes. They’re wet. “She stepped off the platform during the counting. It was raining her blood. ” He says softly, and I can see that it’s hard for him to remember.

The sight of my tough and fun stylist crying makes my stomach turn. I might be the one going to the Games, but I go, then live or die. However, those I’m leaving behind are going to have to live with the memories. If my death is spectacular enough, they’ll see it replayed on the TV for years to come.

My parents will have to bear the burden of those images for the rest of their lives.

“Thirty seconds.”

Hot pats my shoulders, blinking madly, trying to force his tears back, but it only makes them fall faster down his cheeks. I want to reach out and wipe them for him, but my stomach is churning, and my arms seem they’re made from lead. Only now I notice my uneven breathing. My head feels light.

“I better go.” I say, and Hot nods, pulling away.

“May the luck be ever in your favour.”

His twist on the usual Hunger Games’ line manages to earn a little smile from me, but I don’t let Hot see it, and turn around. In the corner of the simple iron-clad room, there is a glass tube, waiting for me.

“Fifteen seconds.”

“Go.” Hot whispers.

I step into the tube, turning away only to wave at the guy one last time. He barely returns the good-bye, his face a mask of indifference. But the flow of tears reveals his emotions fairly well, and I find a lump forming in my own throat, so I briskly turn away and remain with my backed turned to him until the mechanic voice announces the mark of zero seconds, and my tube closes around me and starts moving up.

Up. Up. Up.

Until it emerges in a middle of a bright, yellow and cream-colored beach. I only have a moment to look around before the tube opens and a gush of fresh, salty air hits my nostrils. Blinking, I look around, not daring to move a muscle. I don’t want to end up like Hot’s previous tribute- if a tribute steps off the platform before the start of the Games is announced, they get blow up. Literally.

The beach is a thick line of clean sand that stretches to the sides as far as I can see, but seems to be thinning out as it goes to the left. Beyond the beach, right before me is a forest. Green, and thick, and dark. The size of the trees varies immensely- from little bushes, to huge old trees with sturdy trunks the size of a small house.

Behind me- I turn my head only slightly, afraid to move too much- is, as expected, sea. Lots and lots of water, with no end in sight. I suppose that’s actually the edge of the arena too.

And then a flash of gold catches my eye and I look back to the front. It’s the Cornucopia- the golden horn-shaped tower. It’s a bit on my right, further into the beach, glimmering in the sunlight. I can see supplies- packs and boxes- stocked next to it. Random things, mostly backpacks and weapons, are scattered around - some quite far from the tower and closer to the floating platforms of the tributes.

The platforms.

There are twenty- four of them, including mine. Each of them holds a tribute clad in the same costume as mine. About ten yards separate each platform from the other, and I see Kai standing firmly on my left, his head bent low. Dread fills me. He’s so close. I know he’s strong. What if he goes after me when the horns go off?

The first signal slices the air. My head snaps back to the front. The Cornucopia. I know Hot told me to stay away from it, but it’s tempting. There’s no doubt lots of people will fight for the supplies the Cornucopia offers. Usually at least a third of the tributes die during these fights at the Cornucopia. There are always so many deaths at this stage that the slaughter has gotten its own name- The Bloodbath. It’d be a folly to join the cruel fighting- I probably wouldn’t last a minute.

The second horn blows. My heart leaps up, it feels as if it’s about to jump out of my chest. There’s buzzing, a continues annoying noise, in my ears, and my throat feels dry. And even now, face-to-face with the Games, I can hardly believe it’s true. It could as well be happening to someone else with me just watching from the side-lines.

The third and final horn signals the start of the Games, and tributes jump off their platforms and into the water below. I hear a splash on my left- Kai’s in the sea, swimming towards the shore with confident, easy strides. I close my eyes and step off the platform.

The water is pleasantly warm. I don’t think when I start swimming after Kai, who’s already way ahead- he’s faster than me. The water glides off the costume I’m wearing well, and I find myself approaching the shore soon. In front of me, Kai’s already out of the water, darting for a big dark bag further from the Cornucopia. A tribute, a girl by the looks of it, goes for the same bag, but I don’t see what happens next as my feet hit the bottom. Feeling solid ground under my feet feels wonderful, but I’m still in a daze as I force my way forward, pushing at the water with my hands to move faster.

“Saejin!”

Something slams into my right side and I fall, taking a lungful of water. The weight presses me down under water. Someone’s grabbed my hair and is pushing my head deeper in the water. Panic surges through me, and I try to kick, but whoever’s got me doesn’t let go.

Then, at once, the weight is gone. I push myself up, and emerge with a fit of coughing.

“Run, quick, run!”

It’s Leo. He’s got a scrawny black-haired girl in his arms, who’s kicking and shrieking. I don’t linger to ask, but I know she’s the one who attacked me. I turn around and run, though the water makes it hard, to the shore. The screams of the girl stop at once.

But there are other screams. Shouts of pain, wailing, even metal clashing on metal- noise is all around me, loud, scary, cruel. A pair of two guys are wrestling on the sand several meters away, a dagger in one of the guys hands. I turn on my heel, ready to bolt to the forest, under the protection of trees, when I spot a bag ten, maybe fifteen meters to my right. The Cornucopia is far enough, and before I know it, I’m darting for the bag.

I only manage to grab it when another girl appears in front of me, her tangled mass of long pink hair covering her angry eyes almost entirely. “Give me the bag.” She hisses, her voice like a screech of sand rubbing against glass. She’s got no weapons, but neither do I. I bolt. She lets out a cry- a cry that gets lost among the many shouts of others- but I don’t turn to see if she follows me, I just keep running.

I don’t stop even when I reach the woods. I don’t slow down when the fighting noises grow dimmer; don’t stop when I’m well into the forest. The trees start getting bigger, less and less light seems to be getting through the thick layer of leaves. I don’t know for how long I run, but finally my lungs start to burn, the bag keeps sliding off my shoulder and I halt, and then drop to the ground on my knees. My bag clatters to the ground with me.

I try to control my breathing, I cannot afford being that loud, but I can’t stop gasping. My hands are shaking. For a minute, maybe two- I can’t tell, I just try to catch my breath. Then slowly my heart slows down, breathing becomes softer and easier. I look at the bag I’ve acquired.

It’s a plain, medium-sized shoulder-bag. Its contents are equally plain- a big blanket, very light and thin, but seemingly warm, an empty flagon, a little box of matches and a tiny pack of dried fruit. I was hoping for some water, but there’s none. I’ve seen enough of the Hunger Games to know that a tribute’s dead if they don’t find water soon enough. And a death from dehydration is a painful and scary one.

I pack all that back into the bag and stand up. A good look around tells me I’ve run a long way. I’m obviously deep into the forest- the trees seem old and huge, probably five people couldn’t hug some of them even if they spread their hands wide. Little light manages to get down to the ground, and the ground is covered in moss. Deep green moss, freckled with little blue flowers here and there. No sight of any puddles or a lake. No water. I crunch down to press my fingers to the ground. The moss is soft, and I dig my fingers through it, tearing at the plants until my fingers touch the soil, but it’s dry too.

“Do you plan to plant something there?”

I let out a yelp, and fall on my . Ungracefully and stupidly. Rew emerges from the shadows in front of me, smirking. She’s got a bag of her own-- one a little smaller than mine. There’s a small cut on her upper arm and a trail of blood leading down from it, but she doesn’t look to be in pain. In fact she soon starts grinning, dropping to her knees in front of me. “Why did you run away?”

I realize how stupid I must look, I’m being filmed, for Heaven’s sake, and push myself off the ground, standing up.  “Well, you found me, didn’t you?” My voice is smooth and totally mismatched to how I’m feeling.

Rew laughs, jumping to her feet as well. “What if I haven’t?”

I shrug.

She spies my bag sitting at my feet and grabs it before I can do anything. “What’s in there?”

“Some stuff.” I want to stop her when she pries out the blanket, tsks at the empty flagon and shakes the packet of fruit.

“Not much.” She declares finally, dropping the contents of the bag just there, on the ground.

“Mind putting it all back in?” I cannot keep the irritation out of my voice.

She grins. “You know, I didn’t think you’d last past the Bloodbath.”

“I didn’t think you’d either.” I snatch my bag from her hands and starts collecting my stuff from the ground, stuffing everything back in.

She chuckles and it unnerves me how she finds my anger funny. “Well, I did. And I got something better than you did. Water.” She adds when I look at her. She points at her small bag. “Two bottles. And some powder. I think it’s used for purifying the water we find.”

Even the word ‘water’ makes me my lips. I’m aware of how they are.. I’ve run a lot, and I’m thirsty. But I refuse to ask her.

“We should walk some more.” She suggests casually and flings her bag over her shoulder. I try to ignore the sound of bottles clinking together. “We might be able to put some distance between us and the other tributes.”

“How did you find me?” I ask once we’re walking.

“Followed you, how else. You weren’t very fast.” She answers, tone flat. “You’re lucky no one else followed you. Probably the Bloodbath got everyone busy. I counted four cannons, but there might have been more, there was a lot of noise.”

“Four?” That’s a small number. Usually a lot more die in the Bloodbath. Every time a tribute dies, the Gamemakers fire a cannon. Four shots mean four kids are done for. Usually up to half tributes don’t make it past the first day, but maybe the Capitolians aren’t that willing to kill each other. Maybe this year things are going to be different.

“Yeah.” Rew grimaces. “I was hoping for more, but that’ll have to do.”

We walk in silence after that. Rew smiling to herself; me thinking. I keep trying to recall all the tributes that started the game this morning. I can remember most of their faces, but hardly any names. Four dead… Is Leo or Jonghyun among them? Does the sullen guy Kai live?

By the time we stop to set a camp, it’s dark. My feet ache- I’ve never walked for half that long. Rew insists on starting a fire, but I manage to persuade her not to be foolish. Smoke and light would surely draw unwelcome attention, which we probably are going to get anyway, but prolonging my life, even if it’s only by a few hours, is the least I can do. When I pull out my humble supper of dried fruit, music fills the night air.

“The anthem.” Rew says, and for once she sounds serious.

We both know what’s coming next. My eyes find a spot where the sky isn’t covered by the leaves completely. The symbol of Panem is there, projected into the sky. Then it shivers, and with the anthem still sounding, a picture of Sector One’s girl appears in its place. The picture melts away to give place to a photograph of a serious-faced guy, Onix from Sector Five, Rew says. Then three other girls’ pictures appear- among them the one who tried to drown me. The anthem finishes, and the sky turns black once again. For the first time, I notice there are no stars.

“So it was five. Five have died already.” Rew says as I tear open my pack of fruit. “So weak.” She fetches one of her water bottles and takes a swig. I swallow, keeping my eyes cast on a piece of dried apple. “Here.” I look up and she’s offering the water to me. I take it, but the water tastes awful with her smirking at me.

The air gets chill. Cold starts biting into my skin- face and hands in particular, and I wrap myself in the blanked. Rew laughs as says she doesn’t need a comforter, she’d sleep on the moss. I don’t even bother telling her I wasn’t going to offer my blanket to her anyway.

Sleep doesn’t come easily. I toss and turn, and, every time I close my eyes, I see the faces that have appeared in the sky, their eyes cold and dead. But finally exhaustion wins and I drift off.

Shaking awakens me.

“Wake up.” A voice says in my ear.

“Idiot, she’ll scream.” Another voice hisses, softer and angrier than the first one.

“Saejin, it’s me. Don’t make noise, ok?” Slowly, very slowly, I open my eyes. I can’t see anything, it’s too dark, but I can sense someone near. A dark shape moves above my head and I take in a sharp breath of air, startled. A hand clasps over my mouth before I can scream.

“Idiot. Told you she’ll scream.” The same angry voice says, and I know who it belongs to. Kai.

“Saeri, it’s only us.” The second voice belong to Jonghyun. I blink, my eyes getting used to the darkness, and I can make out the shape of his head. “Don’t scream.”

I nod slowly and, after a moment’s hesitation, the hand moves away from my mouth. I push myself into a sitting position, careful to be quiet. I can now see them. Jonghyun is kneeling by my side, and Kai is standing a few feet away. There’s hardly any moonlight, and I can’t make out their faces, but I’m sure Kai must be frowning.

“Quick, you have to come with us.” Jonghyun’s hand closes around my wrist. He tugs me up and I let him help me to my feet. “They might be back soon.”

“Who?”

Kai lets out a grumpy sound, and Jonghyun shakes his head. “Talk later. Grab your things and hurry.”

The place where Rew has been sleeping is empty. Dread fills my stomach as I bent down to collect my blanket and stuff it into my bag with my other belongings. After a second thought, I take Rew’s water bottles and purifier, which I see left on the ground, too.

”Let’s go.”

Walking through the forest in such darkness is tricky. Even with Jonghyun guiding me, I keep tripping over roots and small holes and stepping over dry branches that make an awful noise when they break. All the time that we spend walking, I keep thinking about Rew. I knew she’d betray me, but I didn’t think she’d do it so soon. My gaze flickers over the shape in the night that I know is Kai. Jonghyun is pulling me after himself, his hand fastened over my wrists. A million questions run through my head- why are they helping me? Are they going to attack me later? Can I trust them? Should I run while I still can? But the thought of remaining alone in the dark woods, with Rew lurking somewhere is too unsettling- even if I could get away from these two guys, I probably wouldn’t last long.

“We’re here.” Jonghyun announces, halting at once. In front of us, Kai bents down and pushes aside the branches of a mushy bush. Under the bush, there is a hole in the ground. Big and dark.

Jonghyun turns to me. I blink hard trying to see his face, but it’s no use, there’s just not enough light. “There’s a cave below. Kai will help you into it. I’ll come after.” He squeezes my hand and lets go.

Kai puts his legs in the hole and pushes himself off the edge, disappearing. I swallow.

“Go.” Jonghyun urges. “Give me your bag and go. I’ll be right behind.”

I don't even know why, but I listen.

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So, a kind of hurried update here. If I have time (and am in the mood), i might update with the next chapter in this week. If there's a lot of mistakes/typos, ect, forgive me, I will come back to edit this later :)

For now, comment! The sponsoring system starts in the upcoming chapter (it would start now, but I don't really have the time, sorry, folks).

Question 004:::  Who do you like more? kai or Jonghyun? (IN THIS STORY. NOT real life).