Chapter Text
When Ellis came into her room to wake her up, she was already dressed and ready. She had barely slept. Today was the day. The day the games began. She felt like a zombie as she walked into breakfast. Nobody said a word. They sat at the table in silence. Nancy had no appetite but ate anyway, who knows when the next time she would again, or if she ever would again at all.
The morning seemed to be slipping away. Before she knew it, they were being escorted into the aircraft that would bring them to the arena. On the aircraft a man with a needle as big as her head injected them with their trackers. Nancy barely flinched. Compared to what she was about to face, a needle was nothing.
They were then brought underneath the arena, where they would change into their uniforms. The uniforms usually give hints about what the arena will be. This year it was a pair of cargo pants pants and a tank top, which want very helpful, as well as a rain jacket, so probably wet. She sat in the chair in her dressing room and pulled out her notebook. She studied all the plants she’d taken notes on. She’d been looking at them all night, but she had to be sure; many of the plants looked similar.
Nancy had about thirty minutes to herself before Tammy came in. She looked like she’d been crying already but was trying very hard to hide it. For her sake, Nancy pretended not to notice. “You look beautiful,” She said with a sad smile on her face.
Nancy looked down at her all-black outfit, her hair was in a ponytail, and all the makeup had been wiped off her face. Beautiful was not how she would describe anything about her appearance right now. “Thanks.” She said, attempting to smile back.
Tammy hugged her. “Good luck,” she whispered before she left. Moments later, two peacekeepers came to escort her to the tube that would transport her up into certain death.
***
“Ten seconds until launch,” A deep voice said over the speakers. Robin stepped into her tube. The morning hadn't felt real. It was like she’d been in a fever dream, she wanted nothing more than for this all to have been a dream, but it was not
“Seven, six, five.” Her time was slipping away. She wasn’t going to wake up; this was real, this was her life. And the end of it.
“Three, two, one.” The ground began to lift beneath her. Light flooded it, nearly blinding her when she saw it. She was standing in a circular field of grass, one side was surrounded by woods, the other by a rocky mountain. She felt a cold breeze as she looked around at all the other tributes. In the center was the cornucopia.
The blood bath, that's what they called those first few moments as everyone rushed to get supplies from the cornucopia. She looked to see if anything was close enough to her to grab without being a part of the massacre. She noticed a small bag about five yards away. Good enough, she thought.
“Ten, Nine…” The countdown began again. If she stepped off too early, she’d be blown to bits; if she was too slow, she’d be killed.
“Six, Five…” Maybe she should just step off, it would probably be quicker.
“Three, two…” Too late now
The canon that signalled the start rang. She sprinted for the bag as quickly as she could, not bothering to investigate its contents yet. She saw, out of the corner of her eye, the boy from District 1 grab a knife and slit the throat of a younger boy. She felt sick. Before she could witness anything else or have a similar fate, she turned away and sprinted into the woods.
Her body was on autopilot as she ran through the trees. Her mind could barely catch up with what was happening, and then she saw it. A big oak tree with thick branches all the way to the top. It reminded her of the one from back home. The one she’d spent hours in. It was covered with dark green leaves that concealed much of the trunk, a perfect place to hide. Robin threw the backpack over her shoulders and began to climb. It was muscle memory, really, the way her foot naturally found each branch, each crevice in the trunk. She looked down; by then, she was at least fifty feet up. Just above her was a long, extra-thick branch perfect to sit on.
She climbed up and sat down. She pressed her back against the rough bark of the tree and stretched her legs out along the branch. She moved the bag to her lap and unzipped the top. Inside was a small metal canteen, meant for water, but it was empty, about ten feet of rope, which wasn't a lot but would be useful if she planned to sleep in this tree, a small package of freeze-dried fruit, a bag of beef jerky, and, the most useful item, a pocket knife. Robin wasn’t planning on hunting down anyone anytime soon, but it would help if she were attacked, and she could use it to hunt if she could figure out how.
Satisfied with her haul, she put everything but the rope back in her bag. She tied the rope around her waist and the branch and made sure it was secure. She let out a sigh of relief. She was safe, for now. Then the canons started.
Every time a tribute dies, a cannon goes off to alert the other tributes, but they don't start the first round of cannons until after the blood bath because there are usually so many. She counted eight. Eight in under an hour. That was a third of the tributes already gone, and she was still here. She thought about Steve and wondered if he’d made it. They’d never agreed to be allies or anything, but if he was still alive and they ran into each other, maybe they’d team up. She also couldn't help but wonder about Nancy; it was stupid, really, but she hoped she was ok too. She’d find out when the holograms appeared in the sky that night.
***
The blood bath had been a disaster. Nancy stayed back, but Jonathan was able to grab a backpack close enough to his platform. She waited for him before running straight for the mountain.
High ground. That’s what Bob had told them. His arena had flooded as the big finale, but he managed to outlive even the District 4 tributes because he’d climbed a pole. He had to hang there for over eight hours before all the other tributes died and the hovercraft rescued him.
When they reached the base, they stopped and looked around. It didn't seem like anyone had followed them. About five yards away, there was a cave on the side of a mountain. “Let’s go in there and see what's in our bag before we climb. I'll keep watch,” Nancy suggested.
Jonathan nodded, though he looked far away, like he was barely there. “Good idea.” There was already a breeze outside, but in the cave it was abnormally cold. Like artificially cold. Probably some trick to stop tributes from hiding in them too long. Jonathan went through the bag, and Nancy stood at the cave's opening watching for any sign of life. There was none except for a moth, with its wings outstretched on a nearby rock. Seeing a creature so innocent in a game so terrible comforted her in a way. Jonathan stood up. “Ok,” He began, already more alert than before, as he’d finally come to his senses. He began listing what was in the bag, “Rope, a water bottle, two apples, half a loaf of bread, iodine for purifying water, and best of all…” He actually smiled as he pulled something out of his back pocket.
“Oh my god!” Nancy exclaimed in excitement, probably too loud. Jonathan held up four small throwing knives, just like the ones she’d used in training. She had gotten halfway decent at it, and it was probably her best choice for defense, and now she had them.
“Why don't you hold on to these? I doubt they’ll be of any use to me,” Jonatha said, handing them to her. She took them in her hand. The metal was cold against her palm. She picked up one with the other hand and held it out to him.
“Just in case,” SHe said. Any bit of joy was gone. The severity of their situation seemed to feel more real. Jonathan took the knife and slid it back into his pocket.
“We should get going; we need to be at least halfway up by nightfall.” Jonathan threw the backpack over his shoulder and walked outside. Nancy had barely noticed how cold the cave had been until the wind from earlier felt more like a summer breeze.
The base of the mountain wasn’t super steep, and they’d walked for what felt like at least two miles, though she really had no concept. It was taking them longer than expected because they kept getting rerouted by unclimbable ledges or patches of ice, even though they were nowhere near the top, which was odd.
The sun was beginning to set, and they decided they needed to find a place to settle for the night. “We have to find somewhere hidden, there’s no way all the other tributes went to the woods,” Nancy said. Eight out of the twenty-four were dead already, but if they were all out in the woods, there would have been more cannons for sure.
“Ok,” Jonathan agreed. “Let’s see if there are any more caves or something.” They’d passed a few on the way, so there were probably more nearby. It wasn't long before they came upon a small opening in the rocks. It wasn't really a cave because it was only about ten feet wide and five feet deep, but it would do.
“Ill find some stuff to help cover the entrance,” Nancy said.
“No.” Jonathan replied firmly, “We’re staying together.”
Nancy nodded. Together, they gathered rocks and sticks to help seal the opening. It wasn’t very successful, but it was the best they could do; the sun had mostly set. They didn't bother setting a fire that night, mainly cause they had nothing to start it with, but they also didn't want anyone to know where they were. When the anthem started, they stared at the sky. The eight fallen were: The girl from 3, both from 6, the boy from 7, both from 9, the girl from 10, and the girl from 11. Nancy thought about the girl from District 8 who helped her start the fire. She was alive. Though Nancy didn't know her, she was grateful for her kindness, and the thought of her still being alive was a nice one.
***
Robin jolted awake when she heard rustling below her. She’d barely slept because she kept hearing weird animal noises, deep growls, and high-pitched squeaks. She’d stayed tied in all night and not fallen to her death, which was about where her luck ended. Or began. When she looked down, she saw him, in all his glory, Steve Harrington. Not sure if she should give away her location, for all she knew, he would kill her on the spot, but something inside her knew that wasn't the case. Besides, there was no way she could do this alone
“Hey, asshole!” She called down to him. Steve’s head jolted up, and he looked around, confused for a moment. When his eyes landed on her, his horrified expression turned to relief.
“How the fuck did you get up there!?” He shouted back
“I’ll tell you if you promise not to kill me.” It came off as a joke, but really she meant it.
Steve put his hand to his heart, “You have my word.” He said, then he added, “As long as you promise not to kill me, too.”
“Deal,” Robin replied. She untied the rope around her waist and put it back in her backpack. She slid it over her shoulders and began her descent. She was happy to not be alone, even if it was with Steve. No alliance can last forever in the games, but there was no need to think about that now. She reached the ground quickly.
“Impressive,” Steve said. He reached out his hand. “Allies?”
It was a pretty cliche way to propose an alliance, but she was in no position to argue. “Allies.” Robin agreed, shaking his hand. “So what’s the plan?”
Steve, in fact, did not have a plan. They ended up walking, aimlessly, deeper into the woods. “E should find a place to stop and count our supplies,” Steve said. He was able to grab two bags from the cornucopia.
“Good idea,” Robin replied. They walked a little further and decided to stop behind a pile of rocks, which would mostly conceal them for a little while. All together they had a decent amount of food, three water bottles and iodine for purifying it, her pocket knife and a machete, two bundles of rope, a sling shot, which seemed like a stupid weapon to have in a death match, a tent, a sleeping bag, and a small bottle of some sort of pain medication. Steve must have had to go far into the cornucopia for a lot of this stuff; maybe he even had to kill someone. She’d of course never ask him.
“We should try to find water,” Robin suggested. “If we follow the animals, they should lead us to some; they have to survive too.”
“Right, great, let’s go.” Steve agreed. There were no signs of life for a while. It took them close to two hours to find an abnormally large black squirrel eating an acorn at the base of our tree. They watched it, trying not to scare it. Eventually, it scurried off deeper into the trees. They followed it carefully, not to make any sudden movements, and by some insane amount of luck, she was right. The little, or actually giant, rodent had led them straight to a small pond.
“You were right,” Steve said, staring at the murky water as if it were the most magnificent thing he’d ever seen. It really felt like it was.
“Let’s fill the bottles, then we can find somewhere nearby to set up camp.” They filled all three canteens, put a drop of iodine in each, and kept walking. They walked about a mile from the pond. The other tributes would find it eventually, and neither of them wanted to be around when they did.
They came upon yet another large oak tree, perfect for climbing. “Ready to learn?” Robin asked, staring up the trunk of the tree. She looked over at her ally, and he nodded and grinned.
“Ready.”