The Sixty-Eighth Hunger Games

Chapter 8- FINNICK

The interview is this evening, but before then, there are two things that we need to complete. There is time for us mentors to give Addie and James our final advice, and time to plan our approach for tonight. To make the most of this time, we decide to split up. Addie, Jon and I head to a private training room, empty except for padded floors and walls. James stays upstairs with Robin, Vim, and Brant to figure out how they're going to swing his interview, and the three of us will be addressing other, less pleasant, things. Mags comes with us (per my request) because she is known to have a calming effect on the tributes, and I'm hoping she'll help my brother and Addie feel supported.

I'm not sure about Addie, because I think she's fairly tough, but James is a whole different story. He does his best to hide it, and in my opinion, he does a superb job, but he is absolutely terrified about the Games. Maybe it's because he knows about my experience, or it's just the number of times he's watched them on-screen, year after year, but James is dreading the moment he steps into that tube.

I've spent the past few nights sleeping on the floor in his room as he cries himself to sleep. Whenever he woke up from nightmares, screaming and sweating, I would cuddle him and whisper reassurances until he fell asleep again. Sometimes I have to tell him blatant lies: that I'm sure the nightmare was worse than the arena, that he's safe... it doesn't matter. He needs comfort while Addie needs a solid plan of action, which is why we've divided up our time like this.

After we sit down on the floor in the middle of the room, I start to explain what we're doing. "We need to talk about the plan."

"But I know it already," Addie starts. "Shouldn't we-"

"There's some parts you don't know." Jon looks straight at her, and for once, he's dead serious. "You're going to run to the bloody Cornucopia, meet James somewhere a little ways away, get off the grid, yadah, yadah, yadah. But if, and this is a big if, if you two make it, we need to explain to you the best way to-"

"Get it over with." I break in, looking down to avoid Addie's eyes. "We want this to be as painless as possible, but in the arena... there's no easy way."

I assume that she's been having thoughts about how she's gonna pull this off.

Jon continues where I left off. "We're thinking that we'll send you some kind of poison if you make it that far. If not- well I'm assuming you know what to do."

"Yeah," Addie says.

We sit in silence for a moment- even Jon shuts up. I see a tear start to well up in Addie's eye and she violently wipes it away. All I want to do is give her a hug and comfort her and wipe her tears away for her, but the weight of this really starts to settle on me. Addie, one way or another, will most likely be dead soon. I cannot, cannot have feelings for her.

To distract myself, I continue my explanation. "If somehow James gets himself-" I pause for a moment, trying not to envision it in my head. "If James is killed, you have a shot at winning. Take it. If he doesn't make it, you're gonna wanna stay on the move. Don't stay in one spot too long."

I'm guessing Addie has considered the possibility of her outlasting James, because she nods as if she's thought this through already.

"Going back to Jon's whole 'yadah yadah' explanation, after you and James meet up at the Cornucopia, you need to run as far as you can and- this is really important- find some water source. Keep moving around, but if you find a good place, you and James can probably hole up somewhere for a while."

"What did you guys do?" Addie asks.

I remember my Games as if they had been yesterday. The arena had been in a jungle setting and the Cornucopia had literally been situated halfway up a giant tree. I remember looking around at all the shocked faced tributes standing on their various podiums as we saw for the first time what we were facing. When the gong sounded, we had to climb to the top. Some tributes turned and ran without gathering any supplies, and the Careers, myself included, picked off the slower climbers. There's a reason why they call it a bloodbath.

"We were both Careers," Jon says. "So we had a huge advantage from the start."

"But when it got down to just a few people left, we had to sort of go off on our own. Jon, you took over the Cornucopia, right?" I ask.

"Yeah." he says. "Then I just waited for the Gamemakers to flush the suckers out of hiding. Right to me."

I ignore the callous explanation from Jon. "Unless we get really lucky, that's not the situation you'll end up in," I say to Addie. "You'll be doing more of what I did. I had to leave the Careers early on because they didn't think I was good enough of a fighter to keep around." None of the Careers- or any of the other tributes, really- realized that I was a threat until it was too late.

"I made traps out of nets and caught people that way. You could try it. You're the 'master net weaver' aren't you?" I wave my hands around in the air as I proclaim her title, which earns me a smile. I'm glad to see it.

"What about the, like, survival part?" Addie asks. "I mean, did you move around or what?"

Jon starts to say something, and I cut him off. "You're irrelevant." He rolls his eyes. "I actually found a beach and I lived mostly off of fish for a while. Got really sick of them, actually."

"Oh trust me," Addie snorts. "I'm sick of seafood already as it is."

"Well, don't we have a little miss picky eater," Jon scoffs.

"Don't tell me you're not sick of tuna," Addie retorts, leaning towards him. "Ask anyone in District Four. That stuff is nasty."

"Fine, I agree with you on that one, Love," Jon concedes. His usage of this term of endearment still annoys me just as much as it did on the train, but I know he doesn't mean it in a romantic way at all- it's just part of his vocabulary. He has an odd accent, but the Capitol people loved it while he was in the arena.

Addie nods in satisfaction. "Knew it. Anyway, what about allies?" she asks.

"Nick seems good enough, but make sure you keep an eye on him," I say.

"Keep an eye on everyone," Jon scoffs. "You have to assume everyone in there wants you dead. 'Cuz it's most likely true."

I nod to acknowledge this and continue my instructions. "But once you're in the arena, be careful. You and James should take turns getting sleep, and avoid the Careers as much as possible."

"Brie- from Eight- told us to go to the fire-starting station at the training- d'you think she was trying to be helpful?" Addie asks. "Or no?"

I think about it for a moment, and then respond, "I'm not sure, but keep tabs on her once you're in there. You never know."

"And you could realize that there's someone else who could be a better ally. Eventually, you're gonna have to break off ties with them anyway," Jon says. "Been there, done that." Addie and I both ignore the last comment, though she looks a bit uncomfortable at his casual description of something much more serious.

"So, find water, don't stay in one spot, take shifts for sleeping, ally with Nick but keep an eye on him, and poison myself if all goes well," Addie says, ticking the main points off on her fingers. She smiles dryly. "Sounds like a blast."

"And now, onto the fun part," I say, hopping up. "We get to teach you how to walk in heels."

"Sorry, what?" Addie scoffs. "You? Heels? That I'd like to see."

"As much as I wish I could indulge that marvelous suggestion, I'd rather not break my ankles. We're supposed to take you back upstairs."