𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐲-𝐟𝐢𝐯𝐞

─── countdowns

          𝔍ust like last time, Varya accompanies me to the Stockyard for the new arena.

It's typical procedure, I'm injected with a tracker, placed onto a hovercraft, the windows are blacked out and then Varya is forcing me to eat and drink. I know that there won't be much in the arena, but still, I don't particularly feel like eating and drinking.

I force it down either way.

When we reach the Launch Room, I shower for the last time for a few weeks. Varya helps me dress. She braids my hair back tightly, doing it up with elastics as she presses two more onto my wrist, beneath the suit, just in case I lose one. The suit itself is light, made of black and white hexagonal material, and it zips up at the front. The shoes are underneath that, the soles rubber to increase grip and I have a belt that slings around my waist for anything I might need.

"What do you think?"

"It's not going to offer much protection from cold or water." She rubs the fabric between her fingers, humming. So maybe a desert environment or possibly, they'll chuck us all in water and see who freezes first.

"Sun?"

"It could be." Varya hums. "Oh, and necklace."

My token, my mother's wedding ring, that looks a little worse for wear from the last arena, and the Mockingjay token that once belonged to Katniss Everdeen, slip on around my neck. Varya does it up securely as I touch the Mockingjay.

"Last night's dress was fantastic." I don't need to elaborate for her to know that I'm worried for her. She incited rebellion with that dress and I'm scared.

"I know what I'm doing." She tells me with a tight smile. She stands with me, her hand secure in mine as we wait for the call that tells me to prepare for launch.

It's another torturous five minutes of waiting before that happens. When the automated voice rings, she helps me onto the circular metal plate and secures my necklace beneath it.

"I stand by you were the best tribute I ever worked with." Varya forces a smile and a wink as I hug her. The glass surrounds the plate as Varya keeps her eye on me with a wink. I mouth a final thank you.

I wait for the plate to rise. And wait. And wait, but it still doesn't.

I give Varya a confused look and she shrugs as well. I don't understand why they're delaying this, I thought I had to be up there now.

Looking behind me, I search for something I need to press or hit, when a thunking sound rings in my ears. Turning, I scream in horror at the sight of ahead of me. Three peacekeepers are in the room and they're beating Varya with metal gloves. She's bleeding and broken, lying on the floor not moving as I begin to slam my hands on the glass, trying to open it up once more.

But it won't open and the peacekeepers ignore me as they drag Varya's limp body out behind them, leaving blood stains on the floor.

I know that this is all Snow's doing. Like the coward he was, he sent three people to beat a defenceless woman into submission and my heart breaks thinking that perhaps, perhaps she is dead.

The plate beneath me began to rise as I try to stop sobbing. I brush at my eyes, forcing the tears away, as breeze hits my face. I stand, twisting and looking around as the call comes for the Hunger Games countdown to begin. I'm surrounded by water. 

This is no place for a dairy farmer.

"May the odds be ever in your favour."

I hated these odds, I hated everything. 

Looking around, I couldn't see Cato and I assumed that he was on the other side of the Cornucopia. Thinking back, I remembered our contingency plan for water. I could just about swim. We'd found a lake on the neighbours land, making use of it even though it was freezing cold in winter.

Swim to the Cornucopia. Find a spear, find Cato, stand our ground.

The best idea is to swim straight, or clamber onto the rocky bit of land and run. The final countdown is going on, and I remember Cato's words, aim my body lower. I want to think of Varya, of where they've taken her, of if she's alive but now, I have a job to do and I have to stay alive.

"Two, One..." The cannon goes off, and I push myself off of the podium diving into the water. It's warmer than the lake back at home, and I push myself as hard as I can until I reach the rocks closest to me. Clambering up onto them, I begin to run, pushing myself as fast as I can, dodging across the rocks and trying my best not to take notice if there are any other people running along with me.

The first thing I need to do is to get my hand on a weapon.

Last year, the supplies were more spread out and I got lucky, considering Cato had thrown a spear near me to gift me one. This year, everything is piled up at the mouth of the Cornucopia, and I'm quick to find a rack of silver spears near the back. There's a set of three in a quiver of sorts that I throw over my shoulder, before grabbing another. Spinning it, I feel the air shift around me, ducking low and pointing the spear up as I turn.

Finnick stands a few yards away, glistening with salt water, trident poised to attack. A net dangles from his other hand. He's smiling a little, but he's rigid, waiting for something to happen.

"You can swim too." He tilts his head. "A woman of many talents, Mitzi Kennedy."

"I told you, I have a lot of secrets." I replied.

"You like the arena?" I'm not sure now is the time for small talk, but I don't really want to kill him. I want to find Cato. Plus, I am sure that we have an alliance with District 4. 

"Not particularly. I guess you do. It seems to be built especially for you." It is a little unfair. There was no pool in the Training Centre, no chance to learn. Either you came here a swimmer, or you'd better be a quick learner. District 4 had an enormous advantage and I was starting to wonder where his partner was or was she often, picking people off to whittle down the numbers.

"Good things we're allies though, right?" His demeanour changed, standing upright with a grin as I watched him.

"Yeah." I nod.

"Duck!" His voice changes, becoming more commanding as I drop to the floor. His trident goes whizzing over my head and there's this sickening thump sound as it finds its target. The man from District 5 sinks to his knees as Finnick brushes past me to pull the trident free. "Don't trust One and Two."

"Think that's a given." I mutter, before piling up on more spears and spotting a large, useful looking sword that I know Cato will want. "Each take one side?"

We begin to scavenge through, and I can see that Enobaria and Gloss are getting a little close to comfort. Pulling the spear up, I launch it at One, hearing it hit the target on Gloss' leg as he goes tumbling into the water. Enobaria thinks better of getting too close, hurrying into the water to find her district partner.

"Anything useful?" Finnick shouts as I look around.

"There's just weapons. Nothing but weapons."

"Same here! Grab what you want and let's go." I don't know where Cato is but I'll assume he'll meet up with us. Grabbing some more spears, I stuff them into the quiver like contraption, putting it over my shoulder. I grab the sword for Cato, an axe and some of the knives and then meet up with Finnick at the front of the pile. I can only hope that Cato's found Prim and her partner from 12.

Brutus is barrelling towards up.

"Do something about that." Finnick hisses as I pick one of the spears up. He's expecting it, trying to protect his hands and body. I throw the spear with all my might, but he manages to block it. The force of it though takes him by surprise, pushing him backwards and he falls into the water.

"Time to go, Finnick." I call. He nods, both of us taking off towards the shore as I look around for Cato. Finnick's also looking around, before sighing in relief.

"There."

"What?" I look for what he's pointing to and there's some people racing round towards us. I tighten my grip on the spear, before noticing that all three have varying shades of blond hair. One is far taller than the rest and I breathe a sigh of relief. "Cato."

I thanked everything that he was still alright.

We continue onto the sand as the three heads of hair slowly reveal themselves. The first is Anika Dawsey, who's just looking a little soggy, wringing her hair out as she jogs. Next is Prim, who looks a little shaken, and then finally, Cato follows after them. None of them look harmed, but we won't know until we're safe.

"Hey." Cato brushes past Finnick, kissing me. "You alright?"

"All good. Got you a gift, honey." I smile as I hand him the sword. He takes it from me, along with axe and the quiver of spears so that I have less on my back, despite my protests that I don't need him to do that. I turn to Prim, handing her the knives. "You alright?"

"I'm not good at swimming."

"Did Cato come and get you?" I question.

"No, she did. Helped me over to Cato, we came to find you." I turn, seeing that Finnick is handing over the trident to Anika, and talking to her quietly as she nods. 

"I think it's time to go." Finnick calls, and we hum in agreement. Our group hurries away from the Cornucopia towards the woods. I mean, it's not really woods, more like a jungle. I've never seen it, but Geare brought it up as a possibility for the Games, noting that it hadn't come up in a while. The trees are tall and smooth, with few branches. The earth beneath us is springing and normally obscured which does make running a little hard. Despite the sun being hot, the humidity in this place is high

Cato takes the lead, easily cutting through the vegetation. Anika goes behind him at Finnick's request, though it hadn't seemed much of a request and more he'd shoved her forward. Then Prim, because she needed to be protected, and then me and Finnick at the back.

It doesn't take long before all of us are out of breath, but still, we manage to climb rapidly for half a mile or so until Prim becomes tired. She's the only one who doesn't know what's going to happen or what's going on, considering she never trained for this.

"I've got her." Finnick pushes past me, before hauling Prim onto his back as the girl squeaked. "Keep your arms around here, and your legs wrapped there. See, we're all good."

We keep going for another half a mile or so until we request a break. Then, Cato helps me find a tree and boosts me up into it so that I can see what's going on. 

Around the Cornucopia, the ground is bleeding. The water is stained red, bodies lie on the ground or float in the sea and I can't really tell who lives or dies. There are some still fighting, some that are just still. I know that all of us stood together last night, and I had hoped that people might show some reluctance to butcher people but they all just jumped right into massacre mode and that worried me.

You acted like friends and then they'd stab you. I was worried for Cato more than anything. I just had to hope that we could withstand the urge to massacre each other before we could get out of the arena. I slide back down the tree, landing behind Cato, who's examining the sword. Finnick and Anika are opposite us, Prim in the middle as we come to a standoff. We don't want to fight each other.

"What's going on down there? Have they all joined hands and taken a vow of nonviolence?" Finnick snarks.

"No." I fold my arms, drawing closer to Cato on instinct. I know that everyone's stressed, but stress in the arena normally leads to someone's death.

"No." Finnick repeats it back to me. "Because whatever happened in the past is in the past. And no on in this arena was a victor by chance expect for Prim."

"How many are dead?" I'm a little surprised when Anika steps in front of Finnick. She purposefully covers his body with her own, preventing him from picking up a trident and throwing it at me and preventing me from throwing a spear at him. He's walking a dangerous line in antagonising us, but I understand that this is probably his fear manifesting.

"Hard to say. At least six, but they're still fighting." Anika hums, before turning to Finnick.

"We need water, let's keep moving." He doesn't even bother to argue with her, nodding in agreement as I help Prim to her feet.

"You alright?"

"The adrenaline's left. I'm just hot and sticky and kind of scared." She muttered. Finnick wanders over, and Prim accepts his offer, sitting on his back once more.

There's been no sign of freshwater, neither a stream or a pond, and the saltwater is out of the question.

"We need to find some soon." Cato looks around, leading the group. "We need to be undercover when the others come hunting tonight."

The absence of water is making me even more thirsty. I keep a sharp eye out as we continue our trek upwards, but with no luck. After another mile, I can see an end to the tree line and assume we're reaching the top of the hill.

"Maybe we'll have better luck on the other side. Find a spring or pond or something." I call towards Cato, who's at the front of the group.

But there's not an other side.

I know this before anyone else, even though I'm at the back. There's a funny, rippling square handing in the air and it's not from the sun or the heat. I think back to Wiress and Beetee, when Prim and I spoke to them in the Training Centre whilst doing the survival stations. I shout, but it's a moment to late as Cato sweeps through the vines ahead of him.

There's a sharp zapping sound and the trees disappear and reveal open space and then Cato's flung backwards, all 6'2 of him. He slams into Anika, both of them going through foliage and rolling.

"Cato!" I push past Finnick, to where Cato lies, motionless in the vines. Anika is pulling herself upwards, but Cato isn't moving and I can smell burning. "Cato?"

I don't feel his breath when I bend down to hover over his lips and I move, pressing my ear to his chest where normally I would hear the strong and steady beat of his heart. Instead, I hear nothing.

Silence greets me and my worse fears come to life.

──⭒─⭑─⭒──

Hiya,

Vibes and all, love them. Anika is actually a sweetheart, and I'm super excited for you guys to properly meet her. Promise she's nice. Cato's got himself zapped and he has it worse cause he's got a metal arm, Varya's dead, Mitzi's having a crisis but not having a crisis and poor Prim has had a long day.

Let me know what you think,

Love Li xx