The Sixty-Eighth Hunger Games

Chapter 12- FINNICK

I haven't slept for hours. I've been too intent on watching the camera feeds from the arena. Even though Brant has told me multiple times that I need to rest, I can't. The only two people (besides Mags, of course) that I care about are currently in a death trap, and I can't pull my eyes away from the screen, even when they sleep. Watching this is like reading a good book that you just can't put down, except in my book, the characters are real.

I'm in a special surveillance room for mentors, a room that I've come to hate over the past years, but I'm able to watch multiple camera feeds from here, instead of the one production the rest of the Capitol sees. Mentors get prime viewing, but I am the only one in the room now. There's a window facing in on the Gamemakers, who sit at their round table, plotting ways to kill the kids in the arena. On the desk in front of me are folders, full of information about each tribute. I have a panel for sending in supplies from sponsors, filled with a large amount of money from the sponsors already. Vim has done good work. I need to remember to thank him. In front of me, there is a map showing the location of each tribute, every district having a different colored icon. In addition to the map, there are an overwhelming amount of monitors, equipped with simple controls. They all show different views of the tributes in the arena, but the one I'm focusing on is where my friends are shown.

They've just run away from a fight between the Careers and the girl from Eight, and I hate watching their fear, though I know that the people in the Capitol love it. As Addie and my brother run through the trees, the redhead fights the Career pack.

This year, it's the boy from Two, both from One, Torrac, and to everyone's surprise, the pale girl from Nine. For Torrac, it's obvious enough why they chose him: he's got a huge amount of strength, but the slender girl from Nine has no easy-to-spot talents. The only potential advantage I could see her giving them has to do with food, but typically the Careers rely on brute strength alone, and not as much on the survival aspect.

I check the list of tributes that I have in front of me, and see that the redhead is named Brie- she's the one who Addie thought could be an ally- and the girl and boy from One are called Raina and Cal. Aidan is the one from Two, and the girl from Nine is Lorelai. The entire pack is there except for Torrac and Lorelai, who, last time I checked, are guarding the Cornucopia.

I look back at the screen, and see that Brie has just nicked Raina's arm with her axe. Good. Cal lunges at Brie with a long serrated knife, and she just barely dodges it. With one hand, she hefts her axe, and with the other she jabs at him with her knife. It clips the side of his stomach, and Brie looks disappointed. That disappointed look suddenly turns to surprise as an arrow narrowly misses her face. Brie turns to Aidan, who is fitting another arrow to his bowstring, and she cleanly slices his bow in half. He stumbles backwards in surprise, and I find myself hoping that there's not another bow back at the Cornucopia, although he has a second one strapped to his back.

"Kill her, then let's move on!" Raina yells at the boys. She acts as if she's in charge of them, and she probably is. From what I've seen from her fight at the bloodbath, I would say that Raina is the most skilled tribute in the arena, and that puts her in command.

"Won't be that easy!" Brie taunts her. She's too cocky. She tries to spin away, but Cal slices a long gash down her arm, and she yells out in pain. The boys close in around her, and she swings her axe in a wide circle, keeping them a short distance away.

I wonder what she's going to do to get out of their circle, but then she narrows her eyes, raises her axe over her head, and charges straight at Aidan, yelling like a barbarian. Brie doesn't swing her axe down at him as he dodges out of the way, but when she breaks out of the circle, she whirls the axe to her right. It sinks into Cal's stomach, and he promptly collapses as she yanks it out.