Another Tribute

All I can think about it the plan. If I think about anything else, I get too nervous.

When the sixty seconds on the platform are up, run and grab the nearest supplies. Avoid conflict. Run in the direction of the forest, wherever that will be. Meet Eli and Nico using the whistle we made up. Find shelter.

This is what is going on over and over in my brain as a guard loads me into the capsule like elevator that will take me up to the arena.

"Stay on the platform for sixty seconds or else a land mine will initiate. Any questions?" the guard says in a droning voice. So much for Capitol people being sensitive.

"I think I'm good, thanks...Falcon?" I say, reading his name tag. He grunts, and pushes a button, closing me inside the elevator. Who names their kid after a bird? Anyways, I feel myself rising and know I'm about to embark into the arena. Suddenly, the blank, gray walls of the elevator seem to disapear, revealing glass. I notice a green button on the floor. But that's not the most disturbing realization. The fact that I'm in a glass capsule underwater is a little more frightening. I guess I should have learned to swim when I had the chance.

When I was about five years old my dad tried to teach me in a lake in the woods. It's forbidden to go in there, but nobody really follows that old rule anyways. Our Peacekeepers don't do anything about it, anyways. My dad managed to coax me into the water, but I couldn't even doggie paddle. It just didn't come naturally, which is going to be a huge problem now. Thanks a lot stupid Gamemakers. I'm going to die without even trying.

All I can remember is that you flap around your arms and eventually something happens. I'm surrounded by water and it must be atleast twenty feet before you'd break the surface.

Then I remember the green button. Maybe if I press this, it will become scuba diving gear or something. That has to be it! Certainly they Gamemakers wouldn't want all the tributes to die under water before any action happens.

And with this poor reasoning to guide me, I press the button. The capsule disapears from around me and I'm surrounded underwater without any gills to help me along. I can't see anything, and my only hope is that somehow I can find my way to the top.

After about twenty seconds, I'm losing my consiousness. I can't hold my breath underwater at all! I'm hopeless! My life flashes before my eyes; Thisbe's smile, my mom and dad holding me close, days spent happily playing as a child, one nice Thanksgiving we managed to get a turkey, and the time the neighbors dog chased me into a tree and I skinned my knee. I know that's a little random, but when life is flashing before your eyes you don't exactly get to select the moments you see. As the memories fade, I swirl into darkness. Maybe this death was more merciful anways.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"She's dead. We have to move on. She wouldn't want us to be all mopey," I hear a voice say.

"You're giving up too quickly," I hear another voice say. Then, I feel someone push my stomach in. I feel like I might throw up.

Actually, I do throw up.

"Unbelievable," the first voice says again. It sounds pissed.

"I told you so," the second voice says as I regain conciousness and sight.

"What is going on?" I ask my two allies. Eli is sitting beside me, so he must be the one who pumped my stomach. Nico is standing with his arms folded, but as soon as he hears me he comes to sit on my other side.

"You nearly drowned, Auden," Eli says, laughing a little now that he's sure I'm fine.

"You would have drowned if I didn't pluck you out of the water!" Nico says.

"You're the one who wanted to leave her behind!" Eli mutters.

"I saved her, you woke her up. We were a team," Nico replies cooly.

"Thanks, both of you," I say, unable to grasp that these two saved me. Now I can't imagine not having allies. They both nod.

"So, do you like our hideout?" Eli asks, motioning around us. For the first time I realize that we must be in one of the underground rooms that the helicopter woman must have been talking about.

"Not bad. Are we stuck here?" I ask.

"If someone finds us, we're screwed," Nico responds.

"There was another entrance, but it didn't have a star. I saw someone go in there right as we were running by. I wonder what happened to him." Eli ponders.

"I guess we'll find out tonight," I say, refering to the nightly viewings of the dead in the sky. The tributes who died that day are projected into the night sky for all the tributes to view.

"Well, we'd best get some shut eye. I'll take first watch," Nico says, retreating up a tunnel that must lead to the outside world. I realize the cave-like hideout has become slightly darker, so it must be night already.

"Auden, I don't feel safe," Eli says as he hands me a thin sleeping back. I ingore him, figuring he's going to complain about Nico again.

"Where did you get the sleeping bags?"

"Well, before we left the Cornacopia we snagged two backpacks. They each had some dried fruit, dried meat, a sleeping ba,and water jugs."

"Any weapons?"

"Nico got two knives. Other than that, no," Eli replies. After this we don't talk anymore, and I fall asleep quickly because of my lack of rest. I fall into a deep and dreamless sleep, thinking about tomorrow's unknowns.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Hey, Eli. Can you take watch now?" I hear Nico ask him. Eli yawns, but I hear him leave our hideaway. I squint my eyes open and see Nico getting into Eli's abandoned sleeping bag. I close my eyes to fall asleep again, but then I hear a sniffle coming from his side of the room.

"Nico, are you crying?" I ask him. He sits up in his sleeping bag when he hears me awake.

"Sorry if I woke you."

"Are you ok?" I ask him. He looks away.

"My friend died," he says quietly. I realize he must have been awake to watch the dead faces flash in the night sky.

"I'm so sorry," I say, truly empathetic. His handsome face is twisted in pain.

"It's to be expected I guess. It wasn't love or anything, but we were good friends."

"I understand. I'd feel the same about you and Eli," I tell him, realizing I'm sincere. They're my friends now. They have to be.

"Especially Eli I reckon," Nico mutters.

"Why do you always say that?"

"Look, I have to know for real. Are you two together or not?"

"No! We never have been. I don't know why people keep thinking that."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Then you wouldn't mind if I did this?" he asks, leaning in and kissing me. My second kiss in twenty four hours, but somehow this one is different.

"Nope. I'm not taken, Nico."

"Then I may as well tell you, I've wanted you since I saw you pick up a sword," he says, leaning in again. Something tells me to push him away, but I can't. His handsome quirkiness hasn't gotten by me. However, he realizes I'm uncomfortable.

"Auden, tell me to stop and I will," he says, but it almost seems like he might not.

"I don't want you to," I say, initiating the kiss this time. I can feel him smile as we kiss in the darkness, alone but being watched by the Capitol. And I could care less about them.